You can now proceed to flee in terror
Nywho, I do not own HALO – If I didn't I wouldn't need to worry about getting a job.
Authors Note: I am sorry if there are any minor deviances between this text and the game, such as the blood colors, please let me know about any that you find and I will make all efforts to correct this in previous chapters. These corrections will take time and I thank you for the constructive criticism.
Many Thanks
Verya
On with the fic…
Ja'naço carried Brigid through the airlock and most of the crew had arrived, Pasada was livid.
"What happened?" Pasada demanded, "What did they do to her?" The rest of the crew clambered around, shouting for an answer. Ja'naço tried to give orders, but the crew was already moving to high alert and preparing to withdraw. Ja'naço let out another long bellow and the crew froze.
"Major Pasada," Ja'naço said, "The crew will stand down and you will follow me. Do not recall the ambassadors or any of the planetside crew, stand down." The crew went back to their respective activities. Ja'naço walked to Brigid's room and laid her in the bed.
"OK," Pasada said, "We're alone, what the jaka did they do to the Admiral?"
"The military didn't do anything," Ja'naço said, "Her father attacked her when I pulled her out of her families house."
"Last you checked in you sounded fine," Pasada said, "You were at the second house."
"It was her father," Ja'naço said, "He attacked her after we left the Carias family and we had returned to the hotel."
"I thought they were supposed to secure you guys and keep you safe," Pasada said, slamming his fist into a wall, "I knew that I should have sent more troops to serve as security."
"I was her bloody father," Ja'naço said, "Hell, our own guys probably would have let him in."
"I would like to doubt it," Pasada said, "What's troubling you?"
"She denounced her Earthian heritage," Ja'naço said, "And has sworn never to return unless battle takes us there. I'm just worried, she's going to be announced as an Ithilian now, or just as her rank, she has lost all of her heritage."
"She has the heritage of the people who love her," Pasada said, "Would you like me to contact UNSC and report the sitation?"
"I'll do it," Ja'naço said, "Could you have the call rooted down here?"
"Certainly," Pasada said, "Can I talk to them first…?"
"No," Ja'naço said, "You can't bitch them out, just rout the jaken call down here." Pasada nodded and left to walk to the bridge. He sighed and flipped out the communication panel to see many of the ONI brass he had spoken with earlier.
"This had better be good," the officer growled.
"It is," Ja'naço growled right back, "I am informing you that we are withdrawing our people back to their respective ships tomorrow. One of your people assaulted General Armiral McClain and attempted to assassinate her, if you wish to speak with us you must come to our ship as visitors."
The officer sighed, "I understand your argument, but my colleges will not accept this. I am afraid that many of them are to close-minded to speak with you, might I suggest a neutral location that would be acceptable?"
"Certainly," Ja'naço replied, relieved to find a rational human.
"We have several bases on the moon," He said, "I know that my people would agree to meet there and it is close enough that your ships could land on a moon-side dock if you wished."
"I will confer with my staff and contact you in fifteen minutes," Ja'naço said. He quickly called a conference over video connection and made the arrangements for the group to be transferred off-planet for the moment. Those who had already chosen to stay would remain behind, or those who had relatives that they were still visiting with, three shuttles were left behind for those individuals and their guards, which had heightened considerably. Ja'naço sighed and pressed the call button on his display pad.
"Hello?" The brass asked.
"We can meet on the moon," Ja'naço said, "Thank you for your kindness and understanding, we await coordinates and docking procedures."
"I'll handle that!" Firefly said, excited. "It's so much fun to be back home."
"You gonna leave me anything?" Killjoy asked, "Or should I take a vacation?" Ja'naço turned off the call and let the twins to their bickering. Brigid had cried herself to sleep on the ride up and was still out of it on her bed. Ja'naço reached over his arm and unbuckled his shield, setting it on the rack next to his cannon. He sighed and sat on his own bed, their rooms connected in the middle, but they rarely used the division. Brigid had been through so much pain, and she was going to put herself through more by cutting herself off from the Carias family, who undoubtedly did not have enough money to make a commercial interplanetary trip to visit her. He would look into buying a shuttle and an off-planet summer home for the family so that they could visit without a large amount of money for the trip. As much as he had been in favor of Brigid's budding relationship with Kulase, Michael was a better mate for her than one of another species.
"Ja'naço?" Brigid asked, "Are we home?" Ja'naço gave a sad smile.
"No, we're back on Revenge," he said.
"Well, right now that's home," Brigid said. She stood and poured herself another drink.
"You've had a few tonight," Ja'naço said.
"Just a beer and a gin," Brigid said, swallowing the blue liquor, "This is kiddy stuff compared to our alcohol." She set the glass down and leaned her head back. "Are we staying out the negotiations?"
