Author's Note

Hello, everyone! SCPEquis and K00l here! You’ve probably never seen us start with an Author’s Note before, let alone write an Interlude chapter.

Hi! The extended period with no update is entirely my fault. We both are at work with the next lore-filled chapter, as well as the next chapter of “Ponies read the SCP Foundation Database” which is the story on SCPEquis’s profile that I encourage all of you to go read! With that said, I’m just not happy with how the next chapter of my fic is turning out. I know how I want it to play out, but I’m having difficulty putting what I want to say onto paper and making it look presentable. So this is a filler chapter to hopefully tie you guys over until the next chapter is done, as I don’t want to release it till it is as high quality as I want it. I really don’t want to give you guys a half-assed chapter, especially since the tea is being split into these chapters.

So without further adieu, let’s get into this. Enjoy the chapter, everyone!

War of Two Empires Arc IV: Semper Ad Meliora

Almost an hour had passed since the exploration team entered the crystal dungeon. Everyone who stayed behind was in the throne room, talking to each other. Except for one. Clara was staring down the dark abyss that led into the crystal dungeons. She could hear the others conversing around her as she just stood there alone. Her fellow Spartans were on her mind.

Ever since she was just a little girl in the Spartan-III program, Clara, along with Maverick and Kieran, were always close. After her real family was taken from her by the Covenant, those two, along with the fallen members of Zeta team, became her new family. She knew they were both capable on their own, but she never liked being away from either of them. It made her feel lonely, just like after her biological family died.

Her thoughts slowly subsided when she felt something bumping into her foot. Clara looked down and saw Flurry Heart poking her foot with her hooves. The baby alicorn did not understand why this human’s foot was covered in metal rather than leather, nor why it was taller than the others. The Lieutenant-Commander only watched her for a second, tilting her head to the side. Flurry then reared back on her hind legs and stomped her two front hooves down onto the Spartan’s foot, making a soft CLANG sound.

Clara couldn’t help but smile under her helmet, finding the alicorn filly’s curiosity adorable. She slung her weapon onto her back and slowly knelt down on one knee, causing Flurry Heart to look up at the Spartan-III’s head. Flurry’s eyes widened in amazement as she saw her reflection in Clara’s visor, the curved glass making her look a little silly. The baby Alicorn just giggled at her distorted reflection and raised onto her hind legs again, this time reaching out and placing a hoof on the visor.

Clara let out a soft chuckle at the Filly’s antics. Despite everything that happened during the past month, this was enough to bring a smile to her concealed face.

Deciding to allow eye contact, the Lieutenant Commander reached up and proceeded to slowly remove her CQB helmet. Flurry Heart got back on all fours in confusion, believing the metal human was taking its head off. Her gaze followed the maroon ‘head’ as it was set on the floor before looking back up at the Spartan again, then her eyes widened with amazement.

“Hello, little one,” Clara says with a gentle smile. Flurry Heart just giggles and smiles at seeing the human’s face—a smiling one, something the little princess recognizes. The Spartan continues to smile, offering no resistance as Flurry Heart gently places her tiny forehooves on her face, trying to suppress her laughter.

From the side, Clara notices four pink legs in golden horseshoes approaching her. She looks over and sees Princess Cadence approaching them. “Flurry Heart, sweetie. Don’t invade another’s personal space.” The pink alicorn speaks softly to her child as she picks her up in her magical aura.

“Oh, it’s okay, your majesty,” Clara says as she straightens her back. “She’s not bothering me one bit.”

“Are you sure? She has a habit of getting in some trouble,” Cadence asks with a wide smile. Clara is heard chuckling in response.

“Of course, she’s adorable. How can something that cute get into big trouble?” Clara joked as she got back on her feet.

“Oh, you have no idea.” Cadence smirks at the Spartan. “Would you like to hold her?”

“I… uh… I don’t know. I’ve never held a baby before.” Clara admits. Cadence gives her a raised eyebrow before looking down at Flurry Heart.

“Well… Would you like to try it for the first time?” Cadence asks while giving the Spartan a soft smile.

Clara looks at her hesitantly, wanting to but afraid to. Cadence sees her hesitation and chuckles lightly. “Here, cradle her like this.”

Clara watched as both of her arms were enveloped in a sky-blue aura, folding them into a cradle position. Flurry Heart was then lifted into the air and gently placed down into Clara’s arms. The Spartan’s eyes widened as she looked down at the infant pony princess in her arms, her jaw slightly agape at this new experience. Flurry Heart giggles and babbles as she looks up into the human’s face. At that moment, Clara began to smile. Her heart melted, and everything bad going on around her didn’t seem to matter. Such a simple act to her meant a lot, just to be gentle for a change.

Cadence watches with a warm smile on her face, seeing the tall, armored human holding her daughter carefully. Clara notices the pink alicorn looking at her and smiles back.

“Oh, I don’t believe I told you my name yet” Cadence spoke with a light chuckle and smile. “I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. But please call me Cadence. And this is my daughter, Princess Flurry Heart.”

Cadence gestured towards the little filly in Clara’s arm. The infant blew a raspberry as if in response to her own name. Clara let out a soft chuckle as she looked at the baby princess a bit longer before turning her gaze back to Cadence.

“It’s a pleasure, your highness.” Clara gave her a nod. “I am Lieutenant-Commander Spartan B-452. But you can call me Clara.”

Cadence smiled warmly at the young female spartan. She then glanced down at her Flurry heart, softening her eyes and smile to that of a motherly one. However, a single question was on her mind.

“This really is your first time holding an infant?” She asks quietly.

Clara looks over at Cadence, her smile slowly turning into a frown. “Yeah, it is. I’ve never been given the opportunity to hold one.” She answers truthfully.

