HRP reboot - Chapter 2: On the Run

"Headi g to a corvette at sector nine nine three." He reported. "Hang on tight, this is gonna get bumpy!"

The Pelican was latched into the hangar. "Everyone strap in NOW."


The nuke struck, and as the ships cleared the radius, December barely making it, the frigate disintegrated, along with a disabled corvette nearbye.
"December, assigning you five frigates and two destroyers. UNSC Xerxes under Captain James Ryan willnbe battlegroup leader; AI Requiem, he has high priority to assist with your mission. Admiral Monroe out."

"Excuse me for a moment."

David turned his back as he watched the COM chatter, frowning. As he began to forward what he was seeing to Osman and, afterwards, to Lord Hood, he was swiftly met with a response of outrage from one, and discomfort from the other.


>.CAPT-SO> The Hell does Monroe think he's doing? Hood, you must abort this attack immediately - we're not chasing down a few Split-Faces when we've got a planet that needs defending. Especially not if it means aiding some damned Innies. Why hasn't someone shot that ship down yet?

>.FADM-TH> Don't worry, Osman. I've already sent word to Monroe and his fleet. He has his orders.

>.1STLT-SNAKE> What about that package they were after? Do you think it's worth investigating?

>CAPT-SO> Lieutenant, you don't need to worry about that. You've got your duties, I've got mine. Understand?


And with that, David was promptly removed from the conversation.

<< Well that sounded fun >>

---

"Set! Now!"

Rha' barrelled around through the emptiness of space, joining with the cluster of ships as the void opened for them, and in a flash, all four of them were gone.
A human fighter could follow them, if it wished to risk the void engulfing it forever.

Rha' took a deep breath, resting his head for a moment.
"Are all of us accounted for, Set?"

He couldn't see anything right now. He was leading the group, and though this jump wasn't going to be a long one, he needed to make sure nothing went wrong. Space was a terror in itself. But the void...

---

The comms of the Shadows Advent suddenly turned on - without the confirmation of either Dan or Marik. Throughout the ships speakers, a voice rang out - strong, yet effeminate. To most who knew it, it wasn't a welcome voice.

"Daniel G147, Marik G146. I am Captain Serin Osman, and you're going to obey every word I say from now on."

"Dammit!" Daniel shouted. "I am really starting to wonder if this is worth all the effort." Chris couldn't help but grunt in agreement. She wanted Lin to be happy with Siri, but this was too much. Lin may have been willing to move heaven and earth for her lover but no one else here was. At least in Dragon squad.

"We've wasted too many lives" Lindsey said in agreement. This was a pointless waste of human lives and resources. It would have been much simpler to merely destroy the covenant craft and then sift through the wreckage for bodies. It was not worth losing her arm, her injuries, the loss of human life sustained and the risk to her squad.

=opens private comm to dan and talks to him without osman hearing it=

]great now we got some bitch giving us orders[/u]

=turns back to normal comm sand speaks to osman=

and what would yo have us do?

"We have all passed through the rupture, we are safe, for now." Set replied to Rha'. As he maneuvered the Phantom through space.

David looked back at the SPARTAN before him, ignoring his AI.

"So. Any thoughts?"

The operative took a seat at his desk, as the wolf began to slowly walk around Meryl, growling subtly, peacefully.

---

It didn't take long for Rha' and the transports to exit slipspace, welcomed by the base of operations for the Fleet of Divine Mediation. Near thirty ships all assembled, ranging from simple DAV-class light corvettes to the devastating super-destroyer Hefty Eloquence that operated as the Capital Ship of this fleet.

A trio of Covenant repair stations operated in the midst of the fleet, working on ships that had recently been damaged during an operation. Among these ships was the Prevailing Conviction, the SDV-class heavy corvette that Rha' so proudly commanded.
It seemed that the damages to the hull were well repaired now, thanks to the extensive work of the Huragok.

"We are back."

Set boosted ahead of the dropships, making headway straight for his dear ship.
His fighter was so much faster than the other ships that by the time he reached the hangar, they were still barely in the radius of the fleet.

Rha' moved fast, leaping out of his starfighter and heading for the engine room. He barely paid any attention to the ship around him as he moved with great haste.

