Spartan Shane was not having a good day. Not only was he told that wouldn't be able to enjoy the company of other SPARTANS on Requiem but his handler turned out to be none other then Robert. Great. Now his friend Robert can poke and prod at his mistakes from Alpha all the way till now. It wasn't a good feeling. But, even when he is hurtling toward Requiem in a Pelican with the 21st Marine Tactical Division, He couldn't help wonder how he got here.
Kurt Ambrose was smiling with awe as Shane and Robert saluted him. Kurt SAW them die. But Shane and Robert managed to fake death and those damn hingeheads didn't know any better. Now they stood infront of the Kurt, ready to tackle the Covenant once more and honor their fallen brothers and Sisters. Shane and Robert would eventually be his hands as he trained BETA. Long nights with his MA5K honed his prowess. Robert switched roles to a versatile fighter, opting for a SAW to be his primary weapon of choice. They drilled each other to the point of almost death from them both. Eventually Kurt knew that even without the insane skills of the SPARTAN 2's, that Shane and Robert were both a tier over the conventional Spartan 3.0. So he ordered for them both a stripped down version of the HRUNTING suit that was supposed to be secret. This new armor physically looked like a stripped down version of the HRUNTING except incorporated with it was SPI and MJOLNIR armor systems. It wasn't nearly as expensive as it should have been because of the lack of all of the integrated weapon suits and removal of the bubble shielding. By making to suit smaller they still had to get shielding onto the armor. The techies managed to get a weaker shield, a Huragok's shield, that was about 50% weaker then typical MJOLNIR shielding and stretch it out to fit the newly dubbed "ALPHA" armor. Sure about half a clip from a MA5K will take the shielding offline but now these SPARTANS felt like SPARTANS.
Shane one day approached Kurt after a long day training BETA.
"Sir." A crisp salute followed suit.
"At ease, Shane. Did you want to talk to me?"
"Sir, I would just like to inform you about the additional funding we recieved today."
"How much?"
"About 20 million credits."
Kurt was surprised. He could get new courses set up and maybe use some of that to upgrade the SPI systems.
"Shane, tell ONI I want all of that funding to go to upgrading the SPI armor Systems, is that understood?"
"Sir, Yessir!"
That was how all days went for awile. Until PEGASI DELTA and REACH rolled around. Shane and Robert were both deployed on Reach. They were by the New Alexandria. Fighting on the ground took alot out of them, but they were ready.
One bad day on Reach, well one of many, was when a Brute kill team was a trying to punch a hole in the UNSC's defenses by an Urban area. Troopers there were fortified with Turrets and MA37's. The place was ideal for the UNSC. It was a street, blockaded on one side and with Snipers on the building adjacent to the streets. Mere minutes after the Troopers dug in the first Brute was spotted. After unloading a clip into the Brute Scout he was finally killed before he even got with range of the holdup. One the DRONES picked up an image of just how big the force was. The kill team eventually was reclassified as a Pack of Brutes lead by a Chieftain. A lance of Brutes along with a Ghost showed up. They fought bravely but where killed by UNSC forces. By the time they were murdered however, another lance showed their Mike Foxtrot faces. This cycled continued for hours until two lances piled up. Then three. Then four. For unknown reasons then, as dusk broke they retreated. Spartans A012 and A013 were both assigned to help the troopers fortify the position. When dawn broke loose, as did hell. A Wraith was raining hell on the troopers and Brutes dug in cover, shooting anything that moved.
"Shane, we need to get off this block!"
Another explosion shook the world and the Brutes let shots out like a chorus.
"Agreed. On my mark we cover the road for these troopers."
"What? I meant us, not the troopers!"
"Robert! We have to get them out of here!"
"They're just soldiers, we're Spartans!"
"I don't give a damn let-
Another hit. Another trooper down. A spiker shot hit Robert's shield and his shields flared up.
"Dammit. Let's got Shane. I just called in the Falcon."
Shane took on last glance at the enemy.
"No."
Shane took off, his MA37 blasting all the way. His bullets pumped out of his weapon. Blue fire and plasma exploded around him. The Brutes shot at him with their Spikers. But SPARTAN-A012 would not let go. He turned machine, he felt the bullets tear through the flesh. Whenever one Brute fell, he would automatically switch to the other. Eventually, he heard the Robert was issuing orders to the now organized men. Their bullets flew into the Brutes, with Robert dealing suppresive fire for Shane to hop onto the Wraith. He boarded the Wraith and killed the gunner. Suddenly, behind him the hatch opened and a Brute fired his Spiker. Before Shane's shield could down, Robert mowed him down with his SAW.
"Now can we leave?"
"Yes."