Chapter Text
It is the 26th Century.
We live in a dark chapter in humanity's history. For almost four decades, we fought a never-ending war against not just aliens seeking to exterminate us out of religious fanaticism, but also against our own people. Even after the war against the alien menace is over, there are still fighting left to be done.
...And we are the ones to do this task.
Two years ago, I heard news that a rampant AI had corralled a third of our Artificial Intelligences and revolted against us, subjugating our worlds, including my own. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and millions more without power and under fear of persecution by these rogue intelligences.
Luckily, the revolt ended as soon as it truly began. The AI that started the revolt, Cortana, seemingly gave her life to deny a Halo ring from a Covenant splinter faction. After this, while our comrades far from home are dealing with external threats, I was assigned to deal with internal issues under orders from the Office of Naval Intelligence.
As shady as the organization might have looked, at least the ONI, which my life is centered around, is very kind to me. However, in recent years, I may have learned too much during my tour at Zeta Halo, and now they want me to be captured or, worse, dead.
With ONI torn to its very roots, it is up to us to take control and hopefully steer humanity to the right path. Hopefully.
But this is not just a story of this universe, no. This is a story of my adventures. Adventure is my life. And to spend this life is to enjoy it while it lasts.
I am Yamaguchi Hitoshi, newly appointed captain of Spartan Fireteam Flower, and this is my story.
Canberra, Oceania District, Earth.
December 24, 2560.
Yamaguchi Hitoshi wants nothing more than to be free, if she's not already free enough. More than that, she wants to leave behind a legacy, a legacy that's far more impactful than something simple like raising a family or contributing heavily to society. Either way, those are the two things she seeks, but one of which is overly far-fetched given the current circumstances.
All of it feels like a dream and a nightmare in one. She knew things that she shouldn't know, fought enemies that made her want to erase any thought of them from her mind, and now a large part of the very organization she grew up with for years is setting its sights on her.
Watching the Australian sunset from the rooftop of the Canberra Police Department Building, she contemplated everything that had happened in the past three years. She thought of many pleasant and unpleasant things that had happened in those turbulent times. It gives her the chills in her spine.
Looking beside her, sits her blue-haired sister, two years younger than Yamaguchi. She's just as motivated as she is for an adventure. The siblings are a very ecstatic bunch when it comes to the thrill of the action, but when they get serious, they matter to each other as much as the whole world matters to them. There's no better camaraderie than sibling love, as weird as it sounds. Pushing that train of thought out of her mind, she turned towards her sister, whose blue eyes still gazed towards the setting sun.
"Hey, Rishikaze-chan?"
The addition of a Japanese honorific caught her attention. "What... can you please stop calling me with an honorific, Yamaguchi-sama?"
The magenta-haired older sister felt awkward from the response, but she overcame it with a proper retort. "Well, now we're even," she smiled at her, and she chuckled back. Just a normal sibling interaction, it seems like... Until she heard a slight growl in Yamaguchi's stomach.
"I'm hungry."
Rishikaze chuckled again, her voice getting softer. "First time having the older sister get hungry first. Wanna get down to eat?"
she nodded back to her, to which Rishikaze replied, "Great!"
In an instant, they quickly stood up with the wind blowing through her hair, a breath of fresh air cleaned the older sibling's mind of any distraction as they went down to the ground floor of the building, walking down through a spiral staircase, since the entire city is currently under a week-long power blackout, and so the elevator is unusable.
Walking down the stairs isn't what she would call an exercise, though, being a 6-and-a-half-foot-tall armored giant with state-of-the-art technology embedded into the skinsuit that holds her GEN3 MJOLNIR together, it's ironic that she would think that way.
When they reached the ground floor of the building, they turned straight for the hallway that leads to the entrance, where their Spartan fireteam is encamped. A middle-aged woman, who looks like she's a decade younger than she actually is, stands by the makeshift table assembled for the two, which is nothing more than a couple of boxes.