Cadence began to frown as well, finding it sad that this was her first chance to experience something as simple as holding a baby.

“Why were you never given a chance to do so?” She asks, genuinely curious about Clara’s answer.

The female Spartan-III slowly looks away and back down at the still-babbling Flurry Heart. She thinks about her reply, and even though most of what she is about to say is classified, she has kept this secret for about seventeen years. But she feels the need to open up and get a lot of weight off her chest.

“I’ve been in the military since I was four.” At Clara’s confession, Cadence’s jaw practically hit the floor.

“You What!?” Cadence exclaimed loudly. “But, But why!? Why so young!?”

“I can’t tell you everything, your highness. It’s pretty classified.” Clara looked at the Princess, who stared at the Spartan in shock. “But I can tell you some of my experiences.”

Cadence nods in response before sitting down on the crystal floor, gesturing to the Spartan. Understanding what the gesture meant, Clara sat down in front of Cadence while being extra careful not to drop Flurry Heart, and making sure she kept her helmet next to her. Once she was situated, Clara began telling her story to the Princess of Love.

“I was born on a planet called Jericho VII. In 2535, just seventeen years ago, it was glassed by the Covenant. I was only four years old… and I was orphaned.” Clara paused before continuing. “Eventually, I was placed in the care of the UNSC, and they put me in the Spartan-III program; a top-secret project initiated for training, augmenting, and producing super soldiers like myself.”

Clara watched as the expression on Cadence’s face turned to a heartbroken one. Shocked to hear the young woman lost her family and home at such a young age before being put into a military program. “That’s how I grew up. I’ve been molded into the soldier you see now thanks to the UNSC, making me strong enough to fight back and give me and the rest of my brethren a chance at some vengeance.”

Clara’s expression hardened, her soft expression now turning into a glare. Flurry Heart, in her eyes, sees the facial change and begins to frown. Her playful babble now sounded more like upset whining.

“Oh my… I’m so sorry to hear that, dearie…” Cadence couldn’t even fathom the trauma Clara had to have gone through. “I didn’t know you were all alone growing up.”

“I never said that.” Clara looks back at Cadence. “I had Kieran and Maverick there with me.”

“The other two spartans?” Cadence asked to which Clara nodded in confirmation.

“We were part of a batch called Beta Company. We were assigned groups and that’s who we trained with. Kieran and Maverick were a part of my group, called Zeta…” Clara’s eyes went distant for a moment as she began to reminisce.

“There were three other kids with us, named Josiah, Angel, and Silas. In the Spartan-III program, all five of them were people I looked up to. After years of training, living, and surviving together…we all bonded. We became…our own family.” Clara’s smile returned as she spoke of her new family. “We were unstoppable once we knew we all had each other’s backs. We all relied on each other more than anyone else.”

Cadence smiled at that.

“Maverick was like the oldest brother, always leading and protecting us. Josiah was the second-in-command. He and Maverick shared a strong connection. In fact, they easily could have become headhunters.”

Cadence and Flurry Heart both stare at Clara, with the former giving a questionable look. Clara notices this and looks back at the princess. “Uh, Headhunters is a covert op group of Spartan-III squads created for carrying out special operations, Your Highness.”

Clara’s smile gets bigger the more she speaks.

“Angel, she was the only other female Spartan in Zeta team. She was like the big sister I never had, someone who I could speak to privately and share secrets with. Silas was the one who caused most of us to open up. Even during the worst moments of our lives, I never once saw him without a smile. Finally, there was Kieran. He was the second youngest in front of me. At first, he was mute and never spoke to us. But once he started trusting us, he would fight the entire Fleet of Particular Justice if either of us got hurt,” Clara half-joked at that last comment before her smile slowly started to fade again. “Then Reach happened…”

“I remember the lecture given to me about Reach…” Cadence says as she recalls the meeting on the bridge of the Ad Meliora when she first met the humans. “What happened?”

“We were planetside during the Winter Contingency. During the initial invasion, we all fought like…” Clara pauses and looks down at Flurry Heart. The Spartan chose to watch her language in front of the infant.

“Uh, like most of our brethren did at the start of the battle… But the turn of the war happened during the Siege of New Alexandria. That’s around the time the Covenant began showing up in massive numbers. We landed in New Alexandria and began saving civilians and pushing back the invading Covenant army.” Clara begins to feel her stomach clench as she continues her story.

New Alexandria, Reach, August 22, 2552, 1400 hours

Clara was hunkered down next to a few marines as plasma fired directly over their makeshift barriers. A few yards back, Maverick was peaking out to fire a few potshots with his DMR On the other side of the walkway, which connected two skyscrapers, was a pack of brutes firing red plasma rifles and spikers in their direction. Maverick speaks over the comms as he dips down below his barricade to speak into his comms.

“Kieran, we have them distracted. How close are you?” Maverick said as he placed his hand on the side of his Operator helmet.

“Coming up behind the bastards now.” Kieran’s voice came back loud and clear.

Clara looked up and peeked out from behind her barrier and saw Kieran sneaking up behind the brutes with a shotgun. Once close enough, he began opening fire, spraying red hot pellets into the backs of the vicious ape-like brutes. Many of the brutes begin turning around to deal with Kieran, and that’s when Clara stood up with her MA37 ICWS Assault Rifle and began to fire. With aid from Maverick, the three Spartans cut the squad of brutes down in a deadly crossfire. When the final Brute hit the ground, a small wave of relief washed over them.

Their second of relief was squashed when the sound of a devilish war cry broke the silence. Clara and the few marines with her turn to see a Brute Chieftain stand to full height and beat his chest with his fists. Kieran, being the closest took aim. But as he did, the Chieftain pulled his gravity hammer off his back.