"UNSC has agreed to host them off planet," Ja'naço said, "We're going moonside in three hours."
"I'm going now," Brigid said, "There's a personal matter I need to take care of." Ja'naço handed her his display pad and pointed to the house sales on it. Brigid laughed. "You know me to well."
"This one should be in your range," Ja'naço said, "And you could get them this shuttle." Brigid smiled. "Yes, I do know you, and I also don't want you to blow your one shot at happiness. That is a good family and you would be blessed to marry into it."
"I don't know Ja'naço," Brigid said, "I couldn't be a good wife right now, I can't get pregnant in the middle of our campain, and by time I can afford to retire I may not be able to."
"Have you brought that fear up with Michael?" Ja'naço asked.
"We talked about it before I shipped out," Brigid said, "Children are important in that family, and I know that Michael wants to be a father, and I know that we're running out of time."
"Brigid sweetheart," Ja'naço said, "You're 24, he's barely 26. You have a good ten years before you have to worry about time catching up with you."
"Not really," Brigid said, "It's only been six years, and we've…"
"Accomplished so much," Ja'naço said, "You deserve a break, and this jaunt doesn't count anymore because your life was threatened. Now, you are going to put that family behind you and look around at what you have. The Carias family has already accepted you as a daughter and I had to stop the crew from calling an entire armada to go after your father." Brigid smiled. "I told your sister that she may have a chance of seeing you again because she seems to have changed…"
"Sir, ma'am," a call came in through the intercom.
"Here Oska," Brigid said, releasing the acknowledge switch. "When did you get back?"
"Just now, a Rebecca Mendez is requesting docking protocols," Oska said, "Should we let her through?"
"Bring her in," Brigid said.
"Scan her through security," Ja'naço ordered, "Confiscate any weapons."
"She's unarmed," Oska said, "We've already done a complete scan."
"Send her to a comfortable meeting room with surveillance," Ja'naço said as Brigid slipped into a fresh class C tunic, "We're on our way." He turned and saw her strap on her gold sash over the blue tunic that was the uniform when officers were off duty. "You're wearing your C's?"
"She's already seen me in all black," Brigid said, "Besides, she's still my sister, I don't want to intimidate her."
"You do remember…"
"Yes," Brigid said, fastening her boots back on. "I know better than you what was done to me, but she's still my twin sister and that's a bond that no one can break."
"I'm still keeping security in the room," Ja'naço said, "And don't even think about trying to talk me out of there."
"I'd have to get a word in edgewise first."
"Ha ha!… not funny," Ja'naço said. The two turned and walked out of the room to one of the many meeting rooms in their ship. Rebecca was already seated there in a long blue coat that covered her from neck to floor.
"Brigid," she said, standing, "Ja'naço, thank you for meeting me."
"Rebecca," Brigid said as Ja'naço took his silent stance to the left of the entranceway, completing the circle of guards around the dimly lit room. "I'm sorry about all the security, my crew is on edge because of earlier events."
"I heard what happened," Rebecca said, "And I came as soon as I could get a transport off planet."
"I'm surprised you could find someone to pilot you," Brigid said. Rebecca cocked a smile.
"Who said anyone needed to pilot me," she said, "I went though pilot school about three weeks after you shipped out."
"Surprised that they let you go through with that," Brigid said.
"Who says they did?" Rebecca asked, "I'm your sister, not just their daughter. That reminds me: I have a message from Pat and Rose," Rebecca said, "They say that you're no longer their daughter and they never want to see you again." Brigid visibly dimmed. "Honestly Brigid, when they asked me to deliver that message I asked how it was different from the past two decades of your life." Brigid laughed at that.
"You turned out all right," Brigid said, "I thought you would have ended up the trophy wife."
"I would have if it weren't for Sam," Rebecca said, "He swept me off my feet one day, onto his motorcycle….you know the story."
Brigid raised an eyebrow, "Motorcycle huh?"
"In his youth," Rebecca said, "We're a bit more responsible now."
"It's only been a few years," Brigid said, "When did you two get hitched?"
"We eloped about six months after your left," Rebecca said, "Hence the five children in six years."
"Bow-chika-bow-wow," Brigid said.
"Shut-up," Rebecca said. Ja'naço spoke in hushed voices with someone at the door and then tapped Brigid on the shoulder.
"Please forgive my intrusion," Ja'naço said. "But you have an alpha-proiority call waiting for you."
"Oh," Brigid said, "Excuse me." She stood and told Rebecca to make herself at home. She walked over to the panel and accessed the call directly. "McClain here, what is it?"
"Admiral," Covesash said, "I was informed of your incident from Major Pasada, and I have contacted UNSC. They are to make a formal apology to you tomorrow, if they do not please get out of there as soon as possible."
"I will," Brigid said.
