The Admiral walked at a fast pace down one of the many hallways of the UNSC Liberator, an Autumn-Class heavy cruiser and the flagship of his own personal fleet. He had just left his own private quarters, having been informed of the fleet's arrival just outside the gravitational influence of the planet.
The double doors to the elevator in front of him slid open as he neared them and slid shut as he walked in. He didn't need to press any buttons either, as the ship's onboard AI pretty much had her eyes and ears situated upon every corner of the ship. Not a thing happened on his vessel that she didn't know of - and everything she reported back to him regularly, just the way he liked it.

As the elevator doors slid open, he walked towards and through the open doorway of the bridge.
The central table illuminated the small area around it while raised platforms around it contained computers, all attended to by different crew members. To the right were two large windows divided by a thin wall, both of which offered a clear view of the frozen planet. The white, snowball-like appearance of the planet made it seem like there was an aura of white and blue that seemed frozen in the space around it. Part of the bridge was also illuminated because of it.

Every crew member almost stood at attention had it not been for the subtle raise of his hand - a clear indication for everyone to be at ease and resume their stations.
"What do we know, Selina?" He spoke.
The white-blue coloured glowing hologram of a female dressed in standard laboratory clothing flickered on.
"Four CCS Class Battlecruisers lead by one RCS Class Heavy cruiser." She replied instantly. "Accompanied by Twelve CRS Class Light cruisers. And then you have your standard Seraph Fighters buzzing around the hive. We also have regular transits to and from the planet's surface. Covenant infantry has also been detected on the surface. So in other words, it should be a walk in the park."
"Hm." Was all Yusuf replied with. He constantly neglected the fact that AI's were closer to humans than machines, and in this case the con here was that Selina was almost always underestimating the opposition - something that while boosted his crew's morale, did not allow them a realistic insight into the battlefields. Still, no harm was done as of yet.

Yusuf tapped at the touch-screen table, initiating a communication link with the rest of the Captains in his fleet. He was already able to formulate a battle plan on the spot.
"Attention all hands. Commence engagement with the enemy fleet. Captains Dumont and Holland, one of you will take your ship to the surface and interrupt the flow of dropships travelling to and from the fleet as well as deploying your own infantry to combat theirs. I'll leave the decision to be made between yourselves."

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Objective 1: Engage the Covenant Fleet.
Objective 2: Take your ship to the surface and hold off Covenant drop ships - prevent them from deploying backup infantry.
Objective 3 (Infantry Only): Land at and storm Covenant Mining Facilities located within the underground ice caves of Zaron, clear out the infantry and secure raw materials.

In formation behind the Liberator, the Magnifique cruised on the side closest to the planet. With Dumont on the bridge his crew prepared for the work ahead, checking systems and weapons were fully operational. Soon enough orders came in for the fleet, with a special task for either himself or Captain Holland.

"Leave that to me Admiral, I've got a special package that needs delivering to the surface." Dumont replied through comms, before signalling to his crew to begin descent onto the planet first. The Magnifique turned gracefully from formation and headed for the atmosphere for the planet. "Setting up position over the most likely drop points, ETA 2 minutes."

"Scruff," He then switched to a private channel to elsewhere on the ship. "2 minutes till drop."

"'Bout time." Scruff replied through the private channel, grunting as he threw his specially fit leather jacket on. Around him stood a small armoury almost, which was actually designated to be his private quarters. As he preferred weaponry over sleeping and eating, it seemed more like a gun room.

Circling through the area that wasn't covered in guns, his eyes trailed across his equipment. A small finger tapped on his nose in gesture of thinking, before finally he reached out towards a pile. His first choice was a small pistol which he holstered by his side; semi-automatic loaded with a thermal clip. For his other choice a large (for his size) laser rifle slung over his back, glowing blue through the slits that showed it's energy source. 

Before leaving the room he moved part of his jacket aside, checking his usual combat knife and several grenades were there. Once comfortable that he was well-equipped enough, he made his way out towards the hangar.

