Chapter Text
MERRY Christmas and other assorted winter festivities! As promised, another chapter to finish out 2018. This next year will be one of adventure! Action! Multiple chapters! A minor announcement:
I am probably not going to update my tumblr anymore, what with the purge and also I was so sporadic and not at all keeping with them that I don't really have a use for it. But hey, if you want to talk to me - there's always PMs. I am deeply humbled and moved that you all loved my first chapter, thank all of you SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart for your words. Here's to hoping you enjoy the second.
The mountaintop was calm and quiet, a tiny beetle rested on a blade of grass. As it crawled up the blade it came to the drop of dew it saw earlier and took the gentlest of sips. Then it, along with the patch of meadow, were incinerated as an invisible object rushed past the peak, barely above the surface.
Inside the rocketing vehicle, a man in a suit of armor was busy sifting through crates of weaponry and pulling out various pieces of equipment.
“Okay, good news and bad news.” Church’s voice called out through the interior speakers.
“Bad News.” Chief replied without hesitation.
“That communications jammer is a pretty serious piece of equipment. It’s blocking everything but short-range comms the closer we get, so close that I’m not going to be able to raise Tucker and the others unless we’re right next to them.”
“How long for you break through it?” Chief knew by now that with Church it was just a matter of time.
“Well… between pushing the thrusters to their limits AND keeping stealth, running exhaustive scans, searching for the guys, and the strength of the jammer – I’m not gonna be able to break the jammer until I get a physical connection.”
“At which point it might be too late. Hmmm, and the good news?” He said tilting his head upwards as he finished loading his pistol.
“We’re here. I’m taking us up slightly to get a good overhead view and see if I can find those dipshits on scans.” As Church finished his statement, John could feel the Pelican pitch upward a few degrees and ascend. They stopped, and a holographic projection of the terrain below them lit up and seemingly filled the open room as it hovered above the floor.
“Okay, I’m projecting my readout through your helmet and we’ve got a problem.” The area lit up with black, red, and blue figures. “Clearly the Reds and Blues must have stuck with Wash, because they’re laying a pretty damn good ambush on Felix and Locus.” Church said while gesturing to the arrayed red and blue figures that were arrayed in varying positions around the seven black figures hugging the jammer’s central tower. “Unfortunately, they set a trap too.” A wide circle of black holograms vastly spread out around the jammer. “Charon’s guys are spread out in a mile-wide perimeter around the jammer with about a dozen guys super spread out. They must intend to close the circle once the hour’s up and catch the guys, who they rightfully assumed are gonna try and stop them.”
“How much time is left on the clock?”
“Eh…ten minutes.” And Church collapsed the virtual map, replacing it with a small timer in the top right of the Chief’s HUD. “So now what?”
“Now, we carry out the mission.” Master Chief stated as the Pelican descended.
***
As Isaac sat in his concealed spot behind some foliage and under a rocky outcropping, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander.
Wonder if those idiots took the deal.
He wasn’t afraid to let go a little, after all if they did pop up he could handle them. They were just sim troopers after all.
But they did still get Zachary… After that thought nagged him, Isaac sat up a little straighter. The wind briefly shifted, and for only a moment there was a minute tremor. That wasn’t all that unusual, the jammer did make storms, but the tremor…
Was that a lightning strike? Isaac stood up and cloaked himself. Better to be safe than sorry. As he emerged from his hiding place he began to examine the area with his weapon raised.
They’re not smart enough to set a trap, right? Or at least, a good one that is. His thoughts began to gain a slight tremble as he moved to go to the top of the outcrop. Once he reached the top and surveyed the rough road below, he relaxed.
No one on their way. I just can’t wait for tomorrow, this will finally all be over, and I get my fat check. His shoulders slumped as his cloak dropped, momentarily out of charge. Isaac sighed as he turned around to return to his hiding spot, when he bumped into a solid object. Before he could even finish looking up at what it was, everything went black.
***
“One down, nine to go. Now let’s get a look at what you guys are really packing.” Church said as Master Chief stood over the crumpled soldier.
“Make it quick.”
“Scan’s already done, let’s move to the next target and I’ll fill you in along the way.” As John began to easily traverse the terrain, Church began filling him in. “Firstly, he’s out, but I’m still getting a life signature from him. What the fuck Chief? I thought we were in the business of killing bad guys, not sending them home with a headache after a nice nap.” Church berated.
