(Author's Notes) Hi! What you're about to read is a Halo fan fiction. This means a lot of things that I wish to address.

1) This messes around with the canon a bit. Anyone who's read the Halo books knows that most of the Spartan IIIs who were recruited didn't wear Mjölnir armor, but instead SPI armor. In this story, the three Spartans of Team Crossbow do wear Mjölnir armor, because they're a fire team similar to Team Noble from Halo: Reach. As of writing this, there are only a handful canon Fire Teams made up of Spartan IIIs. Team Crossbow is a set of three from my own creation. To my knowledge, this doesn't conflict too much with the official canon, but that also leads me to my next point.

2) The Spartans of Team Crossbow come from Gamma Company. According to my research (reading through the Halo Wiki), there were no Fire Teams made up of members of Gamma Company, which is where a major contradiction could be made. The reasoning of making the Spartans in this story Gamma Company members are twofold. One, the members of Gamma Company are largely unnamed. Aside from the Ghosts of Onyx, there's not a lot about Gamma Company, and a large number of them are still alive in the current time of Halo, giving me some leeway when it comes to writing them into this story. Not to mention that at the current time in this story, both Alpha Company and Beta Company have been completely wiped out. Two, Gamma Company Spartans have extra illegal modifications that come up in the story. I won't state what they are now, but they do come up, so don't worry.

3) All of the Covenant forces in this story are Zealot Class. So, if the Grunts seem too bloodthirsty, that's the reasoning. It's stated in the story, but I want to make it completely clear that these aren't regular Covenant troops. They're much more skilled, and much more dangerous.
4) Because I haven't read, watched, and played everything and all of this researched was done through watching YouTube videos and reading the Wiki, there will be mistakes here and there that won't just be excused as "Non-canon fiction." I'm not the most perfect fan in the world, nor the most dedicated, but I love this franchise, even if the two newest games are exactly what we all wanted. You'll probably notice the references to the games, namely that the big operation that's being pulled in this story is pretty similar to Operation: UPPERCUT from Halo: Reach. I didn't do that to be a hack writer, I promise. There are clear reasons I do the things I do in this story and almost none of it is to be cheeky or self indulgent. I mean, the dialogue references are, but any parallels to the games are there for a purpose, and I feel it would insult your intelligence to outright state them here.

With all of that said, please enjoy! Notes and criticisms are welcome as long as they, y'know, are actually notes and criticisms and not thinly veiled harassment. Thanks for reading!

Fire Team Crossbow

Chapter 1

"You've got to be kidding."

"I'm not."

Commander Nichols followed Captain Russel down the hallway of the UNSC Frigate Blue Star. It had been a long, hard campaign for the Blue Star and its crew. Just weeks ago, three squads of ODSTs were decimated by Covenant forces on the colony planet Horizon. So far, a quarter of the planet's population has been wiped out and only the Blue Star was sent in to try and stop it. What they didn't expect to encounter, however, was that the covenant forces were Covenant Zealots. Several recon teams noted that that the Zealots were mining for something on the planet, wiping out two of the major cities as they hunted for what Nichols assumed to be some sort of Forerunner device.

"Captain," Nichols said, "If you're serious about this, I need you to give me every last detail of what you're planning to do."

"I've already outlined my plan," Russel said, handing over a tablet.

Nichols scanned the tablet and then looked back at him. "This can't possibly work."

"I know you've heard of the Long Night of Solace, Commander," Russel said coming to a stop.

"I've heard enough to know it didn't totally succeed and there were heavy losses for the UNSC forces."

"Operation: UPPERCUT was a success. The aftermath couldn't have been avoided."

"Russel," Nichols said shutting down the tablet, "You're proposing I send you, two teams of ODSTs, and a Slipspace drive so you can destroy one carrier."

"It's a carrier of Zealots, Commander," Russel said, taking the tablet back "They're some of the most dangerous Elites to exist. The ground troops are hard enough to get rid of, but Recon teams have told us that they think most of them are in that carrier. If we take that ship down, we cripple their forces."

"We only have one spare drive, Captain," Nichols started to walk to the bridge, "We need it in case our's is damaged. What you're proposing could possibly get my ship destroyed if that covenant carrier decided to come attack us."

