[}{]
Former Captain Madeleine Harper
August 24th, 2552
13:20
New Alexandria, The Archives
ONI HQ
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By faith I ask for your gift of salvation.
Bear my sins and deliver me from this place.
Be my Savior.
For hell is empty and all of its devils are here.
Amen.
When Maddie awoke, she prayed for the first time in many years. When Drake had attacked her, she was in the archives, now, she sat facing a cavernous rift. Once, the City of New Alexandria had stood here. It had been tall, proud, and the jewel in the crown of human civilisation.
Now, Maddie saw nothing but hell in front of her. The city had been stripped bare. Melted and vulnerable, the spires had been eroded in a wave of hellfire that stained the skies. She sat up, pulling her meditation from her bag. Her chest heaved and blood sputtered from her lips. Her face felt as though she were caked in makeup or encased in plastercene. It was dry. Claret coloured blood stained her clothes. She tried to move her hand but her prosthetic wheezed limply. Reaching over with her free hand, wincing as the hatchett screamed pain into her body, Maddie ejected the arm from its mounting and gasped as it clanked to the floor. She grit her teeth and gasped for breath as the pain subsided, then she slowly lay on her back, gripping the handle of the axe with her feet and hand, and began to pull the axe free from where it had been lodged. Maddie cried out, screaming and writhing as it splattered to the ground.
She took a moment to steady herself, taking care not to move her arm. Panting, Maddie searched her pack for the medkit and began to fill her wounds with the medi-gel that came as standard with ODST kit. There was a cut on her temple where Drake had shot her. The impact had shattered the recon helmet and half of it lay on the floor, the polarised visor still staring her in the face. She looked like a dead person blinking. With the gel setting in and her body flooding with painkillers, Maddie tore off her armour, growling like a wounded beast as the foreguards, the helmet, the chestplate, the greaves and the black BDU with its ONI insignia was discarded in a pile on the ground. Her blonde hair straddled her face and she cried a little, snorting snot as she held back as many tears as she could. She stood up, and holstered her discarded pistol. She put the axe in its sheath, then wrapped the brace around her waist.
Can't let go? I'll kill you with that axe, you bastard.
Maddie thought about leaving it as she watched the discarded pile of ONI paraphernalia sitting idly on the floor. She stared out into the remains of the city, now filled with molten courses of glass and shook her head.
"Fuck you, Drake."
Now it was a case of deciding what to do next. Maddie didn't know if Mikaela had gotten out, or if her friends had survived. She made her way back down towards the basement, now cracked open like an egg, and journeyed into the city.
Maddie had begun to head in the direction of the planned rendezvous location with Ollie in the Winter but after an hour of searching, she came to a dead end. The location was now molten slag. It bubbled and coughed acrid smoke into the sky as she stood, watching it with a sense of emptiness. She pushed her hand into her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes, lighting one awkwardly as she stood alone in a wasteland, the last life left in all the world and sighed. Smoke flowed outwards into the air before her, and she let it dangle from her lips as she ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face. With her vision restored, Maddie noticed a small bag sitting on a bench beside the road. A sheet of metal with a defaced ONI insignia drew her attention and she approached. Flicking it open, she pulled from the inside a small and ancient device attached to some headphones. She flipped it in her hands.
Mikaela Sorvad 3
Maddie smiled, they had come here too. She put the earpieces in and set the volume low, looking out at the scene before her as she played the song.
"Charlemagne… by Blossoms."
She hit play and let the song fill her ears. The device had a note pinned to its homepage.
Don't think you could let a glassing get the better of you. If you're reading this, we've gone to the shipbreaking yards at Azsod. See you there!
Maddie couldn't believe it. As the song swelled and she looked out at the rivers of golden magma, the scene took on a strange whimsy. Maddie grinned, her face covered in blood, and laughed as she cried.
Her first mission was to leave the city, which took nearly the rest of the day as she navigated the glass rivers and Covenant patrols. Near the edge of Old Town, however, she came upon a large steel bunker, its entrance exposed by plasma was hammering at the door, which Maddie managed to bypass after twenty minutes of fiddling with the lock and her still usable ONI clearance codes. Survivors were soon pouring out of it in trucks and warthogs and the UNSC personnel took one look at her and waved her over.
"Are you alright, miss?" An army trooper asked, handing her an emergency ration sack. "Get cleaned up as best you can, we're oscar mike in five."
Maddie could only shake her head as a medic took her by the arm and led her inside.
