Chapter 19
"I don't need luck, I have Ammo"
-Urdnot Grunt
“Got everything you need?”
“Eeyup, all cool,” I replied as I sat against the set of boxes that had all sorts of gear stashed for us. The prowler had been completely stocked with anything and everything we could ever need. There were even small tactical nuclear warheads we had with us.
“Good, Ah'm stocked too,” Bloom said, kneeling down in front of me onto a single knee and resting her hands on the other, wearing her Mjolnir, minus the helmet, as ever.
“Can't wait to get back into action,” I stated with a smile. Downtime had been good but I wanted to make a difference and sitting on my butt lightyears from the fight was making me giddy.
“Only you could really be happy by being sent into the line of fire again,” Apple Bloom chuckled and shook her head. “Them two Spartans finally arrived,” she added on a more serious note. The two Spartans that were supposed to join us over the last month had been delayed in their arrival, more details we weren't given but it meant our departure was delayed too.
“Really?!” I perked up, knowing that would mean we would certainly be on our way soon if that were the case.
“Aye, gonna get introduced to them in a bit. Gonna be interesting to see more of Maria's family,” She said, standing back up and reaching down with a hand. I grasped it and she pulled me onto my feet.
“Definitely,” I agreed. “Sweetie there already?”
“Eeyup, she was reading some things. Ana too. And ya know Maria's always on time.”
“Well, let's not be later ourselves then.” stretching my back I let it pop a few times before falling in line behind Apple Bloom, the heavy thuds of my friends footfalls echoing through the metal hallways. The space station we were on was one of ONI's, them being the operators of most prowlers the UNSC had available. The space particular space station wasn't too busy, and every one of the people walking around the place was employed by ONI. Still, we were getting into the habit of wearing our helmets any time we were around anyone we didn't know.
“So, two more Spartans added to our band of rogues. That'd make us fairly unstoppable, won't it?” I stated with a smirk as we walked.
“Don't get too cocky there Scoots, ya know very well what happens when numbers start overrunnin' yer position,” Bloom immediately shot back, wiping the smirk of my face and replacing it with a frown while I rubbed my shoulder. The wound could have been worse but it did put me out of action for over a week which sucked... But ultimately it was a good reminder that no matter how good I was, I wasn't invincible.
Never forget, confidence is good, cockyness very much not.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, just saying we're definitely going to be a very tough team to crack for the Covies,” I said as we verified our clearances to enter one of the station's briefing rooms.
“That's fer sure,” Bloom agreed as she walked into a corner of the room and leaned against the wall, her armoured bulk making it inadvisable to sit down onto the chairs the room contained.
“Looking forward to meeting the new squadmates, Scootaloo?” Ana asked as she and Sweetie were already sitting at the table, both their helmets placed in front of them. Taking off my own I sat down across from the pair.
“Well yeah, two more supersoldiers is great in my book,” I shrugged, quickly checking the time.
Seven minutes until they're here... They must be on approach by now.
“Not afraid they're going to out-cool you?” Ana asked teasingly.
“Can they fly on their own power?” I asked in return, getting no reply other than a shake of Ana's head and a smile in return. “Exactly.”
The door slid open again Maria walking in, the four of us standing up at attention. "At ease," she said, allowing us to sit back down.
“So how ya holdin' up, chief?” Apple Bloom asked, she having spent the most time with Maria and Halsey meant there were some things she must have picked up the rest of us hadn't.
“I am fine sergeant, thank you.” She actually had the faintest outline of a smile on her lips, a magnitude of difference to what had been the case when we'd first met her two and a half months ago. “Linda and Grace should be here any moment now.”
“Anything specific we should know about the two of them?” Sweetie asked, “Other than what the report already told us?”
Maria shook her head and took place at the head of the table. Standing of course as she was wearing her Mjolnir just like Apple Bloom. “The two of them probably are the most level headed Spartans of us all. And despite what the report stated I have to impress their proficiency in their respective areas of expertise. Linda is the Spartan's lone wolf and without a doubt the most proficient sniper the UNSC has, and Grace can use explosives either in such ways that they're almost silent or rig things up to create a firestorm from hell.”
I whistled, only really having skimmed the report. Not that I didn't remember what I did read but the amount of black ink made it a slightly boring read.
Of course all the cool bits would be covered in black ink... Is the file they have on me like that too? That would be kind of cool.
The door slid open again, the heavy footfalls of two more individuals in Mjolnir approaching. Both of them wore the same armour as both Bloom and Maria, only their helmets differed from the ones those two had. The Spartan with 058 marking her armour, Linda, had a helmet dotted with sensors and instead of a single large visor two lenses. The other was more similar to the one Bloom and Maria had, though a little bulkier.
