"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
-The Fox, 'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Sant-Exupery
24th of July, 2552, Standard UNSC Military Calendar
Vieri Territory, Reach, Epsilon Eridani system
07:28 Hours
The dirt path ahead, well-travelled by dozens of vehicles, the soil below it matted and whitened by their tires, stretched out deep into the Vieri mountain ranges. A single Warthog, a troop transport bearing half-a-dozen Marines, a driver and one of the UNSC's famous elite Supersoldier special forces, the Spartans, rolled forward over the hills, bouncing up and down, though thankfully with little discomfort thanks to the vehicle's good suspension. Up above, two UH-144 Falcon helicopters, twin-rotor, VTOL-capable transports, flew in low past the Warthog.
On it, a young woman looked at her helmet, one with a decently-sized visor, an overhanging armor plate and extra protection, as well as a hardened uplink system attached to it. She hummed, running a gloved thumb over the armored, polarized visor, then flipped the helmet around and sighed as she put it on, murmuring to herself, "Another day, another job..." and slapping the top of it. The AIR ASSAULT helmet was one of the best the UNSC had available for those like her.
She hummed and leaned back into the seat, gripping the barrel of her DMR with her hand and staring out at the sky. Cloudy, grey and dreary, it didn't really match the young woman's fading personality. Yet she commented nothing to the troops beside her, rather content with not really getting close to anyone for fear of certain matters reaching a boiling point.
She felt her stomach with a hand, tapping on the layer of ballistic-resistant, flexible material at her midsection and feeling nothing but the pressure of her own fingers. It'd become a standard little dance of hers since she was about four, back when the Covenant first came down upon her home. A home she barely recalled now, all of it faded into memory just like her dreams of a 'previous life'.
The doctors had called her a mere kid when she first volunteered for the Spartan-III project and told them about it. Dreams of a past life, of a disease incurable to modern medicine, but one that could be delayed, an affection to one important organ in her body that would have killed her young anyway. She had lived a semi-normal life for most of the time she'd found out about it.
It only became normal, happy, to her when he came into it. Normal and sane, steady... And then she...
She squelched the thoughts for now, noting that the grip on her rifle had slightly tightened. She sighed and held onto the crash cage of the transport as they rolled forward into the mountains. She hummed and patted down the rigging on her chest as well, ensuring that she had ammunition stocked for any mission that may have them deploying at a moment's notice. She didn't know how NOBLE operated just yet. Heck, she'd forgotten how teams operated after so long out of contact with any actual, proper comrades in arms.
As the transport vehicle rolled into the compound where UNSC troops were gathered, it rolled to a stop in front of one of the main buildings. While the Army Troopers dismounted, the young woman waited, checking a back pocket of the rigging and finding the familiar rectangular shape of an item she kept with her more out of it being lucky than anything.
It was her good luck charm, really. Her diary. 'A Soldier's Life'. Kind of a pompous and samey title to some silly movies she saw back in the day, but she figured anything would do for the title of something that would never get read. She slung her rifle onto her back as she jumped out of the vehicle, then hummed and stretched, letting out a short, cutesy whine, before stepping forward.
She marched by a landed Falcon, tapping the right rear rudder with her hand as she did and giving a calm, though wary wave to the other SPARTAN-III that was sat on one of the seats, loading his sniper magazines. His IFF tags identified him as Spartan A266, or NOBLE THREE. The bald man gave a tilt of the head in greeting and a snort as he continued loading his magazines. The Spartan woman entered the raised building, hearing radio chatter. A male voice spoke, rough, rugged and calm, Colonel Urban Holland, or NOBLE ACTUAL. "... with Visegrad Relay was lost last night. All signals flatlined at twenty-six-hundred hours. I responded with Army Trooper fireteams that have since been declared MIA..."
"And now you're sending us," Another guy spoke, a bit in disbelief. A man clad in blue SPARTAN armor, COMMANDO helmet on the table and a large shoulder pad. The holographic computer on the desk showed images of Visegrad Relay, the radio station keeping Vieri in contact with the rest of the wider world, or so the young woman had read...