"Also," Covesash said, "We have an important mission for you. We need you to leak information of Earth's location to the Covenant and then plant a tracer on High Chairty."
"It would mean betraying the humans," Brigid said, "They could be monitoring this call."
"Not with me on it," Killjoy said, "And besides, from what Firefly tells me the Covenant are getting closer. She can plant the subsequences to defend Earth now."
"They aren't getting closer, they know where Earth is, out only hope is to plant false intel," Firefly said, "Make a new home-planet for Humans, and make Earth look like just another base. They found coordinates telling the location of our solar system on a couple different planets, but I don't have any proof because the humans don't think that an AI can be smart enough to hack the Covenant Battle network from my current position. So my plan is to make this world look like another piece of the puzzle."
"But if they glass it they won't have another base to fall back to," Brigid said.
"Ok, I'm not talking about a Reach size here," Firefly said, "I'm talking about a very small base, Ku-Lita sized if that, besides, they would have to leave part of the planet intact to find the coordinates."
"Should I run it by a human officer?" Brigid asked.
"No," Covesash said, "Let them believe it an accident. We are at a pivotal point in history. The scales between the Covenant and the Human's are balanced. Our actions will decide in which way they will tip."
"It is difficult," Brigid said, "We cannot make an easy or informed decision."
"The time for caution is over," Covesash said, "Lure the Prophet of Regret out of High Charity and plant a tracer in his quarters. We will be able to attack them within the year. Our spies tell us that the Brutes are become more lustful for power and usurping their Sanghelli commanders. If we can tip the scales then it does not matter if the humans are with us, we will have a common enemy between all the races of the Resistance. The humans will join us because they cannot fight on their own."
"All right," Brigid said, "I will be off this planet in two days and make all speed for High Charity, do we have coordinates?"
"Here is the link," Covesash said, "Use it as little as possible, we can't have our spy compromised."
"I understand," Brigid said. She cut the feed and returned to her sister. "Sorry about that."
"I hear that you are planning to buy a moon-side home," Rebecca said, sitting with Ja'naço. "Sam is a realtor on the moon, just let me know who you want one for and Ill make sure you get a deal."
"It's for the Carias family," Brigid said, "I want to be able to visit them more often."
"OK," Rebecca said, "I think you need a small town for them." The three laughed. "I'll talk to Sam and see if we can get a private compound."
"Thank you," Brigid said, "But I have to go to the command bridge for a few moment, would you care to join us?" Rebecca nodded.
"General," Ja'naço said, "Forgive me." He turned to the AI. "Killjoy, initiate a scan and fire an EMP."
"Ja'naço!" Brigid said, "Unnecessary." A flash went over Rebecca's body and she yelped as a static charge moved over her skin. "Overprotective baka." Brigid mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?" Rebecca asked.
"It made sure that you weren't bugged," Brigid said, "Ja'naço is overprotective."
"No listening devices detected," Killjoy said, appearing on the ground, "However, she has very good memory, I would suggest a partial scan before she departs."
Brigid opened her mouth to protest, but Rebecca beat her to it. "No, it's all right, I understand." Brigid sighed, but Rebecca smiled. "I understand how classified information works, and I know that you can't just let me walk out with the layout of your ship."
"Thanks," Brigid said. "I'm afraid that the war is going like your own, engagements are becoming harder and the Covenant have stopped trying to save planets."
"I work as a code breaker for ONI," Rebecca said, "I know the real casualty lists and the results of battle."
"Does Sam know?" Brigid asked. Rebecca nodded.
"He knows," she said as they entered the bridge, "But I'm very deep cover and I'm not allowed to really talk about it with anyone. You're leaving soon and we haven't seen each other in years, so I'm going to call you an exception to the rule." Brigid entered the bridge of the Revenge and the crew acknowledged her presence. "You guys don't put a lot of focus on pomp and circumstance, do you?"
"Nope," Brigid said, Pasada walked up.
"Admiral, the bridge is yours."
"Thank you Major," Brigid said, "Do we have any external fighters?" The negative acknowledgement came back on her screen. "Order the three cruisers to turn about and set a course for their moon. Designate a rally point and landing zone away from the human settlement and prepare the skiffs for tomorrow." The green light came on as acknowledged and the ship began to swing around away from the blue oceans of the Earth and the white glow of the moon. They landed about a klick away from the meeting point and the crew prepped the skiffs that could skim the lunar surface to the colony. Rebecca left soon afterwards because she had to get back and put the children to bed. Brigid waited on her ship for the crew to return. She knew that Kyle was staying to assist ONI, and Jo would never leave the Resistance, but the jury was out on Brian and Sage.
"Admiral," a voice sounded over the intercom, she acknowledged the communication with a press of the button, "There are three shuttles on approach, they are due in their respective docking bays in two minutes. Brian and Jo are coming to the Revenge."