"Ah, Mom. What's the dinner for today?" Rishikaze spoke in a broken American accent. While the sisters are of Japanese descent, centuries of intermingling between cultures have led to wild personalities being made. Yamaguchi's sister is one such example.
"We cooked some of your favorite ramen with you." Their mother spoke in a flat tone. It may cause others to look at her with concern, but to the sisters, that's just who she is. After all, she has seen so much carnage over the past 30 years of her life that it's hard to lighten her mood.
The only times when she expressed such positive emotions were when she took care of her daughters, Yamaguchi and Rishikaze. Whenever they are mentioned in a conversation, she always has a slight smile in her face. Or at least that's what her colleagues say.
It is always nice to feel comfort in a world where everything seems to fall apart. It is a lesson the siblings would always consider.
"Really? Thanks, Mom." Yamaguchi began to smile as she walked towards a table near the counter. Using a chair she took nearby, she and her sister sat down and, without any chopsticks, resorted to using forks and steadily devoured their meals. Ramen is not our only favorite food, but since supplies in this city are scarce, that is our only solution to a female Spartan's growling stomach.
Once they finished their meals, Mrs. Hitoshi's agents quickly cleaned the table of utensils and disposed of them nearby. After this, the Spartans waited for a moment before they heard a greeting from a familiar face.
"Hey hey! Yamaguchi!"
"Cassidy?" Yamaguchi asked. "Are we set to go now?"
Cassidy shook her head. "Nope, I just wanna see you guys. Mission will start the next day, tho." Yamaguchi copied her gesture in turn. Another Spartan, part of the same batch as herself, is a childhood friend, though she lives in another city in the same colony, her ancestry instead traced back to the first Lunar settlers of the early 2100s.
Like the Hitoshis, she has quite a history.
"Howdy." An adolescent Spartan waved at her with a stone-faced expression. His name is Charles Oliver Jr. He's an excellent driver, but he's still working to learn how to fly a starship.
"Oli, have you prepared our Warthogs yet?" She asked.
"Good as new, boss." Oliver nodded.
She nodded back to acknowledge his answer. "How about our Falcons?" His expression changed slightly, but his answer was no doubt positive.
"They're already fueled and loaded. Ellis and Klara are waiting nearby. Just want to point that out." Oliver said as he walked past his leader, Yamaguchi.
Although Yamaguchi is very carefree outside of combat, her mood swings into a cold sense of duty whenever she is assigned to a mission. Her mother had taught her how to control and balance these emotions.
There is no time for respite. The mission will start the very next day, and everyone, including the Spartans, is itching for all this chaos to end. Yamaguchi herself cannot help but feel important whenever these kinds of things happen. Pushing that thought away, she begins following her fellow teammates towards the front courtyard of the police center along the path towards the gates, where, beyond that, their rides are being maintained.
It won't take long before the crux of the operation begins.
CDP Helipad 04
The faction of ONI agents loyal to Mrs. Hitoshi is busy preparing their vehicles for the operation set to begin the next day. weapon racks and magazines are being refilled by mechanics, with electrical systems, fuel, and most of all, manpower, being gathered and replenished. A culmination of a week's hard work of securing Canberra from the main ONI faction under Serin Osman's leadership.
Yamaguchi, accompanied by her fireteam, reached the landing pads, where the rest of her squadmates stood by to wait for further orders. As a personal routine done before battle, she mentally recounts her teammates' unique perks, as while both she and Rishikaze are jack-of-all-trades commanders, her friends are more specialized. That way, she can adjust her tactics more efficiently to get which Spartans to go against which enemy at a specific spot.
Leoben Podzinskiy is a marksman, a talented one in fact. The reason he chose this role is odd, since he did not really interact with anyone that much compared to the other Spartans, which is ironic considering that he is consulting with the higher-ups a lot.
Charles Oliver Jr. is a born driver, and there is not much to say about anything important about him, except for the fact that he's smart but can drive better than most Spartans.
Klara Radzinska is a melee monster, and is yet to adapt to ranged weapons given enough time, a time which she did not bother to use at the moment.
