THETA-T077

by SPRTN-T077

This is the story of twenty five members of Theta Team from the Spartan Three Program. They are sent to investigate a human distress beacon when they find something much darker. There have been other Spartans here. Now they are dead, all of them. There is also something else here also.

/UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLEGENCE

/ COLONIAL SECURITY

["DARK WATER"]

* WARNING: ALL QUERIES LOGGED *

[ .PRTCL-T107]

RECORD 01/**

/ /

* FAILED TO FIND RECIPIENT…

[…/COMPRESS/MESSAGE/FILE/COMPILE/…]

/MESSAGE: (…) /ONE/FILE/

/ HUD / SPRTN: T077 /

/MESSAGE:

/ HELP, SAVE THE FEW OF…SOMEONE? /

[END TRANSMITION]

[HUD][ONNLINE]

[SHIELDS][ONLINE]

(AI): / ["DARKWATER"] /

: ( MISSION LOG): /LOCATION/?

… [UKNOWN PLANET]…

/PREPARE SPRTN-077/

["SPARTAN-077?"]

["PLEASE COME ONLINE NOW."]

["?"]

["*SIGH*"]

/ PREPARE DROP-POD /

(…)

["DON'T WORRY SPARTAN, YOU ARE SAFE."]

["?"]

["*SIGH*"]

Year 2552: During the events of Halo Instillation 005

The evening sky faded into a dull warm orange glow as a soft breeze rustled through shrubs. A peaceful light came from the sky as the stars slowly came into view. The few clouds in the sky where dispersing into the air. Night was coming; the dark would be descending in a matter of minutes. At that very moment twenty five Glowing orbs fell from space flaring and entering the atmosphere. All was quite.

Spartan-T077 woke to the blaring alarm and the flashing light inside his drop pod. He reached out and hit the "awake" switch on the dashboard in front of him, all went silent. The only noise the Spartan could hear was the moaning metal hull of his pod, and the constant updates of his bio signs; He cleared his head and went over his briefing: A distress signal had alerted the UNSC to a Covenant threat on this planet. The Spartan could not shake a sense of almost worry, Why would the UNSC send twenty five highly armed Spartans after a single distress signal? His thoughts where interrupted when the reassuring voice of his AI flowed through the internal speakers of his EVA helmet.

"Spartan, it is good to see you functioning well. Your ETA is currently estimated to be around 37.543 seconds there is a .0079% error in these calculations. I advise you to prepare for immediate landing procedures."

"Thank you Dark Water, it is good to hear your voice," replied the Spartan. An alarm blared and cold steam vented against his MJOLNIR armor, his vision blurred and the blood rushed to his head. More alarms. The drop pod screamed through the lower atmosphere, blowing holes through the clouds. The steam crystalized against his visor blocking his sight, night vision kicked in. "update location NOW!" screamed T077 as he became disoriented. A blue three dimensional hologram map snapped into focus as the coolant jells poured into the pod. The planet they were landing on was unremarkable except for three towers that stood in a triangle formation, and where five kilometers tall. Systems safety alarms where screaming at the Spartan telling him to eject. "Link me to the rest of Theta team!" A UAV popped into focus in the top corner of his HUD, twenty four green dots showed the rest of the team. Bio signs came up erratic; everyone was not enjoying the ride.

"Done, prepare to land," Informed the AI coolly. The pod slammed through a small boulder smashing against the ground, the cockpit released and the door was flung outward against a tree. The Spartan rolled out from his seat and came up with a M8-SMG in both hands. When the air did not fill with covenant plasma, he relaxed. The Spartan scanned the perimeter and double checked his motion sensor. The area was clear. He looked back at the smoldering pod. The whole thing was completely ruined, the metal was bubbling and pooling at the Spartan's feet. He then began stripping the pod of munitions, explosives, provisions, and weapons. Anything he could not carry with him he buried by his pod. Several minutes later the Spartan activated night vision, and with his gear he began making his way to the previously appointed base site.