The two of them paused as, I presume, their eyes fell on Maria. After a pause that for the Spartans was a fairly significant length, the two newcomers placed two fingers onto their helmets and drew a smile. The motion had come up when we were discussing signals, most of the things we were taught by Maria apparently being the more custom signals used by the Spartans. Maria had determined it necessary to learn those if we were to cooperate with more of her kind.
"It is good to see you, Maria," Linda stated, her helmet hissed as she unsealed it and took it off. Her hair was a vibrant red, not too dissimilar to Apple Bloom's only it was much shorter.
"The feeling is mutual," Maria replied with a small nod. Grace also took off her helmet, holding it under her arm.
"So this is your team of oddities?" Grace asked as she quickly studied each of us, a small shiver going down my spine at the Spartan's piercing gaze.
"They are each effective in their own right," our commanding officer stated, a small smile tugging at her lips as she placed her helmet on the table. "I take you have seen their records?"
"And video recordings of your practice rounds against the ODST's. Your powers are remarkable to observe," Linda stated, placing her own helmet on the central table too.
"Can't say we got as much information on the two of ya, only really some general information and specializations. Specifics were covered in black ink," Bloom stated, being the first of us to speak up. She stepped forward and held out a hand. "Though from Maria here Ah can guess how good the two of ya are." Grace shook it first, quickly followed by Linda.
"Most of that will become clear if we get to operate together," Grace stated. "I must say it is strange to see a non-Spartan in that armour."
Bloom forced a chuckle in return. "Ah can guess why, we saw what happened to the un-augmented tester."
Wait, what does she mean by un-augmented tester?
I rolled my eyes and set the thought aside for later. "So the two of you are the hotshots that we'll be working with." Leaning back in the chair, I stretched my wings and folded my arms. "Scootaloo Firewing and I'll take all the help, this thing's gonna promise to be a wild ride for sure."
Sweetie stepped forward to Linda before I could get an answer in return. "I've heard about your sniping skills, if we get the time I would be honoured to receive pointers."
“I would indeed like to evaluate your proficiency in person,” Linda replied, she and Grace taking position at the central table. “But right now we should focus on the mission briefing. Maria?”
“Agreed.” The Spartan that was our commanding officer typed a set of commands into a console which lit up a large hologram at the centre of the table. The Milky Way appeared in front of us, millions of tiny dots representing stars of the galaxy, and soon zoomed in onto the arm where Earth and its colonies were located. UNSC world's were tagged and its general area of control was marked as well before to the south of the blue systems various red dots were placed too. “As we all know, the Covenant has been making serious advances into UNSC space over the last few years. We, until now, have only been on the defensive, responding to moves as they are made by the aliens. High command decided that it is necessary for a force to strike out and hurt the Covenant on their home turf.” The hologram zoomed in on a set of red dots, the stars not having gotten proper names yet but merely represented by a number designation. “ONI has been hard at work trying to figure out possible locations of Covenant facilities or even colonies. It is up to us to sneak into these systems, find out if there's indeed a presence there, and cause damage to critical infrastructure before moving on so we are not detected.”
“Yeah... unless the nukes they're going to give us are seriously big we're not going to be doing much more than minor disruptions to them,” I pointed out.
“We're being allocated ten portable warheads and the prowler is equipped with five more heavier class ones for ship to ship engagements,” Maria answered, I let out a bit of a whistle as that was no insignificant amount of weaponry to send with our small team. “There is the possibility that we have to ditch them prematurely though, the fissionable materials give off detectable radiation when exiting slipspace. Our main objective here is still reconnaissance anyhow so the loss of the warheads would be regrettable but not critical.”
“You mentioned ONI picking out our targets, what can we expect in the systems we're visiting?” Sweetie asked, focussing on a string of systems that were marked out on the holographic map.
“Most are possible locations for storage depots and mining outposts but one is very likely the location of a Covenant colony.” Maria marked the system in question, it wasn't the furthest out but it still would take a half dozen stops before we got there.
“Well, Ah say we give them a taste of their own medicine if it really is a colony,” Bloom growled, leaning forward on the table.
“Detailed planning will be done after we arrive in the system, before that we will be sharpening each others' skills on board the prowler.”
“Not exactly a lot of moving space on a vessel like that,” Ana mentioned.
“We'll make due,” Maria replied curtly.
“So when are we leaving?” I asked as there probably wasn't much more intel available for this op anyhow.
“Departure is in eight hours, if there's any requisition you wish to make then now is the time,” Maria answered for me.
“Well then, we should probably make final checks before it's too late,” Bloom commented.
“Indeed. Everyone's dismissed, report to the prowler.”
Me, Sweetie, Bloom, and Ana all threw a salute at the commanding officer before leaving, the two other Spartans remaining behind.
“Ah'm gonna shoot a message over ta Sunset. Wish her well the coming six months, maybe even year,” Bloom stated and made her way in a different direction. “See the three of ya at the prowler.”
“I'm going to put a few rounds in in the simulator while I can,” Sweetie stated, also breaking off to do her thing.
“I'm going to check out the medical facilities on the prowler. You can join if you want, Ana?”
“Nah, I'm taking a little bit of alone time, maybe get some affairs in order. I'll see you and the girls later.”
“Any activity yet?” Sweetie asked as we were staring at the hologram floating above the projector. A new star system lay before us and we'd been traveling in system for a good week now, making darned sure that we weren't detected.
“Nothing conclusive we can detect passively but there seems some activity in the inner asteroid belt,” Maria replied, pointing out the echoes of a signal near a cluster of rocks.
“Possibly a mining operation?” Bloom guessed as she studied the incomplete scans.
“we're not that far from UNSC space in space travel terms, it could also be a minor forward depot,” Linda commented.
“With only passive scans we might be missing more activity, I'll have the captain focus her scanners more tightly on the anomaly and have us brought in close for some EVA,” Maria stated, marking out a trajectory we could take. “If it's something than it'll be at least worth the look.”
“So we take the pelican in to some distance and then float a little closer with just thrusters. Sign me up.” I smirked, liking the EVA plan for its daring.
“Ain't like it's a volunteer job anyhow,” Bloom Shot my way with a smirk before turning back to Maria. “What's our window to RV back with the prowler?”
“From the moment of departure to final rendervouz is at best two hours. We can't slow this vessel down sufficiently without attracting all the wrong types of attention,” she replied. A scowl formed on my face as that wasn't an awfully large window in the grand scheme. “If we miss it we'll have to survive on our own for at least a week before another pickup can be arranged.”
“Don't miss. Got it,” Sweetie replied curtly, glancing over to our Spartan attachés.
“I assume we'll be fielding a nuke?” Grace asked as she analysed the data on the hologram. “This place could be much bigger on the inside of that asteroid.”
“Two. You and sergeant Bloom will be carrying the ordinance.”
“Would be a waste not ta use what we were sent out with,” Bloom commented, looking over to Linda. “Got anything to add?
“Not at this moment,” she replied, her helmet still in place. “We should prep the thrusters, our window of opportunity is going to be creeping up on us soon.”
“Agreed,” Maria stated, showing us the thruster pack we needed to apply to our armour set. “Intel update in an hour, have the EVA thrusters set and tested by then.”
We all saluted, even the other Spartans, and left. Bloom joined Grace and Linda as her Mjolnir suit required different prep than the custom suit the un-augmented rest of us owned. Neither Sweetie nor Ana spoke much besides some instructions on how to attach the modules, a quick test showing they all worked as intended. Still having some time left I went and checked all my peripheral equipment, making sure all the regular medical equipment was there and adding a can of sealant that would be able to close a suit breach for long enough to allow a quick spacewalk.
I should thank Linda for knowing this stuff exists and making a last-minute requisition, could seriously be life-saving.
The door to the small prep room we were in slid open and Bloom stepped through the portal. “Y'all done?”
“Almost ready to rock,” I replied with a smirk, closing my bag and strapping it to my back. “Need a hand with the vacuum bags for my wings.”
“Pass 'em along,” Bloom said, taking the two bags and wrapping them around my wings.
“So, any updates yet?” Sweetie asked, having been ready for a while and having simply been meditating.
“The scanners have been picking up more activity, Maria will give details in a bit,” Bloom replied as she tightened the straps of the vacuum bags.
“You have that nuke yet?” Ana asked from the side, setting up communication equipment jutting from her backpack. Bloom turned a bit to show a cylinder hanging magnetically on her lower back, Ana whistling as she saw the remarkably small weapon for its power.
“Good enough ta flatten a small city. Should do the job quite nicely,” she stated, patting the fission bomb.
“I can imagine,” I chuckled, shifting my wings to get them in a little more comfortable position before checking the time. "We should get back to Maria, check on the situation."
"Aye. Ana, Sweetie, you two ready?"
Ana snorted. "Of course we're ready, sarge," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which, in fact, was indeed the case. We hadn't become ODST's by being sloppy.
We filed back into the briefing room, the Spartans already being present. The hologram had updated significantly, showing a few smaller vessels along with a cruiser holding position closer to the small section of the asteroid field. An energy signature was also being detected within the rock by the prowler's passive detection equipment. The main asteroid having a large energy field covering an entrance into the interior that seemed to be holding an atmosphere but let through smaller craft. "That looks like a much more interesting target now," I immediately commented as the Covenant clearly were doing something in there they did not want anyone from the outside to see.
"That it has indeed," Maria agreed, pulling up our own trajectory and how we were going to pass. "The captain and I worked out the most optimal time for launch," two points appeared on the trajectory and split off towards the asteroid cluster. "We will be launched here, two hours away from our current position, and infiltrate the asteroid. Our objective is to gather intel, possibly retrieve whatever they are after, or if that's not possible deny the Covenant access by means of a thermonuclear explosion."
"The second line is the pelican for extraction I take?" Anna inquired as she studied the trajectories.
"Correct. After planting the nukes we will retreat to minimum safe distance and detonate them," Maria stated, showing the asteroid being blown apart. “We will be operating in three teams; Bloom and I for the first team, Grace, Firewing, and Andrews are the second, and Belle and Linda form the third team.”
"I and Linda are on disruption duty?" Sweetie inquired.
"High-value targets being the preferred target but taking out any command personnel will be your task," Maria nodded before addressing all of us again. "Remember, this is a raid, we should under no circumstance get bogged down."
"This plan has a very high probability of going hot. We're planning on going right through their front door after all," Ana pointed out the obvious.
Maria smiled briefly. "Not getting bogged down does not mean we are going in quiet," she replied. "Take a double load of ammunition and expect heavy resistance once they realise what's going on."
"Wouldn't expect anything less," I smirked.
"Indeed. I expect you all in the hangar packed and ready to go within the hour. Dismissed."
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And away we go, robbing the aliens and blowing everything up.
I'm surprised few guys at after age hasn't tried flirting with them
Seeing this update is allways a good day.
Ooh:
pbs.twimg.com/media/FBqrcTlVkAEnneM?format=jpg&name=medium
How inconvenient is it that Rainbow Dash is going through just as the CMC go on a raiding mission in Covenant space.
Oh no, I just realized something. The UNSC doesn't have a stable hold on Harvest yet. Please don't tell me Rainbow Dash is going to be picked up by the Covenant and then made to believe the UNSC is evil. I would hate that. Hopefully Sunset will find her and be able to explain the situation. Although, Rainbow has never met Sunset before, so she might be suspicious of her claims.
11016348
No worries, Dash will appear (mostly) human, and the Covenant really isn't subtle enough to go for that sort of trick. Besides, Scoots is sort of an open secret by this point I'd say, so Rainbow's going to trigger every gorram alert there is the moment a camera sees her.
Smash, grab, boom. A staple op for Spartans
11016368
Good points, the Covenant isn't that crafty. Raibow's cooperation is still of some concern though, considering she's often belligerent at the best of times.
11016570
Oh this is going to be a magnificent disaster isn't it? ONI has been fairly reasonable so far, so maybe they'll humor her a bit, though she's probably going to end up hogtied and presented to Sunset as an unwilling magical research assistant. Scootaloo has been impressive enough as it is, Rainbow is on a whole other level. If there's any chance at all she can be as much of an asset as Sunset has been ONI will take it methinks.
11016596
Rainbow can go several times the speed of sound under her own power. ONI is barely going to know where to begin with that sort of ability. She could probably easily reach Hyper-Lethal-Vector with some training. You know that Reach trailer where the former Noble-6 flies up to a Covenant carrier and blows it up with a bomb? Dash could do that, but in ten seconds flat.
Apple Bloom got blood thirsty. If they do end up hitting a colony, I hope there is a moment where she hesitates to pull the trigger on civvies. Always loved moral based character development.
War can turn your own kin into monsters if you don't remind yourself that they're still people.
11016896
Does the Covenant even have Civilians? Basically every alien contributes to the war effort in some way.
11016368
11016570
It is still possible without trickery if Rainbow runs afoul of the wrong (or right) Sangheli. I'll admit that I'm not as caught up on Halo lore as I would like, but Elites are almost as honor-centric as Klingons.
11016899
Well, in the Halo Legends episode The Duel we get our first look at female Elites, which look very different from the males. This tells me that there wasn't a single female Elite in all the games, which means that female Elites probably aren't military.
See update
this does bring a smile to my face.
I bet $10 that rainbow dash going to be in the colony jail cell.
I like this build up, keep up the good work!
That feeling when you've caught up on the story and the action is about to start
giffiles.alphacoders.com/212/2121.gif
Also, awesome story so far! Binged this right after re-reading Helljumpers, and it makes me want to go continue writing my own crossover! Can't wait to see what happens!
That speaks to me on a spiritual level right now. I just want my bed.