---

"You've been given a new directive. This is the end of your official Headhunter operations. You're going to chase down this 'package' that has Admiral Monroe and the Long and Dark December so worked up - and make sure neither one gets their hands on it."

Through the comms, anyone listening could hear papers, faint whispers, and footsteps as Osman fell silent for a moment, before returning as if she'd never even been drawn away.

"You will still do what it is a Headhunter does - after all, you're about to infiltrate Covenant holdings, be they land based or naval, and capture an important 'item.' At the same time, if you see anything that may hinder the operations of said Covenant holdings... it's not exactly as if you'd be court-martialled for interfering."

Kira watched as information on the battle ran across her screen. Rebels being aided by the UNSC, she was surprised ONI hadn't interfered and had the rebels shot down, but that wasn't her call. It was more than a miracle, however, that the UNSC fleet hadn't been decimated in the attack. The Nightmare currently had all of its stealth systems engaged, and was currently observing the battle.

"Wynter," She said, "I want everything you have on the 'Long and Dark December," She ordered the AI, who happily complied, scanning the database that Kira had clearance to access.

--

Skye didn't answer immediately, instead she stood in silence for almost a minute, apparently deep in thought,
"It's odd how the UNSC were so quick to react to help the rebels," She said, "Usually, the rebels would have been shot on sight,"

David smiled, nodding, as Meryl let out a sigh to herself.

"It is odd, isn't it? Why do you think it is? What do you know of UNSC-Rebel relations, the few times they've ever been recorded? Normally there's a very good reason for it. But I'm sure you're smart enough to see nothing about this is normal."

The orange AI rolled her eyes as the wolf yawned and began to lick his paws softly. He was a little too content for a digital construct.

---

Rha' stood in the engine and communications room, watching as Sangheili and Huragok operated together to ensure everything was in perfect order. Of course, all these Sangheili were equipped with the harnesses of a Ranger, though not made for combat and lacking the typical thrusters of such suits; that way, they were capable of surviving in zero g, and without oxygen. Considering the rooms proximity to a landing bay, it was only safe.

The Sangheili Ultra was glad to see his ship was working. It had been disabled after taking numerous hits, and the engines most of all. They were lucky to make it to the refit station.
But seeing all this, Rha' could already tell he'd gotten off lucky with such rapid repairs.

The Sangheili turned, and made his way back into the hangar, sighing peacefully.

---

"You've got the intel I've given you. Surely for two ex-Headhunters they wouldn't need much more than that. Now go do your job."
And with that, the communication was shut off.

=turns to dan=

either she never took a nap or it that time of month but i guess we better get ready either way

Rika stood with Michael and Lina.
"Requiem, remotenpilot this Pelican to Cesaro. Send Dragon home, they are liabilities." Without pause guns raised, trained on the ODSTs. "Waste of lives? As you wish. You're going back to the UNSC, and when you get there, enjoy being around people that won't try their best to save you if you're captured." They carefully backed off the Pelican.
"Goodbye, Dragon. We'll send Lin and the civilians down with the rest of the assault force."

The ramp began to raise again, the Spartans never lowering their guns.

Dragon was stunned as they watched the Spartans get off. Daniel would have protested, but the fact was that in a way....they were right. Barely anyone in Dragon was committed to getting Siri back, besides Lin and she was in no condition to argue. All they could do was stay on the pelican as it shipped them back to the UNSC.

The pelican closed up, it powered off, and with the rest of the assault force and civilians, the armada of dropships roared out of december and into space, covered by two frigates.
Dragon would approach the atmosphere soon enough as December powered out.

"December to Kagatsuchi - i've intercepted all transmission in the group you assigned us. Only Xerxes is commited; doubt has brought this to nothing." The FTL spun up.
"Long and Dark December out."

Lindsey would have tried something but she was exhausted and really in no condition to keep fighting. She remained silent not doing anything, just holding the end of her her damaged arm. At least she would not have to risk her hide again for a cause that she did not believe in. All those lives wasted in order to save one person. It really should have been the other way around, sacrifice one in order to save the many.