[}{]
Captain Aurellian "Ollie" Van Graff
August 24th, 2552
21:40
In Orbit above Reach
Exact Location: [REDACTED]
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"Well shit, Cap. A demotion?" Ollie said, folding his arms. "This is my boat."
"It's not a demotion, Van Graff, We're on special assignment."
"I'm well aware, Lieutenant Belloc. This is my boat."
Nico was about to spit venom at the troublesome Captain when Captain Drake swatted his concerns away without consideration. "Two Captains, one mission. Let's focus on the matter at hand, shall we?"
Vallette was quiet in the corner. She had her hands in her lap again.
"The Sorvad girl?" Ollie exclaimed, "Reach is part slag heap and you want to sift through the sand for dust?"
"Aye, lad, I do." Drake said, pushing passed him. "If you want to keep your ship then you will obey without question. One foot out of line and we will spray the cabin with yer brain, alright?"
Ollie shrugged but he knew when he'd pushed enough. "So what happened down there, then. You look like shit, Sir."
"I dealt with Harper. Volkovskaya, Braeburn and her brother are still out there. Sorvad… I don't know anything about."
"Count on the Wolf to have her, Sir. She has an edge that the Viper couldn't quite match."
Belloc grunted in amusement, "he has a point there, Sir. Katya is a rabid dog."
"If they escaped the blast they will have fled the city. Have the Winter scan for their likeness in any security cameras left in the city."
"Sir, Winter is advanced but she can't reverse radiation damage. The whole city is fried." Valette said, meekly.
"There are systems down there that can survive a glassing. We need to get to the city A.I hub, that will get us access to at least a few systems. I can reboot the backup A.I and have them aid in the search."
"That's going to take an awful long time, Drake." Ollie said, playing his part, "time we don't have."
Drake narrowed his eyes at him, scanning for disloyalty.
"We need to know if they made it out." he said, "Failing that, we need to recover or destroy any information stored there."
"Alright, Cap', I'll set us a course."
"Get to it, lad."
[}{]
Former Captain Madeleine Harper
August 25th, 2552
07:20
New Alexandria, The Archives
ONI HQ
[}{]
Maddie was in the back of a truck with around thirty people stuffed inside of it. It rumbled across the landscape in formation with two other trucks and a warthog escort. They had been travelling through a forest that covered nearly a hundred miles at its widest point. Through it, a single dirt road led towards the cracked mountain Torott. Between the forest and the mountain, was the barren plains of Aszod.
The troopers had orders to regroup with the last UNSC forces on the continent at the Boneyard, a grave for ships even the UNSC wouldn't dare press into service. Maddie had elected to keep a low profile but even in civilian clothes, she stood out.
She was clean now. Her hair had been done for her by a little pair of twins who insisted on resolving the matter for her. Her clothes were a far cry from what she was used to, as well. It seemed strange to look down and not see the battle dress uniform of an agent. Now she looked like a young woman, save for the scars on her face, which exposed her replacement eye's cybernetics at the edge of her eyelid. The missing arm wasn't an uncommon sight these days but the military grade prosthetic arm mount had drawn attention to her as well.
Aszod was an arid and warm place, she had wanted to wear her grey tank top on its own to feel the sun on her skin. Prying eyes had meant she had donned a cream jacket to hide it, which the twins had clipped to her waistband with a makeshift tie to keep it from slipping off her shoulder. They sat bickering deeper into the truck, arguing about which chocolate ration was best.
It was cute when it broke out but it had been thirty minutes now, and Maddie was tired. She put the headphones back in and began to play some of the music that Mikaela had left her. One leg dangled out of the back and she watched her canvas shoe bounce in tandem with the truck's suspension, relaxed in spite of her cravings for another cigarette.
A young man around her age had watched her since she climbed into the truck hours earlier. While Maddie had been initially lost in thought, she had noticed him staring at her, his eyes darting away as she caught him.
He was once dressed smartly, with round glasses and a button nose that his sharply featured face needed for balance. Now, he looked like less of a scholar and more of a conspiracy theorist, his collar was torn and his tie was knotted despite hanging loosely around his neck. The man coughed, clearing his throat of her cigarettes or perhaps his own nervousness before offering her his canteen.
Maddie lifted her cigarette, "trade?" She said, wondering what the man might say.
He shrugged, and took the cigarette before handing her the canteen. As he tried to breathe it in, he hacked violently.
"First time, or out of practice?" Maddie asked, taking a gulp of fresh water.
"The former. Always hated the stuff but… it is relaxing." He took another drag.
