The ground war on Reach had taken a strange turn. While the Covenant fleet had successfully deployed into north and south polar insertion positions, they had been just within range of Neibelungen's fixed anti-ship batteries. This had caused the two fleet groups to enter and remain in Reach's atmosphere. While this drastically reduced the effective range of their surviving beam weapons, the Commander of Forces Reach was himself unwilling to fire indiscriminately and risk hitting the planet. This allowed the Covenant time to establish fortified beacheads.
This also bought the UNSC fleet enough time to move back into orbit, though they were similarly hesitant to fire into the low altitude Covenant forces. They instead assumed geosynchronous polar orbits in order to keep the Covenant forces pinned. The UNSC would not fire into the massed fleets, while the Covenant would not deploy individual ships
With the Fleets in stalemate, it was left to the aerospace and Infantry forces to force-project, which both groups did with ruthless abandon.
The current front Aethyta found herself, Noble Team, and Fireteam Majestic assigned to an assault on Uj Sándoré, or New Alexandria to the visitors of Reach.
Kat low-ran up to the rest of her team, while Majestic suppressed a plasma cannon nest in a nearby highrise.
"Air-Boss says they've seen another squadron of dropships coming our way from the southwest. All our fighters are tied up with the CRS that slipped the picket line." She popped her helmet off to grab a quick bite. "They count ten craft: two Spirits, and eight Phantoms, plus they dropped four Banshees as soon as the Hornets got close enough to ID them."
Aethyta mentally crunched the numbers she had learned over the last several months: thirty troops in each of the Spirits, plus twenty-four in each of the Phantoms gave a troop count of 252, plus at least eight vehicles if they were coming in all heavy, though she thought that as rather unlikely.
Commander Carter looked around the embattled cityscape. "Not really a good spot for Wraiths or Ghosts, so expect Revenant Mortar Carriers and Specter Gun carriages."
Philip pointed to a pair of office towers. "Best air approach would be up that parkway. If we put Hell-Jumpers with support guns on the Commercial helo pads, they could delay any push to the air defense batteries. We just-"
He was cut off as a pair of Falcons swooped into the plaza, disgorging a Spartan team in vibrant primary colored armor.
Jorge moved over to a bright blue colored Spartan. "Caboose, what are you doing here? Last I heard, you and the rest of F.T. Washington were assigned to the Staff of Charon?"
Caboose shrugged. "The Charon took a hit from a Corvette in the last Covie breakout attempt, so we're getting redeployed. Beats the hell out of endless 'Blood Gulch' simulation runs." He nodded to where a silver Spartan was consulting with Commander Carter. "Captain Church has the full details."
Carter sighed in the way he tended to when Kat came to him with a crazy idea, and rejoined his team. "Alright Noble; Fire Team Washington is tapping us out. We're heading back to Sword." He held up a hand to stop any arguments. "No, I don't know the reason, but it has both High-Com and ISA confirmation codes, so we're going. Saddle up."
Aethyta rode with Kat and Emile back to the rally point, where a Pelican picked them up. They heard the distant rumble of explosions.
"Don't worry," Kat leaned back in her chair. "Washington comes across as a gaggle of oddballs, but they're top-notch at field improvisation."
Emile scoffed. "You mean, 'they're wildcards with a penchant for going off mission, and we'll be safer once we cross the equator'."
The Matriarch spent the trip back to Sword Base being told the almost farcical history of the now infamous Spartan III 'States Company'.
...
Gallun watched through the salvaged Human rifle scope, as his prey stepped off of the ship. He had watched the base ever since his last report, and knew the rhythms of the animals within.
She had returned far too soon.
Unfortunately, the Demons proved more cunning than most gave them credit for. After he was run out of his hide, they had increased their security. They did not do so with machines, but with small hunting animals.
If they had employed a technological sensor, he could have swiftly adapted, but these were purpose bred hunting animals. Perhaps with time and freedom to act, he would have been able to devise a strategy to confound the beasts; but he had neither of those. All he could do was watch from a distance, and wait to report this latest change.
...