Rha’ looked around the hanger of his ship, noting that it looked a fair amount different to the last time he’d looked at it. He took a moment, counting the four hanging starfighters hanging from the ceiling, the six close-support craft docked in side bays around the sides, the two troop carriers on the starboard side, and the single heavy carrier on the port side used by a team of Jiralhanae, and sighed peacefully, recognizing all of them. He shook his head, sure he was merely imagining that the hangar looked different, as he began watching the Huragok and Sangheili man the controls of the hangar. The ship itself was running fine right now, but it was always worth having a man at the controls anyway, or a woman, depending on if Huragok even had genders, which Rha’ did not know.

He noticed a large host of Unggoy had circled around the three nodes in the center of the bay. It seemed that, for whatever reason, a trio of methane tanks had been moved to the center of the hanger around the nodes, and the Unggoy were taking the opportunity to rest and refill, rather than return to the special made room on the lower levels of the ship. Rha’ had no issue with this, but he’d need to investigate as to why they’d been moved in the first place.

Rha’ panned to the right as he made his down the silver plated ramp, seeing Kig-Yar and Sangheili talking amongst themselves silently, likely discussing the recent news of the Battle of Gamma Pavonis VII, of which the fleet had only just heard news. It turned out that a CPV-class heavy Destoryer had faced off against four human ships on a scouting run and been completely annihilated – the Covenant had no knowledge of any other ships it may have taken down during the battle. Though it was a cowardly attack by the humans, the ships destruction was noted as one of the few notable losses the Covenant had suffered in many years.
Many of the Sangheili had shown concern over the news, and some of the more intuitive Kig-Yar had wondered why the human planet had not been glassed in response. Rha’ wondered if that was the topic of debate for today.

Simultaneously, not too far away, a trio of Kig-Yar Rangers were taking out some of the brand new particle rifles from their cases, likely to give them a few test runs off the field. The area around them had numerous supply cases, due to the recent restocking that the SDV-class heavy Corvette Prevailing Conviction had gone through, which saw dozens of newer, more advanced weapons loaded on. The Unggoy, Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and even the Mgalekgolo had all shown interest in seeing these things in use.

The Jiralhanae, however, had not.

On the left side of the hangar, Rha’ saw three of the ten Jiralhanae Stalkers simply standing, before a large heavy carrier, watching the crew and soldiers in their actions. It was then that Rha’ noticed why the hangar looked so different today; dozens upon dozens of plasma batteries, small and large, and plasma storage units had been transported up to the bay, including a few barricades, and even, to Rha’s surprise, what looked like a set of light amplifiers, which were only used if the Covenant planned to set down for long periods of time.

The Sangheili Ultra made his way over to the Jiralhanae, who quickly looked him over and snarled, standing upright a little and showing that they were equipped, two carrying deadly bladed rifle and the third toting the Jiralhanae grenade launcher. The Jiralhanae tried so very hard to be intimidating.

“Jiralhanae, why is it you have aimlessly loaded such large amounts of plasma storage up here? It is a danger to the entire ship to have them here in such vast amounts.”

Two of the three Jiralhanae snarled, likely too stupid to know what he was talking about. The third however had no issue talking against Rha’, as he had done so many times before.
“We have our own mission, Ultra; we do not fall under your command. The Hierarchs have their sway over us, not you. It may be hard for you to understand why we are deployed on your ship, but understand that the Hierarchs simply feel your crew may need another set of eyes watching them. It is your softness that has done this, nothing else.”
Rha’ growled under his breath, stepping up eye to eye with the Jiralhanae, Damitan.
It was then that Rha’ noticed, set up behind the carrier, one of the ships very few communication jammers. Rha’ stepped back, growling far more furiously now, looking at the three Jiralhanae.

“Why are you taking that with you?! We hardly have enough to spare for some foolish task the Hierarchs have handed to you!”

Damitan was about to step forward and grip Rha’ by the throat before the other two Stalkers stood in his path. “Is that an insult to the Hierarchs, or to us?”
Rha’ looked at the three of them, snarling angrily.
“Why must both be independent of the other?”
Damitan shoved the other two Jiralhanae back to their locations before he turned around and stood up onto the carrier, looking back at the Ultra.
“You will regret those words one day, Sangheili. I assure you of that.”
Rha’ made a mental note to ask the Hierarchs about these Jiralhanae next time he was ushered into council.