“Kieran, fall back!” Shouted Maverick through his coms.

“I got ‘em! Don’t worry!” Kieran yells before pulling the trigger. His shot lit up the Chieftain’s shields as the beast charges him. He was able to fire one more shot before his gun ran dry, not being given the chance to reload. With the Chieftain’s shield still intact, he slammed his hammer down in front of Kieran, the shockwave knocking him quite a distance away and onto his back.

“You two, on me!” Clara shouts to the two marines with her as she gets up from her cover and runs to help out her fellow spartan. The two marines join her as they all open fire, causing the Chieftain to turn around. He snorts at their petty attempt and lifted his hammer.

Accepting their challenge, he charges towards them as well, lifting his hammer high. Clara and one of the Marines quickly combat roll out of the way. However, the second marine hesitates, and fumbles, just when the Chieftain brings his hammer down on top of him, killing him instantly. His shields light up from the side which then suddenly break. He turns to see the second marine fire her SMG at him. He growls and swings his hammer sideways, hitting the marine dead on, and launching her back and off the side of the skyscraper, as she then plummets towards the ground.

The Brute Chieftain cackles, enjoying the moment of his two kills. It was then he felt something very heavy jump on his back. Clara latched onto the Chieftain and put him in a chokehold. The Brute then began thrashing around like a bull trying to get Clara off. That was when the brute turned and was nailed in the gut by Maverick who shoulder-checked the brute hard. The Chieftain fell to his back, his full weight on top of Clara as she continued to choke him.

“Shoot this heavy son of a bitch!” She yelled out as Maverick drew his sidearm. He aimed it directly at the brute’s face and fired.

The beast suddenly goes limp, and without the thrashing, Clara finally pushed the corpse off of her with a sigh. Maverick offered her his hand which she gladly took. As she finally stood up, Kieran began approaching them with a slight limp. Maverick looks at him and roughly pokes him in the chest.

“Next time, listen to me if you don’t want the shit knocked out of you.” Maverick spoke sarcastically.

“If I had reloaded after sneaking up on the others, I would have put him down before he even got to me.” Kieran countered as he stretched out one of his shoulders.

“Where are the others, Mav?” Clara spoke as she looked to her commander.

“Josiah, Angel, and Silas are making their way towards us on the other side of the city. We are to meet up with them three clicks southeast.” Maverick informed his fellow Spartans.

“Let’s get moving then. You know the way, Mav.” Said Kieran as he placed his shotgun onto his back and replaced it with an MA37.

The group of three made it down to ground level and ran across the war-torn streets to meet up with a rendezvous with the rest of Zeta team. However, when the trio met up with the others near a water fountain, only two were there. The first Spartan had yellow armor with teal accents, consisting of a GUNGNIR helmet and a Hard Point/Parafoil chest piece. The second Spartan was female with orchid and steel accents. Her armor consisted of a Recon helmet with a Tactical/Recon chest piece.

“Angel, Silas, where the hell is Josiah?” Maverick pretty much demands.

“We came across a group of marines and civilians hunkering down in an office building roughly three miles that way,” Angel responds while pointing down the main road.

“What the hell is he doing over there?” The sound of agitation grew more distinct in Maverick’s voice.

“They were pinned down, we stopped and helped them clear out the wave of Covies pressing in. When there was an opening, Josiah ordered us to continue with the meet-up while he stayed behind in case another wave showed up.” Silas explains as he sits down on the water fountain. Maverick then crosses his arms. “Asked us as soon as we met you, to head back and give him some backup in protecting the civies.”

“He’s positioned at that office building way in the distance.” Angel points out the specific office building in the skyline. Maverick nods, acknowledging it before stating.

“And why was I not informed of this? Why didn’t you request backup from inside the office building?” Maverick questions as he crosses his arms.

Silas responds by pointing backward with his thumb. “Covies got a jammer set up in the New Alexandria Library. It’s literally between us and Josiah’s position. We peeked in; quite a bit of brutes alongside a pair of hunters guarding it.” He speaks nonchalantly. “Don’t think it’s that big of a challenge for a small group of Spartans to handle, aye commander?”

“No, don’t think it will be.” Maverick chuckles in response. “Alright, then that’s that. Let’s take out that jammer before making our way towards our lost brother-in-arms.”

“I got your back, Mav.” Kieran joins in by patting Maverick on his shoulder.

The group unsling their weapons and begins their trek toward the library. Seeing that their destination was only a mile away from their position, Angel suggested they commandeer a Covenant Shadow as they walked past one in the streets that seemed intact. Maverick agreed, and the rest of Zeta team hopped into the Shadow. Clara took the driver's seat while Kieran took the gunner's seat. The rest find a spot to sit and relax for a bit.

They made it in no time, as the library was only one mile away, and disembarked their vehicle. As they approach, they notice the destroyed entrance to the library and stacked up. Maverick peaks in and surveys the inside.

The library was a disaster, with books and electronics scattered everywhere. In the middle, a large machine made of three large cylinders emitted a blue light. He saw two hunters standing next to it guarding it, with at least ten or twelve brutes as backup. He chuckled, liking their odds.

“Alright, listen everyone. Me and Silas will start picking off the Brutes from a distance. Kieran, Clara, and Angel, you three take care of the hunters. Get in close and hit them from the back.” Maverick ordered. Kieran in response pulls his shotgun back out, preparing to charge back in.

