So, I'm back with another chapter for you all.

Still let me know if anything seems off, and I can use the feedback.

Anyway, let's get on with it, as all rights belong to their owners, as I own nothing!


Douglas could not remember how he had gotten inside this building. Because all he could remember before waking up, was him and his teammates being sent airborne in their Hog. But after that, Douglas could not remember anything.

Then again it did not matter now, as Douglas had other more pressing matters to deal with.

"Douglas! Douglas if you can hear my response!" The desperate voice of Alice came over his COM.

"Alice I'm here! Where's Red Actual?" Douglas inquired as he spotted his M5 Assault Rifle on the floor in front of him.

"We got separated when the Hog crashed," Alice explained as Douglas finally stood up and retrieved his rifle.

"Understood, what's your current situation?" Douglas inquired as he started making his way through the building.

"Not good. I'm currently getting strafed by at least half a dozen hostile aircraft." Alice sounded distracted as she said this.

No doubt because of hostile aircraft that were attacking her.

"Douglas, I can't hold this position any longer. Try to raise Red Actual and meet me at the edge of the plaza." The sound of gunfire then filled the COMs as Alice returned fire on some aircraft before the line was cut.

Not wasting a single moment: Douglas started moving. As he then started to smash his way through any wall that got in his way; while at the same time opening a COM to Jerome.

"Douglas-042 to Red Actual; Jerome if you can hear me, pleases response." Douglas then waited for Jerome's response.

No response came, however. As such Douglas shot a quick look at Jerome's status light. It was still in the green and there was no sign that it was being used for Spartan code like Jerome had done earlier with Omega Team.

For a moment Douglas thought about doing the same thing. But from what he could hear outside of the building; Douglas knew that Alice needed him more than Jerome now.

"Red Actual, Jerome if you can hear me. I am moving to support Alice who is under heavy fire. I repeat, if you can hear me, meet us at the edge of the plaza so we can regroup. We'll see you there, Douglas-042 out." Douglas then cut the COM as he focused on finding a way out of this building.

This did not take Douglas too long as he just kept smashing through any wall that got in his way.

But once he was out and on the street; Douglas quickly found that he had drawn the attrition of four hostile aircraft that was now making a beeline to his position. For a moment Douglas thought about going back into the building, but he quirky decided against it.

Mostly for two reasons: One was the fact that now the enemy would know where he was. And he had no doubles that they would flatten every building in the area to kill him. The second reason was that he now had a straight shot at the plaza, where he could regroup with Alice.

With these two things considered and the fact that Douglas felt like he was running out of time. Douglas chose what he felt was the best option available to him, besides, he doubted that those pilots overhead had ever tried to hit a man that could keep pace with a horse before. Even so, there was the obvious problem that he completely exposed while doing this.

Still, Douglas was confident that he could pull this off, as he could tell that the plaza was less the five blocks away from his current position.

"Guess I'll just have to break my own personal best," Douglas muttered to himself as he holstered his M5 and started running.

Still, it did not take long for the bombs and bullets to start flying around him.

Douglas quickly found himself dodging and weaving, trying to throw the gunner's aim off so that he could give his shields a chance to recharge after each attack.

Because Douglas knew that if he were stripped of his Mark-VI shields then he would be opened to an actual attack. And if that were to happen, then it would not matter how fast he ran. At that point, all would take was a single bullet to trip him up.

So, Douglas had to balance out these two needs. Knowing full well that if he did not then he would quickly find himself dead!

But somehow, through the gantlet of bombs and lead: Douglas had somehow managed to make it to the edge of the plaza. Upon realizing this Douglas opened his COMs.

"Alice, I'm almost at the plaza!" Douglas called out. "I'm brought friends with me. Be ready to receive, over."

"Copy that 042. I'll be ready." Alice said as she then cut the link.

But just as Alice cut the link a bomb blast nearly threw Douglas off his feet!

Douglas stumbled and slowed for half a second as he caught himself, but that was all the opening his pursuits needed. As they quickly zeroed in their weapons and opened fire on him!

Douglas Mark-VI shields then flicked brightly as they absorbed these attacks; allowing Douglas to fully recover before they broke in a flash of yellow light.

Moments later the first of many rounds slammed into Douglas. The first few rounds luckily hit Douglas Mark IV not doing any real damage, but the next couple struck home. As they caught Douglas in the back of his head and left leg, causing Douglas to stumble and slow down as he tried to keep on his feet.

But this effort was to be in vain, as another bomb finally threw him to the ground.

Barely even knowing how this had happened to him. Douglas quickly forced himself to stand, only to find that a dive bomber was already moving in to finish him off.

