AN: Hello! So here I am with a reboot. After looking over my story, I felt like the starting was weak and the character development in areas were lacking. I also felt like the Reapers Children was a bit of a cliché villain with no real original angle or plan, just another corrupted deluded villain organization. Really just Cerberus Reaper-Edition.
So after much thought and pondering I decided it would be best to just reboot and try over. This new version will have some major changes but in parts will follow in line with the original version.
Here is some info for newcomers who may have not read the original:
This will contain spoilers for all the Halo games (maybe not Halo Wars), Halo Forerunner Saga, and Halo Kilo-Five trilogy. It will also contain spoilers for the entire Mass Effect trilogy.
This takes place 5 years after the ending of Mass Effect 3, it takes place with the perfect EC destroy ending and acts that Shepard lived and the Geth were rebuilt with their sentience that they gained in the game.
Also once again this won't be a terribly in-depth technology wise, so don't expect we me to into the specs of every weapon and such.
So yeah here we go.
Halo is owned by 343i and Microsoft, and Mass Effect by Bioware and EA.
January 22nd, 2555 – Unknown Nebula – Unknown System – A53 – 1700 Hours
It still felt weird dropping in even after so many times. There was a thrill of piercing the atmosphere that never got old and the tingle in your body as you near the ground. Slam! The pod impacts the ground and digs into the ground; as soon as he could he pressed the sides off and kicked the door across into a tree denting it. Grabbing the sides he pulled himself out and looked at his surroundings, it was a thick jungle with trees so high you couldn't see their tops.
Turning back to his pod he pulled out his MA5D with a custom blue stripped camouflage on it, alongside he pulled out a M6H pistol, extra ammo and some grenades. Once he salvaged all that there was he stepped out of the crater and looked upon his HUD.
There was a river nearby that they were supposed to rendezvous at after they finished up at their pod. Checking his current position and the direction of the river he began to head north leaving the pod alone in the jungle. Moving through the thicket he ran over streams of water, flora, and over fallen trees. At the same time avoiding the wild life so that there wasn't anything to reveal their position to the enemy. As he centered in on the rivers location he began to hear the rushing sound of water and the waterfall nearby.
As soon as he got to the river the tree's ended in a line and there was just grass and rocks next the river. The moon above radiated its light against the water and made it almost glow and illuminate the area. Looking up ahead the river he spotted the water fall which was quite large going up closer to the peak of a mountain. Where there appeared to be a large body of water based on how much water was flowing through.
He was the first to arrive on scene and so he took his place on a large rock and waited until they arrived. In his heavy armor he sat there and looked out upon the jungle stretching far into the distance. The world A53 was covered in large jungles with very little else to diversify itself. There wasn't much of interest on this world and yet the enemy had set up shop and it was time to go in and clean up.
Just then as he sat there he heard a rustling behind him and he turned to face it with the MA5D in his hands just in case ready to pull the trigger at any moment. A being covered in black got to the edge of the tree line and then gained detail when they stepped into the moon's glow. It was another armored being colored black with blue stripes and a slimmer figure to himself and wearing the Recon variant helmet of the MJOLNIR Gen 2 armor, himself wearing the Rouge variant of the MJOLNIR set. "You're the first Delta-One?" They spoke as they got closer.
Delta-One lowered his gun and went back to his relaxed position, "That is correct Delta-Two. Did everyone make a safe landing?"
Delta-Two walked over to Delta-One, "Yeah, based on what the ship told me. Everyone made a successful landing. They should be here any moment."
The Squad leader nodded his head, "I hope so. It's best we get this done and be quick about it."
"It's just one of Jul 'Mdama's bases. How hard could it be?" she responded, "Also do you think you could maybe call me Irila. You know- my name?"
Delta-One didn't make eye contact, not that she could tell based on his visor being polarized. "We've been over this, its better just referring to ourselves as Delta-One, Two and so on. Makes things less personal… Do I need to in-depth again?"
