Ryker got a chilly response from Yalu once they dusted themselves off. "Do not speak of it," he spat before moving on without reciprocating the handshake. Yalu did not make clear whether he was distracted or intentionally curt. It seemed like both.

Yalu kept his helmet on and his communications austere for the clean up and the ride back to base.

---

Yalu had composed himself enough with the task of rearming for the assault on the keep. He was no stranger to such places, and as such rearmed his scattershot and needle rifle. However, if they were going in heavy, he knew exactly what to ask for to assist their surgical strike. He approached Ryker's vehicle with large rectangular ordnance cases in each hand while the spartan was seeing through its inspections. One after the other, he lifted them onto the brackets behind the main gun.

"I have come to seek pardon for my earlier tone," he proclaimed, before unlatching both cases to reveal a spartan laser and a rocket launcher. "I will be taking a Banshee in during the initial approach. You will need fire support."

---

Now that they were back on the Blockade Runner, there was not much time left to wait. The ship was invisible to sensors, but unlike some other capital ships, it did not possess active camouflage. While mostly irrelevant in space, once they came near enough to the Keep, they would be spotted by anyone who looked up. They had just disabled the only weapon in range that could destroy the ship quickly, but the city still had other anti-air defenses. The Blockade Runner would only have time to get in, blast open the outer walls, then deploy their strike force before it would have to fall back out of range. Aside from some light close air support, this would have to be a quick, decisive armored assault.

Finally, a ship-wide alert sounded and the crew started rushing to battle stations. They were closing in on the Keep. Vael had re-equipped himself for the battle ahead. He changed his armor equipment, swapping active camouflage for a jetpack. With the verticality of urban combat, the mobility could be life-saving. He kept his plasma rifle and swords, as usual, but exchanged his carbine for a plasma caster. Similar to a concussion rifle, its explosive firepower would be useful against both vehicles and entrenched infantry positions.

Human and Sangheili both were taking part in this assault. Swords of Sanghelios warriors were quicker to react to the alert, but once they had their orders from their officers, the Human marines were quick to rush to their vehicles. Scorpions and wraiths would comprise the core of their armored column, supported by warthogs, ghosts, spectres, and banshees above.

”To your vehicles!” Vael ordered as he jumped up onto a wraith and climbed into its turret.

After getting patched up, Tar stalked over to one of the clusters of ex-Covenant storage crates, littered with weapons and equipment. Pushing to the front, she snatched up plasma grenades and tucked them away in her armour. They’d pack more punch against materiel than her usual spike grenades.

Tar grabbed a jetpack and slung it over one arm. She was still without her armour, clad in just her thin underdressings. She leaned over and pulled a carbine out of its housing in a third crate, along with plenty of ammo. Lastly, she slapped her customary Maulers on each thigh.

Tar turned and nearly jumped when she found the armourer’s apprentice standing in front of her. He held her mended cuirass - with only a fleetingly short time to spare, they had just magnetised metal patches to it as a temporary measure. She grunted with indifference and raised both arms, guns and equipment hanging off them.

The armourer’s apprentice tentatively approached, holding the cuirass out in front of him. When it got close to her skin, the back flaps wrapped snugly around her with a satisfying *clank*. The interlocking parts shimmied around until they made a perfect fit around their owner’s torso.

“Give the armourer my thanks.” Tar hissed, striding round the youth and heading for the armoured column. She fastened her jetpack as she went.

She’d only just arrived back with the rest of her team when Vael gave the order to mount up. Tar roared, raising her carbine into the air and shouting for the chaotic mass of rallying troops.

“Glory awaits us! Take it, it's yours!” It got a smattering of encouraging replies from the crowd. The Commando bashed her new carbine against her chest to raise more noise, before jogging towards the front of the column where she’d take a turret in a Wraith.

After breaking off from the rest of Aegis Team, Spartan Aviza made a direct path towards the nearest UNSC medic's location that could attend to her head injury. The thought of having a Sangheili tend to the head injury had crossed her mind for the briefest of seconds, but the Spartan knew of their customs and that doing so would most likely reflect poorly upon her and perhaps any who assisted. In truth, she could have taken care of it herself but after the blood loss and continued strain she had put onto the area, it was decided that having someone else tend to the injury was in the best of her interest.

inside of the armory of the Hekar Taa Pattern Blockade Runner, a group of UNSC Marines had been rather loudly conversing with each other about the battle that was about to happen, and wondering were they would be deployed. Though, as soon as the heavy sounding footfalls from Aviza could be heard coming down the hallway towards them, one of the Marines peaked his head out of the armory to investigate the source of the noise. Upon seeing Spartan Aviza, the Marine quickly pulled himself back into the armory and informed the rest of his squad that they were about to have company.