"Thank you," Brigid said, smiling, "I will meet them there."
"Brain sends a message," then voice continued, "He asks to transport several large barrels into our cargo hold along with a dozen boxes he cannot fit on either of the two ships."
"Granted," Brigid said, "I'm on my way." She sighed and stood up, straightening her tunic and sash as she walked out of the doors. She walked quickly to the cargo bay and paused at the entrance, feeling very old.
"Hey," Jo called, "Brian's decided to stay….and, he brought beer."
"Beer?" Brigid asked. Sure enough, the barrels were kegs and the boxes were full of grain seed, probably to cultivate on Ithil. He already had the keg opened and was pouring the clear gold liquid into red plastic frat party cups. "How the hell did you get that past the customs on Earth?"
"Misdirection," Brian said, handing her a cup, "Drink up, I've got hundreds of these." Brigid smiled and clanked the cup against her two friends, drinking the gold liquid deeply. She was buzzed after only that one cup, she had forgotten how to drink.
"Dear God that's good," Jo said, draining the cup in one try. "Woah, it's been a while."
"Yes it has," Brian said, "Faaaaarrrrr to long."
"I'm assuming that these are to grow on Ithil so we can start a brewery?" Brigid asked.
"Naturally," Jo said, "Hey Ja'naço? Want a beer?"
"What?" Ja'naço asked. Brigid poured him a full glass.
"Beer," Brigid said, "It's human alcohol. Be careful, it's much more powerful than your stuff." Ja'naço sniffed the drink and took a gulp. He smiled.
"This is good," he said, taking another sip. He smiled wider. "This is really good." He drained the cup. "Do you have more of this?" Brigid looked at the barrels.
"I think we have a few," she said. Ja'naço smiled and picked up one of the medium sized kegs, punctured a hole in it with his shield, and took a deep draught from it. The three humans stood there and stared as the hunter quickly drank the keg and smiled. "Anyway, we have a new mission once we get out of here, so lets wrap up these negotiations and get the hell out of here."
"I have one question," Ja'naço said as he crunched the keg in his fist. His friends looked at him. "Why the fuck were we ever fighting you guys? Can I have more?" They gave him another keg and others walked up. Oska tried a cup and got pleasantly toasted off the alcohol, they cut him off after only one refill, they didn't need a drunk navigator. Brigid sent him to the galley to get some food and then sleep off the alcohol. A Grunt walked up.
"Excuse me ma'am," he said, "Sergeant Takta, what is that?"
"Here," Jo said, "Try it." She handed the grunt a drink and he drain the cup.
"That's good," Takta said, "Hey guys, try this." The Grunt called over three of his friends, and each of them drained a keg. Jo found it very amusing that grunts could out drink Sanghelli and turned in soon herself, pleasantly tipsy. Word traveled fast and Brigid had to order a few more kegs from the other ship and then stowed it for the rest of negotiations. She turned in that night with a smile, they aliens and humans had found something that they both enjoyed.
The rest of the quiet negotiations past quickly. ONI spooks had worked hard to keep the Resistance ambassadors under wraps, and had so far succeeded in keeping their existence secret. A few tabloid papers claimed to have Covenant sightings, but no one trusted them except a few 30 year old guys living in their mothers basements because they were to pathetic to move out. Brigid informed Sarge and Kyle of their plan, as they were still members of the Resistance, purchased a house on the moon for the Carias family, and left Earth behind her jet stream.
Two days later Brigid walked onto the bridge and stood over Oska's shoulder. "Have we contacted the spy?" She asked. Oska nodded, "He's transmitting the coordinates now." Brigid stood straight and nodded, "Alert me when we are within range." Oska sounded the affirmative and Brigid adjusted her helmet, glad to be back in combat wear. She turned back and sat in the command chair, fingering the pad that linked her to Jo and Brian, the other two commanders came up on her screen.
"Admiral," Jo said, "We are ready to receive the coordinates for slipstream entrance."
"Sending now," Brigid said, "Brian, do you have a team selected?"
Brian nodded, "Næla is leading a small task force of servants aboard High Charity and Oren is leading the inersion team that will plant the tracer."
"Well done," Brigid said, "Brian, while you complete your mission Jo and I will land on the planet's surface and create a diversion to draw out some of their forces. Have you prepared the chip?"
"Yes," Brian said, "It portrays Earth as a small outlying system that makes Ku-Lita look like New York, I've also pointed out rumors of a human home world three galaxies over."
"What happens if they go for the home world?" Jo asked, "Looking for the knock-out."
"I've made Earth look small, but and important piece with final coordinate," Brian explained, "They will go for it, but its enough out of the way that they don't need to worry about an armada coming down on the stations. They'll send a strike team down for it to avoid any unnecessary losses."
