Halo: Resistance (ITE)

Plot
''July 7th, 2554. A date, that, for the Venezian people, marks the first day of the Venezian People's Republic, and the day the governing style they had fought to be free from returned. A junta of seven Venezian militia officers took over, and Venezia became a military dictatorship, hell-bent on the subjugation of the Inner Colonies and Earth. Among this new oppressive government lies a new group, The Fifth Column, a group of Venezians, both civilian and military, who hope to end the VPR's reign of terror, and install a government more like that which had governed before.''

Dramatis Persona
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First Contact
March 2nd, 2558

Above Venezia

0432 Hours, New Tyne Local Time

"Atze, wake up!"

Władysław Atze awoke to himself being shook and the shrieking of alarms inside his dorm room on the Venezian orbital station above the planet. "Huh, what's up?" he asked groggily, after seeing that the person shaking him was his Radar Intercept Officer, Sarah Wilson, and she was in full flight gear. "They just detected a group of ships incoming towards the planet, and they've given us orders to scramble!" she said, with a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. Swinging himself out of his bed, Atze bounded across the room, and got to getting his gear on. Opening up the closet, he grabbed his olive green flightsuit, and began fitting on the needed life support equipment. After fitting on his flightsuit and anti-g equipment, Atze grabbed his flight helmet and oxygen mask, and turned to Wilson, who was still standing in the doorway to his dorm. "You finally ready?" she asked. "Yeah, let's go." Atze responded as he squeezed past her and began walking down the hallway, trying to avoid the station's security and maintenance officers, who were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, going through the stated procedures in case of a full blown invasion.

Slowing his jog as he approached the hangar his Saber was in, Atze halted at a computer in front of the entrance, grabbed a computer chip which would transmit his orders to his aircraft, before handing another to Sarah. Crouching, Atze scanned his retinas, and the door to the hangar slid open, revealing his Saber, with ground crew scrambling around trying to get last minute checks done, and one Huragok, who was quite calm despite the pandemonium around him, tending to anything he saw needed repair. "She ready?" he asked the ground crew officer, who nodded in response. "Thanks." Atze said as he grabbed onto the crew ladder, and hoisted himself into the cockpit of the fighter.

Sitting down, Atze cursed as he tried to fit the belt on. But after about thirty seconds of cursing, he finally fitted it on, and it was snug, as it was supposed to be. Flipping several switches, Atze heard the Saber's engines begin to warm up, a fact proven by the lighting up of the panels and his helmet's heads-up display. Plugging the chip in, a cluster of dots appeared on the NAV system, signifying targets. Checking over the data readouts, it appeared everything was good to fly. Hooking in his oxygen, Atze also checked, and saw the oxygen was flowing as normal. "Everything good back there Sarah?" he asked. "Yep." she replied. "Alright, let's get going." Atze said. Keying up his COM, Atze continued "Alright boys, get rid of the crew ladder, and on my mark, vent the hangar and open the doors."

"Roger that." came the response from the ground crew officer. Flipping another switch, Atze looked as the canopy closed and locked, protecting those inside from the inhospitable atmosphere of space. "Alright, we're ready." Atze said. "Open the hangar doors."

"Right. Opening doors." came the response. Within seconds, klaxons began sounding, and the air vented out. After that, the hangar doors opened, revealing the inky blackness of space, dotted with the white specks of stars. Hitting the throttle to full power, Atze rocketed out of the hangar, before drawing back on the power. So long as he didn't pull it back to slow the fighter down, the Saber would keep on going. Putting the fighter on a course towards the alleged 'invasion fleet', Atze looked around, and even saw the El Fusilado, the flagship of the Venezian People's Navy, on course for the contacts.

Approaching the so-called 'warships', it became very obvious to Atze that they were not warships. There were seven ships, all of which bore the silhouette of a civilian cargo ship. Over his COM, he heard a transmission come, addressed towards the contacts. "Unknown contacts, this is the El Fusilado, Venezian People's Navy, immediately state your intentions."

After a few seconds, a static laden response came. "El Fusilado, this is Henry Daniels, captain of the lead ship. We are laden with refugees from the Covenant. We need to land immediately."

"Captain Daniels, that is a negative. You have to, and will, comply with our orders, and be searched for spy equipment before we allow you to land."

"That is impossible Venezia. We have to land now!"

"You will comply!"

"I will not! These people need help now!"

The radio went silent, and the ships scattered. "Son of a bitch! They're UNSC spy ships! Destroy them!" came the order over the COM. Before he knew it, Atze saw missiles, point defense gun rounds, and cannon fire from orbital defense fighters slamming into the ships. In a matter of seconds, all seven had been effectively atomized. Atze's mouth went dry, and he turned back towards the orbital station. Not a shot had been fired by him, but what if those ships indeed were filled with refugees. His military had just committed an act of mass murder if that was the case.

Returning to the hangar, once it had repressurized, Atze opened the canopy, and climbed out, trying to conceal the shaking of his hands as he briskly walked out of the hangar and headed back toward his dorm. Quickly closing the door, Atze collapsed on his bed, and, reaching under the sheets, pulled out a tiny Chatter device, one that had been modified to be unable to be "ghosted" or spied upon. Pulling up a list of contacts, Atze sent a short message to another member of his group. "Incident. Involved 7 ships. Info needed. Military or civilian?" went the message. Atze received a response in seconds. It read "Will find out. Get leave for next weekend, meet me at bar."

Quickly hiding the device as he heard Wilson opening the door, Atze looked as he walked in. "Tired?" she asked. "Yeah." he replied, shrugging off his equipment and throwing it in the closet. Unzipping his flightsuit and hanging it up, Atze climbed back into bed, and set his alarm for 1100 Hours, the time of his and Sarah's next patrol. "You sleeping too?" he asked. "Yep." she replied, unzipping her own flightsuit and jumping into the bunk above Atze. "Sometimes, I wish I had never defected." Atze thought to himself. Here he was, serving another totalitarian government, he wanted to find himself in another relationship, but with his resistance ties, it would be too dangerous. Maybe someday, he thought as he closed his eyes, when this is all over, I'll tell her I kind of like her.