A/N
Hello everyone, welcome to this crossover, my first Game of Thrones, at that.
This story Is of course rated M, for violence, gore, sexual themes and generally everything one would expect from an episode of GOT.
Obviously I own nothing but my OC's, GOT and the wonderful books its based on are owned by GRRM and HBO, and Halo is owned by 343I and Microsoft.
If you see a bolded number between brackets (like so [1]) this means I will talk about the sentence or paragraph it is attached to/explain my reasons for including it in a below authors note at the end of the chapter.
With that said, lets begin with the prologue, shall we?
Thebas VI, Covenant Colony, 13:48 hours, April 16th, 2545, (UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time)
Thebas VI was a hellhole among hellholes, though, whether that was due to its weather conditions or the inhabitants that called it home Tara would never know.
What she did know, however, was that the purple of Sangheili blood reflected beautifully off its white sandy dunes. Her combat knife was shoved up to the hilt in the neck of an Elite that was still trying to choke her to death. She smiled viscously and twisted the knife before bringing it up into the Elite's skull, splitting it in two. The things dying screams were music to her ears.
The sound of another hostile rushing her from behind caught her ears, and she wretched her knife from the alien skull and spun, kicking up sand and blood as she faced her foe.
Depressingly, the hostile, an Elite wearing nothing but a robe, was already dead, felled by a precise single shot to the back of it's neck.
She sighed sadly, robbed of her kill. "That was mean Matt."
The dune to the far left shifted and stood, revealing an armoured figure wearing a drab brown hooded cloak. An M392 Designated Marksman Rifle with a suppressor, extended magazine and long ranged scope was held in his hands, at ease. Tara could just make out the golden faceplate of a SPI visor behind the hood.
"You told me to cover you." The figure, Matt, whispered as he cradled his rifle. "So I did, despite the fact you shouldn't have run in guns blazing." He gestured to the sandy dunes around them, and to the seven Elite corpses lying dead among them. "You could have died."
"Nu-uh." Tara shot back, sticking her tongue out at Matt from behind her own SPI faceplate as she sheathed her knife and made sure her other armaments, an MA5K carbine with a suppressor (currently unattached and stored in her rucksack) and a suppressed M7 SMG, were still attached to her armour and viable to use. "I'm unkillable."
"Yeah? Boom, your dead." Matt joked, pointing his rifle at her. She chuckled and pointed up the dunes, towards the NAV markers on their HUDS.
"Building was a click that'ta way." She said, starting out over the dunes, towards the sunset. Matt nodded and followed her, stopping for a moment to kick sand over the blood.
The pair were ONI special ops, SPARTAN III's, more specifically, the elite and secretive Headhunters. Tara-B032 and Matthew 'Matt'-B417 respectively. [1]
They were only children. Matt was twelve and Tara ten, his junior by two years.
As Tara crested another dune she saw the red hued planet of Thebas V, uninhabitable to anyone, human or Covenant. Though, the Spartan thought, it did look pretty.
On the dune just in front of her the structure they were heading towards stood vigilant, alone yet welcoming.
It was a two storey structure, probably a hermit hut or something, not that the two Spartans cared. So long as it was shelter, and provided a good vantage point to their objective.
They cleared it quickly and carefully, doing a total of two sweeps of each floor.
The hut had four rooms in total, with the upper floor being w single, large room and the ground floor divided by a kitchen, lounge and sleeping area. The upper floor was one big training or meditation room, and the Headhunters set up in there, facing a large window looking towards their objective, a small village maybe a day's trek away.
Their mission was simple, cause chaos in anyway possible. They had the entire system of Thebas to do so, and the Sangheili were plentiful yet complacent. This was a colony world, not military, but a civilian world. Despite this, it provided soldiers to the war effort, and so, it would burn.
This was *their* Harvest, or Madrigal, their Jericho VII or Arcadia. And the Headhunters wanted it to die.
There were no rules of engagement, no noncombatants, age, gender, race didn't matter. If it didn't have a UNSC IFF tag, it died, no exceptions.
One wouldn't be scolded or wrong to ask why only two Spartans had been sent to do this, and why a fleet wasn't mustered in their place. The truth was, while no one wanted to say it, humanity was losing the war, on all fronts, and it was only a matter of time until it all came crashing down in fire and glass. Despite the best efforts of ONI Section II propaganda officials, everyone knew, deep down, that time was running out, and that people were getting desperate. Humanity didn't have enough ships, enough people, enough time.
