Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, Bungie does
CHAPTER 1
The War at Home
0811 Hours, November 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Sol System, Planet Earth
The streets of Berlin, Germany
The streets were alive with gunfire. The constant popping of UNSC firearms mixed with the droning noise of Covenant plasma fire. Rounds of super-heated plasma rained down from above as Phantoms descended from the heavens, forcing any Marines on the ground to run for cover while the dropships delivered their precise cargo. Gorilla-like Brutes and shield-wielding Jackals were carried down the ships' gravity beams and instantly joined the fray. The insect-like Drones flew around the dropships and swooped over the ranks of Earth's defenders, bathing them in plasma and crystalline shards.
SPARTAN-G221, Brock, hefted his BR55 Battle Rifle and magnified its scope to 2x magnification. A few quick taps on the trigger and a pair of three round bursts of armor-piercing rounds cut into the exo-skeletal armor of a Drone. The ugly little bugger gave a defiant buzz before plummeting to the ground next to the SPARTAN-III. He gave it another quick shot to the head and grabbed its Plasma Pistol, tossing it to a nearby Marine.
Brock's SPI armor automatically blended back into the road under his feet and the buildings surrounding him. Though he was only fifteen years old, he had the body of an Olympic athlete. He carried the weight of his Battle Rifle and Semi-Powered Infiltration armor as if they were nothing.
Up ahead, a fragmentation grenade went off in the middle of a trio of Brutes. Smoke and debris flew into the air after the resounding explosion, followed by a gut-wrenching roar. The chalky dust that had gathered ahead parted, a single remaining Brute charging toward the Marines next to Brock. The bulky alien had murder in its eyes and ran like it had something to prove.
Brock side armed a Plasma Grenade and chucked it at the approaching beast. A trail of superheated plasma followed in the grenade's wake as it sailed through the air and stuck to the Brute's thick skin. Unaffected, the Brute continued its charge, until it exploded in a plume of blue fire, blood and hair. Entrails splattered up against Brock's reflective visor, he sighed and wiped them off.
Taking a moment to slide home a new clip for his Battle Rifle, Brock remembered exactly how he'd gotten here in the first place.
The majority of the Gamma Company of the newly trained SPARTAN-IIIs had been commissioned for a secret operation, codenamed: MOCKINGBIRD. The mission was high risk, as was accustomed for any mission in which Spartan-IIIs would be sent on. It involved the repelling the massive Covenant ground force on the planet Tantulas in the system named after it, not very far away from the wreckage of planet Reach. But just before they were to arrive, there was a call over the FLEETCOM system ordering all units to help in the defense of Earth. The Covenant were attacking.
With a relatively short jump through Slipspace, the Gamma Company arrived on the battlefield of Earth aboard the UNSC Carrier Atlantis and were immediately called to defend the capital of Germany by Lord Hood.
Brock shrugged the memory of the journey out of his mind and focused back on the battle before him. Behind him, a resonating crack filled the air as a Scorpion fired its main cannon. Up ahead, a burst of flame and asphalt sent a phalanx of Jackals flying. They landed with sickening crunches a few meters away. All nearby Covenant forces were momentarily dazed from the repercussions of the explosion. Brock seized the moment to charge forward and toss a fragmentation grenade, his last, at a Brute-manned Shade. The Covenant turret was blown to pieces by the ensuing inferno, the Brute atop it lost an enormous chunk of its left side.
The beast angrily clawed at the ground with its remaining arm, trying to reach its attacker. A few sustained bursts from Brock's Battle Rifle silenced the alien forever.
Suddenly, shots from above peppered the ground all around Brock's feet. The Spartan instinctively aimed up and fired. A Drone fell from the sky, but it was what had fired at him. The Phantom's shadow eclipsed the sun, its trio of Shade turrets firing concentrated globs of red hot plasma. Brock rolled to the side and behind the wreckage of a Warthog to avoid the fire.
A familiar crack filled the air and two of the dropship's turrets fell uselessly to the ground. The Phantom halted dropping its troops and turned to face the Scorpion. The Main Battle Tank fired a second 110mm round and blew a hole into the ship's hull, where the remaining turret had once been. The Phantom's pilot wisely retreated back into the sky.
"Scimitar-One, come in," a voice crackled over a private COM link inside Brock's helmet, "we need backup!" Brock recognized that as the voice of one of his fellow Spartans, G-007, Rachelle.
"This is Scimitar-One, I'm on my way" Brock said coolly. He peeked over the skeleton of the light recon vehicle he hid behind, it was all clear. The Spartan rolled into a nearby alley, sprang to his feet and cut between a pair of buildings. Brock slid behind a fallen Pelican's wreckage. He saw the reflective outline of his Scimitar Team, consisting of Rachelle, Forrest and Myrin.
Rachelle was Gamma Company's best hand-to-hand fighter, capable of defeating any of her male counterparts in unarmed combat. Forrest was the explosives expert, he knew the wiring and detonation time of everything from a LOTUS mine to a HAVOK tactical nuke. Myrin was the sniper, boasting the most kills in practice combat of all the Gamma Company. Together, Team Scimitar had earned the title of most effective team while training under Lieutenant Ambrose.
"How're things looking on the other side of this heap Scimitar-Three?" Brock asked.
"We've got a Wraith Tank two hundred meters to our three and a squad of Ghosts at our twelve, approaching fast" Myrin reported.
"How are we on boobytraps?" Brock asked.
"Sir, I've got two LOTUS mines planted three meters ahead of us, they're rigged to explode at the first sign of movement" Forrest explained.
