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FICTION

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"Destructive Reaction"

March 4 2528 - Hour 1245

Field Master Thela 'Vadamee

Abord Day of Jubilation CAS-class Assault Carrier, Orbit over Planet of Reach

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Thela was never one to show much emotions during an intense battle if not anger, stress and irritation.

Amusement was not something anyone, not even herself, could have expected to feel throbbing out of her throat in a mauled start of a giggle. Yet, that noise happened and she had to take a break from watching the invasion of Reach unfold. The fleet had arrived late, an issue caused by the fueling system of their newest biggest 'toy' as it had been given to that inept Brute that was Tartarus.

Nepotism was nothing new, but incompetence through it was never a pleasant discovery even as this easily lead her to gain a greater reputation and control in the long-run. What she couldn't forgive, however, was what made her laugh once she was alone and away from any onlookers. The sheer idiocy she witnessed personally and the 'gift' that she didn't expect she needed to see as a sign that this was the battle she had looking forward for so long.

A moment, the Supercarrier built with the notions learned from the Forerunners was creating havoc to the human troops on one of their most important planets, their agricultural base where all food and basic supplies were generated to. No matter how big the Human fleet was, the massive bulk of the Covenant Navy rallied for this battle was not meant to be beaten with ease.

And the first hours of confrontations proved that to be the case. The orbital fighting happened so swiftly that ways into the planet were found and invasion forces were employed to land ground troops on the planetary surface. Troops moved and were already besieging relevant landscapes of the planet while smaller ships took care of burning any crop in sight.

That was until one of their Battlecruiser got hijacked and the ship slipspaced into the Supercarrier. A blinding light, then an explosion, then the terrified voice of Tartarus as he tried to get the slow ship to move interrupted by static. The combination of all of that just got her into hysterical giggles once she was back in her room, alone and away from awkward questions on why she found this development to be far too much for her own resilience to dark humor and irony. Tartarus reaped what he sow, and he got quite the bad hand at it too.

What felt like the Prophets' last shot to gain control of the council was now away from their own miserable grasps.

Well, seemingly alone as the nervous coughing from Rtas got her extremely conscious that she wasn't actually alone. Thela noticed that Rtas and Chol Von had followed her to her room when she required a moment to 'regain bearings of such a major loss to the fleet', the Jackal grinning eye-to-eye as she held back her own giggles at the development.

"I-I mean, the boss isn't wrong! The dumb brutes are at fault for this," The Kigyar reasoned mirthfully.

"W-We lost the fleet's flagship!" Rtas remarked loudly, trying to stick by the serious and horrifying aspect of the event. "Our advantage is almost lost at this point."

"Not... truly," Thela replied as she managed to calm her amusement. "I want you to issue a quick order, Rtas. All ships once lead by Tartarus shall be now under my command and I want them to respect Plan C together with the entire fleet."

"...It's done."

A nod, then Thela sighed as she sat on her bed. "Then, I request that any sighting of the man responsible for this to be given to me so I can personally track him down and kill him."

...

"Ma'am, why would you-"

"It's him, isn't it?" Thela interrupted Rtas.

The subordinate looked nervous for a moment. "We did get an odd message from this but... I guess it makes sense."

"I didn't remember hearing of a message," Chol remarked, looking even more intrigued.

"Neither I did. What is it?"

"'Even if I am now a leading officer, I can still kick the Covenant like I did on Harvest. Salutations from Log'."

...It's him. It is actually him. And he is in the planet and within reach. Her reach. And this planet was called Reach. If this wasn't any more of a sign for her to act... yes, he had to be found so that the war could be ended accordingly.

"This is actually good news. If he is here, then he can be captured even. My order stand, but I will personally capture him."

"Is it viable, ma'am? He has evaded detection and advantageous opportunities for us to capture him in the past," Rtas reasoned, bringing up some good motivations to stop that.

"That's because his capture would be a major blow to their morale. We need to find him and have him captured for interrogation."

Rtas gave an odd look at that. "And I suppose you shall take care of that, ma'am?"

"Oh no, I will leave that task to you," Thela replied to the sass with some of her own. "Perhaps you could learn more on how to write lengthier reports rather than the barely-sufficient ones that you tend to 'stress after'."

A low blow, but it was indeed an issue from Rtas- her inability to put more effort in writing decently-written reports that added some much-needed details in regard to some missions or campaigns. She was too 'swift' with the handling of these tasks. That was enough to suppress any other snarky remarks, but it was clear Rtas was suspecting something odd was up with Thela. And she wasn't that far off about it.

After all, her plan was one and the same as it has been for months now and it was about to become clearer to them all once the crucial aspect of it unfolded. She just needed to find 'Log', and let some improvisation take place to ultimately lead to the end of the war.

Sounds simple? It wasn't truly as easy as she wanted it to be. But once this plan unfolded correctly, then the rest of the mess would evolve on itself and provide her with the means to bring the war to an end once and for all.

She just needed to find him and... not be dumb on what to say or do in that potential fight.

AN

Next two chapters will see Thela's gamble in full display.

Also, using this chance to drop in a bit of an important news, I have brought my Snippet Archive on Fanfiction Dot Net, it's called 'Bukharin's Archive' and it has a Future Release schedule in the first chapter.