Douglas knew that he would never get clear in time, but still, he had to try. But before he could do anything the bomber lost its left wing and went into a spin.

Not even questioning what had happened. Douglas quickly threw himself clearly and immediately found himself at the feet of Alice, who was already hulling him to his feet.

"Douglas! Douglas, are you injured?" Alice asked him as Douglas finally got to his feet.

"I'm fine!" Douglas said as he finally got his feet under him.

"Great, NOW MOVE!" Alice shoved him as another bomb exploded close by.

Not needing to be told twice. Douglas was already moving by the time Alice had caught up with him. As he then brought his M5 to bear, taking potshots at any plane that passed into range.

As absolute chaos reigned around the two Spartans as they tried to make their way to cover, all the while it seemed that everything that was not thrown at Sunray had been redirected to deal with them.

But despite the heavy fire, they were making some progress. As they had made it to a defensible position which would allow them to take cover and let their shields recharge after each attack run.

Still, this was not going to change the current situation. As if it was this bad here, then the two of them could only imagine the hornets' nest that Sunray had stumbled into.

"Alice! 4 o'clock, High!" Douglas then called out; as he spotted another of the dreaded Hs 129's coming in for an attack run.

But just before Alice could raise her chain gun to meet the threat, a green flash appeared to jump off one of the nearby buildings and landed square on the Hs 129 wing. Its pure weight and momentum sent the unfortunate 129 into an uncontrollable spin, at which point both Alice and Douglas finally figured out who it was on the wing of the now-falling plane.

As Jerome pulled out one of his pistols and fired a couple of rounds into the engine block before jumping clear to the ground as the plane crashed into a fireball less than ten feet behind him.

"Show off." This came from Alice, who swung her detached turret to cover Jerome as he approached their position.

But once he was less than five feet away, Jerome made a circle in the air with two of his fingers. At which point both Alice and Douglas knew why he had not responded to any of their calls.

Douglas then jested to one of the buildings that would give them better cover as he worked. The three Spartans quickly made their way over there, and once inside Douglas finally got to work on his brothers' armour.

It was as Douglas expected it to be, as Jerome's Mark-IV armour had a lot of new battle scars of mostly scratched paint and a couple of dents, one of which was where his COMs were located.

Knowing what had most likely happened. Douglas started the diagnostics on Jerome's armour to see if there was anything to repair it. And upon getting back the report, Douglas reset Jerome's armour systems hoping that it would sort out everything.

"Thank Douglas," Jerome said as his armour finally rebooted. "Can't tell you how long I wanted to say that."

"Think nothing of it Jerome; are there any other systems still not working?" Douglas inquired as he scanned the report Jerome's armour had sent him.

"No. All green across the board, except for COMs." Jerome confirmed his armour status to his squad mates.

'Great.' Douglas thought to himself.

As that meant that Jerome could not use his COM to send or receive orders. This was a major problem, considering that Jerome was the acting commander of all forces in the immediate field of operations. Still, Red Team could make this work, as it was not like Jerome's armour had been compromised in any significant way that would impede him in combat. All they had to do was overcome the problem of Jerome's broken COMs and Douglas already had an idea as to how they could do that.

"Jerome," Douglas called out to him. "You want to swap helmets?" He then offered.

It made sense given the current situation as the main COM unit in MJOLNIR was in its helmet. As such changing helmets meant that Jerome would get Douglas working COM while Douglas would have to make do without it.

"Negative, Douglas. We cannot afford to be down that long." Jerome said surprising Douglas a bit.

Still, it made sense given the current situation, as Sunray was still in need of their support, and they were the only ones who could offer it to them in a timely matter. So, Jerome would just have to live with his broken COM unit until the end of the mission. Even so, it was not like they did not have a plan for this kind of outcome, as Douglas knew that Jerome and Alice were aware of this as well.

"Douglas you're with me. Alice, how much ammo do you have left in that thing?" Jerome then inquired as Douglas started to get a funny feeling.

This funny feeling where often accompanied by one of Jerome's less-than-better plans. Douglas was not the biggest fan of those kinds of plans but considering everything it was the best thing Jerome could produce given what he had on hand now.

"Jerome? You want me to call in support?" Douglas inquired.

As he knew that Jerome had stationed a relief force just outside of the city that was just waiting for his signal before it would move in.

"Yes, Douglas. Call them in and try to raise the captain. Alice ammo count?" Jerome said getting back on task.

"About one-third left Jerome. Why are you asking?" Alice inquired as she, like Douglas, had started noticing Jerome's plan.

