Phase 13: Bonds of War
Yuri meets up with his alien crush, Sela, who is sitting with other Elites working on weapons powering them up in storage units. "Oh hello Yuri," Sela said as Vala looked on to see the fair lady looking quite awkward around her favorite human.
"You two need some alone time?" Vala teases her as Sela glows in the face.
"Stop it Vala," Sela said.
"Sorry milady, slip of the mandibles," Vala leaves the two to talk.
"How are you feeling after your little trip to the Xion?" Yuri asked to sit next to her to enjoy the natural scent which is of fresh feathers in the cool morning.
"I can't believe how stupid you humans are. You all living is a such a big fluke," Sela said.
"Yeah, humans do stupid things when their egos are on the line. The Flood is a line too far. We all know how dangerous and yet ONI is flirting with ideas. One spore can destroy an entire species. One fuck up and it would be all over," Yuri said.
"Arbiter is working with Lord Hood to try to sort this out. ONI's plan to kill off all our worlds is canceled," Sela said.
"Good, not all the Elites deserve that. You become our allies, we are in this together," Yuri said as Sela nodded her head.
"Yeah, thanks for the talk," Sela said.
"Anytime princess," Yuri said.
"Princess, really?" Sela questioned.
"You are a Scion which is a Noble female of high status in Sangheili society. Princess fits you well," Yuri said.
"I guess that is true. Father is a bit overprotective of his kin. Throwing men at me but I have no interest in it," Sela said.
"Who are you interested In," Yuri said
"Take a big guess," Sela said going up to him to let her long slender tongue lick his cheek in a sweet tender way.
"I wonder when you joined the Swords' Military?" Yuri asked
"Well after when the Arbiter allowed females into the Military. I joined along with my friend Vala to aid the Arbiter in protecting Sanghelios along with her colony worlds," Sela said.
"Was your father happy with this?" he asked as she had a small smile.
"Oh goodness no, he was more traditional but he saw my combat prowess and gave me his blessing to join the Swords. I was able to join a joint fire team between Vala, Rosenda, and Alisa. Allowing me to be part of a joint strike team on the Eternity," she said.
"Seems unreal for our species to work together like this despite being enemies not too long ago," Yuri said.
"There are a lot of us during the war who have gained respect for humanity's abilities to fight against all odds despite being outmatched. My people wanted you to join the Covenant but the Prophets said no. They tried to wipe us out because we were too smart for our good and asked too many questions. Brutes were perfect for them since they don't ask questions," Sela said.
"I see, I am glad it all turned out good in the end," Yuri said as Sela lay against his body putting his arm around her waist.
"Yeah me too," Sela said as her deep soothing voice was music to his ears. Both enjoy the sights of the stars outside.
Alisa and Cortez left the showers to be in clean clothing and sat in Alisa's room to see Sage on a holo-pedestal as a hologram. "Greetings, it was easy finding you here," Sage said.
"Good, be nice to hang out with you more," Alisa said.
"I know your record. You went back to Earth when you escaped Reach to defend it from the Covenant invasion," Sage said.
"Yeah, I escaped Reach and met up with a frigate nearby to head for Earth to prepare for the Covenant's final push against us. We had Earth, Luna, and Mars left as strongholds in the Sol System," Alisa said as Cortez looked a grim look on his face.
"I was on Mars when all that stuff happened with my ODST squad defending my home from them. It was hell," Cortez said.
"I was only born 4 months ago. Will you tell me one of your missions of defending Earth?" Sage asked.
"Okay, one of my missions I was doing was taking out a forward base protected by anti-air turrets needed to take out via lazing targets for artillery. When I got back with an old teammate and a new one who became one of my best friends," Alisa said as she recalled her mission on Earth within 2552.
-Flashback Begins-
Within 2552 on October 25th, Earth has been invaded and the Covenant is at their doorstep. Alisa is back in action on the surface to be in the Rocky Mountains in North America wearing her Black/Grey MK5/B armor at a base that was recently attacked by the aliens but held them back.
"Gee, where are they?" she wondered as her two new teammates arrived.
"It's been a while Six," Jun said in his green MK5/B armor holding a sniper rifle.
"Likewise, good to see you Jun," Alisa said to give him a firm handshake.
"You are too stubborn to die it seems," Jun said.