"Killjoy," Brigid said, "Do we have the secure link?"
"Yes," Firefly replied, Waterwalker standing next her on the screen as three more appeared, "No one can eavesdrop."
"Kyle, Sarge," Brigid said, "Any trouble from your end?"
"No," Kyle said, "I've already figured out UNSC network and I can send secret orders to have troops on training in cities and other areas that the covenant are most likely to land. Brian, put in coordinates for New Mombasa, that will be the easiest base to access and send troops to for urban warfare training."
"All right," Brian said, "I'll have those corrections made immediately." A tech appeared on Brian's screen and took the stick.
"Sarge," Brigid said, "have you calculated the time it would take the Covenant to reach you?"
"About two weeks," Sarge said, "Plenty of time. I'll be off-planet at the time, but I'm working now to have more troops study urban warfare. My argument is that we should be launching capture pods and fighting the ships via green-power (hoo-rah) and winning that way to avoid glassing any more planets."
"OK, I think that'ss all we have to cover. Ill call you when the mission is complete." Brigid said, exhaling and cutting the feed, "Ready you're crews for slipstream jump. Oska, where are we."
"Waiting for your order ma'am," he replied, his hand waiting over the execite command switch. Brigid nodded and felt the ship lurch as they accelerated into slipstream. Firefly and her human friends disappeared from the call screen and she let the standby crew take over for the slipstream flight, she would need her combat crew rested and ready when the time came. She went back to her quarters and found two messages waiting in her personal file.
"It's the Carias's," Ja'naço said, "I told tem to leave a message because you were in a meeting." Brigid nodded her thanks and plugged the cable into the new connections on her artificial arm. The first image came up on the screen, it was most of the family.
"Hi Brigid!" They all yelled, "We're sorry you had to leave in such a hurry," Jess called, "You have to come back soon."
"Just let us know when you're in the neighborhood," Chris said, "And thank you for the summer home and Shuttle. Michael's already sent us pictures and they're beautiful." The rest of the message went about the same, begging her to come back and visit. The children wanted Ja'naço to come and she forwarded that part fo the message to his pad. Ja'naço opened it a minute later and was laughing as the children showed him drawings they had made of him, even if they couldn't show anyone or tell their friends about him. She closed the message and saved it before opening the second, Michael's face appeared on the screen.
"Hey girl," he said, "Hope I don't seem stalkerish calling you so soon, but I'm missing you again. I have to say, it's easier now that you've left your number. I just wanted to show you the house you bought us since you probably didn't even look at it." The camera shifted and showed a beautiful glass des looking out over the Sea of Tranquility. "Peaceful isn't it, Dad already named this is Zen room. Any-who, sorry to keep this short but I've got to go lock up, it's late here and we're about to close down the shades. I'll send another post soon. Laters!" Brigid smiled and reached an armored hand to her throat, still wearing the chain with his ring.
"What time is it?" Brigid asked.
"It's about 1735," Ja'naço said, "Our ETA to the appointed coordinates is 0220."
"I'm going to catch some shut-eye," Brigid said, "Can you wake me up at 0110?"
"Sure," Ja'naço said. She closed her eyes and slept deeply, worried about the mission ahead. She and Jo would be facing a lot, and they would either have to force the Covenant forces to ground or launch transports and board them. She sent a message to Jo for a tactical meeting at 0120 and shifted in her armor. She rarely removed the plates anymore, it felt to much like a second skin that she felt naked without it. Besides, the day she came back she had replaced her bionic arm with an armored one that blended into her suit. She had also put in several more slots for data cards, she could now carry three AI's without overloading her suit, though only one would be active, and a couple million gigabytes of information. She flexed the hand and smiled, it moved better than her hastily built prosthetic anyway. She rubbed the joint of her left elbow and leaned her head back in her wall, letting sleep claim her again.
It seemed a moment later that Ja'naço was tapping her faceplate. "Wake up," he said, "It's 0110 and you have need to get ready for your meeting." Brigid grumbled and waved Ja'naço away. "Don't make me pour water down your back plate…" Brigid was up.
"I'm ready," She said, "And that is evil."
"It's my job," Ja'naço said, "Lets go, I want to see where we are." They walked up to the command bridge and addressed Oska.
"Assuming my calculations are correct…We're passing the Mygeeto system now," Oska said, "We should arrive on schedule."
"Good," Brigid said, she sat back in her chair and was hailed by Jo. "I'm here, what to you have?"
"Well," Jo said, "If we go right out and face a Covenant armada we know that we're fucked. So I have a plan."
"Shoot," Brigid said, "I talked with Kyle and we came up with a place to hide our ships while more of our crew goes out and sets the trap."
"What's the bait?"