Ellis Vagner, although being the youngest of the bunch, can pack a more-than-average punch against her foes, in both mass and firepower.
And lastly, Cassidy Preston, a charismatic and very adaptable girl like her commander, is able to coordinate her team's logistics and ensure longevity for the team outside of combat.
Fireteam Flower is a family, not a squad. And sometimes nothing is stronger than family. It will be a saying that will be repeated for the rest of their lives.
The team gathered at the landing pad, all ready, making final preparations. All weapons were given their final tune-ins and check-ups, their GEN3 MJOLNIR Mk. VII armor (only Yamaguchi has a Mk. VI helmet to make her look like the Master Chief), cleaned and customized for urban warfare. Yamaguchi herself walks towards them to give a final speech, because this mission will decide the fate of the United Earth Government, the UNSC, and the humanity she fought to protect. Although she was not good at being formal with anything, she makes up for it with some casual lightheartedness.
"Well, I know you all have been through a lot, trust me, I had that feeling." Yamaguchi laid her eyes on each of her teammates and their auxiliaries, breathing heavily, lasting for a few seconds to make up any words worthy enough to come out of her mouth. "But today, we're going to end this once and for all. I think it is time for us we take center stage and take back what was ours, our lives, our freedom. I knew something like this would happen ever since those incidents, like Mr. Giraud. I'm glad that we're ready for this. Tomorrow, we're taking the UNSC-no... humanity, back. Understood?"
All of Yamaguchi's teammates nodded. It seems that everyone else has accepted the reality, the present circumstances, and the future they are preparing for. No shouts, no war cries, only cold silence and looks of determination.
Yamaguchi smiled. "Let's go."
Her words couldn't come at a better time, as her mother's strike force is now preparing for a sortie. Various armored vehicles, mainly Warthogs, Scorpions, and some self-propelled artillery, are departing the building's large parking lots one by one. Only the aerial contingent, of which Flower is a part, remained, ready to depart.
All seven next-generation Spartans boarded their Falcons and, with a gesture from Yamaguchi to the pilot of the adjacent copter, the strike team lifts off from the helipads, rotors spinning and thrusters firing, heading directly to what remains of Sydney. How long they will take to go there is irrelevant at this point.
This is a coup on a level never seen before in human history. Though the main part of the operation is under Mrs. Hitoshi's command, other units from different branches of the military took matters into their own hands to end the chaos. This is no longer a coup anymore; this is a full-scale rebellion.
The next 24 hours will decide humanity's fate.
6:00 AM
December 25, 2560
The roars of spinning rotor blades and the sound of vehicle engines in the sky and on the roads, respectively, drew very little attention. The entire Australian coast is desolate, homes are abandoned, and the only people still present are professionals: firefighters, police officers, and first response teams.
The sun is beginning to rise on the coast, the sky turned into a golden orange view, and the water even reflects it to give a beautiful glowing look. It's the first time Yamaguchi has viewed such a sunset before in her life. And viewing it from the Falcon's passenger seat amplifies the experience.
This beauty is a reminder that all is not yet lost for mankind. Earth, despite its flaws, is a wonderful planet. Although it is not her home, she is proud to serve her and her colonies, or... what remains of it.
She looks to the other side of the helicopter, taking a glance at the horizon to see Sydney, and to be honest, it has seen better days. She has heard what Cortana's Guardians did to that city, but it was multitudes worse than she could anticipate.
The destruction became more apparent as our convoy went into the city. Its outer region lies in ruins, the metropolitan area is essentially scorched to the ground, leaving only a few high-rises standing, yet in bad condition. The UNSC Plateau, a Strident-class Frigate, lay to rest among the post-apocalyptic urban landscape. UNSC HQ is utterly vaporized, leaving only a water-filled crater in its wake. But that specific location isn't where they're going today.
As far as she can recall from the briefings, UNSC HQ, formally known as HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, can be accessed from different parts of the city via ONI's underground access networks. If anyone's still alive, if they can assume they are, they will expect some form of resistance.
