Dust and Echoes (RWBY/Halo)
Chapter 23: Apocalypse Now
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Peponi, Nyame System
Greater Peponi Rainforest
June 20th, 2541, 1659 Hours (UNSC Military Calendar)
The air was so thick that one could practically see it in front of them, and not just because of the heat and humidity. Robyn felt her fists tighten, and around her she could see the rest of the Huntsmen, Huntresses, and especially the UNSC Army soldiers clutching their weapons tighter. Nervousness and fear were radiating off of everyone, and no one made a sound.
What other reaction could be expected after you find a trio of Grunts on your planet?
With one jolt of her hand back over her shoulder, Sergeant Abeni ordered everyone to quietly back up. They complied, crabwalking backwards with their weapons aimed forward in the direction of the sleeping Covenant soldiers. It was hard to say just how far they went, but once they were reasonably certain that they were out of earshot they began to hastily converse in hushed, nearly panicked whispers.
"Holy shit, those were Grunts!" one of the soldiers said, rapidly shifting his gaze back and forth between his fellow soldiers and the Covenant just beyond the grass line.
"The Covenant's on Peponi. No, no, no, this can't be happening," another said, nearly descending into panic, bringing his hand up to his forehead.
"Hold yourself together, trooper," Sergeant Abeni hissed, forcing a calm over her men. She and the others took a few moments to breathe in and out deeply, showing Robyn that even she was feeling the pressure.
Once a reasonable measure of calm had fallen, Abeni steeled her eyes and said, "Okay, we have confirmed sighting of Covenant activity on Peponi. Our first and only priority is to radio command and declare Winter Contingency."
Everyone nodded in complete agreement, but as Casper pulled out her scroll to notify the UNSC, Abeni stopped her with a raised hand and pointed out, "Might not be a good idea to do it here."
"Why? Shouldn't we tell them as soon as possible?" Casper asked, her scroll still in her hand, only for Abeni to shake her head.
"No, especially not through an unsecured channel. I get the feeling that the Covenant have been on Peponi for a while," Abeni said. "If I had to guess, they've been responsible for all the deaths and disappearances we've have been dealing with lately. That means they likely are listening to our communications, or at the very least scanning them. I wouldn't be surprised if they have jammers in place as well. Point is, there's too many risks right now. If we radio in Winter Contingency here, we might not get a signal. Not only that, we could end up bringing the Covenant right on top of us. If we do it through an unsecured channel, they'll definitely notice."
The others tightened their fists and clenched their jaws harder, and Robyn narrowed her eyes. Although she didn't have the military experience that Harriet enjoyed, she and the rest of the Happy Huntresses had gone to the same academy. That gave them a common base of knowledge and understanding, leading to them coming to the same conclusion. The UNSC soldiers already knew this, although some took it harder than others, and Casper's eyes widened at the implications of what she almost just did. The already heavy situation seemed to bear down on them more, and Robyn could feel more trickles of sweat coming down her brow.
"God…dammit," Private Bukola hissed while shaking his head. "What do we do?"
"We get word back to command and let them know, by foot if we have to," Abeni immediately answered. Turning towards the direction of their Warthogs, she continued, "Once we get back to the Warthogs, we hightail it to New Timbuktu and sound the alarm. The UNSC will immediately begin to evacuate the planet and launch a counterattack to wipe these Covie bastards out."
"Do we even know where the Covies are? Besides the Sleeping Beauties over there?" Robyn asked while throwing her thumb in the aforementioned Grunts' direction.
Abeni scrunched up her nose, then slowly turned her head towards the Covenant's location and remarked, "No…but I bet they do."
Slowly, the others turned to look as well, and one by one came to the same conclusion. It carried risks, obviously, but the fact that they caught the Grunts with their metaphorical pants down was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Everyone then nodded in agreement, and Abeni nodded back before she began to draw on the dirt with her finger.
"Alright, here's the plan," Abeni whispered as she drew a rough mockup of the terrain, marking the Grunts and the Ghosts with circles and squares, respectively. She briefly paused to look up at the Remnantians, then asked, "I take it you'll take part in this?"
"Absolutely," Robyn immediately answered, with the rest nodding in agreement. Abeni nodded back, then returned to her dirt drawing.
"Okay, we need to completely surround them from this embankment and the river," Abeni said, marking their locations with an X for each man and woman. "By the time they wake up, guns should be pointing at them from all sides, leaving no avenues to escape."
"What about their Ghosts? They get in those they can hightail it back to their base, wherever it is, or turn their guns on us," a soldier pointed out, only for Fiona to raise her hand.
"I can handle those. Leave them to me," Fiona offered without elaborating further. Abeni looked like she wanted to press further, but decided against it and took the sheep faunus at her word when it was clear that the other Remnantians supported her.
"Can the Grunts radio in for backup on their own? What about commanding officers? They're usually led by Elites, if I remember correctly, and I didn't see any," Joanna spoke up, only for Mandla to speak up.
"I think these are just scouts on patrol," he said. "A couple friends of mine who were on leave told me that they've seen some Grunts be out on their own, mostly for menial tasks the Elites don't want to do. Stuff like patrolling the perimeter. If what they told me was true, I doubt there's any Elites nearby since there's no chance for 'glory' or 'honor.'"
His voice was dripping with sarcasm, then he added, "Not only that, but these Grunts decided to take a nap. If I were a lazy ass, which I'm not, who wanted to sleep instead of doing my job, I'd turn off my radio so that my commander can't ring me up and chew off my ear."
"Do we know that for certain?" Bukola nervously asked. "If we capture these Grunts and they call in for backup, or their Elite realizes they're not picking up, we're screwed."
The soldiers looked at Abeni, who hummed for a moment before nodding and replying, "It's a risk we're going to have to take. Just in case we'll remove any communication equipment they have."
"I can also ask them a few questions before we take them in," Robyn offered while rubbing her right hand over her left forearm. "Not gonna brag, but I'm pretty good at interrogations."
"If you think you can, by all means," Abeni agreed, then turned to look at her soldiers as they studied the map drawn in the dirt. "One last thing. We need at least one of these Grunts taken in alive. They're no use to us dead beside being physical proof that the Covenant are here. If they resist, put them down, but no executions. Am I clear?"
While the Remantians nodded in agreement immediately, the soldiers were much slower to do so. It wasn't hard to understand why. All of them had been harmed by the Covenant in some way. Loss of family, friends, and loved ones. Feelings of hatred and revulsion, built up over a decade and a half of brutal total warfare. Robyn supposed it would be like someone demanding they not kill a Grimm. Obviously they weren't entirely the same, but the sentiment was still there.
Finally, one by one the soldiers nodded in reluctant agreement. In the back of her mind, Robyn figured that they might have to take extra care to ensure that none of the prisoners would be killed, but she was more than confident that they would be able to do so.
But there was another issue that hung over the entire Remnantian delegation, highlighted when Fiona spoke softly in Vytalian, "Lieutenant Dare and Commander Keyes will likely pull us out before the fighting actually starts."
"Grimmshit, I say we stay here," May countered, with Joanna and surprisingly Harriet nodding in agreement. "After Vyraj, I'm itching for some payback. I'm sure everyone else is, too."
While it was clear that Thomas and Casper agreed with the others on principle, it was readily apparent that they were also unsure as they shared aside glances with each other. Robyn sighed and shook her head, then replied, "As much as I would love to stay and help…I don't think we can."
"What? Why not?" May asked while the soldiers looked at them curiously. "If this is about us getting killed, we all knew what we signed up for when we became Huntresses, and I'm certain the others would back us up. Hell, if Harriet wants to stay and fight, the others will surely—"
"And risk jeopardizing Mantle's relationship with the UNSC?" Robyn countered, causing the rest of the Happy Huntresses' eyes to widen. Without an ounce of humor in her voice, Robyn continued, "May, we snuck aboard a UNSC vessel that we weren't supposed to be on. Commander Keyes has been accommodating to us so far, but if we even try to go behind his back to help fight the Covenant on Peponi that is gone. They will not trust us again, and any hope of Mantle making a good impression on the UNSC is gone as well. Believe me, there is nothing more that I'd like to do, but right now…we don't have a choice."
The others looked like they wanted to argue further, especially May and Harriet, only for Abeni to speak up and ask, "I don't mean to interrupt, but are you ready?"
Robyn quickly shifted gears and nodded, holding up her wrist-mounted crossbow while saying, "Let's get these gas-suckers."
The soldiers nodded, then they silently began to crabwalk back towards the sleeping Covenant patrol. At first, they were in a single-file line, but soon they split apart. The soldiers maneuvered towards the edge of the savanna, poking the barrels of their MA37s out of the grass and aimed right at the Grunts. More of the soldiers crept around the back, careful not to make a sound lest they wake their targets up prematurely.
Fiona, meanwhile, stalked over towards the Ghosts. The soldiers looked at her, thinking that she was going rip out some wires or do something else to disable them, or at least position herself to where the Grunts couldn't get into them. It came as a complete shock when, instead, Fiona placed her hand onto the first Ghost and enveloped the alien hovercraft in a pale, yellow glow. Before their very eyes, the vehicle was pulled into a wispy, golden portal from front to back then seemingly absorbed into Fiona's very body. She repeated the action with the other two Ghosts, causing the soldiers to look at her in amazement before returning their attentions to the aliens they were surrounding. Obviously questions would be asked later, but for now they had a job to do.
Sergeant Abeni, Robyn, and Joana were the ones who carefully made their way towards the sleeping Grunts directly. Harriet was ready to move in at a moment's notice, while Thomas and Casper stayed back with the soldiers to act as support. Once the trio were in position, standing in front of each individual Grunt, they turned and nodded at each other.
Robyn then crouched onto her knee, and with a smile on her face she tapped the Grunt on the head a few times. When it stirred awake, she happily greeted, "Morning, sleepyhead. Rest well?"
The Grunt blinked a few times, then let out a startled yelp that woke up the other two Grunts. Before they could do anything, Robyn and the others pointed their weapons right at their skulls, echoed by purposeful and audible clicks of all the other weapons in the vicinity. The Grunts quickly realized that they were surrounded, causing Robyn's wicked smile to widen.
"I recommend not doing anything stupid," she told them, while Abeni motioned for the soldiers behind the Grunts to close in.
"Take their weapons and destroy their comms," she ordered, pressing her rifle against her shoulder and never once removing the barrel from her target's head.
The soldiers immediately complied, grabbing the holstered plasma pistols from the Grunts' thighs as well as ripping off anything that even remotely resembled communication equipment. It was hard to say if any of it actually was, but the Grunts seemed so terrified that they weren't doing anything other than shaking in their boots.
"Now then, since we're all here, my friends and I have a few questions we'd like to ask," Robyn asked, continuing to smile at her Grunt, which was wearing crimson armor in contrast to the orange armor of the other two. At the same time, she kept glancing at the other aliens, making sure they weren't going to try anything.
