[}{]

Maddie "The Viper" Harper

August 12th, 2552

[}{]

…Each day goes by and each night, I cry. Somebody saw you with her last night, You gave me your word, "Don't worry 'bout her". You might love her now, but you loved me first. Said you'd never hurt me, but here we are. Oh, you swore on every star, How could you be so reckless with my heart?

I blinked awake, the drug was coursing through my veins and I could barely move as Mikaela finished her song. She sat, perched upon a nearby rock, a siren of the dawn as she looked out across the valley. Expectation was in the air, the silence before the storm hung around us like smog.

She was scratching something into a rock using a chipped stone she'd found the night before but something about me must have alerted her because she looked up at me as I stirred.

"We aren't moving quick enough." Declan said from behind me. I strained to look but it was futile, my neck wouldn't move.

"We should have thought about that before we drugged her." Mikaela replied, drawing her knees to her chest.

"You think we made a mistake?"

She sighed and hopped off the rock, "we did something rash… don't know if there was anything else we could have done. Except maybe take her at her word." She said, adjusting the rucksack under my head.

"You can't be serious."

"Of course I'm not," she laughed, "do you think I'm stupid?"

"I think you have a good heart Miki." I swear I felt him spit at me, "people like her love to take advantage of people like you."

She sat back against the cave wall and watched me, "my good heart isn't the best way to manipulate me." She said, her eyes narrowing. "My curiosity is."

"Oh, great, so you're screwed."

"If an ONI agent comes to you and tells you that she wants you to work on a project bigger than FTL travel and is causing a rift among the office's Elite level officers, including one she showed up with, would you not get even a little curious? I don't know how that could fail to pique anyone's interest."

"Survival instincts are funny like that." Declan said, flicking something metallic.

"There's more to life than Survival, Dec."

He flicked it again and I heard the unmistakable rip of flames bursting from a lighter. He drew smoke into his lungs and exhaled, the cloud wafting through the cave and out into the valley beyond.

"You'd die just for your curiosity."

"Worse ways to go, trust me."

"I'm sure she knows."

"Definitely," Mikaela laughed, looking down at me, "I just don't see how we can get her out of here. We're caught between two armies."

Declan moved to the mouth of the cave, looking out as the UNSC and Covenant clashed on the arid plains below.

"They'll try to take the ridge." She said, joining him. She looped a hand around his waist and pulled herself into his hip.

"You're sure?"

She seemed to shrug, although she could have just been pulling him closer. It was hard to tell. I wanted to bite my lip and scowled, that she had a strong relationship with this man made him pivotal to her trusting me.

"I've seen it before." She said, so quietly that I tried to strain to hear it.

"Oh, right." Declan tapped his foot against the crusty earth and took a long drag of the cigarette. "Maybe we double back, grab one of the vehicles?"

Mikaela shifted uncomfortably, "Transport is a good idea but I don't want to go anywhere that other agent might be. At least the covenant will just kill us."

I wanted to groan, or make noise but I couldn't, only a growing numbness filled my body, everything was weak, like I'd woken up with blood rushing into my limbs after sleeping on them. I settled for glaring at the top of the cave entrance, trying to make eye contact.

"And this one?" Declan jerked a thumb at me.

"Insurance?"

"Very convincing answer"

"What? I figure if we just wing it, it'll be harder for us to be tracked."

"These are professional fascists, Miki, they're trained to track down people like us and make them disappear. Permanently."

He was right, naturally. The unpredictable move had already been made, drugging and kidnapping me was a play that caught me off guard. Nico was another matter, of course. Even if he had been surprised, he'd have adjusted very quickly. I hoped that he had been stopped from killing Preston, I wanted to think he'd save him and use him as leverage against me. It'd give me a chance to save him at least… Perhaps he would believe me then.

There was so much that I didn't understand, something was being hidden from me, a great big steaming lie or rotten truth was at the centre of this girl's presence in my life. Afterall, why send Nico if I was supposedly capable?

