Maddie Harper

August 30th, 2552

13:55

The Boneyard

Aszod

The Fall of Reach

[}-{]

Chaos reigned. Since the charge of several light frigates into the mire of the boneyards, any semblance of the order of battle had broken down. In the skies, the remnants of the UNSC fleet rained to earth like souls, escorted by their killers to the underworld. Maddie watched, like Persephone, as her new subjects were delivered unto her.

Charon-class frigates, ferried to their graves by an invading covenant army. It was not something that Maddie should have noticed but the swarms of refugees heading for the William Wallace had caught them and Maddie and Preston and Mikaela had slipped among them as the covenant battled with whatever human they could get their hands on. The craft in the sky was the cherry on a cake she could scarcely stomach.

At present, they were situated in a small complex with a group of refugees and Marines. The marines were blasting anything covenant apart and taking in anyone who came close. Maddie couldn't relax knowing their little respite might already have been infiltrated but she continued on, knowing that Mikaela needed her strength.

Confronting human villainy was pushing her philosophies to the breaking point.

Her nails had disappeared into her stomach and into the dirt, waiting to be glassed. Her hair was a mess, hidden only by the dark bags under eyes that dominated her face. Maddie held her hand as she pulled Mikaela by the arm towards the far end of the enclave.

"Where are we heading?" she asked, looking about with an alertness she could barely conceal.

"Other side of the building, Katya says we can link up with her near Drydock D, the Pillar of Autumn will be there so if we need to get out of here quicker, it is still an option."

"Can't we just take it? Surely a military ship has better odds than that other ship"

"It's on a special mission, I doubt they'll take us. Even if they do, we would probably die on whatever operation it was that they're off on." Maddie said, "We're fugitives, remember?"

Mikaela swallowed, "o-okay, so what comes next?"

"The UNSC Commonwealth is sitting half scrapped in the next part of the Boneyard. If we can cross it, there's a smelting plant on the otherside we can find Katya and Jack at." Preston said, pulling a window free of its mounting. "Come on, we don't want to be here when Nico shows up."

Preston went through first, dropping into the dust below. Mikaela helped Maddie down before dropping into Prestons arms.

"I want to leave." Mikaela said, without the certainty of escape, Mikaela seemed to grow more restless as they made for the Commonwealth as it remained limp and gutted on the butcher's block of a dock. The covenant had struck its MAC cannon and banshees were attacking its PDCs, which fired erratically into the sky in response.

"Katya said those frigates were led by Aegis, Maddie. Alex is up there, helping us out."

Maddie smiled, endurance was a Harper family trait. Only her sister had been claimed by this war, her father was a different matter. Her Dad's death was a tragedy but one that was all too human. Maddie thought of her mother as the three of them wandered across the base of the dock, watching UNSC army troops hurry about, setting up defences and siphoning whatever material they could find around the dock to aid their defense.

"It's hell." Preston said, "I'd almost forgotten how bad it could be."

"Common sight?" Maddie asked, "God knows I havent set foot on any planet that hasn't ended up this desperate. Well, save for Earth."

"Skopje and Reach," he said, "spent some time on Meridian but I rotated out long before it fell."

"I can't imagine seeing this twice, and on your home planet no less."

"The total collapse of a world is a strange thing, I managed to stop one from happening but… this is biblical" Maddie said, watching as a point-defence turret exploded a banshee, and its fuselage fell from the sky and straight into a squad of Troopers who couldn't see it coming. "Any advice on how to stay positive?"

Mikaela blushed, "maybe I was wrong afterall."

Maddie shook her head, "You weren't wrong, Mikaela. It's days like this that test our resolve the most."

Preston patted her on the back, "Look, we should have this conversation later, or atleast under that canopy" he pointed to a small tunnel that ran through the middle of the dock's floor to the underbelly of the Commonwealth.

"We can get through the checkpoints if we go through the Commonwealth." Maddie added, setting off towards the canopy.

Mikaela looked about her nervously, "won't they suspect that we shouldn't be here?"

Maddie shook her head, "No-one here is meant to be here, Mikaela. They're like us, unlucky, forgotten, abandoned, suicidal… Just act like you're meant to be here and we'll be fine."

They reached the string of tents and began walking towards the ship in dry dock, weaving and cutting between troops and civillians as the hurried defence plans were drawn up seemingly on-the-fly by a couple of lieutenants and a staff sergeant. Mikaela raised a brow when Maddie shook her head but the former operative didn't elaborate. Mikaela didn't need more reason that she already had to worry.

The sounds of battle erupted behind them as a squad of Kig-Yar dropped from the sky. They were slaughtered immediately as they left their pods, some exploded in the sky as the Commonwealth turned its PDCs towards them alongside a ship that exited orbit far ahead of the sound barrier.

"Is that?" Preston asked, swallowing a nervous lump in his throat.

"The Winter, yes."

"But that's your ship!"

"Helmed by the guy trying to kill us. Move it, come on!"