It was completely dark and almost impossible to see, even with night vision. Spartan-T003 Was having an incredibly difficult time scaling the cliff face she had to surmount, to get to the base site. The heavy pack she was carrying was not helping either. The miniature map on her HUD showed she had no way around, and that she had to go over. She came to a small alcove and decided to stay there for the night and make a small camp, there was no sense in climbing in the dark for what could easily be hours. She had no idea how much taller it was and had already been climbing for several hours. She did not start a fire, just moved her pack to the side, set her active camouflage to loop, and fell asleep.

Spartan-T304 was very lucky she had landed only 3.5 klicks away the rendezvous. She would be the first to arrive and set a preliminary post for the first arriving Spartans. As a handful of Theta team started to drift in, a guard was set and camp was built. Currently at the base Theta team members, T305, T032, T015, T256, T304, T377, and T115 where active and signed in on the roster. Only seven of the original twenty five where at the base, Spartan-T304 was worried, they usually arrived at the camp within the first few hours of landing. These thoughts where swept out of her mind when she was assigned second watch and told to get some rest. Three hours had passed when another Spartan woke her and told her it was her turn. She got up and checked the roster again, almost all of the Spartans where here, only seven where not signed in yet. Maybe she was being overly cautious. This mission would turn out fine she told herself, it would be fine.

Day had broken and Spartan-T003 woke. She looked down and smiled, she was invisible. T003 stood up and stretched, now time to finish this impossible cliff. She looked up and stared with disbelief. She was literally ten feet away from the top. After shouldering her supplies she finished the last stretch of cliff face and began jogging. She met Spartan-T242 half a klick away from camp, and they made their way to the base. A half an hour later they had both signed in the roster and prepared for a squad briefing. Spartan-T077 gave the briefing:

"All Spartans would form two man squads when not around the base. Five Spartans had not signed into the base and are MIA. These Spartans have not left any traces of their whereabouts, usually we can tell from traces of HUD cams and voice recordings. There isn't even a trace of their paths. The team could track each other's armor if a member would fall unconscious or be killed. The only way to completely loose a Spartan is if they and their armor are completely disintegrated. The armor had to be found, if the covenant would happen to get their hands on this technology all would be over. We will send three teams of four to the sites of their last known whereabouts. Meanwhile the rest of the Spartans would wait at the base and collect the ammo and vehicles ONI was sending through slip space." briefed the Spartan grimly, "Any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Good let's move out."

The teams were chosen. Team A consisted of Spartans Veronica-T003, Garret-T377, Luke-T077, and Traci-T304. Team B consisted of Spartans Jeff-T018, Kevin-T333, Summer-T150, and Susan-T015. Team C consisted of Spartans Vern-T201, Kerry-T005, Abby-T001, and Joseph-T242. After the roster was complete each team was heavily armed and provisioned. Team A was assigned to investigate the drop pods the other teams where assigned the two locations the Spartans where last heard of. Five minutes later the teams had left the camp.

Charley-T111 watched the sky as fifteen orange blurs fell from space. Luke had put him in charge if HQ in his absence. He cleared the other Spartans out of the area, the supplies where coming. Two minutes later the crates fell from the sky and landed with dull thuds. Five Spartans began opening the crates. ONI had sent them a nice surprise: Five Warthogs. Twelve of the other crates where full of weapons, ammo, and explosives. The last crate was full of rations. Maybe this op wasn't going to be so boring after all, Charley thought to himself. Right at that moment the TEAMBIO for Team B flat-lined.

At that moment everything descended into chaos, one of the three towers shot a massive blue beam into the sky and the sky became dark. The Spartans noticing the loss of Team B, tried to contact Teams A and C, no responses.

"All Spartans load up prepare for any sort of assault on our base! Hannah and Jacob continue to attempt contact with the Spartan teams! Move out!" yelled T111.