The Grunt Major stared up at her, then seemed to gulp and say in perfect, if high pitched, English, "Okay, uh…we can…we can talk…"
Just as he said that, the sergeant momentarily glanced over from the Grunt Minor she was covering in response to the speaking alien. The Grunt immediately took its chance, trading its terror for utter fury as it batted away Abeni's gun and turned to seize the soldier who'd been about to secure him by the shoulders, fully prepared to rip him apart. He never got the chance as Harriet suddenly appeared in a blur, violently grabbing the Grunt by the chest harness and slamming him into the ground with enough force to leave a furrow in the soil and break the triangle-shaped container on its back.
As green methane gas leaked out and the soldiers recovered, Harriet leaned into the Grunt's face and hissed, "Don't."
If the Grunts were scared before, they were completely petrified now as they stared at Harriet with wide, unblinking eyes. Their breathing had become quick and shallow, which Robyn decided to exploit as she said, "Now, now. That wasn't very nice. You could have hurt my friend here, and I don't like it when my friends get hurt. If that happens, well, Joanna? Do you mind showing them what will happen if they try to hurt our friends again?"
Joanna nodded, then walked over to the tree they'd been napping under and threw a single, powerful haymaker into it. The wood shattered, causing the top half of the tree to topple over with a loud crack. The shade they'd been enjoying abruptly vanished as it fell backward, the leaves falling into the river and causing many of the surrounding wildlife to take off in a fright.
"Holy shit…" a few of the soldiers muttered, and the Grunts regarded all of the Remnantians surrounding them with abject terror.
"De…Demons…" the Grunt muttered, and Robyn's smile grew even wider.
"Now then, let's start over, shall we?"
With the Grunts now utterly compliant with their captors, they were escorted away from the river at gunpoint. Never once did the soldiers, Huntsmen, or Huntresses let the aliens leave their sight, but they also kept a careful watch on their surroundings. The threat of the Covenant finding them was ever present, rising with every passing moment. Robyn hoped that the Grunts were simply too terrified to try to send a distress signal, assuming they even could, but even if they didn't the risks were still there. The Covenant might simply figure out something was wrong on their own, that the Grunts weren't just sleeping on the job. Another passing patrol might just happen upon them. There were thousands of ways this could go belly up, and everyone knew it.
Only once the humans and captured Grunts left the open savanna and entered the tight, cramped jungle did they somewhat relax. It would be harder for anyone to see them in there, and with Privates Ola, Sipho, and Femi already waiting for them with the Troop Transport Warthogs it was clear that they would be getting out of there soon.
"Holy shit, is that-?!" Private Ola began to yell while bringing her rifle to bear alongside Sipho and Femi, only for Sergeant Abeni to hiss at her.
"Keep your voice down!" Abeni ordered, and the startled soldiers immediately complied but they kept their weapons ready. She shook her head, knowing that she should've expected this reaction. With the possible threat that the Covenant were listening in on every communication sent out, she couldn't risk openly radioing her men that they found the Covenant. She didn't even want to declare Winter Contingency just yet out of fear of letting the Covenant know they were onto them.
The Grunts were nervously looking at everyone, their eyes never staying on one person for too long before shifting to someone else. One of the Grunts, the one whose methane pack was broken by Harriet earlier, was looking lethargic and was breathing heavily. Clearly his methane reserves were running low, and if he didn't get more soon he'd likely suffocate. His two comrades looked concerned for him, but the humans only spared passing, hateful glances his way before focusing on each other.
"So, uh," Private Bukola began to whisper to May, who briefly glanced at him but otherwise kept her attention on their captives, "me and the guys were wondering…what was that back there? How did Harriet move that fast and Joanna destroy that tree with a single punch, and did Fiona just…eat those Ghosts?"
May couldn't help but smirk, but before she could answer Harriet butted in and said, "Right now that's classified."
"…Yeah, I figured that," Bukola replied with a brief wince. "Guess now we know why the Spook called you VIPs. But, can't you just, I don't know, tell us a little? I mean, we already saw it. You don't have to tell us everything, but come on. What's the harm?"
The rest of the soldiers, except for Abeni who was with Robyn as they tied the Grunts up with the Warthogs' tow cables, were staring at the Huntsmen and Huntresses with unabashed curiosity. Harriet looked ready to shoot them down once again, only for Casper to cough into her fist.
"Harriet, they already saw us. There's no point trying to keep this a secret from them," she pointed out.
"Not telling them would probably just lead to more questions, to be honest," Thomas added as he sat down and prepared to take off his leg coverings. "Besides, if it means I can take this off for just a few minutes, it's fine by me."
"Cornell, don't-!" Harriet tried to tell him off, but it was too late as the first leg covering was already gone, exposing Thomas' cloved hoof and double-jointed leg covered in thick, brown fur for all to see. She growled and clenched her fist, then realized that the battle was already lost as the soldiers muttered to themselves in complete bewilderment, which only increased as his second leg was exposed and Fiona's sheep ears popped out from underneath her curly white hair.
"Holy shit, I thought those were prosthetics…" one of the soldiers muttered.
"Are those…real?" another soldier asked, and Thomas nodded.
"Yep, I was born with them," Thomas confirmed. "Fiona, too. We're what our people call faunus. All of us are born with a single animal trait that either replaces or adds onto a 'normal' human trait. Ears, skin, legs, pretty much anything."
"Were you, like, experimented on in the womb?" Corporal Mandla asked, his eyes wide as he alternated his gaze between Thomas' legs and Fiona's ears.
"No, it's completely natural," Fiona answered, prompting the soldiers to quietly converse among themselves once again. For a brief moment, both of the faunus were worried that they would respond negatively, like so many people back on Remnant, but instead the whispers they heard were mostly curious. It certainly didn't seem like they viewed the faunus as crimes against nature, which helped calm their nerves somewhat.
"To answer your first question," May began, "my friends and I are…special, to say the least. Can't tell you everything, otherwise Miss Military over there will blow a gasket—"
May threw her thumb towards Harriet, who growled and bristled in anger while May continued, "—but I can tell you that we're what our people call Huntsmen and Huntresses. Each of us have something called Aura, which makes us stronger and faster in pretty much every way, among other things like protecting us from damage and healing our wounds. Aura also gives us unique abilities we call Semblances. No two Semblances are exactly the same. Harriet's lets her move super-fast, while Fiona's lets her store anything she wants in a pocket dimension. Mine lets me shroud a small area around me in an invisibility cloak."
"I can blow into my horn and create portals my allies can use to get to me, but I need to roughly know where they are. If they're in combat, though, anyone and anything can come through as well, which makes it a bit of a risk," Casper revealed while holding up the horn in question. "Thomas here can play into his flute and distract or lull enemies to sleep, boost allies, all sorts of stuff."
"That…sounds like magic," one of the soldiers said, only for Joanna to shake her head.
"It's not," she insisted, her voice leaving no room for argument. The soldiers looked at the large woman, some wanting to press for more details, but they quickly decided against.
"Can, uh… Can we get a part of that action?" Bukola asked in a hopeful tone, speaking for the rest of his fellow soldiers, only for May to regretfully frown and shake her head.
"Sadly, no," May denied, prompting the soldiers to let out disappointed groans. "When we first met the UNSC, we tried but it didn't work. Assuming this mission works out, I guarantee our people will be working with the UNSC to solve that issue, but until then only we can use Aura."
"…Dammit, I wanted superpowers," a private whispered, and his friend patted him on the shoulder.
"Okay, what about Miss Hill? What can she do?" Mandla asked, turning his head towards Robyn who was discussing a plan of action with Sergeant Abeni.
"Robyn's Semblance is a literal lie detector. With it, she can tell if someone's telling the truth or not," May revealed with a smile on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'd like to see those Grunts get around that."
The soldiers slowly turned to look at Robyn as the veteran Huntress walked over to the Grunt Major. Wicked smiles grew across their faces, and they didn't even bat an eye when Harriet spoke up and said, "You are not to tell anyone about this, got it?"
"Don't worry, we know how ONI works," Mandla dismissed with a wave. "We didn't see anything."
Harriet nodded, then she too focused her attention onto Robyn as she kneeled in front of the Grunt Major.
"Alright, this is as good a place as any," Robyn remarked through a faux smile to the terrified Grunt. She glanced over to the Grunt struggling to breathe, then she asked, "Before we start, you speak English, right?"
The Grunt Major breathed in and out a few times, then nervously nodded his head and answered, "Ye…yeah. I speak English."
Robyn nodded, then continued, "Do you have a name?"
"My…my name?" the Grunt asked, and Robyn nodded.
"Yes, a name. I can't just keep calling you Grunt, can I?" Robyn rhetorically asked, then pointed at herself. "My name is Robyn, what's yours?"
The Grunt Major glanced at his fellow Covenant and the human soldiers who clearly wanted to just gun them down right then and there, then he gulped and replied, "My name is Jamflip."
"Jamflip? That's an interesting name."
"The Sangheili don't let us use family names," Jamflip added. He looked as though he was about to cry, then he begged, "Please don't eat me."
"Eat you?" Robyn asked in surprise. "Why would I eat you?"
"That's what they say, you humans eat us," Jamflip answered as he and the other Grunts began to panic once again.
The soldiers, meanwhile, grumbled in irritation, with one of them muttering, "Bullshit. They're the ones who eat us."
"Yeah. I've heard about Brutes starving a bunch of Grunts, locking them in a cage or something, then tossing someone in there to be eaten alive," another hissed. "I say we just kill them now."
"Focus. We need them alive," Bukola told them off, and the soldiers grumbled but otherwise didn't do anything.
Robyn shook her head and grabbed one of Jamflip's hands with her own. A golden light enveloped both of their forearms, causing the Grunt to look at her in bewilderment as Robyn said, "Well, Jamflip, I figure now's as good a time as any to tell you about my Semblance. It lets me, and you, tell when the other is lying or telling the truth. For example, I promise you that none of us are going to eat you."
The golden sheen covering Robyn's forearm flashed green, and Jamflip's eyes darted to it before focusing entirely on Robyn's eyes. The Happy Huntresses' leader smiled and continued, "That means I'm telling the truth. If it flashes red, that means you or I are lying, and I'm not going to lie because I hate liars."
Robyn's arm flashed green, prompting her to ask, "Are you going to lie to me, Jamflip?"
"…No," Jamflip answered after a moment, only for his arm to flash red.
Robyn tsked and shook her head, then told the nervous Grunt, "Jamflip, Jamflip, don't try to lie to me. You're not going to get away with it, so don't bother. It's just not worth it. Right now, the only reason why you and your buddies are still alive is because we want to ask you a few questions. If you keep lying to me…they'll decide we don't need you anymore. But, if you tell me the truth, they'll let you live."