Humanity couldn't fight conventionally, not well enough, so they would fight unconventionally, without regard for ethics or morals, laws or treaties, they would fight the Covenant even after they had vanished from the Galaxy, as ghosts. The Headhunters were to wage a war of fear, of terror. Their job was to make the Covenant fear the dark, the shadows, make them question if it was worth it to keep fighting. [2]
As far as Tara was concerned, they were doing a damn good job at it.
"Who's up first for watch?" Matt asked as he looked out the window towards the village.
"Can you take it? I need to remove my bodysuit quickly," Tara stated, placing her weapons on a long table and removing her helmet, allowing her pale face to see the light of day. "There is sand in places sand should never go." She explained with a frown.
Matt shook his head and muttered something unintelligible before holding up his hand, his five fingers extended. "Five minutes."
Tara nodded and began the process of removing her armour and bodysuit, piece by piece her pale skin showed itself.
Compared to the other Headhunters of Beta Company, Tara seemed the most unchanged by the augmentations and training, and one only had to look for a moment to see she was a woman, or at least, would be, in a few years.
Her pale body was athletic and yet, slender and lithe, and had one not looked closely at her without the armour, she would seem like a regular girl, and not a child psychopath. Her soft red hair complemented her pale skin nicely, and her face was childish and cute, dotted with freckles. Her green-grey eyes had kept her innocence despite all that had been done to her, and she looked like someone at least two years younger than she was. Matt thought she would make an exceptional model, or actress based on her looks.
Despite the gruelling training and augmentations, her body was bereft of bruises or scrapes, putting her in stark contrast to Matt, who was covered in bruises and cuts, deep scars and gashes that would never completely heal, though they were hidden a tad by his tanned skin.
Tara undid the ponytail holding her long hair in place, and, as though a switch was flipped, her hair cascaded down her back and shoulders. She shook her head before focusing on the sand in her bodysuit.
Matt shook his head again at the sight of his nude partner before looking again out the window, towards the setting sun and the village beyond. "One minute." He muttered, resting his Battle Rifle on the window sill.
He only received a grunt in reply as she shook out her bodysuit.
"I can't believe you got sand in there anyway." Matt joked. "You were supposed to be airtight."
"I...-" grunt "-...was!" She said back from behind him. "But fifteen hours in this suit takes it's toll."
"Tell me about it." Matt muttered, drumming his fingers on the stock of his rifle.
"Gladly." Tara said as she finished cleaning out her bodysuit and began to put it back on. Matt shook his head.
"I was joking." He sighed. "I can't believe, after what you did back there, that sand is your only concern."
"What, you mean in the last village? Please, nothing got in my suit." She scoffed.
"I meant your mental state." Matt replied dryly as he idly looked through the scope of his rifle at the town in the distance.
"My mental state is fine. I'm perfectly sane." Tara scoffed as she began cleaning her weapons using a small cleaning kit from her rucksack.
"You impaled an infant to a wall with a piece of its own bed. That isn't normal."
"I said sane, not normal." Tara stated as she began cleaning the barrel of her pistol. "And besides, it's not like anyone cares about some random Elite baby." She continued with a shrug.
"It was pretty brutal, Tara. Even for you. If I didn't know you, I'd think you were a monster, or an animal." Matt stated with no ill intent. "Maybe a bear, or a wolf."
Tara gasped in mock anger. "Matthew, you know I identify as a Unicorn Pegasus!"
Matt wiped a hand over his faceplate. "Unicorns and Pegasi-"
"Pegasuses." Tara corrected confidently.
Matt sighed audibly. "-don't exist. You can't identify as something that doesn't exist."
"Say's who? You, farmer's boy?" Tara asked with a grin.
Matt sighed again. "I suppose its up to you. You are a princess, after all..."
Tara scoffed. "Don't play that card. I was the daughter of a planetary governor, whoopee do." She says.
"A pretty influential one, if what you said when we met is true." Matt joked.
"I'd say owning the planet that acted as the gateway to the outer colonies is pretty influential. And that isn't far, I was four." Tara muttered. "Certainly more influential than some gosh-darned farmer's boy from nowhere special." Tara said with a grin.