The Marines had done their best to act nonchalantly about Spartan Aviza entering the Armory, but the appearance of the burn marks upon her armor drew their curiosity. The squad leader quickly turned to face Aviza and gave her a stiff salute while addressing her, "Spartan." He would then take a more relaxed stance before continuing, "Do you need any assistance? Looks like you may have taken a few hits down there."

Spartan Aviza quickly responded to the posed question, "I require a medic to tend to a head injury." Her gaze turning to the UNSC medic as she spoke. Without saying a word, the medic quickly grabbed onto his advanced first-aid kit and asked Aviza to take a seat on a nearby bench.

Aviza's glanced over to the bench that the medic had asked her to take a seat upon. She was a bit worried about breaking it upon then shrugged it off, doing as was request of her. After taking a seat in the middle of the bench, she carefully removed her helmet and placed it down upon her right side. The medic quickly began to inspect the head injury, while speaking to the Spartan, "If I may ask, how did you sustain this injury? It will help me tend to it." Aviza's azure blue eyes glanced up at medic before she responded, "Needler Rifle hit to the head."

The medic now had a look of surprise upon his face, "You are very lucky you did not come out of that much worse, as I am sure you know. Your armor took most of the blast, but there is still a significant injury here, let alone a concussion." There was a moments pause before Aviza responded, "I am aware, will you be able to attend to the injury fully or should I head elsewhere for more in-depth help?" The medic nodded his head once lightly, "I can, but it will take time, just relax and I will have you ready before your next mission."

The Spartan held perfectly still while the medic tended to her head injury, letting her mind wander on what had transpired so quickly in such a short amount of time.

She was unsure how much time passed, but the medic had finished his work after some stitches, pokes with needles, and some other less invasive medical treatments. During all of this, the other Marines in the room had left to give the two of them privacy, so the medic could work in peace without any distractions. "That is everything I can do with the equipment provided, my advice is to take it easy and try not to take a Needler Rifle round to the head again." said the medic, as she moved to his feet and made a few notes in his datapad for medical reasons. "You are all clear Spartan Aviza, if you need anything else, please let me know." Spartan Aviza moved to her feet and looked over her helmet, it still had the blast marks upon it from the Needler Rifle, she had decided that she liked the battle damaged look more than the clean version.

Now moving to her feet, she turned to face the medic that had expertly tended to her injury and spoke, "Thank you for your assistance Marine, it is appreciated." Much to the Marines surprise, Aviza lightly patted the man on his head a few times before turning to leave, vanishing around the corner. The Marine medic was left stunned for a few seconds before coming back to his senses, "Wait, what just happened?"

Heading back down the hallway she had come from, Aviza used the HUD built into her helmet to triple check if she had everything she needed for when they were forced to fight on foot. Thankfully she did, though now instead of a MA40 Assault Rifle, she now had a M739 SAW, which felt right at home among her loadout. There was a few more things to do before she could consider herself ready to finish what they had started.

After making her way through the halls of the ship once more, Aviza found herself within the hanger of the Hekar Taa Pattern Blockade Runner. The Spartan stood below her own personal heavily modified Theseus Command Mantis, which she had requested to be moved for use in the up and coming war. After a few moments of looking over the Mantis, a UNSC Engineer moved to her side then spoke in a rough sounding voice, "She is prepped and ready for combat, Spartan Aviza, good luck out there." The UNSC Engineer then moved to work on something else.

Wasting no time, Spartan Aviza climbed up and into the Theseus Command Mantis, securing her position inside of it while the rest of Aegis Team started to flood in. "Alright Shihi, help me run a full systems check on the Theseus." said Aviza as she began making sure everything would function to the best of its abilities. Her HUD informed her that the Theseus Command Mantis's main systems were working, but she would have to check the weapons systems manually while Shihi took care of other things within the Mech. "Right arms M655 Anti-Material Machinegun is green, left arms Heavy Incinerator is green, right shoulders Smart Rocket Pod is green, left shoulders M149 Recoilless Rifle is green, all weapon systems are operational." Aviza nodded her head in approval.