The facility had been abandoned for less than a year now. Much of HIGHCOM, including Osman, has fled to God-knows where, but now she's back. Every time she thinks about that snarking bastard of a woman, she can barely resist wanting to punch her in the face for keeping a lot of things from not just her, but from humanity, secrets that must be needed to go public to ensure its survival as a species. All they have to do is clean up the rest and take the reins.
They landed on an open plaza right next to an intersection on a major road. All of my team disembarked with our equipment. Mrs. Hitoshi, however, will land in a different location with her entourage of ONI officials.
Thankfully, she is able to ensure that their objectives will be clear for Flower's insertion. Speaking through the intercom, she addressed,
["Fireteam Flower, rest assured that there's no need to cover the districts for any threat, the 94th Spec-Ops Unit from our folks in the Army will take care of the business above ground.]
"Copy that, Admiral," Yamaguchi responded.
With a gesture, Flower moved forward. Ellis and Klara are Yamaguchi's vanguard, keeping an eye on threats that lay beyond their sight with their weapons raised. Her MJOLNIR can only do so much to scan any hidden threat in every hallway or street corner.
Half an hour of walking soon passed. Together with a small element of the 94th behind the Spartans, they ventured into one of the hidden entrances that led to HQ, located near a convenience store, of all places. The entrance leads to a decently sized room with a central platform, which they quickly identified as an elevator.
As protocol dictated, Yamaguchi's muscle memory took action as she tapped into the digital monitor to activate the elevator. It succeeds, and the strike team will slowly descend a thousand meters deep underground. She readies her Z-750 for the probable scenario that there would be someone still down there.
The journey underground did not take long either. When the elevator doors opened, they were greeted by absolutely no one. Not a person in sight, just an empty hallway with failing lights, which can give any normal person a shivering spine.
The strike team, Yamaguchi's Fireteam Flower, and around ten Army soldiers from the 94th made their way to secure Core 5, the ONI section of Bravo-6. However, just as we are about to open another door that leads to an adjacent room...
Their suspicions have been confirmed. Her modified hearing can make out muffled voices from the room they are about to open.
"We have contact..." Rishikaze muttered from behind her back, to which her sister simply replied,
"I know." Using the Mk.VI helmet's intercom, Yamaguchi immediately connected to the other team. "Admiral, we have contact beyond the door towards the main lounge, over."
[Well crap. Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way. Eliminate them.]
My mother's words were sharp and clear like a polished knife, even through the radio. Yamaguchi quickly responded by gesturing the Spartans to activate their cloaking devices while the Army soldiers behind us hide behind the corridors to our left and right, giving us the element of surprise.
When the door opened, a few soldiers armed with Assault Rifles stared at what they saw as an empty doorway. Using this confusion, Yamaguchi lets her sister activate a plasma grenade and throw it onto the floor next to three personnel. And before they knew what was going on....
KABOOM
The screams of the guards rang across the room as the grenade detonated. None of them would've survived such a well-placed grenade. In an instant, Flower decloaked and fired their weapons. Yamaguchi struck first blood at the guard standing near the benches with a well-placed shot of hardlight, ending his life before he can fire back. Klara rushed forward and slit the throat of another guy at the counters, bringing the fight to silence.
The skirmish ended as soon as it began. Yamaguchi reported her status to the other team and moved on towards our first objective.
"Quick and easy, just like that." Klara said as she unsheathed her knife back to her shoulder guard.
"Hmph. Easy for you to say." Yamaguchi replied back with a tone that her comrades knew that she's smirking behind her visor.
Putting that aside, their mission continues unabated, clearing a few more hallways and rooms of any delinquent foolish enough to guard an underground facility despite the situation above ground.
just what is going on here?
Deeper and deeper into the facility they go, coupled with more and more resistance being dealt with ease, along the way the team activated the emergency generators that power the facility and light a path for the Army soldiers behind them.
As they approached Sub-Level 13 Section 4, which is one of several office sections that sat adjacent to the hallway, Mrs. Hitoshi spoke to her daughter through the helmet's intercom.