"That it is," she took another from her pocket and lit it, sharing the quiet moment with him as the caravan of refugees streamed across the continent.
"You look like you've been through a lot." He said, sheepishly.
"Was it the scars or the smoking that gave it away?" She replied, smiling so that he didn't feel bad.
"Your eyes."
"That one of them is fake?" She touched the cybernetics exposed at the edge of her eye socket, "its going to be a pain if I ever want to wear eyeliner again."
He laughed at that, "no, not that. Anyone can be born without an eye or an arm, and anyone can get scars."
"Thousand yard stare?"
He nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Olu" He said, holding out his hand.
She took it warmly, "Maddie." She said, holding his gaze for just a little too long.
An awkwardness arose, which she made worse by taking another long drag of her cigarette.
"So, Olu, what do you do?"
"I'm a teacher. Or was. I don't know if there will be much of a future in the discipline the way things are going."
"Ah, the noble profession."
"I like to think so" He replied, flicking the cigarette out the back of the truck.
Maddie watched it as it tumbled to the ground, then watched the spot where it disappeared until the truck behind them ran over it. In the distance, New Alexandria continued to burn.
"Which subject?" She asked, still looking at the scene behind her.
"Art." He said, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Oh god, I was so bad at art."
"I doubt that is true, art is as much about how we see the world as it is about skill with a brush."
"When I was at school, I wanted to read and to cause mischief. What I wasn't interested in was irrelevant and if I was interested, I didn't really care either."
"You were bored"
"Very."
"I never technically finished school. Not high school, anyway. The Covenant invaded the summer I turned sixteen and…" She took a moment to think. That life felt so long ago.
"I was teaching a class." Olu said, "the first time, anyway."
Maddie turned her head, "first time?"
"This is number two."
"Invasions?"
He nodded. "I'm from Meridian. There was a City, Port Moyne, where I worked. I was teaching a community pottery class when the first aliens fell on the planet."
"Must have been rough."
He nodded, "My girlfriend, she was…"
Pregnant.
He hadn't had to say it, Maddie could see it in his eyes. The tears had dried up but he was still mourning, his dark eyes looked like Mount Sundial: strong but alone. She could empathise with that.
"I lost my last boyfriend during the Siege of Ballast, he was a ship commander."
Olu reached out and held her hand, gripping it in solidarity.
"That can't have been easy."
Maddie shook her head, "My sister died there too."
"Not many people can say their family died in the successful defense of a planet. It doesn't change anything but…"
"It's okay, I know what you're trying to say."
He still held her hand, squeezing it slightly before letting it go. They were two souls watching the world go by. A silence followed, a long and protracted one filled with the thoughts of friends lost and love that never was. It wasnt another hour before Olu spoke again.
"You didn't tell me what you did."
"I'm unemployed," Maddie smiled, "I was recently let go."
"Did you get those scars in that last job?"
"It was dangerous," she shrugged, "and I'm a sloppy worker."
"I doubt that, somehow."
Maddie smiled, "what makes you say that?" she tucked her hair behind her ear, watching his eyes move over her body.
"The way you hold yourself. It's… precise. You're magnificent."
Maddie flushed red, "thanks" she nearly giggled but caught herself, the near-embarassment made her face feel warm and she turned her face towards the horizon. "It's been a long time since anyone said something to me like that."
"We don't live in an age of romance, do we?"
Maddie watched the mid morning sun climb high into the sky. "I don't know, there's always beauty to be found in places you don't think to look… and when is a better time to find it, or to need it, than at the end of days."
Olu smiled and swung his legs over the side of the truck to sit beside her. "It's a beautiful thought. Do you think this is it? The end of days?"
"I should…" Maddie said, sipping the water from his canteen, smiling as she pinched it back from him. "I met someone recently who changed my perspective."
"A new beginning?"
"No, she's not into me like that. She'd lost her boyfriend recently, he couldnt follow her where her choices had taken her. She says that nothing matters, and that's okay because we get to choose what has meaning."
"A wise woman."
"My saviour."
"A student said that about me, once."
"I'm not surprised, you seem like a good man, Olu."
"It's unsettling to have such an impact on people without ever truly knowing them."
"People are complicated," Maddie replied, thinking of Drake as the convoy began to slow. The truck idled as the trooper's began to dismount and secure the area, telling the refugees to stay where they were. Maddie followed their orders, her shoulder too damaged to fight anyways. It was sad that he had betrayed her; she didn't suppose that she should be surprised. He was what he was, and Maddie had never truly known him. She thought that being his student would be enough, but not everyone is as sentimental as she was.
