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"Strike Two"

December 3 2525 - Hour 1211

Major Thela 'Vadamee

Jamshid, Black Reef, Alpha Corvi II

The Prophets had been clear: this planet held a Forerunner artifact that had to be retrieved at all costs.

Thela wouldn't have expected any less in terms of commitment, so she wasn't surprised when the fleet dispatched was of worthy size and divine aim for this current mission. The planet, 'Alpha Corvi II' as the humans were calling it, was a nest filled with divisions and dissent. Their enemy had been fighting a civil war for years now and this was one of the planets with a sizable force manned by 'Insurrectionists'. This was the opportunity to strike, and the Field Marshal wasn't planning to let this chance slip from their grasps.

Seven dropships were organized, Thela had been picked to man with other brethrens the sixth Phantom and take part in the attack on Beach C. The plan was fairly simple as it centered around landing and rushing to retrieve the objective. It was quite frustrating to hear fellow Majors lamenting the idea of securing beachheads when this wasn't the clear goal. They didn't have that luxury, not when they had been experiencing some morale issues. The first two engagements against humanity had been an overall set of failures. Sure, Harvest fell to the Covenant's rule, but it didn't last long as a proper first victory when one of their most expensive ships got destroyed by a 'lucky' survivor.

The battle of 'Chi Ceti IV' was even worse. They barely got near to completing the mission when he was there, again. The 'lucky' survivor. Some of the officers within the high command were quickly realizing that this was much different than they had expected. A mere human had gained the attention and the awe of the most fearsome warriors of Sanghelios. Not many non-Sangheili could proudly flaunt that achievement, but it was hardly a positive one with the current climate they were facing. They were the enemy, and the generals' awe was more of an extra concern when those individuals were involved in combat.

The operation started a few minutes earlier than expected, with the expectations being six hours of constant warfare. Thela craved for a quick win in two. Of course, it was idealistic in nature and ambitious in practice. And she wanted to get this first live mission to go this well. She knew she had to get an early 'push' from this very moment, and she knew this was the very operation that was going to grant her that.

The Phantoms easily tore the weak defenses around the island with their turrets, allowing for a mostly safe landing and a quick brawl within the beaches, with Human rebels stupidly rushing in the fight. Very foolish considering they lacked the means to hold their own against plasma and possessed inferior firepower. They were quickly shredded by the newly-deployed ground forces and allowed for the main aspect of the plan to be enacted. They had to storm this city, reach the location where the energy pattern of the artifact was located and then get out of the ground. While they had the advantage, there was no reason to take an extra risk when it came to a Forerunner item.

Once the beachheads were cleared, some of the troops remained behind to gain control of the vehicles that were being dispatched to ease up the entire plan. Several Ghosts, a few Revenants, some Spectres and three Wraiths. But while the temptation of boarding one of the Spectres and having part of her team employing ghosts sounded enticing, Thela picked a very risky decision which her second in command didn't lose a chance to take a jab at.

"It would have been convenient to gain extra protection for the trek," Minor Zyt 'Zuttinee lamented much to the commanding officer's own frustration. "The humans-"

"Have enjoyed some advantages due to how cautious we were with our tactics. We need to be bolder for once rather than allow them to gain initiative," The female Sangheili sharply interrupted, her gaze turning at the Unggoys. "Be ready with the grenades in case the humans form large groups."

The trio sharply nodded at the command, looking more terrified by the commanding voice than genuinely disciplined into the fight. It was the best that one could hope to get out of these 'Grunts'. Thela urged a quick breach into the city and took a maze-like route across the city via the buildings. Fast routes didn't necessarily mean safe ones. Not when Humans had proven to be able to play dirty when they had the chance to. Any unarmed civilians were to be ignored despite the general order to slay any human on sight. Another whine from Zyt, this time silenced with a solid reminder that their equipment was far from enough to manage human-genocide with the current burden they were given to solve. Plus, her word was supreme until the high command reinforced the general order, and right now the priority was the Forerunner artifact.