I wanted to smash something, kill a brute, or blow up a bridge. There was a gnawing, clawing need for release and my paralysis made it all the worse. I was trapped like a soul in a coffin, bound to earth before cremation.

Nico was Parangosky's man, through and through. I could see it in his eyes, Drake's were similar. They were tortured but cold and uninviting,

I was sure that my helmet was gone. These two were naive but they weren't stupid. Sending the others away had been a holding action and Mikaela and Declan clearly knew it as I tried to refocus on them.

"I have an idea, '' Mikaela said, looking up. At some point she'd sat down and I could only see the top of her head as Declan looked back at her, his eyes eager to hear her plan.

"The Spooks and the SPARTANs were scouting, right? So how about we ask her what they were looking for? I'm willing to bet it has something to do with those spires we've been avoiding for the last few weeks."

"So?"

"So we go in that direction, hug the edge of the battlefield where we have the fog of war for cover and make a dash for Gara."

"It's a sound plan but that dash is a thirteen hundred kilometre walk if we don't find transport."

"Well there's always that place near Farkas Lake."

Declan frowned, "That's…" He grinned, "I hadn't thought about that."

I felt eyes on me.

"That's not somewhere she can go, though."

"Why not?" She replied, "it's probably abandoned by now, or on its way to being abandoned. You and I both know that those guys don't stick around when the covenant shows up."

"Yeah and you know why that is, right? That other agent isn't here for the same reason she is, apparently."

"Oh."

"Well we could always sell her to them if we can't trust her. I'm sure they'd love to get their hands on this one."

Declan hacked a little, the tell tale sign of a seasoned smoker.

"You mean because she's a Spook or because of something more specific?" He said, when his throat was clear.

"Check her shoulder. I saw something under there when we moved her."

"I'm not gonna strip her-"

"I'm not telling you to assault the girl, just take a peek."

He grumbled and tugged lightly at my neck, pulling the collar of my BDU down towards my shoulders as I glared every ounce of seethe I could muster. He recoiled a little at the sight of me as I tried in vain to bare my canines for him.

"What does that look like to you?" Mikaela asked, shifting in her rocky throne.

"A… snake's head." He swallowed, "surely not."

"I think so." She said, standing up and dusting herself off.

"Miki, if that's… she can't be trusted."

"She can be leveraged, though."

The buzzing feeling in my fingers became more and more pronounced as movement returned to them. I swallowed, looking up into the eyes of this pair.

I'd been in worse spots, of course. I wasn't a stranger to being captured and I certainly had been held by creatures worse than these two. There was a lot at stake here, though, there was Preston and Mikaela's trust, which hanged precariously in the balance, an insurmountable invasion occurring, and an ONI agent stalking my targets with intent to kill.

"The Viper…" Declan said sneering at me, "outplayed by two fugitives. I wonder how much we can get for you."

"Certainly a ticket off this rock." Mikaela added.

I heaved a breathful of air into my lungs. It was all the movement I had beyond wiggling my fingers and toes. I thrust the air inwards,breathing it into the fire that burned in my icy blue eyes. A searing heat that was plainly obvious to my captors.

"Thinking angry thoughts, are we?" Mikaela asked, "when you can speak again, try to be civil. There's a lot riding on what you say."

I wanted to scream out of pure frustration. I wanted to tell them they were wasting time, and that Nico would already be on our trail. All I could muster, with raucous effort, was a hoarse "we" as my lips barely shifted.

Mikaela leaned in, her eyes narrowing

I made a gurgling noise: "go".

My tongue loosened a little as I felt the drug wearing off. "Now."

"Someone's worried," Mikaela said, smiling.

I shifted my head, nodding slightly.

"She's pissed off, you can see it in her eyes, Miki."

"Declan, she's probably not wrong, though."

"You want to move her?"

"I want to get as far away from that other agent as possible."

I shifted. "Hel-et. I Help."

"Your helmet is long gone. Tied it and a transmitter to a moa and slapped its ass. They'll find it; they won't find you." Declan sneered.