"Yeah sounds about right," Alisa said
"Well, we have a third member who was supposed to be on Noble Team before she was pulled for Emile," Jun said as a female Spartan 3 appeared in a red/white MK5/B armor.
"Hello there, I am Rosenda, or Rose for short. Nice to meet you guys," Rose said.
"Likewise," Alisa said.
"So you are Noble Six. I used to be Noble Four before I got transferred. Can't wait to see you in action," Rose said to look over at her old teammate. "Nice to see you again Jun," Rose said.
"Good to see you in good spirits," Jun said.
"What to be or I would lose my mind with all this shit happening. Time to give these aliens the hands of vengeance for this planet," Rose said psyching them up.
"Let's do this. I got an IFV Cougar with our name on it. We are going to drive this right in the throat of the enemy," Alisa said as they walked towards the garage to see the large 6-wheeled heavily armored vehicle. It has twin Gauss cannons on the turret up top with an HMG on the side of the turret.
"Bringing up the big guns," Rose said impressed by this swift monster.
"We are going to need it, come on inside," Alisa said as they went through a side door to get into the compartment. "I will take the wheel," she said.
"I get the guns," Rose said.
"I will go over the vehicle sensor suite," Jun said.
Alisa looks at her weapons to see she has a modified MA5D assault rifle with a built-in M301 grenade launcher, suppressor, and laser targeter. "Lieutenant, use that Laser Targeter on your rifle to laze targets for our artillery onto hard targets," Base Command said on her radio.
"Affirmative, we are heading out," Alisa said as they sped off into the grass fields of the mountainous valley.
"Godspeed Spartans," Base Command said as they went off with the IFV going at full speed to detect enemy armor coming their way.
"Ghosts and Spectres inbound," Jun said.
"Time to give them a taste of Mach 40," Rose said as she was on the turret via a console to fire high-speed rounds to take out the Spectres blasting them apart while the heavy bullets cut down the Grunts on the Ghosts seeing them be scattered onto the grass.
Alisa keeps driving to avoid getting hit with plasma to ram into a Ghost destroying it and the Grunt flying across the hill.
"You got to love seeing those little idiots getting hit with a bumper," Rose said.
"Being a little trigger happy," Alisa said as Rose was blowing always targets with ease.
"She is always like that. So Gung Ho," Jun said.
"I am going to enjoy putting these alien bastards in the ground to act as fertilizer," Rose said to punch through the alien vehicles to leave them in ruins.
"Knocking down over 10 vehicles. We got four Wraiths coming at us," Jun said as Alisasawg big blue orbs came from the sky. She uses the Cougar's speed to avoid the plasma strikes to fire twin shots at the Wraiths to kill one with two twin shots turning it into a flaming heap.
"Got yo,u bastard," Rose said as Jun took track of the vehicles while Alisadodgedg mortar fire.
"Three remaining Wraiths," Jun said as Alisa sped off getting behind a Wraith to double-tap the back to crack the tank wide open destroying it. "Now there are two left," he said plainly.
"We need to get to the mouth of the mountain to get inside the valley towards the enemy forward base covered in anti-air towers," Alisa said.
"You got that Laser Targeter to laze targets for artillery," Jun said.
"Correct but we need to take care of their defenses," she said to avoid a mortar strike from a Wraith. Rose is on the controls of the turret to blast apart the third Wraith in four shots leaving it a burning heap.
"One more left, let's go," Jun said.
"Alright, suck on this. Alien scumbags," Rose fires more shots from the twinGausss cannons to destroy the Wraith leaving none left.
"All targets confirmed destroyed," Jun said as Rose playfully tapped them both on the back.
"That is how is done. Just a straight line now," Rose said as Alisa drove into the mouth of a cavern to see an encampment of Covenant forces. A bunch of Grunts, Jackals, and Drones being commanded by a few Elites seeing the human vehicles coming at full speed.
"Kill the Demons," the Elites ordered as Grunts fired their Fuel Rod Guns and manning Shade turrets. They smash through the defenses to turn a bunch of enemies into roadkill with the HMG firing at full speed to slice through alien targets. Different colored blood paints the walls with the Elites getting turned into Swiss cheese. The twinGausss turret o blasts apart a barrier.
