[}{]
Katya "The Wolf" Volkovskaya
August 15th, 2552
09:00
[}{]
"Contact!"
The hog thundered along the track as Jack screamed in her ear.
Katya spun and spooled up the gun as three revenants tried to keep pace with them along the ridgeline. Thus sun blared in the creatures eyes as the Hog growled along, letting rip with the gatling gun as fuel rods flew past them and into the gentle bank on their left-hand side.
"You sure this was a good idea?!" Jack said, sliding the 4x4 around a felled tree.
Katya kept firing, leading the shots on the passengers first, letting the trajectory soften until the fuselage and the armed combatant were damaged or out of action.
"All I'm saying is- shit- that was close!"
"You heard the message from Maddie, Drake's alive."
"Right," he swerved again
"Keep us steady!"
A blast exploded before them and Katya felt warm radiation kiss her face as they sailed through the green cloud of dissipating fire.
"-but we're abandoning Nico, does that mean…"
"She's finally had enough."
A second revanant exploded as they darted for the rapidly approaching treeline. The last revenant dropped back, firing its main gun in the hope that it hit them. Katya rapaid it by pulling out her DMR from its sling on her back and squeezing three rounds into the exposed canopy, wounding its driver and sending it slumping to a halt on the other side of the ridgeline.
They were quiet as the forest welcomed them, waiting for nearly ten minutes before Katya climbed, mid-transit, into the passenger seat.
"Nico said the Captain was dead, then the ship blew up. He probably died."
"I doubt that very much. We're only doing what Belloc told us to, I suppose."
Katya nodded, "it would buy us a little time at least."
"I hope you're right." Jack said, placing a hand on her forearm, Noble team would drop an entire Supercarrier ontop of us, wouldn't they?"
[}{]
Madeleine "The Viper" Harper
August 16th, 2552
New Alexandria
[}{]
Fire still rained from the sky. Reach burned.
They were in a small area of New Alexandria named Old Town, about a mile or so from the estuary by the spaceport. This was where the first Hungarian settlers had set down their prefab buildings and began to build their lives here. Of course, now it was an all too familiar ghost town. It had a rustic charm to it because, although the prefab trappings of the early colonial period were gone, the city council had preserved the architecture and New Alexandria was famed for this little slice of settler-core, an aesthetic that had been all the rage during her brother's time in middle school.
It was surprisingly authentic, Maddie thought, as she sat at a barstool in the middle level of an old club. She lazily gazed out of the window, stretching behind the bar towards the streets and buildings and yawned. The pair were alone while Valette was collecting Preston, Ollie, and James, so to pass the time, Maddie and Mikaela had raided the cellar to hook up some new kegs to the taps.
"So… Declan?" Maddie said, thinking back to the pair's goodbye, she wanted to know more about Mikaela and the agent in her told her that this was the best way to understand.
It had caught her off-guard. The subtle weight that seemed to lift from her was a burden that she hadn't noticed but she still looked sad at the mentioning of his name.
"I… wish he'd stayed."
"Can't blame him for not believing me."
"No, you really can't. What upset me was that he knew how important my work was to me, I hoped it would have changed his mind. Life is crazy, it's not safe or fair. Running away from something like ARC DREAM… it doesn't make sense to me."
Maddie was crouched behind the bar, looking for glasses. She poked her head above the bar top and shrugged.
"I've drafted a lot of people into my team since Skopje, the only ones left are James and Jack. Declan seems like he understood perfectly, Mikaela. He couldn't compromise so he made his choice, even knowing what it would cost him."
"Fuck, it just makes me love him more."
Maddie smiled, "I totally understand that. Too many men out there who don't know what's best for them. Far better that he lets you go than makes you his Helen of Troy."
"I hope he has me back when this is all over." She shrugged.
"If he lives."
"We all will" She replied, grinning.
Maddie snorted, "you haven't been paying attention."
She stood up and placed two glasses upon the bar and began to fill them. The first frothed and spluttered everywhere. Mikaela laughed and thanked her for the glass of foam.
"I have, you're just seeing it wrong."
"Hard to see it any other way, to be honest."
"True but when you're adopted, you make life work. You drown or you throw a pool party."
Maddie just about managed to get the head of her next pint under three inches and tried to swap it with Mikaela.
Mikaela snatched her froth back, "it's like this drink. What do you see?"
"A really shit pint" She replied, her eyes rolling like a dismembered head.
"Exactly. You're not wrong, obviously, but you're also not right either."
Maddie humoured her, silently wondering how someone so bonkers could have survived for so long.
"It's also a really nice gesture," she said, gripping the glass with two hands and dipping her face into the froth. "It's supposed to look like that," she continued, pointing to an advert with a perfect pint on it. "The thing is, though, what a drink is supposed to look like doesnt matter, does it? It, in the grand scheme of the universe, is inconsequential. Just like life itself."
"Sounds awfully nihilistic."
Mikaela downed another third of the pint, finally reaching the bubbly lager that sat near the bottom. "No, you're a nihilist. You think that because nothing matters, there is nothing that's sacred. You gave up everything for a goal, which is admirable. You've had life trained out of you so that you're pliable and everything has been boiled down to survival."
Maddie sipped on her own beer, watching the woman become more animated as her rant slowly enthralled her. "Does that make me wrong?" she added, not willing to concede the point.
"No, you're absolutely right. We are in a life and death situation, all of our friends are always at risk. Hell, they might all be dying right now. The difference is that although I believe nothing matters, it means everything can be sacred. So where you see a shit pint or a world at its end, I see a kind gesture and persistence in the face of annihilation."
"That's absurd."
"That's exactly what it is," Mikaela grinned, raising her foamy glass, "it's a revolt against the absence of meaning. We die in our droves, we might not live to see september but I will not die without a smile on my face or without enjoying a gift from a friend."
Maddie laughed at that, clinking her glass to her new companion, "Friend, huh? So what do I do, to become as free-spirited as you?"
"Stop searching for meaning. Embrace the chaos and live in the moment. Look at us, here at the death of a planet, with a bar to ourselves and two middling pints of expensive beer. Somewhere in our past, someone might have written that as some student film project."
Maddie smiled, "life imitates art, right?"
"Maybe. Who cares?"
Mikaela sprung to her feet, and wandered over to the sound stage. Maddie sighed, looking at the discarded equipment, winding what the last singer here might have sounded like. Did they weep? Did they give into wanton bliss? A last announcement before abandoning their home?
Mikaela seemed to recognise that, turning a microphone over in her hands as she switched on the equipment.
"Trying to think of something funny?"
"Something ironic."
"A song about the end of the world, then?"
"Of course, just not sure what to pick?"
"I can't imagine there's a long list from your repertoire."
"From the 20th and 21st century?" she snorted, "Please, they were facing worse than we are. It was our own stupidity that they had to overcome. An existential threat is easy by comparison."
Maddie was glib but she did laugh, "point taken."
"It's easy to forget that humans have always believed they live at the end of days, yet here we are…"
Maddie stood before her, watching as Mikaela held out a hand. She took it and was hoisted up onto the stage. She took the spare microphone as Mikaela dimmed the lights.
"Follow along as best you can… or don't" she said, starting the music.
"Hast du etwas Zeit für mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Denkst du vielleicht grad an mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons
Und, dass so was von so was kommt"
Maddie smiled immediately as the haunting melody began. Mikaela bopped and swayed playfully as the synths began to drone and hum and twang.
Albert would have approved.
Maddie nodded as the beat picked up and Mikaela led her in.
"Neunundneunzig Luftballons
Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont
Hielt man für UFOs aus dem All
Darum schickte ein General
'Ne Fliegerstaffel hinterher
Alarm zu geben, wenn's so wär
Dabei waren dort am Horizont
Nur neunundneunzig Luftballons"
It was bad. Maddie didn't know a lick of German but with each lyric snarled, and each inflection botched, Maddie found herself grinning and yelling.
"Neunundneunzig Düsenflieger
Jeder war ein großer Krieger
Hielten sich für Captain Kirk
Es gab ein großes Feuerwerk
Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft
Und fühlten sich gleich angemacht
Dabei schoss man am Horizont
Auf neunundneunzig Luftballons"
"Neunundneunzig Kriegsminister
Streichholz und Benzinkanister
Hielten sich für schlaue Leute
Witterten schon fette Beute
Riefen Krieg und wollten Macht
Mann, wer hätte das gedacht
Dass es einmal soweit kommt
Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons
Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons
Neunundneunzig Luftballons"
As the music slowed, Maddie let Mikaela see the song out. With a delicate and practised tongue she let the haunting melody end whilst half-laughing at Maddie.