"It's rather a good plan, if Kyle doesn't say so himself," Jo said, "We set up a camp and wait for the Covenant to start bombarding us. Your crew remains in orbit because the Covenant know to look for you. While the Covenant chase you and I we leave Pasada in tactical command of our ships. Once the drop ships are safely on the ground and have unloaded their troops he will engage what ships he can and send over transports to take control of a cruiser. Once that happens they should call for backup and more troops will come from high Charity." Brigid's eyes flashed over the plans as they flashed over the split screen. "Then the ground team bugs out and disappears into these underground caverns. Then the ships will start making jumps to confuse the Covenant, by then out team will have planted the bug and gotten off High Charity in time."
"Sounds good," Brigid said, "But what is Næla and her spies have trouble getting through security and Oren has trouble accessing the database."
"Paka is our best," Jo said, "And he grew up in High Charity, he knows it better than any of us."
"OK," Brigid said, "It's all we've got, sounds like a good plan. Who are you taking planetside?"
"Most of the Shock Troopers are coming with me for the hard part," Jo said, "The rest of my troops are going on the transports except for all essential personnel and a strike team to take control of the cruiser bridge."
"All right," Brigid said, "So I'll keep my command crew here and send my Shock troopers over with the transport crews and take a few with me onto the planet. Upload this plan to Brian and let him know what we're doing."
"Sure thing," Jo said, signing off. Brigid smiled and readjusted her glove on her right hand. "Oska, what's our ETA?"
"15 minutes," Oska said, "Do you wish me to signal ready stations?"
"Thank you," Brigid said, "Tell Ja'naço, Juano, Okanda, Takta, Nadai, Æon, O'nakasha, Te'Sunaao, and Manera to meet me at transport five, we're going planetside once we exit slipstream. They are to bring supplies for a week. Shock Troopers to the other transports, they're going to join up with Jo's troops. Inform Pasada that he has tactical control of the space battle."
"Getting done," Oska said, typing furiously. "Good luck ma'am, I'll see you when you get back."
Brigid entered the elevator and raised two fingers in a cocky salute, the Resistence's informal way of saying 'see you later.' She smiled as the doors began to woosh shut. "Give them hell Oska." An acknowledgement light winked on her HUD as she descended to the bay and her waiting team. She made quick accessories from the assembled weaponry and they loaded everyone onto a drop ship, leaving large footprints in a message telling her ship to leave her on the planet while they guarded a captured Covenant relic.
"Killjoy," Brigid said as they set up the camp, "Did you go over Brian's chip?"
"Yes," Killjoy said as Brigid held the center post for a shield tent. "I put in a quick translator program to make Earth look like the next step, not the home world, I even marked it as uninhabited. That way it should screw with all their current translations. Something to shake the Prophets confidence."
"Excellent," Brigid said, looking up as the first Covenant cruisers began to arrive. "Killjoy, send the signal. It's party time." Killjoy smiled and sent the 'party time' signal through their armor, it was their personal code for: 'the shit's about to hit the fan, get ready!' The camp became a scramble of action. Different people manned turrets and Brigid's personal guard got ready. The cruisers remained in high orbit and the dropships began to fall, Brigid smiled. The plan was working perfectly, the Prophets wanted her alive and the artifact unharmed. Their greed would help their victory. Brigid turned to her communications non-com. "Send the signal to Brian as soon as their drop ships land that the guests have arrived and we're opening our champagne." The non-com nodded and quickly set up the long range communications gear in a secure location.
The group waited until the drop ship was right overhead and then unloaded with plasma cannons, fuel rod cannons, and all other heavy weaponry they had brought. Jo and her hunter team took out a drop ship on their own. Brigid aimed her cannon at the turret of one ship and managed to take it out so that they were being dropped without the benefit of air support.
"Banshees and Phantoms inbound on our position," Killjoy said.
"Open the confetti cannons," Brigid said on the team-wide com channel. All troops abandoned the shades and hooked it up to the wire, the last grunt jumped out and hooked up the large cable without assistance, Brigid made a mental note to commend the warrior.
"Cannons set," the grunt replied, "Ready when you are."
"How's our hacking status?" Brigid asked Killjoy privately as the AI took over the turrets and sent a crisscross of fire to take down the incoming ships.
"They're monitoring all of team-wide chatter," Killjoy said, "But they're pretty confused with your party analogies."
"Thought so," Brigid said, "If we keep the themes going they shouldn't be able to break it, right?"
"It's a language not a code," Killjoy said, "So its highly unlikely that they should."
"Ok," Brigid said, "How are ground forces on their side?"
"They've set up a rally point here," Killjoy said, setting a navpoint about a klick away. "They're going to drop off their troops there and try and take us through force."
"Good," Brigid said, "Encode that and send it out over the channel."
"Message from Pasada," her communications officer said, "He says he's waiting till the music starts to open his champagne." Brigid nodded.
