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FICTION

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"Sting like a Bee"
October 5 2527 - Hour 1905
SGT Felicia Sanderson
Kalmar-II, Nova Jutia, Planet of Vodin

Do not go loud.

This was something Felicia was more than happy to keep to heart as this operation required the utmost secrecy and the utmost caution to not get detected. Her current squad was going through a real baptism of fire which would make them worthy of their current badge. They were infiltrators, thus they were expected to pull through this operation without having to deal with any expected issues. And with their MK. II armor, they were going to make it simple and quick.

Operation: NIGHTSHADE was the label used by the higher-ups to classify the infiltration of the Covenant's main base in Vodin. The Colony had fallen just two weeks ago, with most of the locals having gone underground while the enemy troops were looking for them in their houses. Plans related to the underground system had been removed before those could get discovered, thus providing the survivors a chance to survive for some time.

Before they could go into hiding, they had sent a report through a deep-radio message which the Covenant didn't find, all classified so that only those aware of Vodin's peculiar system could understand what was going on. Clever move, and it provided the UNSC with the much needed counterattack platform they needed.

To say that these two months had been intense would be an understatement: the Covenant had experienced a shake up in their military leadership and whoever was not leading things around had taken precautions which were nullifying most of the 'fight big' tactics which had been used up to this point.

Instead of focusing their attention on planets of major strategic interest, their enemy was conquering those smaller planets which didn't exactly have a major relevance within the short-term gains of this war... but were soon becoming issues with the fact these served as forward bases for their fleets to go around some of the main defenses established in some major colonies around. They were taking it slower than before, and now their precise strikes were leaving FLEETCOM panicking over the chances of eventually having the Covenant snooping around for Earth if they continued to hop from planet to planet, dodging any major bases they were garrisoning.

Thus, Felicia's mission was of crucial importance. It wouldn't influence the war on a major level, but it would help restore morale while also allowing her team to show off their skills. NIGHTSHADE's goal was to destroy the gravitational elevator that the Covenant were using to send supplies and troops from their small fleet down to their land forces. Once the elevator was off, the UNSC fleet assigned to the reconquest of Vodin would move in and take care of the scrambling Covenant troops.

There was a time limit, so they had to be quick about this. Quick and clean. Their infiltration started through a stolen Phantom that was rigged to appear in the Covenant's systems as one of theirs, and they used this to land on a small outpost just outside their base. There was a small dispatch of grunts led by two brutes manning the defensive positions, and soon the two big apes approached the dropship with four of their little friends.

And that's where the fun really started.

Two members of her squad were told to go down and 'clear things out'. Thus they did, and the Jiralhanae looked more confused than before as he was greeted by a Sangheili and a Kig-Yar.

"We weren't expecting reinforcements," One of them remarked, causing the Sangheili to sigh.

"There have been reports of human infiltrators. We are quietly reinforcing everywhere," He muttered, causing the two Brutes to share a look and then nodded at once.

"Sounds fair. I suppose you need to see the full state of our defenses while we also take care of waking up the... fodders."

A nod. "That would be most appreciated."

Politeness should have been a reason to worry considering the animosity between the two races, but it was late and the Brutes were more concerned of fighting potential human attackers than wasting time thinking of the dead they already were. Both turned to start walking towards their center of command, failing to notice in time how the Sangheili had already unleashed his mini-energy blades and moved to stab both brutes in their skulls. The Kig-Yar retrieved two silenced handguns and drilled the grunts' heads without getting a single yelp out of them. The small group crumbled before them and the tallest of the two turned to the ship.

"It's done."

And thus, NIGHTSHADE could finally begin. Felicia descended together with two more armored soldiers and nodded at the Sangheili.

"Good job, Mruda and Kib," The leading officer praised. "But now it's time to get going."

Mruda 'Lusovee and Kib were two odd additions to the team.