"Neunundneunzig Jahre Krieg
Ließen keinen Platz für Sieger
Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr
Und auch keine Düsenflieger
Heute zieh' ich meine Runden
Seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen
Hab 'n Luftballon gefunden
Denk' an dich und lass' ihn fliegen"
Maddie wanted to talk to her but she held up her tablet and thrust some lyrics into her hand.
"Don't worry, these are English"
"Isn't this a bit… on the nose?"
"Don't you agree with the lyrics?"
"Well, yeah but-"
"But nothing, if you feel it, give it voice. Who gives a damn if it's on the nose." she hit play and wandered to the bar to pour two more pints.
Maddie shrugged as the guitar bagan to strum, more cheerfully than she'd expected.
"Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down
No, I'll stand my ground
Won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won't back down"
Mikaela was in the crowd, downing her drink and shrieking. Maddie, finding no choice but to get into it, began to work her crowd of one. She had missed music, she hadn't really listened to it since that party on Skopje.
"Hey, baby
There ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down) Hey, I
Will stand my ground
And I won't back down"
Well, I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground
And I won't back down
Now Mikaela joined in. Her voice was less professional than her first song, she was playing the part of the besotten crowd-goer. She reached out, offering the drink. Maddie grabbed her wrist instead, hoisting her on to the stage for the chorus.
(I won't back down) Hey, baby
There ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down) Hey, I
Will stand my ground
(I won't back down) And I won't back down
(I won't back down) Hey, baby
There ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down) Hey, I
Won't back down
During the final solo, they played air guitar and chugged. Maddie felt alive, more alive than she had felt since Alex left for the navy all those years ago. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Maddie knew that this was the person she might have been if not for the war.
(I won't back down) Hey, baby
There ain't no easy way out
(I won't back
down) Hey, I
Will stand my ground
(I won't back down) And I won't back down
(I won't back down) No, I won't back down
And as the music closed out, Maddie realised that she was this person in spite of the war. Her mission was everything, that was true. Yet, in that empty bar, Maddie realised that there was a whole person inside her that hadn't been allowed to bloom.
You can stand me up at the gates of hell, Parangosky.
You can keep on pushing me around, covenant…
But no, I won't back down.
[}{]
Captain Alex Harper
August 17th, 2552
Weimar Station - Anchor-One
[}{]
"New wave is coming in!"
"All hands, battle stations!" Alex said, gripping the railing before him. "Have that sabre cover off the left flank, they're losing ground. Liang, get me a firing solution on that corvette."
The battle was ramping up, now. Two corvettes with a regiment-sized force was aboard, likely trying to reinforce the covenant forces attacking Sword Base, was hitting the station hard with a swarm of banshee and seraph starfighters. Against them, only the Aegis Fate, a lone Sabre, and two squadrons of broadswords could be mustered for the defense.
"Where the fuck is Freemont?"
"Engaged over Azsod, he won't move his fleet until all the wrecks at the ship-breaking yards have Earth's location scrubbed from their memory banks."
"Tell him they're going to puch through if they don't-"
A streak of plasma slammed into the side of Anchor-One, cleaving a section of it from its mountings. The chunk began its ignamonious descent into the atmosphere.
"This isn't working. Patch me through to our fighters." the ensign, sweating at his station, put him through.
"Dagenham Actual, this is Aegis. Punch me a hole through their fighters, I need a clear shot on the corvette nearest the surface!"
"Aye, cap!" the response sounded unsure but it was relayed with the discipline you would expect from trained pilots. They obeyed without question.
"Arm archer pods C through M, I want them firing on that corvette's engines. Spool the MAC Cannon to half strength and get me a shot on the Corvette. Nav! Put us between them, we'll let them kill eachother."
"Aye sir!"
Alex waited, watching a hole appear slowly in their fighter cover. His pilots were set upon like wolves upon flesh.
"Fire the Archer's!"
"Missiles away."
"Nav, get us between them."
"Aye, Sir!"
The Aegis lurched forward, speeding through space like a collapsing tower block.
"Get ready to detonate the emergency movement thrusters."
The PDC's lit up the sky as banshees, seraphs, the Sabre, and two of the boradswords exploded around them.
"Hull breach, deck one!"
"Keep going, what's the time to target on those missiles?"
"30 seconds."