"Four CRS Light cruisers have dispatched from the main fleet and are bearing thirty degrees upward; that puts them right on top of us within ten minutes given the propulsion output of their rear thrusters."
Selina announced.

"Check their weapons." Yusuf ordered.
"Their shields have been lowered, I am reading a massive buildup of energy located on the underbelly of each of those ships. They're charging up their energy projectors." Selina replied.
"Wait. The Heavy cruiser is readying it's plasma torpedos, along with the other battlecruisers. The rest of the light cruisers are being put on standby to defend the outer flanks while those that are approaching us right now have just released a complement of Seraph fighters." She added.

"They're going for our missile pods first.." Yusuf inferred. He turned his head towards the officers in charge of the weapons consoles.
"Activate point defence guns, set the range to maximum. Do not let them near our weapon pods."
He then turned his head to the communications officers.
"Send out the order to the rest of the fleet. Our rear guard is to engage the four intercepting light cruisers. The rest of us will engage the fleet."
"Aye sir."

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Meanwhile, on the icy surface of Zaron, a 6ft tall bird-like humanoid emerged from a large ice cave naturally carved into the side of the mountain. The Covenant Jackal was carrying with it a carbine rifle, joined by another one of its brethren. The two scoured the surrounding area with their enhanced sight, keeping an eye out for anything that may be out of the ordinary, anything that wouldn't blend in with the natural landscape of the cold, windy planet. Even with their strong senses however, it was difficult for them to see through the light blizzard that enveloped that particular section of the planet. However it was light enough for them to see off the Covenant dropships that had just unloaded the latest crate of supplies, which were being attended to by other Jackals.

Diana got into one of the drop ships , a calm frigid mask on her face. She ran a hand through her hair, she had recently cut it to just above her shoulders and dyed it a white blonde. She was tired of seeing her sister in the mirror instead of herself, but the cold hair style suited her. "Let's get this blood bath running."

Scruff's dropship was already descending to the surface with himself and four marines on board. His eyes scanned around at each of them, analysing whether they could be trusted. Sure, he had history with the UNSC, but not one that made them undeniable friends. Dumont was the only reason he was here.

"30 seconds to insertion." The pilot called through to the rear, at which point Scruff prepared his rifle.

Diana flexed her fingers, frost covering her fingertips until icy claws covered them. Her calm mask concealed her intense rage, along with her thirst for revenge. Family had finally been in her grasp again and it was ripped from her fingers. 

She would get her revenge.

As the UNSC fleet's three rear-guard Frigates engaged the four advancing Covenant Light Cruisers, they unleashed a Hyperion missile each. All three missiles struck three of the Light Cruisers, with the first one being struck right in it's underbelly and being destroyed due to the trajectory of the UNSC Frigate that had fired it. Two other Covenant Light Cruisers were rendered severely damaged while the fourth was left unscathed. The three UNSC Frigates went on to release a barrage of ship-to-ship Archer Missiles at all four Light Cruisers, finishing off the two others while striking down the shields of and damaging the fourth. The Light Cruiser was finally finished off with a charged MAC round from the leading UNSC Frigate.

Meanwhile The Admiral lead the charge with the rest of his fleet against the Covenant's main fleet.
"Admiral, enemy fighters are closing in fast. They'll go right for our weapons systems if they get close enough, I suggest sending out our own complement to counter theirs." Selina suggested.

"That'll take too long and it'll clutter the space between our fleet and theirs. Order our remaining Frigate to break off from the fleet and draw their attention, move away from the battle space. Send the message to our destroyers to lead the charge, recommend starting off with MAC rounds and then break off to flank them from either side. We'll punch right through the middle once we've got 'em softened up." The Admiral instructed. He turned to look at the ship pilots. "Slow us down, let the ship drift for now."
"Aye sir."