Noble Team descended into the depths of Sword Base, but this time went all the way to the bottom. The ice cavern was lit by a combination of work lights, and diffuse sunlight near the top of the Artifact. A Marine detail guided them to a fortified door buried into the ice under the Forerunner structure. Once inside, they saw Doctor Catherine Halsey working furiously by a terminal.
"Good, you're here." She tapped a few more controls and brought up a star chart. "Udina would probably want me shot for telling you what's going on, but I need you to understand the importance of what you are being ordered to do.
"I mentioned before that this was a Forerunner ship, and that we were trying to salvage whatever we could before the Covenant came to take it away. Aside from some last minute fitting out of the Infinity, which I have been asked to oversee, that process is complete. This data cache is the only thing of importance left here, and it needs to get offworld."
"And," Jorge promoted when she paused, "what's the catch?"
She gave the mountain of a super-man a matronly look. "Patience, Jorge, I was getting to that." She pulled up a particular system on the map. "The 'catch', is that we have deciphered a reference in the ships nav logs: references that match translated Covenant 'holy texts' pertaining to their 'Great Journey'.
"Some of the data has degraded over the last one hundred thousand years, but the ship's log indicates the site is either a weapons cache, or a single weapon. If it is the former, that technology could give us the edge we need to really push back on the Covenant. If the latter, then we dare not let them have it."
She turned back to the squad. "If they have even the remotest idea of what is here, then they will throw everything at you to get this." The map collapsed, and was replaced by an AI avatar. "Do not let them get this."
"If it's that important," Aethyta asked while crossing her arms, "Then why only one squad?"
"For the same reason we are defending on two fronts: to maintain the illusion that this is just one more base." She gave the Asari a suspicious but appraising glance. "I am aware of your findings, and the potential security risk of involving you personally, but Cortana has insisted."
The AI avatar waved at the team. "I calculated that, absent the potential for testosterone poisoning the usual Spartan Team suffers from, your diverse team provides a net advantage when weighed against potential threat actions."
Carter sighed and squared his shoulders. "Alright, so we're relocating the AI to a slipspace capable ship. When, and which one?"
Kat smirked. "If I had to guess, one of the old cruisers waiting in the Sino-Viet Breaking Yards in Asźod, which has recently had several shipments of second line munitions brought in, rather than shipped out; to say nothing of the mysterious reorganization of Blue Team, when John-117 went dark a week ago."
The AI chuckled, even as Catherine scowled. "Oh, you're good! I knew I'd picked the right team."
Halsey snorted and turned back to the computer. "You all have twelve hours to get yourselves rested up and ready to move; Asźod has had several probing actions in the last week, so they may have seen our preparations. Be ready to fight."
...
Aethyta clutched the restraint harness of the Pelican jump seat. She cradled her newly modified HY/MARS. It turned out she hadn't needed to sacrifice her shotgun, as there was a new under barrel mounted plasma-gun being trialed. It apparently drew off of the rifle's inbuilt Omni- scavenger and battery to recharge, but was slow firing.
She shifted her equally new helmet. The armorers had apparently been working on modifying UNSC infantry armor to accommodate her Biotics. They had settled on an unpowered insulating body sleeve and carapace setup, to which she attached her Omni-tool and Kinetic Barrier generator. Those she knew were compatible.
Now, she and the rest of Noble Team were flying low over the canyons west of Asźod, carrying their payload of one Artificial Intelligence.
She didn't know if she was learning anything about Human military thinking, but she was definitely getting a crash course in how fast they would adapt to a given situation. That was as important a takeaway as anything else.
She just needed to survive long enough to report her findings.
The craft buffeted, causing her helmet to shift slightly.
"Give it here," Emile held out a hand, while drawing his knife. Once the helmet was his, He carved several grooves in the back padding, then used the waste and a human Omni-tool to create a small plate and strap, which he secured below the cuts. "Try that."
Once back on her head, her tendrils filled the carved slots, while the extra pad settled below them against the nape of her neck. The fit was near perfect.
She smirked at him. "It's gonna take more than that to get into my pants, but thanks."