I swallowed, it was smart but it wouldn't help, Nico was too well trained as a tracker to fall for that.

"Besides, if you think we're trusting the Viper, you're not half as clever as your rep would suggest."

He was met with the filthiest glare I could manage. He was right not to trust me, I wouldn't be in his position, but in trying to keep me at arms length, he was only making things worse. He knelt beside me and I could smell tobacco on his breath as he wrapped my arm over his shoulder and yanked me to my feet.

"Best to get moving, or that other Spook will catch us up."

Mikaela nodded and turned towards the cave exit. As she left, she began to sing.

[}{]

I could shuffle, now. The going was difficult but we were making decent progress due north. We were heading for an old depot, a relic from the days when this continent was being surveyed for minerals and sat at the very frontier of human space. The arid desert had started to give way to the grasslands that spanned the southern approach to Farkas and my ankles seemed thankful as the ground hardened from loose sand and gravel into soft mud. Far behind us, Szurdok Ridge was alight with gunfire and the sounds of battle. Occasionally, flanking units from both armies had moved in the regions nearby, engaging in small skirmishes that took time to avoid. As things stood, we were heading north along a dirt track built into a slowly rising ridge on the far side of the valley from Szurdok ridge. Dust routinely got into my eyes and nose, making me sneeze.

"That sneeze isn't very intimidating," Declan laughed.

"And?" I replied, steadily growing tired of his constant jibes.

"You're not exactly living up to your reputation."

"What makes you think I care about my reputation?"

He shrugged, content with the fact that he'd elicited a response.

"We should be coming up on a plateau in a little bit," Mikaela said, looking at a holographic map on her com pad. "From there it's downhill to the flatlands near Farkas."

"Reputation is everything to you people. You don't need money, you don't have a conscience so you don't need people, you don't need a home because you live on your Prowlers." Declan said, clearly bored again as he tried to rile me up.

I need people…

Mikaela began to hum a tune as she wandered ahead of us, the sun beating down on our necks as we wound through little rocky trenches to conceal our movement against the horizon.

"It might unsettle you to know this but I am human, you know."

Declan snorted, "Why would anyone choose to be a jackboot thug?"

"I had nowhere else to go. I was sixteen when they recruited me. I know for a fact the militia does the same, so don't pretend that you're much different."

"They gave me a choice."

"Oh, I bet. That's what I told myself too. You got lucky, you could have been manipulated by far worse than terrorists."

"You really want us to believe you care, don't you?" He laughed, twisting my arm slightly, it was clear he was having fun with the situation. He looked like he couldn't stop grinning.

"I ran into a top level operative who trained me to compartmentalise all the shit that was happening to me. He knew who I was, what I meant to my family and used every trick in his playroom to get me on board. By the time I was safe aboard a UNSC ship I was primed to give them exactly what they wanted."

"You could have chosen otherwise." He said, his voice as flat as a gavel's face."

I shook my head, "I wanted adventure, I wanted validation, I was curious about the things I'd seen and I felt obligated to see it all through. I didn't stand a chance."

"Woe is me."

"Look me in the eye and tell me it doesn't sound familiar." I replied, refocusing on Mikaela as she began to sing again:

Oh, life is bigger. It's bigger than you, and you are not me. The lengths that I will go to, The distance in your eyes. Oh no, I've said too much. I set it up.

"When I was drafted, it wasn't for adventure." He spat, glaring down at me.

"But it wasn't your choice."

That's me in the corner. That's me in the spotlight. Losin' my religion. Tryin' to keep up with you, And I don't know if I can do it. Oh no, I've said too much. I haven't said enough.

We were lost in the song for a bit as Mikaela continued to sing, humming the haunting melody as we trudged up towards the peak of the valley, giving us a clear view of the chaos below. She would increase her volume when she grew tired of our constant bickering and lowered it when she would hear something that interested her.

It was then that we could see, in the bright blue sky, a pair of UNSC frigates high above the battle, providing fire missions for the poor souls below.

I thought that I heard you laughing, I thought that I heard you sing. I think I thought I saw you try.