[Team 1, We have taken the archives. I'll be waiting for you at the rendezvous point in the main chamber. It is located in a bunker far below your position, built to resist nuclear strikes and the occasional nuclear fusion detonation]
"Affirmative, Admiral. I'll be heading there."
Rear Admiral Mikayla Hitoshi and her entourage of agents and many soldiers from different branches of the UNSC are storming through the expansive data vaults, killing every guard they see with little prejudice to show for it. Despite her age, she showed an incredible level of athletics to weave through defense after defense.
As they reached deeper into the facility, resistance became intensified and the strike team starts to clear up with haste. They knew that the longer their enemies hold, the more likely chance that they will destroy everything that the team wants.
And she cannot let it happen.
Despite the "insurgents" being well-fortified within their liminal encampments, they make up for it with the ridiculously advanced technology they wield. The Spartans who are busy clearing a bloody path across the base are armed primarily with Forerunner and Archaeohomina weaponry.
Yes, you heard that right. The Spartans invading the base are armed with weapons dating back a hundred thousand years. Mikayla does not care about protocol nor caring about keeping secrets anymore. She wants the world to know that Humanity is not done, and that she has the proof for everyone to see.
These thoughts motivated her for much of her life, and it does motivate her now. A pull of a trigger from her pistol and the death scream of an insurgent pulled her out of that train of thought.
And she smiled.
Finding another hallway adjacent to them, she lifted her arm and swung towards said hallway, directing some of her troops to clear that area by themselves. She has sufficient manpower to take over every corner of the facility, which gives her the opportunity she needs to take down her soon-to-be predecessor.
After dealing with three more guards, now just bodies on the floor to be disposed of, Mikayla's team finally made their way towards the waiting room, one of three dome-shaped rooms that lead to the main chamber. With CCTV cameras rendered inoperable before the mission even begins, they are safe to prepare the final approach.
If there is one thing Yamaguchi desired in battle, it is to pick on people's outcomes, choosing their fate. She is a Spartan, so maybe she can do anything. Killing people is one thing, but killing people when you know they deserved it is another.
There is a difference between killing a boss and killing its minions. The boss is the cause of everything, and the minions do their bidding, against their will, most of the time. Is it callous slaughter? or an act of mercy?
Well here, they deserved it. They are working for the wrong person, and they deserve it. Doesn't matter if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's what Spartans are originally made for, after all.
Those ONI Agents- no, resurgents, are the cause of every problem that doesn't involve the Covenant 80 percent of the time. They wanted power; they wanted to be the masters of a galactic chessboard, silencing anyone who knew too much.
But today is the day they get usurped.
And what a satisfying event to live through.
A train of thought such as this can drive a man mad, but who else hasn't? The smile behind her Mark VI MJOLNIR Helmet says a lot about her. Even as she slaughters anyone trying to defend the facility, she felt proud for the amount of blood she spilt for the sake of giving humanity the upper hand.
On the contrary, she has enough sense to know that this mindset is not the same for her friends. They're here to finish the fight, not revel in it.
Yamaguchi's train of thought ended there as Flower reached a dome-like room, dimly lit by neon lights. The heads-up display in her visor is showing me that the main chamber is on the other side of the door. She tapped her helmet commlink to inform the main team.
"Yamaguchi here, Flower has made it to the waiting booths."
[Nice work. Use the charges to give Osman a welcoming party.]
Mother's bland humor never gets old, huh? Grinning like a deviant, Yamaguchi turned to Ellis and nodded. The signal sent to her is enough for Ellis to act, who then takes out a satchel charge from her magnetized thigh armor and plants it on the door.
Satchel charges isn't the type to break down a blast-proof door, but being Spartans, adaptability is our middle name. These explosives are modified so that they can generate a force the equivalent of ramming a wall with a Warthog going 45 miles an hour... in one direction.
Yes, one direction. That's enough to blow out most blast doors, but not those you can see in bunkers or fallout shelters.