Maverick and Silas stand at each end of the entrance, both picking a single target. Maverick with his DMR and Silas with his Sniper. They both fire at the same time, killing two brutes simultaneously. That was when the other three Spartans rush in, charging directly at the hunters who quickly notice them. While Maverick and Silas keep the Brutes distracted, the hunters aim their fuel rod cannons at the other three. As they fire their beams of plasma, the three split. Clara slides down towards the first hunter who charges to swing its metal arm at her when she quickly rolls.

Kieran easily got around the hunter who swung at Clara and shoved his shotgun into the mess of worms in the back. He fired three times, the pellets ripping apart the worms. The hunter fell down dead. The second hunter becomes enraged and turns to face both of them when Angel gets up behind it. The second hunter raises its cannon, ready to fire when Angel shoved a grenade into its back. She jumped out of the way as it exploded, blowing off all the metal plating in its back. The hunter roars out in agony as the combined fire of the three Spartans finally takes it down.

“Dumb pile of worms,” Kieran remarked as he crushed one under his big boot. Finally, the last shot of Maverick’s DMR indicated the last brute was taken care of. As he and Silas walk in, they survey their carnage.

“Outstanding Zeta, out-fucking-standing.” Maverick praised as he approached the communication jammer, holding a plasma grenade. With a quick toss, it sticks to the jammer.

Each spartan backs away as the grenade explodes, shredding the jammer into shrapnel. As soon as it was destroyed, Maverick placed his hand on the side of his helmet.

“This is Spartan Commander Maverick, you read me, Josiah?” Maverick asks, hoping to hear more than just static. As the distortion cleared up, finally a voice comes through.

“This is Spartan Josiah, about time Mav.” Came the cheerful voice of Zeta’s fellow spartan.

“Good to hear from you, brother. Where is your position?” Maverick asked, relieved to finally hear Josiah was alive.

“I’m still inside the office building. I’ve got about two to three dozen marines keeping me company. We could use a few more Spartans over here. We’ve got women and children hunkered down waiting for a proper escort.” Josiah replies. Maverick is about to respond when suddenly, the library begins to rumble and shake violently. Zeta squad stays on their feet but notices the rumbling.

“Whoa! The hell was that?” Asked Clara as she looked around herself.

“Felt like an earthquake.” Angel replies, which earns a scoff from Kieran.

“On this side of the planet? Unlikely.” Kieran was sure of himself.

“You guys felt that, right?” Came Josiah’s voice through the comms.

“Copy, we did,” Maverick replied before looking to the rest of his team. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“Mav!” Came the voice of Silas as he stood at the destroyed entrance of the library, looking outside and towards the sky. “…you gotta see this…”

The rest of Zeta made it to Silas’s position and looked up; what they saw horrified them. In the sky were a few Covenant Corvettes exiting slipspace. They hovered around the city as they began opening fire, striking many different buildings across the city. The destruction they wrought sent shockwaves all across the city. Phantoms could be seen approaching the city as well, sending in their full power to overtake the city.

“Back up!? The Covenant sent fucking back up!?” Shouted Clara as she hid behind one of the library’s walls to keep herself steady from the shockwaves.

“City’s been under siege for four days now! They must have grown impatient!” Replied Kieran who knelt down on one knee.

“Mav! Covenant at my position are falling back! What the hell is going on out there!?” Josiah radioed back, his voice full of urgency.

“Covenant Corvettes have just entered the city’s airspace!” Maverick shouted into his comms. “What do you mean they’re falling back!?”

“They are retreating! They could be possibly regrouping for a larger attack!” Josiah hypothesized as Maverick peeked back outside. Hovering almost directly above the office building where Josiah was stationed, he could see the massive craft powering up its plasma cannons again. Maverick feels his stomach clench as he puts two and two together.

“Josiah, get the fuck out of there now!” Maverick yelled into his comms.

“But sir, the civilians!” Josiah argued back. Maverick was about to respond when he literally watched the cannons fire.

“Josiah! Get out now, that’s an order!!!” Maverick began to panic

“Mav!? The fuck is… What’s that? Oh shit, Oh Shit OH SHIT!!! Everyone hit the dir—” Josiah’s comms are immediately cut when the plasma struck the building.

A loud thunderous boom was heard as the blue explosion rocked the building. It instantly began to crumble as it dispersed shockwaves of energy and dust in all directions. The energy dispersed was enough to knock a few of the Spartans off their feet. They duck back inside as the massive cloud of dust rushes past the library with winds as fast as hurricanes. Almost immediately, Maverick yelled into his comms.

“Josiah! Are you there!? Are you alright?”

Maverick waited for a response, but all that was heard was static. He waited a few seconds that felt like hours as he waited for a response. “Josiah! Come in, brother! I need to know if you’re alright!?”

He waited again, and by now, the others began to look towards Maverick, waiting to hear the voice of their teammate come through. The static from the radio, despite being quiet, was deafening as they all began fearing the worst.

“Josiah, answer me, goddammit!” Maverick’s voice hitched in his throat as no response came. “Josiah! Josiah! Respond, that’s a fucking order!”

“Mav!” Kieran was the first to speak up out of the others. Maverick turned to look at the white spartan who stood there looking at his commander. Kieran reached up and pulled off his EOD helmet, his face expression that of sadness. “…No one could have survived that…”

Maverick grew silent, as did the rest of Zeta, as the reality of the situation began to set in. No one, not even a Spartan, could have survived a building being dropped on them.

Cadence listened to Clara’s story, her jaw slightly gapped as she heard about how she lost someone very close to her. The Lieutenant-Commander was unable to look Cadence in the face, focusing on a single idle spot in the castle.