Matt nodded then began laughing, soon, Tara joined in and they spent the next several minutes exchanging jokes and well-meaning insults.
As the laughter died down, Matt looked through the scope of his rifle again before idly asking, "How long until check in?"
Thirty minutes." Tara replied, having finished cleaning her weapons.
"You wanna take it o-" Matt began before quickly aiming down the sight of his rifle. "Contacts. Civilian Elites, about half a dozen, incoming."
Tara grinned evilly. "Wanna take them out?"
Matt shook his head. "Let them come inside first, non lethal take downs only. We need information, and they can supply it."
A few minutes later, and the Elites walked inside. What Matt thought were six contacts were actually seven. Six adults, and a baby.
The Elites all moved to the top floor, where the 'hunters had placed themselves, invisible thanks to their SPI armour. They couldn't distinguish females from males, nor did they particularly want to, though, ONI would probably want one for dissection. Not this group though, the Spartan's wanted this group to themselves.
The adult carrying the baby lowered it onto a mat, taking off the blanket it was swaddled in, and allowing it to lay in the nude. The other Elites lowered their packs to the ground and began to unpack, it was a laborious affair, and it lasted far longer than it had any right to. Matt saw could tell Tara was on edge and tense, being so close but being forced to wait.
The two Spartan's waited for a solid hour, watching the group form a routine of sorts and get settled. The two of them picked targets, formed strategies and prepared to engage in melee.
Finally, Matt gave the signal and Tara giving a happy sound at being let free slowly crept up behind one of the adult Sangheili standing over the baby, entertaining it. Tara grinned behind her SPI helmet, invisible to everyone in the room. She would gladly assist the presumed mother in entertaining her babe, give the infant a show it would never forget.
Without care or remorse she plunged her blade messily through the adult's neck, forcing it out the other side before decapitating the mother, showering the baby in it's mother's purple blood as it started to scream.
Tara had already moved on though, having disembowelled one of the two other adults she had picked for targets and used her fist to cave in the third's skull, neither had time to react to the mirage. Fortunately, the other two Elites faired far better at the hands of Matt, the marksman leaving them relatively unharmed, if one considered both knees crushed as unharmed, of course.
The remaining Elite pulled a small sickle like blade from its robe, unfortunately, the mirages that were Tara and Matt were far to fast for the old Sangheili, and it was simply a matter of Tara breaking his sword hand and cutting him across the chest for him to yield, involuntarily.
After herding the three surviving Elite's into the middle of the room, Matt tied them up with rope he had found in one of the group's packs. The baby was left where it lay, drenched in its mother's blood. Matt scolded Tara for killing her three targets, but she brushed it off and approached one of the tied up Elites, her knife slowly sliding across its chest.
"Now, here's how this is gonna play out..."
One hour and several dead and tortured Elite's later the Headhunters left the hut and made for the village.
By this time, the sun had long since set, and visibility was low, even without a storm in sight.
They thankfully wouldn't have to worry about someone finding out about the bodies, Having stashed the dead in a large supply closet of sorts. The infant to, wasn't a worry, though, both Spartans had different assumptions as to why.
Matt had ordered Tara to kill it, but the young, sadistic Spartan had instead gagged it and, without a care for it's wellbeing, thrown it on top of the rest of it's dead family in the closet. Tara figured it was better for the thing to die alone in the dark, scared and afraid among it's dead loved ones, as she had nearly done only a few years ago, a little payback.
Had Matt known, he would have gone back and killed it himself, but he didn't know, and Tara didn't intend to tell him.
It would ruin the fun, after all.
The Elites had given them all they needed to know, thankfully, and they now knew more about why they were here, specifically.
When they had first arrived, the Prowler that inserted them had detected a massive energy reading in this village. Apparently, thanks to the locals assistance, the 'hunters now knew that it was some type of 'holy artifact' the Covenant had dug up nearby, and it was being stored in the village's main building until whatever Covenant equivalent of ONI's Xeno-Materials Group came to pick the thing up. Due to how far from the front they were, there were no guards to boot. It was a milk run in every way.
As they approached the village, pathetic that it was, they grew quieter, more careful. Tara finally attached her MA5K's suppressor, and the two Headhunters quickly fell into their usual routine.
"Griffin Two, cleared to move up the street." Matt said in a whisper, even over the secure Comm channel they shared. Tara acknowledged with a simple green light on their HUDS, moving up the Main Street, which was really no more than a well worn sandy path, quickly and quietly.
