Halo – "Love at Long Range"

Location: Nearby a base of the Beaumontia Rebel Association
Beaumontia, Epsilon Eridani system
November 3rd, 2548
10:57pm

"Just like old times. I really missed working with you, Jun."

"Same here, princess. But to me, it kinda feels like it was just yesterday when you, me and Emile raided that base."

She turned her head at him. "Yeah... kinda does, doesn't it?" Heaving a little sigh, she returned her attention to the 1-storyed base below her. "So this is it, eh?"

"Yep. Valentine identified it as one of their more 'superior' bases. Oliver's either in there or there's something in there to tell us where he is. Val, be a dear and give us a sitrep, won't you?"

The Smart AI got onto their team's COM channel instantly. "Certainly! I have identified 25 hostiles in total. There is a slight chance that we'll have something that tells us where Oliver is. Shadow One and Two will be on stand-by just in case, but I have faith in the two of you!" She said joyfully in her thick English accent. "Do what you do best, children. Oh, and Celestina – welcome to Shadow Team once again."

A smile immediately came to Celestina, despite her SCOUT helmet blocking it. "Thanks, Valentine! See you when we get back."

"You nervous?" He asked in a playful tone.

"Say what? Come on, Jun. This is nothing. We're just gonna go in there and do what we always do. I mean…" Then there was a slight detection of uncertainty in her voice. "This may be my first mission after all that therapy, but still!"

"I was just being silly as usual, princess. I wouldn't worry about you and you shouldn't worry about you. You're going to be fine," He sat one hand on her shoulder. "I believe in you and always will."

She nodded her appreciation. "Loser becomes the rabbit?" She asked, lifting up her fist.

Behind his Scout helmet, he produced a little smile. "No need, princess. You take the base. I'll be the rabbit."

"Really?"

"Consider it an early birthday present, perhaps?"

She chuckled at that. "You're a doll. Alright then. Watch yourself, sweetie."

"Always."

As soon as he turned away from her, the little smile she had disappeared. She was always the one worrying about anything and everything, and that included the man who had been taking care of her since the day they met. So when he offered to be the "rabbit", to be the distraction for the guards on the exterior of the base so that she could gain access via the rooftop, she was concerned.

She then heard a grenade go off from a distance, enough to grab the attention of the guards outside of the base, as well as her own attention. Those guards left their positions and met up, taking a slow and careful pace to the direction of where that explosion came from.

"Over there! Get the Spartan!"

She gasped softly. Jun?

"Looks like I've got trouble. Now's your chance, Celest! Get in there and raise hell!" He said over their private COM channel.

Please look out for yourself. "I'm going!"

Successfully making her way to the rooftop, Celestina observed the action going on below one of the windows. In the armory, rebels were running up and down in almost what looked like hysteria, complaining about the explosion and the 'damned Spartans'.

Shit. They were expecting us. This is gonna be a little more difficult. Gotta look out for any traps.

She moved on to another window, accompanied with a fire escape, which displayed the surveillance room. Jackpot. There was no one in the surveillance room at the moment, so this was the best time to get in. She used opened up the fire escape door and climbed down hurriedly, expecting the next guard or guards to walk in. She clung to the wall next to the doorway to wait for the rebels.

Her motion tracker showed two of them heading this way. The door slid open, she held her breath, they both walked in together and she stuck her foot out for them to trip on.

They both fell on top of each other, morbidly confused. She pulled one up to his feet and punched him in the face as hard as she could. The other tried to scurry away and draw his weapon but she got his arm, kneed him in the stomach and delivered one elbow to the back of his head.

She was glad that the door was opaque. She dragged their bodies away from the door and took a few seconds to expect more trouble, but there wasn't any moving on her motion tracker. Satisfied, she moved to the console below the dozen monitors. She typed in the override codes as quickly as she could and a smile crossed her face when the monitors went offline.

Time to raise hell and find out if there was anything that could point to Jamie Oliver's location.

"Get the Spar-"

Celestina flung her one of her two combat knives at the rebel who was standing at the back of the room, silencing him. The remaining three Innies were taken out by her Magnums. All was quiet now. Rebels were all over the place on her motion tracker, some of them even getting out of range. That didn't make sense to her at all.

She left the break room and hurried to the armory. Along the way, Jun got in contact with her and she could clearly hear the gunfire and yelling in the background. She knew he was giving them all hell. "Celest!"

"Talk to me, sweetie. What's up?"

"I'm heading back to the base. But from where I'm standing, you've got some of them taking off."

"What? Are they that frightened of me? But I'm so cute and cuddly!"

As he caught his breath, he couldn't stop that chuckle from coming to him. "No doubt you are, princess, but this spells trouble. I'm going to try to stop them, but you need to be careful."

"I hear ya. You too."

With a hard kick, she broke down the door to the armory, where there wasn't a single soul. Weapon lockers and caches were opened up and some weapons were just lying around - as if the Innies were trying to grab everything they could and bolt.

Something was certainly not right.

It was then her ears picked up a soft bleeping noise. It sounded like it was coming from one of the unopened lockers. With very little effort, she opened the locker door… and froze.

"Oh FUCK," Immediately, she took off. "Jun, get the HELL away from the base!"

"Caught an Innie trying to escape in a Warthog, so I'm a great deal away. What's wrong?" Jun questioned, holding that last Innie in a headlock.

"BOMB!"

He dropped the rebel instantly. "Celest-"

He was thrown to the ground from the impact of the explosion. The base went up in flames just before he could finish his sentence.

Something inside him died at that moment. "No! Celest!"

There was nothing on their COM channel.

He watched with horror as the base continued to burn. "Celestina!"

"I'm here!" He turned his head to the direction of that voice. Celestina came jogging, working her way around the base and to her partner. "Jumped out of the nearest window and used armor lock! Shit, I almost became barbeque! Let's never do that aga-oh!"

She was taken aback when he scooped her up in his arms as soon as she got to him. Mustering a little laugh, she patted his back in an assuring manner. "I'm okay, sweetie! It was just quick thinking and little bit of luck, that's all!"

He didn't say a damn thing. He just continued to hold her close to him.

A/N: Words cannot express how sorry I am for taking such a long time to update. :(

But the next chapter is going to make up for it, I promise! Stay tuned!