Holland continued, "The Office of Naval Intelligence believes deployment of a SPARTAN team is a gross misallocation of resources," And he paused for a bit of dramatic effect, before finishing with a curt, "I disagree..." While the young Spartan woman at the door peered around the room. She locked eyes with a Spartan with a strangely terrifying helmet sharpening his knife on his armor.
A robotic hand caused the girl to take a step back as another young woman appeared ahead of her. A woman she quickly recognized as she spoke, "Catherine...?" with a hint of joviality to her tone. Kat blinked, then turned toward her and realized who she was, a small smile forming on her face. She looked over to the man talking on the radio and to the bigger Spartan beside him...
Then called out, "Commander..."
Spartan A259, Carter, or NOBLE ONE, turned to face the girl, while Noble Five, Jorge, stated with a smile, "So, this is our new Number Six..."
"Kat," The scary man with the blade, Emile, started, "You read her file?"
"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink," She commented, then said, "Though I'd trust her."
Carter seemed to blink at that, nodding to the girl and showing her to wait a second while he and Holland continued talking about the situation regarding Visegrad, causing the girl to keep one ear on that and one ear on the rest of the team around her. Kat looked over to the girl and stated, "I cannot believe that my ONI contact came through... Good to see you."
"Good to see you, too, Kat," The girl smiled behind her helmet, "Thanks for vouching for me..."
"You're welcome," She nodded. She knew Catherine because the two of them had cooperated once during a team thing in Beta company, tantamount to a 'group project', though with only two people instead of a group. They'd hit it off, much to both the girl's surprise and slight chagrin, but since the moment they were pulled out of the company for their various jobs, they'd lost contact.
Emile hummed and told her, "Hey, if Kat trusts you, I ain't got room to say anything. Pink's a weird choice for a side color, though..." and he motioned to the girl's accents and armor stripes. Indeed, though she wore a standard tan with some camouflage patterns drawn on, the young woman's armor had slight tinges of ping on parts of the arms, legs and buckle. That and the emblem on her chest plate was a sakura, or cherry blossom petal, drawn in fairly nice detail.
She chuckled and said, "Eh, I like it. Brings out the tan camo."
Emile snorted, while Carter turned toward them and said, "Lieutenant," eyeing Six.
"Commander, sir," She nodded and was prepared to give a Salute. He waved it off, while she waited for him to introduce himself and his team by name. She knew Kat, obviously, and the others she knew through both reading the files and through their name tags over their heads. The Commander looked to Kat, who gave him an approving nod, then back to Six.
"I'm Carter, Noble One. You already know Kat, Noble Two, as far as I can tell..." He spoke, then pointed to Emile, "That's Emile, Noble Four," and then pointed to Jorge, "And Jorge, Number Five."
"A pleasure," She nodded, then stated jovially, "I'm Sakura-B312, sir."
"I know. Good to meet you, too," He replied calmly, which made her smile behind her helmet. He told her, "You're riding with me and Jorge. C'mon," And started walking to the door, sliding his helmet on. Kat gave her a gentle elbow nudge and tilted her head, then picked her helmet up and slid it on her head, too, as all members of Noble filed out of the base.
"Not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant," The Commander started as the Helicopters outside started up their rotors, "You're stepping into some shoes most of the squad would rather leave unfilled! Me and seemingly Kat? We're just happy to have Noble back up to full strength..." And he motioned to the first chopper, where the Sniper was. Jun had put his helmet back on and held his Sniper, an SRS-99 model, at the ready, giving a quick salute to Carter. As they sat down in the bird, he told Sakura, "One more thing! I read your file! And we're all glad to have your skill set, but that lone wolf stuff? It stays behind! We're a team! Clear?"
"Crystal, sir," She replied with a nod. She was not here to make friends, what with death looming at every corner, but the least she could do is be nice with the team. She watched Carter lift his hand and spin his index around three times. The RPM of the engines beside them intensified, the thrusters below the turbofans kicking up dust. Jun gave her a nudge with his shoulder, too and she turned to him.
With a jovial, friendly tone, he told her, "Welcome to Reach!" as the Helicopters lifted off and banked right, turning toward the mountains where Visegrad Relay resided... The young woman felt a pit in her stomach for the first time in months. It was not a pretty thing, really. And whenever she'd had these types of feelings, it wasn't good. Her hand brushed against the pouch containing her little lucky trinket again as the helos flew forward into the clouds.