Repositioning herself into a more comfortable position within the Theseus Command Mantis, Spartan Aviza watched as others began to mount up into their vehicles, preparing for war. It was at that time that she saw Tar raise her carbine above her head and give a warcry before taking a turret in a Wraith. Opening the teams coms, Aviza would reach out to the Sangheili, "Well said Tar, watch yourself down there on the field of battle. I am currently ready to deploy, just awaiting our signal."

Lucas wasted no time in climbing swiftly into the driver's seat of his needlehog, two marines manning his passenger seat and another his gun as he gives a thumbs up that he's ready. "Locked, cocked, and ready to rock, Commander."



Approaching Ryker's modified warthog, the marine on the gun nodded and hopped off, allowing her to take over and join her comrade in his vehicle of choice. Waiting until he finished, she gave the SPARTAN-IV a grin. "Remind you of anything, Ryker?" The Spartan nodded, a grin behind his own helmet.

"Teren Outpost, thought the thing was more of a fortress. UNSC lead that one though. Hope this is as much fun."

Through the glowing, translucent energy shield separating the hangar from the outside, the strike force could see the chaos start to unfold. Their Blockade Runner came in quick and low over the mountains, much to the surprise of the Keep’s defenders who saw the warship suddenly approaching over the horizon. At the speed their ship could move, they hardly had time to raise the alarm before the vessel was upon them. With a well-defined plan to follow, the ship’s crew carried it out quickly and efficiently. Immediately, the Blockade Runner fired a pair of plasma torpedoes at the city’s outer walls, blasting a sizable hole in the city’s defenses near to the planned drop zone. Anti-aircraft emplacements within the city opened fire to start pounding the ship’s shields. It was at that point when the defenders were likely marking the ship for the nearest heavy cannon to eliminate, only to find it in no condition to fire, and its garrison unresponsive. There were other, similar cannons situated in other positions around the city, but at the ship’s current altitude and position, only the one they had sabotaged would have had a shot. Even still, their shields could only handle ground fire from the city for so long, so this insertion would need to be quick.

Being that the Blockade Runner was not specialized for ground assault, it had no grav lift for quick deployment, so they would have to settle for phantom drops. Aegis team’s respective vehicles were already locked in place to the phantoms above them via their grav lifts, so once the hangar’s shield dropped, they were among the first out the door. The first wave of phantoms exited on the side of the ship opposite to the keep so the Blockade Runner’s shields could help protect them from the anti-aircraft fire. They were positioned directly above the drop zone, so it hardly took more than a few seconds for them to get to ground. Heavy armor, like scorpions, were dropped in the front, with wraiths behind. Lighter vehicles, like ghosts and warthogs, were initially dropped behind the heavy armor, though they were agile vehicles that could easily reposition as needed to support the main armor column. Shadow troop transports carried the majority of their infantry support and would move behind the armor at least until they were inside the walls. Banshees from both sides were being deployed for close air support. For now, the Blockade Runner’s point defense could help fight off opposing aircraft, but it would not be staying for too long.

The city had been caught off guard, as evidenced by the lack of defenses outside the walls. No doubt, the garrison was already deploying to meet them, but right now they had a chance to get to a better position before they faced resistance. Right now, the only incoming fire on the ground was coming from four rapid-fire plasma turrets positioned on the top of the walls. They were still at long range, so the incoming fire was mostly inaccurate, though they would become more dangerous the closer they came. They were completely in the open at the moment, so priority was to get to the breach before the enemy could respond, but it may have been wise to put some attention on the turrets along the way.

“Good luck, Spartan.” Tar called to Aviza over the rising din as Phantoms hovered into position over their armour.

The ride down to the surface of Brissekh from the Blockade Runner was extremely loud and nausea-inducing, like being dropped from a great height. Rain battered their dropship’s canopy and poured down the sides onto Tar’s Wraith. Battle chatter burbled in her ears from the closest teams; her pilot was staying quiet for now.