“Even after waiting for hours, we still never heard back from him, despite all of us praying he somehow survived that building collapsing… but we knew better. Instead of hanging onto a false hope we still had a job to do. We didn’t have time to properly grieve.” Clara spoke in a soft voice, trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

“…What happened next? Did you leave the city?” Cadence asked, wanting to know more.

“We made our way through the ruined city, picking off stragglers and rescuing stray civilians still in the city before finding a position to exfil… We stayed a few more days when backup arrived, hunkering down inside one of the burning buildings…”

New Alexandria, Reach, August 25, 2552, 2300 hours

The once beautiful and prosperous city of New Alexandria now laid in permanent fire. The orange flames were the only thing illuminating the city as night falls. Only the occasional blue beam of a Covenant glass beam interrupted the orange and black hue of the city. With 90% of the city either in ruin or under Covenant control, the rest of Zeta team were sweeping through one last segment to look for civilians before evacuating

Silas, the group Sniper, was the one taking point as he scanned their area, making sure it was safe. He signaled the rest with his hand to keep close as they hid amongst the shadows. They rounded a corner and quickly all dropped to a knee, forming a half circle around their commander.

“Where to next, Mav?” Asked Kieran, gripping his shotgun tightly.

“Covenant is all over the place. Not everyone has made it out yet. We are doing one final sweep of the grounds and then we are out of here.” Maverick ordered, his voice stoic.

“We are leaving just like that?” Questioned Angel as she looked at her fellow Spartan.

“This place is dead, Angel. Our business could be needed elsewhere—somewhere more important.” Maverick looks at her, his voice showing no sign of emotion.

“Our business is to the civilians, Maverick. We can’t leave till we are sure they are rescued.” Angel begins to argue, and it appears that Maverick is not in the mood for it.

“Can it now, Angel. This place is nothing but fire and hot metal. We can afford one last sweep and that’s final. We can’t afford to lose any more Spartans.” He sternly tells her as he stands up. “…And I’m not just referring to Josiah. You’ve all heard the reports; Spartans are dropping like flies here. We need to stay moving.”

Angel was visibly upset as her shoulder slumped. The group stood and began one final patrol for the night. The group grew silent, not saying another word to each other as they walked down the quiet empty streets. They came across a small courtyard with two apartment buildings facing each other. Zeta squad round the corner of one of the buildings and began scanning the area for contacts.

At first, it seemed to be all clear, however, Maverick scanned toward the second apartment building. A faint purple glow was visible. He didn’t think twice as he knew exactly what it was. He reached out and grabbed the Spartan in front of him, which happened to be Clara, by one of her pauldrons and pulled her backwards. Not but a second later was the shot of a single Subanese crystal fired, hitting the wall of the apartment building, right where Clara’s head would have been. After the first shot rang out, then a volley of plasma fire began to fire at them from the adjacent apartment building.

“Ambush! Get inside the building now!” Maverick shouted as he busted one of the windows and quickly jumped inside. The rest of Zeta followed suit, climbing inside the building as fast as they could.

The team kept their heads low, only peaking out to take a few potshots. Maverick and Silas, despite being the ones with sharpshooter weapons, had a hard time picking off targets with all the plasma flying over their heads. Silas, aimed his sniper carefully, looking towards the Jackal sniper on the third floor of the apartment across from them. He steadied his breathing before putting her down for good.

“Sniper down, but keep your heads low everyone. Don’t know how many jackal snipers they have targeting us.” Silas spoke to everyone through his comms so they could hear him over the gunfire.

“Roger. Keep picking them off, brother.” Kieran replied back, racking his shotgun.

“Hold on a second. You all hear that?” Came Angel's voice through the comms.

“Hear what? I can’t hear shit over the gunfire.” Maverick answered back. He lowered his weapon and began to focus on all the noises around him, trying to pinpoint what exactly Angel was hearing. Through the explosions and plasma zipping past, a faint noise could be heard, it sounded like, crying. More specifically, a child crying. “Hold on, I think I do hear it.”

“It’s a child. There is a child out there.” Angel’s voice became hardened. “I’m going out there.”

“The hell you are! Silas hasn’t given the green light yet! Stay put till it’s safe enough to attempt a rescue.” Maverick ordered through his comms, but Angel wasn’t having any of it.

“Negative, Mav. That kid could be killed before Silas is sure it’s safe. I cannot allow that kid to be killed.” Angel was adamant, she wasn’t going to just sit there and have another young innocent life to be taken by the Covenant. Angel could be seen standing up and diving outside from her cover.

“Angel! God dammit, get back here! That’s an order!” Maverick shouted loudly into the coms, however, Angel did not respond. He peaks out and sees her darting from different abandoned vehicles in the street in an attempt to locate the child. “Fuck! Covering fire!”

Hearing their commander’s orders, whether it was safe or not from potential snipers, the rest of Zeta squad peek out from their cover to send back a barrage of bullets at their attackers. Unable to confirm or not they were hitting the enemy due to the darkened view of midnight.

Angel, however, did not care if she was in danger, she could hear the cries of the child getting louder and louder as she cautiously made her way through the street. She hunkered down near a destroyed civilian vehicle, her hands gripping her SMG tightly. She determined the direction of the crying and could see a small overturned newspaper kiosk from her position. It was on the side of the street where the Covenant hid, but she had to risk it. She lets out a long breath before counting to three and then darting out of cover.

She ran as fast as she could, plasma, needles, and bullets flying past her as she ran in between the two sides of gunfire. In her peripherals, Angel could see a plasma grenade being thrown at her, to which she combat rolled to avoid it. The grenade landed, just barely missing her. She got back to her feet and quickly ran out of the blast radius. She made it to the kiosk, baseball-sliding down into one knee as she then began to lift up the metal frame.

“Mav! Zealot near Angel!” Silas yelled through the coms.