Emile scoffed and leaned back. "Lady, you're not packing nearly enough below the belt for me to be interested."
Aethyta shrugged. "Eh, suit yourself."
Carter came back from the cockpit and looked around. "Word from Dot is, the Covies are reinforcing their presence in Asźod; nothing heavier than a Wraith so far, but lots of everything else including Banshees."
He grabbed a handle as the Pelican nosed up. "We're putting down here, then hoofing it to a security checkpoint. It was abandoned when Sino-Viet pulled forces closer to the breaking yard, but they should have ground transport we can use. If not, we valorize something from the Covies."
The Pelican touched down, and everyone rushed out. Aethyta looked around at the smooth walls of the nearby canyon that Carter was heading for; it was unlikely she'd need to make any shots longer than fifty meters, so she put away her rifle and shouldered her Disciple.
The squad cautiously wove their way through the slot canyons, pausing as the occasional Covenant vehicle floated overhead. They made decent time until Jun called them to halt.
"Buggers just around the next switchback; pretty sizable Swarm, too."
Aethyta pulled out a UNSC 'Covenant Recognition Guide' from one of her armor's many pockets. The short page on that species noted both their tendency to cling to walls, and to swirl over the heads of their targets. She put the book away as the squad was coming up with a plan.
"I have an idea, but it's likely to attract attention."
Emile rolled his shoulders. "Good, I was getting bored."
He stumbled slightly as Jorge gave him a dope-slap. "Don't borrow any trouble we don't need, just to keep you entertained."
Phillip put a hand between the two spartans. "Anything we do is a trade off. The only way to avoid the Swarm is to climb up, but then the Covies will see us. We blast our way through the Swarm, and either they get a call out or the noise brings their friends to the party."
"Jam and blast," Carter said. "Move as fast as possible to the canyon end in one klick." He looked at Aethyta. "What's your idea?"
"Get them to Swarm, and I'll drop a Singularity in the middle of them; they aren't strong enough flyers to get out of that, -I hope-, so you hose the lot of them while they're stuck together. The rest will likely cling to the walls, so they should be easy targets." She activated the Incendiary modification on her shotgun. "Minute and a half, tops, then we're ghosts."
Carter nodded, then the squad stacked up. It took a moment to isolate the Bugger Swarm's comm net. The moment the jamming started, the Swarm began buzzing. One Drone took off from the wall it was clinging to, and headed up and out of the canyon.
-PHZARK-
The drone dropped to the ground from the Plasma shot fired by Phillip, and the whole Swarm erupted in motion. He stepped back, and Aethyta stepped around.
-BAWERW-
The once swirling murmuration of flying aliens became an angrily buzzing mass. There were several Buggers still clinging to the walls now shooting at the Matriarch; they were swiftly dealt with by the rest of the squad. The Matriarch simply flicked her wrist, launching a Warp into the mass of panicking Buggers.
She checked her chronometer. "Forty Five seconds; not bad at all."
Carter swept his rifle across the canyon walls once. "Doesn't get anyone out of PT. Noble Team, double time!"
The Spartans and Matriarch could all hear various Covenant vehicles buzzing overhead as they ran. Thankfully none stopped over them or their path, and they made it to the opening, near a sheer cliff. On the far side of a bridge over a shallow but steep dry creek bed, was a Human made block house and chainlink fence. There were several Grunts between them and their objective.
Carter shouldered his HY/MARS as he ran. "It's Killing Time, Spartans, and we are on the clock!"
The team scurried down to the bridge, while Aethyta Charged down the hill. She opened fire with her Disciple as soon as she came to rest, while Noble Team laid down covering fire.
She was chasing a particularly squirrely Grunt as the Team was running across the bridge, when she was blindsided by a cloaked Elite. Only the armor's VI controlled activation of her shield spared her from being skewered by an energy sword. The violence of the tackle did cause her to drop her shotgun, and knock her HY/MARS off of its magnetic clamp.
"Praise to the Forerunners," the creature she recognized as a peer to the one she had Melded with shouted as it ran, "for I go now to the Great Journey!" The Zealot leapt off the cliff with Aethyta clutched to its chest.