Robyn's arm flashed green once again as a few of the soldiers patted their weapons in emphasis. She added to the pressure by tightening her grip on Jamflip's carapace-covered limb. A few creaks could be heard, and Jamflip winced from the pain before hastily nodding.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry! I won't lie, just don't hurt me!" Jamflip begged, and Robyn smiled before releasing the pressure.
"That's what I like to hear," Robyn said, then narrowed her eyes. "How long have you and the Covenant been on Peponi?"
"Not long, we just got here," Jamflip answered. When his arm flashed red once again, Robyn prepared to squeeze harder before he hastily corrected, "Wait, wait! We've been here for about a month!"
"How'd you sneak past the UNSC's sensors?"
"We came here on a stealth ship," Jamflip admitted. "Scouting out the planet before the main invasion force jumps in."
"I take it, then, you've been monitoring our communications this entire time?"
"Ye…yes, most of them at least," Jamflip confirmed, causing Robyn to purse her lips.
"Does the phrase 'Winter Contingency' mean anything to you?" Abeni more forcibly asked, and Jamflip hastily shook his head.
"No, I don't know what that means, but I don't work in communications," Jamflip admitted.
It was enough for Sergeant Abeni, who snapped her fingers towards a soldier carrying communication gear. The man nodded, then kneeled to the ground while pulling out his gear and connecting to a secure channel. He began to speak into the headset, "Command, be advised. Winter Contingency. I repeat, Winter Contingency. Send aerial recovery units to our location ASAP. Coordinates are—"
As the soldier's voice faded into the background, Robyn glanced at Abeni, who nervously looked back before the Sergeant asked, "How many of you are there?"
"I don't know the exact numbers. I'm just a Unggoy, they don't tell me about a whole lot besides yelling at me and making me go on patrols or anything else the Sangheili don't want to do themselves," Jamflip answered. When Robyn pointedly looked at Abeni while tapping her fingers on Jamflip's arm, he hastily added, "But I think we have a few hundred on the planet right now! Mostly workers with a small security detail."
"That's better," Abeni said. "Why are you here, and why haven't the Covenant attacked already?"
"I told you, I'm just an Unggoy. They don't tell me a lot," Jamflip repeated, then he squinted in thought behind his gas mask. "But I think I heard a few of them talking about some ruins they found buried on the planet. Called it a Cartographer or something, I don't know. Whatever it is, the Fleetmaster and Minister didn't want to risk damaging it, so they sent us to secure it first."
Robyn turned her head towards Abeni who looked right back as well. The Huntress remembered something about the Covenant being obsessed with these ancient artifacts from a long-extinct race called the Forerunners. If the UNSC was correct, the Covenant worshipped the Forerunners as gods and derived much of their technology from reverse-engineering what the Forerunners left behind. If such an artifact was on a human colony, the Covenant would always conduct a ground invasion before glassing the planet.
If there actually was a Forerunner ruin on Peponi, this so-called Cartographer which Robyn could only assume was a map of some kind, it would certainly explain why the Covenant were being so discrete. Unlike Vyraj, Peponi had something they wanted.
With that in mind, Robyn returned her attention back to Jamflip and asked, "Where is your base?"
Abeni pulled out a map and handed it to Jamflip. The Grunt nervously looked at both of the humans staring him down, and for a moment it looked as though he was about to clam up or try to lie again. But his fear soon won over his loyalty, so he quickly tapped on the screen with his claw and moved it around before settling on a single point.
"It's right here," Jamflip confirmed, pointing to a small river valley located downriver from any major human settlements. It was located deep in the jungle, yet surprisingly close to New Timbuktu. Only about a hundred kilometers separated the two locations, causing Abeni's eyes to widen.
"How did we miss this?" Abeni asked to mostly herself, but Jamflip answered anyway.
"There's a bunch of stealth pylons set up all around the perimeter," Jamflip answered, "and the Groundmaster has been making sure to keep as low a profile as possible."
That would certainly explain why no one noticed a Covenant excavating operation happening right on their doorstep, but Robyn still asked, "Any defenses?"
"Snipers, turrets, a few Wraiths and Banshees. There's a shield generator, too, I think," Jamflip quickly provided the information. "But for the most part all we have is excavation gear, at least I think so. I never really paid all that much attention to that stuff."
Robyn glanced at Abeni, who had a thoughtful look on her face. It certainly sounded like the Covenant base was lightly defended, but there were still far too many unknowns. Jamflip's arm had been shrouded in a perpetual shade of green ever since he stopped trying to lie to them, so Robyn knew he was telling the truth. At least, he was telling what he knew was the truth. That was always a limitation of her Semblance. It wasn't a whole lot to go off of. They needed more concrete and specific information, especially if they were going to try to launch an attack.
Stepping away for a moment, Robyn whispered to Abeni, "I don't think we're going to get much else from him out here. What happens now?"
"The UNSC's on their way to pick us up," Abeni declared, glancing towards the comms officer who flashed a thumbs up in confirmation. "Knowing General Amari, he's going to want to attack the Covenant as soon as possible, especially after Vyraj was glassed."
"What about recon?" Robyn asked, and Abeni shook her head.
"With how long the Covenant's been here, he'll probably decide we don't have time. Can't say I blame him."
"Even if the Covenant are lightly manned, he'd be sending everyone into a slaughter."
"I don't think we have much of a choice. As soon as the Covenant realize the game's up, they'll call for reinforcements. Hitting hard and fast may be the only move we've got."
Robyn bit back a curse. She was far from military, but even she knew marching blindly into battle without recon was a recipe for disaster. A lot of unnecessary casualties always followed when that happened, whether it was against Grimm or people. She knew Harriet and the others would agree, but at the same time she didn't see many other options. Abeni was absolutely correct. With the Covenant monitoring human communications as closely as they were, they'd realize the jig was up as soon as the humans started evacuating. By the time the army was on their way, they'd have time to set up their defenses and call the fleet waiting on standby.
There had to be more that they could do, but for the moment Robyn couldn't figure out what. That was when she made eye contact with her team. An idea began to take shape in her mind, and she hummed to herself while tapping her chin.
"You're thinking of something," Abeni said, and after a moment Robyn nodded.
"I am," she confirmed, then pointed to herself and the rest of her team which caught their attention. "A few of us could scout ahead, sneak into the Covenant base and mark everything we find. Might even break a few things while we're there, if we're lucky."
"What? You can?" Abeni asked in surprise, and Robyn nodded.
"With our Aura, Semblances, and skills, it would be easy," she declared. "The Covenant would never even know we were there."
"Hmm, if you can do that, it would really boost our chances and cut down on casualties," Abeni muttered, then tilted her eyes up at Robyn while pinching her chin. "I'm sensing a 'but' here."
"The only problem is that I doubt ONI would like us going out on our own," Robyn admitted, and Abeni nodded.
"I got the sense that's what you all were talking about earlier," Abeni said, then sighed and shook her head. "Look, it's obvious none of you are UNSC, and I figure this mission you guys are on is about securing an alliance with us. That's clearly important to you and your people, and I'm not going to tell you to do something that would jeopardize it. But, after seeing what you can do…I'd appreciate any help you can give."
Robyn nodded in agreement, then walked over to the rest of the Remnantians as Abeni ordered her men to secure the captured Grunts into the Troop Transport Warthogs. Left to themselves, the Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered around Robyn, and a quick look at their faces told the Happy Huntress that they all knew exactly what Robyn was about to discuss.
"So, what's the plan?" Joanna asked while crossing her arms.
"I'm still trying to figure that out," Robyn admitted, and Harriet slightly frowned.
"You're not seriously considering going on an unsanctioned scouting mission?" Harriet asked, and after a moment Robyn nodded. Harriet shook her head, sighed, and pointed out, "What happened to making a good impression for Mantle?"
"That was before I realized the UNSC Army was probably going to attack without doing recon, not that they have much of a choice," Robyn countered while narrowing her eyes. "You know as much as I do that a lot of people will die if they do that."
Harriet winced, telling Robyn all she needed to know. Fiona then softly spoke up, "I mean…if we can help out, shouldn't we?"
"Lieutenant Dare probably wouldn't appreciate it if we struck out on our own," Thomas pointed out. "Commander Keyes, either. After Khembalung and Vyraj, the last thing either of them wants is us being in the thick of combat."
"And this is against the actual Covenant, not just pirates," May added while resting her hands on her hips. "If we do this, and we're caught…we'll be in for the fight of our lives."
"I know," Robyn replied, frowning deeply.
May looked at her leader, then shrugged and declared, "I say we go for it."
"I see nothing wrong with it," Joanna added, with Fiona scrunching up her nose and bringing her fists to her chest as she nodded quickly.
"We are in a position to help, and it would save a lot of lives," Casper added, with Thomas nodding as well. The Valean then turned towards Harriet and remarked, "Got any objections?"
Harriet was quiet for a moment, then released a sigh and admitted, "As much as I would love to drag you all back…I don't want any more of those soldiers to die."
"Ah, she does have a heart," May joked while patting Harriet's shoulder, only for the Ace-Operative to frown at her while deliberately lifting May's hand off of her.
Robyn looked at everyone and smiled, then refocused and said, "Alright, since we're in unanimous agreement, we'll go ahead and do it. We're only going to scout the Covenant's base, though. We slip in, maybe sabotage a few things if we're able, then we slip out. If all goes well, by the time the attack actually starts we'll be back aboard the Midsummer Night and leaving the planet."
"Sounds acceptable," Harriet replied while crossing her arms, then asked, "But who's coming with you? Can't be all of us. If too many people try to sneak in, that'll make it much easier for the Covenant to realize we're here. A small number of infiltrators would be ideal, no more than four."
"I agree completely," Robyn confirmed with a nod, then pointed towards May and said, "May, you're obviously coming along and I don't need to say why."
"Obviously," May agreed with a smug smirk on her face as she leaned back against a tree and crossed her arms over her chest. Robyn nodded back, then gestured to herself.
"I'm going as well. Since this is my idea, there's no way I'm letting any of you go on this mission without me," Robyn added, a brief frown crossing her face. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to get hurt or, Gods forbid, killed because of a mission plan she came up with. The others seemed to accept her self-nomination, and Robyn stepped back as she started to look at the others more closely.
Right now, she needed to focus on stealth more than anything, with extraction and sabotage a secondary priority. With that in mind, she pointed at Fiona and said, "Fiona, you're coming with us. We might be able to use those Ghosts you captured to get out of there. Grab anything explosive you can and bring it with you."
"Got it," Fiona replied with a quick nod, which Robyn returned before focusing on Thomas and Casper.
"Pipes, think your Semblance is cut out for this?" Robyn asked, using the nickname she had come up with for the goat faunus, one that Thomas had already accepted as he nodded affirmatively.
"If anyone notices us, I can lure them to sleep," Thomas confirmed, and Robyn nodded.
"Then you're coming with us," Robyn declared, and turned towards Casper. "Think you can pull us out in case anything goes wrong?"
"There shouldn't be an issue, so long as you're not in combat. You'll need to tell me roughly where you are when you're ready," Casper answered, and Robyn nodded.
