Canton System, Valais, Entremont Pass, October 23 2538
A rainstorm lashed the heavily forested hillsides of Entremont Pass, the stars and moon where shrouded by the dense cloud layer that filled the skies leaving the basin bathed in near complete darkness apart from a few dim floodlights. In the distance you could make out the city of New Verbier, it was normally a brilliant mass of lights that could be seen for miles around, one of the gems of humanities colonies. Its skyline used to be dominated by four great spires that rose high towards the stars, each gloriously illuminated and standing proud as a monument to humanities reach. But now only two of the four still stood, the city that had been so great and so majestic was lit by a dull orange glow, New Verbier was burning. But then, all went black.
"For god's sake" Maximilian grunted as his HUD went dark. Frustrated he gave the side of his Mark IV MJOLNIR helmet a tap and it fizzed back on for a brief second before continuing to flicker on and off.
The Spartan couldn't help but wondered if his old armour set wouldn't have been stricken with these kinds of glitches. But with the torrential rainstorm thundering down around him, he guessed it must have just been the weather wrecking havoc with his systems. He doubted regular MJOLNIR specs were equipped for this kind of wetwork.
With one last heavy slap Maximilian's visor flickered back into life and he could see once again. The Spartan gave his eyes a moment to become readjusted to the green hue of the night vision, and there it was just as he had left it, New Verbier looking forlorn in the distance.
"Are you ok Max?" Colonel Adrian Durrenberger said from the Warthog's drivers seat.
"Just the rain messing with my helmet" Max said before he pulled up the hood on his thick poncho
"Well if that's the worst of our problems then I think we are lucky" Durrenberger said
"Indeed" Maximilian agreed, there was a lot more to worry about on this planet than a few technical problems, annoying as they may be. Thinking this Maximilian picked up a pair of military issue thermal binoculars and hauled his large form up from the front seat of the Warthog so he was standing and poking his head and shoulders out above the windshield. As he looked through there was just blackness until he flicked the switch on the side of the lens, and then in that blackness were the white hot figures of people and the shapes of vehicles moving along road that carved through the middle of the narrow valley.
Maximilian hated having to use Entremont Pass to get the civilians out; it was high sided and covered in trees, perfect for an ambush. But the pass was the fastest way to get from New Verbier to well the hidden UNSC base of operations called Fort Grief, and at the moment time was precious. All the people who marched an undisciplined march through the valley were due to be loaded onto star ships and evacuated off the planet and it was up to Maximilian and all the other members of the marine core who now lined to valley to make sure they got there safely. While he didn't really like feeling that they were all running they had no choice, the military presence on Valais was always small so as soon as it was obvious that covenant forces had entered the Canton system it was a full operational evacuation of the planet, they couldn't afford to see 100,000 colonists be brutally murdered by the hateful alien horde.
"What do you see?" Durrenberger piped up as Maximilian's thoughts became full of angry as they drifted to the Covenant; Adrian's interjection was a nice snap back to reality.
"Nothing out of the ordinary" Maximilian said, lowering the field glasses.
But just as was about to sit down there was a brilliant flash of light that caused Maximilian to slam his eyes shut as his night vision went ballistic. A few seconds later the sound wave of a huge explosion washed over the valley, Maximilian, momentarily blinded fumbled with his helmet; managing to switch the night vision off before he could finally look down the valley and see what the hell was happening. The Spartan blinked his eyes a few times and once they his vision had been cleared of blotches he could see all clearly, he heard Adrian utter 'my god'.
Maximilian could see that a giant pillar of pulsating purple plasma energy had appeared above New Verbier, a covenant plasma bombardment; they were beginning to glass the planet. Hanging low in the sky like some huge bulbous aerial tadpole, illuminated by the beam that it spat out from its belly, was a covenant Assault Carrier. Maximilian gripped the Warthog's roll cage tightly, he imagined the city that just three days before he had seen as a bustling metropolis now being destroyed and turned to glass, anyone left in the city was now most definitely dead. Even though the well-travelled Spartan II had seen this many times before it still made his stomach turn, he looked down and noticed his grip had left a dent in the steel roll bar of the warthog.