"Ready the MAC gun," Alex was sweating now.
"Good hit sir, the shield is down, put a MAC round through their engine mountings."
"Shot away."
There was silence as the crew started to watch.
"No time for that, people. Arm two thirds of our remaining pods and fire on the other one!"
"Ready!"
"Fire! Next a MAC round, time it behind them so they don't see it coming."
The deck buzzed and 'whumped' as the MAC round chased after the missiles.
"Sir! Partial launch on the Archers, the hit to deck one triggered the failsafe, half the pods didn't fire!"
Alex ran the scenario in his head. They wouldn't destroy either ships. He watched the display as the Archers only partially disabled the shield and the MAC round sailed between the tiny gap in its shields.
"It hit!"
Alex shook his head, "not well enough, we missed the reactor. Order a retreat, emergency flip and burn."
Hold on tight everyone… This will be rough.
Anchor-One, was on its own.
[}{]
Madeleine "The Viper" Harper
August 17th, 2552
New Alexandria
[}{]
The World Forge was in the city, or at least the data Mikaela had collected on it was.
Katya and Jack had returned from the ONI HQ scouting mission, which is when they found the irrigation tunnel that ran from the estuary to every building in the city that housed tier one assets. Finally, they had returned to find the rest of their little rebel band hunkered down in the old bar: The Solar Sail.
There had been radio silence from Nico and ONI but that was because the war wasn't going well at all. Alex, wired into Naval Command like a fuse, fed them regular updates on the movements made by Parangosky, Freemont, and Stanforth. Clashes were occurring all over the system but for now, the line was holding. Stanforth had Alex shoring up a quiet sector near the station that supplied the ordinance for UPPERCUT, the covenant were avoiding that sector for fear of another slip-space bomb. Parangosky, meanwhile, wasn't just cleaning house, she was burning it all like something out of the book of revelation.
It gave Viper the room it needed to breathe, and with the covenant bearing down upon New Alexandria, and ONI HQ, there was more than enough opportunity to aquire what they needed and bug out before they got glassed.
Ollie, James, and Preston arrived last, having spent most of the week ferrying men and material between the science team stranded after the base attack and the Fenrir, where the others, which now included Ketarus and Jade Roberts, would be inducting them into the programme. Preston, in particular, had been enthralled by the process.
Maddie, for the first time in a long time, was surrounded by friends. It was quiet, the murmur was not jovial or depressed but it was the eye of the storm. For her part, Maddie had spent the days since the Supercarrier's destruction getting to know Mikaela better.
She was good company.
Mikaela liked to sing and would dance along to the tunes she sang. They were all old earth songs, too. The pair had spoken at length about the past, of the forerunners and ancient man. Maddie talked of the Bronze Age Collapse and Mikaela of her work in the mountains. However, it was Katya, sitting alone with her rifle, who Maddie needed to speak with the most.
"Katya?"
"What is it, Maddie?" She said, her familiar blue eyes stared back at her in the dim light.
"I think I need to take a step back, if you know what I mean."
"I do not."
Maddie shifted awkwardly and touched the back of the chair where Katya's rifle lay. "May I?"
Katya shrugged.
"I don't think Tukmetuk'han would let me walk away completely and the truth is that I don't want to. Look, you can handle yourself in a fight and the scout report you brought back, like every other report you've given me, is second to none. My head isn't in the right place to lead us and with recent revelations… well, things will only get more personal."
Katya smiled, then. It was warm, which was odd. Maddie hadn't seen that since they first met in Australia.
"My instinct is that you are wrong. You don't usually act so vulnerable, though. So maybe you are right." she tapped her chin, "You are a strong woman, Maddie. I think you are taking on too much responsibility, letting me take care of the fieldwork might take some of the weight off of your shoulders."
There was a pause, filled with understanding. Maddie was thankful and gripped her friend by the hand. "I want to, God, you know I wish I could. I'm just all spent."
"So, does this mean we are Wolf, now?"
"If you want" Maddie laughed, "I'll always be the Viper but they don't play too well in packs."
"You will learn." she said, smiling, "Now gather the others and fall in, we have a heist to plan."
[}{]
Captain Alex Harper
August 17th, 2552
Attached to the Epsilon Eridani Fleet over Reach
[}{]
"Freemont is pissed, son." Admiral Harper said, "I just pulled a boatload of favours to keep you where you are."