"Hopefully that won't be a problem," Robyn responded, then turned to walk towards the Warthogs. As she got next to Sergeant Abeni, she said, "Fiona, Thomas, May and I are going to scout the Covenant's base. The others are coming back with you. We need any communication gear and explosives you can spare."
"You got it, but all we have is a bunch of frag grenades. We weren't exactly packing heavy ordinance to hunt some animals," Abeni said as she snapped her fingers, prompting her men to start handing all of their grenades to Fiona, who readily absorbed them into her Semblance's pocket dimension much to their amazement. Thomas, meanwhile, was handed a spare comm pack, which he hefted over his shoulders.
"Stay safe, and for what it's worth…thank you," Abeni told the Huntress, gratitude seeping into her voice. "I hope this doesn't get you all in too much trouble."
"Eh, I've gotten out of worse," Robyn quipped with a smug smirk. In the back of her mind, she hoped that this wouldn't jeopardize her mission to represent Mantle, but on the other hand they were doing this purely to save UNSC lives. If nothing else, that should say something about their worth.
With the plan set in motion, both groups set out on their separate ways. The Warthogs' engines roared as they rushed back to the city as fast as they could, sending mud, water, and other jungle refuse spraying everywhere. With how thick the jungle was, the noise soon faded into the background, but the team of Huntsmen didn't pay much attention to that. Instead, they went back out to the savanna, with Thomas holding out the map which Jamflip had used to indicate where the Covenant's base was hidden.
Fiona, meanwhile, released the three Ghosts and she, May, and Robyn hopped into the driver seats. It took a few moments to figure out how to turn it on, but surprisingly the controls were quite intuitive despite being alien in origin. Robyn didn't know why, but everything just felt natural to her. Like she had done this long before, and now was remembering how to do it. The others looked like they were having the same feeling, and soon all three Ghosts were cruising along the grassy plain with ease.
"Alright. Thomas, hop on May's Ghost and lead the way," Robyn ordered.
Thomas Cornell nodded, then he hopped onto the back of May's Ghost and held onto her tightly with his arms and legs. Once May and him flashed a thumbs up, the trio of Ghosts zoomed off across the savanna. They made a beeline straight towards their objective, maneuvering around any rivers or large objects in their way. The wind rushed through their hair, and with the sun disappearing behind the thick storm clouds heading their way, it created an ominous atmosphere that none of them could ignore.
The Ghosts managed to get them most of the way towards the location, but they eventually had to resume travelling on foot once they reached another section of the jungle. Disembarking from the Ghosts, and letting Fiona absorb them again, they ran into the jungle as fast as they could. Now that they didn't have to worry about Terran soldiers keeping up with them, hitting their full stride was a welcome relief.
They didn't stay on the ground, though. The last thing they wanted was to leave a trail, and with how muddy the ground was, creating footprints in this environment was an inevitability. Thomas with his cloved feet could possibly get away with it, but that wasn't a risk they were willing to take. Luckily the trees provided ample ways to maneuver towards their objective, and so they jumped from tree to tree, branch to branch all across the jungle.
At first, they saw nothing, but soon signs of Covenant activity could be seen. Scorch marks on trees, disturbed mud and plants on the ground, along with plenty of blood stains from animals likely hunted for their meat. A few corpses were left behind, but Robyn got the sense that they were killed in such a way that made their meat inedible, not unlike the maned tiger they found before. Eventually, though, they came across a large section of the forest that seemed to shimmer in a way that wasn't just because of the heat and humidity.
May narrowed her eyes in recognition, spotting the similarities between the shimmer and her own Semblance, then whispered, "We're here. Get close to me."
The others silently complied, gathering around May Marigold as they carefully scaled down the tree they were on. Once they were on the ground, keeping the trunk between them and the shimmer as much as possible, May concentrated. What sprang from her body was a shimmering, light purple bubble that shrouded the Remnantians from view while leaving the rest of the environment seemingly undisturbed.
Moving at a snail's pace, the team of Huntsmen moved past the shimmer. Immediately the environment before them shifted, with much of the trees cleared away in favor of open space. Large amounts of loose rocks, quarried from the small mountain they found themselves overlooking, lined the ground, and nested on top of the mountain was the stealth pylon.
The pylon itself was a large tower standing on three legs. There was a circular platform on the middle, with a gravity lift on the bottom and a purple light running up the central head where it was emitted in waves. A trio of plasma turrets, all manned by bored-looking Grunts and a single Elite patrolling among them, were watching out for any would-be trespassers. Thanks to May's Semblance, however, they didn't even know they were there. All across the valley, they could see dozens of other pylons scattered around the perimeter. The total area must have only been a few square kilometers, providing a nearly perfect camouflage from anyone trying to look inside.
Silently pointing her finger towards the pylon, Robyn and the others slowly made their way to its base. They made sure that none of their footsteps made a sound, which was fairly difficult with how loose some of the rocks were. A light drizzle was also beginning to come down, causing the Grunts to cover their heads with their arms while the Elite merely shook his head and kept going, his plasma rifle in his hand.
Once they reached the gravity lift, Robyn turned towards Thomas and nodded. The goat faunus nodded back while motioning for them to cover their ears, and once they did he began to play a soothing, quiet tune on his flute. A deep blue wisp came out of the barrels, rising upward towards the Covenant soldiers. Robyn had to fight back the urge to yawn, as did the rest of her allies, but the Covenant had no such luck. For a brief moment, they were confused as to where the sound was coming from, but then they collapsed into a deep slumber.
"That'll keep them out for a few hours," Thomas remarked, and Robyn nodded while finally releasing the yawn.
"Good work. Let's get up there and get a better look at what we're dealing with," Robyn said, stepping into the gravity lift after a brief moment of nervousness that she immediately powered through.
Her stomach felt like it was turning upside down as the pull of gravity was reversed, but soon it subsided as she emerged onto the platform. Thomas, May, and Fiona were right behind her, and they quickly relieved the sleeping Covenant soldiers of their weapons before tying them up with some cord that Fiona always kept on hand.
With the pylon secure, the trio moved to the outer edge of the walkway overlooking the entire Covenant operation. Using a few pairs of binoculars, the Huntsmen began to look over everything. It was just as Jamflip described. The operation looked fairly tight and small, with only a few hundred workers and soldiers wandering around. In the back were dozens of Wraiths and Banshees, all being tended to by unarmed Grunt workers being overseen by Elites carrying plasma rifles and carbines. Scattered around the base were several sniper towers, all manned by Jackals wielding beam rifles. Shade turrets could also be seen, particularly in the areas most directly accessible to attackers, the front and back of the small river valley they were in.
Lying at the heart of the operation, though, was a large citadel made of purple metal that had a smooth surface and a hexagon pattern engraved into it. Bright blue lights shone across its surface, and several floating towers could be seen on both the main central structure and a few of the sub-buildings connected to it. The sub-buildings appeared to be constructed on one of seven sockets, and four large turret emplacements could be seen on the four corners. Robyn had no idea what the buildings did, but it illustrated enough just how well established the Covenant were.
Her attention was then drawn further into the valley when Fiona rapidly tapped her arm. Swinging her gaze over to where Fiona was pointing, Robyn gasped as she beheld a side of the mountain which had been completely blasted open. Or rather, it was melted through, a process that the Covenant were still undertaking as they watched a massive, four-legged walker which Robyn recognized as a Type-47A Scarab. It was firing its central focus cannon into the mountain, blasting and melting away the thick rock to expose a silvery, metallic structure underneath. Parts of it, including the entrance to the structure, had already been exposed, allowing the Covenant to walk in and out as they connected cables from the citadel to whatever was inside.
"That must be the Cartographer," Fiona remarked, and Robyn nodded.
"Sure looks like it," Robyn said, then lowered her binoculars to look at the others. "Alright, if the UNSC attacks this place it's going to be a bloodbath. We need to do what we can to tilt the odds in our favor before getting the hell out. Any suggestions?"
"If we destroy just a few of these pylons, we might be able to break the entire active camouflage grid," Thomas suggested. "But I don't think a couple frag grenades will do it."
"What about frag grenades taped to Dust?" May suggested, and Thomas paused.
"…Yeah, that'll work," Thomas agreed, and May nodded before turning to Fiona.
"Start making those IEDs, Fiona," May told her teammate, who was already taking out the frag grenades she had been given alongside a few Dust crystals, duct tape, and some electronic components.
"Already on it," Fiona remarked, kneeling onto the metal platform as she began to work.
"Once we make enough, I want to take out as many things in here as we can," Robyn continued. "Only a handful of the pylons, though. The last thing we need is to rouse any more suspicion. I wager, at most, we can get away with taking out the guards for two more pylons. Any more than that and we're pushing it."
"What about the rest?" Fiona replied, and Robyn shifted her gaze down into the valley.
"That Scarab's the biggest gun the Covenant has. If we can take it out of commission, that's one less super-heavy they can use. Taking out a few of their turrets, tanks, and aircraft would be good, too," Robyn suggested.
"Sounds like a plan to me," May said with a nod, then smirked and added, "Let's rip these Covie bastards a new asshole, shall we?"
Robyn nodded, then they all sat down and began to help Fiona finish making the explosives. They didn't know how much time they had, only that every minute was one they couldn't waste.
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Twenty-Seventh Annual, Fifteenth Month
First Cycle, Third Unit
The excavation site was awash with activity. Unggoy workers moved to and from their positions, carrying equipment to where it needed to go or removing rubble from the mountainside. Sangheili overseers watched over them, making sure none of the diminutive and pitiful creatures would deviate from their assigned tasks, as they tended to do. Above, their Protos-pattern Scarab vented its accumulated heat, sending a wave of intense warmth over the entire camp that the increasingly heavy rain did little to dissipate. Swarms of Yanme'e were clustered around the machinery and the Citadel which towered over everyone, working in concert to ensure that nothing broke down. Dark and heavy storm clouds gathered on the horizon, tinted a light purple from the stealth field generated around the site, with intense and frequent flashes of lightning creating an ominous glow as the sun set. Most importantly of all, the holy entrance to the Cartographer was exposed in all its glory, causing anyone who gazed upon it to nearly fall upon themselves in rapturous awe.
But for the lance of a dozen Zealots, all wearing their ornate, maroon ceremonial battle harnesses and standing in two neat rows with a space between them just outside their Citadel, they were far more focused on their Blademaster.
"You all know why we are here," the Blademaster began as he paced back and forth along the line between his troops, ignoring the pattering of rain falling on his golden combat harness, "and each of you have faced more combat than most warriors in our Covenant. So I will not bother wasting your time, and my own, with providing something as pointless as a motivational speech. The weight of our task should provide more than enough motivation on its own. Simply take my words as a reminder of what we are doing here."