Then Maximilian had a feeling that all was not well, it was the simple and unimpeachable fact that if he was an overzealous fantical alien wanting to exterminate a species that he would not be content with just glassing an already ruined city, he would want the people dead, all of them, and with those people in such a situation as Maximilian and the refugees found themselves in now, the time was perfect.
"Sir?" Maximilian said calmly.
"Yeah Max?" The Colonel said as he was lighting up a small cigarette
"Put the marines on high alert and get the refugee's back in the trucks, we need to get out of here as quickly as possibly"
"What? Do you see something?" Durrenberger blew smoke out into the air and sat deeply back in the warthog's seat still, he clearly did not share Maximilian's concern.
"Not yet, just a feeling at the moment" Maximilian said before he slipped into his thoughts.
The Spartan ignored Durrenberger's sanctimonious lecture about the importance of keeping people calm and the fact he couldn't work on feelings he needed facts. A thousand different situations whizzed through Maximilian's mind, he calculated each of them and produced their outcome, how would they attack? By air? No, that would be picked up by radar immediately, it would have to be on foot and quiet, there were thousands of people down there if one person saw them their whole operation could be compromised as the marines would snap to attention and the Warthog's and Scorpions guarding the column of people would immediately bring their weapons to bear. Maximilian connected the dots and decided the most likely situation was a ground attack by a group of stealth operatives maybe about four dozen strong, that's all they needed, a quick and efficient strike to take out a large proportion of the armed forces defending the refugee's, cause panic, cause them to spread out into the forest were they could be picked off one by one by snipers most likely located on the high shoulders of the valley. The attack must have been imminent they were now deep into Entremont, the perfect situation, the covenant leaders were near military geniuses, there was no way they could pass this up, but he still needed to prove something, Durrenberger was being stubborn, that typical military hard arse stubborn, even though he meant well.
But then Max thought, the Ridges. The Spartan grabbed a sniper rifle from the back of the Warthog's flat bed and swung it round to the top of the Valley's crest opposite them; it was completely barren apart from a few rocky outcrops, that is where they would be. In his left ear he could hear Durrenberger saying 'what are you doing' but the Spartan pulled the trigger and fired. Taking the kick of the rifle well Maximilian waited for a fraction of a second, keeping his keen eyes poised on where he had fired. As he predicted a splatter of purple blood coated the rocks and the corpse of an elite became visible as its active fizzed and died, the Spartan knew it.
"What the hell!" Durrenberger said his eyes now behind the field-glasses"How did we miss them?"
"They are blocking our thermals, radio the marines and tell them to get the god damn colonists back in the trucks and get out of here!" Maximilian said throwing the sniper into the back of the truck "Quickly, they will be mobilising any second"
Once again just as Maximilian predicted, as soon as Durrenberger had spoken those few words into the two way radio, there was the sound of gunfire echoing throughout the valley, the elites had wanted this calm and quiet, Maximilian had made sure it was loud and messy, humans always did better when it was loud and messy. The Spartan dropped back into his seat and yelled for the colonel to drive.
The warthog began to tear through the forest, heading straight for the column of terrified civilians; Maximilian was wondering how many colonists and marines were already dead. No, he couldn't think about that, a lot more would be dead if it wasn't for him, he had to keep focused. The Spartan picked up the shotgun that lay next to his sniper and checked it for ammo. They would have energy-swords and plasma repeaters he thought, and with the substantial amount of cover down at the bottom of the basin as long as the fight stayed in the proximity of the narrow road, the M90 would do nicely.
The warthog slipped and skidded down the incline towards the refugees, churning up the dirt and leaf litter as it went, Durrenberger fought the steering wheel to keep control and the rear slapped
left and right on the muddy ground, just narrowly avoiding the trees that started to get thicker as they delved deeper into the valley. The truck careered over a fallen tree and gained air, they could now see the forest road and the screams and gunfire became much more distinct.
Maximilian's well trained eyes then became fixed upon the first of the Covenant he saw, an Elite, Minor class, it had its plasma repeater raised, approaching the civilians. In his mind the Spartan counted range, 150 feet, 100 feet, 50 feet, 25 feet, and then he jumped. As the Spartan hurled himself from the speeding hog and the elite spun round and let out a defiant roar, but it was too late, Maximilian tackled the alien to the ground hard. The Spartan scrambled to his feet quickly, quicker than the elite, by the time he was at full height the Elite still had its hands in the dirt. Maximilian drew his shotgun but decided to conserve ammo, this was an easy kill, he kicked the Elite solidly in the chest as it tried to claw its way back to its feet, the alien keeled over and Maximilian drove his size 15 boot into its jaws sending splashes of purple blood up his power armour leg.