"Sir, no offense," Russel stepped in front of Nichols to stop him, "But if our Slipspace drive was damaged in combat, do you really think we could get the spare working during that battle?"

"Are you mocking me, Captain?" Nichols said, his nostrils slightly flaring.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Commander," Russel said, "But, we don't have strong enough nukes to take down that carrier. And what happens when they decide to attack us. They've got to know we're here by now, the only reason they haven't destroyed us is that they don't think we're a threat. Once they find whatever they're searching for, Horizon and the Blue Star are done for. We need to do something now, while we still have a chance."

Nichols pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, let's say I do give you the drive, the ODSTs, and a few pelicans to destroy it. What're your plans to get in? What about getting out? And what if you fail? They'll know where to look for us like you said."

"Commander," Russel said, his stare more firm than ever, "They've set up a teleporting spire near the dig site. All we need to do is distract the Zealots long enough for us to drive the drive in on a warthog. We use air support as a diversion and the ODSTs and I will be in and out in no time."

Nichols stared back at Russel, a sick feeling in his gut. "I'm sorry, Captain," Nichols said, "It's too risky. Even if I sent every pelican we had aboard it wouldn't be enough."

Suddenly, there was a ding from the ship's intercom, "Commander Nichols, please report to the communications room with Marine Captain Russel."

The two men exchanged and look and started walking to the communication's deck. "What the hell did you do, Russel?" Nichols said.

"I promise," Russel replied, "I have no idea what's going on."

"We're getting a Spartan?" Nichols asked, his eyes wide in shock.

"You're getting three Spartans, Commander," Colonel Holland said, "Given the information you've sent back to us about the Covenant presence on Horizon, we've deemed it necessary to send you the extra muscle. They're only Spartan III's, but they're still invaluable soldiers. Spartans Riley-G324, Beth-G254, and Luke-G007, Team Crossbow. They'll do whatever you need them to, Commander."

"Understood, Colonel," Nichols said, trying to grasp what was happening, "Thank you for the support."

"They'll be arriving in their longswords in 3 hours, with a few sabres in tow. Put them to good use. Holland out."

As communications were cut, the officers around the deck murmured in excitement, some wondered aloud if they could get a picture with the Spartans. "Well," Nichols said, "You're getting your escort to the spire, Russel."

Russel shook his head. "Yeah, with Spartans."

"Drop the attitude, Captain," Nichols said with a sigh, "At least this way you and your ODSTs will have more of a chance to survive the battle."

"Yes sir," Russel tried his best not to growl it. He then saluted and turned to go get geared up.

"You're your worst enemy, Russ."

Captain Russel finished snapping together the clips on his harness when his second in command, Lieutenant Laura Hall, slapped him on the back.

"No," Captain Russel said, "The covenant and bureaucracy are my worst enemies. I'm the only one who's on my side."

"Whatever you say, Captain," Laura wore her helmet and even though Russel couldn't see her face, he could hear the smile she wore.

"Get in line, Lieutenant," Russel said, pulling rank for the first time in a while. Most ODSTs were hard-asses, constantly with a stick shoved where the sun don't shine. Russel, on the other hand, believed fully in his squad and believed they performed the best when treated as equals. Though, there were times where he had to pull out his inner Drill Sergeant.
"Want me to assemble the team?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, the other squad should be down in the loading bay already."

"We're carrying the drive, yeah?"

"Yup. We get the Spartans too."

"Great…" Laura left the room.

"I'm not happy either," Russel said to the empty room. He picked up his helmet and slid it on, switching on VISR to check the cameras in the hangar. The Longswords finally arrived, three of them with six Sabres, all of them currently being refueled. They arrived an hour and a half early. Of course, the Spartans would be early. Russel killed the feed and started on his way to the hangar.

"Evening, Gunnery Sergeant," Said Sweet Pea.

"Evening, Pea," Riley said, "How was your nap?"

"It was good, Gunnery Sergeant. How was the flight?"

"Uneventful," Riley said, tapping controls on the Longsword's console, "But, I suppose that's a good thing. Are Luke and Beth off their ships yet?"

"They are. Would you like to join them? I can finish checking the ship."

"That'd be great, Sweet Pea," Riley pulled the chip from his helmet and stuck it in the ship, "Can you run preliminaries on the other ships from here?"

"I can, Gunnery Sergeant."