The trail across the city taken by the newly-made Major was intense, but it saw just three issues in the form of Rebels trying to make a stand with small-caliber equipment. Nothing that some plasma couldn't solve. Thela's resolve remained hard through the entire situation despite the sudden developments reaching them through their active communication. The main convoy had been ambushed thrice now in the span of a single hour, and the toll was getting frustratingly high. Two of the Wraiths were gone, seven Ghosts had been butchered, and they were down to two Spectres and a single Revenant.

Zyt was oddly quiet during this news, while the Grunts took a smug delight in praising 'luck and their boss' for not getting them killed. Very amusing, but of little help as they were close to the location but not in the conditions to make a proper assault. The best idea was to settle in this position and wait for a second wave of reinforcements to give them more manpower. Sadly for many cautious officers on the field, most of the more irritated officers towards Humans regarding the last two losses thought little of precautions at this point. It was a bloodbath, but they were mostly through their defenses. The rebels had depleted most of their forces in the ambushes, and there wasn't much to worry about their current fortifications as two Phantoms were recalled to assist their breach.

Pink plasma pounded the sturdy-looking walls, shattering what little defense the humans had set in the great mine where the artifact was supposed to be. The infighting resumed more viciously as soon as her squad plus two other Major's reached the closest elevators to the lower floors. The rebels were making each position a last stand, forcing a slower approach due to their current predicament. The underground caves might look solid, but anyone with some common sense could see how a couple of ill-thrown explosives could kill them all with ease. Hence why humans were killed on sight, out of the fear of any survivor using a well-placed grenade to collapse the entire section of the mine.

Luckily, none of that happened, and they finally found it. Thela held her breath at the tiny crucible held mid-air, the device looking minuscule and yet of great importance due to its current location. She stepped up to retrieve it before contacting the High Command.

"Field Marshal, we have the artifact."

"Good to hear, Major 'Vadamee. Sadly, I have to tell you and your fellow Majors that the current facility is being enclosed by humans. An enemy fleet is currently engaging ours in a space fight and we can't send out dropships with how many fighters they have employed. Find another way out and return to the ship with the Great Ones' tool."

Frustrating, but not an outright issue.

"This is absurd. How do they have a fleet already intercepting ours?" One of the Majors ranted angrily.

"These humans are more formidable than expected. The prophets-"

"I would suggest you cease now, brother," Thela interjected strongly. "One more word and you will be touching Heresy."

"She is right. Stop with your defeatism and... we need to leave," They were both looking at her. Maybe they were trying to get her to fall there now that the situation was at risk. Or maybe they genuinely depended on any kind of opinions in this situation. Thela didn't care much about either option. In fact, she already knew how they were going to leave.

"The Humans were using their own dropships to move their troops. Perhaps we could find one of those capable of seafaring capacity and use it to evacuate."

"This..." The more aggressive of the two thought about it, his mandibles twitching. "This could work, yes. We need to find where their hangars are."

"Their vehicles have unique patterns, we might be able to find out which is the closest to ours in terms of energy input," One of the Minors suggested, tracking down with his energy detector anything that fit the match. "And I found a couple currently at low-energy just on a lower section of the facility."

"Lower?" The cautious Major inquired at the confusing detail, but Thela realized what it was all about.

"Perhaps it's an underground hangar. The island has many natural caves, so it would make sense the humans had built a secret Hangar in cases of attacks of this kind," The female Sangheili elaborated, getting numerous nods at this. "Then we better get going and find some of their dropships to evacuate the relic."

There was no hesitation in agreeing to her point as they didn't have any other options at hand and the situation was quickly slipping out of their control with the arrival of new foes and soon they were running to get to the lowest floor of the facility, killing a couple of rebels that had tried to set up an evacuation on their own to get out of the facility. Once more, the skirmish proved to be simple due to how few plasma shots were needed to kill the humans, but as they prepared to conclude this operation for good, Thela spotted something on the side.