One turned away, the other approached the spire like a Phantom, looming imperious over the structure.

[}{]

Captain Alex Harper

August 12th, 2552

[}{]

Alex scowled, "how bad are we hit?"

Lights erupted over the status monitors, illuminating the faces of his bridge staff as the Aegis Fate swung hard to port.

"Major damage to the slip-drive, sir. Engines aren't sending us any data but they are operational."

Alex turned to his helmsman, "Liang, get us out of here, ping the Grafton, tell them they're on their own for the time being and that we need cover as we cannot monitor the engines. Let's get a flight of broadswords out there, as well. We'll have to eye-ball it."

"Aye Captain!" she replied.

"Message from NAVCOM, Captain! Intel suggests those canopies are teleporters, staging areas for the local forces." The comms chief's brow furrowed, "Noble team is on station, they're gonna take down its shields."

"It'll be linked to something." Liang said, pulling the Fate to starboard. "If it's operational… who knows what could come through?"

"Aye, but we can't afford to be cautious, Grafton will do her duty. What's the status of Noble Team, have they taken out those guns? We can't take another round from them or we're scrap."

People ran to and fro, shouting and barking like an organised choir of dogs, howling into the night sky.

"Noble Six is dealing with them now, sir but you have a priority hail from UNSC Winter."

"Van Graff? Patch it through to my office."

He retreated to the calm of his private quarters, standing over the holocom with a strained look. He accepted the call and Ollie appeared before him, taking the briefest of glances back towards Liang as she began to Marshall his bridge.

"Situation FUBAR, Cap."

"That's not what I want to hear, Ollie. What can I do for you?"

"I need a scan of the ridgeline out towards the northern lakes."

"What, why?"

"Last night, we lost contact with the HVT and your sister. I've been trying to scan for her but there's no way I can confirm it with all the covenant fliers up there, there's too much noise."

"Maddie is missing?"

"Out of contact."

"So missing."

"Yes."

Alex chewed his thumbnail. "Isn't the Winter equipped for this?" He asked, rubbing dry skin from a spot he had been massaging below his hairline.

"It's designed for deep space infiltration, all my sensors are designed to track tiny changes in a peaceful environment, when you throw a thousand craft into the sky and try to peer through that, the view is mighty fuzzy, even for this kit. Besides, triangulation will give us her exact location."

"Alright, I'll move the Aegis Fate out towards the ridge, that should give your drones the extra coverage they need to find her and draw us away from the battle."

"I'll be quick, Alex, I promise."

"You better. With us out the way, Grafton will be exposed and we cannot afford to lose her."

"Aye, Cap. Crystal."

Alex returned to the bridge and relayed the order. The crew obeyed like the well oiled machine they were, with no one questioning the strange order. He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes searching the intel map for any signs of strange activity. It wasn't uncommon to give these men awkward orders, with the number of spooks hanging around the ship, they'd almost relaxed around them.

Until Belloc arrived.

The man was an enigma, worthy of both reveration and wariness. Alex knew it was foolish to allow him on board, he was another blind spot as far as his sister was concerned, a piece on the board being moved by a master. His presence had unbalanced his team, he'd made it very clear who his boss was and he'd very pointedly said that it wasn't Alex.

The intel station blinked and his surveillance chief turned to him.

"We've spotted activity on the ridge beyond the spire, sir. Images from our array and the Winter's probes indicate a recently vacated cave housed two-to-five individuals in the period that Viper has been out of contact. We're tracking three heat signatures north, which we believe are our missing friends."

"The rest of Viper, where are they?"

"En route, sir. They're tracking them, progress is slow."

"And Preston?"

"He's with them, in the lead."

Alex bit his lip, he saw the roster for Viper highlighted on the screen, to see his brother and his would be killer so close was unnerving and Alex failed to notice the officer continue his report as images of murder flashed unbidden in his mind's eye.

"Sir?"

"Sorry," Alex said, blinking, "make sure they know they're being watched, don't let Belloc kill my brother."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Sir. I know his procedures, I can make sure he can't do it."