"Because Alice, I'm going to need you to cover us," Jerome stated simply as Douglas started to get a sinking feeling.

As he knew what Jerome was planning and considered how it nearly worked out for him; Douglas did not like the idea of tempting fate once again.

"You have to be joking." Alice could not believe what Jerome was thinking about doing this.

"He's not Alice, besides he's right," Douglas said begrudgingly.

As he knew that this was the best option currently available to them. But before Alice could argue the point, the COMs came to life as a familiar voice came over it.

"All teams are to be advised. We have unknown warships entering the harbour area." The voice of August came across the COM.

This announcement sealed the plan that Jerome had made. As there could be only one reason why capital ships would be entering the area. So, if they were going to do this, it had to be now!

"Understood August, please advise if we require a pickup," Douglas said as he started to make his way into a position with Jerome.

"How so, 042?" Leon then inquired.

"Alice is going to be running cover for me and Jerome to reach Sunray's position. She'll need a pickup afterwards." Douglas explained.

"Understood Red Team, have Alice send us her quadrants and we'll pick her up," August confirmed as the sounds of weapons fire could now be heard in the background.

"Understood Omega, she'll signal you when she is ready. Red Team out." Douglas said as he cut the link.

And with that, the die was cast, and there was no backing out of this now. As Jerome gave out the last of his orders to Alice and Douglas joined them, the three of them then move into position to put Jerome's plan into action.

"You ready Douglas?" Jerome asked as he prepared himself for what was coming.

"I was born ready Jerome!" Douglas replied as he primed himself for the coming sprint.

"Okay. 3…2…1…GO!" Jerome said, and like that they were off.

Douglas did not remember how they made it across the plaza in one piece, but they did. All he could remember from the experience was the roar of Alice's chain gun, the occasional firing of his M5, the screams of aircraft driving them and most importantly of all, the two near misses that had nearly taken him off his feet.

But somehow despite not remembering how they had done it; they had somehow made it to Sunray's position.

"It's so nice, to see ladies join us." The sarcasm was plain as day in Sparks' voice as the two Spartans approached.

"What's the sitrep on the current situation?" Jerome then asked, the sarcasm going completely over his head.

"Both the CO and the backup are down, running low on ammo. The rest of us are okay." Sparks said knowing that this was not the time to be fucking around.

As he knew that the Spartans needed the fullest understanding of what was going on if they were going to have even the slights' chance of getting out of this in one piece. Especially now that air attacks are increasing!

"Understood, prep them for immediate med evocation," Jerome informed the Corporeal, as he fired some shots at a plane overhead.

For a moment Sparks thought he missed here what the Spartan had said. But then he came back to reality, as he then sent the order to Doc and asked the obvious question on his mind.

"Any reason as to why we're in a hurry?" Sparks inquired.

Because from what he understood about the original plan. It had called for them to wait till the Spartans showed up and for them to make a breakout together. Then again, Sparks was privy to the full plan so it might have been completely different from what had been told.

"We have warships moving to bombard this position. That's the reason why we're pulling back." Jerome explained to the Corporal that the first series of loud booms could be heard.

Not needing to be told what this meant: Sparks then looked over to where Doc and Turpin were. As he knew that Vaughan and Quinn would be working to get them ready to move, he watched the Spartans move into defensive positions.

"Any idea when our rides going to be here?" Sparks asked as the first salvo landed only a block away from them. "As I'm starting to feel like a sitting duck…" Sparks then trailed off as he then put another round into a passing plane.

"Unknown," Jerome stated bluntly as he took another potshot at a passing plane.

As Jerome was completely unaware of the relief forces' progress towards them, still he could imagine that it was slogging its way towards them. Slowed down by the constant air attacks that were like what was happening to them, still, at least they had some dedicated anti-air platforms with them. So that would help them fight their way to their position. But for the moment Jerome was more worried that they would not be able to hold this position until their extraction got here.

Thankfully that worry would be slightly easier thanks to the timely arrival of Omega Team, who had Alice in tow without her chain gun.

"Some rescue party." Sparks said off handily as he fired another round from his rifle.

Because if this was the force that they were going to use to break out of here, they were so fucked even with five Spartans. As they would either be blasted to bits by the overhead aircraft or pounded into the dirt by the ships firing from the harbour. Either way, Sparks did not rate their chances of getting out of this mess exceedingly high. Thankfully for him, Jerome had not heard his comment as he went over to greet Alice and the rest of Omega team.

"Omega what's your status?" Jerome inquired as he looked at their very beat-up Warthog.

