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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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"Second Bagration"
January 27 2528 - Hour 1601
PO1 Grace-093
Côte d'Azur, Nova Burgundy, Planet of Sigma Octanus IV
P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c
Pxtreon: P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin
Grace had studied many important battles for humanity, but Operation Bagration was not one she was familiar with.
She knew it was something related to the Soviet Counterattack against Nazi Germany during Operation Barbarossa, but she wasn't fully sure on how this truly mirrored this circumstance. Still, it didn't matter to her that much- after all, this is where she could finally show more of her skills without getting any complaints. Her siblings were going to still whine and groan, that's a token reaction, but she had a strong feeling that she was given more leeway than any of those around them and under her command were aware of.
Major Sutton was the kind of superior officer she preferred to work with. He just seemed to understand her- he could see what she could do and why it wasn't as bad as many would paint it as. She wasn't, of course, against some of the criticism she would get from Halsey. The hag may look ugly when chiding them, but she meant well and it was all for their improvement rather than to demean them.
Grace was not different than the rest in that regard, with her performance always in need of a touch more of control within the destructive fashion she carried herself around. But as this operation came to be, Grace felt that she was enticed- no, she was encouraged to be a vicious explosive thing. Was she favored by their commanding officer? She had a feeling that 'Log' knew her well enough to trust her judgment. And this felt ten times more relevant than hundreds of criticism.
She had to be perfect within the parameters of the mission, but 'have fun' with what she can do within those.
When Log said that they were given freedom on their destructive choices, Grace didn't expect for clearance to use some of the so-called 'Super-Units' to be at their disposal. The AC-220s flying over their heads were a clue to that, but so were the Grizzly Tanks that she was manning with her team as they proceeded to their destination.
In a sense, she knew Log had purposely set her to be restrained in what she could do at the time by giving her an important task: reach the city's national museum and recover the artifact held inside the building. It sounded so simple... and it frustrated her a bit. She knew that the next step was for a retrieval team to get it and then let free to join the general battle over the planet, but she felt a bit irked that she had to do something else before having fun.
"Something gnawing at you, ma'am? Can feel your inner whining from down here."
Grace held back from shooting back at the source of that cheeky comment, merely staring at the blinking green dot in her visor that was Adriana-111.
"You are missing many shots, Adriana," The young woman rebuked, the Spartan-in-chief not in the mood to be poked fun by the unruly girl.
If Grace was the troublemaker due to how ruthless she would get with explosive weaponry, Adriana was the snarky dumbass that had a thing for being an utter jackass. The many times she was told of her just escaping the training facility 'for fun' were enough of a clue of her deeply-entrenched value of unruliness.
"Ouch, and here I thought that we weren't meant to fight while dad is watching."
Grace was normally one that didn't show much of a temper, but she was scowling at this.
"No wait, is it 'Daddy Sir' to y- W-Wait, I was joking! Aim that thing away!"
The panicked tone from the female Spartan as Grace aimed the tank's double-barrelled cannon at her own vehicle was just amusing. So much that she didn't hold back a giggle at the reaction. A groan then came through the comms, this time it wasn't Adriana.
"Can't you two be any louder?" William-043 asked sarcastically, causing Adriana to snort.
"How about you make me with one of your jokes, Billy?"
Another groan from the lone guy within the group, causing their last member to hum.
"Girls, I think this is a bit too much. Aren't we supposed to focus on killing all hostiles than bicker?" A softer voice pointed out and Grace felt her brain sobering up at that reasonable response.
"Sure thing, Angel, just don't bruise my conscience this badly," Adriana replied mirthfully.
"I-I am not an Angel," Cal-141 nervously rebuked, the cute teasing always getting through her calm and soothing personality.
The light banter came to an end right as the Vultures picked up speed and pushed forward, engaging with the few dropships in the area and decimating them with their heavy weaponry. The path was freed of any aerial disturbance, but there were a few vehicles and hostile squads blocking them from accessing the museum.
The tanks started to blast into the soft targets with a few shots piercing through the light vehicles and causing Ghosts to explode before they could get any close to shoot them with Plasma. The Wraiths took a while to turn and get in position to counterattack, but by the time they were turned, shells had already slammed onto their frontal armors and detonated right by the pilot seats.
Precision was something Adriana prided herself and she was ideal when it came for well-aimed blasts at the weakspots of vehicle. Which was quite the ironic development considering she had self-bashed her capacity to actually use the explosive gun at the efficiency Grace wanted her to. Cal and Will were evenly matching due to their attention to the large squads, delivering explosive greetings right where the leaders were located and crippling the Covenant Squads' leadership early.