"We need to go on foot," Alisa said as she grabs her weapons to exit out of the IFV to cocks her MA5D Assault Rifle to load up a grenade into the underslung tube with her M45 shotgun on her armored back.
"Die Demon," an Elite aims his Plasma Rifle but Alisa lobs an EMP grenade to disable his shields to unload her rifle rounds to slice through his armor to put down the wounded Elite.
Rose gets out of the Cougar to hold a SAW machine gun and a grenade launcher. Jun grabs his Sniper Rifle and M7S suppressed SMG. "Smooth Six," Jun said.
It's nothing, let's move. I will take a point," she said as the three Spartans kept going through the caverns filled with Drones trying to stop them.
"Hate these buggers," Rose firing her machine gun to drop a bunch of Drones to
"Ditto on that one," Jun said using his SMG to pepper the monstrous bugs to drop them onto the rocky floor. Alisa lobs a frag grenade into the air to burst apart the group of Drones. A few Drone captains use Plasma Rifles to fire at them to force them back into cover.
"Spread out, I will draw their attention while you flank them," she fires her machine gun to take out groups of Grunts while Jun and Alisapartg away to hide in the shadows of the cavern.
Jackel Snipers were wielding Beam Rifles and Focus Rifles perched on the walls. Jun draws out his Sniper Rifle to start sniping targets blowing off the Jackals' heads.
Alisa is moving in like a swift shadow to use her suppressed MA5D to take out Drones while using her EMP grenades to knock out Shielded Drones to tear into their bodies with precise burst fire.
Rose is mowing down a Drone Captain Major with her SAW to knock out its shield with the sheer volume of fire to blow it into bloody pieces. She tosses a Frag grenade to take out the shield of another Drone Captain Major to kill it with a high amount of bullets.
"Bug juice everywhere," Rose said as she saw Jun sniping targets while Alisa was blasting away Drones to clear them out.
"Time we keep moving," Alisa said as the three Spartan 3s were going through the caverns to see Brutes holding the passage to the forward base. "Brutes up ahead," she switches to her shotgun to see several Brutes wielding their Spikers and Blood Hands led by a Captain wielding a Brute Shot.
"Don't let them though, Rend their bodies into bone paste," the Captain said as he was firing the rapid-fire grenade launcher.
"Scatter," Rose said as they rolled away with the Brutes coming in with their weapons. All three keep their distances to use their weapons to fend them off.
Alisa fires several rounds to strike the Brute who is shrugging it off with his raw endurance. She fires onto his head to shoot off the metal cap and follow up with a headshot to put down the Brute.
Rose is unloading a ton of bullets to kill off two Brutes with raw amounts of firepower. "Suck on this,' Rose switches to her Grenade Launcher to lob a frag grenade to take out a group of Brutes.
Jun rolls away from a tackling Brute to use his M7S to load tons of rounds into its body. The large beastly alien swings his Spiker's blades. Jun backs away to lob a Plasma grenade to stick onto the Burte with the explosive splitting the big alien in half.
"Useless," the Brute Captain is peppering their positions with explosive shots. Jun pulls out his Sniper Rifle to pop the helmet and then finishes him off with a second headshot killing him instantly.
"Time to move," Jun said as they saw a lot of Grunts arming Plasma Grenades to charge at them.
"Death to the Demons," the Grunts shouted to run towards them.
"I got this," Roseunloadedg her SAW to tear into the small aliens to see them dropping their grenades to explode setting off a chain reaction to take out over 50 Grunts scattering their bright blue blood and body parts across the caverns.
"Early festival fireworks," Alisa said lightly.
"I will show you a nice festival once we win this," Rose said with a light tone.
"If we win," Alisa said sounding downer about it.
"Come on, have a bit of bravado. We are not out of this yet," Rose said.
"Let's hit those anti-air towers," Jun said keeping them on task.
"Right," Alisa said as the three Spartanswento out of the cave to see a large encampment of Covenant forces with over 500 troopers within the forward base.
"I will take a position while you two go into the thick of things. Good luck," Jun said to jump up the ridge to set up his sniper nest.
"I will laze targets, you cover me," Alisa said as she was by the first of three towers.
"Will do Six," Rose said as Alise aimed her Laser Targeter at the anti-air tower to tag it.
"I got the first one tagged," she said on the radio.