"The com units, private and unsecure, are all down!" reported Hannah. At that moment the second tower emitted a green beam into the sky and a nasty sandstorm whipped up.

"Everyone switches to thermal vision now!" ordered Charley, "Prepare defense position around the HQ!"

"We have movement on the radar at the east side of the camp!" yelled a Spartan.

"Paint and identify your targets before firing! Make every round count! I want to know if we are against Covies here!" replied Charley.

"Targets Identified as Fire team A, They are unhurt!" shouted Spartan-T256.

"Good bring them in!" ordered Charley.

Vern-T201 was about to reach the first spot where the Spartans had gone MIA when all hell exploded. The sky went pitch black in second, and when the Spartan ordered his team to activate night vision, a wicked sandstorm almost blew them over. The Spartans had activated Thermal vision but that was the least of their worries now. All the com units where down and the team was surrounded by multiple targets. Vern ordered his team to lie down in a loose semi-circle with Kerry and Abby to his right and left and Joseph at his back.

"Put away your assault rifles, and use your MA5K's; this is going to be a close quarter's fight!" Vern Yelled. The sandstorm was destroying his ability to communicate with his team. At that moment, Kerry Fired continuous bursts of gunfire into the dust. Screeches emanated from the gloom splattering Vern with gore. "What are they?!" He screamed. Suddenly a figure Grabbed Abby and started to drag her away from the team. Joseph rolled forward showering the thing with bullets, dropping it to the ground howling. "We need to get to camp now!" ordered the Spartan. All four of them slowly stood up in a square formation and covered each other as they backed away from the spot. For about fifteen minutes there were no more assaults by the things, but that would not last long. Howls were heard from the left of the Spartans, causing them to twitch. From the opposite direction came twenty of the shadowy forms grabbing for the Spartans. At that moment Vern threw a Fragmentation grenade into the ranks of the creatures causing them to scatter, some not being so fortunate where caught in the blast radius and where devoured by the shards of metal.

"We move now or we die!" yelled Joseph

"Yeah I'm working on it!" replied a desperate Vern. "We will have to get either around the group or in front of them! I hope they aren't fast!"

"What's the plan to get through them?!" asked one of the Spartans.

"Everyone prime at least one grenade!" ordered Vern, "we are going to blast a way through!" The Spartans each had two grenades in their hand and a Magnum in the other.

"Where do we put these?!" asked Kerry.

"Right in the middle of the group that is blocking the way to the camp!" replied Vern. Vern waited for the creatures to bunch together and attack the Spartans when he gave the command. "Throw!" The grenades flew over the front of the first few and rolled to a stop in the sand at the feet of the group in the middle of the pack. The figures looked down and snorted callously at the grenades. Then they exploded. The screams and moans emanated from the few members of the pack that were still alive. The Spartans where showered with a mess of sand and particles of the things that were blocking their path. "Move the rest will recover in seconds!" The Spartans leapt forward and started a dead all out sprint toward their only safety. At that time Vern started to notice the effects of what was unofficially given the name Spartan time. Spartan time happens to a Spartan in the middle of adrenalin fused moments, due to the augmentation of the Spartans back at their "induction" ceremony they were pumped with drugs that boost their strength, speed, and reflexes far beyond the most skilled humans. Spartan time was the sensation of the world moving in slow motion to you. Vern saw clumps of earth and particles of sand tumble through the air; he saw the world in extreme detail. He noticed individual drops of what appeared to be blood and had time to count them as they flew through the air. He saw his fellow Spartans around him, and was glad that they had made it through the pack also. The creature around him where beginning to get up if they still had legs. Vern sprayed the nearest one with his magnum, pulling the trigger fast enough to imitate rapid fire. The ammo counter in his HUD snapped to zero. There was no time to reload. He buried the magnum in the chest of one of the creatures. The team finally cleared a hill and was putting distance between themselves and the horde.