Katya Volkovskaya

August 30th, 2552

07:00

OP Bravo-Yankee

UNSC ARMY HQ

The Fall of Reach

[}-{]

UNSC HQ was a mess. Despite Winter Contingency having been established years prior, it seemed strange that the base would be such a state. Buried deep in the Boneyards was the smelting refinery, one of a number located in the area. Here, the precious metals would be collated, having been picked like marrow from the bones of old ships and reduced to molten slag.

People were everywhere, which made Katya and Jack's disguise as a young couple more effective than covenant active camouflage.

"This ain't good." Jack said, weaving around a squad of army troopers as they barked and yelled down the corridor.

In the skies, Banshees flooded the airspace and rained hell down upon the beleaguered and desperate forces below. Jack's face was fruaght and covered in worry. Like stars inexorably falling towards the planet's surface, plasma peppered and rippled along the outer promenades.

"No, it's not."

"Most of the docks are clear, look." Jack pointed out the window to the departing ships, based on the murmerings, the battle in orbit had taken a nasty turn.

"There are still a few left. Let's see if we can find a manifest."

Slipping through the rank and file was easy. Discipline was breaking down as the defence became desperate. Katya had seen souls torn apart by the pressure of a glassing. Reach would be no different, in fact it would probably be worse.

"Do you think Maddie will make it? The kid is tough but there are only so many hits you can take before you break."

"She has not broken yet." Katya said, firmly. "She is made of finer things than most people."

"You saw the state she was in... but I suppose we've all walked away from worse."

"Trust her." Katya said, "She will be fine."

"You sayin' that for me, or for you?"

"Both."

Katya, wild eyed and filled with a bottled storm, bit her tongue as she overheard a terse exchange between two Captains who thought their unit should evacuate first. Jack caught her eye and smiled sadly. She knew he had served under men like that and he bore the presence of a man who had seen what such a dericliction of duty could do to their unit.

"You're awful confident in her for someone who, you know, has history."

They walked onwards for a while before Katya replied. More people streamed by them as they took an errant route through the HQ towards the ops centre.

"She was a victim. I cannot hate her for what she did to me. She is trying to save the sorvad girl, and as long as that continues, I will forgive her."

"What if she dies?"

"That would depend on the context."

"A stray bullet? Don't need to tell you that warzones ain't safe."

"That much is true. It is about whether Maddie can keep her innocence. She needs to break the cycle. Not just for Mikaela's sake but her own."

"You've thought a lot about this, huh?"

They came to a large hangar, which had once housed a depot for lorries and trains that ferried the slag back towards the factories to be remade as new materials. Now, it was a barracks. Beyond in the valley below, the fields burned as plasma torched it. Groups of covenant ships were already sytematically glassing Reach's surface and the troops stood watching silently as they lay waste to the fertile grasslands far away in the distance.

Katya nodded, silently watching, too. "I have. We discussed this, after Ballast. Madeleine came to me and asked me what she thought I should do. She wanted admonishment or maybe she wanted punishment." Katya shrugged as she surveyed the hangar. "I said to her: there is no salvation for the crimes either of us have committed against our souls in the name of ONI other than breaking the cycle that we have been groomed to perpetuate."

"You think she can do it?"

"In her heart, I think she already has. I just need to see it before I trust her. It was the same way for me and you." she said, holding his hand and giving it a tender squeeze.

"I love you" he said, leaning in and kissing her softly on the cheek. Katya blushed and pulled him into her face, gasping into his mouth as she released the tension that had built upon her mind.

When they parted, Katya kept his hand in hers before nudging him in the direction of a group of troopers set apart from the rest.

"Black uniforms." Jack said, grimly. "Here for us?"

"Unlikely. At least if they are, they do not know we are here. Look at the badges on their arms."

"Christ. Those ain't normal spooks"

"No. Those are headhunters."

"Let's get the hell outta here, Katya. We gotta warn the others that ONI are making their move."

"We can kill two birds with one stone. Come on, I can send them a message from the operations centre."