"Thank you, Sweet Pea." Riley stood from the pilot's seat and walked out of the Longsword where several of the crewmen were talking to Luke and Beth, both of them with their helmets off, Beth in dark orange armor, Luke in navy blue. "So, you guys have seen action on thirty planets?" One of them asked.

"That's right," Luke boasted, "Killed almost a thousand Covies so far."

The crewmen looked at Luke with awed expressions. "Don't look too surprised, boys," Beth said, "That's a pretty average score. I'm over a thousand myself."

Riley shook his head and walked over. "That's enough Spartans," He said putting his hands on their shoulders, "Crewmen, find me Commander Nichols."

The crewmen snapped crisp salutes and jogged off. "You two are incorrigible," Riley said, unable to keep himself from smirking. Thankfully, he still wore his helmet, so they didn't feel too satisfied.

Luke turned and smiled. "You know what they say, Gunny." Luke had green eyes, and sandy blonde hair, with a bald spot on the right side of his head, where the skin was pink and stretched. A plasma burn from a covenant beam rifle. If it hadn't been for the Warthog bouncing, he'd have died.

"We all do," Beth said, punching Luke in the arm, "So, you better not say it."

Beth had black hair shaved close to her head with piercing blue eyes. She was a sniper, one of the best from Gamma Company, so she was completely without scars, save for one on her side from a training accident. She got stabbed with a knife during a war game, the stabber was a marine who was fairly frightened going up against a Spartan. Chief Mendez said it wasn't too big of a deal, Beth agreed, but the marine was a bit shaken up. He had apparently never stabbed anyone before. Beth walked him off the field.

Riley shook his head again and pulled off his Gungnir helmet, black with teal, like the rest of his armor. He had chestnut hair and brown eyes with a long scar running down through his left eye to the corner of his mouth, a second one cutting through the right side of his bottom lip, and a notch cut out of his ear. "You two are lucky I find you the least bit charming," he said with a smile, then he spotted Commander Nichols out of the corner of his eye, "Lids on Spartans."

The three of them pulled on their helmets, Luke wore a Hazop with CBRN/HUL module. Beth had an HU/RS attachment. "Commander," Riley said, the three of them saluting simultaneously.

"Gunnery Sergeant Riley," Commander Nichols, "It's good to see you and your team. If there's anything we can do to help you get used to my ship, just let me know."

"Well, that's a warmer welcome than expected," Luke said.

"Stow it, Corporal," Riley snapped at him, and then turned back to Commander Nichols, "Thank you Commander, but I don't know how much longer we'll be here. We're needed on Felhőzet soon after this mission."

"If we make it out of here," Luke whispered, just soft enough for Riley to hear him. Riley tightened his hand into a fist but held back from hitting Luke behind him.

"Well, then I hope we don't keep you for too long, Spartans," Nichols said.

"Don't worry about it, sir," Riley reassured him, "As long as we're here, we're yours."

"Then that means you're mine."

Riley looked over Nichols's shoulder to see a squad of ODSTs walk into the hangar. "Captain Russel," Nichols said turning, "You and your squad are ready?"

"Of course we are, Commander," Said the leader in the front, "We are ODSTs aren't we?"

The rest of the squad grunted in affirmation and Riley tempered himself and prayed Beth and Luke would do the same. Since John-117, Master Chief himself, killed a few ODSTs in a weight room by accident, things between the ODSTs and Spartans were tense, to say the least. Probably more so with Spartan III's, given the similarity in stature. Where Spartan II's were nearly eight feet tall, Spartan IIIs were more approachable around 6'10. ODSTs were a fearless bunch, they wouldn't let a suit of power armor stand between them and proving themselves better than Spartans. Honestly, Riley respected them. Any Helljumper could be a Spartan given the augmentations and power armor. But, he still tried to keep his distance as much as possible.

"Captain," Riley said with another salute, Beth and Luke were a quarter second behind. They hesitated. Riley would have to get on them for that.

"Gunnery Sergeant," Russel said, "I hope you and your men can handle yourselves in this fight. It's pretty much a guaranteed suicide mission."

"It's what Spartan III's were made for, Captain," Beth quipped. The ODSTs chuckled, but as soon as Russel held up a hand they stopped.

"I just wanted to be clear," He continued, "This is the most dangerous op I've ever planned, and I've been fighting for quite a while."