Rha’ left the Jiralhanae, their heavy carrier, and their tools and toys, and made his way towards the doors at the far end, that would lead him to the bridge. He passed a few sleeping Unggoy, and a few lazily patrolling, as if they needed too.

Rha’ shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the damned Jiralhanae, as he made his way to the bridge.

Dosze eyed the shipmaster as he and another Special Operations Sanheili were passed by,
"Trouble with the brutes?" He asked, "They need to be held on a tighter leash, lest they find a blade in their throats," His dislike for the Jiralhanae was obvious in the way he spat the name of their species, "I wonder why the Hierarchs trust them, they are nothing more than animals,"
--

Skye shuffled uncomfortably, obviously unused to being allowed to talk so freely,
"It must mean that something the rebels are after is important to someone high in the UNSC, or ONI is planning something for them, and this entire mission is part it, sacrificing pawns to capture the king,"

"No dammit, Requiem!"
"Goodbye Admiral. If Siri lives, we'll ensure she knows you love her."

The Long and Dark December entered Slipspace as the battle was thrown in favor of the UNSC. With fresh reinforcements, the Covenant were slowly taken down.
As Slipspace took the December away from the UNSC, the last covenant ship was hit with a MAC. Falling into the atmosphere, it burned up, until it struck the ocean and began to sink.

The incoming tidal wave would mean nothing, as the coastal cities were already evacuated...or just stood as silent graves.

Dragon's Pelican would land them inland, about two miles from the nearest UNSC camp. The autopilot off, they crouched there, and unless someone onboard could fly one...it looked like the marines and civilians would have to walk.

The pelicans landed and the doors opened. Daniel limped out, while Chris helped Lindsey. Activating an emergency beacon, they waited with the civilians while Chris, leaving Lindsey in a comofrtable sitting position, started looking for Lin.

Lindsey grimaced in pain from her leg wound but fumbled awkwardly round in her pocket for a stick of chewing gum. She popped one in her mouth and watched her squad look for Lin, gently she placed them back in her pocket once more.

Lin had been sent out on one of the other Pelicans, and was being cared for by a few civilians. One waved at Chris.
"Hey, you one of those new marines who came onboard with her?" he called, pointing at the unconscious Lin.

"One hell of a cluster-fuck," Daniel muttered from where he stood. He sat down next to Lindsey, took a cigarette and lighter from his suit's pouch, lit it and took a single drag from it. "And here we were looking for a vacation....."

Lin was still doped up and asleep, a small mercy maybe for everyone else; had she been awake she would have commandeered a pelican and started a chase. Chris walked over, saying "Yeah. She doing okay?"

"yeah. She's been asking where 'Siri' is and whether or not someone named 'Chris' would join them. Whoever Chris is, he's a lucky bastard." the man joked.

"Yeah that's right... I mean I've probably earned another medal or a promotion they see my name, see my file and boom" She chewed the gum rather noisily now. "Probably as close to vacation we'll get for a while" She then added "Sir" It may have almost have been an after thought.

Chris blushed, unwilling to give away her identity. "Huh, well I got no idea who that is but I'll take her from here," she said, moving to get the gurney moving.

"Well at least we're alive. More than can be said for a bunch of other people," Daniel said.

"I know... Another screw up and another damned medal for myself" She spat onto the ground. "Typical isn't it?" She glanced at her damaged arm. "So much for your squad being back to full strength I will be out for a bit now" Lindsey smirked slightly. "I could kill for a bloody drink though... Can't open my canteen either" That and the fact that she had frown it around the Pelican.

Daniel grabbed his canteen and twisted the lid off, handing it to Lindsey. "Here, drink up; we'll probably get more to drink once the boys above pick us up."

"Cheers sir" She accepted the canteen and drank at least half of it before handing it back to him. "I'll never forget how great water tastes..."

Rha' looked over at the Special Operations Sangheili that spoke, growling a little under his breath and nodding.