“The tech, Church.”
“Fine, whatever.” Church let the irritation bleed into his voice.
No, not irritation – antsiness. Chief observed.
“Wow, these guys are stacked with tech. The two big pieces are his gun and his cloak.” Small schematics appeared in view. “The cloak is a derivative of the Freelancer armor panels, but it’s got some of the circuitry of the Covenant’s cloaking too. So it’s not photo-reflective panels, but the unit supplies the plates with an energy that allows them to bend light.”
“Covenant and UNSC tech fused together. And the gun?”
“Designed to disintegrate, but like really torturously. It’s like… have you seen that really old superhero movie?” Chief did not respond. “Pfft. Go figure you haven’t. Whatever, basically it turns them to ash. Now, heads up. Our next guy is hiding riiiiight there.” Church highlighted the pirate as they came into view. Not direct view, as they were concealed similarly to their unconscious comrade – but none of them would be able to hide since Church had already pegged them all on the sensors, especially the heat sensors.
The moment the figure was highlighted, the Chief switched gears on a dime. He dropped to a crouch, pulling his suppressed MA5B rifle from his back. This target wasn’t as nice as the last one, they weren’t leaving their cover.
The mercenary was lying flat at the top of a rock face and cloaked, but that wouldn’t spare them from Church’s eyes. John took a small breath in, that infinitesimal moment before pulling the trigger.
Shoot to incapacitate. He chanted to himself.
He fired.
As the weapon silently cast its dangerous projectile into the world, its aim true, the armored merc went down.
“Next target is this way.” Church grumbled as he added the highlighted path to the HUD.
He must actually care about them if he’s this worried. John noted as he felt the implant heat up for the first time since the Pelican.
The third mercenary was almost in view when the timer hit five minutes. But then Church cut in, “Shit! They’ve started moving!” Chief paused his hike.
“Who? The mercenaries?”
“No! Those fucking idiots are closing their trap!” As if he thought it would increase Chief’s pace, Church made the timer start flashing as it continued to count down. “Move faster! Before the dipshits get themselves killed!” Church yelled as his voice filled with desperation, and John’s implant grew hotter.
Chief didn’t bother answering him as he lined up the shot on the third target. Just after he fired though, the man moved.
“FUCK! The extra pirates are closing their trap! Shit! Shit! SHIT!” With each curse, the pain radiating from his matrix rose a substantial degree. “Alright, the pirates will converge on the main road entry to the compound before they spread out again. Book it and we can cut them off!”
Master Chief swiveled and began sprinting for the waypoint. With each step Church’s matrix let loose a burst of scalding pain, but Chief could not let that distract him. Objective first. Pain later.
Chief slid in front of the large carved stone archway that marked the entry, with all the roads converging here a dusty simulacrum of a courtyard existed. Just as Chief was about to step behind the arch to conceal himself, the first of the pirates arrived – the one he had just missed moments ago in fact.
“HOLY SHIT!” The mercenary screamed as he raised his weapon and fired a burst of orange bolts at the Chief.
He rolled behind the archway, barely avoiding the blasts as he pulled a grenade and loosed it.
It exploded the pirate was blown back, but still standing after he raised his hard-light shield just in time. As the man’s body thudded against the canyon wall, three more pirates charged into the scene – stumbling as they slowed themselves from their run in and raising their shields in anticipation of another explosion.
Just like Jackals. The thought ran through Chief’s head faster than his sprint forward across the dusty dirt. Weaving in between their sloppy shots, he leapt over their shields and landed behind the middle man of the trio. He raised his fist and punched the man square in the back, sending him flying forward.
The two remaining men quickly pulled out their knives as their comrade was flung away and engaged the Chief simultaneously as he turned to face the woman on his right.
He ducked as the one behind him went for a strike to the head while extending his right leg out to both kick that pirate’s leg out from under him and dodge the strike from the merc in front of him.
As the pirate behind him crumpled momentarily, he motioned to strike her with his fist. She jumped back, but his fist caught her still extended knife arm in the wrist.
As she dropped the knife and Master Chief knocked her out with a blow to the head, Church shouted in his ear “Fuck, here’s the rest of them!” as the A.I. raised his bubble shield and the Promethean drone at the same time.