Maverick focused his rifle toward Angel’s position and could see a massive elite sneaking up on her. He goes to pull the trigger… nothing. His eyes widened upon realizing he was out of ammo, looking down at the ammo counter to see the number zero.

“Angel! Get down!” Maverick yelled in vain through the comms.

Angel, not paying attention, lifted up the Kiosk to see if there was a child hidden underneath. She looked… and saw nothing. Her heart then skipped a beat upon hearing the sound of an energy blade igniting behind her. It was a trap. She had no time to react when the blade was quickly thrusted into her back.

Her scream echoed between the two buildings as she was lifted into the air by the blade, the two ends sticking right out of her chest. She then felt the Elite grab her by the back of the neck, and pull her off his blade. He threw her down to the pavement below. She landed on her stomach before feeling the elite’s boot kick her onto her back. She looked up and saw a hulking Elite in golden armor. His helmet being rather large indicating he was no ordinary Zealot. He was about to thrust the blade into her again when she watched a dark mass shoulder-slammed him from the side.

Angel looked over and saw that Maverick had pushed the Elite away from her. She had a hard time focusing on him when she felt a pair of hands reach under her, grabbing both of her upper arms. She looked again to see Clara, pulling her away from the Kiosk.

“I got you, sister. Stay strong.” Clara’s voice spoke softly as she began to pull Angel back towards their side of the street.

Maverick eventually gets to his feet, and so does the Elite. Maverick pulls out his knife as the Elite points his energy sword at him.

“Today, I kill two demons.” The Elite growled. “What was it you humans say? Two birds with one stone?”

Maverick remains unphased, only lowering down into a fighting stance. The Zealot was the one who took the first move, stepping forward and swinging his sword downward. Maverick easily sidesteps and tries for a quick stab. The Elite blocks with his free hand and goes in for his own stab that just barely misses Maverick’s abdomen. With how close the Elite is now, Maverick delivers a hard uppercut to the Elite’s head, his punch only staggering him for a moment.

Angel is pulled back inside the apartment where both Clara and Kieran kneel down next to her. Clara takes off Angel’s helmet for her, then uses it for her to rest her head. A thin line of blood leaks from her mouth as she looks up at her fellow Spartans, her family. She felt Clara grasping her hand, but she could feel her own hand getting numb.

“We got you, Angel. You’re going to be okay.” Clara spoke as calmly as she could, trying to reassure Angel, and mostly herself, that she was fine. But Clara could feel Angel’s grip weakening as they held hands. Clara looked down at their hands gripping each other before looking back to Angel, looking at her face. She could see tears forming in Angel’s blue eyes. She blinked, causing them to run down the sides of her head.

“…I’m… sorry…” Was all Angel had the strength to say, her voice raspy and hoarse. Clara feels her stomach clench as her own tears form from behind her helmet.

“Angel, You’re going to be fine. Don’t… please don’t…” Clara croaks out before feeling a hand being put on her shoulder. She looks to the side to see Kieran had placed his hand there. He looks at her, signifying there was nothing they could do. Clara looks back down at her injured teammate, knowing the only thing they could do, is just be there for her.

Another fast and violent swing from the Elite nearly slices Maverick as he is quick on his feet. He tries to stab the Elite again, but the Elite uses his sword to cut the knife, rendering it useless. Maverick looks down at his destroyed knife before looking back up at the elite. He was unable to avoid a massive kick from the alien that was dead center on his chest. It knocks him back quite a distance as he lands on his back.

He sits up and gets a quick glance of where he is, the elite had knocked him on the side of the street where the Covenant was taking cover from. Seeing how he was now on the enemy’s side of the street he had to think fast. He sees a grunt hiding behind concrete debris, and then looking over, he sees the Elite slowly approaching him, taking his time to savor his kill. He had an idea. He stays on his back as the elite seems to stalk his prey. The Elite gets right over the top of him, and pulls back his sword, moments before plunging it into Maverick’s chest.

He thrusts and Maverick rolls to the side, the sword stabbing into the asphalt, the elite is momentarily shocked as he regains his focus, only to be met with the Spartan’s foot to the face that knocks him back a bit. Maverick rolls to the side where the grunt was, the alien looking at him and squealing in fear. Maverick draws his side arm and sends a hot bullet into his head. The grunt falls over lifeless, allowing Maverick to pick up its plasma pistol. He aims it at the Elite and begins charging his shot.

On the other side of the street, Silas watches the fight through the scope of his sniper. He notices how badly disadvantaged Maverick is and knows he needs help. He aims his sniper and decides to give Maverick an edge in the fight. He fires his sniper which connects to the Elite, the bullet only doing enough damage to destroy the Elite’s shields. The Elite stumbles from the impact, and Maverick, caught off guard by the help from Silas, lets go of the trigger. A charged-up shot from the plasma pistol strikes the elite on the side of his face. Instantly the elite covered his face with his hand and yelled out a mighty howl of pain. He falls to the ground, and onto his back, his pained scream catching the attention of his fellow Covenant, who now begin to open fire at Maverick to save their zealot.

Outnumbered, Maverick darts over to the other side of the street where the rest of Zeta hid, weaving back and forth to try and be a harder target to hit, he eventually dove through one of the windows of the apartment. He stays down low under the window as the shots hit the side of the building. However, eventually, the shots begin to subside, till the Covenant ceases fire all together. He peeks out and can no longer see any Covenant returning fire.

“Cowards! They’re retreating!” Maverick stands up and discards the pistol he picked up and takes his DMR he left behind to challenge the elite. “Prepare to move Zeta, we can’t allow that Zealot to escape. We need to put him down…”

Maverick’s voice slowly trails off when he notices the rest of his teammates were not listening to him, all three kneeling down around their companion. Maverick steps forward and looks down, seeing the still, motionless features of Angel’s face, whose eyes were open, but unable to see.