Alex thanked him and nodded, noting a small message that appeared in the corner of the screen as Ollie Van Graff terminated the call.

It was from Liang.

"An update from Noble team, Sir. They're inside the spire's shield."

[}{]

Maddie "The Viper" Harper

August 12th, 2552

[}{]

"That's a pretty song" I said, the haunting melody finishing as I scrambled down a rocky cliff.

Mikaela had agreed to allow me my movement, free of restriction. She'd said that if the Viper truly meant them harm, then she would have killed them long before they had captured me. Declan very astutely pointed out that spooks are well aware that harm and murder are two very different things.

"It's called losing my religion." She said, dropping towards me. "There's this guy and he likes this girl but he can't bring himself to say what he truly wants to say and when he does speak, it's awkward and difficult for him."

"Because he's forcing the connection? Or because he's just weird?"

"The first one. The cognitive dissonance between the person they've built up in their head, doesn't match with the reality he finds himself in."

"And that dissonance, it's told through a metaphor?"

"Yeah, he's saying it's like losing his religion. The isolation, the over-thinking, the uncertainty. He's losing his sense of self because he's so committed to his obsession."

I laughed, "if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were trying to tell me something."

She cocked her head, "I don't know you. If you see something in it, that's on you."

I thought for a moment about ONI and my commitment to the organisation. It was becoming increasingly clear that my time as a useful asset was coming to an end; the longer ARC DREAM continued to deliver the results that it had, the greater the threat I posed to Parangosky's dynasty. Only an asset entirely under the control of Margaret herself could head a project like this. The fact that Tuk mandated my presence must have infuriated Margaret, which has likely fueled her resentment for quite some time.

As for Mikaela, we'd grown somewhat familiar over the last few hours. Her constant singing made the time pass quicker, and I felt drawn to her siren songs of forgotten pop stars

"I've spent a lot of time in my own head, recently. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen something in the lyrics," I sighed, at last. "I know they're hiding more from me."

"Spying on your own, huh? Doesn't that get tiring?"

"It does," I admitted, "but they've openly told me there's more going on here and I think it's kept us in the war for so long."

"My mouth is shut, you can brood on your own" She teased, walking by me as Declan slid down the rocks towards us.

He eyed me cautiously as he composed himself, poking me in the back with the barrel of his AR as he took his position to our rear and resumed his perpetual scowl.

"I know passion when I see it. Whatever it is they want from you is nothing compared to what we could achieve together." I said, ignoring him.

"So you keep saying" she replied, cutting Declan off before he could point it out himself.

"I have more power and authority than almost any other Captain in the Fleet. I have more wealth available to me than anyone living human and more firepower in my fleet than the home fleet has in theirs."

"So?"

"And look what it's done for me." I shook my head, "my bosses hate me, CINCONI is out for my blood and my personnel, and it cost me half of my family. I'm saying that everything they gave me was from a poisoned chalice. I'm here telling you I won't make you drink it. I just need what you know."

There was a long silence. Mikaela had stopped to look me in the eyes and I could feel Declan boring into the back of my head.

"We're not buying your sob story, Viper." Declan said, shaking his head as he stalked around me like I was his prey.

"I just need you to listen to me. My people are coming. Your ruse won't throw them off for long. Our best bet is pretending that I captured you when they finally catch up with us."

"Escape is a longshot" Mikaela said, absentmindedly.

"Just keep what I said in mind." I replied, smirking discreetly as Declan parsed a venomous look towards Mikaela.

"You're gonna get us killed." Declan huffed, pushing past the girl as he snaked through the little ravine we were crossing. Declan found an incline where the gradient wasn't too steep and sighed. He ascended the rocky face of the slope, grumbling quietly to himself as Mikaela pushed me with her pistol, rolling her eyes as she did so.

It was a strange dynamic, one that reminded her a little of her own with George. It was clear that Declan was a fighter, a soldier born of a different war. He held himself with pride, obeyed without question, and seemed unphased by the prospect of danger.