... Farther along, nearly half an hour later, the girl was doing another quick check of her DMR and AR, to ensure nothing jammed. Jorge commented, "You alright, Six? You've been looking over your guns since we started flying..."
"Just wanting to make sure nothing goes wrong..." She replied in a murmur, then set the MA37 Assault Rifle aside. Working with Army meant that they were getting Army rifles and equipment. It suited her just fine, honestly. She liked the 37. It was a rugged and reliable design, though in Misriah Arms's catalog, that's like calling out one needle being much finer than other needles of its type.
Carter hummed, then started briefing, "Alright. Listen up, Noble. We're looking at a downed Relay outpost fifty klicks from Visegrad. We're going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out and Kat's gonna get it back online," as they flew by a series of mountain peaks that had windmills and the local houses of the Hungarian-descended populace hanging off the sides of the steep slopes. Sakura could make out the distant antenna of the Relay outpost in the fog, noting the four prongs that acted as the transmitter boosters.
She hummed, then asked, "Sir, why would the Innies want to cut Reach off from the rest of the Colonies?" as she recalled her own anti-Insurrection operations across Human space. Some of her more calm missions, honestly. Much as she disliked having to kill humans, Innies were probably as easy to kill as if it was a picnic. That thought still shook her a little to her core.
"If you get a chance, maybe you can ask them, Six," The man replied. Sakura noted the name used, so she figured they still weren't comfortable with her being here, considering their former number Six died sacrificing himself to save a planet. Meanwhile, here she was, occupying his place. Just like the man had said, maybe the shoes should've remained unfilled.
"Should be fun," She quipped, garnering a short, violent laugh out of Emile.
As the helicopters swung in for landing, Carter called out, "Shootdown attempts are likely, so keep your distance..." to the Pilot. The pair of transports landed on a terraced hill in front of one of the houses in the area, allowing the Spartans to deploy out of the rear. Carter, however, ordered, "Three, stay in the Falcon. Maintain orbit. We'll need an eye in the sky."
"Roger," Jun gave a thumbs up and showed the pilot to lift off.
Carter approached Sakura and told her, "You're our lead, Six. Move it out, eyes open," before the girl's HUD picked up a Distress Beacon from down below. She gave a nod to Carter and put on what was tantamount to her game face, growing incredibly quiet and kicking into gear as she descended from level to level of the terrace, scanning the area, the high ground and the building ahead.
Once she hit the 'ground floor', she swiveled toward where the distress beacon was, finding a burning pallet, a Warthog that looked like it'd been struck by a boulder, going by how twisted the frame was and carbon scoring on both the warthog and the ground, though nothing resembling of any explosives. She advanced toward the burning pallet as the pings from the beacon grew in intensity, stopping as she reached the small, scarlet emitter.
She pushed aside debris from on top of it and called out to Kat, "Two. Distress beacon, the troopers," tossing the beacon to their tech specialist and going to join the perimeter with the others. Kat examined the beacon and sighed, then tossed it aside. Sakura, having noticed this, asked her, "No ID?" to which Kat shook her head, which concerned her.
"It's military, though," She stated as she drew her pistol. Sakura loved the Magnum. The M6G was a particular favorite model of hers, which she'd dual-wielded many times into battle. It was her own flair of sidearm combat that helped her deal with a lot of Insurrectionists, even armored ones. Though the gory details eluded her at the moment. She hummed as she heard Kat commented, "No Troopers... And where's the explosives residue?"
"Three," Carter radioed, "Can you confirm any EX Residue in the area?"
"Scanning..." Jun replied, then paused for a minute and stated, "Negative..."
Emile voiced, "Could be plasma..." anger boiling in each word.
Jorge shook his head, "Can't be... Not on Reach..." Wanting to be in denial. The possibility made the blood in Sakura's veins genuinely chill, then boil over with a fury she'd buried deep, considering she recalled her home's destruction at the ends of their plasma weapons. Carter gave a hand motion to the team to proceed, Sakura and Emile taking the lead now.
