Welcome to the Sargasso Chronicle, A side story from the main storyline of Brothers In Arms, following the 313th and more importantly William and Alexis leading from before the battle of Sargasso until where they join into the main storyline.

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Prologue

3rd of August, 2545

On the Planet Reach, in a military base near Siófok

Corporal William Goodwin

"ON YOUR FEET MARINE" Sargent Kessler yelled to me before firing his MA5 down the corridor

I glanced down to the spray of training rounds lining my right side, as I pulled myself up, and then braced myself on the corner sending a pair of bursts down range with my MA5

"How bad are you hit" He called from across the corridor

I let out a wheezy breath "4 or 5 rounds" I said as a pang of pain sprung through me

"We're not going to be able to hold this angle, we'll have to fall back" he said looking to me whilst reloading

"Sarge, I'll cover you're retreat, then you, mine" I said finishing my reload

"Since when you start giving orders" Kessler said jokingly

"Ever since I was hit and you weren't, Sir" I responded

"Fine," he said preparing to run

I started to suppress the enemy at the end of the corridor "Go!" I shouted over the gunshots, and Kessler took off, I kept the enemy from getting any shots off, and when Kessler got to the next set of corridors he called me over Comms

"Ready?" He asked

"Ready as I'll ever be" I answered bracing myself for my turn

"Now!" He shouted before firing, I started to dash down the corridor, bullets whizzing by me in both directions, before I made it to Kessler I felt two solid punches to my left side, still barreling down the hall, I was so close as another pair or rounds met their mark, and I fell into the hallway adjacent to Kessler's position, He turned to me

"Go, I'll Hold them here for as long as I can" I shouted at him, pushing myself to my feet, leaning all my weight on the wall, reading my weapon

"I'm not leaving you here!" He shouted back

"There's no way I can keep running, you'll just slow yourself down" I said looking him in the eyes

He returned the serious gesture "If I must, We'll meet again brother" he slid his ammo pouch to me, before turning "Give 'em hell!" he called over his shoulder before darting off

I fired down the Corridor, the enemy had started to push, their rounds narrowly missing my position, the reddish-pink Gel splatted on the walls and some even managing to get onto my helmets eyepiece, I hit two of them before my rifle ran dry, I threw my helmet at one of the closer ones as I drew my sidearm, I tagged another one before a flurry of shots took me out, I slowly slid down the wall, trying to stay awake, one of the enemy marine's propped me up against a crate"good work buddy" He said putting my helmet back on me before I passed out.

I awoke after the match, Turns out that we had lost, but it was really close, Kessler had managed to return to base and warn them of the incoming attack from the flank, and was the last man standing in the defense of the base, the enemy only had three troopers left at the end, which made the defeat just that much more gritting.

"Good work you guys, you'll get the 315th next time" Captain Rosenstein, leader of our Regiment said in the debrief, Rosenstein kept his men sharp with weakly training matches, and bred friendly rivalry's between the Battalions under his command, to him we were a big family, which working tension out through fun exercises would help us bond, with our battalion mates, and with the other battalions of the regiment during the larger events. "Please gather in the auditorium tomorrow at 09:00, We have a few announcements for you all"

It was closing in at 20:00 when we had returned to our company barracks, and bid my compatriots a fair evening, calling it an early night, I entered my squad's room of the barracks, I rubbed my face passing the rows of bunks, until I got to the end of the row where my bunk was, and crawled in, and for a few minutes I was alone in the silence before someone else entered the room and walked to the bunk across from mine but I didn't hear them enter it, and suddenly a familiar face took up my vision

"Hey you," She said warmly

"Hey yourself" I responded groggily

"you never are the first person to bed, whats up?" she asked

I sat up "Well Alexis, I got fairly shot up in that last drill, and those last few were at quite a close range so I'm taking it easy, hoping I won't be sore in the morning"

she sat down next to me "I guess that's fair, I only got hit twice, but one of them was a headshot, really glad I wore the full helmet today because that stuff really stings"

"Yeah, remember the first time you ever got hit by that stuff, you went down like a kick to groin" I joked

"At least I didn't have to go to the infirmary like someone I know" she nudged me

"You were shot in the chest, I was shot in the face" I nudged back

the room fell silent for a minute

"Remember the first time we fought the Aliens?" she asked

"Yeah, it was about three weeks after we fought those insurrectionists" I responded

"I'm really surprised any of us made it out, let alone all of us," she said quietly

"beginners luck?" I said with a slight joke

"Well, that luck must have stuck around, because we've been in 15 engagements with them since then, and we've still come out of it mostly unscathed"