The pure butchering of grunts was satisfactory as a partial refund for the lack of her promised fun, but she got to experience some more of it as she blasted through one of the walls and rolled her tanks through the large rooms of the building until she found the artifact. The Covenant had tried to set an ambush inside, but nothing worked to stop her unforgiving heavy-armored rush. The artifact was found and Grace left her tank just so she could pick it herself and then led the vehicles out of the building.
"...Grace?" Cal hummed nervously.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure this is... right? We just thrusted tanks into an important building and detonated a few pieces around."
"We recovered the artifact, that was the priority and I took precautions to lessen the chances of anyone getting hurt. That's enough."
Not a patch-up response, but enough of a response to keep everyone calm as they made their way to the exit. There, a vehicle was hovering over them. The Pelican was carrying an unusually big tank and standing by the edge of the transport bay was a certain commanding officer in his armor and... wearing a Santa Claus' hat.
"Ho Ho Ho," Major Sutton said as the vehicle was detached by the Gunship. "Rally around, troops, because you have been good kids and I am bringing you gifts."
"Aren't we a month too late for Christmas, sir?" Adriana asked, her upper body peeking from the tank, yet she looked quite interested to see where this was going as her attention was on the large and heavy-looking bag.
"True, true, but I thought all of you may see it more as a way to christening your first operation under my command. Plus, I had the pleasure to speak with a few weapons producers in the last few weeks and they have been gracious enough to let us try out some of their prototypes," Log announced, jumping off the dropship. "Grace, let's start with you. This is a M820 Scorpion. There are two models right now, this is one of them. Cannon uses 150mm shells, and it's twice as fast than a Grizzly."
Grace's eyes widened behind her visor, delight flashing as she walked up to give the artifact to the commanding officer.
"Treat it nicely, Grace. I know you want to have a joyride, but be mindful that the point is also to not let the Covenant destroy it."
"I-I will treat it with the proper respect, sir!"
Log turned to the other Spartans.
"Adriana," He started, retrieving what looked to be a sniper rifle. It looked different than any SRS99 variants, but it held something familiar to it. "This is a bit of five centuries-old sniper that has been refitted to work with standardized bullets. Barrett XM109A5, the cartridge holds 7 rounds made by 26x89mm bullets. This thing will kill and only kill so... be wary of when you use it."
As someone that loved to snipe, Adriana looked extremely excited as she rushed up to retrieve the item.
"Also," Log hummed holding her from leaving by the rifle. "It's Papa Sir or Dad Sir, I will not accept Daddy Sir again, missy. If not, then next Christmas I will leave you empty-handed, gotcha?"
Tense and mortified, the usually cheeky girl went back to her tank very quiet and very bruised in the ego.
Will was chuckling to himself but didn't miss the chance for his gift, which was a VTOL that was hovering over their heads. A variant of the Sparrowhawk, the AV-22C.
Finally, it was Cal's turn and she was a bit perplexed by the unusual weapon she was now holding. "Sir, what is this?"
"That's the ARC-X Railgun. It's a bit of a work-in-progress, but its a workable one. Single electromagnetic shell, quite easy to overheat so you keep an eye on that and..." He paused, giving her a serious look. "I am giving you this because I know you have been a very responsible individual in this team. I expect nothing less about it and I know you will stand up to match and beat my expectations. Keep being their Angel, because they would be a bit hopeless without you around. Got it, Cal?"
Cal saluted. "Sir, yes sir."
Log retreated after saluting back, moving to retrieve Will's Grizzly with the Pelican while the Spartan boarded his VTOL. Once he was out of sight and they were given new orders to finally clear out the nearby blocks, a certain chatty Spartan spoke up about this last exchange.
"...Heh, you heard him, Angel," Adriana hummed, causing Cal to... scoff.
"If you tease me again, I will tell you on dad."
That surprisingly worked as Adriana silently bailed to get back on her tank, causing Cal to smile in relief while Grace and Will chuckled quietly at the comeback.
Things sure are about to get quite amusing with this new chain of command, this much Grace could proudly accept.
AN
Ah yes, how I like my Spartans: limited socially, very adorable, brutally effective.
Also, I released two new story concepts on Pxtreon called Murderous Cinderella which features a The Boys AU where Homelander has a twin sister and she has a thing with Hughie. Things go Yandere and things go crackish; Then there's Never Take a Pirate for Grant'd! which features a Grant Danasty!SI with Lite Gamer powers venturing the world of Castlevania Netflix. First stop? Trying to stop Dracula solo! You may be able to read them a month in advance (it will be published in the archive thread a month on QQ after its release on Pxtreon) by applying for even the lowest tier, which is literally a 1$ or so each month.