"That's what students always think about their teachers when they grow up."
"The last lesson I ever had was with Mr Forsythe, my history teacher. God, I must have given him such a headache."
"You were trouble?"
"The worst kind, bright, lazy, high achiever. He asked me if I wanted to be a historian, to study it in university. I told him I wanted to make money." Maddie sighed, remembering that Nico had texted her during that lesson about the party. "Parties, boys, girls… I was living in a dream."
"What would you do if you could do anything?" Olu asked the question as though he knew the answer.
"Ancient history" Maddie said, wryly. Olu could never know the truth of it but he had her number insofar as her desires were concerned. "Do you have company in your tent tonight?"
He smiled.
"I want you to draw me, and then I want to make art."
[}{]
Captain Alex Harper
August 25th, 2552
12:41
In Orbit above Aszod
Epsilon Eridani System
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Alex smiled as he sat across from Mei Liang. She was glowing in the septic light of the mess hall. She should be at the helm on the bridge. As his first officer and when he was off shift, she was supposed to be in charge. Alex hadn't been running his ship properly for a while now. Since Ballast and exponentially since Reach was invaded, the UNSC Aegis Fate was more of a refuge ship than anything else. His crew were family and he had seen to it that they were afforded luxuries that most swabbies could never dream of. He couldn't openly date the first officer any other way, afterall.
He spent his days more as a form of bastardised governor or elected monarch than ship Captain. It was unsustainable, of course, but these were different times and the war, one way or another, was coming to an end.
With their plates empty, and their watches checked, Mei got up grudgingly. Commander Liang was now in charge, and she smiled sweetly.
"Not long enough." She said, taking his tray from in front of him, bending at the hips with a smile. A small necklace dangled from her neck, and Alex tracked it as she straightened. It seemed suspended as she moved, animated as she straightened and then, like a dolphin diving beneath the waves, it slipped back under her collar, leaving only the faint trace of a chain visible beneath her clothes.
Alex stood up and watched her go, smiling as she never looked back to check on him. Mei had been slow to trust the class of '52 but much had changed since then. Had he traveled back in time and told her that one day she would break some of the most important rules in the Naval charters just to be with him, she likely would have hit him and had him court martialed.
It was his "off" shift, so he should have had a break but Alex had already toured his ship. He had four updates a day regarding the readiness of his ship but touring gave him context he would otherwise lack. He had elected to go to a NAVSPECWAR briefing with his officers, who chastised him for not taking a break.
After settling into his chair with a sigh, Alex watched Malford: a diminutive man with a full head of hair and a chin that refused to stay shaved. He nodded at the Captain as he spoke at length regarding the situation on Reach.
"God, it's a mess." Alex said as the meeting concluded.
"Aye, Sir." Malford agreed. "NAVCOM thinks that it is possible to last only a few more weeks."
"I take a few to mean three, Lietenant. Are we really talking about a few?"
"More like a couple, tops."
"60% of everything we have is coming or already here. It's a last stand, if Parangosky really gave RED FLAG her authorisation like you say…"
Previous intelligence from Tukmen'tukhan suggested that Admiral Stanforth would make the the final decision on that one and once he did, if it went ahead, that would signal the last throw of the dice from the UNSC. One final effort. One cast of the die.
Alex sighed, "that's it, then. Reach is gone."
"What do we do, sir?" one of the comms officers said, frowning.
"We make plans, Malford. We have assets groundside that we need to aid. SUDAN might exist in name only but I might be able to get us retasked to evac duties."
"Anywhere in particular, Sir?"
Alex leanded forwards, claspinghis fingers between his hands.
"Aszod. Get me to Aszod."
It was the last place on the continent still doing evaac for those on the surface, if Maddie and the others were going to call for his help, it would be from there.
[}{]
Former Captain Madeleine Harper
August 26th, 2552
18:26
3 Clicks from the Boneyard
Aszod
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"It's beautiful, Olu." Maddie said, looking at the small drawing in her hands.
They were sat in the sun, on a rock. The convoy was not far from the Boneyards but it had stopped to refuel for the final time.
The past days, despite the searing pain she had been feeling in her shoulder, face and arm, had subsided with the climactic encounter she had shared with her fellow refugee. She looked at the way he had drawn her. She was naked and sitting cross-legged, a thin sheet hung over her chest, soft and delicate against the determined strikes that he had outlined her face with. What Maddie liked most was that he had captured a side of her that she rarely got to express. She held in her hand a book, and from her lips, a cigarette dangled absentmindedly. It wasn't vulnerability he had shown, or anything as cliché as strength. Rather, the woman in the drawing was passionate, curious, and effortlessly attractive.