The woman was pushed backwards, and numerous orange projectiles filled the air as the pirates lit up the shield with rounds while the drone fired right back – forcing the mercs to take cover while one of them was torn apart.
Before John could dwell on that, the shield dropped as his HUD lit up with paths Church was suggesting as he screamed them in his ears. Master Chief ignored the rattled voice in his ears as he dove back for cover while the drone covered his momentary escape.
He raised his MA5B rifle as he whipped around the corner of the arch.
The mercenaries had formed a line of shields while exchanging fire with the drone. One of them was pulling a M41 rocket launcher off their back as their comrades provided them cover and another soldier began to aim at the re-exposed Chief.
He aimed and fired below the shield at the exposed shins of the one aiming at him as the drone flew over the shields and ripped another pirate to shreds. However, this left it perfectly exposed to the pirates aim and a rocket blew the construct into fragments that disappeared as they were created in kaleidoscope of oranges.
“The drone is gonna need at least two minutes to reconstitute!” Before Church could continue, another rocket streaked through the arch and detonated. Church raised the shield for a fraction of a second to negate the shockwave, then yelled “Quick! While he’s reloading!”
“Wait.” Chief held his position, “Tell me when he’s about to pull the trigger.”
After a moment of silence, Church responded “Now!”
As Chief leapt from cover to grab the rocket, he ordered “Partial Shield along flight path!”
Before Church could quibble, Chief grasped the projectile – pivoting with it towards the attackers. Halfway through his turn, a horizontal line of the shield’s hexagonal panels flared into existence. It traced the same curve Chief started on, and then the Chief let go once it appeared.
The rocket left his hand but continued along the turn as it skidded on the shield. It exited the curve and shot back towards its launcher and his compatriots. The four standing mercenaries turned to scatter but did not get very far as the explosive detonated where they last stood.
They all went flying, however the two pirates who were the ends of the four-man line managed to land on their feet. As they steadied themselves, one of them had landed near the man Chief had broken the leg of earlier – who now began to shakily regain his footing as his biofoam set to work.
Just as Chief was about to unleash a return salvo, a massive explosion occurred from the facility behind them. Quickly following that, static and feedback tore through his speakers – and from the way the mercs were clutching their helmets, they were too.
“That was all the local channels being restored! The jammer must have gone down!” Church exalted, but before he could continue Chief fired at the hobbling man and caught him in the side. As he went down, a voice came over the radios.
“Once the Feds and Rebels kill each other, I don’t know what I’m gonna do!” Felix’s voice rang out. “I mean, we’ve been playing these guys for years.” The black-clad figures at the other side of the battlefield hesitated at the sound of their commander’s voice and hunkered behind what little cover they found.
Chief prepared for another sprint to go reengage them, when a new voice responded to Felix on the radio – one that caused him to pause too. “How did you convince Kimball to go to the Capitol?” Tucker strained out.
“He’s hurt!” Before Chief could ask Church how he could tell, the heat of his implant dissipated instantaneously.
“Church?! Dammit!” Chief exclaimed. He must be able to move again now that the jammer is down. Chief thought to himself. In the instant he took to muse however, something landed a few yards away.
The explosion took the Chief off guard as he was thrown to the ground; luckily, he wasn’t very damaged and his Mark VI armor automatically dispensed biofoam to assist. This momentary lapse in action though provided the remaining mercs to finally advance on the Chief.
As he hauled himself upright, he raised his pistol and fired on the mercenary that just poked out around the rock face. The woman fell to the ground, a perfect hole in her visor.
Dammit! Chief was going to tear Alpha a new one for making him do this. Once this was over, that is. He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled.
He looked down at his leg to see a shard of metal sticking out of the joint.
Looks like I didn’t escape that explosion undamaged after all.
As he limped back to out to the corner, pistol raised, he mentally counted the enemies – now enemy – remaining.
Just as he reached the junction, he all but collided with the last target. The pirate was startled, and before he could react Chief slammed his gun into the man’s helmet. The man did not go down, and he slammed his body into Master Chief – forcing them both to the ground as Chief’s leg buckled underneath the added weight.
Once in the dirt, the Chief rolled them further into the clearing and used his superior weight to pin the smaller man. Master Chief went to punch the mercenary as the man raised his arms defensively. Chief’s fist clanged against the armguards of the pirate as the pirate punched right back into his gut.