Unlike their predecessors of Alpha Company, or even their brothers and sisters in arms of Beta Company, the Headhunters of Beta Company had been allowed to choose their Fireteam designations, instead of being assigned ones. For whatever reason, the teams had all picked mythological beasts and creatures, Dragons, Hydras, Krakens, Minotaurs etc. [3]
Matt and Tara had chosen Griffin as their Fireteam designation, after the legendary tri-animalled predator of old folklore and stories. Matt, ever the artist, had handpainted a Griffin in colour on each of their left shoulder pads, and on the left of their breastplates. Underneath the Griffin, clutched in it's talons, was a painted on grey banner with the words Veni Vidi Vici inscribed on it. Tara, the history buff of the duo, had practically begged Matt to add the words, and he had obliged, though, not without some internal confusion.
Tara's eyes briefly saw the Griffin in the corner of her peripherals as she quickly advanced on the target building, Matt a few paces behind her. The building a three storey atrium, presumably a meeting hall of sorts for the villagers to discuss issues pertaining to the village.
The 'hunters, of course, didn't quite care for it's purpose and quickly made their way inside with little fuss, seeing as there were no guards in sight. The two found that odd, but didn't really make a fuss over it.
True to their former captives words, they found no guards at the entrance, or any inside. They did find, however, a massive silver obelisk as tall as the building, and protected by a powerful energy shield.
"How are we supposed to deal with this?" Tara mutters as she approaches the shield, Matt watching her back.
"Don't know. Blow it? Should kill the stone, to." Matt replied, sparing a sideways glance at the shield. "I don't see a generator anywhere."
"Yeah. Right, I'll plant the charges, you cover m-." As Tara approached the obelisk it suddenly pulsates with energy, as if activating. The shield fizzled and creaked, trying to contain the energy build up.
"Tara?" Matt asked worriedly. "What did you do?"
"I-nothing! I don't know what's going on!" She shot back, unease creeping into her voice as the building shook.
"Out, get out, we'll plant the charges at the base of the building, then egress." Matt ordered, but Tara advanced on the pulsing obelisk, as if in a trance. "Tara!"
He moved to grab her arm and pull her away, but she had already touched the stone. "Damnit Tara snap out of-"
The Obelisk pulsed again, and everything went white.
Wolfswood, The Northern Realms, Westeros, 12:05 Hours (local time), 298 A.L (local calendar)
Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell took a seat round the small campfire Jory had constructed. Despite it being midday, The hunting party had decided to rest their legs before continuing the search for game.
They had spent the past week on a hunt, the party, consisting of Lord Stark, his son Robb Stark, Bastard Jon Snow, Captain of the Stark's guard Jory Cassel, and the Stark Ward Theon Greyjoy. Fortunately, they had found several animals, but nothing worthy of a hunt.
"Think we'll find a Stag soon?" Robb asked Jon as the two boy's sat beside each other, each looking over their swords, Jon using a rock to sharpen his.
"One can hope, Lord Stark." Jory cut in, keeping watch. "We've been a week without seeing anything larger than a rabbit."
"Aye, but they were certainly good rabbits." Robb replied with a smirk.
"That they were Lord Robb." Jory nodded, chuckling. "That they were."
"We'll find good game yet, have patience." Eddard stated, eyeing the cloudless sky.
As if his words were some destined prophesy, a Stag suddenly came bursting out of the woods to their left, nearly trampling Theon, who had gone to relieve himself. Jory nocked an arrow and fired, getting a lucky hit on the Stag's eye, the arrow going through and into the brain, killing it.
The group gathered around the dead beast, Theon producing a knife to begin skinning the beast, but a hand from Lord Stark stayed his blade. "This Stag was running from something, it was frightened, scared." He said, musing over this as he surveyed the woods, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Follow me, we can skin it later."
Location Unknown, 21:45 hours, April 16th, 2545 (UNSC Military Calendar, Military Standard Time)
Tara groaned groggily as her eyes fluttered open and she took a long, deep breath. Confusion was the first thing she felt as she looked up at the blue sky, so unlike Thebas VI's red hued one. She noticed trees around her, and saw Matt leaning against a rock, seemingly unconscious, like she had been.