"We didn't, but other companies weren't so lucky..." I said somberly

"Yeah," she leaned back on her hands "I'm just afraid we'll end up like them, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, But it's our job, to risk our lives for others, and pay the ultimate price if need be. we all knew what we were getting into when joining"

"But we didn't sign up to fight aliens, we signed up to fight for earth, to protect its people from... ourselves"

"would you have joined, knowing that we'd meet aliens that wanted us dead?... I don't know what they want with us, but countless worlds turned to ash, and glass, I know that I'd stand up to fight them"

"That's not what I meant, you know that this is all we have, and I'm willing to die to defend it, I just never expected to meet Aliens and not ones that hated humans, expectantly not more than humans hated humans"

I nodded "I guess that's fair. What do you think tomorrow's assembly is about" I said attempting to change the subject

"Redeployment probably, we've been out of rotation for far too long, I know Rosenstein had to pull some strings to get us a quiet deployment, this time around, nothing like paperwork and drills to keep you on your toes" she joked

"I think some of our older members will be rotating out soon, maybe they'll be giving out promotions, Kessler deserves a rise in the ranks, he really does," I said with an honest nod

"Kessler? Alpha's squad leader, he's the one who told us about the outflanking, weren't you with him?"

"Why did you think I'd went to bed early, I held them off long enough for him to get away" I bumped her shoulder

"why didn't you follow him?" she seemed insistent

"I was already hit pretty bad, on the first leg of the retreat, I took 6 shots to my lower right, and while falling back I took another four to the back, so I told him to go, that I'd only slow him down, the rest is history"

"and you didn't think to use the comms?" she looked at me with a half smirk

"...I- um, shoot, that would have been smart to think of" I laughed

she stood up, and leaned to her left, "well, I'm going to get a few winks, I think that you had a smart idea, so don't beat yourself up" and she walked over to her bunk and climbed in, I flopped back and landed on my pillowless bed

"Ok, no, give it back," I said sitting up

"aw, ok" she giggled before tossing the pillow which smacked me in the face

'why you cheeky~' I thought to myself before I laid back down, pillow firmly under my head

- The following morning -

We awoke at 08:00, and quickly ate in the mess, before heading to the assembly hall, we took our seats and soon after Rosenstein took the stage, he was wearing more formal attire and started speaking in a somber tone "In light of the recent travesty that decimated the population of Draco III, The UNSC has put forward a declaration stating" he pointed up to the view screen

'due to the heavy civilian losses, the UNSC will double our current defense force per capita where available, to those who think these as empty promises, please remember we are fighting a multifaceted war, on all fronts, and as much as we wish we could defend each planet with an amassed number of fleets, and ground units, we are stretched thin, and sometimes to win one battle we have to lose another, as much as that hurts to admit, we can't win every battle every time'

"As of Tomorrow we will be being redeployed to Sargasso, to bolster its defence forces, so after this please pack your things, and prepare to head to the transports by 12:00 tomorrow... Now, If the following may come up to the stage~" Rosenstein proceeded to call out 14 names, Including mine, and Kessler's "~Everyone else may start your packing"

I watched the rest of the battalion file out of the hall, after the last of the group left, two well-dressed figures emerged stage left, one female, one male. they were very well dressed, ceremonial attire, the female had the LTG's three stars on her shoulders, and a hand full of neatly ordered slips of paper, the male had five stars surrounding the ONI logo, and held a datapad in his left arm, slowly typing on it as the two headed down the line, handing off the slips. When the got to me I was handed four slips of paper, and the male stopped in front of me, my posture straightened as much as I could, taking as shallow breaths as I could, and when the female reached the end of the line she spun on a heel "General Lukar, When you are ready" she said firmly

"Please read your first slips," Lukar said looking across the whole row

the room was quiet, besides the hum of the lights and the sound of rustling papers, Mine read

'William A. Goodwin,
You have been chosen as a suitable replacement for the now vacant slot of Sargent in your squad, If you accept this position you will assume command of your unit.
Your new responsibilities will include keeping your unit to the highest of standards, managing said unit and filing monthly reports to your company head.
If you accept this position please fold the paper give your response when asked'

soon everyone was asked of their response, Lukar waited until everyone else in line was asked before returning to me "and you?"

