Secrets
An Original FanFiction Story
Author's Note: A very long time ago when I was very young I had some good ideas and tried to write some stories here. The result was a fail. I may come back to those stories but as for now I'm going to work on new ideas. This one is hopefully going to be the first and I already have a sequel in mind. Now enough with my talking and on to the story! Also don't forget to leave me reviews letting me know what ya think
Section 0: The End
Prologue
Armory aboard UNSC Stealth Corvette Midnight's Shadow
In orbit above Seri Setti
February 24, 2550
"After you have neutralized the Scarab give us the signal and the assault on the city will begin, understood?"
It seemed as if it was the millionth time they had gone over the timeline with each other. Every mission was like this. Just before Spartan 013 Jason put on his helmet John would grab his wrist and walk through the mission with him for a final time.
"Yes I understand. Are you gonna ask me if I remember the code next?" Jason asked with a wry smile.
Most people had never seen a Spartan smile; because of their helmets and because of their no emotion attitudes they had received from a life of fighting and violence. However Jason always was a little different.
"I'd be surprised if you'd forgotten 'Olly Olly Oxen Free' Jason." The hulking figure known as John replied.
Jason pulled on his helmet and saw the service number 117 and the sign of Master Chief above John's head and with a quick salute said,
"I won't be too long, don't miss me Chief."
Jason then did an about face and walked out the door and down the hallway. As he walked his hands fell to his sides to feel an M6D pistol holstered to each massive armored leg. Then one arm reached up and patted the BR55 strapped to his back.
It all seemed routine, the way it had before every mission; the conversation with John in the armory, checking his weapons to make sure everything was in place. Yet something was missing.
The halls were silent.
In the beginning of the war even ships in the most backwards, unthreatened areas were fully staffed. Stuffed with Marines and Navy servicemen walking around performing duties or just passing time.
However now even an Office of Naval Intelligence stealth Corvette with a high profile mission was running with a skeleton crew. They had just enough Marines to defend the ship if they were fighting an entire boarding part composed of Grunts and the crew on the bridge was working overtime and still they were understaffed.
This war better end soon, otherwise humanity is screwed.
Jason walked on in the silent hallways till he came to the room marked Orbital Drop Room. He entered in his Service number and waited till the light above the door glowed green. He walked into the dimly lit room and over to the man standing near an HEV Drop Pod marked S013.
"Aww ya got all dressed up for our date ya didn't have to do that." Said the Navy mechanic standing near the drop pod.
The door on the pod popped open and Jason climbed inside.
"You know the drill, if the hatch doesn't open when you land you can release it by hitting the four seals at the top, bottom, left, and right side of the hatch. When you hit the ground get all your shit outta the pod and don't forgetta hit the self destruct button. Oh hey and kill some of the Covie bastards for me."
Jason responded with a simple thumbs up. Although Jason was joking in the Armory once he was in the pod he became all business. A countdown appeared on his HUD. As the numbers reached zero Jason felt his stomach plummet as the pod was released and began hurtling towards the surface of Seri Setti at speeds unimaginable.
Jason's training kicked in and he began to take deep slow breaths to stay calm. This was the one part of every mission that Jason hated. He could handle being shot at, killing, blowing things up, days without sleep but he hated those few seconds where he had no control and was helpless as his drop pod hurtled towards the surface; engulfed in flames as it ripped through the atmosphere.
Jason gripped the handles of his seat and then suddenly he felt the pod slam into the ground and the bottom crumple as it took the brunt of the impact. As the hatch exploded open Jason was jumping out landing in a forward roll sighting down the barrel of his Battle Rifle for enemy contacts.
He saw no movement in the low light and after a quick check with his night vision and thermal and a glance at his motion tracker he turned and reached into the pod. He pulled out the satchel filled with plastic explosives. Jason loved to as he put it, "Blow shit up". No matter the nature of the mission he always had explosives on him, better to be safe than sorry was his logic.