Irila sighed, "No, Spartan-o-fifteen . You don't need to."
"Good, I'm already talking more than I should be," he spoke ignoring her tone and how she spoke the fifteen.
Delta-One or Spartan-015 or to some, Jastis, is a Spartan-II, whereas Irila is a Spartan-IV. While he worked with her many times as part of them being on the same ship, he didn't have the same level of connection with the IV's that he had with the II's. He respected the IV's but couldn't seem to become as invested with them as he was with his fellow Two's.
Once they were going on the mission however, it wouldn't matter. They were Spartans and they would get the job done, after all he had helped train these very Spartan-IVs he was working with. Shortly after they began to hear more rustles in the forest and so both Jastis and Irila aimed their guns, and holstered them as the last four Spartans arrived.
Heavy-Weapons specialist Yuri, Tech-specialist Oren, Sniper Jane, Explosive Expert Morgan and the two themselves, Commander Jastis, and second in command Irila, together they made Delta-squad.
"I still hate dropping in…" Yuri spoke with a heavy Russian-accent, although because of his long time of speaking English he spoke it fluently and clearly.
Morgan did a gentle punch to Yuri's arm, "You marines are such pansies, it's not like us ODSTs died that often during a drop." Spoke the former ODST who had dropped in many times during the war. One of the few ODSTs that fought in the start of the war and past the ending of the war, but one of many ODSTs that turned in to become a Spartan-IV when given the chance.
"Which of you got here first?" spoke Jane as she surveyed the area.
Jastis held up his hand, "I did. Alright squad, give me a quick sitrep on your status."
"Delta-Three, I'm all in one piece, and I got the explosives," Morgan spoke.
"Delta-Four, same and ready to go," Oren spoke.
"Delta-Five, prepped and ready on your command," Jane spoke.
Lastly Yuri went, "Delta-Six, heavy weapons guy in working order."
Jastis stood up from the rock and went towards the group, "Good, let's get moving the cave is nearby and we can't waste time.
Their mission was simple, go through a cave that would lead to the face of a cliff just above the covenant remnant base; from there they would take a small route down the cliff and into the jungle thicket surrounding the base. Once there they would use their armor abilities to go invisible and sneak in to plant the charges. However if they get found, some of the tam would be surrounding the base to give support in the fire fights.
They fell in and moved together with Jastis in the lead, he was a bit faster than the IV's but they still were good at keeping up and he wasn't putting all of his strength into his running. On his HUD as they got closer to the cave the objective point distance got smaller and smaller. Their black armor made them blend into the shadows of the night and look like blurs to the wild life. "They know that this cave exists?" asked Yuri as they got closer.
Jastis responded as they ran, "From what our Intel suggests. No. Its exit on the cliff is covered in a heavy thicket of bushes and tree's obscuring it. However just to be on the safe side we will assume that there is a chance they have found it, so stay frosty."
They moved far from the river till it was completely out of sight even from up above. Suddenly despite the clear skies, light rain began to fall and the grey clouds begin to cover the sky. Making the already dark night even darker however with the VISR the Spartans could see the outline of the environment around them. As far as he knew the Covenant didn't have anything like it so they had the one up on them.
At around 30 meters the Spartans slowed down and moved silently the rest of the way. "I hate the rain," Yuri spoke again.
"Really? I love the rain; it always calms me down," Irila responded to the Russian.
Yuri just shook his head, "It makes things damp, wet, and heavy. How anyone could like it is beyond me…"
"To each their own," she spoke and ended it.
At 10 meters he spotted the cave behind some large rocks and much flora. The entrance was small and could easily be over looked by a casual observer but the Spartan had been trained to see small details. Also the fact that his VISR located it and showed him also helped.
They stopped at the entrance, and looked into the dark cave. "Alright, if I spot anyone, I will give the signal to hide and activate your camouflage."