Things were going well, all hostiles had been taken care about and the Minors and Majors that knew how to activate human dropships prepared three of those so they could finally leave the mine, when suddenly she saw something briefly glow on the side and Zyt running towards the dropship-

BANG!

A powerful gunshot erupted on the side just as she pulled Zyt away out of instinct and she saw a bleeding human holding what looked to be a strong-looking rifle. The bullet had struck its target, but instead of a headshot, it landed on his upper arm. The Minor yelled in pain, then groaned angrily at the attack.

A sniper.

Zyt weakly slouched on her side as she rushed up back to him, noticing that he had been struck by the bullet. She picked his Plasma Rifle and used this combined with the one she was holding to barrage the close assassin. The human barely yelped as he suddenly found himself burned by blue plasma. The Minor coughed tiredly, but his strength was still there since the wound hadn't been outright fatal. From the way his arm was bent, it was something tied to his nerves in that section of the arm and he could recover from that thankfully ill-aimed shot.

She personally helped get his weakened frame on board of the dropship the closest with the help of the Unggoys. Soon, the ships rushed through the tunnel that led outside, blitzing over the water and then propelling upward as they prepared to reach the atmosphere. The High Command was alerted of their current situations and managed to track their patterns to distinguish them from those of the humans.

The result of the operation was... brilliant. It was a complete success since the artifact was safely retrieved and her squad managed through with a single wounded. Zyt was going to be able to make a steady recovery in roughly a week from that day and Thela could only smile as she was given the chance to be promoted. Again.

She was given a choice between a warrior-centered Rank such as Ultra or trying her hand in leadership as General. The former would give her the chance to find greater challenges as a personal warrior, the other as a decision-maker. While her blood called for greater challenges, her soul and ambitions called for glory. And the greatest glory was to properly show off how she was more than capable of handling the same decisions as a male. Thela knew it would give her little chances of finding 'him', but she believed in chances. And she could tell it was eventually going to happen.

Soon, if possible.

AN

The Battle of Alpha Corvi II ends before the UNSC is able to retaliate properly and recover the Forerunner Artifact. The presence of Spartans-II is surprisingly unimportant due to the 'impressive speed' put through by the Covenant land forces during the assault.

Despite previous victories, the UNSC is in no position to truly exert itself as an equal of the Covenant... yet.

EDIT: Forgot the Q&A!

REVIEW Q&A!

ZILLAFAN:
1) I have plans to introduce more weapons, some of which comes from the CE Mod, SPV3;
2) Possibly yes, there are one or two that comes straight from SPV3 and are pretty OP;
3) MACs are already enough, UNSC just need to find a way to put the Surface-based versions on Ships and they will have a shield-cutter in their arsenal;
4) Aggressive Retaliation might be more dangerous on the UNSC than else. They need a proper supply lines and damaging planet-based infrastructure of conquered Covenant World could weaken their efforts;

DerpAngel: He will have his own team forming from some outcasts from both sides. Also, the reason why they aren't giving him quick ranks is tied to political games. I will expand on it soon enough, but the Marine Corps/Navy is already wrestling the control of the War Effort with ONI, and they don't need to paint a target on Log due to how important of a pawn he is against Spartans (it's not a direct clash, but I would define it close enough to the US-Soviet Space Race in some aspects, who gets the coolest move on the other).

ScientistXXXX: Some stuff was altered compared to First Contact, with the first one, the amount of Marines deployed being heightened to match the necessity of training the militia. The Official Battle Data estimates that there were just 3 known marines and 52 Colonial Militias, where the numbers were heightened to match the importance of Harvest's protection in this story. It is considered an important food-producing planet and one of the biggest strategically-important places in UEG-controlled space. Also, Sif's survival is determined by a change within her decision of keeping on fighting, something that doesn't happen in the canon-timeline in the books.