He then pulled out a satchel filled with various electronic equipment. This was Jason's forte. Jason like every Spartan was a master at stealth and a terror in combat. However he was also extremely adept at hacking. He could slice into any database with no problem and had on many occasions. He was the smartest out of all the Spartans. They had even copied his brain to create a "smart" AI with. Jason had met this AI, Beowulf, guarding ONI files and had a fun time trying to beat his counterpart.
When you marked Jason's combat and stealth prowess with his natural cyber sleuth abilities he was the perfect intelligence gatherer. For nearly every mission the Spartans had went on beforehand Jason was sent in to gather intelligence and disrupt the enemy forces.
For this mission he was going to sneak behind the small Covenant encampment on Seri Setti and take out the lone Scarab that protected them so that a strike force of Spartans could move in and neutralize the Covenant and see why they had stayed in system instead of pulling out and glassing the planet.
Jason punched the self destruct button and took off into the dark forest. He went slow keeping his eye open for any Covenant patrols. When he was within about five clicks he saw his first enemy contact. A small squad of Grunts let by an Elite in blue armor was walking towards Jason on a path. Jason looked around and spotted a wide thick limb extending over the path from one of the mighty trees of the forest. He scrambled up the tree and sat and waited for the patrol to pass underneath him.
As the first Grunt walked beneath him he jumped down impaling the Grunts skull beneath his boots. He fired quickly from his Battle Rifle, the silenced shots a whisper as they struck each Grunt between their eyes. Within seconds all of the Grunts were eliminated before any of them had time to react. The Elite was raising his Plasma Rifle as Jason tackled him, knocking the rifle into the dark brush. He pulled a knife from harness on his chest and quickly slit the throat of the Elite. Jason dragged the bodies into the brush so no other enemy patrols would stumble upon them while walking the paths.
He continued towards the Covenant outpost, encountering no further resistance on his way. When he arrived at the outpost he stopped on a hill and magnified his vision via his helmet to observe the outpost. It was small consisting of a garage in the center, a barracks, a few other buildings, four sniper towers at each corner all surrounded by a low purple wall.
Jason set off towards the closest tower. His motion tracker picked up three contacts. The purple wall prevented him from going up through the grav lift which would have been foolish either way. Jason scaled the wall and crouched on the top of it. He then jumped up and grabbed the lip of the tower and flipped himself up side of it. He immediately grabbed the Grunt next to him who looked surprised and had fallen away from the Plasma turret he had previously been manning. He ripped the mask off its face and snapped its neck ensuring its death.
The other Grunt and the Jackal sniper in the tower however were both aiming their weapons about to shoot. Although his shields could absorb the fire, the bright plasma shots would alert the entire outpost to the invader.
Jason did the only thing he could think of; he ran at the two tackling them out of the tower and thirty feet below them to the ground. Jason's armor would have protected him regardless of whether or not the Jackal and Grunt had broken his fall. They however were very much dead, they're bodies broken and bloody.
Jason moved stealthily towards the garage and to the back of it. He felt along the smooth alien metal till he found a slight intent. Using a knife he ripped open a panel to find wires tangled together. He pulled out a datapad and attached several wires to the miniature computer.
Alien characters and signs began to fill the screen but were soon replaced with human words and icons as his translation software worked its magic. Jason searched till he found the word "SECURITY".
He opened the folder and deselected the programs "Automatic Turrets", "FOF Identifier", "Cameras", and "Alarms". It would now be much simpler for him to enter into the garage. He found an entrance that was guarded by a lone Grunt and killed him while he slept. Inside the large purple building there were numerous Ghosts, a few Wraiths, and one large ominous Scarab.
Jason made his way and scaled up the leg of the Scarab. He then found the cockpit and went inside. The room was empty and devoid of life. Jason walked to what appeared to be the main console. He plugged in his datapad and began to work. He deleted all files that were hardwired into the Scarab that pertained to movement, combat, even powering the thing on.
Jason slipped out of the outpost without being seen. After reaching the safety of the forest he turned on his mic to an encrypted channel.