"Tell everyone to take defensive positions," she ordered, "We're gonna have some company coming over that hill in about two minutes. Jo, you and your brothers go into the forest and lure them here, don't kill them all, we need their troops to start landing here before Pasada can go."
"Darn it," Jo said, "I wanted a high kill count."
Brigid reviewed her HUD and saw what was coming, "You will, see if you can snag a Scorpion." Brigid saw Jo's acknowledgement light wink on and knew that she was scouting ahead already.
"They're really packing it in heavy," Jo said, "Better get something heavy back in return."
"Like we need it," Brigid said, "Are you in need of backup?"
"Like hell," Jo said, "Backup means less for me. See you in a few minutes. Open…" The channel cut off before Jo finished the command. Brigid slammed a new rack of bolts into her cannon and hefted it to her shoulder easily in her armor.
"OK everyone," she said over the com channel, "Load and aim, they're coming up on our position. Don't forget our real objective." Brigid meant to remind her troops that they were the distraction, and not to waste their lives, but the Covenant would see it as protecting the "artifact" from capture. She smiled and waited, her crosshairs centered on the trees in front of her. The next moment a few Hunters charged out of the forest, back first and firing into the trees. They were followed by a Scorpian tank, also charging backwards with the Rebel sign on its back so that they wouldn't shoot Jo by mistake.
"Tank's ours," one of the front-line Sanghelli sounded off anyway. Acknowledgement lights blinked on Brigid's HUD by unit as each person signed in and took the Tank off the Enemy/Friendly markers on the motion trackers.
"Jo," Brigid said, "Back that ass to the right and protect our flank. Hunters, protect the left, cannons in the middle. Ghosts up on the hill and fire downward, careful of the other Scorpions." Brigid slung her cannon and sprinted foreword. "And don't fire on the lead tank, that one's mine."
"Brigid," Ja'naço called as she vaulted over the foxhole, "Baka, get back here! Idiot, please don't shoot the Admiral as she tries to commit suicide." The entire unit chuckled and Jo began to lob plasma into the woods to clear a path for Brigid and confuse their lines. Brigid charged towards the forest and came face-to-face with a Scorpion tank, which charged to run her over. Brigid smiled and jumped onto the top of the tank as it swerved, trying to shake her off, she reached down into the cockpit of the tank and broke the Sanghelli's neck that had been driving the tank. She ripped the corpse out and jumped into the ill-formed seat to drive the tank. She spun it around and slammed the vehicle into reverse, firing her cannon as she did. She quickly returned the tank to their lines and turned it over to a Sanghelli standing nearby so that she could command, Jo had also done the same.
The two climbed up on top of a ridge for a moment and watched the battle rage below them, the Resistance were fighting like there was no tomorrow, and she saw only Covenant bodies littering the ground. The Resistance had already taken most of their tanks, and with Killjoy in control of the shades air support was impossible. A moment later a group of Covenant burst through the trees behind the command structure and tried to take them out. Brigid drew her plasma sword and a rifle, waiting for the group to get closer. She smiled and activated the plasma sword, slamming it into the chest of the Brute that attacked her, she continued on and smacked a jackel's shield out of the way with her pistol, kicking his face in with one blow. She continued her tornado of death until she got to the edge of the circle, then she turned and looked inward as Ja'naço stood next to her, watching the carnage.
"They look good," Ja'naço said, "Should we join…."
"Ja'naço?" Brigid asked, he pointed with his shield as Jo came over and stood next to them for a moment. Brigid's jaw dropped.
"What are you guys gaping at?" Jo asked. Brigid took Jo's jaw and turned her helmet and the second woman's jaw dropped as well. None of tem could believe what they were seeing.
There was a grunt moving across the battlefield, a trail of bodies in his wake. Ja'naço finally found his voice, "What the fuck…." The grunt looked over a toppled Covenant container at a few Brutes crouched in defensive position. He turned back down and took something off of a fallen Sangheli and turned back to the group of Brutes. He threw a plasma grenade at one of them and it stuck to his face without trouble, once it detonated the grunt jumped on top of the fallen pod and jumped onto the nearest surviving Brute. He set something in its chest and activated it; a plasma sword appeared in the Brute and killed him instantly. The grunt used the momentum from the falling Brute to jump onto the next one and kick him, breaking his neck in a moment. The grunt then drew a Brute Shot off one of the corpses and fired on the three remaining Brutes, two of them fell and the last went berserk. The grunt jumped again and brought the weapons blade down on the Brutes had, caving the skull in as blood seeped around him.
"Who is that?" Brigid asked, pointed. No one answered except for Ja'naço shaking his head. "Is he under my command – why isn't he und…..get him under my command! Like, right now!" Ja'naço went and spoke to the grunt, but another wave of Covenant forces came before Brigid had the chance to speak to the warrior. Brigid and the group held their ground as the Covenant kept coming, but soon the drop ships stopped coming.