Chief did not even feel the weak blow and took advantage of the opening to punch the merc’s helmet clean off. He mechanically raised his fist for another strike when he saw the man’s face.
Delirious and bloodied, the mercenary shakily tried to raise his arms to protect himself. John lowered his arm as the blood oozed from the beaten man’s nose. He swiftly knocked the merc unconscious with as light a hit as he could manage, and then stood up.
I almost did it. John reflected.
“Church…” He growled as he stumbled forward, into the complex and toward the jammer as the conversation between Felix and Tucker continued streaming over the radio.
“–all with the belief that their sacrifice might actually mean something.” Felix stated as the transmission ended, and John limped back through the archway, the nanobots finally starting to heal the damage.
***
The trip was supposed to take a week and a half from when Blue Team departed Earth to reach the distant colony on the edge of ex-Covenant space, and Kelly was itching to get off the ship. Lord Hood had said this was a matter of urgency, and they all wished to move as quickly as possible.
They were fairly withdrawn for the whole trip, sticking only to their bunks, the training room, and as little time in the mess hall as they could manage. The three members of Blue Team reviewed the mission again and again, memorizing it and all ancillary objectives word for word. As they had been trained.
“We’re almost there, three more days in slipspace.” Linda lamented from her bunk. Fred rolled his eyes at the thought of having to wait even one more day with Kelly this tightly wound. She was tearing through sparring partners left and right, something had her on edge.
What in this mission has gotten her so wound up? She might do some permanent damage to someone. Unless… Fred thought, we burn some of that energy off.
Fred rolled off the upper bunk and stretched his arms once Kelly entered the room, after having been off in the ship doing who knows what.
“Come on, let’s head to the ops center. I want to review that mission info one more time.” He announced to his teammates. They acted wordlessly as they all armored up and walked to the ops center.
They did not pass many crew members on their way there, as it was night according to ship time. The few they did see though tried to sneak glances at them once they passed in the hall, marveling at the best of humanity as they walked by. The team finally came to their stop and quickly stowed away behind its metal door. They moved about the room, its walls covered in blank screens, and settled around the central holo-table, removing their helmets now that they were alone.
“Now,” Fred started as he pulled up the files on the table, “we know that the subject, Junior, is an ambassador between Sanghelios and Earth along with his father Lavernius Tucker.” Two pictures materialized above the table, one of a young Sangheili and another of a human in aqua armor.
“Seeing as Lavernius has gone missing, this could mean potential danger for his son as the same parties could be at work to make him disappear as well. The young boy is under guard by two Elites at any given time, but Lord Hood fears that might not be enough if there are larger bodies conspiring.”
“We’re there to ensure the child’s safety, top suspects out for the kid are pirates, rogue Sangheili factions, and warmongers...” they spent the next three hours reviewing every objective and detail, trying to see if they could discern who they were up against. But, like the start of the meeting, they were left will a short list of likely suspects and nothing concrete. As Kelly concluded, Fred put on his helmet – starting for the door wordlessly.
“Where are you going?” Kelly questioned curiously.
“To the training room.” He said as he tossed her her helmet. “Now are you two coming with?” He finished with a hidden smile.
***
Fuck. He’s hurt. I never should have left them. Church’s thoughts raced at a breakneck pace, even from his skewed perspective of time.
This is my fault. Those idiots had to get themselves stranded in the only place worse than Covenant deep space. He jumped from the Chief the second he got the ping off Tucker’s injury warning.
I can’t be too late. I move at fucking light speed, it isn’t physically possible for him to die that fast. Even with the jammer down, he could not move fully unimpeded. Church jumped from console to console across the compound, finally landing on Tucker after what felt like a hundred-yard sprint to him.
In reality it had taken less than a millisecond, but the lingering memories of a physical body made him feel an imaginary chest constricting in pain from the ‘exertion’.
The first thing he did once he entered Tucker’s armor was run a full diagnostic. It was remarkably easy, many of his usual shortcuts were there, but in his panicked state he paid it no mind.
The diagnostic was not as in depth as he would like, this was old Freelancer armor and he was used to working with top of the line stuff these days. As he extrapolated on the data, he relaxed. Tucker had been stabbed in the gut, but that was fine. He’d just boot up the healing unit and – FUCK! He screamed internally.