The Blademaster paused for dramatic effect, then boldly pointed with his arm towards the silvery and metallic Forerunner ruin with light-blue lines running down the walls and claimed, "This Cartographer has laid dormant, untouched, and unsullied since the Forerunners embarked on their Great Journey. The secrets it holds may lead us to more of their gifts, or it may even provide the key to following the Forerunners on the Sacred Path. At this point, it is impossible to say for certain, only that even now, with our presence protecting it, the Cartographer is threatened by the vile vermin who have infested this planet and many others with their filth."
At the mention of humanity, many of the Zealots sneered in obvious disgust. Most of them had been fighting the humans for many annuals at this point, and relished in any opportunity to cut them down. Their mere existence, as proclaimed by the Hierarchs themselves at the start of this war, were an affront to the Gods, and it was their duty to be the gods' instruments and eradicate them. Nothing they had seen and experienced since told them that humans were anything less than disgusting vermin. One of the fresher Zealots though, who had only been with them for a handful of months, briefly looked aside before refocusing on his Blademaster. None of his comrades noticed his hesitation, but the observant Blademaster did. He put the reaction to the side for the moment, then continued speaking.
"Humanity's ignorance is perhaps the only reason why this holy site still stands," the Blademaster claimed as he paced back and forth in front of his troops again. "Were they not so blind and content to crawl around in the muck, they might've noticed what laid beneath their feet. Had they done so, they would've willfully destroyed it like they have done to so many others. This is why we are here ahead of the fleet. We must protect the Cartographer, with our lives if need be, from the threat of the humans. They have not noticed our presence so far, but if they do they will throw everything they have at us."
The Blademaster paused, then narrowed his eyes and clicked his mandibles before declaring, "Be on your guard, and keep your swords within reach. You are dismissed."
"Yes, Blademaster!" his Zealots all shouted in unison, and Blademaster Ir 'Haramai nodded in appreciation.
With that, his Zealots splintered, heading off to their various posts and stations. A lot of work had been accomplished in the month they had been here, but more still needed to be done. Only recently had they managed to breach into the central chamber, finally accessing the Cartographer itself. A massive cable had been extended from the Citadel into the Forerunner site, downloading the data for extraction. It was a testament of just how far they had come, but it was also a reminder of how plans can change in an instant.
Normally the Covenant would've simply invaded the planet while simultaneously working to secure the relic once their Luminaries detected them. But this Cartographer was simply too close to the central human city. The risk of accidentally harming it was deemed to be too great by the Ministry of Fervent Intercession. A stealthier approach was soon deemed necessary, where a single Warhost would embark onto the planet behind enemy lines and secure the artifact for retrieval. Originally the Warhost, mostly comprised of menial workers and an attached security detail along with his personal team of Zealots, were to obtain the data and upload it to the Valorous Penance, a stealth ship currently hiding in the outer reaches of the system that had ferried them to the site. They were confident that they could do so in a few weeks.
They were wrong, as their excavation almost immediately began to be hit with setbacks. For one, human activity was much higher than they had anticipated. Another of their filthy worlds nearby had recently been cleansed, so they were understandably spooked and frightened. They sensed the walls closing in on them, and were beginning to look everywhere for threats. This increased security forced the Covenant to do the same on their end, increasing the number of patrols which led to several human deaths. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, especially since they were going to die once the main fleet jumped into the system anyway, but the deaths prompted the human military to investigate. This greatly increased the threat of humans discovering them, which only added to the pressure they all felt.
Then there was the actual excavation itself, which posed more problems than simply ensuring that their Scarab's focus cannon didn't directly harm the structure. The relic was located along a river flowing downstream. A few human settlements lined its banks, which forced the Covenant to ensure that hardly any of the debris would enter the water. Too much would prompt investigation, leading to their discovery and putting the Cartographer at risk. Unfortunately, this security concern led to a noticeable delay, one they could not avoid. But their misfortunes didn't end there, for it turned out the wealth of knowledge the Cartographer offered was too much to be uploaded remotely. Attempting to do so would take too long, which would allow even the human's primitive communication sensors to detect them.
As such, an excavation that was supposed to last only two weeks was now stretching over a month. They finally managed to settle on a plan. They would download the Cartographer's data directly, then load it into a memory block and physically ferry it to the Valorous Penance onboard a Ru'swum-pattern Phantom. By the time the humans realized that they were ever there, the fleet would already be on them.
But that had yet to pass, and if there was anything this mission had taught Ir so far it was that assuming everything would go to plan was arrogant and foolish. There was still time for everything to go wrong, for the humans to discover their presence. No, Ir wouldn't relax until they managed to get the Cartographer's data off-world. Until then, he would remain ever vigilant.
But for the moment, he had a more pressing concern as his Zealots moved out. Just before one in particular could, he called out, "Rteda 'Vasovee, a word."
The fresh Zealot paused, then immediately turned around and came back to the Blademaster. Standing before him, he pressed his closed fist against his chest and bowed his head in a salute while replying, "Yes, Blademaster?"
"Come with me. There are things I wish to discuss with you," Ir 'Haramai ordered.
Rteda immediately nodded, and together the pair of Zealots walked to the back of the Citadel away from prying eyes. Ir kept a close eye on their surroundings, making sure that they weren't in earshot of anyone. What he and his subordinate were about to discuss was best kept to themselves. When they finally found a secure spot to speak privately, the Blademaster turned around to look his follower in the eyes, and he immediately saw that the young Zealot was nervous.
"There is no need to be agitated," Ir immediately told Rteda. "I simply wish to talk. You have only been with our order for a few months now, correct?"
"Yes, Blademaster. I was recruited into the Ministry at the beginning of this annual," Rteda confirmed, and Ir nodded approvingly.
"That is good to hear. I read your record upon your recruitment. You had obtained considerable experience on the field against the humans, impressive for a warrior your age."
"Thank you, Blademaster. You honor me with your words," Rteda said while bowing forward respectfully, prompting Ir to shake his head.
"Your actions have done that, not me. Remember that," Ir advised, then he clicked his mandibles once before continuing, "But I must ask: how many campaigns against the humans have you participated in?"
Rteda tilted his head in thought, then answered, "This would be my twelfth world, Blademaster."
"And how many humans have you personally killed?"
"After my two-hundredth, I've lost count," Rteda revealed, and Ir nodded approvingly.
"A respectable number," Ir claimed, then he paused. After a moment, he calmly asked, "Yet, even with all that experience in your grasp, you showed doubt and hesitation."
Rteda's eyes widened, and he stammered, "I… I don't know…"
"Do not lie to me, Zealot," Ir declared, his voice tense and stern. "I saw your reaction to my words earlier."
"I… Forgive me, Blademaster. I—" Rteda began, only for Ir to raise his hand and interrupt him.
"Do not misunderstand me. You are not in trouble, Rteda," Ir claimed. "I simply wish to understand and alleviate any concerns you might have. Nothing you say will go beyond us, so do not fear reprisal."
Rteda's eyes widened again, then he slowly looked around to see if anyone was in earshot. Once he was certain, Rteda leaned forward and whispered, "It is just… Lately, I have been having some…doubts as to what we are doing."
"To the humans, you mean?" Ir asked, and Rteda nodded.
"I know it's heretical," Rteda admitted, "and that the humans are filthy creatures, but… The things I have seen them do for each other and against us gives me pause."
"What manner of things would make you feel this way?"
"I've seen humans stay behind to ensure their wounded comrades can get to safety. Sometimes the fatally wounded do so instead, despite knowing they were going to die regardless of what they did," Rteda began to explain. "Others willfully threw their bodies atop plasma grenades in an attempt to smother its holy light and shield their brothers and sisters-in-arms. Despite knowing how utterly outmatched they are against the might of the Covenant, they refuse to yield and throw everything they have against us. I have seen all of this, and I can't help but wonder…wouldn't these actions be considered honorable?"
"Ah, I see," Ir muttered as he rubbed the underside of his closed mandibles and nodded his head in silent understanding.
When the Blademaster was silent for a few moments, Rteda nearly panicked and began to say, "Forgive me, Blademaster. I know—"
"Do you know why I only go into combat wielding an energy sword?" Ir asked, and the interrupted Rteda immediately shook his head in confusion.
"No, Blademaster," Rteda admitted, and Ir nodded before continuing.
"To die by a blade is the most honorable death a warrior can experience," Ir revealed as he pulled out, but did not activate, his energy sword. "Any warrior can simply die by plasma bolt which, comparatively, requires little skill and finesse. The battlefield is teeming with such weapons, and even the primitive ballistic firearms of the humans are simple in their use. Anyone can pick up a gun and pull the trigger. But for one to deem their opponent worthy of closing the distance and cutting them down with a sword, though, is the highest measure of respect a Sangheili can give."
"Yes, I completely agree," Rteda honestly replied, glancing at his own energy sword attached to his thigh. Any true Sangheili would say the same, although the Zealot couldn't help but eye the Blademaster's inert energy sword nervously.
"So believe me when I say this," Ir began to say. "The reason why I only use an energy sword against the humans is because, in my eyes, they deserve nothing less."
Rteda's eyes widened at the implication of what his superior was saying, and he whispered, "Blademaster, are you saying-?"
"Yes. The humans, in their own way, are honorable if filthy and pitiful creatures," Ir admitted as he stowed his energy sword away. "The actions that you described cannot be seen as anything other than honorable. If any Sangheili warrior were to do the same for their brothers, they would be rightfully praised. A lesser species, when faced against utter annihilation, would've curled up and withered by now, but humanity still stands with their backs against the wall. That, alone, deserves a modicum of respect. Indeed, I have experienced many of the same thoughts that you do now."
"…You have?" Rteda asked in complete surprise, and Ir nodded.
"Correct," Ir confirmed, then he released a sigh as he looked out over the camp. "I have fought in the War of Annihilation since the beginning. My first post was under the Arbiter during the Battle of Harvest, where we attempted to secure a Forerunner artifact not unlike the one we are securing now. Since then, I have fought on dozens of human worlds, killed scores of them. But the more I fought the humans, the more I began to understand them. Their actions, in time, developed a respect in me. With that respect came doubts as to the validity of our actions. The Hierarchs claim that the humans destroy Forerunner artifacts, but didn't the Lekgolo do so as well? In fact, they ate them as though they were but common rock and stone. If the Covenant were able to extend an arm to the Lekgolo, shouldn't we do the same for humanity?"
"What did you do?"
"I spent countless hours, days, weeks and even months in intense prayer and meditation, trying to reconcile my doubts," Ir admitted. "They weighed heavily on my hearts, but I never wavered from my duties as a Zealot. In time, I came to a realization, bolstered by the humans' destruction of the Etran Harborage. For you see, there is a difference between the actions of the Lekgolo and humanity. The Lekgolo, before we enlightened them, were nothing more than ignorant worms operating purely off of instinct. You cannot be angry at them, much like you cannot be angry when a predator feeds on livestock. It simply doesn't know any better.