For a few seconds, she could only stare out at the city she knew so well and feel a mix of nostalgia and fear. While a relatively young settlement at just over two hundred years, the Keep occupied a commanding position over the valley they were deploying into. Three concentric rings of fortifications had been carved out of the black rock, each higher than the last, until the top of the Kaidon’s migdol poked out like a mountain peak in itself. Tar wondered if her little brother was watching from a high window at the army which had just arrived.

As soon as they touched down, Tar fired her turret at one of the defending guns closest the breach the Blockade Runner had made. “Move forward!” She grunted to the pilot, and they began advancing.

The moment the needlehog hit the ground, Lucas slammed the gas pedal down to the floor, the lighter vehicle racing ahead of the heavier and slower Scorpion and Wraith tanks as he got the marine and Comi lines of sight on the defensive emplacements that were firing on the landing zone. "Light them up, Corporal!" The marine, using a DMR, was already picking targets from around the gun emplacements as Comi'Masam spun up the needle cannon, rapidly sending needle spikes sailing into all the soft targets that were exposed along the wall and near it. {Spartan Ryker here, I'm heading the light armor group in a needlehog. Aside from those turrets, anyone see other priority soft targets for us?}

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Armored Assault on a Shadow

Grikgar was happy to be out of the situation with the elite, it was always stressful going up against them but normally he could use the weak and cowardly stereotypes of his people to his advantage against most enemies. He was quite thankful of his team while they prepped for the next assault on the keep. Rearming was easy what took time was running the final diagnostics on the goblin to make sure it was ready to go without too many issues. This would be the first ‘official’ use of the grunt mech and he was going to make sure that nothing was going to jam.

The weapons were ready and the shielding seemed good to go, Grik was sure to check everything twice while eating a ration, especially with the current model being new. The others seemed to be going through their own ways of mental preparation for the assault. His only issue he could see so far was just getting in close enough to the wall in the first place. Getting a lift from one of the troop transports or just going in for the hot drop from a phantom from up high were what seemed to be his choices so far.

They both had their pros and con’s but for what they were looking at he decided to stick with the armored column so he doesn’t get picked off for lack of cover. So after his system checks were completed and the orders were starting to be given out Grik powered up his mech and linked up with the lead Shadow and found a spot to latch onto its aft half to provide fire support during the advance.

His spot had a great view while they were being airlifted into position, enemy flak already opening up on them but panic was sure to follow for the enemy once they realized their big gun was off line. The mech began to fire on anything that came into range of either his needle cannon or grenade launcher but mostly just tried to block or dodge incoming fire the best he could. Armored assaults were his favorite advance, so many explosions and pretty colors.

Sitting inside of a vehicle such as the Theseus Command Mantis during a tactile insertion was always an intense experience, and one that Aviza had begun to enjoy over the last decade or so. This time around though, was slightly different due to the fact that they were being dropped from Phantoms instead of Pelicans. Still, Aviza had strapped herself in a bit more securely just in case the ride would be more turbulent or something else went wrong along the way. "All safety procedures passed, all systems are green, now we get to wait for the fun to begin." said Aziva as she leaned forward slightly and flipped a switch on the control panel in front of her. A gentle electronic hum followed before the interior screens came to life, giving the Spartan a clear view of everything out-front of her as if the reinforced platting on the outside of the vehicle was made out of glass.

A few moments would pass in relative silence within the Theseus Command Mantis before Aviza not only felt the Phantom touch off but also saw the rapid deployment with her own eyes. The steep approach and high speed they were taking with the Phantoms brought a smile across the Spartans face as they approached their drop off point. With the sudden feeling of freefalling that only lasted what felt like a few seconds, the Mantis gracefully made contact with solid ground. "Over already? I was just starting to enjoy myself, makes me want to fly again." thought Aviza, though Shihi quickly responded, "I am sure you will get more chances to experience that again, or perhaps even fly something in the near future. For now though, you should focus on the objectives at hand." Using the connection from the Theseus Command Mantis to her armor, Aviza quickly turned her attention to one of the fortified positions and fired off a round from the Theseus Command Mantis's M149 Recoilless Rifle. The force from the weapon firing could be felt even from within the cockpit of the vehicle, as well as creating a could of smoke that quickly faded away due to the rain and moisture.