"I have no understanding of the Hierarchs and their thoughts on the Jiralhanae. Filthy monsters with little respect for warfare or knowledge. If it were up to me they would be thrown off this ship in an instant."

Rha' padded over to the nearest door, stopping for a moment.

"But it is not up to me... It is up to the Hierarchs... and their word... is law."

"No one would raise alarm if they were to make an attempt on your life and fail, shipmaster," The Special Operations officer replied, "You would simply have acted as would be the norm, should they die in the process,"

Rha' held his head low, shaking it and looking back at Dosze and the other members of his operations unit. The Ultra simply let out a sigh as he tried to keep his composure.

"They are not stationed here simply as support, Officer. The High Prophet of Truth... It is difficult to explain. He has little trust in me. The Taurus I Campaign dishonoured me, and he knows that. It was by his word I was not executed by the clan... I cannot debate him."

Rha' was normally a very strong Sangheili, in both body and mind, but as he spoke he looked so bleak, so different to his norm.

=the ship had moved when it noticed several covie dropships fleeing into slipspace so decided to follow them into the stream and upon exiting were hiding behind a small planetary asteroid nearby cloaked and were currently monitoring them=

what do you make of this dan

=marik asked as he was going over his controls=

"Think I'd prefer a beer to water at this point," Daniel said. Before there was a response, he saw in the distance spots that were slowly growing in size; pelicans, and lots of them. "Looks like we'll be getting out of here a lot sooner than expected."

She saw the Pelicans as well. "My guess we aren't going to be to popular... Helping rebels..." Lindsey spat meditatively onto the ground. "Waste of resources that was"

"I'll handle the explanations," Daniel assured her. "For now, we say that we were rescued and dropped off before they left."

"We still helped the enemy..." Lindsey grumbled, giving voice to the fact that she had hated the mission from the get go. "No offence Sir but I doubt they will accept that story"

Dan looked over to Marik.

"I don't know. You think these guys might know where this 'package' is?"

The Pelicans landed, and a Marine Captain stepped out.
"Who's in charge?" he demanded as Marines secured the area for the Corpsmen, who spread out, looking for woundedd.

Daniel stepped forward and said "That'd be me. 2nd Lieutenant Lampert. We've got wounded and civilians that need evac."

The captain waved them on. "Mount up. Admiral Monroe wants everyone to link up with their regional HQ's for the final pushes. We got a few Covies remaining, but without support like us they are failing. You all off one of the destroyed ships, or get separated from your units?"

"Just us," Daniel said. "Units intact though we have one person unconscious."

"We'll get you to Camp Alpha." He promised. "Load up...and explain what's wrong with your Pelicans."

Lindsey was silent, watching the exchange. She would have stood up or tried to move yet with her leg and the current state of exhaustion, she was not going anywhere. It was better for Lindsey to let them sought out whatever was up. Lindsey was not in any hurry...

"What's wrong with the pelicans?" Daniel asked, as if the question were a joke. "What's wrong, is that some crazy ass AI that probably went Rampant shut down those birds as soon as we landed and left us here in the middle of nowhere!"

Set brought the Type 44 into one of the Prevailing' Convictions many hangers. Upon landing the ship, he notified his Ultra, Rha'.

"Rha', we've boarded the ship, what should I do with the prisoner?"

"..." He sighed. "We'll have copilots fly them back."

"Great," Daniel said. "Anything to get us out of this clusterfuck."

Lindsey sighed and tore herself away from their conversation. She scan the civilians and marines quietly, the injured ODST silently thinking.

Rha' looked around, spotting the dropships as they docked. The surviving soldiers and crewmen made way to their barracks and rooms, many tired and worn out.
The Sangheili Ultra waited for the T'vaoan and the human prisoner to be by his side before speaking.

"We will take her to the bridge. I want her to witness what she has wrought."

Rha' turned his attention to Officer Dosze, frowning and ushering him along with one hand.

"I will be relaying my information to the council soon, before preparing for a new invasion. As the leader of the Special Operations Forces upon my ship, you must be present, along with Commando Set."

With that, the Shipmaster made his way to the bridge, flanked by a Spec Ops Officer, a T'vaoan, and his human prisoner.
Soon, everything would fall into place.