"But humanity does not have that excuse," Ir claimed. "Humanity knows exactly what they are doing when they desecrate the works of the Forerunners. They know they are objects to be revered and worshipped, yet the humans see them as nothing more than ruins and destroy them anyway. Humans are cognizant of their actions. They choose to sin against the gods, which overrides any honor they might otherwise display. They deserve our respect as warriors, yes, but not our pity."
Ir paused as he looked up into the purple-tinted sky as the rain came down heavily, then he admitted, "Truth be told, in my opinion the humans are the gravest threat the Covenant has ever faced."
"What? How? They are…so far beneath us," Rteda pointed out in compete astonishment.
"And yet more of our brethren have died by their hands than nearly any other foe we have faced in our long history. The only wars comparable in the amount of lives lost were the Unggoy Rebellion and the War of Beginnings," Ir claimed as he stared Rteda directly in the eyes. "Do not be fooled. The humans are an existential threat to the Covenant, Rteda. That alone should alleviate any doubts you have. If the humans win this war, however unlikely, the light of the Covenant will be extinguished. Do you understand?"
Rteda was silent for a moment, then he nodded and replied, "Yes, Blademaster. Thank you for speaking with me about this. You've given me much to think about."
"It was my pleasure. You are a soldier under my command, and I cannot have you weaken yourself through needless doubts," Ir said as he placed his hand on Rteda's shoulder. He then tightened it somewhat, and lowered his voice as he added, "I expect not to see you waver again. Next time I may not be so lenient."
The message was immediately received, and Rteda hastily nodded before saying, "Of course, Blademaster."
Satisfied with his answer, Ir 'Haramai nodded then ordered him to return to his station. The young Sangheili ran off, heading to the armory in order to perform weapon maintenance. Ir watched him go, then turned around and began to patrol the grounds himself. He passed by the rows of Wraiths, all waiting to be piloted if the moment arrived where they were needed. Banshees and Ghosts were parked among them as well, with Yanme'e engineers tending to their vehicle arsenal. Ir would've preferred some Huragok, but the risk of humans capturing them should they be discovered was too great. They were only given one, meant to facilitate the data transfer from the Cartographer to the Citadel.
As he continued his patrol, he passed by a communication station, where he heard a Sangheili complaining, "Blasted Unggoy! Answer your hails! Gah!"
"What seems to be the problem?" Ir asked, and the Sangheili technician turned around and immediately saluted the Blademaster before answering.
"Apologies, Blademaster. One of our patrols hasn't reported in," he confirmed. "Their last known position was along a river roughly fifty kilometers away, then they shut off their communication gear and locators."
Ir immediately understood what had transpired, and he sighed before saying, "Unggoy… You leave them to their own devices and they immediately neglect their duties."
"I've already sent a nearby patrol to their location to find and bring them in. They will be punished appropriately, Blademaster," the technician declared, and Ir nodded.
"See that they are. We cannot have our soldiers taking a nap in the middle of a potential warzone," Ir pointed out, and the communications officer nodded. Ir then asked, "Any updates on the humans?"
"A slight increase in chatter and activity, but nothing out of the ordinary yet," the officer answered, and Ir clicked his mandibles together.
"Keep monitoring them. If the humans appear to make any move against us, or begin evacuations, you notify me immediately," Ir ordered, and the officer nodded.
"Yes, Blademaster," the officer said.
With that, Ir walked away to continue making his rounds. Around him, any Covenant warrior, particularly the Sangheili, saluted him out of respect for his station. The Kig-Yar and Unggoy simply moved out of his way in deference while giving him nervous stares out of the corner of their eyes. All of them, especially with him present, were performing their duties to their exact specifications. With the notable exception of a few minor hiccups, which would be addressed when the time came, everything seemed to be going well.
But, as Ir moved by some boxes, one of them suddenly fell over for seemingly no reason. He immediately stopped in his tracks, then slowly turned to face the fallen object. Looking around, he saw no other Covenant soldier in the immediate area. A few Kig-Yar were staring in his direction, having heard the random thud, but otherwise he was the only person there. His eyes narrowed, knowing that the boxes shouldn't have been able to fall over like that on their own. He focused all of his attention onto the disturbed pile of boxes holding blasted and partially melted rubble and, without saying a word, began to stalk forward. Ir pulled out his energy sword but didn't activate it. To do so demanded blood be spilt, and he didn't want to sully his blade by doing otherwise until he was absolutely certain.
His eyes scanned the ground, where he found a few small disturbances in the loose rocks and soil. Ir's worries grew, and he came close to activating his blade as he rounded the side of the boxes. Just before he could, however, he heard a shrill squeal followed by the scurrying of tiny feet. To his surprise, several large rats ran out from the boxes, heading in every direction.
"Ah! Damn rodents! I swear, they are on every human world!" Ir complained, then stowed away his energy sword and yelled, "Hunt them down and secure the food stores! The last thing we need is them getting inside!"
Several Kig-Yar immediately began hunting after the rats, chasing after them with their snapping jaws, while the Unggoy quickly ran over to the storage vats holding their food. Ir couldn't help but shake his head at the Unggoy's newfound sense of motivation, then he huffed and started walking away.
He didn't notice a faint shimmer in the air near the boxes, nor the faint shuffling of stones that led to the Wraiths. Like a specter, the shimmer passed between the vehicles, pausing by a few and leaving behind small objects stuffed inside the rear exhaust ports. They weren't the only objects to be found across the entire camp. Others had been strapped to the inside of Banshees, fuel canisters, turrets and watchtowers, and even the joints of the Scarab. In total, dozens had been placed all across the camp, but no one noticed nor even knew to look for them. If they had been found, one would've immediately realized that they were explosives, human fragmentation grenades taped to a strange yet powerful crystal and a small, blinking red light.
Planting the IEDs into the Scarab had proven to be difficult. Scaling its smooth legs without handholds and without attracting attention was hard, to say the least. But, as with everything else, Robyn and her team managed to make it work. Once all of the explosives were planted, they immediately and carefully began to remove themselves from the area. Their weapons were in hand, ready to be used at a moment's notice. But, with how many Covenant soldiers that surrounded them, they were as good as dead if they were actually caught.
Eventually, they managed to find their way back to one of the stealth pylons they had infiltrated and sabotaged. Only then, when they were back under the cover of the thick jungle canopy, did May release her Semblance and they all could breathe.
"Dammit, Fiona. You nearly got us caught!" Thomas quietly hissed, and Fiona Thyme whimpered.
"I'm sorry, it was an accident!" Fiona claimed, clasping her hands together apologetically.
"It's fine. We're just lucky those rats were there," May pointed out, releasing a groan and pinching her nose. "Still, that was way too damn close."
"Either way, we did what we came here for," Robyn declared. "Let's move. Thomas, can you call the UNSC and let them know when we're on our way?"
"I could, but the Covenant have jammers in place. I can't get a signal out at all," Thomas claimed, showing Robyn his scroll. True to his words, there was absolutely no reception, and it wasn't hard to figure out that it wasn't because they were far from civilization.
"Then we'll have to call them once we get out of range of the Covenant," Robyn said. "Let's move."
The others nodded, then at once they began to run through the jungle, hoping that their efforts would be enough to tilt the odds in their favor, and that the UNSC wouldn't be too mad at them for doing this.
UNSC Army Headquarters
New Timbuktu
"You just let them go?!" Lieutenant Dare yelled at the unrepentant Sergeant Abeni, who nodded while seated firmly at a table inside a dark, cramped interrogation room.
"Yes, ma'am. I did," Abeni confirmed, causing Dare to breathe in and out deeply through her nose.
After a few moments, Dare forced herself to remain calm, then asked in a low voice, "Is there a reason why you allowed four VIPs to infiltrate a Covenant camp by themselves?"
"Ma'am, I already told you why," Abeni reminded the ONI agent. "Besides, even if the situation didn't call for immediate action, they weren't under my command. I couldn't get them to do anything if they didn't want to, especially since they can knock over trees just by punching them on top of everything else they can do. They seemed to know what they were doing and how to do it, so I let them go."
Dare glared at the Army sergeant for a few moments, then stood up from the desk and simultaneously pushed the chair back along the concrete floor with a purposefully loud screech. As she stood over the unflapped soldier, Dare said, "We will discuss your decision-making process later. For now, report to your station."
"Yes, ma'am," Abeni replied as she stood up as well. She flashed a salute, then fast-walked out of the debriefing room and back into the exterior of the Army base.
Veronica Dare managed to get a brief look at what was going on before the automatic doors closed. None of it surprised her. The entire base was awash with activity, soldiers running in and out of barracks to put on their BDUs and grab their rifles. Warthogs, Scorpions, Falcons, Hornets and Shortswords were being fueled and loaded, soldiers gathering into formation as their leaders debriefed everyone on the situation. Above, the UNSC Savannah, a Paris-class heavy frigate, was unloading its compartment of marines to assist in the upcoming battle.
To say that the announcement of three captured Grunts courtesy of Sergeant Abeni's squad came as a shock would be a massive understatement. Within a minute of their initial transmission to declare WINTER CONTINGENCY, the entire planet went into high alert. Off-duty soldiers and reserves were called back into active duty, Peponi's orbital networks began scouring the planet for signs of Covenant activity, and evacuation efforts began in earnest. They unfortunately couldn't go full steam ahead just yet, though. The Covenant were watching their every move from their base. The civilian population still didn't know what was going on, only that more and more of them were being directed to the spaceports either through the city's automated traffic control system or a steady increase in direct summons.
Everyone knew what would happen as soon as the veil was lifted. The Covenant would know the jig was up, and their fleet waiting on standby would arrive to attack the planet in force. It would be impossible to save everyone, but at least this course of action would hopefully ensure as many would be saved as possible. Dare didn't even want to think about what would happen if the Covenant were discovered even a day later.
Still, she had other pressing issues to worry about. Once the doors closed, she went to the observation room where Commander Keyes was waiting. He was standing before the one-way glass, both arms folded behind his back and his pipe clenched tightly in his mouth. There was nothing in it, but Dare had come to realize that Keyes liked to chew on his pipe whenever he was stressed.
"Any word from the other interrogators?" Dare asked, and Keyes nodded as he turned to look at her while removing the pipe from his mouth.
"The Grunt with the broken methane tank asphyxiated by the time they got him in, but the other two corroborated Abeni's report," Keyes confirmed. "Our satellites have also detected an unusual heat signature a hundred kilometers from New Timbuktu, exactly where the Grunts claimed the Covenant were hiding."
"Why didn't we detect it before?" Dare asked, mostly to herself, but Keyes had an answer regardless.
"Peponi's already a hot world, and while the heat signature was unusual it wasn't outside the range of normal temperatures in the region during this time of year," Keyes clarified. "Whenever it was seen, it got dismissed."
"Dammit," Dare cursed under her breath. She then shook her head and asked, "What about the rest of the Remnantians?"
"They're on the tarmac waiting to be brought aboard the Midsummer Night."