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Meanwhile as the drop ships descended, they were pursued by a number of Covenant Seraph Fighters, that had opened fire with high-velocity heavy plasma rounds. The pelican pilots did their best to evade as they made their way to the surface.
Meanwhile on the surface, word had already been sent to Covenant infantry stationed there of the arrival of the fleet and the possibility of a ground engagement. In response to this, over half of the Grunt and Jackal miners ceased operations and armed themselves with weapons, readying for the battle to follow.

"Seraphs on our six! They've opened fire!" The Pelican's main pilot shouted over the comms.
Sebastian took the risk of unstrapping his safety harness and carefully making his way to the cockpit, holding onto the raining above him maintain balance.

The Pelican jerked left and right and accelerated and slowed down and occasionally shook as it made contact with the atmosphere.
"Slow us down, we're coming in too fast!" The co-pilot informed the main pilot.
"I know what I'm doing, but we need to get away from all that flak."
"At this velocity, we'll burn up on re-entry. I'm telling you, slow us down!"
"Everyone brace yourself!"

The Pelican jerked and Sebastian would have been sent flying back into the troop bay had he not held onto the main pilot's seat.
"We're cutting it too close!" The main pilot exclaimed through gritted teeth.
"We'll take our chances, just continue evasive manoeuvres" Co-pilot replied, trying to stifle the tremble in her voice. 

Suddenly, the entire pelican shook violently and the sound of an explosion went off outside the Pelican.
"WE'RE HIT! WE'RE HIT! GOING IN TOO FAST!"
"DEPLOY THE CHUTE DAMMIT, THE CHUTE-!"

Sebastian turned his body to face the troop bay, addressing the marines and two Spartans still strapped in.
"Brace for a hard landing!"

As the Scruff's dropship opened a hail of gunfire swarmed in, threatening to fry the small creature in seconds. Time itself, however, seemed to slow almost a halt. In this almost-stasis a boy appeared from nowhere whilst moving a yellow energy around with his hands. This energy seemed to almost turn the gunfire back around towards it's sender.

Once time resumed normally, the squad of covenant soldiers fell victim to their own gunfire. 
"'Bout time you showed up." Scruff remarked, exiting the dropship as if nothing had happened. Jack merely smirked, disregarding the lack of thanks for saving the creature's life. "Your targets one klik east, stay close to me and don't get cocky." The small soldier continued before turning to the mentioned direction and moving on.

Jack followed silently, setting his feet on the ground to walk for he had been levitating beforehand.

Diana cocked her head to the side, looking at the boy curiously before disregarding him. She stood up and walked out of the dropship, standing still for a moment as her toes sunk into snow and ice. Her lips twitched upwards at the feeling for a moment, then she moved on.

Any UNSC dropship that survived their Covenant Seraph pursuers had now touched down and began to unload their troops. The first amongst them was Scruff and Diana's ship, upon which the Covenant Jackals opened fire with their carbines and automatic plasma weapons. What they didn't expect, however, was the sudden reversal of their attacks that rendered most of them dead and some injured. Those that were injured began to contact the guards in the lower caves for some backup and started to retreat towards the mouth of the cave.

"The demolitions Unggoy shall remain within these caves. All Kig-Yar strike teams are to assist on the surface!" The Jackal in charge commanded over the Covenant comms. She herself was located within the deepest parts of the mines. The "Unggoy" she referred to were Grunts - five foot tall stocky bipedal aliens who wore gas masks and carried plasma pistols, plasma rifles, needlers and occasionally heavier weapons such as fuel rod cannons. The "Kig-Yar" the commanding Jackal referred to were of her own race, and a number of them began to rush upwards towards the cave's entrance, wielding automatic plasma weapons.

As the UNSC troops unloaded from their drop ships and initiated engagement with the remaining Covenant guards stationed outside the caves, Sebastian's Pelican dropship came soaring through the sky, concealed almost completely in a ball of fire. The Pelican was descending rapidly at an odd angle due to the damage done to it's right wing. The sound of its burning engines screached across the battlefield and temporarily distractsd the remaining guards.