They double timed it, jogging towards the ship ahead of them and away from Drake and Nico, who were undoubtably on their heels. They journeyed beyond an old mess tent where the vats burned black with old bean rations, solidified and glued to the inner walls of the vats.

"That smells awful," Mikaela said, scrunching up her nose. "Is all army food that bad?"

"Yeah but it's usually not left to cook for three days." Preston said, tugging her along. She had stopped to look at much of the paraphernalia littered about the camp and the others had a difficult time getting her to keep up. Maddie was beginning to wonder if Mikaela was getting close to her breaking point, watching the young woman as she began to procrastinate through curiosity.

"What's this?" she asked, holding up the discarded transceiver of a UA/uplink variant for some kind of helmet.

"How should we know?"

"You're fighters."

Maddie just took her by the hand and led her towards the belly of the UNSC Commonwealth. It was an old ship with an illustrious career by most metrics. It had survived an encounter with a covenant cruiser in 2525 and had served extensively during the outer colony sieges. It was a sad fate for the aged Frigate to be torn apart and cannibilised; Maddie thought it was almost appropriate to see one last bout of combat.

"Up those steps." Maddie said, pointing. The yellow-railed steps wound up from the dirt below the frigate and into its belly, where technicians would have set about tearing it apart from the inside. "The MAC is gone but we can still get out of this dock if we walk along the barrel." she pointed to the great big arm of the ship, jutting out of the breaking yard and pointing squarely towards the direction of the smelting plant.

No one said a word to them as they reached the base of the ship and began to ascend its steps. It had been no wonder to Maddie that the stripped back ship had been so carelessly tossed aside. Reach was a place like Earth had been nearly five hundred years ago. During that period of Earth's history, the rapid development of the planet had resulted in the mass creation of tat and bric-a-brac that made production cheap and meaningless. Waste and carelessness were the order of the day during those times.

Reach was undergoing that same process, whilst New Alexandria and the major settlements were built with sustainability in mind, Aszod was the kind of place where colonial planning was left to rot under the heel of military capital.

Prior to the invasion this land would have been ruled by SinoViet, the sole ship contractor of note for the entirety of the UNSC. Maddie could only imagine the kind of wealth that would bring a person. Of course, the company itself was propped up by the taxpayer. Its designs didn't hold a candle to the covenant ships and the UNSC had stopped meeting the replacement rate for ships nearly a decade ago. It made the suicidal run to deliver Naomi to Drake seem all the more wasteful as manpower and material ticked down towards that inevitable failure state.

Maddie looked about the dust-rotted carcass of the Commonwealth and sighed: if it wasn't obvious that the UNSC couldn't fight beyond Christmas before the Fall of Reach, then it sure as hell was obvious now.

Preston, who was walking at the head of the group, led the way through the ship. He walked with purpose, gripping his rifle as they made their way up through the eerily quiet corridors. It was when they passed some unmanned sandbags that the trio paused for a moment. Preston shared a look with Maddie.

They're here.

Though who was here remained to be seen. The strange group of aliens with the religious sigil was now falling all over the valley, there wasn't a covenant corpse in the Boneyard that didn't have that signifier on its armour. Even worse, it could have been Agent Drake. If Ollie had sold her out, he would have the skill to track her down. She wasn't going to judge him, there was so much going on that she didn't understand and now, her enemies were swarming again.

"They'll do it when we enter the barrel." She said, whispering to Preston.

"Plan?"

"Fight like hell."

"That's not a plan, Maddie."

She put her finger to her lips and spun on her heel, drawing her pistol and aiming it squarely down the barrel of the MAC gun.

"Get out here." She said, standing in front of Mikaela.

Steps thundered as something large trudged through the dark to meet them. There was a clang and a rattle as a gun fell to the floor followed by sliding and scraping as a corpse was tossed in front of them.

"What the hell is going on?" Mikaela asked, swallowing.

"Preston?" Maddie said, not taking her eyes off the hulking silhouette that began to emerge from the mist.

"Yeah?"

"get her out of here."

Preston obeyed, pulling Mikaela by the collar as she protested.

"I've… been looking for you." The deep booming sounds of hell echoed off the barrel walls.

"Get in line." Maddie replied, "larger brutes than you have tried."

"Oh I know." The voice said, as the brute emerged from the darkness. "That's what has made the hunt so satisfying."

"Maddie! We're surrounded." She heard Preston firing behind her.

"twists and turns to the tale, human." It said, stomping closer.

"Who are you?" She asked, "I'm trying to work out who I would rather be killed by."

"Oh, I'm not here to kill you. No, there are larger plans at work here, human. My name is Tartarus and I am the herald of a new age. You shall be our first gift to the hierarchs. I shall do what Erun and the clan of Jag'amee failed to do."

"Is this about Ballast?"

The brute smiled a meaty smile, "among many other things. There are things in motion that cannot be stopped, the age of humans and sangheili is over."

"So, you have us cornered between my old friends and yourself. What do you do now, brute?"