"Why aren't they aboard now?"
"They refuse to do so without Robyn and the rest of her team," Keyes answered, and Dare felt a migraine coming on.
She didn't know quite what to think about what Robyn and the rest of the Huntsmen and Huntresses with her were doing at that moment. On the one hand, it was an insane and almost unacceptable risk for them to go out there in the first place. Infiltrating a Covenant compound was a highly dangerous operation for even the most experienced troops, and while Dare was by no means dismissing what a Huntsman or Huntress could do, they had never truly fought the Covenant. The most experience they had was against a bunch of poorly trained pirates, a far cry from proper Covenant soldiers. If they were spotted, Dare doubted they'd get out of there alive, and the entire Covenant would realize that humanity was onto them. Through their earnest efforts to help, all they might end up doing is just make things worse. This was on top of the diplomatic SNAFU that would inevitably follow once the Remnant kingdoms found out the delegates they trusted the UNSC to ferry safely while gathering evidence of the Covenant were killed. It wouldn't matter that the Happy Huntresses weren't even supposed to be on the mission in the first place.
But, on the other hand, without those Huntsmen and Huntresses it was unlikely that they would've noticed the Covenant were on Peponi at all. Thanks to them, they were able to obtain valuable intel on the Covenant's operation, allowing the UNSC to move against them. While their chances of protecting the colony were still slim, it was better than what they had before. That alone earned them Dare's and the UNSC's gratitude. Even their decision to infiltrate the Covenant excavation site was born out of a desire to assist their fellow man, going in there to mark critically important areas and hopefully sabotage their defenses in the hopes of reducing human casualties. With the skills and Semblances of the chosen team, combined with Casper Marine to provide an easy and quick extraction with her Semblance, it meant that they had a legitimate shot of successfully completing their mission. If it worked, it might just provide the edge they needed to win this battle.
But Dare had to be realistic, and she released a sigh before saying, "What's done is done. I want Marine to bring Hill and her team back as soon as we receive word from them. Then we are going to have a long…chat about her actions."
"What is it that you plan on doing?"
"I haven't decided yet," Dare admitted, then she tilted her head and asked, "What about you?"
Keyes shrugged and replied, "Same position as you, I suppose. On the one hand, part of me wants to chastise them for putting themselves and this mission at risk. On the other, if they successfully pull this off, I'd owe them a beer."
"…That's one way of putting it," Dare stated, then placed her hands on her hips. "Have we been able to contact them since they set out?"
Keyes shook his head and he revealed, "Unfortunately, no. Apparently, the Covenant set up jammers near their excavation site. We can't reach them, not without alerting the Covenant of their presence."
"Of course they did," Dare groaned while shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Hopefully they're on their way back right now. If we time this right we can—"
Just then, Dare and Keyes heard a low rumble through the building. The ground beneath their feet faintly shook, and for a moment they worried that an explosion had gone off. But it soon became apparent what was actually happening, and so the pair ran out of the bunker. There, to their horror, they saw the assembled UNSC forces leaving the base, marines and soldiers loaded onto Pelicans, Falcons, Warthogs and APCs. The UNSC Savannah, flying overhead, cast an imposing shadow as it led the way, pointing directly towards the Covenant site.
Dare and Keyes looked at each other, then Dare snarled and yelled into her comm, "Get me General Amari, now!"
They didn't bother waiting for a response, running towards the central command tower and rushing past the confused Huntsmen and Huntresses. The MPs standing in front of the building let them in without issue, and when they got onto the elevator Dare pressed the top floor button as hard as she could as though doing so would make it go faster. It wouldn't, she knew, but it made her feel better, nonetheless.
When they arrived at the top floor, they saw General Amari standing over the massive holographic tactical map that was the centerpiece of the entire command center. He was an elderly man with black, wrinkled skin, his head devoid of hair except for a neatly groomed beard in the Islamic tradition, and was wearing a neatly pressed, high-collared, double-breasted and grey UNSC Army Dress uniform that proudly displayed his service medals over his left chest. He briefly regarded Commander Keyes and Lieutenant Dare with a glance, then he went back to looking over the map as it displayed his forces racing towards the Covenant dig site, aptly labeled "Cartographer", from all directions. In the distance, they saw a Banta-class colony ship, with its trademark white and light-blue paintjob, taking off into orbit at full burn. The first of many, they knew.
"I am a busy man, Lieutenant. Make it quick," General Amari said as one of his assistants handed him a tac-pad.
"What do you think you're doing, General?" Dare asked.
"Taking the fight to the Covenant. They've been on my planet long enough," Amari answered, his voice tense and firm.
"Without recon?" Keyes incredulously pointed out. "We don't know the status of the Covenant's fortifications, and our VIPs haven't gotten back to report on them. You'll be sending your men to a slaughter."
"While I would love nothing more than to just sit here and wait," Amari sarcastically replied, "Peponi doesn't have any time left to spare. We all got the same reports from those Grunts' interrogations. By their account, the Covenant's almost completed their primary objective on Peponi. Their main fleet is already on standby. All they need is one transmission burst telling them that they've successfully secured this 'Cartographer,' and they'll be here. My AIs estimate that, once our assault begins, we'll have eight hours at most before Covenant reinforcements arrive."
"Which makes it all the more imperative that we wait to understand the terrain as much as possible," Dare angrily pointed out. "I was already in contact with my superiors at ONI on this planet and was assembling a team of ODSTs to scout the area."
"We also have our Huntsmen VIPs already there and doing just that," Keyes more forcibly added, forcing himself not to explode in anger. "They haven't gotten back yet. At the very least you could've waited until then. They would've marked out specifically where the Covenant's fortifications are concentrated, let us know the status of their forces. If you attack now, you make what they did all for nothing."
"I am not putting the safety of my planet and my people in the hands of four individuals who aren't even a part of the UNSC," Amari growled as he leaned over the table, gripping the metallic surface tightly. "As a courtesy to your mission, I'll divert a Pelican to pick them up, but I am not stopping this assault just for them."
"But-!" Dare started, only for Amari to angrily interrupt her.
"Remember your place, Lieutenant," General Amari warned her. "As of this moment, I am officially in charge of all ground operations on Peponi. You and the Office of Naval Intelligence have no authority over me. You and the Commander are dismissed."
Commander Keyes and Lieutenant Dare glared at the General, then they both flashed a salute, performed a point turn, and stalked out of the command center. They remained silent as the elevator car descended, and once they reached the bottom they crisply marched out of the tower entirely. The rest of the Remnantian delegates were waiting for them, with Qrow and Clover at the front. All of them had their weapons on their person, and while none of them were saying anything it was clear that they were each wondering what was going to happen next. Harriet, from how sullen she looked when compared to her normal demeanor, also looked like she had gotten a thorough tongue-lashing from the rest of her team over allowing Robyn to go ahead with this plan of hers.
"Commander, what's going on?" Clover asked, and Dare growled.
"What's going on is that I'm going to have the General's head!" Dare hissed, and Qrow nodded in understanding.
"That bad?" Qrow stated, and Keyes nodded.
"General Amari gave the go ahead for a complete, all-out assault. All he's using is old cartography maps with the approximate location of key Covenant sites detailed by the captured Grunts," Keyes explained, barely able to keep himself from lashing out like Dare was. "He's not bothering to wait until Hill and her team can get back."
Casper's eyes widened, and in a near panic she proclaimed, "If he does that, and they're caught in the battle…I won't be able to pull them back."
"Why not?" Dare asked, and Casper looked her straight in the eyes.
"I need to know at least the general area of where my allies are to bring them to me," Casper explained, her voice dripping with irritation. "If everything around them, and most importantly me, is going to Hell in a handbasket, the range I need to actually make the portals work properly decreases significantly. Combat makes it hard to concentrate on anything other than fighting, as it turns out. If I try, I'm just as liable to bring the Covenant here instead."
"God DAMN IT!" Dare shouted, gripping her hair in frustration as she marched away. The scathing report she was already making in her mind about the consequences of Amari's actions just got even longer. If his brash action led to the breakdown of UNSC-Remnant relations, all of this would've been for nothing.
Keyes, able to keep his cool, chewed on his pipe for a moment then took it out and said, "Then we need to pick them up directly. I'll have Pelicans on standby for retrieval. In the meantime, report back to the Night. As soon as Hill and her team are brought aboard, we're leaving."
Rather than comply, as Keyes and Dare hoped, the Remnantians looked at each other. Sepia then frowned and replied, "Respectfully, sir, Thomas is a member of my team. I'm not just going to sit on the sidelines while he's down here fighting for his life."
"And Robyn, Fiona, and May are part of mine. I'm not leaving Peponi until they do," Joanna declared.
Dare's eyes widened incredulously, and Keyes released a sigh as he closed his eyes and shook his head. He then asked, "I take it, then, they speak for all of you?"
Everyone immediately nodded, although Gron was noticeably slower to do so. There was also this strange glint in his eye that Keyes didn't quite know what to think of. Still, it was obvious what was going to happen, and he doubted anything he or Dare said would change their minds.
"My career's already getting hurt because of this, what's one more mark against it?" Keyes asked himself, and Dare shot her head towards him. Before she could say anything, Keyes said, "Alright, you'll be under Sergeant Johnson's command. Anything he says you do. Shakespeare, I want all available marines to embark planetside and form up with the Army. Have the Midsummer Night provide indirect orbital support, but do not directly engage any Covenant forces unless absolutely necessary."
"Of course, Commander," Shakespeare replied, and Dare's eyes widened even more.
"Commander, you cannot be serious?!" Dare asked, and Keyes nodded while folding his arms behind his back.
"We don't have much of a choice, Lieutenant. We need to do everything we can to retrieve our missing VIPs before they're swallowed up by the battle. Their minds are already made up," Keyes pointed out.
Dare looked towards the assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses, only to find that they were already leaving towards a landing pad where Sergeant Johnson and his squad were waiting. Dare breathed in and out through her nose for a few moments, then she released a sigh.
"If they die, any chance of an alliance with Remnant dies with them," Dare sullenly pointed out, and Keyes grimly nodded.
"I guess we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen," Keyes declared, only for Dare to give him a sideways glance.
"Don't make a promise if you know you can't keep it," Dare told him, and with that she walked away while taking her ONI Recon helmet off of her lower back's magnetic holster to place atop her head. She was already wearing her armor, putting it on as a precautionary measure just in case. Now it looked like she was going to have to actually use it.
Keyes, meanwhile, watched her go, then walked towards a landing pad where the first of many Pelicans launched from the Midsummer Night arrived. Its compliment of marines disembarked, racing towards the departing ground forces while he himself stepped aboard. He spared one last glance towards the Huntsmen as Sergeant Johnson and Lieutenant Dare gave them the run down, and he hoped that it wouldn't be the last time he'd do so.