The journey east seemed clear of hostiles for the moment, even with Scruff and his team constantly surveying the horizon. It wasn't until the sight of a large complex came into view did there feel to be any resistance. The Covenant had clearly been alerted to their presence and had mounted the walls and towers of the complex which stood cradled into a crescent shaped indent on the mountain. 

"The cave entrance must be within the compound." Jack noted, looking to the small rodent. "What's the plan?"
"Attack." Scruff grunted, barely smirking, before loading his gun for a fight.

Diana flexed her fingers, ice starting to grow from her fingertips. Then she flicked her wrist, sending out a few tester razor sharp ice projectiles. Once she determined that they were sufficent, a slight smirk formed on her face. This was going to be fun.

"Scout teams, go!" An ODST ordered his men.
A few marines rushed towards the complex, making sure to remain concealed as much as possible behind piles of snow and ice.
"No activity as of yet sir," one of them reported.
"Alright ladies, we're in the all-clear for now. Let's get movin' double time!"
The remaining marines and fewer ODSTs began to jog towards the complex, while the scout team waited near its entrance.

"Think they pulled through?" A Marine queried another whom he was jogging alongside.
"Yeah.. they're Spartans after all. They're meant to survive nukes to the face right?"
"Uhh.. I don't think that's what-"
"Can it both of you! You've got a job to do, so quit yappin' and get on with it!" The ODST in command shouted.

The first sounds of plasma-gun fire sounded as the entrance of the complex lit up with plasma bolts. The barrage spread out into the open as the scout team was forced to duck behind their cover. The plasma bolts splashed and burnt through the frozen rocks they were relying on for protection. From the entrance, a group of Jackals emerged, moving unnaturally fast and firing continuously with firm aggression.
"Contact! Contact! Weapons free ladies!"

"Damn it, kid." Scruff groaned as his prime escort shot up into the air towards the compound. Jack was no expert at magic, but he knew enough of elemental power to join the frontlines. Landing roughly inbetween the ODSTs and the oncoming fire his hands shot up to form a shield of energy, protecting them from the oncoming fire.

"Wait until they reload." He shouted back over the sound of plasma bolts, before suddenly dropping his shield once the field got quieter. As the covenant reloaded their weapons he aimed to lead a charge forward, summoning small orbs of energy to throw at the soldiers in their way.

Diana glanced at Jack, considering his words before a smirk came over her face. She hadn't bothered to wear shoes on this mission, the cold never bothered her anyway. She dug her toes into the ice and snow, bringing her hands out. She was in her element. 

She then clenched her fists and brought them upward swiftly, there was a cracking noise before suddenly large spikes were shooting up at random from the ground. It wasnt necessarily meant as an attack, mostly just something she hoped would disorient and divide the covenant soldiers. Then the shooting started up again and Diana was forced to begin dodging and throwing up shields. 

One shot clipped her shoulder and she went down, but it didnt seem to to deter her much. Instead of getting back up she put her palms to the ground, before swinging them upwards as medium sized ice shards shot towards the soldiers.

A superhot plasma bolt impacted against a marine's abdomen, causing him to cry out in pain and fall backwards.
"Gah! I'm hit!" A marine attempted to move to his location and y drag him to safety but he too was shot, once in the leg and the second time in the shoulder. The hot plasma melted holes through their kevlar at an alarming speed and bled through their skin and cauterised many blood vessels underneath on each impact point.
An ODST moved to cover them and through his superior training, managed to pick off the attackers with perfectly placed headshots.

The orbs of energy came as a surprise to them, and many were struck down as a result. This however was not enough to phase them until the spikes started to shoot up from beneath their very feet. Many were impaled painfully on top of them while others moved back into the building. A Jackal sniper standing atop the structure located the source: Diana. He brought his particle beam rifle up, sighted through its built-in scope and fired hydrogen gas in a beam of accelerated particles at Diana.