"I know, Sir, but the battle was lost. If we had stayed, we would have ensured only our own destruction."
"Don't give me that Sir crap, Alex. I know the situation. Hell, Freemont had me siphon the last of my capitol ships. Won't be seeing those again, I suppose." Alex smiled painfully as his grandfather pinched the bridge of his nose. "You need to be in that seat if we're going to help Maddie get this project of hers off the ground. It's looking likely that the UEG won't survive another year."
"How did they figure that one out?"
"With reach off the board in the next few weeks, and Tribute to follow, only Earth remains as a major human settlement. It's certainly the only place where we can build and outfit ships right now."
"... and it hasn't been the centre of the war industry since, well, a long, long time."
"Aye."
"It's really bad out here, Grandad. I was the commander of strike force SUDAN and now its just me."
"You're being subsumed into Freemont's battle group, then?"
Alex laughed, "no, sir. My 'battlegroup' is being retasked with ferrying military personell and materials off the surface."
"Ah. Well, that affords you a lot of legroom. See if you can't prioritise some stuff for Madeleine, she'll appreciate the assistance. It's a lot to ask of your men, but be the last one out, for me? Maddie will leave it late, she usually does. Besides, Reach was my home more than Skopje ever was… I… I'd like to know how it all ends. Even if it hurts."
The hologram flickered, the strain on the comms network increased with each destroyed installation, satellite, deepspace buoy, and space station.
"I will, don't worry."
"Alright, get it done, Alex."
The connection dropped and Alex got to his feet before stepping back onto his bridge. It was quiet as a convent in there, as the bridge crew quietly readied the ship for its next mission. The ship was down a deck and had less than a third of its missiles left. It was enough for one engagement maybe.
Mei was staring into space at his Captain's chair, she'd chewed her little finger down to the nailbed. "You look like you could do with a drink… or a smoke?"
She stood up and took his hand for a moment, "yeah" she said, giving it a squeeze before looking about the bridge, "I could do with some good company."
"Barking up the wrong tree, then, Commander." Alex joked, before they were approached by the comms officer.
"Message for you, Sir. It's the Winter, they've met with Agent Harper and they're requesting to board."
Alex nodded firmly, "do it." then remembering that Freemont was watching him from aboard the Trafalgar, he added: "tell them to come in through the back."
[}{]
Madeleine "The Viper" Harper
August 17th, 2552
New Alexandria
[}{]
While Katya briefed the others, Maddie sat watching Ollie and Valette. The pair had taken the loss of the Savannah pretty hard, and had been consoling eachother when Katya had called her briefing. Valette was quieter than usual, her hands were placed unnanturally on her lap, like she'd been programmed to sit in a way that made her appear as though she was okay. Ollie meanwhile, was hunched forward, his eyes red and puffy.
As far as Maddie could understand it, they'd had a Skopje of their own. The sole survivors of a minor battle that, if humanity survived, would go almost totally unnoticed.
"Shit, Katya, you're crazy." James said.
"With you there, Brother" Preston agreed, "Sneak through a warzone, traverse a sewer, hope that we haven't had our cover blown, and steal the harddrives right out of the central servers in ONI HQ."
Maddie watched Mikaela grin.
Definitely your kind of crazy.
"Katya will be leading the OP's from here on out, she's even better at small unit tactics than I am." Maddie said, standing up. "Which is why I need our Overwatch to rendezvous with Alex and hand over this commlink. It's private and communicates only with Katya's helmet. That will help us call him in to get us out of the system. Tell him he might hear some… bad things, about us in the coming days and if he bitches about it, tell him Preston will make it up to him"
"Hey!" Preston laughed.
"Once that is done, come back and help us exfil, it might go very wrong so do not take long." Katya said, "can you three handle that?"
James, Valette, and Ollie nodded.
"Good. The covenant will hit the city in the next few hours so we need to move to get ahead of them, is everyone ready?"
Jack met her eyes and winked before reaching for his gun. "You know I'm all in."
"Let's make them there bastards pay for their little training mission" Ollie said to Vallette.
"Fuck yeah," Mikaela said, grinning, "let's cause some mother fucking trouble."
"Hoo-ah" James added, the chorus of comrades grew louder as Maddie rose to her feet, her axe on her hip and her helmet in hand.
They looked to her in turn, "for the dream, then?"
Katya nodded, "For the dream."