---

The armored column had to move quickly to take advantage of the surprise they still had over their enemy. The open ground outside the walls would have made for a strong defensive position, had the city’s garrison been able to see the attack coming. The plasma turrets alone atop the walls were far from sufficient to stop, or even slow down an armored assault. At the moment, they were able to push forward at max speed to close the gap to the city walls. Weapons fire from the mantis and scorpions at long range could tear apart the plasma turrets long before they could do meaningful damage to the vehicles. The plasma turrets were intended for anti-infantry or anti-aircraft roles, while other defenses would normally handle heavy vehicles.

The push to the wall had been simple, with little resistance, but now that they were approaching the opening their ship had made, they were about to be stepping into much more danger. While the breach was not small, two scorpions side-by-side would only barely squeeze through. For their entire column, it was going to be a choke point. They caught a few glimpses of infantry through the opening, but machine gun fire from the scorpions forced them back into hiding. No doubt, they were scrambling to establish a defensive position inside.

At the moment, the team could not know how many anti-tank weapons were already in position inside. The defenders would be scrambling to deploy them to the breach, but it had been less than a minute since landing. If they were lucky, they would be able to get a foothold inside before the enemy could arm themselves to deal with them, but the longer they took, the more the enemy would be able to fortify.

”Shadows, stay back until we have a foothold inside. Everyone else, push forward!” Vael ordered. They were going to be pushing into an urban environment. The city did have streets wide enough to accommodate their vehicles, but it was still going to be far more cramped than the field they were in now. For armored units, urban fighting could be particularly dangerous, so they would need to be adaptable and alert for threats that could come from any angle. They did not know exactly what the other side of the breach looked like or where the enemy was positioned on the other side. There was only so much planning that could be done ahead of time; at a certain point, they had to adapt and improvise. How they decided to cross the choke point would be important to improve their odds.

Leading a group of warthogs and a couple of other needlehogs, Ryker and Comi were already inside the breach, lighting up any infantry that they could see. However, once they were inside the walls, the needlehogs were in a very different situation, as their munitions were worthless against the walls and heavier protections offered by the urban environment. The warthogs equipped with standard armaments would have the penetration to clear out walls without having to risk their crews, but Ryker and the other needlehogs were going to have to hope they could catch the defenders between positions as they raced through the streets. {Light armor group is inside the walls and doing what we can to push back the city defenders. What's the plan for securing the buildings as we move? Needlehogs are good against infantry, but not much else.}

Comi, meanwhile, was lighting up every Unggoy, Kig-yar, and Sangheili that exposed themselves long enough to take more than a couple of needles, keeping any of them holding anti-tank weaponry from getting an actual shot on both the Warthogs and the approaching scorpions and wraiths.

As the breach was so small, a traffic jam inevitably ensued as the heavier armour filtered through into the city. Soldiers on the walls began firing small arms and chucking grenades down onto the vehicles beneath. Tar’s Wraith hung back slightly and pounded the walls with blue balls of plasma. She tilted her plasma repeater as far up as it would go and sprayed the parapets, forcing some of the Sangheili there to take cover. Her shield flared as a carbine bolt pinged off the Wraith and into her face.

“Clear the gap, move!” Tar yelled, ducking back down as far as she could go into her cockpit area as her gun overheated.

With a hollow wheeze from its engine, Yalu swung his banshee around toward the walls. The close air support on his wings could fly over relative safety with all the anti air turrets on the walls blasted off their mounts, but the weather left visibility to be desired.

Yalu's voice hummed quietly over the comms from the shelter of the prone cockpit. "We have the skies. Mark urgent targets for the hornets and banshees. We will be shooting down their aircraft as they come."

Yalu did his friends a favour in the spare moment to do a strafing run on a parallel street to the wall to keep anti-armour teams pinned. The street lit up with rapid fire plasma bolts. No small arms fire did more than scratch at this distance. It was all he could do before enemy air support came onto the radar. He pulled up and boosted into the rain to gain altitude.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Armored Assault on a Shadow >>> Sieging the wall

Grik continued to hold onto the lead troop transport as they began to crawl closer to the walls of the city. The breach in the wall was a tight fit for the vehicles and the defenders on the wall were not going easy or breaking their spirits. Yet it did not seem like they were getting the heavy weapons they had left to bear on the advancing armored column or the vehicles pouring through the gap. Small arms and anti-tank weapons were a likely cause for the amount of fire power heading towards the breach in the wall and the city beyond.

