บท 63: Chapter 62

Above Earth, Axel was inside of the Forerunner Dreadnought which he made into his command ship. He had sent the 3 Cruisers and 2 light carriers ahead of him as they would take a few minutes to reach the location while the Forerunner dreadnought would only take a few seconds.

Onboard the Dreadnought were 2 teams of Spartans, Red Team and Gray Team. Red Team consisted of Commander Jerome-092, Senior Chief Petty Officer Douglas-042, and Senior Chief Petty Officer Alice-130.

Gray Team consisted of Petty Officer Jai-006(Team leader), Petty Officer Adriana-111(Infiltration specialist), and Petty Officer Michael-120(Technical expert).

Red Team has fought in more battle than Gray Team and has more experienced Spartans. Red Team has participated in the Battle of Chi Ceti among other operations against Insurrectionists. They had been on more deployments to the outer colonies than Gray team and had seen more action.

Gray Team was more of an operational team that performed operations against Insurrectionists groups and maintained stability within the Inner colonies. They had only ever been deployed to the outer colonies a few times where they did engage with Covenant forces while helping a colony evacuate.

While the experience between the two teams was different, they were still Spartans and would perform their duties as ordered. A Spartan that is fresh out of training is still a threat to any Covenant species no matter their strength.

As Axel stood on the bridge, he activated the holo-comms panel on his command console. Onscreen, the faces of Jerome-092, Douglas-042, and Alice-130 materialized.

"Red Team," called Axel. "Your objective will be to make spearhead the ground assault. I want an immediate sweep of enemy positions and neutralization of any threats but watch out for civilians caught in the crossfire."

"Yes sir," responded Jerome-092 with an acknowledging nod.

Axel then switched over to the Gray Team channel and relayed the mission parameters for Jai-006, Adriana-111, and Michael-120. "Gray Team," he called. "You will deploy directly to where the insurrectionists base is suspected to be at and prevent them from wiping any information they may have. You will have to move fast because once we attack then they will most certainly try to wipe the data."

"Aye, sir," responded Jai-006 acknowledging his orders.

Despite Red Team having been through more battles and Gray Team's predominance in Operations, Axel knew that they were all cut from the same cloth. They were Spartans; bred for war. And regardless of their individual skills or experiences, each one was more than capable of seeing this mission through.

A few moments later he had received word that the other ships were a few seconds out. So, he calculated their projected position so that no accident would happen and jumped using the dreadnoughts slipspace drive. In a matter of seconds, the dreadnought had appeared before an asteroid field.

In front of them was the settlement known as the Rubble which consisted of hundreds of hollowed-out asteroids, moved together and connected by docking tubes. The asteroids were orbiting the gas giant Hesiod which was farther in the system than the original colony was.

The inhabitants of the Rubble were former colonists of the colony Madrigal who had been evacuated by insurrectionists. The insurrectionists brought the refugees to the asteroid cluster trailing Hesiod and the Rubble was established. Most of the refugees accepted insurgent ideologies and lifestyles, since they believed it was because of the insurrectionists that they survived.

However, the UNSC didn't recognize the leadership of the settlement as they were tied to the Insurrectionists whom the UNSC considers to be terrorists and rebels.

As the other ships came out of warp, Axel had ordered the invasion to begin. So far, they had managed to remain hidden from the Settlements sensors which would give them the element of surprise. Within the Hangers of the Carriers and Dreadnought, Pelicans were loaded with Marines, MCUs, and Spartans to begin the operation.

"All stations commence the operation," Axel ordered into the comm.

With that simple command, the UNSC forces had begun to head towards the Rubble. At the same time the Despair-class fighters were launched from the Dreadnought to provide cover for the Pelicans that approached the settlement.

Onboard each Pelican was a team of marines, each one ready for what lay ahead. These were not fresh-faced recruits, but seasoned soldiers who knew the risks and took them willingly. Their eyes were focused and unflinching as they hurtled towards their target. There was no hesitation, no worry in their hearts – only determination.

In addition to these seasoned soldiers were the Spartans of Red Team and Gray team. They sat quietly amongst their fellow marines, each Spartan easily identifiable by their gigantic stature and Spartan armor that dwarfed the marines' armor. They were sitting in silence, waiting for the order to deploy.

As they approached closer to Rubble, Axel could see some movement beginning amongst the hollowed-out asteroids. The inhabitants had become aware of the threat bearing down on them as movement was detected within the station.

"Rubble Command sees us," reported one of his officers.