By now, Cadence has tears in her eyes as she listens to Clara, staying beside her teammate as she passes. Clara herself has yet to shed a tear, forcing herself not to show weakness. She looks to Cadence as she continues her story.

“By then, Maverick decided we all had had enough, and called for an evac using a flare. We brought Angel’s body with us as we left the city. We only had a few days to rest before we were given one final order, one to retreat. A full retreat from the whole planet was ordered. We were to head off the planet with a majority of the survivors when we received orders to meet up with a convoy that would take us to one of two sister ships. One being the Pillar of Autumn. The second being…”

“The Ad Meliora…” Cadence finished for Clara, understanding where this story was going. Clara nods her head in response.

“Apparently, a priority-one package was being taken to the Autumn, while the Ad Meliora would be it’s protector, help fight off any Covenant that would follow it. That WAS the plan at least. However, attacks from the Covenant quickly changed things…”

15 miles from Asźod shipyard, Reach, August 30, 2552, 1100 hours

A small convoy consisting of a few dozen warthogs and pelicans drove through the rough terrain outside of Asźod. They only had a few hours to make it to their destination before the scheduled launch. Clara was driving a transport hog with Maverick in the passenger seat, with Kieran and Silas sitting in the back. Clara looks to her Commander before speaking.

“Which ship are we heading to again, Commander?” She asked in a loud voice to be heard over the warthog’s engine.

“We are to embark on the Ad Meliora; the protector ship. Our job is to make sure the Pillar of Autumn leaves safely and with an escort. I don’t know fully what is so important on that ship, but we are going to be its mother hen.” Maverick responds loud enough that everyone can hear him.

“So, if the Covenant follows it, our job is to fade the heat.” Asked Kieran.

“Correct. The package cannot fall into Covenant hands and it’s too important to have it self-destruct. So the double layer of protection is necessary.” Maverick responded. The convoy was heading directly for an opening in rocky mountainous terrain. Maverick sits back as they begin their passage through it.

“On the other side of this mountain, we should be able to see both ships docked.” Maverick relaxes as the rest of the ride should be easy. As they approach the other side, however, it would be anything more than relaxing. As they exit, their stomachs clench upon seeing the two ships docked with a large Covenant Assault cruiser hovering in the sky. Multiple phantoms in the sky heading right for the convoy.

“Fuck! Alright Zeta, Scratch that. We may be fighting our way to the ship!” Maverick pulls back the slider of his DMR to chamber a round. A volley of plasma fire comes from the phantoms as they fire at the convoy, The armed vehicles steadily return fire to try and keep themselves alive. Clara swerves from side to side as she avoids the large plasma mortars firing from the phantoms. Though try as she might, the warthog in front of her is struck and instantly explodes into a giant fireball. There was no room for maneuver, as she slammed into the destroyed frame of the warthog in front of her.

The warthog flips and Zeta team spills out of the vehicle, rolling in the dirt. They groggily get to their hands and knees when one of the phantoms stalls and releases its passengers through its grav lift. A squad of grunts, jackals and a few elites. However, as Maverick stands, he sees one elite exit the grav lift. His golden armor—it looked familiar. As the Zealot turns its angry glare at the spartan Commander, it reveals a massive burn on the side of his face, it’s eye clearly damaged as well.

Maverick feels his blood boil as he recognizes the Elite as the same one who killed Angel.

“Open fire!” Maverick ordered as he began to fire at the elite. The Covenant return fire, causing the Spartans to hide behind their flipped Warthog. While Kieran and Clara peek out to return fire, Maverick speaks into his comms.

“This is Spartan Commander A-776! I need a pickup from any available falcons or pelicans still in the sky!” He radioed, to which he got a quick response.

“Roger that, Commander! This is ODST Master Sergeant Eric Torne of Whiskey-7! Me and my squad are in a pelican two klicks from your location heading towards the Asźod Shipyard. We can give you a lift, just give us five minutes!” Came the voice of a soldier with a Southern accent.

“Hear you loud and clear, sergeant. Prepare for a hot landing!”

Maverick removes his hand from his helmet to peek back out and open fire again. From his position, he sees the Elite Zealot pull a large weapon off his back and aim it at the overturned warthog. Maverick recognizes it and his gut clenches.

“Fuel rod cannon! Move, Zeta!” He orders as he dove away from the warthog. The rest of the squad does the same just before the elite fires and hits the warthog. It explodes, sending debris in all directions.

Silas felt the brunt end of the explosion, being knocked the furthest away. His ears ring and his vision blurs as he struggles to get to his feet. He is soon lit up with a barrage of plasma fire.

He picks up his sniper and returns fire, but his shields break and he catches the full brunt of the plasma. It strikes his armor and begins to burn through, he takes a few steps back as he is hit multiple times, before collapsing onto his back.

“Silas!” Came Maverick’s voice as he along with Kieran and Clara opened fire once again. They sprint towards their fallen brother as they return fire. Maverick quickly kneels in front of Silas to protect him from any more returning plasma shots. They could smell the plasma burning through Silas’s armor and into his flesh.

“Just hold out a few more minutes, Zeta! A pelican’s coming!” Maverick shouted over the gunfire.

“They won’t be able to land unless we deal with all the hostiles!” Kieran responded, yelling just as loud.

“Fuck! I’m out of ammo!” Clara begins to panic as she tosses her now useless rifle to the side.

Silas is heard removing his helmet, as he painfully sits up into a sitting position, grunting from the pain.