"We have a message from Pasada," Jo said, "He's engaged the Covenant in the space battle and crashed their communications, we'll have a prize soon."
"Brigid," Ja'naço said, "We have the signal from Brian, he and Næla have planted the chip, they're on their way home."
"Send out the retreat," Brigid said, "Tell everyone to fall back to the tunnels and stay down. The larger force won't be long behind, make sure that grunt is brought to my office." Ja'naço nodded and the Resistance forces slowly trickled away into the eves of the forest and then the shelter of the mountain. Brigid walked into a tunnel and kept walking as Ja'naço followed her into the base they had hollowed out the night before, some of the walls still has scorch marks from the plasma tunneling. Brigid walked into a large underground cavern and found her troops waiting in formation at parade rest.
"They beat us all here," Ja'naço said, "I don't see anyone missing."
"Get accountability and dismiss your troops," Brigid said, "No one can leave the mountain for 24 units, we'll have the normal rotation on scout detail. Dismissed." Brigid walked back to the corner of the cavern that had been set up as HQ and sat down, Ja'naço was speaking with the communication's officer when a grunt approached her.
"General Admiral," he said, saluting. Brigid had removed her helmet and returned the salute, "Sergeant Yap-Tak, reporting as ordered."
"Sergeant Yap-Tak," she replied, leaning back, "I saw you fight today, you fought quite well."
"Thank you ma'am," he replied, he looked very nervous.
"You are one of our Covenant recruits, are you not?"
"Yes ma'am, you're forces liberated me from a prison on one of their raids," Yap-Tak said, "They were going to execute me for heresy. I have wanted to thank you for some time."
"I am sorry to bring up old memories," Brigid said, "But I understand that they destroyed your family before yourself, a spouse and several younglings."
"Yes," Yap-Tak said, his hands shook. "They did."
"I am sorry for your loss," Brigid said, "Now, a question to today's actions, why have you not been appointed for promotion?"
"Ma'am?"
"You've been with us for four years," Brigid said, "And you are only a sergeant."
"I am not understanding you ma'am," Yap-Tak said.
"In short," Brigid said, saving the file she had been looking at, "Your platoon leader has told me that you've led your squad quite well, and you have the highest kill count in your company. Am I mistaken in any of these facts?" Yap-Tak made no comment. "Very well then, I am giving you a field promotion to the rank of Captain and giving you an elite squad under Colonel Brian Hetington. You are to report to him as soon as we get back, until then you are under my personal command. Do you have any objections to this recommendation?" Yap-Tak looked like he was ready to fall over from the shock.
"No ma'am," he stammered, "Thank you ma'am." He saluted and Brigid went back to her paperwork. Twenty minutes later Yap-Tak returned. "Ma'am, we have received word from Colonel Hetington, his mission was a success and he is on his way back."
"Casualty report," Brigid said.
"Unknown on the enemy side, they're still counting," Yap-Tak said, "We have about three hundred and twenty two Covenant Forces either captured or missing. No Resistance forces reported dead so far." Brigid dropped her pen.
"No major injuries or deaths reported?" She asked.
"None," Yap-Tak replied, "It appears the victory was complete. I congratulate you Admiral."
Brigid leaned back in her chair, for the first time in a long time, she would not have to write any letters to families, informing them of the loss. "Send word to Ithil once we are sure of the tally, and send word to Major Pasada that we will rendezvous with him as soon as possible, and we will be waiting at the appointed coordinates." Yap-Tak saluted and walked over to the communications officer. Brigid smiled and ignored the data pad next to her for a few more minutes, words could not describe how proud she was of her troops. They had gone against incredible odds to complete a mission to save Earth, and they had won. She sighed.
"What's on your mind?" Jo asked.
"We've planted the data chip about Earth," Brigid said, "I just hope it's enough to tempts Regret out of High Charity without the rest of the fleet."
"It'll work," Jo said.
"If it doesn't," Brigid said, "I don't know what we're going to do."
"We'll have to keep on fighting," Jo said, "Just as we always have. You want the first watch cycle?" Brigid nodded. "I'll catch some shut-eye then. I'll talk to you after two units." Brigid nodded again and looked at the display pad, she began working on their next assignment. Knowing the Covenant, they would have a few tricks up their sleeves after their defeat at Earth. She ran a hand through her short hair, and after their fleet was defeated they would know the location of the human home world.
"Dear God," Brigid said, "This is it."
Well – what do you think?
More is coming soon, I promise.
So, please Review. I like all feedback, good or bad.
I thrive on reviews and they make me want to write more.
Tenna' ento lye omenta
(Until we next meet)
Verya