The pair began, not long after, to bicker and banter. I hadn't noticed it begin because my eyes had been drawn to the horizon, where the unmistakable shadow of a Frigate's massive boom arm lurched from between two mountains. When I finally caught myself and blinked the image of ships falling from the sky out of my head, Mikaela and Declan's argument ended with a smile and a passionate kiss.

I smiled, the accord reached out like a wave. At once I felt better, seeing humanity play out before my eyes was a good reminder of why I was fighting.

A reminder of what was on the line.

"You two are awfully happy for a pair of hopeless cases, you know."

Declan held the girl in his arms and shrugged as I began to climb the embankment carved into the rock by some ancient and long-dried-up riverbed.

"Do they train love out of you, or did they recruit you as a monster?" He offered, callously.

"The second…" I said quietly.

Mikaela pulled a frown, one laced with pity. The look of sadness threaded through her brows as she again appraised me as I trudged past. Coming to a stop at the very top of the ridge, looking out over the valley.

"They keep me… by using this project against me." I turned to them as they joined me upon the perch. I was running out of time, the longer they doubted me the stronger they became in their opposition to me. "Look, I'm attached to a project called ARC DREAM. It's a science project designed to reverse engineer ancient artefacts and use them to ensure that, in the event that earth is lost, that humanity has a future."

"Or a means of revenge" Mikaela replied, eyeing me with suspicion.

"The best revenge is to live well."

"If it was just 'living well' that captured Parangosky's attention, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"I get it," I said, "weapons research is a part of it. We're starting with some very old tech, a type of forge, one that can engineer lifeless rocks into garden worlds. With that kit, we can build a fortress."

"One that could hide from ONI." Mikaela grinned.

"Miki!" Declan hissed, "what are you doing?"

"Playing our friend here off against Parangosky."

I blinked, "you know what I'm talking about?"

Mikaela smiled, "I do, and so does Parangosky."

That wasn't a revelation. It was clear that Parangosky had ulterior motives for meddling with my mission. What wasn't clear was why she needed something clearly related to my project for herself. A gut feeling screamed at me that I was being lined up for replacement.

"The problem is that we don't know where it is and the data bank we had to manually pull it from doesn't work." she shrugged, "Our family was the foremost group of experts in our field, a small group as that may be. The trouble was that no one could get it to work, the security protocols on it were… bizarre. We couldn't gain access to it like other artefacts, it just sat there, dead to the world."

I took a gamble but I was running out of time and growing desperate. "Almost…" I said, pausing. Are you sure about this? Drake's voice washed against my skull like the tide. "It's almost as if it's not Forerunner, right?"

"Exactly," she replied, assertively. Then, frowning as though she'd experienced some profound form of ego death, her eyes narrowed right into my own. I gulped, seeing the intensity in her eyes.

Passion.

"Curious?" I offered, watching Declan open his mouth to protest.

"Very." she said, glancing across the valley towards the ship that sat in the sky. "I have a proposition."

"Mi-"

"No. I won't hear it, Declan." Mikaela's tone had changed, that passion was driving her iron gaze and her titanium will. I'd poked the bear, for better or worse. "We will join you, for now, we ask a question each. When you can extract us, if I'm not satisfied that you're good for your word, then you drop us off on Earth."

"Sounds reasonable." I replied, trying not to grin at Declan as he stood aghast. It became easier, however, when I spotted the frigate Grafton powering up its MAC cannon. I tapped Mikaela's shoulder and pointed. "Watch, but shield your eyes."

Grafton was the only thing in the sky as it approached. From here, it was silent, gliding like an angel of death towards its target. A small spire appeared to poke into the sky ahead of it. For a moment, it stood tall and defiantly. Then, the giant rails of the frigate spooled into life, glowing briefly before a crack as loud as the splitting of a moon could be heard.

"Now, I am become death;" Mikaela said, watching the spire evaporate in the eerie silence that followed.

"Destroyer of worlds." I added, just as the Grafton was carved in two.