Halo: Dawn at Gethsemane

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The Dawn at Gethsemane.
A scarlet sun arises, heralds bloodshot skies of the sacrifice.

RELENTLESSRECUSANT
HARVARD STEM CELL INSTITUTE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
SPARTAN-091
U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY CANDIDATE
COMMANDERTONY
HALOPEDIA, THE HALO WIKIA
HALO FAN FICTION WIKIA
SGT.JOHNSON
U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY CANDIDATE

Halo: Dawn at Gethsemane is a short story written by RelentlessRecusant and co-authored with CommanderTony, Spartan-091, and Sgt.johnson. It is set in the Azure Dawn series that chronicles the Battle of Cambridge and introduces several main characters to future novels, such as Kawika Son and Chandler Danial.

It details the assignment of Flurry Troop, an elite NAVSPECWAR Six special warfare detachment, to Cambridge to secure the battlespace, activating thermonuclear fail-safes in academic research laboratories there at Harvard and MIT under Directive 0-2 to ensure that ONI technologies don't fall into enemy hands, and to recover and rescue Marine long-range patrols in the area that had come under heavy attack from Covenant forces. Flurry, under the command of Commander Kawika Son, is inhibited from prosecuting its objectives after heavy Covenant activity and technical malfunctions begin to hamper the UNSCSOCOM mission, and NAVSPECWAR teams are being overrun by Covenant forces. Ranger 38/6 C, a wounded and heavily-damaged Ranger company, volunteers to deploy to Cambridge, to continue the prosecution of the mission and to recover the lost NAVSPECWAR and Marine forces. Subsequently, the Ranger mission is successively jeopardized, and after Directive 0-2 is executed, NAVSPECWAR pre-emptively orders a UNSC retreat from the area, to evacuate the wounded, to extract the overrun UNSCSOCOM operators, and to cover the exfiltration of a civilian refugee company.

The story concludes with the sacrifice of 38/6 C, which refuses to partake in the UNSC extraction, instead launching a disorganized and final assault on superior and entrenched Covenant forces, but covering the NAVSPECWAR retreat. NAVSPECWAR snipers Kawika Son and Katrina Woodbury voluntarily similarly break off from the retreat, staying behind to ensure the safe retreat of their comrades. Son and Woodbury would both be awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry; for disobeying orders and walking to a certain death by staying behind in Cambridge. Woodbury would be captured by Covenant forces and would mutilated and decapitated. 38/6 C would be devastated, completely slaughtered. However, Son, though severely wounded, would elude capture long enough to be rescued by forces of Sangheili Special Forces that launched a second rescue mission to look for the UNSC special forces that had been left behind.

It concludes with the safe recovery of Chandler Danial, the survivors of Flurry Troop, and the rescue of the civilian convoy, even under overwhelming Covenant pressure. The UNSC operation involved eighty-seven operators of UNSCSOCOM and twenty-one aircraft operated by UNSCSOCOM and the UNSC Marine Corps; it is a testament to the integrity and skill of the UNSC special forces that despite opposition by battalion-strength Covenant forces, approximately thirty special warfare operators would survive after the protracted battle.

[edit] Dramatis Personae

[edit] Flurry Troop (NAVSPECWAR Six / PROGWARDIV)

Commander Kawika Son was the commander of Flurry Troop and would serve as the on-site UNSCSOCOM coordinator for prosecuting the operation in Cambridge.

Forty UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group Six operators, divided into three sixteen-strong operational platoon detachments. Moderate casualties sustained.

• Commander Kawika Son: Troop Commander, Flurry Platoon One Commander (CMDR, O-5)
• Senior Chief Petty Officer Chandler Danial: Troop Senior Enlisted (SCPO, E-8)
• Lieutenant Srini Rajagopal†: Troop Operations Officer, Flurry Platoon Two Commander (LT, O-3)
• Chief Petty Officer Murray†: Troop Operations Chief / Close Air Support Controller (CPO, E-7)
• Master-at-Arms First Class Katrina Woodbury†: Sharpshooter / Special Reconnaissance (MA1, E-6)

[edit] Ranger 38/6 C (38^th Ranger)

Forty-eight UNSC Forward Airborne Reconnaissance (UNSC Ranger Corps) operators. Complete casualties sustained.

• Captain Kishi†: Company Commander (CPT, O-3)
• Sergeant Lionel Jackson†: Special Warfare Operator (SGT, E-5)

[edit] Red Dawn / Delta Troop (2^nd Marine Recon)

Red Dawn was a platoon-sized unit of Delta/DASR II, an elite Marine Corps special operations unit. It was comprised of 55 men and women, in four squads of 13 each. The Delta Troop commanding officer is Major James Adama. Red Dawn was supported by a small FORCE RECON element to provide reconnaissance-in-force (RIF) capability, led by Gunnery Sergeant Lansing Lovejoy.

• Captain Frank Stubblefield - Platoon Commander (Capt | O-3)
• Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Greene† - Platoon Sergeant (GySgt | E-7)
• Gunnery Sergeant Lansing Lovejoy - FORCE RECON Team Leader (GySgt | E-7)
• Staff Sergeant Wendy Reeves - Platoon Guide (SSgt | E-6)
• Sergeant Bill York† - 1st Squad Leader (Sgt | E-5)
• Sergeant Alessandra Tyla - 2nd Squad Leader (Sgt | E-5)
• Sergeant Simon Bana† - 3rd Squad Leader (Sgt | E-5)
• Sergeant Gabriel Etienne - 4th Squad Leader (Sgt | E-5)

[edit] UNSC Special Warfare Group SPARTAN / 101^st Shock

Elements of UNSC Special Warfare Group SPARTAN participated in the terminal extraction phase of the operation, exfiltrating NAVSPECWAR Six and Marine Recon forces under substantial enemy fire. SPECWAR SPARTAN was supported by operators of the 101st ODST Battalion, MARORBGRU.

• Senior Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-091 - Detachment Commander (SCPO, E-8)
• 2nd Lieutenant Miles Jaeger - Platoon Leader (2LT, O-1)

[edit] UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence (Section Three)

The control to exercise Directive 0-2 on Cambridge was subordinated to Lieutenant Commander Wakes, a Section Three officer attached to James Ackerson's section. Off-site intelligence support was provided by Nathaniel White, an officer of the UNSC Ranger Corps.

• Lieutenant Commander Wakes: J-3 / Operation Commander (LCDR, O-4)
• Nathaniel White (Army Intelligence Command): J-2 / Intelligence Support (1LT, O-1)

Note: Dagger indicates deceased

[edit] Behind the Scenes

• Halo: Dawn at Gethsemane is in reference to Gethsemane, the garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus and his disciples prayed on the night before Jesus's crucifixion. The coming of dawn represents His sacrifice; sacrifice is a central theme in this short story.