“When the pelican gets here… you three go. I’ll give you covering fire.” Silas speaks between his pained groans.

“You are bat shit insane if you think we are leaving you here!” Kieran growled to his injured brother.

“You have to… My shields are fried… They can’t recharge. I won’t make it two steps without getting shot again.” Silas argued.

“Then we’ll carry you!” Clara responded.

“And get yourselves killed? I won’t have it.” Silas coughed as he slammed a new mag into his sniper. “As long as you three make it safely, I won’t have any regrets.”

“We can’t leave you, brother! I refuse to let another Spartan die!” Maverick turned and glared at Silas. In turn, Silas smiled, and began to chuckle despite the situation.

“Don’t you remember, Mav? We Spartans don’t die… We’re just MIA.” Silas jokes, his smile being reflected in Maverick’s visor as the three grow quiet. It was then the pelican flew overhead, it stalled in the air before gently landing at the safest spot which was 50 yards from their position. “Now go, Mav… I’ve made my peace.”

Maverick continues to look down at his fellow spartan, his armor severely damaged and blood beginning to ooze from his burns. He feels his throat tighten as he makes the most difficult decision of his life.

“Zeta! Move, on the double!” Maverick orders as he, Clara, and Kieran stand and sprint towards the Pelican.

The hatch opens and a few ODSTs step out to provide covering fire. Silas aims his Sniper from the ground at one of the elites and fires; head shot. He fires again, another headshot. The Covenant squad hunkers down under any cover they could find as they were caught in a crossfire. The Zealot pops his head out and sees the Spartans make it aboard the ship. He growls before aiming his fuel rod cannon at the pelican.

“All aboard! Adam, get us out of here!” The ODST sergeant yells.

The pelican kicks off the ground and begins its ascent upwards. The Zealot fires the cannon, it’s shot just barely missing one of the turbine engines. He snarls in anger, his chance to bring them down now missed as the pelican flies up into the air. Maverick stands at the opened hatch as he watches the same Zealot ignite his energy sword and approach Silas who stays on the ground. His heart shatters as he watches the Elite stab his injured brother.

“…Fucking monster…” Kieran’s voice was shaken as he, along with Clara, watched him kill their fellow teammate.

“If it takes a hundred years from now… I will make sure I put that Zealot down for good.” Maverick hardens his voice as the Pelican hatch finally begins to close.

Clara does not add any more to her story. She just stares down at the floor, allowing her tears to flow down her cheeks as she sniffs.

Noticing the Spartan-III’s sadness, and feeling saddened by her story, Cadence moves closer and places a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Noticing her mother’s actions, Flurry Heart trots up to Clara and places her forelegs around the human’s leg, giving a few quiet babbles. While Baby Flurry did not hear and understand most of the story, she could sense something was upsetting the armored human and wanted to comfort her too.

“…Clara…I’m so sorry.” Cadence’s voice trembles as Clara wraps up her story.

“…it’s okay, your majesty… Your empathy means more than you understand.” Clara smiles at her despite her own tears now running down her face. She looks down at Flurry Heart and adds, “You too, little one.”

Flurry Heart smiles at Clara, who turns back to Cadence. “Me, Mav, and Kieran have all been through a lot. But… We three are still alive, and we won’t stop fighting.”

They both look down the hole in the throne room again, as their emotions are still at an all-time high.

“How did you three finally make it off the planet?” Cadence asks, though she already has an idea of how they escaped.

“The Covenant was closing in tighter by the minute. Out of fear of being overrun, The Ad Meliora launched first, hoping to meet up with the Pillar of Autumn in orbit. However, the priority one package was held up, and took longer to reach the Autumn than expected. The Ad Meliora was left alone with Covenant ships surrounding it, so our captain had no choice but to leave and abandon the planet. As it was to follow the Autumn, we had no destination to flee to… so we made a random jump. That’s how we ended up on your world.”

Clara looks back at the pink Alicorn who was looking back at her. Cadence gives a quick nod to Clara’s story.

“I appreciate you opening up to me, Clara. That had to have been hard for you to talk about.” Cadence speaks softly as she looks at the Spartan. Clara surprisingly continues to smile despite her tears.

“To be honest, I feel… more relaxed,” Clara admits. “I guess I just needed someone to talk to about my family.”

Reaching into one of her armor’s storage compartments, Clara pulls out a holo-still and turns it on. The image being displayed features Clara, Maverick, Josiah, Silas, Kieran, and Angel posing for the photo. It was taken prior to their augmentations, so they had no armor or helmets covering their faces. Angel and Clara were on the left side of the group, their arms wrapped around one another, and smiling. Kieran was sitting down on the far left, smiling as he faced the image. Maverick and Josiah were standing in the center, and Silas was kneeling in between them. She gives the photo a smile, though her wounded heart missed her fellow teammates who had fallen in battle.

Khota watches as his forces push past the barrier in greater numbers. The line of UNSC and Equis’s forces finally hit their breaking point and fell back towards the Crystal City. The massive elite smirking, chuckling to himself as he fantasizes about his upcoming victory. To his right, his second-in-command, N’Thoka approaches.

“We have broken through the heathen’s defenses. They are in full retreat to their city.” N’Thoka informed his shipmaster.

“Good.” Khota turned to look at N’Thoka with his good eye. “Chase them and kill any soldier you come across. As for the Civilians, leave them for Sombra.”

The Zealot nods before backing away to inform the invading armies of their newest set of commands. Khota crossed his arms and began chuckling again.

“Tis a glorious day, I get to find out what’s in that Forerunner chamber, and I take control of another city on this planet. Two birds…with one stone.” Khota continues to smirk.