Everyone nodded and they entered. As they stepped small rocks ran across the floor. Rain water began to flow into the cave and create a very small stream that ran under their feet. They made sure to watch their steps so they wouldn't cause any incident. On his HUD the objective marker updated and then showed a new location two klicks away.
Unlike outside they had their guns out and looking in all directions in case of an ambush. Jastis didn't expect them to fall into one but never can be too cautious. Soon the cave started to go upward and they even had to jump to get further.
"You know… This cave is not a natural formation…" Oren spoke which resulted in Morgan simply hitting him on the back of the head, "ouch…"
After ten minutes they were close to the exit and still nothing. Meaning the Covenant Remnant had no idea that this was here. The sound of the rain outside got louder as they got closer to the exit. Jastis held up his hand and the IV's stopped in their place, he then signaled that he would go ahead and then calls them up.
The Spartan II moved up alone and exited the cave, and looked around for anyone. He also took a glimpse at the Covenant base that was illuminating the area. It was standard for them, couple of buildings and a single ship. All purple. Guess they have the same saying, don't fix what isn't broken. Seeing the way down he made note and then walked back in the cave.
"It's clear, follow me and stay low. We don't want to alert them to our presence prematurely," the Spartan ordered.
They didn't question and began to follow but before they even began to head down Jastis gave the position another look. "Delta-Five, think this position is good enough for sniper support?"
Jane looked around the spot, it was obviously higher up and the shadow of the cliff gave it perfect cover from any Air support that they may have. The heavy thicket of plants allowed her blend in with the shadow. She took the sniper off from her back and looked down the scope, already she was spotting targets. "It's perfect. A snipers wet dream," she spoke.
Jastis just shook his head in disdain at the last part, "a simple yes would have sufficed."
The sniper got into position, "If anything goes down, they will die."
With that the rest of them left and began to head down a dangerous and skinny path where only dirt and rock reside with no tree's, grass, or bushes. They had to move slowly and crouched so that they didn't get spotted since they had no cover. The rain began to make the dirt into mud and slippery, even in the MJOLNIR armor they had to make sure they didn't fall off the path.
The five of them jumped off the path and slid down the side of the path of mud. When they landed on the ground and stood up Jastis continued with the plan, "Delta-Six and Two, I want you two to surround the base in case of a fight, Four, Three and myself will go and place the charges, Three the C-12?"
She nodded and handed two to Oren and Jastis, keeping two for herself. She had the charge and would press it when they had them all placed and were away. Irila and Yuri got together and began to move, with Yuri pulling the M247H Heavy Machine Gun off of his back that he had been lugging around. Under his helmet his face illuminated with glee, he was a huge fan of the M247H. Sometimes when he didn't have it he would use the SAW, his second favorite weapon.
When Yuri ran off with the Heavy Machine Gun it reminded him of Jorge, a fellow S-II that fell during Reach. Although Yuri was carrying around as much ammo as the Spartan-II had.
Once they were off, Jastis, Oren and Morgan began to make their move. "So, Commander… Think Jul 'Mdama is here?" Morgan asked as they silently moved.
"Doubtful. This is just an outpost. Hardly the military head-quarters we have seen thus far."
Oren gave his two-cents, "Jul 'Mdama seems to be a bit smarter than the hinge-head he leads. I doubt he would be that careless as to stay on a remote outpost with not much security."
Jastis stopped as they got behind a very large tree close to the tree line just meters away from the base. "But why we bothering with this? I mean it's just an outpost, more so in the middle of nowhere," Morgan questioned.
The Spartan-II looked at the Four, "Captain Colvo stated that he got the mission from NAVCOM, so we aren't one to question orders. They never really a specific reason, just said they wanted the outpost gone. That satisfy?"
"Meh," Morgan finished speaking with a shrug.
"Alright, no more time for chitchat. It's time to get to work."