As the massive spikes came up Jack looked to it's source with awe. "Wow." He breathed, examining the woman who look awfully familiar before finally returning his attention to the attack. With the soldiers scattered he made a push forward to the walls, pressing against them to avoid fire from directly above. Whilst the UNSC continued their pressure Jack placed his hand against the compound's walls, slowly summoning fire to burn a hole through them.

Meanwhile Scruff had finally reached the frontline, firing his rifle in unison with the soldiers around him. As a series of shots came close he rolled aside, resuming fire from a crouched position. One eye was always on the boy, watching him near the walls.

Diana had gotten up by now, throwing Jack the slightest of smirks before her expression hardened. She spun out of the way of the sharp hot beam, although the impact made her stumble on the ground. For a moment her senses were jumbled, she shook her head and focused her eyes on searching upwards instead of on the ground. 

The angle of trajectory of that shot was wrong for a ground shot, soon her eyes caught on the jackal. She crouched down on the ground, splaying her palms out on the ground. Then suddenly she jumped up and the ground seemed to jump with her, a column of ice shooting up beneath her feet and propelling her upwards.

She then jumped off the column propelling her upward and another one seemed to shoot up in front of her as she made her way over to the Jackal. There was a look of intense concentration on her face, the wound from the earlier plasma shot was still healing and she narrowly made each jump as she also twisted and turned to avoid shots from the ground. 

When she finally reached the jackal on top of the structure she jumped off the ice column with a spin, her foot out in preparation to roundhouse kick the jackal.

From the caves, the smaller aliens; Grunts emerged. Instantly they engaged the UNSC in combat, firing their needlers at whoever was in sight. Their rounds were large crystal needles that homed in on their targets and embedded themselves into them, and then exploded into countless fragments inside - wounding their targets further.
One of them called out in a squeky voice: "Hey humans! The jerkstore called, and they're all out of you!" It said as it lobbed a plasma grenade at them. The seemingly arbitrarily tossed grenade landed near Jack, and the three-second fuse initiated countdown."

Meanwhile the Jackal that Diana was attempting to attack managed to step away from her kick and bring it's weapon around to aim at her. It attempted to, without aiming properly, fire off another shot at her head.

As the sound of a grenade approached Jack quickly turned his attention to it, staring it straight down. Through his powers he created a capsule of energy thinly around the explosive, stopping time within it's containment. It took little of his power, yet allow him to turn back to melt the wall without being incinerated.

Soon enough the wall gave way into liquid form, splodging down in a red mess leaving a hole big enough for a thin man to enter.
"Aim explosives at the weakpoint!" Jack called to the soldiers, pointing out his handywork before disappearing into the compound through it.

Diana heard his words, turning back to the Jackal just as the disgusting creature shot off another bolt at her head. Although because it hadn't had the proper amount of time to aim it just grazed her face, burning it as she let out a yelp. She turned back to the Jackal, fury glowing in her blue eyes as she raised her hands. She had to finish this quickly so she could help down below. 

As she raised her hands up a wall of ice formed on either side of the Jackal, then suddenly Diana brought her palms together which in turn made the walls slam together as she attempted to squash the jackal with the ice walls. Should her move prove successful, she would then jump off the side of the structure shredding down the ice easily as it would have formed a slide under her feet. Then she would lace her fingers together and swing her arms towards the weak point, a massive ice spike shooting out of the ground and hitting that spot directly with great force.

"You heard em boys, now get tossin'!" the ODST in command ordered.
The marines under his command began to throw their grenades as ordered almost in unison, whilst their enemies' numbers began to diminish significantly.
"Haha.. he said 'get tossing'" a marine chuckled. "Get it? Tossing?"
"... just grow up Carl," his comrade replied.

Meanwhile deep inside the caves, the Jackal in charge was barking orders to her subordinate grunts.
"Place the charges, secure all that has been refined and prepare for departure!"