Tucker doesn’t have any equipment, the only thing he has is this dumb fucking camera! Church ran through the options and realized that Tucker could still pull through with 70% survival likelihood. He could up that if he could signal a medic…
For the first time since jumping to Tucker, Church took stock of their surroundings. Tucker was on his knees but staying upright as he stared down Felix. Church figured out who stabbed Tucker form the still-red knife and realized through a vibration that Tucker was actually saying something. Church allowed his perception of time to speed up.
“–u speechless? That’s a first.” Tucker noted sarcastically. As Felix began to tremble with rage, the mercenary raised his pistol.
“You. You’re DEAD.” But before Church even began analyzing a way to shut down Felix, a laser sight lit up the side of the merc’s helmet.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you.” A woman’s voice retorted. Tucker and Felix both turned to look up at the person who spoke, and Church saw a group of familiar faces lined up on the ledge – all pointing their weapons at Felix. Church easily recognized the majority of Red Team and Caboose, although he was worried that Caboose was pointing his weapon in their general direction, but the woman who spoke he didn’t know.
This must be Agent Carolina, Church recalled seeing her in the group’s celebratory shot after taking down the Director.
Sarge grunted and said “You know, those sticky grenades kick like a mule. But I hear these newfangled laser blasters are quite lethal.” He finished smugly as Caboose began looking around and pointing his gun wildly.
Felix raised a hard light shield like the other mercenaries outside had to put some protection between himself and the arrayed weapons above him.
Finally! Something I can mess with! Church thought as he materialized a small hologram. But before he jumped, two things happened at once. The first was the man who was called ‘Locus’ uncloaking between Tucker and Felix.
And the second was Tucker remarking to Church, “Wow, you got back fast.” As his hologram materialized.
As Locus and Felix said something to each other, Church responded to Tucker. “What the fuck do you mean? I’ve been gone for three fucking years!” Church was frankly a little hurt, had they not really noticed he was gone?
But before Tucker could do anything beyond tilting his head in confusion, Locus spoke up to address all present while pulling out a strange cube.
“Let me assure you all: This is not over.” And then Locus and Felix disappeared in a flash of light. As it flashed, Tucker collapsed to the ground – dropping his sword and gun.
“Tucker? Tucker!” Church yelled. “Is there a medic?!”
“Out of the way! Coming through!” Said a different woman in white and purple armor as she pushed past the rest of the Reds and Blues, sans Washington, who had come down to ground level after the two pirates had teleported.
“Is he going to be okay?” In an extremely rare instance, Church actually let his worry shine through his comment openly.
“He’s going to be fine, Church. Now can you tell me how much blood he’s lost?” She asked cheerily.
“Well, this armor’s pretty shitty – but based off my calculations he’s lost about a pint of blood.” He said as he quickly estimated based off what little data the armor gave him and the small pool of blood on the ground. As the unknown woman began to work on stitching up Tucker as best she could with her limited materials, Carolina walked up.
“Don’t worry Doctor Grey, we just radioed Kimball with our coordinates. Evac should be here soon.” She glanced over Tucker and locked gazes with Church. “Is he gonna pull through?”
Church and Emily answered simultaneously “Looks like it ./!” with their enthusiasm varying respectively.
“So…” Church began as he looked at the Red Team, “How have you guys been?” He asked as his avatar nervously patted his legs and bounced on his heels.
“We vanquished our enemies through the glory of my superior tactics!” Sarge asserted as he brandished his beloved shotgun. The doctor was busy with Tucker, but Carolina turned to face the rest of the group when Sarge began speaking.
“You just punched me! Repeatedly!” Grif whined.
“Ah, quit being such a baby.” Sarge shrugged as he lowered his trusty weapon back into a resting position. It looked like Simmons was about to say something, but a flash of light by Carolina coalesced into a humanoid shape and caught everyone’s attention. Even the doctor’s once it began to speak.
“Seriously Tucker?! I leave for one goddamn minute, but since the radio jammer is down you redownload all your ‘home movies’?!” The newly formed, second, light blue soldier ranted as he faced the Reds with his back to Tucker. “I mean seriously, there was no space for me, I had to go to Carolina!”