While many would have expected the Sangheili to be quite hot-headed towards humans, Mruda was surprisingly 'soft'. He mentioned having not trained in the ways of the warrior and having initially pursued a path into becoming a scholar, something that drove him to actually seek human-made books once he was allowed to join BALMUNG.

He was quite the intellectual, but rather unfit for direct confrontations due to the lack of direct combat basis. He was, however, a capable and silent killer when needed. He was aware of the necessity of limited killing and how espionage spared a bloodbath from happening. Quite the ostracized fellow by his kin, but recognized as an exceptional member to the INF Sub-Division.

Kib was also an anomaly, but not in a rather polite way. If he wasn't doing a mission, the little thing would be screeching around and trying to attract attention. He had short-attention span, tended to leave messes behind when he was done eating his meals, and he had a thing for taking things a bit far at times. Not far enough to piss off people, but he was genuinely a troublemaker. Their troublemaker with an exceptional capacity in handling the heat of the close quarters despite being a Jackal, his race renown for being best suited for sniping.

And while they left for the path leading to their main goal, the Phantom lingered for a while as the group started to move, together towards their objective, with Sif working to set down a temporary jam on the communication system through a remote control that was within reach through the Phantom. Once that was done, the dropship would go back to base and retrieve Serin with her team to clear the outpost, set up defenses and allow them a good spot to exfiltrate.

Felicia soon spotted the walls surrounding the base's perimeters. Within sight they could find two Jackals, both snipers and both quite distracted looking within the base. That was their first real obstacle, and she turned to the rest of the team.

"Svensdottir, Gomez, these are yours," The squad leader ordered, the two members nodding as they retrieved their grappling hooks and silenced rifles.

The Jackals died quickly, their bodies hooked and brought down on the bushes right below the wall. That's where Mruda retrieved the large grappling hook tool they were going to use to set up a rope to reach beyond the gates. There was no plasma barrier, not yet at least, as it was common protocol for the Covenant to not waste energy for those until strictly necessary.

Once the rope was set, everyone climbed up and they were soon standing on top of the walls. From there they had sight over their goal and... the numerous squads of hostiles between them and it. It would have been a nightmare to face if not for a single detail within the new model of the armor that made it effective for this sort of business.

"Camouflage, now."

One thing she was glad Doctor Gerhardt had added to MK. II was the Limited Infiltration Camouflage System (LICS) which allowed their suits to 'phase' out of sight through a similar system adopted by the Covenant Sangheili's armors. It wasn't a perfect solution, ten seconds allowed for little movement right now, but it gave them the chance to slowly pass through the various Covenant troops in their path by sneaking left and right, and eventually they reached their destination.

Now, that was where things were going to get a bit spicy. There was a Sangheili guarding the control room for the elevator, which was not an easy kill considering the chances of getting caught due to unwarranted noises coming from that kill. After all, they were expected to have the guy killed quickly despite his shields. Mruda took the hassle, employing his traditional energy sword to stab the guard from behind while muffling his maws with his free hand.

It was the cleanest assassination possible despite how risky of a move it was, and gave them the chance to set down the explosives they had for the big bomb. Leaving was surprisingly easier than it had been before. They managed to get their departure to happen around the time the troops holding the base were going through a change of guard. It was now or never.

They made it out of the base, trailing back to the outpost they captured and, from there, handed the detonator to Serin as she was almost done setting up defenses. Once the Covenant fleet was engaged by theirs, they would need a place to start sending their land forces and push the Covenant out of their little base. So, the outpost would do just fine with that task. It took a moment for the detonator to trigger the explosion they wanted, with Sif confirming the destruction of the elevators and the success of NIGHTSHADE, with the beginning of Operation: FAFNIR now a go as the major assault to retake Vodin was soon to begin.

And this was just the beginning of a proper counter-offensive. A very bloody one at that...

AN

The war enters a new phase, Thela has been making changes and getting victories that fuel her popularity, but now the flaws of that aggressive fighting is going to be thrown back at her...

And she expects it, hence why she welcomes it.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

Also P*treon: P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin