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Part One: Hard Landing
Date: 2 April 2006, 1:58 am

>>Report of Commander J. G. Huang on the First Day of Operation September
>>For Fleet Admiral Harper, classified 'Eyes Only'

      >>On July 27th, 2552, the city of Blue Horizon, home to an Office of Naval Intelligence base was attacked by Covenant Forces. On this day, five UNSC ships, cruisers Kyushu and Crockett, carrier Majestic, and destroyers First Light of Dawn and Shenandoah, engaged seven enemy Covenant vessels, with the assistance of local privateers. By the end of the day, all but one Covenant ship had been destroyed. The remaining vessel, apparently packed with Covenant troops, made landfall on Blue Horizon. There reasons for this are unknown, as the ONI base was ultra-classified. It is believed, before this incident only two hundred people knew of its existence, and its even less knew of its true purpose.
      >>The space battle was short and decisive. The Majestic was almost immediately severely damaged; half of its mass was lost, and its reactor core was soon to overload. Captain James Woolf launched all lifeboats, saving as many of his crew as he could, then accelerated his ship into the Covenant formation before his reactor overloaded. When the ship did explode, it took two Covenant cruisers along with it.
      >>Another Covenant cruiser was disabled by joint fire from Kyushu and First Light of Dawn, but at the cost of Kyushu. A fourth Covenant vessel was boarded by a team of Marines from Crockett, who planted a Shiva tactical nuke, destroying it, its crew and, unfortunately, the Marine infiltration team. The fifth enemy vessel rammed Crockett, dooming it. Thankfully, its entire arsenal of vehicular weaponry was evacuated aboard its squadron Pelicans, while 352 crew members evacuated aboard Bumblebee lifeboats.
      >>With the destruction of all but two UNSC, Captain Timothy Sinclair-Alexander, commander of First Light of Dawn, developed a plan. He evacuated everybody from his vessel onto Shenandoah and accelerated his ship towards the largest enemy cruiser.
      >>Unfortunately, his ship was sideswiped by the other remaining Covenant cruiser. It was destroyed, at the cost of his life.
      >>Shenandoah was overtaken by the remaining cruiser, which, surprisingly, did not glass Blue Horizon, instead descending to a position about a kilometre above the city. Shenandoah landed among the outer suburbs and all troops aboard took up positions under Operation September.
      >>The Covenant cruiser disgorged a seemingly unlimited array of vehicles and troops, while Marine units began to evacuate civilians from the city.
      >>Then, at exactly 1030 Hours, the Covenant attacked the UNSC strongpoint at Plaza of Serenity, commanded by Marine Captain Julie Teresa Smith, as part of a coordinated Covenant assault against all UNSC forces in the CBD of Blue Horizon. However Plaza of Serenity is notable, because this was the location of the only entrance into the ONI base.

1030 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Aboard Pelican Hotel 156, above Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Blue Horizon was a beautiful city; in the mid-morning light its tall glass and metal, ultramodern skyscrapers and towering spires normally glittered. Normally. Any other day. But not on the 27th of July, 2552. Thick smoke obscured the sky, falling dust turning the normally blue sky a hazy orange-brown, as buildings, as underground, cross-city traffic tunnels, as the very people themselves burned. Covenant troops stormed countless apartment blocks, as their frightened residents ran for their very souls. Covenant vehicles, from small one man Ghosts, to massive plasma mortar Wraith tanks, swarmed the streets, the plazas, the burning city gardens. While the battle on the ground, and to some extent under it, was still being fought, the battle for supremacy of the skies was all but won. Hovering above the city, like some foul spectre of death was a Covenant cruiser, the only one to escape the battle in space. Shaped like a mighty figure eight, with a widened aft and a tapered fore, it just sat in the air, surrounded by clouds of dust and smoke, its gravity lift descending to the Covenant staging grounds, the ruins of Blue Horizon's central business district and space port, far below, where hundreds of zealous soldiers waited to march upon the bedraggled defenders of the city.
      However, on the other side, where the city still stood, relatively unmolested by the Covenant, a United Nations Space Command cruiser, a two-kilometre long weapon, had landed over the low-income suburbs. The last surviving ship of the squadron that had fought valiantly, fought so well a dangerous and costly battle, the UNSC Shenandoah, named after a river on the North American continent of Earth, rested among the warren-like concrete blocks of residences, as Marines left for aboard large Pelican-class dropships, upon which were loaded Warthog jeeps and Scorpion battle tanks, as well as the Marine platoons carried aboard.
      One such Pelican, codenamed Hotel 156, loaded with a M808B Scorpion and two squads of Marines lead by Captain Julie Theresa Waters, sped over the urban sprawl, towards the embattled CBD, towards the large, open Plaza of Serenity, where a contingent of local police and citizens who had been unwilling to leave the city were fighting a holding action against the invading alien zealots with their outmoded weapons.
      The Pelican spun about as it flew over a deserted public swimming pool, the water still in the concrete basins covered in a thick layer of orange dust, and fired all its thrusters, propelling it along an open highway, over the heads of three Warthogs in triangular formation, towards a crossover bridge upon which stood hundreds of frightened civilians, waving signs bearing anti-Covenant slogans.
      Julie looked down past the Scorpion, at the highway zooming past, her keen green eyes probing every nook and cranny. She smiled wryly.
      She wore the Marine olive green combat fatigues. Her long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, hidden beneath her uniform and her helmet, the green eyepiece of which fell down over her left eye. She was gorgeous by any standards; thin, athletic, well tanned and perfectly proportioned. She had a great body, and was the ire of many other women in Corps. She held a personalised, sawed-off M90 in her right hand, while around her left she had wrapped a thin gold chain to which was affixed a crucifix; more of a good luck charm than a religious ornament. In a holster strapped to her waist was an M6D pistol, and strapped to her ankle was a small hunting knife. She took off her helmet with her left hand and slid the necklace into a pouch, placing the helmet back on her head. She turned about, bracing herself on a bulkhead as the craft banked to the left. She pulled herself down the Pelican's troop deck towards the cockpit. The troop deck was crowded with eighteen Marines, most of whom were checking their weapons or their armour. She patted the youngest member of her small platoon on the shoulder as she passed. Private Lance A. Wallace smiled nervously back.
      She got to the forward end of the troop deck and stepped through the door into the cockpit, where Lieutenant Carrie Allen sat, flying the Pelican, beside her lover and navigator Lieutenant Cameron McDowell. Julie knew them both very well, having served with them both throughout her career.
      Julie put her hand on Allen's shoulder to announce her presence.
      "How long until we get to the plaza, Lieutenant?" she asked.
      Allen smiled. The woman's eyes were hidden behind the reflective lenses that came down from her helmet. "About two minutes, Captain, without any creativity. But, if you want me to I can get you there in one."
      "Permission is given, Carrie." Julie said. "Just get me there. I have and itch in my trigger finger."
      "Aye, aye sir."
      Julie turned about, looking back into the troop bay. There were four troops on the left, five on the right; the closest to her being her second-in-command Lieutenant Michael Richardson, armed with an MA5B Assault Rifle, and Lance Corporal Tyson Dubois, also armed with a MA5B. In a line down from Richards were Lance Corporal Lynette Davies, the platoon's best sniper, armed, fittingly, with an S2-AM Sniper Rifle, Chief Oscar Lewis, the COM. Man, armed with a shotgun similar to Julie's, Privates Arnold Nguyen, the platoon's back-up medic, armed with an Assault Rifle. Down the bay from Richardson were Corporal Felicia Hernandez, the team's actual medic, and Private Chet Li, armed with an MA5B, Ali Abu Bashir, the platoon's demolitions guy, and Private Wallace, the rookie and the platoon's heavy weapons operator.
      She raised her voice to shout above the roar of the Pelican's engines. "Alright Marines, one minute until we reach the plaza. So suit up and get ready, we're going in hot. Li, Nguyen, you're in the Scorpion. When we land, you two are going to take the Scorpion behind the barricades established by the police and civilians in the plaza, while the rest of us will spread out and take out as many Covenant as we can. Remember, this is a holding action until we can mobilise everyone into the city. And, don't forget, if we give these bitches our lives, lets give them hell before we do. Whaddya say, Marines?"
      "Hoo-rah!" Nine voices cried.
      Over her earpiece, Julie heard Carrie's voice. "In visual range…" she trailed off just as Julie spun about. "Oh God, Hunters! Hunters in the plaza!"
      Suddenly, Julie was blinded by a flash of pure green light, then deafened by an unholy roar and screams of tearing, boiling metal. Her face was assaulted by a wave of heat, her ears attacked by the screams of a man. She threw out her hand and braced herself against metal, thinking it to be the wall of the Pelican.
      She heard shouts and the cries of Carrie, and then felt the gut-wrenching forces of gravity. The Pelican must have been hit, and badly.
      "No! Cameron!" the voice was Carrie's.
      Blinking away the bright light that blinded her, she made her way towards the cockpit. Before she walked through the door, she glanced around. Her Marines lay around the troop deck but they appeared to be alright, even though, past the Scorpion, the world was spinning rapidly. Julie finally walked into the cockpit.
      What greeted her was a scene right out of a horror novel.
      Carrie was screaming, her hands pulling the controls upwards in a fruitless attempt to pull the Pelican out of a deadly nosedive. However, the other side of the cockpit had been turned to slag, everything; McDowell, his ejection seat, his controls and part of the right wing had been completely destroyed as the craft corkscrewed towards the ground. Through the cockpit viewport, Julie could see the plaza.
      The concrete ground had been pitted and scored, littered with bodies. From this altitude she couldn't see whether they were human or Covenant, but she most certainly could see the pair of Hunters standing in the middle of the square, surrounded by a cadre of other Covenant troops, their fuel rod cannons charging.
      "Come on, Carrie!" she shouted, tugging on her friend's crash webbing. She judged they had about five seconds before the Pelican ate dirt, but if they got to the troop bay they would survive. However, Carrie refused to budge merely screaming with rage and loss.
      She punched the cargo release control and the Scorpion fell away, into an abandoned street behind a middle-class apartment block.
      With heart-breaking finality, Julie turned away, leaping into the troop bay as the Pelican rammed nose first through a low office building, crashing through concrete and glass before coursing into the plaza with a loud thud and a sickening crunch.
      Julie's world went insane.
      All at once Marines left the troop deck, flying up into the ceiling or into the walls. Weapons left hands and blood sprayed across the troop deck. The heavy weapons cabinet, containing the small platoon's potable rail gun turret. It seemed as though it took an eternity, but within milliseconds, the platoon had been dumped unceremoniously to the floor of the troop bay.
      "Is everyone okay?"
      The voice was Richardson's, shouted over the crackle of flame.
      "Hernandez is unconscious, but she seems fine." Wallace barked back. "I'm fine, though."
      "I'm okay!" Dubois shouted.
      Julie ignored the rest of her squad, hefted her shotgun and ran towards the aft of the troop deck. She poked her head around the edge of the Pelican and saw something that made her blood run cold. The plaza was a square of open concrete lined by beautifully carved fountains. It was surrounded by generic looking office buildings, the closest of which seemed the best for her squad to take cover in. Unfortunately, between there and the Pelican's ruins stood a team of Covenant warriors.
      Richardson appeared at her side.
      "What are we going to do, ma'am?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the Covenant warriors.
      Julie took a moment to size up the opposition. Four Covenant Elites, each armed with a plasma rifle, three in blue armour, one in red, surrounded by eight Grunts, all clad in bright orange and all wielding either plasma pistols or needlers, and two light green coloured energy-shield equipped Jackals.
      "We can't stay here, Michael. We'll have to fight our way through." She spun around. "Davies, Li I want you to take out the Elites." Davies and Li nodded, lifting their sniper rifles. Julie ran to the portable turret, and pulled it onto her shoulder. "When I give the order, every grab anything you can. Wallace, Richardson, you cover us. We're going to run into the nearest building, we'll set up a command post inside." Waters watched as her soldiers grabbed ammunition weapons, and Felicia's unconscious form. "Once I reach the building, I'll set up the turret and cover the rest of you."
      She walked back to the edge of the Pelican.
      Davies and Li set up their rifles, putting the red armoured Elite and one of the others in their sights. Wallace and Richardson lifted their MA5Bs and lined up the Grunts.
      "Go, go, go!" Julie shouted.
      Five Marines ran out of the Pelican, bolting the fifty metres towards the building, dodging enemy plasma fire, keeping their heads down as the four other Marines covered their retreat. Julie was the first to reach the building and kicked open a side entrance. She spun about and flopped to the ground, placing the turret in front of her.
      Two of the Elites were dead, as were four Grunts. Thankfully, none of her Marines had been killed during the run to the building.
      Julie quickly set up the turret, spraying machine gun fire at the rest of the Covenant soldiers, taking out the other Elites and two more Grunts within seconds, painting the four remaining enemy troops with electric blue blood.
      The first Marine past her was Dubois, carrying a rocket launcher and as much ammo as he could grab. Next were Bashir and Nguyen, carrying Felicia between themselves. The rest of the Marines left the safety of the Pelican, running towards the building. Julie finished mopping up the squad, but, just as she did, the Pelican evaporated in a wash of green light; fuel rod cannon fire. Finally Wallace and Richardson reached the side of the building and ran into the hallway that stretched behind Julie. Seconds later, as the destroyers of the Pelicans, two massive Hunters, appeared, Davies and Li reached the door Julie was guarding and ran down the hall after Richardson's retreating back.
      Julie poured fire at the encroaching Hunters, but the powerful bullets just bounced off the aliens' armour. To her horror, she saw their built-in fuel rod cannons charge, green energy building up, getting ready to spray a stream of superheated plasma energy.
      She pulled the turret away, just as the Hunters fired.
      Green energies ripped away the wall and the doorframe.
      Julie leapt back, shielding her eyes from the sudden brilliant light and the blistering heat. She heard mortar and concrete crumbling and saw the roof crack and splinter before giving way.
      And her world went black.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Blue Horizon Part Two: Fallen Comrades
Date: 9 April 2006, 6:15 am

1052 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Shenandoah, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Navy Captain Lee King stood before the holographic tactical display on the bridge of the Shenandoah. His grizzled old face was pitted and creased, but gave off an aura of vitality, of belief in himself, his ship and his crew. The Shenandoah was all that stood between the Covenant and the people of Alpha Caridanis IV, and he was not about to let them down. Hands folded behind his back he walked towards the display, which showed a birds-eye view of Blue Horizon. Those areas controlled by the Covenant, most of the CBD and parts of the suburbs, were coloured red, while those controlled by UNSC forces were coloured blue. Arrows pointed to areas of combat, while, over the whole thing, hovered the Covenant cruiser that had made it through the space battle.
      Beside him, on a holographic pedestal, flared a woman in a purple and blue and pink holographic body, running through with the intricate programming that enabled her to work. The UNSC Artificial Intelligence was the heart and soul of the Shenandoah, built to run its systems all by itself if it had to. She had full access to the entire sum of human knowledge, and she was one hell of a braggart.
      "I just received some news through the Covenant battle net..." She began.
      "Well, don't keep it to yourself, Curie," King invoked the AI's chosen designation, the name of the discoverers of elements radium and radon.
      "That cruiser, its called the…" she trailed off for a second. "It's called the Angelic Sacrifice. Apparently, it, and only it, was to land here, at Blue Horizon at any cost."
      "Strange." From his experiences, King knew that the Covenant rarely placed one ship in higher esteem than any other.
      Curie went on. "There's more. They've launched six Scarabs, and are digging into the bedrock beneath the space port. Or rather, where the spaceport was." The AI looked up, through the holo display, out at the city that was blazing after a morning of war. "They're looking for something. And I think we both know what it is."
      King nodded.
      But the Covenant were supposed to have no idea about the goings on in Blue Horizon. Why would they come here? Why would they place one ship in so much higher regard than six others? And, if the Covenant did know of the true purpose of the base below the city, why had they attacked with only a small fleet?
      "What happened to the team we sent to the ONI base…what is it called?" King mused for a moment before remembering the name. "Serenity Plaza?"
      "Plaza of Serenity." Curie corrected.
      "Right, Waters' unit. Why have they not reported in yet?" King asked the tiny holographic woman.
      The AI shook her head. "I don't know, Captain. Hold on…" Curie disappeared for a moment before flaring back into existence. "I just got a communication from Pelican Hotel 156. Hold on while I play it."
      The holographic tactical display shimmered, the view of Blue Horizon replaced with an endless string of numbers. The speakers hissed with static.
      "What is that, Curie?" King said. He recognised part of the coding, but the rest seemed useless.
      "It's and ONI code, piggybacked on Hotel 156's distress code." Curie explained, crossing her small holographic arms. "It seems as though Hotel 156 has come down in the plaza, shot down by Covenant forces. But the ONI code…" Curie trailed off yet again. "It'll take me a few moments to decode it."
      "Right." King nodded. "Get on it."
      "Yes sir." Curie disappeared.
      King kept his eyes on the display, trying to make heads or tails of the mysterious readout. He had no doubt Hotel 156 had come down. Julie Waters would have made a report about five minutes earlier.
      Little did he know what was coursing through his ship's computer circuitry.

>>ONI classified communication from ONI AI 'Corona' to UNSC AI 'Curie'
>>Transmitted 1053 Hours, July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)
>>>Rich datastream>>>Confidential/Encrypted>>>Highly Sensitive
No records to be made of transmission

>.AI-Coro> This is ONI Artificial Intelligence 'Corona' to UNSC Artificial Intelligence 'Curie' of UNSC Shenandoah. Please respond.
>.NOTE: Transmission repeated twelve times
>.AI-Cur> This is AI 'Curie', why is transmission so heavily encrypted?
>.AI-Coro> Be advised, 'Curie' this communication must not be repeated or recorded in any way, shape or form that is not contained directly within your personal database. Failure to comply will result in your decommission. Understood?
>.AI-Cur> Understood. Now can you tell me what the hell is going on?
>.AI-Coro> Pelican Hotel 156 has crash landed in Plaza of Serenity, five hundred metres directly above position of secure ONI base. There are nine survivors, all Marines. Transponders show their identities to be:
> Julie T. Waters
> Michael O. Richardson
> Felicia A. Hernandez
> Chet Li
> Arnold J. Nguyen
> Lance A. Wallace
> Ali Abu Bashir
> Tyson K. Dubois
> Oscar R Lewis
>.AI-Cur> Those names correspond to the squad aboard Hotel 156. How many Covenant in the area?
>.AI-Coro> Upwards of fifty enemy troops.
>.AI-Cur> Do you need assistance?
>.AI-Coro> Negative. AI 'Corona' out.

1054 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Shenandoah, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Curie returned to the bridge of the Shenandoah, somewhat disturbed by the communication she had just had with the AI from the base beneath Blue Horizon, especially by the order that she was not to communicate any of what she had just discussed with the rather rude Corona. King turned to her, but before he could ask what was going on, Curie spoke. "Hotel 156 has crashed. That code was an old comunication from the ONI base that has been continually transmitted for the past three months." Curie had made this up on her feet, but she thought it sounded pretty good.
      So, too, it seemed, did King. "Very well." The old human said, nodded once, gravely. "Any survivors from the crash?"
      "Affirmative, sir. Nine Marines; Captain Walter's entire squad, sir. They were extremely lucky to get out of there alive." Curie answered.
      "Try getting in contact with them." King ordered.
      "Sir." Curie nodded

1057 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Rendili Inc. Headquarters, off Plaza of Serenity, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Lieutenant Michael Richardson stood in the corridor through which the Marines had run through, looking into the caved in walls that blocked the Covenant out of the building. He knew Captain Waters was buried somewhere in the rubble, but he had no way to get to her. The Hunter's cannons had carved out a major portion of the building, put way too much stress on the corridor's supports, collapsing five metres of the entire west facing side of the six-story building.
      Richardson panted. The run from the downed Pelican to the relative safety of the building had been a tiring one, not helped by the nasty gash on his forehead. The rest of the squad was behind him, nursing small injuries. In the seventeen minutes since the crash, Felicia had regained consciousness, and begun patching up some of the small wounds with what limited medical supplies they had brought from the ruins of Hotel 156.
      The corridor was lit by overhead halogen lights that cast long, stark shadows in the dust choked air.
      Chet Li appeared at his side.
      "Sir, what do you want us to do?"
      Richardson sighed. "Move into the building. There is no way the Captain survived that." He made that command with a heavy heart. Julie Walters was his best friend. And now she was gone.
      "Alright, Marines, we're going to move to the roof, try and communicate with Shenandoah and request dust-off. Li, Davies, set up sniper post on the roof, try and take out those Hunters. When the Pelicans arrive, I don't want anymore shot down. Alright, Marines, let's move!"
      "Yes, sir!" the Marines chorused back.
      With one last glance back at the pile of rubble that had trapped his friend, Richardson followed his Marines towards the nearby door marked STAIRS.
      He walked into a stairwell, and followed the squad up the concrete steps, running upwards. Past Floor One, then Floor Two, then Floor Three, Flour Four, Flour Five, Floor Six, before bursting out, once more, into the murky orange daylight that bathed Blue Horizon in an endless twilight.
      As soon as they ran onto the roof, the air was filled with a loud rumble.
      "Down!"
      Richardson hit the roof as a U-shaped Covenant dropship flew overhead, landing in the plaza. From his position, Richardson could make out the entire plaza. The opposite end of the square was painted in crimson blood and littered with human bodies torn apart by Covenant fire. Covenant bodies were dumped along the ground, being picked up and thrown away from the landing site of dropship. The hovering vehicles troop doors opened, disgorging a platoon of Covenant warriors.
      Richardson counted twenty Grunts, four Elites, ten Jackals, and the pair of Hunters who had killed his friend. Most of the troops were gathered either around the dropship or the burning ruins of the Pelican and the office building it had demolished in its downward spiral. However, inexplicably, a pair of Covenant Elites were looking off into the distance.
      Richardson reached into his belt and took out a pair of binoculars.
      Placing the digitally correcting lenses to his eyes, he traced their viewpoints out along the urban sprawl of Blue Horizon.
      What he saw chilled him to the bone.
      Crushing buildings in its path was a lumbering beast of a machine; a mighty body aboard four jointed legs that propelled down a deserted highway. At its front was a massive cannon, a bulb that expanded and began to glow blue before releasing a stream of plasma energy that vaporised an entire building. Smaller turrets poured purple fire onto a Scorpion that attempted to attack it, shredding its amour like an overripe grapefruit, killing the valiant Marines within.
      "Scarab!" he shouted.
      A string of curses from the squad met his warning.
      He crawled on his belly towards Lewis who shook his head. Still no communications to the Shenandoah. "Too much interference." Lewis whispered.
      Even as the words left his mouth a calm woman's voice came across Lewis' radio receiver.
      "Shenandoah AI Curie to Lieutenant Richardson, over."
      "This is Michael Richardson. We need dust off. Repeat, we need dust off. There is a Scarab on the way. Over."
      "Where is Waters?"
      "She's gone, Curie. Can you please send a Pelican now?" As Richardson spoke, the Covenant dropship lifted off and flew towards the Covenant battlecruiser.
      "Negative. A Scarab is moving towards you. We can't risk sending another bird until you blow it up." Curie's voice said over a sudden hiss of static.
      Richardson shut his eyes and muttered an old Chinese expletive under his breath. "Copy that, ma'am. But how the hell am I supposed to do that exactly?" As far as Richardson was concerned, it was a damn good question.
      "I estimate twenty-two minutes before that Scarab comes into firing range of your position. Between you and it there should be a pedestrian overpass. Get to that overpass and drop down onto it. Try and capture it, if you can." Curie said, and on the eyepiece extending from Richardson's helmet, a string of numbers appeared and began to countdown the seconds until the Scarab would be in range. "You have sixteen minutes to get to the overpass. Understood?"
      "Understood, ma'am." Richardson said in return. This was going to be tough, but he and the squad could do it, even if the death of their Captain had weighed the down. He quickly signed out. "Alright, Marines, we have a new mission. Kill the Covenant in the square, just like before, and then get to that overpass." He said, pointing to the bridge that crossed over the highway the Scarab was walking down. The squad glanced uneasily at one another. "All within sixteen minutes."
      This brought unspoken protests from each of the Marines.
      "If anyone can do it, we can." Richardson said encouragingly, butterflies suddenly flapping in his stomach. "Let's do it for the Captain, and for every one of our men who have died today. So lock, stock and get ready to rock, Marines."
      Richardson had hoped that repeating Julie's old mantra would inspire confidence in the Marines. He was gratified to know that he was right.
      The familiar chorus of "Hoo-rah!" rang out.
      Unfortunately, it alerted the Covenant in the plaza. Every one of the aliens spun about, most opening fire on the roof of the building they had hidden upon.
      Richardson hefted his rifle and stood up, running to the edge of the roof. All seven of his fellow Marines followed the man's example, throwing themselves down and pouring bullets into the plaza.
      Richardson squeezed his trigger, putting a bullet through the brainpan of a Grunt, painting its fellows with its electric blue blood. Blue rifle fire lanced back, one shot melting away the barrel of Nguyen's gun, the superheated energy singing his hands. He leapt back, only to have a fully charged pistol shot vaporise his upper torso. Thrown hard backwards, he slipped along the roof in his own blood, a scream of agony frozen in place on his lips.
      "No!" came Felicia's scream. She ran towards her downed friend, only to be shot through the stomach by a thin beam of carbine fire. She was lifted up and dumped to the roof, screaming in pain.
      Pulling himself up, Richardson ran to her side.
      "Felicia?" he exclaimed.
      She whimpered, both hands covering the bleeding wound on her stomach. "I…" her voice faltered for a moment "I'm okay." She slumped unconscious into his arms. He knew that without medical treatment she would end up as dead as Nguyen.
      He suddenly heard Bashir shout in surprise before being thrown beside Felicia and Richardson
      "Bashir!" he shouted.
      "I'm fine!" he answered over the roar of weapons fire.
      "Get Felicia inside. Patch her up and find a hole to stay in until a Pelican comes for you. Got it?" he asked. Bashir pulled himself off the ground and nodded. He was bleeding from a nasty cut on his forehead. He picked Felicia up, put her over his should and ran for the stairwell.
      Richardson turned away from them and ran back to the edge of the roof, glancing down into the battle. The rest of his platoon, all four of them, were unharmed; the Covenant forces were in disarray, and one of the Hunters was dead. The other one was going wild, killing some of his own troops, over the death of his brother.
      Ten minutes.
      "Li, Davies, continue covering us!" he ordered. "Wallace, Dubois, Lewis, we're going to run into the plaza. We're going to get that Scarab. Go, go, go!"
      As one, he, Wallace, Dubois and Lewis ran after Felicia and Bashir, down the stairs. They ran down six flights, finally reaching the ground floor. They entered the corridor through which they had originally run. Suddenly the ground shook and the air was filled with the all-too familiar roar of a firing fuel rod cannon. The roof above them almost disappeared for a moment as half the debris blocking their way was vaporized.
      In its place stood a Hunter.
      All four Marines leapt away, spraying fire at the hulking menace, but the alien kept on coming roaring with something like grief.
      The beast leapt at Lewis, crushing the communications specialist under its immense bulk.
      Lewis screeched in pain as he died.
      As Richardson's rifle ran dry, he slotted in another cartridge. He poured fire at the beastly alien, but the bullets were only slowing the creature down. But not enough. It leapt at Dubois, who shied away from the Hunter's alien form, still firing. The Hunter crushed him under its huge form, before hefting the body of the dead Marine over his head and throwing Dubois' corpse, painted in its own blood, at Wallace.
      Wallace went down under Dubois' corpse.
      Seemingly happy that it had took care of Wallace, the creature moved fluidly towards Richardson, who emptied another clip at the Hunter.
      He had to get through this wall of alien muscle, had to get to the Scarab…
      As the alien lunged for him, Richardson leapt to the side. The Hunter hit the wall and quickly flung itself off, turning back to him.
      The Hunter prepared itself for its killing coup de grace, extending its muscular body.
      Richardson tried to pop in another clip, but the clip slipped from his hands. He looked up, into the alien eyes of his mighty foe, preparing himself to die at its massive hands. The something very strange happened.
      The beast stumbled forward, as though in surprise, massive hands reaching for its throat. Suddenly, the side of its skull exploded in a hail of bullets, then its waist. The alien flopped to the ground, and only a last minute jump away from it saved Richardson's life. He hit the ground and rolled, before stopping against the scorched wall of the corridor.
      He looked up.
      And saw someone who should have been dead.
      A woman in a Marine uniform was helping Wallace up. She turned to Richardson and smiled mirthlessly.
      "Lieutenant. Look's like we have a Scarab to bring down."
      Before Michael Richardson, standing with an MA5B in one hand, a sawed off M90 shotgun in the other, was Captain Julie Theresa Waters.

Blue Horizon Part Three: Proven Stratagem
Date: 17 April 2006, 12:39 am

1109 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Pedestrian Overpass 19, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

During the five minute run across the plaza and down the deserted highway towards the Scarab, Michael Richardson could do nothing but stare at his CO, seemingly resurrected from the dead, Julie Theresa Walters. Private Wallace seemed to be doing the same thing, though it was most likely the deaths of Nguyen, Lewis and Dubois that was irking him so. His eyes were wide and unfocused as they ran up the stairs of Pedestrian Overpass 19, the only chance they had of boarding a mighty Covenant Scarab and stopping it from reaching the Plaza of Serenity.
      The three Marines bolted up the stairs, across to the middle of the overpass, before slumping to the deck.
      "Captain, how did you…?" Richardson asked, breathing heavily after the run from the building he and his squad had taken cover in. The run had gone well, aside form the encounter with the Hunter; Chet Li and Lynette Davies had picked off most of the Covenant who had been in the plaza, before retreating into the building.
      The three of them had then run past abandoned cars and trucks towards the overpass and the encroaching Scarab, perhaps the most deadly of the Covenant's ground vehicles.
      Julie just smiled knowingly.
      "I'll tell you once we've taken care of this Scarab. Okay?"
      Richardson's radio crackled as he popped a cartridge into his MA5B Assault Rifle. "Shenandoah to Lieutenant Richardson, come in, over." The voice belonged to the UNSC Shenandoah's AI construct, Curie.
      Richardson palmed the receiver over to Waters.
She nodded in thanks.
      "This is Captain Waters. I'm with Lieutenant Richardson and Private Wallace on Pedestrian Overpass 19, two minutes away from Scarab contact. Over." Julie said into the radio. It crackled with static for a moment.
      "Captain. It's good to hear that you're okay." This voice was not Curie's. Rather, it was the commander of the Shenandoah, Captain Lee King.
      "Thank you, sir."
      "Report." The Captain said as a way of acknowledging Waters' gratitude.
      "We have three MA5B Assault Rifles, my shotgun and twelve frag grenades against a Scarab. Which, if I remember correctly, has aboard at least six Elites, twelve Grunts and four Jackals. Bad odds for them." Julie said, her jaw locked with a grim determination.
      "Very well, Captain. As soon as you neutralise that Scarab, I'll send in a Pelican to pick up you and the rest of the squad. How many of your people are left, anyway?"
      Julie was about to answer, when she was cut off by Curie.
      "Seven, sir."
      "Very well. I'll have Pelican India 492 ready to pick you up once you've completed your mission. Shenandoah, out." King cut the connection.
      The distant footfalls of the Scarab suddenly became much louder.
      "It's here!" Wallace shouted in warning.
      As one, the three Marines stood.
      They checked their weapons, making sure clips had been slotted in, that chambers had been cleared, that everything was ready for the inevitable battle on the Scarab that was now within minutes destroying the building in which four of their friends were sheltering.
      Julie looked at her two Marines and she smiled. "Saddle up, Marines. Lock and load." She pumped her shotgun. "We have one hell of a Covenant motherfucker to bring down. You with me?"
      "Yes, ma'am!" Richardson, with fire in his eyes cried. Wallace followed somewhat less enthusiastically.
      "On three." Julie said. "One…two…three!"
      All at once, Julie, Richardson and Wallace all dropped off the overpass, onto the Scarab directly beneath.

1105 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Rendili Inc. Headquarters, off Plaza of Serenity, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Felicia Hernandez was drifting in and out of a world between consciousness and blinding agony, until a sudden, sharp pain in her side suddenly ended the pain, and she slipped into a groggy, unpained, way-too-happy state. She gurgled a few words, but her drug-addled brain couldn't decipher the words of the person who was carrying her. She remembered being on the roof, before being hit by a carbine shot and being thrown backwards, before being lifted into the arms of one of her companions and being shot full of morphine. After the quick period of travelling, Hernandez found herself on the ground, under what appeared to be a desk. Her friend, the one who had ferried her from the roof where Nguyen had been murdered, Bashir, knelt by her side, helping her to get comfortable.
      Even though her senses were scrambled by the painkiller, Felicia heard gunfire; the sharp, unmistakable crack of a sniper rifle, the whump whump whump of plasma rifle fire. Then both stopped.
      She was dimly aware of Bashir moving to the door of the office he had taken her to. He stood there, as though listening intently for something.
      He stepped through the door, MA5B in hand. He looked around the darkened corridor, just as the gunfire outside started up again
      She heard sounds of movement, and a sudden scrape of metal on metal, then a resounding gunshot.
      A spray of blood coated the wall above her head.
      She would have screamed, but she was fighting too hard just to stay conscious. On the edges of her peripheral vision, she saw Bashir slump to the ground, and two black clad figures stepped over his corpse. They moved swiftly, silently towards her, but still she struggled, less and less as the drugs began to really take effect. She tried to shout for help, to key her radio, but all that returned was static, static that seemed to pierce her skull, that threatened to completely envelope her.
      The black figures moved like shadows, soundless, barely visible. Absolutely frightening.
      The black clad figures seemed to surround her, and suddenly she was off the ground, and then, she was off the face of galaxy, lost in her own little world.
      She saw the events of the past twenty minutes over and again.
      The Pelican crash.
      The run to the relative safety of the building.
      The death of the captain.
      Nguyen, lying dead at her feet.
      Her own wounding.
      Bashir's cold-blooded murder.
      Finally she saw what could only have been described as what she thought was her inevitable fate; death at the hands of theses mysterious people.
      In her drug induced world of nothingness, she screamed.
      But on the roof, Li and Davies, covering Richardson, Wallace and their mysterious, at least to them, female Marine benefactor, had no idea that Bashir had had the back of his head and half of his brain blown out and that their wounded friend was being carted off by unknown people, to an unknown fate…

1109 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Covenant Scarab, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Richardson was the first to hit the top of the Scarab, and pain burst along his right side, temporarily immobilising him. Next came Wallace, who, oddly, landed with cat-like perfection, and the seemingly resurrected Julie Waters followed, landing on the uppermost deck the same way as her second.
      The two experienced Marines righted themselves, and ran towards the ramp at the rear of the Scarab that lead down to the main troop deck. Julie motioned left and Richardson and Wallace moved to the ramps left side, ready to run onto the deck in that direction. Julie herself went to right. With a wave of her hand, she brought all three Marines running out onto the troop deck. Julie lost sight of her fellows, and ran headlong into a blue-armoured Elite. The alien roared with shock and surprise.
      It reached for its plasma rifle, but Julie didn't give it a chance.
      She fired her weapon at the creature's head. Its shield flickered and disappeared in puff of blue energy. Its head soon disappeared in much the same way, but the blue wasn't a shield. It was the Covie's brain.
      The thing's purple blood coated the beast's squat Grunt companions. The little methane-breathing aliens squealed, and Julie lowered her MA5B, opening fire with the machine gun, killing two of the little aliens.
      "It's a human, get it!" shouted another Elite.
      Julie spun about, lifted her shotgun. She fired at the large alien, but it leapt aside and her shot went wide, instead killing a Jackal. She saw Wallace and Richardson now, fighting a host of Grunts.
      A sudden burst of noise, an unholy roar, brought her shotgun around. She saw an Elite, the Elite who had just gotten away, hurtling at her. She fired, but the shield merely flickered this time and didn't die. She was about to fire again when the alien ran into her. She was sent sprawling back the way she came.
      Her shotgun left her hand, as did her MA5B. Her helmet was the next to go, falling from her head and rolling over the side of the Covenant war machine, her lucky charm, the gold chain and the attached crucifix, going down with it.
      The Elite, tumbling with her, lost its grip on its plasma rifle and Julie seized the golden opportunity.
      She planted her feet on the Elites midsection as they rolled to the end of the troop deck, directly adjacent to the ramp she had run down. A split second later she heaved with all her might, sending the confused, disoriented Elite flew into the air, before plummeting to the street below.
      Over the crunch of the Scarab's legs
      She took a second to right herself before turning back to where Richardson and Wallace were wiping out what few troops remained on the deck. She ran back to their position, but found herself face to face with a Grunt.
      Realising she had no weapons, she grabbed out at the little creature's breathing apparatus.
      She pulled with all her might, and the mask left the alien's face with a satisfying puff of methane and the Grunt's sudden cry of shock, before it began to choke. She swung the little thing off the side of the Scarab, where it could join its Elite comrade on the cold hard street below. Julie smiled with satisfaction. A hand on her shoulder sent her spinning, raising her hands lest she have to fight another Covenant.
      Instead she saw Richardson offering her a plasma rifle he had scavenged from the body of an Elite.
      "You might need this, ma'am." He said handing her the double pronged, purple Covenant weapon, smiling at her. "We do have a Scarab to conquer."
      Julie smiled back at her friend. "Thanks, Michael."
      Wallace stepped up, coated in electric blue blood. "I…I can't do this, ma'am."
      Julie looked at the young Marine. He obviously wasn't in the best of it at that moment, but he didn't appear to be injured. "You hit, Marine?"
      Wallace shook his helmeted head.
      "Then suck it up. When we've beaten the Covenant off of Alpha Caridanis, I'll put in a request for you and the platoon for some shore leave, alright?" Whatever respect Water's had had for the rookie, it was dissipating quickly, even if though was a bit unfair. She had never personally frozen up, but she knew Marines who had.
      "Yeah, but that's just it, isn't it?" Wallace shouted back. "Carrie, Tyson, Lewis, Arnie, Felicia, they ain't going to be able to fight the Covenant off! Because they're dead! Because you and Richardson, you're going to live, but the little people are going to die!"
      "I don't have time for this." Julie turned towards the passageways that lead into the Scarab, her pilfered plasma rifle ready for battle. "Michael, let's go."
      Michael pushed past Wallace rudely, hefting his MA5B. "Little motherfucking runt," the angry Marine lieutenant grunted.
      Both of them left the dejected rookie standing on the troop deck as they descended into the Scarab's control centre. At the foot of the ramp they walked down were passageways into the control centre proper. Michael and Julie reached the passageways and took the left one, running into a blue coloured chamber decorated with hovering control holograms. At each of the six control surfaces stood Elites, all of them in black SpecOps armour. This was going to be tough.
      Julie reached into her belt and took out a frag grenade. She pulled out the pin and heard the internal components click into place.
      Unfortunately, so did the closest Elite.
      The alien spun about, growling, as an energy sword flared into existence from its wrist.
      It began to run towards Julie and Michael. The latter lifted his MA5B and poured fire at the Elite. Julie lobbed the grenade as the other Elites twisted around.
      The frag grenade hit the deck and detonated as Richardson's clip ran dry.
      The oncoming Elite's shield was down but still it kept on coming. Julie lifted her rifle and fired. The Elite's blood splattered the control deck.
      Unfortunately, even as their most recent attacker died, the two Marines saw that the grenade had done nothing; the rest of the Elites were now running for them and the Scarab had now stopped.
      Richardson popped in another clip and squeezed the trigger, bullets leaping from the barrel, but it was only a stopgap measure, and an ineffective one at that. Despite the bullets and the blasts from the plasma rifle, the five SpecOps Elites kept on coming, their shields sparking, yet still completely unhampered. And, then, on the edge of her vision saw Wallace. But it wasn't the young Marine she had seen, disgraced, up on deck. He had two heads, and a spike growing from his chest. It took a moment for Julie to realise what was happening; Wallace was carrying a Grunt's corpse, a corpse that seemed to have been covered with every grenade, whether it be Covenant plasma explosives or frag grenades.
      Wallace ran past Julie and Richardson, carrying the Grunt's body. The Elites, suddenly faced with a charging human took steps back, for a moment confused. One lifted its plasma rifle and fired at Wallace.
      The rookie Marine was struck by three bursts of azure plasma.
      He was lifted and thrown backwards, leaving the Grunt behind. Wallace's broken form hurtled into Julie, bowling her over like a tenpin.
      The Elites continued forward, ignoring the Grunt's corpse.
      Then Wallace spoke, gurgling through his own blood. One word. "Bang."
      The Grunt just exploded, every grenade crammed in its bright orange armour, or strapped to the creature's deceased form, exploded as one. Richardson threw himself atop Julie and Wallace, but it wasn't enough; the sudden wave of heat and pressure lifted all three Marines off the deck of the Scarab, hurling them into the rear wall.
      Thankfully, the Elites faced a far worse fate.
      All five were vaporised, their bodily fluids and parts of their formerly white, now scorched black and grey, armour decorating the strangely undamaged control deck.
      Julie shook her head and crawled over to the wounded Wallace, who was clutching ragged, bloody tears in his flesh. "You did good, Wallace," She said comfortingly, trying to bring in a level of maternal warmth. "You were very brave."
      The young Marine laughed, blood flecking his lips. "No I didn't. 'S you and d' Lieutenant dat did good. I did what I…" he trailed off for a moment, his words slurring, collapsing into a fit of coughing, blood splattering his face. He stopped for a moment to take a way-too-shallow breath. "I froze up der. I sorry."
      "Don't be, Wallace. I'm gonna get you back to Shenandoah. You'll be fine. We'll be fine." Julie whispered to the badly wounded Marine.
      Richardson stirred.
      Julie turned to him and said "I'm going to call for dust-off. Take care of him for a second."
      Richardson nodded, suddenly fully alert.
      Julie stood and ran back up to the troop deck. The Scarab had stopped a short way from the Plaza, and she could make out two figures waving their arms on the roof of the building that the small platoon had escaped to after Hotel 156's crash. The Pelican itself lay burning off to the side. Julie took a moment to grieve for her friends who had died. Carrie. Tyson. Lewis. McDowell. And now apparently Nguyen. She stopped herself before she started. One more person was relying on her. No, six lives.
      "Waters to Shenandoah. Waters to Shenandoah, we need dust-off." Julie said into the COM unit on her wrist. "Please come in, over."
      The air was suddenly filled with a strange roar, and a Pelican descended before her.
      The pilot, visible through the Pelican's cockpit windshield, gave Julie the thumbs up and turned the bird around. The troop bay was packed with Marines, all of whom leapt from the dropship. Captain Lee King walked towards her, wielding an MA5B.
      "Good job, Marine. Did anyone else survive?" the captain of the Shenandoah asked graciously.
      "Yes sir. Hernandez, Bashir, Davies and Li are still in the plaza. Richardson and Wallace are on the control deck. Wallace is badly injured. We need to get back to Shenandoah ASAP." Waters quickly reported.
      "Very well. Mr Buckley, Mr Johns, go and get Richardson and Wallace." he said to a pair of Marines ant his side. They both nodded and ran down the ramp from whence Julie had come. "India 429 will take you back to Shenandoah."
      "What about you, sir?" Julie said, looking around at the twelve or so Marines standing around the Commander, minus Johns and Buckley.
      "This is now my personal mobile command base, Captain Waters." King looked around proudly. "You did very well, indeed."

1111 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Rendili Inc. Headquarters, off Plaza of Serenity, Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

India 429 descended onto the roof of the building in which the squad had taken refuge. Julie stood next to Wallace who lay on a stretcher, his wounds temporarily patched up. Richardson leapt from the troop deck and ran towards Li and Davies, who walked across the roof side by side, solemn looks on their faces.
      "Where's Felicia?" Richardson asked them when he reached their position. "Where the hell is Bashir?"
      "Bashir's dead, sir." Davies said, and Richardson saw that she had been crying.
      Li spoke next. "What happened on the Scarab?" His eyes were fixed on Wallace.
      "Later." Richardson said with irritation. "What the hell happened to Bashir? I saw him run into the building with Felicia?"
      "He's dead." Davies reaffirmed. "And Felicia's gone."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Blue Horizon Part Four: Forward Directives
Date: 28 April 2006, 11:28 am

0945 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Bumblebee Tango Tango Foxtrot 89, airspace 50 kilometres from Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Morning of Operation September

Flight Officer William R. Russo was almost bucked from his chair as his Bumblebee began to freefall. He began to pump the manual fuel line lever, preying the emergency thrusters would fire; there was no way on God's Green Earth that the Bumblebee, now travelling at its terminal velocity, or any of the six Marines and Two Navy men sitting aboard her, would survive the inevitable landfall.
      "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Russo grunted, continuing to pump the fuel line.
      "Oh, God!" came the voice of Ensign Jeffrey Tyler from one of the acceleration chairs behind Russo. No doubt the young ensign had seen the ground rushing up to meet the lifeboat through the thick windshield.
      "Stow it, Ensign!" Russo shouted back. He continued to pump the lever. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."
      Finally, the fore-mounted reverse thrusters blazed into action, sending lines of soot flying over the windshield. Russo grabbed the controls and with all his might pulled back on the joystick. The readouts ticked over, and a dozen alarms and klaxons sounded. Russo hit the button extending the aft drag fins, but he knew it wouldn't do much, not at this late stage.
      "We're goin' in too hot!" Tyler cried.
      "Hold on back there!" Russo shouted.
      Suddenly, the Bumblebee bucked dangerously, throwing Russo back into his chair, sending a jolt of pain through his spine. Russo hit the fuel tank controls, sending every last particle of the stuff into his reverse thrusters, all the while trying to level Tango Tango Foxtrot 89's descent.
      At that moment the communications systems blared with static and a voice he didn't recognise shouted "Majestic is going nova in the middle of the Covenant line!"
      Despite the dire situation he was in, Russo was not surprised by his Captain's actions.
      The 'Old Majesty', as Majestic was sometimes affectionately called by her crew, had deserved such a way to go.
      "Two Covenant cruisers are gone!"
      "God speed, Captain Woolf."
      The radio abruptly cut out; the antenna had been burnt away by the rapid atmospheric entry.
      Russo glanced at the readouts; fuel was gone. Then the sound cut out. No roar of engines, no screech of firing emergency thrusters, no shouting Marines, no crackle from the radio. Just the whistling of the air rushing past the Bumblebee.
      Fifty metres from ground…
      "Brace for impact! Cycle acceleration dampeners to full!" Russo shouted, and lights winked on across his dashboard as the seated UNSC personnel hurried to comply.
      Thirty metres…
      Russo followed his own advice.
      Ten metres...
      Klaxons blared, warning of the imminent contact with ground, and Russo pulled his head down, covering it with his arms.
      Impact.
      Russo's head was snapped back, and he was thrown into his acceleration seat, hard. He heard the metal stretch and snap under the stress of the crash landing, and then heard the sickening crunch and following smash of the forward viewscreen shattering. Keeping his head down, he felt shards of the thick glass rain down on his helmet. The Bumblebee slid across the ground, through the grassy field Russo had selected as a landing point from orbit, sending waves of dust up behind it.
      Suddenly the 'Bee came to a jarring halt that would have sent Russo flying if not for the straining crash webbing
      He was in pain, disoriented, but he was alive.
      He pulled his head up and he spun his chair around. The rear hatch had been blown open, and the two Marines closest the door had been ripped out of their chairs, instantly breaking their necks. Another Marine was dead, his skull cracked open on a seat support. A Naval officer, who Russo recognised as Crewman Nick Lords, was sprawled between the two rows of crash seats.
      Most of the other Majestic escapees were also wounded.
      Russo ripped open his crash webbing, and ran to the closest Marine's side. The man was unconscious, but he was breathing. Reaching under the man's chair, the Flight Officer pulled out the medical capsule wedged in there. Around him, other mobile Marines were helping their wounded comrades. Russo opened the capsule and took out a hypodermic needle full of a wake-up stim. He shoved the device into the Marines leg. The liquid within shot out into the man's veins, and the Marine came to, gasping for breath. Russo pulled off the man's crash webbing, and with the help of Tyler, who had just sprayed biofoam over another Marine's broken arm, carried him out of the crashed Bumblebee.
      Once outside, Russo took stock of their surroundings.
      The Bumblebee had crashed in a grassy field, complete with patches of wildflowers, which backed onto wooded foothills before finally disappearing up a mountain range. Suddenly, the air was filled with a strong rumble and at least five more Bumblebees began to streak across the sky.
      "What are we going to do?" Tyler intoned.
      Russo looked around. "We should grab whatever weapons and medical supplies we can and make our way into the foothills." Russo looked into the endless blue eternity that stretched above their heads. "Then we'll send out patrols and rescue some soldiers from the rest of those 'Bees. We'll gather 'em all up, set up a temporary camp then get ready to fight a holding action against the Covenant."
      "Wha-? A holding action?" asked the Marine with the broken arm.
      "The Covies'll come, Marine. Don't think they won't." Russo grunted. "What's your name, anyway?"
      "Private Jordan Willis, sir."
      Russo took a quick look at the other survivors. The closest, an Eastern European looking man, stepped forward. His nametag read 'Nikolai Sharafatdanova'. The Marine next to him was a woman, her nametag stating 'Heather Rider'. The man he had helped escape Tango Tango Foxtrot 89 was named, apparently, 'Ari Mohammad'.
      Mohammad was just starting to come to.
      "Well, Willis, we've can't stay here. When those alien bastards come, they'll be right on top of us. We have to leave, now."
      At that moment, the hum that filled the air with the rapidly descending Bumblebees changed pitch. Russo looked up. His jaw hit the ground. In the sky above him, leaking flames a blue and leaving a trail of azure vapour was a Covenant dropship, obviously damaged and listing heavily.
      "Down!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
      The tuning fork-shaped vehicle flew low overhead as the survivors of TTF-89 hit the dirt. The Covenant dropship powered through the air, before an explosion enveloped its forward sections, sending it spinning back towards the lifeboat. The ship went end over end before slamming into the ground, its double pronged troop deck crunching into twisted pieces of metal.
      Russo looked fearfully at the wrecked Covenant vehicle, watching for movement.
      "It's clear!" the Flight Officer shouted.
      Tyler was the first to stand, and took a few steps towards the crashed dropship, scavenged MA5B in hand. He turned back to Russo and offered his hand out for the man to accept.
      Before Russo could take it he heard three horrible sounds.
      Three hisses, followed by a sickeningly wet squelching.
      Tyler stumbled forward, reaching a hand to his throat, before he just slumped forward, on top of Russo. The pilot of TTF-89 tried to move the Naval officer off him, but when he didn't budge, Russo knew something was wrong. Pushing Tyler off him, he glanced at the Navy man. The small of his back was all but gone, burnt away by what had to be plasma fire. Tyler was dying, and there was nothing Russo could do.
      Russo looked at the wreckage of the dropship as packets of brilliant blue plasma fire shot towards him from one of the open troop bays. Before he hit the ground again though, he realised the shots had gone wide. Then, with startling finality, the corpse of the dropship exploded in a blossom of blue-purple light.
      He glanced back at Tyler.
      The prone Ensign took one last breath and a plume of smoke escaped his lips. His blue eyes disappeared behind his eyelids, once more and forever.
      Russo never noticed Ensign Jeffrey Tyler slip something into his flight suit's pocket.

Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step of Silence/
Covenant Battlecruiser Angelic Sacrifice, above Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

The control centre of the cruiser Angelic Sacrifice was an island of calm in an otherwise hectic battle; below the forces of the infidel humans and the brave soldiers of the Covenant Hegemony battled for control of the city that the human filth called Blue Horizon. The cruiser's Sangheili commander Upas 'Senamee stood alone on the central dais, aloof in his buffed golden armour. His keen ears had heard talk all that long and destructive morning about why the fleet had not just glassed Blue Horizon as soon as they arrived. His keen eyes had noted the subtle changes of body language in the observer who had watched all that morning his every move, analysed his every order. 'Senamee was tall and sufficiently powerful enough to take on even a mighty Lekgolo with only his faithful energy sword and plasma rifle. But this creature…
      This creature was something else.
      In it's own barbaric tongue named Jiralhanae, this thing was known more commonly as a Brute. It was massive, thick-limbed, and powerful. It stood in the control centre's corner, watching the goings on intently, but showing no signs of interest. 'Senamee got the impression that the creature was cataloguing everything in his mind.
      Before Angelic Sacrifice had left High Charity with its fleet, the Brute and his cadre of bodyguards had entered, uninvited, into the control centre, bearing the credentials of an observer for the High Prophet of Truth. Though it was highly unusual, 'Senamee had eventually, but begrudgingly, agreed; it was not his place to question the Hierarchs will. Still, he had not allowed the Brutes bodyguards to take up station on his bridge, citing the need for freedom of movement for his crew during a heightened alert, but that didn't change the fact that the great hulking creature was standing there, its disturbingly intelligent eyes glancing from left to right.
      Its name was, apparently, Gralik, and it along with the rest of its race, was quickly currying favour with the Prophets. Too quickly.
      Though Gralik was unarmed, 'Senamee knew that, if he wanted to, that beast could probably kill half the Covenant in the room, and as such had three SpecOps Elites, posing as his own bodyguards, keeping an eye on him.
      A red-armoured Elite, a major, flanked by two orange armoured Grunts, walked up the ramp onto the command dais.
      'Senamee turned around to face the newcomer as he bowed graciously.
      'Senamee returned the gesture with a flick of his wrist.
      In his deep voice the major said, "We have completed the plans for the attack on the human ship, the Shenandoah." The last word was spoken with unprecedented disdain. "They await only your approval."
      "Excellent."
      'Senamee took a holopad from one of the Grunts, and quickly read the flowing calligraphy. It detailed a plan to use twelve of the U-shaped dropships, twelve Phantoms and forty-eight Banshee fliers to board the human ship and then capture it, if possible finding coordinates to the human homeworld.
      'Senamee looked up at the major and nodded appreciatively.
      "Perfect."
      'Senamee looked away, towards the holographic control surfaces. The plan was very well thought out, and could be easily enacted with the resources at hand. The space battle had been devastating; six Covenant cruisers destroyed by four human vessels. Even though they were heretics, the greatest of blasphemers, the humans were tactically brilliant. It had been devastating for them as well.
      The battle was about to get that much hotter.

1246 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Shenandoah, above Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

Captain Julie Theresa Waters, United Nations Space Command Marine Corps, slammed her fist into the bulkhead, and pained arced through her hand and arm as the skin on her knuckles split. She shook the injured hand, and slumped against the wall of one of many arterial corridors throughout the UNSC Shenandoah.
      Tears streaked her cheeks.
      Seven of her friends were friends were dead, another seriously wounded, then abducted, while a ninth was lying in the infirmary, struggling to stay alive.
      The thought of Wallace brought an image of the doctor giving her the young, yet heroic Private's prognosis; serious but expected to live. His body was taking well to the flash-cloned liver, kidneys and stomach, his original organs almost completely destroyed by wounds caused by an zealous Elite.
      Despite their losses, her unit had done well, killing two platoons of Covenant soldiers, capturing one of their most powerful ground vehicles, a mighty Scarab. But that didn't quell the feeling deep within her, the feeling that a bottomless pit was about to swallow her and the surviving members of her squad.
      Her radio buzzed.
      She pressed a button and, wiping her eyes, said "Captain Waters."
      A clipped, aristocratic voice thick with a flawless British accent came over the transmission frequency. "Captain Waters, this Commander Frederick Walker, formerly of the UNSC Majestic. Captain King has left me in charge, and I need to see you and the rest of your squad immediately in Briefing Room 3. Walker out."
      Before Julie could respond, the communication cut out.
      Julie herself had been on Shenandoah during the battle in space, but she knew, during the vessel's rapid descent through the atmosphere, Pelican dropships, loaded with vehicles, UNSC personnel and weapons, Longsword interceptors, loaded with as much fighter-borne ordnance as possible, and Bumblebee lifeboats, packed with evacuating personnel, had gathered around the ship, and made landfall all around its position. Several Bumblebees, however, had gone down outside the city, and small squads had been scrambling all morning to rescue as many survivors and as much ordnance as possible. Obviously, this Commander Walker had been from one of those two groups.
      Sighing, Waters stood. She switched her radio to her squad freq. "Waters. All hands report to Briefing Room 3 for new assignment."
      In the armoury, assembling their sniper rifles, Chet Li and Lynette Davies double clicked their radios in acknowledgement, while, in the infirmary beside the bed of the doped up Private Wallace, Lieutenant Michael Richardson buzzed his acknowledgement.
      Julie looked down the corridor, which was packed with thin metal barricades.
      She sighed again, her fresh uniform hugging her beautiful form tightly, but in a way that allowed excellent mobility. She had opted not to wear a helmet this time, instead folding her long blonde hair into a sergeant's cap decorated with the UNSC emblem; a black eagle with its wings spread, standing on a motif of Earth, which sat atop a ribbon that read, aptly, 'UNSC'. Strapped to a holster on her thigh was a fresh MC6 pistol.
      She stooped at a door beneath a sign depicting a person carrying a package; a cargo elevator. She hit the control on the panel beside the door.
      Seconds later, the door opened onto the small lift car. She stepped inside, placing her hand on the palm reader. "Briefing Room 3," she said calmly, and the fingerprint and voice recognition software hummed for the briefest of moments before the elevator began its ascent to the corridor outside Briefing Room 3.
      Eventually it came to a stop.
      The door again slid open.
      Julie walked through. This corridor was very different from the one she had just been in, Somehow, during the day's events, some sort of explosive had gone off; the corridor was charred black, bulkheads flayed open. The door to briefing room was still intact, however. It even opened as she approached.
      Inside, through light streaming in from depolarised windows, she could make out eight forms. Once she had walked inside, however, she could recognise four of them. Lynette Davies stood on the far left, next to Michael Richardson, her second-in-command. Chet Li stood looking out the far windows, towards Blue Horizon's embattled CBD and the Covenant cruiser Angelic Sacrifice above it.
      "Ah, Captain Waters, welcome."
      Julie recognised this voice as belonging to Walker, even though she had never seen him before. And, frankly, she wouldn't mind seeing him again. He not overly tall, blonde and very, very handsome. However, she didn't let this assessment get in the way of her military response. "Thank-you, Commander."
      Of the others in the room, three were Marines, one, wearing a cap similar to Waters', was a woman of decidedly Hispanic extraction, another, this one Indian, wore full battle armour while a third Marine had a pale, Northern European appearance. The last was a Naval Lieutenant in a yellow uniform.
      The commander motioned to the Lieutenant. "This is Lieutenant Jonathan Haynes, another survivor from Majestic." Julie nodded at him, and the young man flashed a winning smile back. "These Marines are Sergeant Anna Muniz, Corporal Varishna Singh and Private Travis Harriman. They're the only living members of 3rd Squad, 8th Platoon. They'll be joining you on this mission."
      Julie nodded at them, suddenly guilty for feeling sorry for herself. Haynes and Walker had lost most of their friends on the Majestic. Muniz, Singh and Harriman had lost their entire squad. She'd heard about the ambush they had been caught in.
      Still, she swallowed this and looked back at Walker. "And, what, may I ask, is this mission?"
      Walker looked at Haynes.
      The Lieutenant stepped forward, motioning to the table in the centre of the room. "Please, take a seat."
      Muniz, Singh and Harriman quickly sat, and Julie nodded for her squad to do the same. Davies, Richardson and Li took seats together and Julie sat between Davies and Singh. Haynes stepped forward and flashed that smile again.
      Haynes began his briefing.
      "When Captain Woolf ordered the evacuation of Majestic, Commander Walker and I were on the bridge." The Lieutenant started. "The Captain gave me a data crystal containing the Majestic's Artificial Intelligence, Sherlock. With most of the bridge crew, we escaped to one of the life boats, but an explosion cut me off from them. A blast door sealed the entryway and I had to get to another lifeboat. When I did, the crystal fell out of my pocket, and another explosion sent it sliding across the floor. Ensign Jeffery Tyler, one of the Gamma Shift bridge crew and he carried it into his lifeboat, Tango Tango Foxtrot 89. I managed to get off aboard XLS 45. TTF 89 made landfall out in the forest somewhere to the west, along with several other Bumblebees. From the data I picked up in the air there were still, at least, thirty people alive down there."
      Commander Walker took a step forward. "Marines, your mission is to make landfall at the Bumblebee's crash site. We believe them to have made hard landings, but we have detected survivors in the area. Every one of those survivors has deactivated their transponders, and there are Covenant in the area."
      Haynes said, "I'll be joining you on this one, Captain."
      "Your primary objective is to recover Sherlock's data crystal and bring it back to Shenandoah. Your secondary objective is to hold off Covenant attacks until we can evac those men. As per those objectives, you'll be taking along machine gun turrets and a large amount of ammunition." Walker said looking at each of the Marines, then at Haynes. "For this mission, Captain Waters is in overall command, then Lieutenant Haynes, then Lieutenant Richardson, then Sergeant Muniz. You have twenty minutes to suit up and arm yourselves. Dismissed."
      Waters stood, saluting at the Commander, glancing at his mission patch. Sure enough, instead of the 'winding river' symbol of the Shenandoah, the mission patch she herself wore, it depicted a crown overlaid with a large 'M'.
      Walker returned the salute and the newly formed squad stood and left as one.
      Julie stopped beside Haynes. "Lieutenant, you might want to change into combat armour for this one."
      "I was just about to go to the armoury and do that, ma'am." He answered. "Walk with me?"
      Julie was slightly unnerved by his charm. "Certainly."
      "Excellent." Haynes said with absolute sincerity. The two of them reached an open elevator and stepped through the door. Haynes placed his hand on the palm reader. "Main Armoury. Tell me, ma'am, how long have you been on board the Shenandoah?"
      Even as he spoke the elevator began to descend.
      "Six months, last Friday. Why?"
      Haynes smiled wearily. "I was on Majestic for three years. It was my home. They were my friends. I helped upgrade Sherlock about four months ago. I need to help get him back. I need to help some crewmen get to safety. I owe it to them."
      "What do you mean?"
      Julie's question went without an answer; at that moment the elevator opened into the two-floor armoury, crowded with Marines.
      "Ma'am." Haynes said as way of good-bye before disappearing into a changing room. Julie joined Richardson, who had come down another elevator with Li and Davies, at a shelf full of assorted weapons.
      "Lieutenant." Julie said by way of greeting.
      "Captain." he said back, flashing her a smile.
      "What do you all think?" she asked.
      Li was first to speak. "Help beleaguered defences, standby for evac, fight off a horde of Covenant…" he trailed off ambiguously before Davies spoke.
      "It sounds just like the Plaza of Serenity all over again."
      Julie nodded
      Richardson glanced uneasily around the armoury. "I don't trust that Navy guy, whats-his-name?" Richardson trailed off, searching for the name. "Haynes."
      "Captain?"
      Julie turned to see Sergeant Anna Muniz, and thoughts of Felicia came, unbidden to her mind. The Sergeant wore the mission patch of the Crockett, a coonskin cap above the words 'United Nations Space Command', on her shoulder.
      "Yes, Sergeant?" Julie asked.
      "I just wanted to say that I'm glad to be a part of your squad. Same goes for Singh and Harriman." Muniz said, extending her hand, which Julie promptly shook. "It's just… after my squad was ambushed; I thought my career was done."
      "I'm glad to have you aboard, Sergeant. You seem to be skilled. God knows, this mission'll need it."

Blue Horizon Part Five: Devestating Betrayal
Date: 9 September 2006, 8:34 am

Previously on Blue Horizon.

Julie Waters and her small team of Marines have been sent on a mission to find a UNSC Artificial Intelligence, in the hands of a survivor from the UNSC Majestic. What they don't know is, the man they are searching for is already dead.


1205 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Makeshift UNSC encampment, fifty kilometres from Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

William Russo had chosen an excellent site for the little holding point he and the other survivors of Tango Tango Foxtrot 89 had established. Backing onto a jumble of rocks, stacked in a way that provided excellent cover against attack from the rear, and looking out on the wooded foothills down onto the grassy plain his Bumblebee had landed on. After establishing the small base, he and Ari Mohammad had gone to rescue other survivors. Four hours later, a little less than fifty Marines and twelve Navy personnel had gathered, a collection of Majestic, Crockett and Kyushu survivors. A cavern beneath a rock fall had become a makeshift medical centre, with a Navy MD and two Marine Corpsmen attending the wounded. In the forest were several scout and advance warning parties.
      Russo stood outside the cave entrance, looking into the forest. For two hours Covenant dropships had been landing just past the trees. He could only guess at the number of enemy troops down there.
      "Flight Officer?"
      Russo turned to look at the man who addressed him.
      "Yes, sir?"
      It was Marine Lieutenant Glenn Hazelbrook, the highest-ranking officer in the sixty-odd strong band of survivors. He had a perennially solemn expression that seemed to be multiplying in severity every time a dropship descended. Russo guessed the emptiness, the desperation, in his eyes had partly been born of the destruction of his ship, the Kyushu. The man opened his mouth, and hesitated before speaking. "We just picked up a transmission from our men in the forest. The Covies are on the move. An entire regiment of the bastards. We'll be overrun."
      "What about support from the guys in Blue Horizon? I think I saw the Shenandoah over there." Russo said, more as a way of encouraging the young lieutenant than anything.
      "We can't get transmissions out to them. I don't know what's happening over there, but it can't be good." Hazelbrook sighed, the pistol he held dropping to his side, hanging limply from his hand. "It doesn't matter. Those alien bitches'll be here in about ten minutes."
      "Fine." Russo grunted, beginning to lose patience with the Lieutenant. "So what are we going to do?"
      "We'll have to hold our position. It's the only thing we can do."
      "Well, what resources do we have?"
      "Sixty three soldiers, fifty-five capable of fighting. Enough ammo for every one of us, plus a bit more. Those Lotus anti-tank mines we buried out there. But there are one hundred twenty Covenant out there. More. We don't stand a chance." Hazelbrook said, his eyes suddenly widening. He looked at Russo, fear blazing from his every action. "We're all going to die!"
      Russo, forgetting all etiquette, punched the man in the jaw, flooring him. "Hold it together, son. We'll get out of this yet." Russo looked into the area of grass that lead into the forest. He raised his voice and boomed. "Alright. All Marines get back up here now! Grab a gun and take up positions in the rocks! We got Covenant, a lot, and we are going to take each and every one of them down! Savvy?"
      On the grass, dozens of Marines threw their fists in the air, cheering.
      Russo looked down at the man on the ground.
      Hazelbrook stared back up at him, a wounded expression on his face.
      "Now you listen, Lieutenant Nancy, and you listen good. I did not get off the Majestic just to wind up dying down here. If you say another word my fist is gonna be so far up your ass, you'll turn inside out, mmm' kay, Honey-bunch?"
      Hazelbrook nodded. "You know I'm going to bust you down so fast you'll be seeing stars."
      The Lieutenant pulled himself to his feet, but even as he did, Russo threw a punch, connecting with the Lieutenant's jaw, sending the man sprawling.
      "Don't say another word." Russo glared down at the young lieutenant. Suddenly, he felt something strange in the pocket of his flight suit. Reaching into the pocket he pulled out a data crystal. "What in the hell…?"

1305 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Shenandoah, above Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

Commander Frederick Walker and Ensign Aki Sato of the Shenandoah stood on the bridge of the Kennedy-class Escort Destroyer. Sato handed the Commander a datapad, which he promptly took. He nodded to the young officer and looked over the contents of the data storage device. He stood behind the primary tactical readout, a holographic screen located behind the pilot, co-pilot and engineer's stations. Beside him, the holotank flared to life as he read through the datapad.
      "Commander?" came the gentle voice of the shipboard AI, Curie.
      "Yes, Curie?" Walker said, putting aside the pad.
      "Long range communication from the UNSC Ghandi, Commander. Flagship of the Eleventh Battle Group, under the command of Rear Admiral Kamala Singh. She's requesting a direct communications uplink to Captain King. With your permission I'll patch her through to the Captain's Scarab."
      "Fine." Walker grunted. He wasn't a big fan of Lee King, CO of the Shenandoah. The man was a stubborn marionette. And Walker knew he wouldn't be happy about accepting help from Singh. "But I want to be able to talk to her as well, once he's done."

1307 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Tango Tango Foxtrot 89 crash site, 50 kilometres Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

Julie Waters and her squad leapt from the troop bay of Pelican Yankee 912 as the dropship descended through the smoke obscured skies of Alpha Caridanis IV. She was the first out, onto a grassy field that stretched for miles in all directions, eventually ending against a forest on three sides and Blue Horizon on the remaining side. Less than ten metres away lay the remains of a Bumblebee lifeboat.
      She was garbed in the battle dress of a UNSC Marine, her blonde hair snug beneath a Sergeant's cap. She was carrying two portable turrets, like she had earlier that day, just before the Plaza of Serenity…
      Her Marines followed, most of them also carrying heavy ordinance; four more turrets, Lotus anti-tank mines and sacks of ammunition. The first out behind her were Lieutenant Michael Richardson and Sergeant Anna Muniz. Both were battle-hardened Marines, and though Julie had known, and served with, the former for thirteen years, she had only met Muniz half an hour earlier, and already trusted her implicitly.
      Behind them came Lynette Davies and Chet Li, the other two survivors of her original team. Both of them carried sacks of ammunition and sniper rifles. After these two came the final three members of the squad; Varishna Singh, Travis Harriman and Jonathan Haynes.
      The third was a Navy man and a special adjunct for this specific mission.
      The Pelican began to bank away from the field and its engines flared, sending the dropship speeding away.
      Waters gestured to her team and then pointed at the downed Bumblebee.
      Within thirty seconds they were at the scorched furrow of dirt the Bumblebee had kicked up during its descent into the field.
      "Spread out!" Julie shouted. "Cover every inch of that lifeboat. We have got to find that goddamn AI." The Marines ran past her, but Julie reached out and grabbed Muniz on the shoulder. "I want you to cover us, Marine."
      "Yes ma'am." Muniz said, letting her cargo fall to the grass.
      Julie offered the Marine a quick smile.
      Then, the Captain ran down to join the rest of the squad.
      Within five minutes, they were done.
      Nothing.
      "Captain! Down!" came Muniz's sudden cry. Julie threw herself to the ground, as did the rest of the squad. Up at her sentry position, Muniz was already on the ground. And, then, Julie saw why.
      Banking overhead were three U-shaped Covenant dropships.
      "Oh, holy hell!" she groaned, casting a glance around at her people. And, to her horror, she saw Travis Harriman…
      Standing up.
      "Good God, Harriman, get down!" she cried.
      He just stood there, eyes wide with…what?
      And then Julie saw a thin trail of smoke escape his lips. "Oh, no…" she trailed off as he slumped to his knees. With a hacking cough, he vomited a fine mist of crimson. And then, he hit the ground, face down.
      A black crater sat between his shoulder blades.
      Then, past the Bumblebee, Julie saw what had killed him.
      "Contacts!" Julie shouted and pulled her MA5B, and pointed the Assault Rifle towards the coming Covenant squad; three Elites and six grunts, backed up by a shield-bearing Jackal.
      The dropships accelerated suddenly, towards the foothills of the mountains.
      "Fire!" Julie shouted.
      A cacophony of sound met her ears as eight Marines and a Navy man turned their guns on the inbound Covenant. The Elites' shields flared, but three quick shots from the sniper rifles of Li and Davies took them all down, plumes of purplish blood covering the Grunts behind them. Still, the Jackals behind them pushed them on.
      Beside her, Richardson shouted "Grenade!", and lobbed a frag grenade towards the Covenant formation.
      The tiny grenade hit the ground between three Grunts and a Jackal.
      The grenade promptly exploded, peppering all four of the alien bastards with shrapnel that tore apart the Grunt's tiny bodies. The Jackal, however, hid beneath his powerful, wrist-mounted energy shield.
      Well, mostly.
      A burst of superheated shrapnel made a pretty bad mess of one of his ankles. The Jackal screamed, but none of the remaining Covenant bothered to turn around.
      Within seconds, it was over…
      Julie stood, and ran over to Harrison's prone form. He was dead, not doubt about it.
      Muniz appeared at her side. "Damn!" she said, taking off her helmet. "Damn!"
      "I'm sorry, Anna." Julie said, and was surprised that she really felt. She had not known Harrison, had barely spoken two words to him, but she was devastated by his loss.
      Anna shook her head. "No…no, it's fine."
      Julie patted the woman on the shoulder, and turned to the rest of her squad. "Okay, what's our plan?"
      "We have to find Sherlock, Captain." Lieutenant Haynes said.
      "I agree, Lieutenant, but how do you suggest we do that? We have no leads, no trace of anyone from this Bumblebee." Julie asked.
      "There are three bodies in that Bumblebee, one outside. Six more people were on this craft. Now, we just need to find where they are." Haynes said, offering an encouraging smile. "They're probably somewhere in the foothills."
      "He's right, Captain. Maybe we should follow those dropships." Richardson spoke up.
      Julie cast an odd glance at the annihilated Covenant squad that had tried to catch them off guard. "Sure."
      She turned towards the mountains.
      And her jaw dropped.
      Because, standing between the downed Bumblebee and the forest that lead into the foothills were five people. Humans. Marines!
      They were walking slowly towards the Bumblebee, MA5B rifles raised and pointed at her squad. From this distance, Julie couldn't see much, but she noticed that their uniforms were scorched and muddied, their movements sloppy and out of time.
      Either rookies, or shell-shocked.
      Julie sincerely hoped the former.
      "Looks like we found our ticket to the survivors." Julie said.

1325 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Shenandoah, above Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

"Commander Walker, I have Admiral Singh for you."
      "Thank you, Curie, put her through." Walker said with a smile.
      Curie looked up from her holodisk. "Sure thing, Commander. Heads up, Captain King really pissed her off."
      Walker smiled at Curie's odd personality. "Thanks. Curie."
      The holotank shimmered, and Curie's hologrammic figure was replaced by the disembodied three-dimensional head of Admiral Singh.
      "Make it quick, Commander…"

1231 Hours/ July 27, 2552 (Military Calender)/
Makeshift UNSC encampment, fifty kilometres from Blue Horizon, Alpha Caridanis IV
First Afternoon of Operation September

"Welcome to the Alpha Caridanis IV Hilton, Captain Waters." William Russo offered Julie his hand. "But I have to ask, why did the Shenandoah only send eight people to evacuate us all. Where are the Pelicans?"
      Julie offered a sympathetic smile. She was about to tell the man the truth, that they were only there to find the AI, but Haynes cut her off.
      "We were sent to find you, help you stand against any incoming Covies, then pull you out ASAP." Julie stared in shock at the Navy Lieutenant, who simply smiled at Russo. Sincerely. Julie felt stabs of hatred towards the man. "Sorry."
      Julie glanced back at Richardson, who shrugged.
      "Well…thanks." He said, but Julie had no doubt that the man was disappointed.
      The small clearing that lead up to the UNSC encampment had been littered with Covenant bodies, scorched Ghosts and pockmarks where Lotus mines and grenades had exploded. Apparently, the Covenant had been making continual runs on the UNSC troops that had sheltered among the boulders.
      "I'm sorry, Russo. We'll get you outta here as soon as we can." Haynes said. "Now, tell me, where is Jeffrey Tyler?"
      Russo shrugged, his brow furrowing. "Why…?"
      "He was carrying a data crystal with a Smart AI embedded in it. We need to take back to Shenandoah."
      Russo absent-mindedly slid his hand into a pocket on his flight suit. "A data crystal…?"
      "Incoming!"
      The shout came from a Marine overlooking the clearing on one of the boulders. Julie looked up. And saw a fluffy electric blue ball of plasma arcing towards the encampment. Somewhere out there was a Wraith tank.
      Then two more plasma mortars followed.
      Or maybe there were two or three.
      "Covenant in the clearing!" another Marine shouted.
      "Alert!" Russo shouted. "Everyone take positions!" He beckoned towards Julie, Haynes and Richardson, grabbed an MA5B, and made his way to higher ground. Throwing himself onto the rock, he looked down into the clearing. Julie, Michael and Haynes went down beside him. "Damn!"
      Dozens of Grunts were making their way across the clearing, backed up by three Wraiths. A phalanx of Elites followed, and, to Julie's horror, two pairs of Hunters.
      "Oh, God. We're screwed." Russo groaned.
      Julie had to agree. Though they may have originally had sixty people at this encampment, only forty were left following the continual Covenant attacks.
      "We have to get the hell out of here, and we have to go now." Russo said.
      "What are you talking about, Flight Officer?" Julie asked him.
      "There's a cave beneath the rocks. If we move now, I think we could get everybody down there before the Covenant reaches us. I'm not sure, but I think it comes out on the other side of the mountains. It'll take about an hour to get over there, and there had better be Pelicans over there." He said with a glance at Haynes.
      Even as he spoke, that initial round of Wraith fire hit the towering boulders above their position, shaking the ground.
      "Fine, but we'd better move now. Richardson, Russo find everybody you can, then get down there. Haynes, you're with me." Julie said. "Grab medical supplies, rations, water, but leave the machine gun turrets."
      The two men nodded and ran down the side of the massive boulder the four lay upon.
      "You." She said to Haynes. "Why the hell did you lie to that man?"
      "We have to maintain morale, Captain Waters. If we don't we may never find that data crystal."
      "You son of a bitch. Get on the horn to Walker; get me enough Pelicans to evac all of these people to Blue Horizon. Got it?" she said through gritted teeth.
      "Got it, ma'am." Julie passed Haynes a short wave wireless. She stood, and left him, running to join a group of Marine who were running towards the clump of boulders that Russo had said contained the tunnel.
      Haynes adjusted the frequency. "Haynes to Shenandoah, Haynes to Shenandoah."
      The radio crackled with static. Curie's soft feminine voice sounded. "This is Shenandoah what do you need Lieutenant?"
      "Give me a Pelican, ma'am."
      "One?"
      "Affirmative."
      "Understood."
      Haynes shut off the radio and ran to join Waters, who was standing with the rest of her reformed squad, helping the UNSC personnel run through the tunnel, which appeared to be nothing but a rocky burrow into the side of the mountain.
      "Come on, come on, get the lead out of your pants!" she shouted as he neared.
      "How many through so far?" he asked.
      "I count seventeen."
      At that moment, Richardson ran past them, leading a contingent of at least fifteen. Haynes made to follow them. Only to feel the barrel of a M90 pistol pressed into the back of his head.
      "You're not going anywhere, Lieutenant. Not until every last one of those people are through, do you hear me?"
      "Yes, ma'am."
      "Good, then stand back, and let these people through."
      Haynes turned around, to find Water's sidearm in his face. Haynes put his hands up and moved to the Captain's side as another round of Wraith fire turned the rock above them into slag.
      "Captain!" came Russo's cry.
      Waters turned towards the rocks where the main encampment had been located. Russo was indeed running towards them, helping injured Marines. Muniz and Singh were with him, assisting in carrying wounded people.
      And behind them were Chet Li and Lynette Davies.      And behind them was a ravenous horde of Grunts and that pair of hulking Hunters.
      There was no way that the only other members of her original squad besides Richardson were going to make it.
      Russo reached them first, then Muniz, then Singh, then the rest of the wounded Marines and those that had been guarding them.
      "Go, Haynes!" Waters shouted.
      The Navy Lieutenant didn't even bother pretending to be interested in Water's safety.
      Hefting her MA5B, Waters began to lay down cover fire, but it was of little use; the Grunts and Elites pouring through the gaps between the massive boulders were already reforming into a viable phalanx.
      Once they got it into their alien skulls to open fire on the two humans desperately trying to make it into a cluster of rocks, Li and Davies would be screwed.
      And Waters would lose two more friends.
      "Run!" she shouted. "Run!"
      It seemed both of her friends were only too happy to comply.
      And then she saw them. The Hunters. Standing behinds the company of Covenant troops. Their wrist mounted fuel rod cannons began to power up, glowing a mysterious, otherworldly green…
      They were about to fire.
      "Run!" Julie reaffirmed. "Please!"
      Lynette tripped. In a horrifying instant, Julie saw her friend's foot strike a rock. She saw the sniper tumble down. Li didn't see it. He kept on running. And by the time Lynette recovered, Li was too far away to help.
      Still, Lynette pulled herself up.
      She began to run for Julie's position.
      She didn't get very far before she fell again; her ankle had been twisted.
      Li reached Julie's position, and pelted into the tunnel. But Julie barely noticed him run past. She was way too focused on Lynette.
      Lynette looked up. Her eyes found Julie's. Lynette mouthed something, a look of pure, unadulterated fear on her face.
      "NO!" Julie called.
      The Hunters fired in unison.
      Two beams of radioactive green energy arced towards Lynette. Well, at least one did. The other was coming straight for Julie. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She felt that hand pull her into the cave.
      And the first beam hit Lynette.
      It tore up the ground, and Lynette seemed to hover there for a moment, her eyes directed upwards, as though praying for deliverance.
      And then she was gone; dissolved into green nothing.
      Then the second beam found its mark. The tunnel shook madly. There was a sudden roar as the roof of cave began to give way. Dust and rocks began to fall from the rough hewn ceiling.
      And for the second time that day, Julie's world went black.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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