She wriggled as they fell down the several hundred meter side of the bluff, but couldn't get her arms free; so she decided to speed things up and biotically increased her mass. The sudden change in weight caused the Elite to let go, and she kicked off into open air. Once free, she reversed her weight and floated the rest of the way, watching as the alien screamed until the moment of impact.
Once she touched down, she walked over to the shattered corpse. The only things left intact were a plasma pistol, and an energy sword.
She dialed up her radio output as high as it would go. "Noble One, Echo, over." She waited a few seconds. "Noble One, Echo, over." After a few more seconds with no reply, she decided to at least signal her survival. She raised the pistol high, and fired out a Morse Code message: -ALIVE-
A return series of shots lit up the sky over her, though the plasma dissipated before hitting the valley floor: -COPY, C. M.-
She was glad they had stuck around long enough to confirm her status, but couldn't blame them for continuing the mission. She checked the rest of her supplies, consisting of one general purpose Med-Foam canister, two grenades, and a canteen of water.
"Not the worst situation I've been in. At least there aren't any Thresher Maws."
She holstered the pistol, then settled in to wait for pickup.
"I wonder if I can rig my Omnitool to project one of these?"
...
Gallun could almost laugh at his good fortune! The time to conclude his hunt was upon him.
When he had reported the change in the Demons' pattern, the most noble Fleetmaster had thanked him for his contributions to the war effort, then ordered him to return.
"Ones better suited to facing a Demon will deal with them now."
The Stalker snorted; that better suited Elite was now little more than a stain on the rocks below, while the Demoness sat quietly by its ruin.
Alone.
Waiting in one place.
There would be no better time than now.
He began the long climb down to meet his prey.
...
Aethyta was working on projecting a shaped gravity field for her prototype omni-plasma-blade, when she heard the first sounds of distant artillery fire. The sound disturbed several small creatures that began running, when she noticed they shied away from one particular spot.
She snapped her shield up just in time to intercept the first thrown projectile, as a shape raced out of the treeline at her. She threw a Lift, but it cast a chunk of something and kicked off of it, breaking her biotic hold. It darted back into the trees and out of view.
She had seen just enough of its shape to tell it was one of the Covenant people: a Jiralhanae, a Brute.
"There's no use hiding from me," she called into the wood in the Elite language, as she drew her salvaged sword. "I know you're here now, and I know your people are here for genocide. Either come out and test your luck, or run away while you can." She snapped the blade on. "I know which one I hope you pick."
"Defiler," a voice boomed out of the forest, though Aethyta couldn't tell where from. "Your bluster rings hollow before the might of our Covenant, Demoness!"
"Our Covenant," the matriarch scoffed as she relaxed and centered herself, back to the bluff. "Your people didn't even join the Covenant until after the birth of my youngest daughter; though join is a rather strong word, considering how easily the Elites beat you into submission."
The Brute chuckled darkly from the woods. "You think to bait me like some wild beast with your taunts?"
"Aren't you, though?" Aethyta cautiously searched the treeline with a subtle biotic probe. "That is all you are to them: a Brute, a violent beast to be sacrificed to their Gods. You've certainly done nothing to dissuade me from that opinion." There!
She threw a faint opposite of where she sensed the Brute, then swatted aside his lunging strike. Her riposte did little more than singe his fur before he was back in the trees.
"We'll see how your opinion changes once the full might of the Covenant descends upon your worlds!"
Aethyta scoffed as she began scanning again. "The full might of your Covenant is just over two thousand ships, counting the ones trapped here. My people alone have a mightier war fleet, and our allies possess ten times that many!"
"LIES!"
Aethyta barely got her guard up and her feet biotically planted when the Brute lunged out of the trees and slammed into her shield. She took the opportunity and dove into his surface thoughts.
"So, your name is Gallun."
He screeched in fear and rage and leapt back. "Demoness!"
"Goddess, but I can understand how a primitive could get them confused."
Gallun shifted uneasily as he reevaluated his prey. "You think to claim godhood for yourselves? We shall wipe your blasphemous kind from the stars!"