"Good Lieutenant, incoming fire," the base command said as a salvo of artillery strikes destroyed the anti-air tower. "Two more to go, keep it up Lieutenant," Base Command said as Alisa could see a few Elites spotting her to fire their Plasma Repeaters. Her shields were hit by the blue bolts to weaken them to take cover.
She loads an EMP grenade into the grenade launcher under her rifle barrel. She lobs it to disable all three Elites' shields to put a few bursts into their heads to drop them onto the grass. Jun puts a sniper shot through an Elite punching through his shield and nailing him in the head.
"Keep going Six," Jun said reloading his rifle with Rose dumping a ton of rounds from her SAW to kill off several Brutes laying them down on the ground. She drops the drum magazine to load up 125 more rounds into the gun.
"Got you covered," she said tossing a Flashbang to blind the Brutes to mow them down with ruthless precision. Alisa goes towards the next tower with Grunts using Fuel Rod Guns and Shade turrets trying to stop her but she lobs grenades to take them out.
She gets hit by a close strike from a Fuel Rod Gun to knock her onto a rock. She gets back onto her feet to take out the Grunt Heavy with her Assault Rifle.
She switches to her M45 shotgun to slide towards an Elite to fire a buckshot to pop his shield and fires another buckshot to kill the Elite Minor. She lazes the next target to see the artillery blasting the tower into pieces.
"One last target. Once it is done, we can level the forward base with strike fighters," Base Command said.
"Affirmative," Alisa wields her MA5D to see a pair of Hunters roll away from the Beam cannons on their arms. The two armored aliens rush at her trying to crush her with their shield arms. She loads a HE grenade to fire at the Hunter with the blast wave shaking up the Hunter.
"I am Lazing these Hunters," she said to use her Laser Targeter to mark the targets.
"We will wipe your problems away. Standby," Base Command said as the artillery barrage turned back Hunters into orange bloody messes on the ground. "Targets down, keep going. Only one left," Base Command said as she kept moving to get in range for her laser to work.
Jun can see Jackel Snipers and Drone Snipers wielding Focus Rifles, Beam Rifles, and Carbines. He swiftly puts down four targets to reload his weapon to take out more Drones and Jackals to clear a path for Alisa.
Rosenda sees Ghosts coming her way to dodge their incoming speed charges. She pulls out her M319 to lob grenades to blow apart the incoming Ghosts to kill the Grunts piloting them. She rolls a frag towards the Jackals to blast them and scatter their bodies.
Alisa comes in to tag the last anti-air tower to see it get blown to pieces. "Now good work, get in the cave and see the fireworks," Base Command said as the three Spartanswento back into the cave. The Longswords come in to bomb the forward base to kill everyone inside the valley.
"Well that was a job well done," Rose said feeling excited about their small victory.
"We make a good team," Alisa said as it felt nice getting help from others on the battlefield again.
"It does, like old times on Reach. Working together to ward off the Covenant will bear fruit," Jun said.
"Yeah, totally," Rosenda said as they went into the IFV Cougar to speed back to the base. Alisa feels like the spirit of the Noble Team lives on through them to protect Earth and the Sol System to hold the enemy back until a miracle happens.
-Flashback Ends-
Sage learns about the Noble Team coming back in a new form to protect the Earth until the bitter end. "How interesting, why didn't Jun come back?" Sage asked.
"He retired on the field to help train up the Spartan 4s. Have a new generation of Spartans to defend Earth and her worlds from the Storm, the United Front, the Banished, and the Prometheans," Alisa said.
"Were there others who joined this new Noble Team?" Sage asked.
"Nope. Just me the Point Woman, Jun the Scout, and Rosenda the Heavy. She became the team leader with her experience and bright attitude pushing us forward. That is why she is the leader of Fireteam Omega," Alisa said.
"Interesting, I would be excited to join the team," Sage said.
"Gee, you get a next-generation Smart AI and we get Dumb AI for our suits," Cortez said.
"Better than nothing," Alisa said,
"Dumb AI are less people and more advanced tools. They are still useful for Spartan operators," Sage said.
"Well, it's good to have you, Sage,"
"I will do my best to help you stay safe," Sage said to show a small smile to enjoy their time together with Sage being part of Fireteam Omega as a member.