"We won't let you down, Captain," Riley said, making himself stand a bit taller.

"Alright," He said, "Well, here's the plan. The covenant Carrier is too heavily guarded for us to just fly in. So, we're going to the teleporter they've got on the planet's surface. It's near some sort of dig site, so we expect heavy opposition. We're going in on one pelican, with the longswords and sabres giving us air support."

"How're we moving the slipspace drive, sir?" Riley asked.

"Once we clear an LZ, a pelican will drop it off in a warthog. But, if we can't do that, we pull out."

"Understood," Riley said.

"Good, load up, we take off ASAP."

With that, the ODSTs headed off to the pelican without a slipspace drive. "Well," Luke said, "That went better than expected. Much less posturing than I thought."

"Last warning, Corporal," Riley said walking off to his longsword, "Lock it down."

Riley walked into the cockpit and pulled Sweet Pea's chip out of the console and put it in his helmet. "Nice to have you around again, Pea."

"It is nice to be around, Gunnery Sergeant," Sweet Pea's voice made Riley feel a bit safer. An AI and a Spartan were a dangerous combination to go up against. With the Spartan's superhuman reflexes and strength, the AI doesn't need to hold back as much as she would with a regular marine. In fact, Sweet Pea was specially designed to work faster than normal AI after a few Spartans complained of lag during battle. Sweet Pea was missing a few lines of code that other AI's had so she could process orders faster. Specifically, ones pertaining to safety regulations, meaning that she always took the most direct route. Riley usually shuts her off during flights because she'll occasionally recommend flying through a star or two. During battle, however, she really shines.

With fewer safety regulations, she's particularly ruthless, to the point where she's been banned from the higher-ups during fights against humans. She loved to commit war crimes in the name of efficiency. "What is our first objective, Gunnery Sergeant?" She asked. The robotic tone was calming for Riley.

"We're flying in on a pelican with a slipspace drive to teleport into a carrier to set off the drive," Riley answered exiting the longsword.

"Why not use nukes?"

"The carrier is too big and nukes are too unstable. A stray shot to a slipspace drive means it won't work. A stray shot to a bundle of nukes may set off a detonation."

"Understood, Gunnery Sergeant."

"Just be ready, Pea," Riley said walking into the pelican and grabbing a DMR, "I'll need you processing as fast as you can, we've got Zealots planetside."

The pelican was filled with different guns and Beth and Luke sat on opposite sides chatting with each other, and hanging out the bay was a warthog with the slipspace drive tied down on it. Waiting further into the pelican was two mongooses, which Riley thought was a good idea. The warthog was pretty full with the drive taking up the entire back seat.

"Understood, Gunnery Sergeant. Bringing up battle information about Sangheili Zealots now."

"Hey, Gunny," Beth said, "Any idea on opposition?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Luke added, "The photos they took look completely different than when we flew in."

Riley noticed that too. Whereas the reports said that only a quarter of the planet had been glassed, it looked more like a third at this point. And chances were that it'd keep growing. "Whatever the Covenant's looking for," Riley said, "They aren't finding it, and that means they'll kill anyone who stands in their way. What they've done so far, it's all in the name of finding something dangerous, so expect them to defend it with their lives."

"Well," Beth said, loading a shotgun she had in her hands, "I hope those Zealots are excited to see their gods, 'cause I'm giving them an express trip."

"Jeez, Beth," Luke snorted with laughter, "That line was awful."

"I don't really give a damn," She said tossing the shotgun to Luke, "I'm just ready to kill some Elite bastards."

"You'll get your chance," said Captain Russel walking up to the pelican.

"Captain," Riley said, and the Spartans all saluted on time this time.

"I'm riding with you, Spartan," Russel said, climbing aboard. He had a submachine gun at his hip and a sniper rifle on his back.

"Yessir," Riley responded, sitting down by Luke. Beth grabbed an assault rifle and sat down with it. "Bars down," the pilot said, and the four of them pulled the safety harnesses over them. "The area where we're landing is pretty busy, so we might have to do a rolling stop."

"Do what you need to, Pilot Lowery," Russel said, "Drop us off and get back here to the frigate."

"Aye aye," Lowery said, and with that, the Pelican lifted off the hangar floor and the bay was sealed with a hiss. They were underway to the battleground.