Frederic-104: Difference between revisions

Fred, Linda, and four other Spartans escaped being buried under the avalanche, leading to John—who was among those buried—giving Fred command of the mission to board and destroy the ''Starry Night''. Getting over his amazement that the strategy had worked, Fred asked what should be done with any survivors they found aboard the prowler. Telling him to rescue them if possible, John switched to the command channel to demand the status of Nyeto's supposed support. Fred gathered Linda and [[Malcolm-059]] to board the vessel while the mobile members of Gold and Green Teams fended off a seemingly endless stream of ground vehicles. Fred's team boarded the ''Starry Night'' via a massive breach in its bow, finding five survivors of the crash: four Black Dagger ODSTs and Staff Sergeant Johnson, who had received a bad concussion. Fred had Linda get to work manually arming the prowler's [[Fury tactical nuclear weapon]] as he reported the situation to John, who told Linda to take her time, but warned of an enemy squad preparing to board. Acknowledging this information, Fred told him that once the nuke was armed, they would flee in the prowler's escape pod. Hearing that a team of Covenant boarders was inbound, Johnson requested his assignment. Fred had him "guard" the escape pod to keep him out of harm's way. Nyeto's support finally arrived in the form of strafing runs that destroyed two nearby intrusion corvettes, but spared the one that was still attempting to recover the ''Starry Night''. When John warned that the Covenant boarding party was making their move, Fred and his team repelled them with explosive weapons as John distracted the rest outside the ship after digging himself free. Linda had just finished arming the nuke and began dragging Johnson into the escape pod when John ordered her to initiate its thirty-second timer immediately. The looming corvette had activated its gravity lift system and was trying to draw the prowler up into its hangar. Linda followed the order and John warned all local Spartans to evacuate the area immediately. Fred, Linda, Malcolm, Johnson, and the ODSTs boarded the prowler's escape pod and launched through Seoba's low gravity while under fire from the corvette's surprised gunners. John informed Crowther and Nyeto of the escape pod and the imminent nuclear explosion. All of the Spartans made it to safety before the detonation, which destroyed both the ''Starry Night'' and the intrusion corvette. Colonel Crowther sent prowlers to recover them and the other survivors after the nuke's [[electromagnetic pulse]] had dissipated.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS15|HSS|Chapter=15}} Some of the Spartans also assisted in the recovery of a Covenant [[Kelguid|starholo]] from the wreckage of the corvette. They and the starholo were then transported back to the ''Vanishing Point''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS16|HSS|Chapter=16}}

On [[2526#March|March 20]], six Spartans who were not confined to the infirmary—including John-117—attended a funeral service for the two-hundred-and-three men and women who lost their lives at Seoba. Held in the command hangar of the ''Vanishing Point'' as it sat in a high parabolic orbit around Biko, the ceremony included an honor company of a hundred-and-one enlisted personnel in their dress blues, including the six Spartans and Avery Johnson. After the service, Lieutenant Commander Nyeto—the de facto commander of Task Force Yama after Ascot's death—approached John, who asked if he'd reconsider sidelining them. Nyeto promised that the Spartans would be seeing all the action they could handle for the rest of the operation. However, Crowther again contested this on the basis of them being too young, forcing the lieutenant commander to back down by threatening him with a report to a UNSC board of inquiry. The Black Daggers would board the [[Fleet of Inexorable Obedience|incoming fleet]] alone. As everyone left the hangar, Crowther revealed to Johnson that he did not trust Nyeto. He believed that the Spartans were combat-ready, and he was instead sending them on a mission to disrupt Covenant supply lines at [[Etalan]].{{Ref/Reuse|HSS16}}