Maddie felt the world upon her chest. It was over. She would die here between old friends and at the hand of her greatest fear. The Jiralhanae bristled. It was strangely naked, a primal and bestial force of nature that had technology that dwarved her own. Images flashed in her head. There were seminal moments in Maddie's life, she had faced them all before with the bravery befitting an ancient hero of earth.

Had she ever truly committed a betrayal, though? She wasn't sure. Could she bring herself to try? To flip the tables on ONI and do the unexpected… the unthinkable.

"I rip your limbs from you and take you with me."

"And your prize?" Maddie asked, not quite sure of herself.

"Glory."

"What if I gave you a bigger prize?"

"Who."

"The man who trained me. His forces are right outside."

He grinned, slime frothed at his lips. "You would betray your kind for what?"

"Revenge. You should do it, too."

"Why?" He grunted, leaning forward until his eyes met her own. His muscles rippled and tensed in the anticipation that dangled between them.

"To do what the Elites never could. To make their humiliation total, and complete. Let my brother and friend escape, and I will give you myself and Agent Felix Drake."

Tartarus grunted with amusement. "You would take a human with you for what reason?"

"You're not going to take him with us, you're going to kill him and I would do it because he betrayed me."

He slipped his meaty paw around Maddie's throat and pressed hard on her trachea, the wind in her soul scowled to a crawl as she refused to allow this beast the satisfaction of her fear. He slammed her against the wall and she coughed blood.

"Stay close, human. Do not fall before we take you."

That was that. Tartarus stalked off down the barrel towards the light where Preston held his own against the headhunters that had him cornered.

"Preston. Got a friendly on your six! Do not shoot!"

"Maddie? What the FUCK?!" He cried, scrambling back against the wall.

"I'm calling it. We can't win. You two can escape, though."

"What have you done?" Mikaela asked, watching as the Brute began to enrage itself.

"I've done the absurd," she grinned, winking as Tartarus flung himself from the barrel of the MAC gun and set upon the headhunters.

"You persuaded him?!"

Maddie shook her head, "they want me alive so I'm giving them Drake and going quietly in exchange for letting you go. My time is over. No one else dies. This is the choice I make to get out and I need you to respect it, okay? Find Kat and Jack, escape this place, and never look back."

They were speechless as her stature raised before them, free as the morning wind. Without a word, she charged out into the chaos ahead of them.

Kig-Yar landed everywhere as Tartarus flailed and stomped the troops apart with his hammer.

Nico was at the far end, already falling back towards the smelting plant as Maddie pulled her axe from its sheath and threw it at the closest trooper, watching with satisfaction as the head hunter yelped in pain.

He fell on his back and like a rabid animal, Maddie was upon him uncoiling as she grabbed it free of his chest and brought the weapon down to his neck. Her khaki civilian clothes were covered in blood and thick with warm blood as she ducked beneath a round fired from a DMR. A jackal dived in front of her and was swarmed by rounds from an assault rifle as her betrayal became realised.

Maddie darted forward as more Kig-Yar surrounded her, doing their duty to protect her as she slotted the covenant shield onto her arm and holstered her axe.

She ignited it and rose, looking demonic as burning dust and plasma swept around her. Her cybernetics pulsed in the breeze, lighting her face like the traces of some corruption in her veins. Her missing arm, the socket where once a prosthetic had been attached, now whined mechanically to move a machine that wasn't there. The sixteen year old who left Skopje might have balked, she may have thought the Viper was a covenant creation.

"Fall back!" Came the cry, "fall back to the smelting plant!"

One headhunter remained as the others retreated with Tartarus in tow and Maddie stood tall, her teeth bared like fangs.

"You fucking traitor!" he squealed, firing three shots at her as she stalked closer and closer to him. She raised the shield, each shot ricocheted harmlessly off the surface until his clip ran dry and he drew his knife.

The Viper raised the shield, parrying the blow and launched a kick at his head, knocking him down and onto the ground with a groan. Another Jiralhanae approached with a spiker and slotted a single round into the hunter's face.

Viper kneeled and tore the helmet free, its jaw gashed open and leaking blood. The Viper placed it on her head and grinned savagely.

Play the part, lass. Fear is the gaps we fill for ourselves between two half-truths.

Drake. The aging specter. She could hear his voice in the helmet as she followed her temporary allies up the hill towards the smelting plant.

He sounded confused.

Nico sounded terrified.

The Viper would die on Reach, one way or another. Her finest hour would never be known by Parangosky, who sat in an ivory tower a hundred trillion leagues from that wretched rock.

In her pouch, the little book that Preston had given her sat in its packet, protected from the blood that stained her clothes. She turned back to the boom arm of the UNSC Commonwealth and watched Preston and Mikaela slipping over the far wall and out of sight.

The Kig-Yar around her hissed and nudged her forward: "Yes. Time for my penance." said the Viper as she stalked up the hill on the trail of her prey.

Merry Christmas!

Good luck in all that you do.

Please keep reviewing the series! I still love to read each opinion and thought that you have, it keeps me writing!

Regards,

TheCalrog