"Let them," Axel replied. "Prepare to engage."

Within seconds, the quiet space around the asteroid settlement erupted into chaos. The Rubble's defense systems kicked in, and gunfire began to spray from mounted turrets.

The Pelicans deftly maneuvered through the field of fire, their skilled pilots expertly dodging incoming projectiles while the Despair-class fighters rushed ahead to destroy the station's defenses.

"All units," Axel commanded. "Proceed as planned."

On command, Red Team disembarked from their Pelican. Almost instantly, they engaged with enemy forces holding off any troops that tried to stop their advancement. They were joined by the Marines who had joined the battle. The Spartan presence on the battlefield was a complete game-changer as they quickly overwhelmed the unprepared insurrectionist forces.

As Red Team was making headway on the ground, Gray Team had breached the central part of the station, already working on their main objective. Adriana and Michael were disabling security measures as quickly as they were activated while Jai kept a vigilant watch over them.

The battle rage on as the UNSC forces advanced through the Rubble. Red Team continued their aggressive push making quick work of enemy defenses.

Meanwhile Gray team had made it to the Central control room and had stopped the Insurrectionists from deleting any data that they had. Any remaining data left by the insurrectionists was being recovered and would be used to discover other insurrectionists bases, operations, personnel, etc.

Suddenly, Jerome's voice crackled over the comms channel, "Admiral." His tone was urgent. "We've located a group of civilians trapped in one of the asteroids. We're going in for extraction."

"Copy that, Jerome," Axel responded immediately. "Ensure all civilians are safely evacuated."

The firefight continued to rage outside the control room as Gray Team worked diligently on their task. The Rubble militia forces were trying desperately to stop them, but they didn't have armored superhumans of their own, making their attack not effective.

At the same time Covenant forces had been detected within the station and had begun to fight back. "Admiral, we have Covenant forces in the fray," reported Jerome, over the comm. "We're moving to intercept.

"Copy that, Fred. Engage at will those are the ones selling weapons to the Insurrectionists." Replied Axel

Meanwhile, Gray Team successfully managed to recover a significant amount of data. Michael uploaded the data to Axel's ship for analysis while they fought their way out of the central control room.

It didn't take long until the entire settlement was subdued by the UNSC forces. Axel had taken a Pelican and landed on the Rubble to inspect the damage to see how long it would take to get it back to working order.

As he was walking through the station a group of captured insurrectionists had stood up and attempted to charge at him while shouting curse words. "You prevented peace between us and the Covenant you piece of shit" Shouted one of the insurrectionists as one of the marines had pushed the person to the ground.

"Watch your mouth you Insurrectionists" Threatened the marine.

Axel had looked at the person who attempted to charge him and all he could see was pure hatred in the person's eyes. "If you think that we could have ever had peace then you are delusional" said Axel as he approached the man who was still on the ground from being pushed down by the marine.

The Marine in question had stepped to the side as Axel walked past him. The man looked up Axel's towering figure and felt frightened by his size. He attempted to speak but he couldn't even utter a word.

That's when another person had stepped up "The UNSC started this war against the Covenant, of course there will be no peace if you are in charge" stated the man as he walked closer to Axel causing the two escorting MCUs to step up.

But Axel waived them off and allowed the person to get close to him before he replied. Axel was towering over the man looking down at him like he was an ant.

"You think the Covenant will offer you salvation?" Axel questioned. "They only want the complete annihilation of our race."

The man, like so many others in the Rubble, had fallen for the lies and propaganda spread by the Insurrectionists, that their alliance with the Covenant was a path to survival. Though it wouldn't be an alliance as Humanity would simply become a client race of the Covenant which is not something that Axel would allow to happen.

"You lie!" Shouted the person as he pulled out a concealed knife and attempted to stab Axel. However, Axel had seen this coming well before it even happened. As the knife approached his chest it appeared as if time had slowed for Axel as he grabbed the arm of the insurrectionists and broke it. And he didn't stop there as he finished it off by kicking the person a few feet into a wall.

"Clean this up," he told his Marines, waving a hand dismissively at the group of insurrectionists. "Then get whatever civilians are left here into medical and start getting food and water distributed."

Axel had taken one last look at the group that was filled with fear, before continuing his inspection of the settlement. There were at least one million people spread throughout the station, moving them would not be ideal considering their situation, and most of the were influenced by propaganda which Axel didn't want brought to another colony.

So, in the meantime the Rubble would remain under UNSC control for the foreseeable future.