Jastis looked out at the base and zoomed in with his visor and spotted some grunts walking around on patrol. No elites just yet. "Delta-Five, can you designate the targets near our location?"
Without a word the HUD lit up like a Christmas tree and the targets were spotted. A lot more than he had expected. There were eight grunts, three Elites and a couple of Jackal snipers up above. The Covenant Remnant Jackal snipers seem to have added a red glowing light on them which seemed counter intuitive.
"Activate your camouflage, we're going in."
Jane looked through his scope at the outpost, it almost reminded her of a human outpost but instead of metal buildings it was whatever the covenant used. Purple metal or something, she didn't really care for that. All that she cared for was her sniping abilities to which she excelled at. Even got some compliments from Linda-058 who was well known for being an amazing sniper. Jane admitted she wasn't on Linda's level but was happy enough to be complimented from her.
She is whom Jane aspired to be. Although since she was station aboard the UNSC Living Life, she hadn't seen the Spartan-II.
The rain continued to pour down with no signs of going away. Although being in the MJOLNIR armor it made her feel like she was inside. Bored just watching the outpost she contacted Irila and Yuri on the Comm separate from the overall squad comm. "Irila, after this think they will give us some shore leave? I really need to have a decent meal for once…"
"Is food the only thing you ever think about?" Irila responded
There was a pause from Jane, "…No…"
She could hear a sigh from Irila over the Comm, "I don't expect we would be given one. Probably going to be popped back into Cryo and off to another mission."
"Boring…"
Jane and Irila were the youngest in the squad, both being 25 years old. They grew up together in the same town in New York State, in the United Republic of North America. Together they went through high school and joined the UNSC when they hit 18 and served in the final years of the war. When they learned that they had the gene's to become a Spartan-IV, the two of them signed up together and got placed in the same squad.
Typically they worked together well; however of the two, Jane was a bit more out there always talking about food and wanting shore leave. Irila sometime told Jane how she was still stunned how she became a sniper since it required much concentration.
Through her scope she continued to watch as Jastis, Oren, and Morgan move into the outpost.
Yuri while happy that he was able to lug around the Heavy Machine Gun, was saddened by the fact that he couldn't use it unless a fire fight broke out. He walked with Irila but was a short distance behind her because of the weight of the gun that slowed him down. The female Spartan stopped and looked back at the Russian, "Yuri, stay here. I will move up a bit further to surround the other side."
"Shouldn't you call me Delta-Six or just Six?"
Irila shook her head, "nah, I don't really give a shit about that stuff. You're Yuri and I'm Irila. Let the CO keep calling us by our numbers but I prefer our names."
"Fair enough."
Yuri got to the spot where Irila was and set up with his Heavy Machine Gun and she proceeded to find her own spot.
After a bit of walking and looking about she decided that instead of being on ground she would take up shop in a large tree that gave her a look at the entire outpost. Grabbing onto a vine and the tree itself she began to climb up, luckily her armor made it so the rain didn't affect her climbing ability. Once she got close to the top she pulled herself up and relaxed her back to one of the large branches.
Again she continued to climb to get an even higher perch and then prone on the branch. Good that it was large and thick enough that it held her weight. If it had been any smaller the MJOLNIR armor would have been too much. With her DMR she looked down its sight to continue to watch Delta-One, Four and Three move through the outpost.
Jastis took a knife out and crouched slowly towards to the Grunt which strayed away from his squad, "nighty-night," he spoke as he stabbed the grunt in the neck and placed his hand on their mouth so they didn't make any noise that could be heard.
Once he was down, the Spartan quickly moved the grunt to a hidden location so the body couldn't be found. "Four, going to need you to get this door open, inside is the location for the first two C-12."
Oren nodded and crouched past the Spartan; while Jastis and Morgan made sure no one came by. Even with the lights in the camp, the darkness was still dark and made any spot not illuminated in complete black. Taking out a device, Oren placed it on the door and began to type and soon enough it opened up and he pulled it off. Like all Covenant doors it slid open and they walked in.