Getting out of the jungle away from the Covenant base turned out to be slower and more tedious than getting to it. Their luck had run out as Covenant patrols had chosen just then to finally show up in that area. It appeared that Robyn, Thomas, Fiona, and May had initially slipped through a gap in their patrols earlier, a gap that was now closed and showed no signs of abating anytime soon.
It didn't seem as though any of the Covenant soldiers had any idea they were there, and even if they did none of them thought to look up into the trees to find them. May's Semblance made spotting them nearly impossible. Still, none of the Huntsmen made a sound as they carefully traversed the tree branches, using their Aura to reinforce the limbs and making sure the makeshift bridges wouldn't collapse under their own weight.
When they entered sight of the tree line overlooking the vast savannah, Robyn and the others momentarily thought they were in the clear. All they had to do was wait for the Covenant patrol to move on, then they would hop onto their Ghosts and take off back to New Timbuktu as fast as they possibly could. That hope was dashed, however, when Robyn noticed a dark object racing towards them in the distance.
She narrowed her eyes, especially when the Covenant patrol also noticed the oncoming object. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, she pressed them up to her eyes then nearly gasped as she saw a UNSC frigate approach. Below it was an army of tanks, vehicles, aircraft and soldiers, all heading straight towards the Covenant excavation site.
The others with her had pulled out binoculars of their own, and all came to the same conclusion. The Battle of Peponi had begun earlier than they had counted on, and any hope of Casper being able to pull them to safety on her own was dashed. In one way or another, they were going to be a part of this battle. With that in mind, Robyn narrowed her eyes as the Covenant patrol began to panic and race back to their base, and she turned to face Fiona.
She gave one firm nod, and that was all the confirmation Fiona needed before she pulled out the remote detonator to all the IEDs they placed at the dig site, then pressed the trigger.
"Human radio activity has exploded!"
"Sensors are picking up large movements coming at us from all sides!"
Around Ir 'Haramai, transmission and sensor operators shouted near constant status updates that were changing at every moment. The workers and soldiers were running around the site arming themselves or rushing to their defensive positions. They all knew what was happening. Ir had realized it as soon as the first human evacuation ship departed the planet.
The humans knew they were there, and now were on their way.
"Has the transmission been sent to the fleet?" Ir asked, and one of the operators nodded.
"Yes, Blademaster!" he responded. "The Valorous Penance is on standby for artifact retrieval!"
Ir nodded, then he spoke into a receiver that broadcasted his voice to the entire excavation site, where he declared, "Warriors, arm yourselves! Man your stations! The humans have realized our presence and are on their way as we speak! They wish to desecrate this holy site with their filthy, heretical footsteps! Do not let them! Any human who crosses our path shall be vanquished under our righteous might! We shall stand and fight until our dying breath if need be, but they will not threaten the Cartographer!"
"Yes, Blademaster!" the assembled troops all shouted in unison, bolstered by his words.
Ir nodded, then pulled out his own energy sword and ignited it. Two prongs of white, blazing plasma held in an intense, concentrated magnetic field sprang out of the sides of the hilt just beside his hands. A faint warmth washed over his limbs, but he ignored it as he ran towards his team of Zealots. While he wished that he could take part in the battle directly, the Cartographer took priority. They weren't finished with downloading the data, and Ir doubted they would by the time the humans arrived in force. If only they had a few more hours, then they'd have all of it, but they didn't have that much time anymore.
Ir stared across the security detail, certain that most, if not all of them, would perish by the time this battle was over. While the humans were inferior to them in almost every way, they outnumbered his Warhost ten to one. There was a significant, if not likely chance, that Ir himself would not survive. But he had come to peace with that, and he silently offered a prayer to the gods for the salvation of his soul and all the other Covenant warriors about to sacrifice their lives in their name.
Overhead, he heard human bombers approach, likely hoping to soften them up before the main force arrived. The Scarab and its anti-air cannons aimed at the bombers, primed to shoot them down before the human aircraft could reach them. With the stealth pylons up, it was likely that any bombs dropped would be to little effect anyway. Of course that was when, centered around the Scarab itself, several stealth pylons, watchtowers, and Shade turrets lining the perimeter, as well as the vehicle bays and the Citadel itself were struck by a series of powerful, multicolored explosions.
Mangled bodies and corpses were consumed by the fire, electricity, and some manner of purple concussive force, and heaps of scrap metal were thrown out in all directions. The Scarab's joints were shattered as jagged spears of stone spontaneously burst through them, causing the assault platform to collapse under its own weight. The stealth field covering their encampment fizzled away, and without proper anti-air defenses to deter them, the human bombers approached with ruthless glee.
As the first bombs fell, Ir shouted in absolute rage, "HERETICS!"
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Dust and Echoes! Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.
The Battle of Peponi is now in full swing, with the Covenant Zealots attempting to secure a precious Cartographer while the UNSC tries to kick them off world and evacuate as many people as they can before the main Covenant fleet arrives. Things are certainly going to become very hectic, to say the least. I think you guys are going to enjoy it.
Let us know what you all think. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the page would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy!
Now, there is something else I want to address. Since the last time this story was updated, the Halo TV Show finished airing its first season. I figure now is as good a time as any to address how it might affect this story. Overall, I enjoyed the show. It's nowhere near my favorite TV show, but I had fun watching this interpretation of the Halo universe. I am not opposed to using elements from the show in my story, but D&E is primarily based off of the prime Halo canon and not the Silver Timeline. There's no guarantees yet, but as for elements introduced in the show itself:
Kwan Ha will probably not be used in this story. Not because I didn't like her character. Overall, I was neutral on her. But mostly because right now her character doesn't really fit the story I want to tell in Dust and Echoes. As such, there's no reason for me to use her at this time. That being said, due to my previously stated beliefs on using OCs over canon characters, if the storyline needs another prominent Insurrectionist POV for a protracted period of time, a version of Kwan adapted for D&E has a chance of showing up in a minor capacity.
Makee will also not be used. I liked her character and the arc she went through, but at the end of the day my Covenant is based off of the prime canon. There are ways that I could use her, especially given her relationship with Mercy, but I would have to go through too many hoops to justify it, including the Covenant's reasoning to let her live, giving Makee her own character arc, and so on to where it's just no longer worth the effort. I also just want to avoid the controversy, and I will end this part of the conversation here.
Silver Team themselves were a delight, especially Kai-125. You guys can fully expect to see them in this story, especially since I don't want to use only Blue Team for our SPARTAN-II points of view.
Soren was also really enjoyable. Given his past as a SPARTAN-II defector, he offers a very unique perspective that wouldn't take much adjustment to use in Dust and Echoes. As such, you guys can expect him to pop up eventually as well should the plot allow him to be a part of it. I want you to imagine Soren, the grumpy and serious man he is, having to deal with Ruby, a perpetual engine of cheer and positivity, for a protracted amount of time. Admit it, it's an amusing image.
Master Chief out of armor will probably be modeled after Pablo Schrieber. Both because I enjoyed his performance and the simple fact that he's the closest thing we have to a canonical depiction of what John-117 looks like as an adult. His characterization, obviously, will be more in line with the games.
Looking back at when I physically described Keyes in Chapter 13, it leaves enough open to interpretation as to which depiction he is modeled after. As anyone can know from my work in Hunters of Justice, I am always big on diversity. As such, going forward, Keyes and Miranda will likely be modeled after the show's actor/actress, with Jacob Keyes' personality being more in line with the games/prime canon. As for Miranda, she will likely be a mixture of the games and the show. Let's be honest, game Miranda's personality and presence wasn't always the best, so giving her a mixture of a scientific and military background would do well to differentiate her from her purely military father. Not to mention highlight her relationship with her mother.
Speaking of Halsey, obviously D&E Halsey is based off of the Prime Canon Halsey. You guys have already seen that in this story, but I just wanted to reiterate.
To answer some of your guys' questions, the parallels between the Insurrectionists and the canon White Fang (in D&E context, the general direction that Sienna would prefer they go in, if not all the way) was intentional. They were too good of foils to each other to just ignore. While this story is primarily about the war, I want it to be about more than just the fighting. Stuff like this gives the story depth and meaning, keeping all of us engaged.
Ironwood is a character where, depending on what happens to him in a particular story and who he surrounds himself with, he can go either way. He can remain a hero as he started out in canon, or he could fall from grace like he did at the end. Only time will tell. Rest assured, though, I'm not going to do something just because canon did it. I'm not afraid to stick to the canon, nor am I afraid to change things up. It all depends on what's best and makes the most sense for the story I'm telling.
Once again, I must reiterate that I don't care about using versus feats or saying which badass super soldier is better than the other. That is not the purpose of this story, and I request that you all abandon this line of thought. If you are expecting me to have the UNSC stomp all over Remnant, or Remnant stomp all over the UNSC, you will be disappointed. I am far more interested in having both of them team up to kick alien ass.
Johnson will not have a relationship with Raven. Instead, he will have an epic bromance with Qrow. Part of this arc is laying the foundations for that.
I must also reiterate that the needs of the story trump any and all real-world logic. My utmost desire is to both establish how and why Remnant will be so important to the overall war effort while also showing that they have equal level of story importance to the UNSC. As such, trying to thrust real-world hard reality logic to the story is missing the point. Not to mention that, for as much as Halo and the UNSC tries to pretend that they follow real-world logic, they really don't. Case in point, the Warthogs' gunner, driver, and passenger are completely exposed. Any military commander today would look at the Warthog in horror. That being said, yes I have been portraying the UNSC as more grounded than Remnant because they are. RWBY is an anime world, Halo is a soft military/sci-fi world. While Halo is certainly not the most realistic franchise out there, the human stuff is comparatively more grounded in reality than what RWBY accepts as commonplace. This creates the discrepancy, which I have been exploiting for humor, world-building, and any other purpose I can think of that seems appropriate.
A lot of reviewers for Dust and Echoes have been wanting me to hype up the UNSC over Remnant. I am going to reiterate now that I will not be doing that. I will be trying my best to be realistic with how plays out in my story, but at the end of the day the needs of my story outweigh the need for realism. I'm going to try and make it seem as believable as possible.
Once again, I must reiterate that this is not a message board. Do not respond to other reviewers through your reviews. I have started to actively take down Guest reviews who are violating this policy. I also request that you don't bring in your outside opinions on the canons for both RWBY and Halo. This is a policy that I have for the main SpaceBattles thread for Dust and Echoes and I'm bringing it here. I would prefer if you keep your reviews focused on the actual story, not whether mainline Halo or RWBY sucks/is doomed.
Also, I do not include character bashing in my stories. I utterly despise the concept and find it to be boring and trite, so it is not being considered at all.
Edit: To everyone who was confused about why a Familiar Evil was posted instead of this one, my sincerest apologies. That was a misupload. What happened was that this chapter's file was right above the Familiar Evil chapter file, and it was accidentally selected instead of the chapter I actually wanted to post. It should be corrected now, but I deleted and reposted the chapter a few times just in case. Thank you to everyone who pointed out this mistake.