"Good, as soon as those mines go off we attack, understood?" Brock asked. Three green acknowledgment lights winked on his heads-up display. From around the corner, Myrin counted down from three with his fingers. As his last finger curled into his palm, the LOTUS mines exploded on either side of the first Ghost, catching it a wall of fire and shrapnel.
Team Scimitar charged from behind their cover and opened fire with their BR55s and MA5K assault rifles. The second Ghost emerged from the dust of the explosion, its front half torn asunder and was buried under a hail of fire. A satisfying explosion of blue and white flames signified its end, and that of its driver.
The three Ghosts that followed however were undamaged and opened fire with their twin Plasma Cannons. Streams of fire whizzed by the Spartans' heads, missing them by only inches. Team Scimitar split and ducked for cover as an approaching Ghost tried to boost over them.
Forrest attached a Plasma Grenade to the fast attack vehicle as it passed and smiled under his visor as the Ghost exploded into multiple pieces.
The two remaining Ghosts came side to side and tried to protect each other's weak points. The Wraith behind them fired as the Spartans lunged for cover. A comet of plasma ascended to the sky, then came screaming toward the ground. The comet slammed into the ground where the Spartans had just been standing.
Brock furrowed his brow and charged for the nearest Ghost. Brock had been deemed the most courageous of the Spartan-IIIs and he intended to prove it. Twin lines of plasma moved to envelop him, but the Spartan rolled under them and lunged for the Brute at the controls. A powerful kick knocked the beast from the driver's seat.
The other Ghost's driver roared angrily and turned its vehicle toward him as the Wraith fired from behind. Brock activated the Ghost's boosting mechanism and slammed into the enemy Ghost, pushing up against a nearby crate of ammunition. Brock's Ghost got under the Brute's and flipped it over just as the Wraith's shot exploded inches behind him.
The Spartan's Ghost flipped end from end through the air, coming to rest right side up just before it would've slammed into a building. Brock smiled and activated the boosting mechanism again, the Ghost's side fins lighting up with blue exhaust.
The surviving Brute Brock had stolen the fast attack vehicle from activated a Plasma Grenade and prepared to throw it at its old Ghost. Rachelle whistled at it from behind a nearby crate and pushed the box of ammo over. The Brute stared in horror as the crate fell upon it and the grenade detonated in its hand.
Brock closed the distance between him and the Wraith within seconds, cutting off the Ghost's thrusters and firing its main weapons. Lines of plasma fire washed over the thick armor of the Covenant tank. The Wraith's anti-personnel plasma cannons returned fire, but Brock easily avoided them, moving to the side of the hovering tank. The Wraith tried to match the Ghost in turning speed, but just couldn't keep up.
In a last, valiant effort to destroy the Spartan, the Wraith boosted at him, clearly missing. Continued plasma fire burned through the side of the Wraith and caught the engine on fire. The tank's controls exploded on the inside and its anti-gravity system sputtered out. It fell to the ground as a useless corpse of its former self.
"Brock, we've got two more Wraiths on their way, there coming from you nine" Myrin said over the COM.
"How many grenades to do we have left?" Brock asked as he turned to face the approaching threats.
"Two between us, and they're both frag grenades" Rachelle reported.
Brock cringed. Fragmentation grenades and a single Ghost would never be enough to take on two battle ready Wraiths.
"Sir, we've got you covered!" a Marine yelled over the COM. The Scorpion tank from before rolled up next to Brock's Ghost, three Marines armed with Jackhammers beside it. Maybe there was a chance after all.
Up ahead, twin explosions from inside a building paved the way for the Wraiths, which quickly boosted into view. They were met by a blast from the Scorpion's 110mm projectile cannon and three SPNKr rockets. The first Wraith exploded before it could even get a shot off.
The second Covenant tank however, did. A fireball of plasma shot through the air and came down on the battered Scorpion. The Marines around it rolled away from the ensuing explosion.
The rest of Team Scimitar seized the Rocket Launchers from the Marines and hefted them onto their shoulders. Trails of exhaust marked where the rockets had once been as the projectiles slammed into the Wraith from three different angles. The tank went rigid and slid to a halt.
"Good job team" Brock congratulated.
From above them, a Pelican dropship descended down carefully. "Need a lift Spartans?" the pilot asked over the COM.
"Roger that Firefox, we're on our way" Brock answered, jumping out of his Ghost and running toward the ship. Team Scimitar handed the Rocket Launchers back to the Marines and joined him, climbing into the back of the ship before the Pelican boosted back into the sky.
Brock approached the cockpit of the Pelican, knocked and entered. "What orders from Lord Hood?" he asked the pilot.
"He has ordered me to get you Spartans to an ONI base off the shoreline of Maine" the pilot answered.
"What for?" Brock asked.
"That's classified, I was only instructed to pick you up and drop you off" the pilot answered. Brock nodded in acknowledgment. He knew as well as any other soldier the high amount of secrecy employed by the Office of Naval Intelligence. The Spartan sat back in his seat and watched as the clouds and upper atmosphere ships passed by. He hoped ONI had a more complex mission for his team then just simple defense orders, he ached to blow up a Covenant flagship or detonate a nuke on one of the Covenant controlled planets in the nearby systems.
A/N: I know the Spartan-III project was designed to be kept secret, but I figure the defense of Earth was important enough to reveal them, right? Anyway, this first chapter is more of a prologue, as the main story plots have yet to be revealed. PLEASE REVIEW, this is my first fanfic!