The Spartan dashed forward and he spied another two elites nearby. They saw him too; he would not have the luxury of the surprise this time. They both opened their split jaws wide in a roar of fury as they raised their Plasma Repeaters and fired, spitting scorching blue energy at the Spartan. Maximilian dodged but felt the impact of two of the superheated plasma bolts strike him, one in the stomach, one in the thigh, the Spartan ignored the pain, he and his armour could take it. Maximilian dived and rolled raised his shotgun, firing off two shots, taking down the first of the Sangheili, at this sight the second one wavered, that was its last mistake, soon the elite found itself staring down the barrel of Maximilian's M90, he pulled the trigger, it fell.
Looping forward Maximilian started down the road, dealing with any Elite he came across quickly and efficiently, saving civilians and marines on all fronts but still the dead littered the roadside. Thoughts ran rampant through the Spartan's mind; he was supposed to be watching over them, how the hell he had let this happen.
Maximilian shoulder charged another alien to the ground as it was about to cut down a family it had pulled from one of the Refugee trucks, he raised the M90 shotgun and was prepared the pull the trigger, but the Elite grasped the barrel and wrenched it from his hands casting it into the undergrowth. Maximilian was taken aback and lost his balance, giving the Elite a moment to pounce forward and return to its feet. The Spartan regained his composure and in the dim light that illuminated the valley he could plainly see this Elite was something more than just one of those like he had disposed of already, the crests along its helmet, fine lines of blue across its burgundy combat harness, this one was a Zealot.
The Elite picked its energy sword back up and stood its ground, raising itself to its full colossal height it let out a hiss of 'demon' as it approached. Maximilian dived for a DMR that had been dropped by a fallen marine, he gripped the stock and brought the rifle to bear but the elite was quicker. Before he could get off a shot the Zealot's blade had gun's barrel right off. Maximilian dropped the now useless weapon and leapt back, dodging the Zealot's second strike, then ducking to avoid the third, before throwing himself at the Elite in a hope to disarm it. But the Zealot caught him and the Spartan found himself with its large four fingered hand wrapped tightly around his throat. Maximilian kicked out at the Elite but it wouldn't let go, he clenched his hands around its thick and scaled powerful arm and started to squeeze, digging his fingers deep into the flesh and drawing blood but the Zealot was unrelenting.
The Elite roared in triumph and held the Spartan aloft raising its blade to deliver the final blow; Maximilian frantically struggled, he couldn't give in now, he had to think. But then the Spartan saw it, a pair of little blue spheres on the Elite's belt, plasma grenades, instinctively the Spartan grabbed one just as the Elite raised him up and took him out of reach. The spartan primed the grenade and drove it into the elite's mouth. The Zealot's orange eyes went wide with fear and it let out low gurgling and grunting sounds, its jaws flapping helpless as the Spartan shoved the grenade down its throat, its vice grip released and Maximilian fell to the ground, scurrying away as fast as he could before a blue explosion blossomed behind him.
The Spartan hauled himself to his feet, he breathed heavily, his whole body ached, but he knew this wasn't over yet, the refugees were now further up the road from where he was standing, it appeared he had delayed the first Covenant strike team enough to allow the Marines to form an effective defence, and now with the alien's leader dead they needed to regroup. Maximilian looked towards the sky as rain smattered his silvered visor, Phantom's passed overheard with UNSC Hawk's in pursuit. Towards New Verbier the Supercarrier was starting to move forwards, ominous in the night.
Maximilian looked around for a moment, many were dead, military personnel and civilians alike, while the elites now lay with them he did not take satisfaction from this, he should have been better, he wished he had been better. The Spartan solemnly removed the dog tags from a number of marines who lay dead in the undergrowth before starting to sprint down the road to catch up with the convoy. But as he a ran a little symbol appeared in the top right hand corner of his HUD, it took him a moment to register what it meant but then he recognised it, a little black pyramid white pyramid in a circle, the symbol of ONI.