The group advanced in a staggered column onto a concrete outcropping that would normally have had a handrail. It seemed to support the weight of Spartan armor really well, though, even as the group pushed over it. They entered the building and pushed through, before Jun reported, "I'm seeing Heat Sigs in the structure ahead," just as she made it up a flight of stairs and into an opening.
The Spartans formed up upstairs and advanced. A civilian man appeared, hands raised and speaking Hungarian. Sakura didn't take to listening, instead kneeling and shouldering her rifle as she helped maintain a perimeter. She felt Kat's hand land on her shoulder and watched her comrade kneel beside her, scanning the horizon, weapon at the ready. Sakura partially pleaded, partially asked, "You don't think they're...?"
"I hope not," Kat shot back, wary. They pair listened to the discussion with one year, while listening to each-other with another. Kat told her, "I'm honestly surprised your Handler would drop you in with us, but it isn't like I'm complaining, considering your file. You went from the peppy, but quiet and distant kid to one of the most dangerous Special Forces assets we have..."
"When work calls..." Sakura chuckled awkwardly.
Kat hummed, then asked, "Did you find him, by the way?"
"What?" Sakura blanked.
"The boy you talked about..." Kat murmured and Sakura took a moment to actually be surprised that Kat remembered. Much more, she needed a couple seconds to realize Kat had believed her when it came to him. She looked to Kat, who said, "They wouldn't have taken you in if they didn't believe a word you said. And frankly, I'm tempted to believe some of the insanity you spewed back in the day, too.. Can't be any less believable than aliens."
The Japanese gal took a moment... Then snorted and gave Kat an appreciative pat on the back. She looked to Carter, who ordered a double-time. The group climbed up the hill ahead, toward another building. Entering it, they found it dark. Sakura activated her VISR and blanked the moment the green light filtered into her HUD. She lowered her rifle as Carter murmured, "Damn..." And replied to an interrogative from Jun, "We got casualties. Two of the missing troopers..." as he advanced to one of them, the man hanging by a hook, "... Looks like they've been interrogated."
"... Innies wouldn't pull this," Sakura murmured, shifting her rifle up uneasily. She walked up to one of the men and examined his injuries, then looked over the Civilians that were also killed there. With a sigh, she pulled both Troopers off the hooks and gently laid them down to rest, closing their eyes in a show of Spartan respect for them. She asked Carter, "Can we get CASEVAC when contact's reestablished, sir?"
"We can," Carter nodded. Though his voice didn't show, the man was somewhat moved by the young woman's care. He motioned to the rest of the house and said, "Move it out, Noble. Double Time..." and the group continued their advance. Delving deeper into the house, the group picked up a contact on their motion trackers. Six looked back to the gang, all of whom tensed, before all of them rushed outside.
The group paused as they saw the avian-shaped frame of a bipedal with bow legs. The creature glared at Sakura as she hefted her DMR, then squawked loudly and m multiple times, as if to warn its comrades. The girl, despite herself, aimed and shot the bastard in the head, watching the corpse collapse, sprawled over and dead, its rifle clattering to the floor. Carter stared at the dead creature and said, "We've got company..."
"Company?!" Jorge balked, angry, "It's the goddamn Covenant!"
For the first time in a while, Sakura felt her heart stop out of fear. She swallowed empty, then murmured, "We have to keep moving. There's bound to be more," before turning to Carter and Kat. The Commander gave a nod and one chop of his open palm forward and the Spartans pushed into the other side of the building. Just as she made it to a window, Sakura stopped as the window itself shattered, a pink projectile piercing through it and flying just past her head.
She jumped into cover as bolts of green energy started to lance out her way from the pistols of Unggoy, or Grunts. An enemy platoon was spread out in the courtyard ahead and was advancing toward the house. She poked out and snapped off a shot, nailing a grunt in the head before ducking back into cover as the wall behind her was pounded by plasma fire.
A pair of Elites in blue armor, Minors, they were called, lead the advance, their plasma rifles whirring and spitting plasma out at an alarming rate, fast enough to pin the girl down. For want of a nail, though the rest of Noble poured in, their weapons roaring with automatic and focused fire through the windows, relieving the pressure off of the young newly-arrived Noble member...
Damn Covvies...