She was on her back, yet still had her armour and helmet on, and was thus still airtight, something she was thankful for, as she had no idea where she was. Certainly not on the Covenant Colony anymore, there were no forests there, or anywhere in that system.
She took another breath before sitting up, only to sit back down and wince in annoyance. A root was sticking out of the ground, and jabbed her thigh when she sat up. The young Spartan scooted back a tad so as to avoid the root before standing up. To her surprise, and happiness she saw her rucksack and weapons laying out in front of her, though, she did find that somewhat odd.
She walked over to Matt and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Oddly, his cloak was missing, yet he still wore his SPI armour, and his weapons and rucksack were laid out identically to hers.
Despite everything in her bran telling her this was probably some trap she kept trying to wake Matt, not wanting to face this unknown area alone. "Matt, Matt wake up!" Thankfully, Matt groaned and mumbled something unintelligible, letting Tara know her brother was awake. "I thought you were dead, Matt!" Tara said before giving his shoulder another squeeze.
Matt groaned again and placed his hand on hers. "Gimme a minute, yeah?" Tara nodded obediently from behind her faceplate and crawled over to her rucksack and weapons, happily holstering her pistol on her thigh and attaching her Carbine to her back, after checking both had full magazines, of course. That was another odd thing, she noted. She could have sworn she fired a pistol round through the kneecap of an Elite earlier, yet, she found the magazine full, and she knew she hadn't changed it. Shrugging and deciding she could talk with Matt about it later, she next went to her rucksack, to ensure everything she would need was inside and it was as she left it.
Spare Ammunition? Check.
Underwear? Check.
Toiletries? Check.
'Personal' toiletries? Check.
P.T gear? Check.
Fatigues? Check
Dress Uniform? Check.
Extra socks? Check.
Holo-projector? Check.
Datapad? Check.
After ensuring the rucksack had everything, she went through both toiletry kits, the general one issued to everyone in the UNSC, carrying such items like toothpaste, toothbrush, a small comb, shaving kit, sleeping pills and a small mirror. The other, smaller kit was issued to every service member who put 'female' on the forms. [4] Finishing her check, she nodded to Matt as he began going through his own rucksack, having already checked his weapons.
"Where are we?" Tara asked him, replacing her toiletry kits into their proper spaces in her 'sack. "Doesn't look like Thebas."
"I don't think it is. I can't get an uplink with STARS." Matt stated, surprisingly calm considering the situation, the polar opposite of Tara.
"Neither can I." Tara stated, her hands visibly shaking, a nervous tick. "What do we do?"
"Your armour good? Any breaches?" Matt asked, somewhat ignoring her question as he swept his rifle a round him in a full circle, searching for threats.
"My suit's green. I'm airtight." Tara replied, looking above them at the treetops. "You?"
"Airtight." He said, looking at a section of trampled forest. "There was something there, look at the leaves, the dirt." He pointed with his rifle. "Something was watching us."
"Covenant?" Tara asked, double checking her ammunition. It didn't look Covenant to her, more like an animal.
"Don't know. Follow the trail. It's the only lead we have." Matt stated, not happy with the prospect of simply following a trail. "And the longer we stay here," He continued, the easier it'll be for us to be found by hostiles."
Tara nodded, hoisting her rucksack and attaching it onto her back, her worry still there, but hidden well.
"We'd better get moving."
A/N
And that was the first chapter, a prologue of sorts, if you will. The first meeting will occur next chapter.
Now, as to my comments:
[1] We don't know exactly which Company Roland and Jonah (From Halo Evolutions Headhunters) were from, but I'm going to dispel any thoughts of Matt and Tara being the better pair, they aren't, they're average.
[2] Spartan III's are, at the end of the day, psychotic sociopaths, and I have no doubt ONI would send some on terror campaigns to do whatever they wanted to the Covenant.
[3] Each Spartan III Company had a general theme for naming Fireteams, Alpha was animals, Beta the photo-numeric alphabet, and Gamma blades, I've decided Headhunters were mythological creatures, as it fits the theme of Spartans that didn't exist, essentially, myths.
[4] Spartan III's weren't given the thyroid implant the II's were, thus, they would still have sexual urges/females would still have their monthly cycle, etc, etc. And at any rate, its better to have it, and not need it, then to need it and not have it, right?
And that's all for now, guys, don't forget to favorite and follow if you enjoyed, a review would be nice as well. ;)
Until next time,
-gwb