"We're still combat effective Red Actual," August informed Jerome as she let loose a volley from the Hogs chain gun. "So, what is the plan for extraction? As this landing site is too hot for any birds to pick us up." August inquired, as she and Leon had not been privy to the details of Jerome's and the Captain's plan to get them out of there if the situation went this far south.

"We have an armoured column coming to get us. We just must hold off till they get here. COM Douglas if you need to contact me, as mine is still down." Jerome informed Omega about the current situation.

"Understood Red Actual, also I believe this is yours." August was of course referring to Alice as she said this.

"She is. Alice, do you mind giving Omega a hand?" Jerome then asked as then took another potshot at a passing plane.

"Sure Jerome. Where do you need me?" Alice asked as she kept a wary eye on the sky, knowing that they had been targeted by now.

"On the turret; I need August on the ground," Jerome explained as he spotted another Hs 129 rolling in.

Cursing under his breath, Jerome started to say a warning before August-012 shot the buzzard from the sky. Then without another word Alice took over the turret, while August dismounted and brought out the sniper rifle, she had taken down with her.

"Leon, don't let the enemy kill you Hog. Go!" Jerome called out as another series of low booms could be barely heard over the sounds of diving aircraft.

Not needing to be told twice: Leon gunned the engine and sped away. Trusting in the Hog's high speed and Alice's gunning skills to keep the Warthog in one piece. As Jerome and August quickly started to make their way to where Sunray was sheltering.

"So, care to fill me in on what you need from me?" August inquired as the next salvo landed close to their position.

"Need you to be Linda for me," Jerome explained as he then jested at Corporal.

As he was already showing signs of fatigue, it was becoming obvious that he was starting to struggle to get his rifle into position.

"Ah, that is all. For a moment you had me a little worried." August tried to sound relaxed, but there was a noticeable edge to her voice.

Because August had never been some crack shot Linda had been. Though she did have a talent like Linda for putting munitions down range, thou they were more of the explosive verity than this. Still August was not going to question him. As she knew that Jerome would not have pulled her if she could not do the job.

Besides August could understand the fact that even though the Corporal was an excellent shot, he simply was not a Spartan. As even the average Spartan on their own was usually a league above the most elite UGE sniper team. Still, this was going to be an interesting challenge, even for a Spartan at the very least.

As August knew that she both had to conserve her ammo while at the same time covering her teammates. Not exactly the most ideal situation to find herself in.

But since all she had to do was hold off the enemy for long enough for their rescue to make it to them. August was more than certain that she could pull it off; as the two Spartans finally made it to Sparks's position.

"Douglas, Sitrep," Jerome called out as another navel salvo landed not even a block from their position.

"You want the good news or the bad news?" Douglas said as he fired other bursts from his M5.

"Start from the top and work down from there," Jerome said knowing that Douglas would understand what he meant by this.

He did, and for a moment Douglas went quiet as he sorted out what was a priority and what could wait.

"Well, our rides are almost here. Though, we'll probably run out of ammo by then." Douglas stated bluntly.

As he and those of Sunray still standing, had been burning through their ammunition trying to keep the planes from blasting them to bits. So far it had been working, though the amount of ammunition needed to achieve this was simply unsustainable given their current situation.

"Understood Douglas, so what's the good news?" Jerome sounded as if he was joking as he said this.

As he half expected to hear that their rescue was nearby but was currently bogged down somewhere.

"Other than the fact our rides are nearly here and the fact I can't raise the captain. Something or someone has engaged the hostiles in the harbour." Douglas passed along the news that he had gotten.

"Probably a relief force. Still, I don't want us to be here when they arrive." Jerome said as he knew that they would most like to shoot first and ask questions later.

As such he did not want to take any unnecessary casualties if it could be avoided at this point.

"Probably wouldn't be the best time for the first meeting anyway." August chipped in and then fired a round from her sniper rifle.

August was right of course. As Cutter had intended this was a scouting mission before everything went all pear-shaped.

Besides, starting another war with another unknown faction on this planet simply was not on the menu. Nor was diplomacy, especially since they were being shot at by every plane the Axis had in their arsenal.

"Agreed," Jerome stated grimly, knowing that this was not the time or place for that at any rate.

Any decision, when it came to diplomacy, was completely up to the captain to handle such matters at any rate. Besides their main mission here was already complete, now they simply had to disengage from their newfound enemies and make it back to the ship to report their findings to the captain.

Not the easiest thing to be sure, but it had to be done.

"Corporal, fall back and help prep your team to move. 099 will take over your post." Jerome ordered just as another one of those black jets came screaming in on an attack run.