Tapping the activation codes went by in an instant, and the timers started to tick. The same can be said from where my mother is. The timer ticks to zero, the fireteam raises their shields, and the bomb goes off.
Two bombs, actually, the blast doors came flying into the main chamber, probably crushing someone unlucky enough to pass by when the explosion occurred. The teams of mother and daughters meet up and pour fire on all directions. Anyone still fighting them is probably dead or dying after twenty seconds of the bombs going off.
The smoke clears, and we see the main chamber in all its dark glory. A large semicircular table with seven chairs. Behind it is a massive ONI insignia, dimly lit by hidden LED lights.
At its center was their target.
Serin Osman.
All weapons trained on her as she remained unmoving, unflinching, probably trying not to look like a coward.
"You..." She started, staring at Mikayla, whose face mirrored Osman's.
"Do I need to repeat my words for you?" said Mikayla, the wrath of motherhood made manifest with every word spoken or will be spoken. "You know I hate being kept in the dark. And I am very sure you're not going to lecture me with the 'curiosity killed the cat' bullshit."
Osman shouted back. "Revealing everything will result in the loss of the humanity we all know and love. Panic and mass hysteria, is that what you want?"
"No." Mikayla growled. "Humanity will understand. We all will. It is an insult to our very core as a species to hide our potential from us, no matter the reason."
"Insult?!" Osman retorted, mockingly bellowing out against her greatest rival. "Who do you think you are?! Claiming to speak on behalf of humanity! You are just another pawn in the great game. Watch your words, for they are meaningless."
"Yes. I am a pawn." Mikayla murmured, making a sly grin before she added, "But the truth is, I'm way up there in the hierarchy than you initially thought. A master controls his pawn, but a pawn can control other pawns, below or alongside it. And my position has given me the right to decide for the best of humanity. You don't."
"Then ask me this: Why are you here?"
Silence gripped the dark room, no one answered for almost half a minute, yet the team's posture remained the same. Yamaguchi's Z-750 is still aimed towards the treacherous Admiral as she responded.
"Well, the answer is simple," Osman added. "I am here to take everything with me to an undisclosed location."
"I thought you already had," Mikayla replied as her weapon was now aimed at the Admiral with contempt. "Or maybe, you're just trying to usurp control. I won't allow it. I will not allow you to prohibit us from removing our ability to understand the unknown."
"Have you forgotten what I said earlier?!" Osman yelled back.
"I wish I had. But one thing's for certain: I did not forget the vows I upheld for forty years. I will protect the human race, especially if it means protecting my family."
Osman made an evil smile, something that makes Mikayla's Spartan daughters cringe. "Ah, your miracle daughters? It's a shame you led them all to me."
"I'm not offering myself to you, bitch." Yamaguchi impulsively said, which caught a bit of attention from my teammates. "Zeta Halo made me rethink my life in ways I never could've imagined. It unlocked something within me that YOU are trying to understand by doing whatever fucked up shit you'd do, or keep me in whatever Midnight Facility is. And I'm not allowing that."
The mention of that secret facility shook her. "What? Y-You know about that place?!"
Mikayla chuckled hard like a drunken sailor, reveling in the Admiral's powerlessness. "See what I mean? My family represents the humanity we are saving, Osman. And you don't deserve to be in that vision. Save your breath for the judges, Admiral."
With a snap of my mother's hands, Yamaguchi pulled the trigger.
Osman falls down to the marble floor unconscious, barely alive from the stun shot of the Spartan's Binary Rifle, before she can yap any longer. Yamaguchi made a slight smirk on her face when that happened. It was an anticlimactic yet satisfying conclusion, but her mind keeps telling her that it is not over yet.
"What now?" Yamaguchi asked her mother.
"Have fun at the archives." Wait... really?! "Be careful not to break anything, though. We still need to retrieve all that classified information."
Unable to contain their ecstatic excitement, the Hitoshi siblings hastily bowed and saluted in unison. "Yes, ma'am!"
Once the team left the room, muffled cheering soon followed.