He tried to clear his throat and whispered hoarsely due to not talking for a few hours,
"Olly Olly Oxen Free"
A few moments later the voice of fellow Spartan, Kelly, sang back to him
"We're all out, out in the free. We'll meet you at Rally Point Zulu."
With a smile Jason switched off his mic and began the trek through the tall forest. It was almost 0200 hours; it wouldn't be till 0500 till he was at the courtyard that had been designated Rally Point Zulu.
Jason continued walking till suddenly the forest transformed from tall, luscious, green trees to charred and blackened plains. Here was where the former capital of Seri Setti, Sessum, had once led the beautiful planet.
Seri Setti was a plane that was nearly the twin of Earth. Although slightly larger than humanity's home world it was filled with deserts, tundra, forests, cities, farms, plains, grasslands and every other environment found on Earth. Seri Setti was known as a resort world because of the beautiful scenes that existed due to the untouched nature. It was populated by two types of people, the rich upper class who lived in the large impressive cities and the very poor farmers who lived around the outskirts of the cities hoping to one day live in the grandeur of the city.
Sessum was attacked directly by the Covenant when they invaded. The farmers around the town were obliterated. There were no survivors. When the Covenant marched towards the city they met a well supplied but unprepared security force. Civilians tried to flee in their personal transports to the space station above that housed their luxury liners and intergalaxy yachts. They never made it.
Those who took to the sky were shot down by Banshees and Anti Aircraft Wraiths. Those who remained in their home were slaughtered mercilessly by Elites unseen with their Active Camouflage. After the bloodbath was finished the Covenant left, leaving the city standing empty; a ghost town.
Jason walked down the empty streets; side stepping the corpses of mothers clinging small children to their breasts that in life was to protect them from the monsters that stalked them through the city and now to shield them from the monsters of hell.
He soon arrived at a large courtyard, the grass blackened with soot, empty save for a twisted swing set in the center. Jason clicked his mic twice. A few minutes later he heard the thrum of rotors as three UH-144s, Falcons, appeared in the distance. They were soon hovering above him and descending and then set down on the black grass.
From within the belly of each Falcon Spartans emerged. In seconds there were twelve Spartans and Jason standing in the courtyard. One Spartan with the service number 093 floating above her head stepped forward and slid two fingers across her face plate, the closet most Spartans ever came to smiling.
"Good to see you too Grace." Jason said as he returned the gesture.
"Alright lets load back up onto the Falcons and begin Phase Thre-"
The Master Chief was cut off as loud trill rang out across the courtyard and a beam of plasma flared against the shields of Spartan 039.
A crack rang out as Spartan 058, Linda, fired off a single shot from where it appeared the beam had originated. Linda's calm voice whispered across the COM channel,
"Hostile sniper down."
"Let's move Spartans, I don't want to see if there are any more of them." John said.
They began to load up when suddenly Kelly stopped in the middle of climbing aboard.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.
Jason boosted the audio intake and heard what he assumed Kelly had, the sound of feet pounding on pavement. Suddenly down the road hundreds of Covenant could be seen thundering down the road coming from everywhere; doorways, windows, rooftops, empty cars, and even from underneath piles of bodies.
"MOVE!" John screamed although none of them needed to be told as they were already clambering into place.
Jason boarded a Falcon with John, Kelly, Linda, Will, and Fred; Will slid into the pilots seat and began to rise up into the air.
Plasma started to rise from the ground up towards them from the angry seething mob below them. Kelly and Fred slid in behind the machine guns affixed to each of the open sides of the Falcon and began to pour lead down on to the aliens. Four methodical cracks were heard as Linda squeezed off four rounds that slammed into the heads of four Elites below.
Suddenly a boom was heard and the Falcon was spinning uncontrollably.
"Will status report!" John screamed into the mic.
"AA Wraith hit us, I've lost control were going down!"
Jason grabbed a strap hanging from the ceiling to hold on for his life as they hurtled towards the ground. Suddenly he felt the Falcon hit the ground and everything went black.
Authors Note- Let me know how you like it and I'll keep updating! Thanks for reading!