Maddie smiled, her age old vanity rearing it's head again was a sign that you really cannot escape the most formative memories you have. That was okay, though. She liked feeling good about herself. She loved the way her eyes were drawn to the book, the way it drew her into its pages like a lotus flower.
Books, history, and things that piqued the curiosity had always been her ambrosia and as she looked at the gift from Olu, she made her peace with that. She was who she was, and that would be used against her time and again.
Yet, had Olu asked her if she would give it up to shield herself from harm. She would slap the man and walk right out of the tent.
Yes, she was vain, she was impetuous, uncontrollable, deceitful, and expressed a willingness to make a mockery of 'the line'. She was also the ever present bearer of hardship, spurred on by a desire to love, and an addiction to mystery.
Madeleine Harper felt complete.
"I know it wasn't real and I'm not the woman you loved but thank you for pretending. Its been too long since I let go like that."
"It's no trouble," he said, grinning, "and you should let go more often. We will need that kind of joy in the days to come."
Maddie looked to the exit of the tent, "its surprising how easy it is to forget that civilisation is collapsing out there when…" She took a step forward and pulled his glasses from her pocket. "...When we can share a moment like this, with a friend."
"Life goes on." He shrugged as she placed the arms of his glasses on his ears. She pushed them up the bridge of his nose with her own and then kissed him.
"It will. I'm going to make sure of that, Olu."
"Oh?" He pulled her close, cupping her face with his hands. "Tell me how."
"Shut up," she said, gasping into his mouth, "and I will tell you."
"Yes ma'am." He said, catching her as she launched herself at his waist, her legs wrapping around him as they collapsed onto the floor of the tent.
[}{]
Captain Aurellian "Ollie" Van Graff
August 26th, 2552
15:40
In the skies above Aszod
Epsilon Eridani System
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"How many one-armed blondes with snake tattoos and a goddamn cybernetic eye do you know, Van Graff?"
The screen flickered as Belloc kicked at the console. Irrespective of his outburst, it was plainly obvious that the woman in the feed was Madeleine.
The image was from a bunker, which opened when she arrived on the scene tp override the lockdown. She was wounded, her arm was missing and her opposite shoulder was bandaged up. Her helmet was gone and her right eye glowed where the skin had been slightly damaged, revealing the circuitry beneath it. Her ONI fatigues were ripped apart, unless you knew she was ONI, and if you ignored the military grade implants, you could be mistaken she was just another survivor of just another covenant invasion.
The a.i. in New Alexandria was gone and with it, the last operatives in the city. Ollie had picked them up around noon, but he'd seen the feed come through about three hours before that. Now, Agent Belloc was belloc-king him for not breaking radio silence for their lead. Holland had arranged for a Pelican to pick up Noble Team when their banker's
"I wasn't aware Harper was our lead. I thought we were looking for the Sorvad girl." He remain unmoving, "Agent Drake, who is being very darn quiet right about now, said she'd been taken care of."
Drake moved like a snake. He was effortless, like a ship through vacuum. Ollie understood where Maddie had gotten much of her little quirks from when he watched Drake. They moved with the same precision, the same silver tongue, and carried only the weight of menace in their steps.
"Where did she go?" He asked, ignoring Belloc's outrage.
"West." Ollie said, finally forced to comply. No hesitation could be shown when directly asked a question like that. If Maddie was to be saved, a friend had to be there when they struck.
"The Boneyard." Drake said, knotting his brow.
"Most likely, Sir. She probably thought Captain Volkovskaya would head that way, too."
"Nico, what do you think? Shall we set a trap?
"Pull up the heading of the Aegis Fate." He said, smirking.
Ollie did as he was told, catching Valettes eye as he did so.
"They've asked to do evac runs from the Boneyard. They're scheduled to arrive tonight and depart in five days." Valette said, "Do you think that's where they're headed, Sir?"
Drake nodded. "Creatures of habit. Signal the Aegis, tell them we're on our way."
"Aye, Sir."
"Get eyes on the bone yard," he said, turning to Ollie. "Volkovskaya won't be able to hide our runaway for long."
Ollie locked in the coordinates, leaving the Winter to find her own way there. Given that he had just watched a noose slip around one of his friends' necks, it didn't put him in the mood to fly.