But before Sparks could get the target lined up: August had already sent a round down range and straight into the missile that had just dropped from the jet, blowing it clean out of the sky.

"Nice shot." Sparks complimented.

"You have your orders Corporal. The train leaves on time." August chastised him as she shot off another round.

This was not exactly the response that Sparks was expecting, but then again given the current situation, Sparks could understand, if only slightly.

So, without saying another word; Sparks silently slipped away leaving the Spartans to hold this position on their own. Still, this task was not going to be easy, that was for sure.

Even so, if anyone had a chance to pull it off with the limited ammo available to them, it would be the Spartans.

As both Jerome and Douglas quickly switched over their M5's semi-automatic, knowing that it would save on ammunition. Still, they both knew that the AR was not a precision weapon, but they would work with what they had on hand.

Still, it did not take long for Jerome and Douglas to adjust to the situation.

August quickly found herself dealing with most of the heavy hitters, while Douglas and Jerome were left to deal with the other aircraft that was a waste of sniper ammo. This was not exactly the most ideal way the Spartans would have liked to deal with this situation, but it was the best they could produce given the current circumstances. And this system worked until…

"Lasts clip." The dread word finally came from August's mouth.

Jerome knew that they were out of time. As he too only had a clip and a half left, he guessed that Douglas was in a comparable situation as well. Which was not good, as the relief force was still running behind due to the air traffic above them.

"Understood; Douglas ETA on our extraction?" Jerome inquired, hoping for some good news.

"Same as before," Douglas said as he fired another round. "They're having trouble pushing through with the enemy controlling the skies." Douglas finished just as the low sounds of a plane making its dive could now be heard.

It was at this point that Jerome knew that they had to abandon the position, as it was painfully obvious that they could not hold it any longer. Not unless they wanted to start throwing stones at the incoming aircraft.

"Douglas!" Jerome called out to grab his attention.

Douglas then looked over to see what Jerome needed and quickly found that Jerome was giving the signal to fall back.

Knowing why Jerome would give this order, Douglas immediately relayed his orders to August as the three of them left the position. Moments later on the ground floor, Jerome, Douglas, and August were now waiting for an opportunity to cross the road to get to Sunray's position.

While waiting for the right moment, August started to get impatient. Because all she could think about was the enemy planes above their position, and the fact they were completely at their mercy once Jerome gave the go signal.

As moments went by, August's restlessness must have shown in her body language as Douglas got her attention and made a lateral cut across where his mouth would have been to tell her to keep her cool and wait.

Trying to take Douglas' advice, August started to draw in a deep breath just as Jerome gave the signal. Moments later a large bomb fell on their abandoned position, throwing up a large cloud of dust that they could use for cover.

August then smiled to herself, as her old commander still thought of everything. As she then followed Douglas in their sprint across the street, as her COM then lit up and what came through it was the very welcomed sound of friendly forces.

"The Calvary has arrived!" The voice boomed through the COMs as the skies then lit up with anti-aircraft fire and missiles.

August then spotted six Warthogs plus their escort now bearing down on their position. With that August knew the tide had finally turned in their favour.


Everything was currently going wrong for the Overseer of this little operation.

So far, the interlopes had not been crushed underneath the constant air attacks she had been sending out. What was worse was the fact that the fleet she had moved into position to bombard the insects into dust was now under attack by a Kansen! And one of the Sakura Empire no less!

She could not understand why one of Akagi's people was here!? Still, it might not be her ship, instead, it might be one of 'her' former commanders Alex. As he did still have some Kansen from the Sakura Empire under his command. Still, she could not just ignore the threat she posed, so to check her. The Overseer would have to divert some of her aircraft to deal with this new threat.

"She's going to ruin everything." She then growled under her breath.

Still at least 'she' had not been identified yet. But that was little comfort given the current situation. As Overseer knew that she had to make a tuff call, as to whether to continue her attack on the outside or refocus her efforts on the new threat.

Neither option was appalling to her. As each one meant that she would have to give up something.

Still, she was more than willing to gamble at this point. As she knew that the trespassers were pulling out at this point, giving their armoured relief force that had fought its way to their position.

As such the artifact should be safe enough for the time being. Even so, it was still a risk, but everything considered she was more than willing to let the ants go. Besides if they identified 'her' and Commander Miles got a hold of that information, then there would be hell to pay.

Having come to her decision. The Overseer readied her next squad of planes for anti-ship duties all the while she hoped that she had judged the situation correctly.


That is all she wrote; I hope that you all enjoyed it.

Don't really have that much to say, so until next time have a good one.