Prologue

"I've got a visual on the convoy." Ruby, Spartan 115 and leader of Red Team, radioed to the others. She watched through the scope of her sniper rifle as the trucks wound their way down the narrow road. The convoy belonged to the Insurrectionists, and it was full of weapons that would be used to kill good UNSC soldiers. It was Red Team's mission to see to it that the convoy never reached its destination.

The rest of Red Team was hidden amongst the trees and brush that lined the road, strategically positioned beside a sharp turn where the convoy would be forced to slow to a crawl. "The mines are set and ready to blow." Yang, Spartan 069, reported. Yang was Red Team's close-combat and demolitions specialist. She was also Ruby's sister. Or step-sister. Or half-sister. After all the years they had been away from their family, it was hard to remember exactly which. Yang hid near the road, waiting for the convoy to enter the snare, her finger on the detonator.

The first truck rolled over the mines and Yang hit the button. A thunderous explosion sent the six ton truck cartwheeling through the air as the ammunition carried inside created sympathetic explosions that blew it apart. The second truck slid into the ditch created by the explosion of the mines and slammed to a halt. Before the rear truck could back out of the trap, Ruby sniped the driver, putting a bullet through his forehead. She followed up by hitting his passenger with an equally accurate shot right between the eyes. The driver's corpse leaned on the throttle and sent the truck slamming into the one in front of it. The trucks turned sideways, completely blocking the road.

DMR fire raked the convoy as Weiss, Spartan 033, opened up from her position in the middle of the action. The drivers got out and tried to flee but she easily cut them down. One of the trucks was a troop-carrier, and soon a dozen Insurrectionist soldiers piled out to face their attackers. Weiss slid her rifle onto her back and grabbed her magnum, quickly downing five of them with perfect headshots. From the other side of the road, a figure cloaked in active camouflage darted into the group of Insurrectionists. With terrifying swiftness and violence of action, Blake, Spartan 009, slit the throats of two unlucky men. She threw her knife into the chest of a third before eliminating the remaining four with her own magnum.

All was eerily quiet. The only sound was the crackling of the still burning lead truck. "We're all clear." Yang radioed.

"No reinforcements sighted." Ruby added.

Yang planted explosives on the remaining trucks, detonating them as Red Team boarded its Pelican for exfiltration. The peace of the forest was shattered by a series of tremendous explosions as the remainder of the munitions went up in flames.

The Spartan-II's were the greatest soldiers ever created by humanity. Living weapons, genetically engineered, physically enhanced and paired with armor that made them walking tanks, they were equal to any task. The Insurrection had plagued humanity for years. It was a civil war of a scale never seen before. The Spartan-II's were meant to put an end to the conflict. Red Team was particularly effective. If you needed something blown up, shot up or just generally destroyed, and you needed it done quickly, Red Team was perfect for the job. Made up of Blake-009, Weiss-033, Yang-069 and their leader Ruby-115, they had trained together since childhood and been forged in the crucible of warfare.

Blake-009 was an enigma, even to most of her fellow Spartan-II's. Trying to talk to her about anything but the business of fighting was generally pointless. Ask about her past or how she felt and one was likely to get nothing more than an annoyed sigh or roll of her eyes. She had reason to keep quiet. From the beginning of the Spartan-II program, a dark rumor had followed her. Apparently her parents were members of the Insurrection, the very enemy the Spartan-II's were created to fight. Being only a child at the time, she of course had no knowledge of the subject, but she was always treated differently by their instructors and even her fellow Spartans. Still, she could count on the support of her squad; at least they understood.

Weiss-033 was most notable for her size, or lack thereof. The shortest Spartan-II at just over five feet, it was a struggle to get others to take her seriously. It made her extremely driven, and eventually her skills silenced all the critics. She was also extremely intelligent, no need to be the biggest if she could outsmart her opponents. She had never gotten over not being selected for command. With her skill and smarts, she expected to be put in charge of the Spartan-II's, but that honor went to John-117. Worse, she was not even put in charge of her squad. It was a slight she would never forgive, and she would go to great lengths to prove that she deserved the position. That could cause tension at times, but she never lost sight of the fact that winning the war was far more important than who was in charge.

Yang-069 was about as laid-back as a Spartan-II could be. Most were all business, more interested in cracking skulls than cracking jokes, but Yang was different. If a Spartan-II told a joke, it was probably her, and if it was not, they probably heard it from her first. She could see the tension and pain constant battle caused and wanted to help alleviate that for herself and her comrades. She was more aware than the others that having your head in order was just as important as having your guns in order. Still, she could kill with the best of them. She was particularly interested in keeping her sister Ruby-115 safe. The two had been inseparable from the beginning, and even though Ruby was technically in command, Yang felt a strong responsibility for her.

Ruby-115 was the nominal commander of her squad. In practice they were equals, but Ruby still felt the pressure of command. Her selection had been a surprise for many. She was not the best at anything, just excellent at everything. Except for a few instances of notable selflessness and bravery, nothing made her stand out. She was also the youngest Spartan. She was technically too young, but her potential, discovered when agents were investigating Yang, was too great to pass up. So far she had silenced the doubters. Leading one of the most effective teams of Spartan-II's went a long way to proving her worth.

As bad as the Insurrection had been, in 2525 everything got much worse. A union of various alien species known as the Covenant was encountered on the planet Harvest. Peaceful contact soon collapsed into warfare as Covenant forces attempted to exterminate the human population of the planet. A large proportion of the planet's population managed to escape, but the threat was clear. It was to be a fight for the very survival of the human species, and the odds looked poor. Covenant technology far outstripped anything humans had, and they seemed to have little trouble locating and destroying human planet after human planet. Humanity's only hope was the Spartan II's.