"Two Elites, Three, come with me and we will take them out at the same time," Jastis ordered and Morgan followed. The Two Elites were talking to each other, completely oblivious to the Spartans in active camouflage walking behind them.
Whereas Jastis just took his knife and stabbed into the back of the Elites neck, the Spartan-Four had to jump on the back of the Elite and stab. However despite that they were able to take them out without much noise.
At the same time without orders, Oren placed the charges and set them and he put his thumbs up at the Spartan-II who just nodded in acknowledgement. Two charges down, four more to go. They needed to place two on the bottom of the ship outside and the second building. The shockwave from the explosions would take out the smaller buildings.
Some would question why the stealth, well in Jastis own words "Think of it as training but in the field. Stealth can be your greatest ally."
Morgan didn't agree, she would have liked nothing more than just running in gun's blazing. However the CO decided that they wouldn't do that. Had the base when in a desert or somewhere where there wasn't much terrain to hide behind than maybe. But he took the opportunity to test how the squad worked in stealth since thus far their missions have all been fire fights out in the open.
"Let's head to the barracks now and the ship second. Since the ship is close enough to the tree line to allow us to get out."
The two Spartan-IV's nodded and continued to follow the CO. Just at that moment the comm went on and Jane's voice came out, "Commander, some Jackals snooping around your position."
Jastis saw the two spotted Jackals get close to their position on their HUD along that he noticed the active camouflage getting low. They would have to let the Jackals go past them and not engage. Jastis signaled for the two Fours to hide, and they did. Hiding behind some crates and such so that the Jackals couldn't see. Dragging the two Elites bodies behind the crates with them.
The two Jackals entered the building and began to look around. Personally Morgan found these breed of Jackals to be uglier than their bird counterparts. These new covenant remnant ones were more like Godzilla from the old late 20th century movie. 1998 she believed. However despite their appearance they acted roughly the same as the bird ones.
They walked around with their shields on arm like always looking around but after a bit the two gave up and left the building. By this point their active camouflage was back up to full power and the team was ready to go.
Irila went still as an Elite wondered around at the foot of the tree. "Would he find Yuri?" She thought to herself.
Slowly she moved down the tree hoping to get the jump on the Elite. It was a Storm class which was roughly the same thing as the Sangheili minors of the former Covenant. Although the Storm wore less armor than the Minor. For her that was good though as it let her have more spots to kill him from.
Suddenly as she climb she made a noise and the Elite reacted by looking around cautiously still unaware of the Spartan.
"Why is he here anyway?" Irila thought, "Scouting the area?"
Activating her camouflage she jumped with her knife out and stabbed the Elite in the neck. They touched their neck only to cough out blood and then fall into a bush. "CO," she spoke on the comm, "just took out an Elite who was seemingly scouting the area where I am held up."
It was a moment before the Commander spoke, "Make sure no more are around, we shall hurry up. No idea if they're expecting them back soon."
"Roger that."
Taking the Elite's body and placing it in a ditch nearby she moved back to the large tree and then began to look out in case of anymore. She looked with her HUD to zoom into the distance with the VISR on. Red outlines appeared on some Jackals and Grunts who were walking around.
"Shit," she spoke softly to herself. "Should have kept that Elite alive and just told Yuri to move… Now they will be wondering where their buddy is…"
Staying in active camouflage she walked softly in the shadows watching the patrol group. Lucky for her, the grunts and jackals were having a hard time seeing in the rain. At that moment it got worse, the rain striking against the land scape, and then lightning ripped into the sky causing the area to go bright. Then an idea rang in head, if she could kill them just as the lightning strikes she could drown out any noise.
Taking her DMR she aimed at the grunts and just as another lightning struck she fired, the bullets pierced through the tall grass and bushes and hit the grunt and then in rapid succession she shot the other grunts. In the confusion she ran out still in active camouflage with her knife and stabbed the jackal before they could react and just as the other jackal turned to shoot she kicked their shield away and shot them in the head.