The grunt had a good opportunity in his new suit, to show off its power and maneuverability on top of not being seen on the battle field before. This was a test run for non-simulated combat. Now would be a perfect time to test out its ability to clear walls and trenches knowing that it could easily dive off the wall if it got too hot.

Leaping from the troop transport, Grik began moving through the armor around him to get to the wall quicker than the transport could. Evading so many tanks and other vehicles wasn’t entirely easy, he found that he had to hitch a ride here and there on a tank or two to get out of the way but eventually made it to the wall.

“Lift and shift your fire on the right wall.” Grik called out over the radio.

Slowly and deliberately he waited for the armor to shift its fire to allow him up while pinning down enemy forces. Being mindful of being shot from the other side the goblin mech scaled the wall to the top were most of the defenders seemed to be rallying and started with a barrage of heavy needles before he even got up to the top. Following the barrage quickly up the wall and beginning to open fire on the defenders keeping an eye on his shield strength and continuing to use cover when he was able too. Hopefully this would give the vehicles more time. To get through the gap.

---

It went without saying that Grik’s maneuver came by surprise to the defenders on the wall. The prototype goblin had far more mobility than would be expected from a vehicle of its type. The infantry on top of the wall were not equipped to overcome the heavy defenses of the mech, nor did they have much cover to hide from it. Those that Grik did not kill right away retreated quickly. In addition to taking a lot of the pressure from his team below, from the top of the wall, he would have a good view of the streets inside.

With the light vehicles Ryker was leading having pushed through the gap, they had been able to put pressure on the enemy infantry pretty much immediately. They had forced many of them to scatter and seek hard cover, which meant the tanks pushing through the breach behind them did not have any sort of organized frontline to try to stop them. Plasma mortars from allied wraiths sailed overhead to bombard groups of enemies that could be seen rushing towards the walls in the distance, while shells from scorpion tanks were targeted more precisely at closer groups.

While their armored column was able to establish a foothold in the walls, moving forward still presented more dangers. Not long after they started to advance, a flash of green shot out from off to the right in front of them, from the doorway of one of the buildings. A fuel rod struck one of the warthogs, sending it rolling until it crashed into a barrier on the opposite side of the street. A second fuel rod fired quickly and struck the front of the lead scorpion, though from a single shot, there was no penetration through the tough armor. The shooter quickly ducked back into the building, but Vael marked the target for his wraith’s driver. It fired one plasma mortar, then another back-to-back. Between the two of them, the small structure collapsed entirely.

”We have neither the time nor forces to secure every building. We shall use our armor to destroy any place they may hide. Our objective is the Kaidon. Should Tar defeat him in honorable combat, then the city shall recognize her right to lead. Advance straight to the keep, as quickly as possible.” Vael ordered. The city, of course, was not strictly a military stronghold, though Vael did not seem concerned by differentiating between military and civilians. The building the wraith had collapsed looked to have been a residence, but it was no less of a target to him.

In the air, the blockade runner was still close enough to provide support, as well as serving as a target for the attention of ground-based AA. Yalu and the other banshees could use it to gain an edge over the incoming banshee squadrons. However, their ship could not continue to soak up damage forever. An alert went out that there would be two minutes before the blockade runner retreated. Once that happened, any pilot still in the air over the city would be in much more danger.

Those are many civilian buildings going up, Yalu thought to himself. The first line of them had little warning. Would the others have time to get out of the line of fire?

There was no time to act on it now. Enemy aircraft were showing up on his motion sensor before his eyes caught them through the poor visibility. They could see him and his wingmates. Yalu dove to gain speed and lined up a close shot on one banshee to the left. A few plasma bolts flew out to force evasion. The enemy rolled to one side -- a manoeuvre not easily interrupted. Yalu mouthed a prayer and lead a fuel rod into its path.

The sky lit up for a second. Yalu figured something out.

"Air, pull back towards the blockade runner," Yalu said over comms. "Do not cover me."

It was a relatively straight path to the kaidon's palace from the breach in the wall. A wide, main parade street at that. Yalu swung around and dove for the street level at full boost, trailing lines of bright plasma and several enemy banshees behind him. He levelled roughly thirty metres from the ground and kept going at full speed. He would be below the anti-air batteries and very much in view of any civilians left in the area. Hopefully his risky flight path would give them notice enough to evacuate under the pretence of leading the enemy away.