“Uhhhh… Church???” Carolina began, but she was quickly cut off by the newer hologram.
“Yeah, yeah I know. It took me way too fucking long to do that, but I had to still fight through the last of the encryptions while I broadcasted the message and edit it on the fly for maximum embarrassment. I’ll have to show you guys the final cut later, it was hilarious.” The second Church said as he triumphantly put his hands on his hips. The Reds and Caboose couldn’t help but keep glancing between the two holograms.
“Oh great, now there’s two of them.” Grif lamented as the rest of everyone was stunned silent.
“Two of what?” The newer hologram asked as he slowly turned around to come face to face with the other hologram.
The silence hung for a solid second before a cheerful voice cut it.
Caboose cheered in near disbelief, “Two Churches?! This is the BEST. DAY. EVER!”
***
The telecommunicator began ringing.
“Admiral, are you going to answer?” Black Box stressed, clearly just wanting the annoying chime to end. She too was lamenting having to answer, after seeing the caller’s identity. She let it ring up until the precipice of becoming a missed call, and begrudgingly answered.
“Admiral Osman.”
“Chairman Hargrove. To what do I owe the pleasure.” She stated flatly.
“We have a problem, one that you were unable to prevent being sent my way.”
“Oh? Your man not as good a liar as you thought?” She sneered.
“Even an extremely capable soldier is still no match to an individual that has been through the rigors of ONI training.” He clasped his hands together and pointed at her with his joined index fingers. “Your little off-the-leash attack dog saw right through our operation and managed to take down the veil of secrecy I so carefully constructed with years of effort within hours of being planet side.” He paused, as if he thought that he could guilt trip or intimidate her.
He always defaults to condescending when he’s angry. She noted mentally. Wonder what happened to piss him off this badly? She did not have to wait long, as the fuming Chairman could not resist laying out the situation.
“The Master Chief managed to take down our main atmospheric communications jammer and transmitted a message that halted the civil war mere hours before its conclusion.” His face grew redder as he drew a steely breath. “Now I must ask… how do you expect me to fight an entire planet and the best soldier mankind has ever produced, with some paltry three dozen men – Miss Osman?” He ended, slamming his hands on the desk.
His iron gaze was relentless, but that wasn’t what motivated her to answer. It was the knowledge that I she did not appease him, he would call again, and again, and again until she did.
“There’s a prison ship, the UNSC Tartarus in the next sector over. On board are over two hundred prisoners that no one gives a damn about, manned by a skeleton crew. Would that be sufficient?” She finished sharply.
The Chairman sat there for but a moment, the magnitude of what she was offering him sinking in. He straightened up and regained his usual, placid composure and spoke.
“That will be more than sufficient, Admiral. Thank you for your continued contribution.” And with that, he cut the connection.
“I thought he’d never hang up.” Black Box remarked.
“Hmm, yes. How much do you think that will slow 117?”
“No more than three days, assuming they are all properly equipped. Then again, John won’t like fighting alongside that rabble.” The cube surmised.
“That seems optimistic, how unlike you BB. No matter, even if 117 cleans up that mess quickly – it will be sufficient for our special projects to come online.” She observed, striding to the elevator. “And pitting them against humanity’s greatest soldier will certainly be more than enough to stop even him.”
As the Admiral and Black Box came to a stop on the catwalk, she crossed her arms behind herself with pride. She permitted herself to smile as the various machines and equipment were being given their final once-overs.
She walked down to the floor, allowing herself the small luxury to view them up close. She passed machine after machine with but a cursory glance and nod to the technicians, until briskly stopping in front of her personal favorite.
She let her fingers glide over the dark metal and reflected on the amount of work it took to get this piece operational. Now it would finally reach it’s potential. She permitted herself one final smirk as she stared into the reflective visor.
“You and your pet project. I don’t know why you insist on sending it out.” Black Box chided.
“Because it’s ready.” She said coolly.
And with that, the technicians concluded their examination. Tomorrow, these weapons will be shipped out.
It’s a shame that you’re their target John. But you brought this on yourself.
And with that, I wish you all a Happy Holidays and especially good fortune for your 2019! Please keep those comments a-coming, thanks so much for those of you who have left kudos and favorited! Remeber that whatever challenges this new year may bring, you must -
Stand Against the Storm!