"I accept" I responded

"Good, Everyone else may return to your duties" Lukar placed a hand on my shoulder

soon everyone filed out the room, and I was alone with the two visitors, "Slip three please"

I took out slip three and began to read it

'Dear William A. Goodwin, Enclosed within this documentation is an invitation to partake in a rare opportunity, You have been requested due to your particular set of resilience and genes when it comes to implants, If you accept open and read slip four, if you do not accept, You may not speak of this to anyone, under any circumstances under ONI section 0 article 37-a subsection 7-c'

I paused, and slowly opened the fourth slip it read

'CLASSIFIED SECTION 0, PROJECT FIREFLY:
Subject: William A. Goodwin
By accepting this you have been placed into the FIREFLY project, you will follow Gen. Lukar, and get an advanced trial Neural lace, This Lace will allow for you to access a varying level of advanced technologies to be field tested as the second stage of the project,'

"Well, I accept?" I said looking at the two of them

"Good, please follow us, the implementation will begin immediately," the woman said

I followed them out of the hall, and way from the main complex, and boarded a docked ship, they lead me to a very sophisticated room, where a voice spoke up "I see you found yourself a volunteer, goodie, please step into the ring, and place yourself into the handholds"

I followed the instructions, and soon a cage closed around me, as Lukar equipped an air mask to my face and looked me in the eyes "This should only but an hour, please stay calm"

"ready to begin," the voice said calmly

"good~" he leaned into my eyesight again, "~rest well," he said as I felt the air change, and my eyes got heavy and soon the world blacked out.

- an unknown amount of time later -

My eyes started to open

"Ah, he is awake" Lukar could be heard from the sideline

I started to sit up, as a cold flush filled my brain, and I grasped my head in pain

Lukar helped me to my feet "You're fine, boy, it's just the last of the gas wearing off"

"How long?" I asked incoherently

"About three hours, I underestimated the strength the gas"

"I have to get packed and ready to leave for tomorrow" I mumbled

"Don't worry, your things are already packed, and you will be ready to go by then, just a few tests before you can leave, Okay?"

my head pulsed as a voice entered the back of my head 'you're ready for this, I'll help you every step of the way'

"Who?" I asked aloud

"please eat this" A nurse handed me a set of pills and a soft ice cream like consistency paste

I took down the pills and took a bite of the paste, it was warm and sweet, my brain seemed to clear almost instantly "what is this"

"It's a nutrient paste sweetened with natural sugars," Lukar said dismissing the nurse

I stood up "so what exactly did you do to me"

"We upgraded the lace in your neck, it should allow you to operate advanced electronics"

"like?" I continued

he seemed to think it over "an AI, some speciality suits, a cyclops"

"An AI?"

"Fine, we plugged an AI into your head, it should be able to help you in the field, if it works, we could start integrating it across the best of the UNSC, then we could actually have a good chance to make the regulars comparable to Halsey's treasures, the Spartans"

"How dangerous was that operation"

"why...?"

"because you went to me in particular, with some sort of benefit from using me"

"since you're the first one to have the operation, it was something like 1 in 2 million chance of success"

I stood up, seething "Excuse me! How slim"

the cold voice in my head returned 'you had a 1 in 100,097 chance of surviving, you sure are lucky'

"AND WHO IS THAT," I asked loudly pointing to my head

"That is Illya, the AI we plugged into your head, she is highly advanced, and takes up a very small amount of space, she will make you 100 time better than you could ever dream of becoming naturally"

I grabbed Lukar's collar "you could have killed me!"

his face sharpened into a vile grin "you're lucky you accepted because we would have tested your hole battalion on the way to Sargasso, then if you all failed, we would have blamed to covenant for the loss of you all in transit"

"What stops me from not telling everyone?"

"I and Illya have a 'kill switch' that will essentially turn you off, and everyone you tell, will... vanish like they saw a spook"

I gird my teeth "I could kill you right now"

"Oh, I don't matter, if I die they'll replace me, I'm just a means to an end, plus you signed a contract, ONI own you now, and could make you disappear like the others that failed them"

I let him go "Fine, Let's get these tests done, you fucking slime"

"Very well," he said coyly


hell of a first chapter, thrown into the thick of it right off the bat

(so it turns out Section 0 is a canon thing...[Redacted information])

For those wondering, No this won't be a monthly thing, There is not enough time to get this along with the main story done every month alongside all the other things I am currently doing, maybe when my schedule clears up, I might be able to get the two out in the same month.

If you liked this chapter, or have any complaints please leave a review, if you really liked it and want to see it as it comes out please follow the story or myself.

to read the main story use the extension /s/12295266/1/Brothers-in-arms-Blood-Brothers

Anyways Merry Christmas/happy holidays Have a good time :)

As always,

Semper Fi

LoyalODST Aka William