[}-{]

Captain Alex Harper

August 30th, 2552

07:20

Hurricane Borys

South East of Aszod

The Fall of Reach

[}-{]

Alex watched Mei move the ship into the planet's atmosphere. She was silent, as was much of the crew as they scattered like pigeons into the wind. The remaining MAC cannons blinked off of the tactical map as the planetary garrisons manning the orbital defense generators went offline. The rout was so complete that many of the UNSC ships hadn't even had the chance to agree to bug out before they were destroyed or ran for the metaphorical hills. Around fifty ships remained to be hunted down, huddled in two groups around the planet's moon and near an ODP that was leaking enough radiation to mess with the shields of any covenant force came to engage them.
Plasma torpedoes streaked towards the platform and most of the frigates disappeared in a slipspace rupture as they struck it, and destroyed it in a ball of fire big enough to be seen with the eye.

'Any surviving ships in the system, if you cannot make it to the moon, leave the system. We will make sure that any surviving ground assets are able to evacuate.'

It was a suicide mission for them. There wasn't a hope in hell that any would escape. Only the Pillar of Autumn would have been capable of jumping to escape but beyond that, were stragglers that were either close to jumping out of the system, or being hunted by five-ship-strong groups of covenant ships. The Autumn went dark before returning to Aszod and Alex, cut off from any group of strength, made the decision to join him.

"We can take refuge in the storm." Alex said, softly.

"Aye Sir, its a category 3 hurricane. Should give us cover for at least a day as long as the glassing doesn't dissipate it."

Alex nodded, "gather the command staff. It's time to make some difficult decisions."

"Aye, Sir."

Within minutes, the staff had assembled before him and Alex sent them to the conference room to discuss the situation and assess whatever intel they had available to them for him to consider. Mei maneauvered the ship into position where the storm approached its deadliest point and rain battered the hull as they floated in place. The swabbies watched him and Mei hug in silence.

They knew it was over. The planet was lost and they were but a pylon hiding in a forest of winds that would soon be torched into submission. The pair looked back at their staff, who watched with teary and vacant eyes. He thanked them silently, with a smile. It took more effort than there had been sublight fuel in the entire Epislon Eridani Fleet but he did it all the same. Some of them saluted as he turned towards the conference room and he sighed as the door slid shut behind himself and Mei.

The officers, his council of trustees, stood for him out of respect. Again the room was silent save for the rain knocking like a death toll on the hull of the Aegis Fate.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." he said, taking his seat, "take a seat and be at ease. We're all equals here."

"I can't believe it… Reach." one of them said, their head in their hands.

"We can mourn and deal with the shock, soon. Right now, I need to know where we stand and what you would like to do about it."

The intel officer stood and cleared his throat. "The fleet is scattered, sir. We have around thirty ships who have made the cover of the planet's moon. They're too damaged to make the jump but they will be able to help the final evacuee's flee the planet if they can. Last transmission from the Jovian Moon's said that they will clear the lane for escpee's due to make their final departures at five PM military time. The Pillar of Autumn is at Aszod waiting to extract some kind of asset for ONI and we have UNSC Expnonential, Last Summer, Skopje, and Sovereign making headway to our location."

"What's the Autumn's time of departure?"

"It won't be later than 1800 military, sir."

"Classifications of the ships headed our way?"

"Last Summer is a charon-class frigate. The Skopje and Sovereign are Paris-Class frigates and the Exponential is a Sahara-class prowler."

"Could be worse."

"Not by much, Sir. UNSC Army HQ is requesting any available ships to clear a lane for an additional round of evacuations at around 1100 hours."

"Well. What do we think?" he asked, hoping he wasn't wrong regarding the nobility of his crew.

"We fight. Sir." the gunnery chief said, standing up and running a hand through her hair. "We have a duty to get as many out as possible."

Alex smiled, "that's settled then."

"A-and if we survive?" it was the Marine commander aboard the ship, a replacement. He had been a sergeant a week ago. "Sir, my life is aboard this ship, one of my privates, married one of the chefs in a ceremony that Commander Liang herself officiated. That is a family we have a duty to protect, too."

Alex's stomach twisted and Mei was about to interrupt were it not for Alex holding out a softly gestured wave of his hand to stop her. "You want to know how we plan to escape."

The young marine nodded and apologised before sitting down.

"I know you wish to save your sister, and we don't mean to prevent you. We just want to know that you don't intend to let us all die here."

"I don't, do no not worry." Alex felt sick as he prepared to say the words but he knew it was the right call to make. "If the Pillar of Autumn intends to leave it will create a ruckus that should give us a window to escape. We run the gauntlet at 1100 hours and cover the evacuation and then we slip away when they make their escape. That ship has been modified, it can handle itself. We will escape this place."

I went on a madness, this story is finished and I really where it went. We got there in the end, stay tuned because the end is gonna be fun!