"You think so?" Aethyta chuckled, then laughed as she allowed her biotics to flare and distort her voice, even as she began floating off the ground. "I am but one Asari, among hundreds of millions! All are blessed by our Goddess Mother Atheme with the gift of Biotics: that Dark Power that terrifies your Prophets so.
"So please, try to invade! We shall gladly rend your flesh and souls alike, and send you whimpering upon your blighted Great Journey!"
She was distracted as the brutal bulk of a Human cruiser roared into the sky. When she looked back, Gallun was gone.
She let her biotics cool down, and took a long pull from her canteen. "Damn, I'm gonna feel that in the morning."
...
Gallun raced through the trees, unconcerned if he left a trail. The launch of the heretic ship would drown out his passage, and he doubted the Demoness would give chase.
Why would she bother?
He was thankful for that contempt, as it bought him the time he would need to return to the Covenant lines. The Prophets needed to know what he now knew: a race of Demonesses, each with the power to bend and twist the fabric of reality as easily as they stripped the minds of their victims bare.
...
"Fleetmaster," Thel's adjutant barked from one of the Augury stations, "it is just as the Stalker reported: a team of Demons rushed to the scrapping yard, and passed something to one of the ships there. That ship has launched!"
Thel growled. "Send one Ket Battle Cruiser and six Zanar patrol cruisers to harass the Human fleet."
He opened a direct link to his personal flotilla. "I am departing to pursue these heretics wherever they intend to flee! Shipmaster Djo 'Thedumee, I leave the occupation and retaking of the Prophesied artifact in your hands." He pointed at the commander in question. "Do not deviate from the plan I have laid out."
Though he detested the family ally of disgraced Shipmaster Jul 'Mdama, Djo was the senior most commander in the fleet. He trusted that Shipmaster 'Thedumee, now Fleetmaster, would put duty before Clan Politics.
Once Djo disconnected from the link, he returned his attention to his remaining commanders. "I will be taking the core of the Fleet of Particular Justice to deal with the Heretic ship. The rest of you must focus on securing the Holy Site, and expunging the Human infestation on this world."
He closed down the connection, and waited for word from his Augurs.
"Fleetmaster, the Cruiser group has jumped into the Human fleet; the Heretics are breaking formation."
"Signal my force to launch now!"
As much as he wished to see the liberation of this holy world and its relics from the unbelievers, his very spirit told him that this course would lead him to his destiny, and that of the Covenant.
...
Admiral Drescher squinted at the hologram in front of her. "You want me to what, Councilor?"
The image of the Turian Councilor Sparatus flexed its mandibles in what might be a subconscious threat display. "I believe I was quite plain. We know what is happening within your borders, where it is happening, and how important it is to prevent this from coming to fruition. I, along with both Councilors Valern and Tevos, are willing to offer military assistance to help protect your world of Reach.
"We have a full Carrier Strike Group: sixty-three space combat platforms this Covenant has never seen before, ready to deploy to the Arcturus Relay hub, and Slipspace capable Super Transport to bring that group to the front. However-"
"However, the Treaty of Shanxi forbids Citadel military assets from passing through any relay leading into UTSG space, I know." Kastine leaned back in her ready room chair. Aside from rumors coming from ISA agents who dealt with information brokers, she and the rest of the Ark Colonial Nations had no real intelligence on what was happening to trigger the 'Winter Contingency'.
The offer by the Citadel Council could be nothing more than a ruse to get a fleet into Human space, but her gut said otherwise.
"Fuck it, I'm due to retire anyways. Councilor, I'm sending a Prowler with my authorization codes to allow you passage through our defense nets." She leaned forward and speared the alien with a glare. "They will be traveling with you, and they will contact the appropriate authorities. Keep your fleet on a leash, and your commanders on their best behavior."
Her hand hovered over the comm cut off. "And... thankyou. It's been a long time since we had allies, or hope."
The Councilor nodded, and the emitter went dark. She tapped a control and called up the Duty Officer.
"Lieutenant, contact Captain Okita of the Hoshi no Umi. I have new orders for him."
