Second Journey :: The Role

[one_one_se7en]

"Contacts. Stand by."

The Master Chief knew there were probably more than a hundred of them -- Motion sensors were off the scale. He wanted to see them for himself, though; his years made that lesson clear: 'Machines break. Eyes don't'.

The Spartans that composed his team for the moment covered his sides, each of them with varying patience inside their MJOLNIR suits of armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war gods in the armor... But his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than Homer's gods had ever been.

He snaked the fiber-optic probe up and over the three-meter-high stone ridge. When it was in place, the Master Chief linked it to his helmet's HUD. On the other side he saw a valley with eroded rock walls and a river meandering through it... And camped along the banks were hundreds of Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, and Elites, with a handful of pairs of Hunters around the camp.

The Master Chief detached the optics cable, and took a step back from the rock wall. He passed the tactical information along his companions over a secure COM channel. Like him, encased in battle armor easily weighting half a ton. All armed with energy shields protecting them from the plasma, enough speed not to be even noticed in the seconds they all ran exposed on the field, and enough strength to toss even the biggest Hunter among them.

"Are the mines set?"

This is what being a Spartan is like. When two of them against a almost a thousand of them are poor odds for their enemies.

Comments

[waterfell]

Years ago, before everything, she would have called herself human. She didn't know otherwise. Even when she became a senshi, she would have said she was Mama's daughter - she still does say that - and that she was born human, despite the unusual power she possesses.

Now, Ami is entirely untroubled by the label of inhuman. After all, whether as a soldier or a Spartan... she's better. She continues to ignore the whispers, as she's always done throughout her life ('snobby princess' 'only cares about studying' 'doesn't have any friends'), and pays attention to the situation in front of them instead.

Here, Ami is uncharacteristically quiet, content to watch and observe and learn, or perhaps still not ready to put her own reaction into words. The fall of a world, after all, is exactly what she has thrown away everything to prevent.

"In that case, what now?"

They're not going to leave it like this, surely?

[one_one_se7en]

The Master Chief's solid stance only breaks to look at his fellow Spartan. She was already familiar with destroyed worlds. But it wasn't until this moment when he saw it.

"Permission to stay on the bridge." He asks. "Sir... We need to see this."

The Captain hung his head.

"Very well, Spartans. After all you've been through to save Jericho Seven, we owe you that. We're only thirty million kilometers out-system, though. Not half as far as I'd like to be." He turned to face the Chief. "We'll stay to watch... But if those bastards so much as twitch in our direction, we're jumping the hell out of here."

The Spartan slowly nodded.

"Thank you, sir."

The ship's engines rumbled, and moved off. The Master Chief rose an arm to get Ami forward.

Three dozen Covenant ships -- big ones, destroyers, and cruisers -- winked into view in the system. They were sleek, looking more like sharks than starcraft. Their lateral lines brightened with plasma -- then discharged and rained fire upon Jericho VII.

The planet's lakes, rivers, and oceans vaporized. By tomorrow, the atmosphere would boil away, too. Fields and forests were glassy smooth and glowing red-hot patches. Where there had once been a paradise, only hell remained.

John continued to watch. He stood for as long, not moving a muscle.

[waterfell]

John earns a quick look, a movement of Ami's helmet before she turns to face whatever he's trying to show her.

This is different. This is not the searing white light of the ginzuishou, nor is it the blunt unmaking of Metalia, that carry everything into nothing. It is most like the explosive, unstable power of the malefic black crystal, turning the land it touches to death, a monolith to kill an entire planet.

And seeing it, and standing beside the Master Chief, she sees something else that will stay with her upon awaking: that humans, lacking power, have put their ingenuity into creating the Spartan project, the Mjolnir, and weapons capable of standing up to the force of other beings. Perhaps it is true that their short lives and hardships drive them on to great achievements. Perhaps they have always struggled to become better than they are. Perhaps she will understand them better.

Perhaps.

It doesn't require any effort to keep an impassive face behind her visor. No one looking could see it anyway. Even her stiff posture seems normal, here. Her head dips in a nod, mostly to herself as she steels herself to see the end. Finally, she turns back to her companion - comrade.

"I don't want to see this again," she says simply. It shouldn't happen again, is more nearly what she means.

[one_one_se7en]

John says nothing. He understands the meaning behind Ami's words. After his was, no human ever wanted to see this again. There had been years of this -- the vast network of human colonies whittled down to a handful of strongholds by a merciless, implacable enemy. The Spartans had killed the enemy on the ground -- shot them, stabbed them, and broken them with their own two hands.

The problem was, the Spartans couldn't take their fight into space. Every minor victory on the ground turned into a major defeat in orbit.

For all the brilliance humanity had, for its' victory against the Covenant, and for the creation of the Spartan Projects -and with it the power to stand even against gods-, it was a reality all too common among many worlds. Without anything to stop them, soon there would be no more colonies, no human settlements -- and nowhere left to run.

He motions Ami to walk out of the bridge. They had seen enough.

"Make ready to jump clear of the system."

The Captain ordered.

the jump out of the system might be a good wake-up stop point?

[waterfell]

A part of her has to wonder what truly drives humans to keep going against such odds. Pride? Stubbornness? Or the simple knowledge that there is no other option, because any other option is true defeat?

It's unthinkable to wait placidly for the end.

At John's signal, and once the order is given by the captain, Ami simply walks from the bridge shortly after her companion. Something, even here and even like this, tells her this is more personal, more striking, to him. She hesitates at first, but then a hand moves to rest on his shoulder. A wordless presence.

[one_one_se7en]

It was personal. He was promised to become the savior of the human race, but this was something he had seen to often. Reports of fleets annihilated followed by a searing of the planet's atmosphere. Mendez once told him long ago that a third option with fighting against an overpowering force was surrendering -- an option he quickly admitted was not for the likes of him nor of the Spartans.

Especially so against the Covenant. Especially so with what happened to Reach.

The Master Chief stops walking. Every Spartan motion inside of armor is deliberate. Intentional. His head turns to look at her as they exit the bridge, understanding the motion.

There are no motions of his armor. But that he stopped for her is the proof that he understands.

And thanks her for it.

The ship's engines rumbled, and the ship moved off.