The entire patrol was down. She crouched in the heavy brush and waited for a moment before contacting Jastis, "CO, I eliminated the patrol group. How are things on your end?"
"All is fine, we just placed the third and fourth charge and heading over to the ship to place the final charges. The Covies aren't acting any different so I don't think they noticed their patrol is gone."
Somehow it still didn't sit right with her, "I still think it's strange that they would have a patrol going out. I mean this system is devoid of any colonies; not like they would have to worry about to many attacks."
"I agree it is strange. Maybe they were warned of our presence?"
"Maybe…" She responded solemnly.
Jastis moved to cover just as a couple of grunts moved by. Placing the charges on the Type-44 Troop Carrier or Phantom would be easy enough. Not many enemies around it. So far the squad was doing great for their first stealth mission in the field. Couldn't be more proud. Only he wished that it would continue; fearing that it may all fall apart before the end.
He didn't doubt that after they press the charge that they would have to mop up any survivors. They moved through the outpost going behind crates and such. "Can't wait to see this place go boom," Morgan commented.
"You and your explosions…" Oren responded.
Morgan chuckled, "what can I say. I am attracted to explosions. They make me feel like a little girl going to the mall."
Oren just looked at the Spartan, "Isn't that a bit stereotypical?"
"I was one of those girls."
"Oh… Can't see it."
Morgan hit the back of Oren's head again. "ouch…"
"Delta-Three, the charges," Jastis spoke as they got next to the Phantom.
"Right…" she responded as she passed by Oren and began to set the charges. Jastis and Oren sat there and watched just in case. Morgan got them planted quite quickly.
Just then suddenly Oren's shields flared as he got hit by a rifle. Jastis turned to see a Jackal perched up aiming down on them. It had spotted them despite their active camouflage. Jastis aimed with his pistol and quickly shot the jackal. "Engaged! Four, are the charges set!?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Good, let's get out of range!" Jastis spoke as they stood up and began to run as the Covies began to rain down on their position. "Delta-Six and Two, get farther away from the outpost we're about to blow it!" he spoke to them as the three of them entered the tree line. Plasma began to wiz past them as they ran hitting trees and the ground.
"Thank god for the shielding!" Oren spoke loudly.
"We out of range?" Jastis asked Morgan.
"Yes we're!" They jumped forward to get even further as she pulled out the charger and pressed it.
A large shock wave rippled through the jungle, the explosion lit up the sky and sent trees toppling over.
Jane watched it from the cliff face and even she felt it. Despite the cold of the night, she began to feel warm as the heat from the explosion. The entire outpost was ablaze with fire, she doubted anyone survived that. The fires continued despite the weather. "That was perfect!" she yelled as she stood from her spot.
Yuri and Irila had met up when they were running away from the blast radius; as soon as it exploded they were sent flying, not far but enough that they slammed into the ground. "Damn explosions…" the Spartan spoke in Russian. Debris began to fall from the sky and slam nearby; Irila spotted one coming at her and rolled out of the way. But more kept falling ranging from small pieces to large. Now that the explosion was starting to settle down, Yuri and she collected themselves and walked towards the outpost.
The razing heat from the fire that was still going on illuminated the night sky and the rain was having a hard time stopping. Everything started to blur around the fire but they were able to find their way around. There was a large crater where the buildings were and lots of bodies. Some in pieces and others charred. One straggler crawled on the ground slowly out from under a debris.
Yuri took this chance, "I haven't gotten a kill yet today." He walked over to the body, quickly charged his machine gun and fired for a second killing the Elite.
The two Spartans stood in a safe spot in the ruins and spotted Jastis, Oren, and Morgan coming up to their position. "That was… beautiful!" Morgan exclaimed with her arms up in the air.
"You guys got all the fun. Myself? Just killed a straggler, whoop-de-fucking-do," Yuri spoke unpleased with the mission.
"Oh lighten up; we will have plenty of missions in the future where you will get to get truckloads of kills," Morgan responded back with.
Yuri scoffed, "It's not the killing I desire. It's the action, the thrill of battle that I enjoy so much. Sneaking around? I get none of that, just a bunch of time wasted."
Morgan folded her arms, "And explosions don't do that for you?"
"Not when I didn't cause them."
"Fair enough."
Delta-One didn't care much for dialogue that didn't pertain to the mission at hand in any meaningful way, "Delta-Five, you spot any stragglers? I don't see any on my radar." Jastis spoke to the Sniper up in her perch.
While he couldn't see her, she still shook her head, "Nope, all gone, all dead. Ba-boom. Let's get something to eat."
Irila just face palmed at that response, "Well then, we call this mission success?" she spoke as she rose her head.
Jastis nodded, "Indeed. Good work everyone. I'll call Living Life, to send a pelican down."
By the time the pelican landed nearby, the fire had been cooled by the rain. The skies showed no sign of lightening up. Inside the pelican the squad split up where they could and began to chat privately with each other. Everyone except for Jastis had their helmets off to their sides.
It was clear that Irila and Jane were the youngest, even with the augmentations they still had a bit of that teen-look. While everyone had short hair, didn't mean that they were all styled the same. Sometimes it was one of the parts that made soldiers stand out. Irila has short brown hair that went down a little above her shoulders, Jane, even shorter hair almost the buzz-cut that he had seen some females get. Morgan lastly had a long hair that went past her shoulder. It wasn't exactly liked by her higher ups but Morgan didn't care and based on her record they weren't going to put her in time out for it.
Yuri and Oren however both share the buzz-cut look with the only difference being was that Yuri has blonde hair and Oren black.
Irila stood up from her seat and walked over to the pilot and then after a few brief moments came back and sat back down with a smile on her face. Morgan scowled, "No… you didn't!"
Yuri just laughed, "I think she did."
Jastis knew what to expect when suddenly from out of the speakers in the pelican, music began to play. But not just any music, flip music. Morgan put her head between her legs, "Why… Do you get joy out of this?"
From the time Morgan joined the squad, she made it evident that she detested flip music. To her it was the same as scratching a black board. Irila just sat and continued to smile as she listened to the music with joy. As evident from her actions, Irila absolutely loved flip music. It reminded him of the famous Sergeant Johnson who also loved flip music to the squads he served with dismay.
"You know you could simply put your helmet on and then block out the sound," Oren pointed out.
Morgan simply stared daggers at him and then placed on her helmet, Oren laughed and then was met once again with a hit against the back of his head, "Really? It's getting old!" he yelled out at her as she walked back to her seat ignoring his reaction. He placed his hand on the back of his head as if it was going to ease the pain.
Alone in corner near the backend of the pelican, Jastis sat with a data pad typing up the report. They hadn't gotten their AI issued yet so it still had to be done manually, however he didn't mind it. Writing reports was almost a stress reliever for him as it allowed him to reflect on everything that had transpired and improve on the areas he felt were lacking. Overall the squad had shown to excel at stealth outside the last portion of the mission.
However realizing that, stealth missions weren't going to be the forte of the squad, as what the squad excels at is straight up confrontations. Already he was planning for the next mission. They would go back to the old ways, ambush the site and move on from there. No sneaking around.
Jastis wasn't even aware of the flip music playing; he had already switched all sound off. Only thing he could hear was the sound of his own breathing, it was a bit like being in space where everything was quiet and only could hear the sound that went into his helmet but even that sounded muffled.
A red alert appeared on the data pad which revealed that they were about to land on the Living Life; it wasn't a very large ship and hadn't even gotten any Forerunner upgrades. It was no Infinity but it held its own. However getting into a fight with a Covenant ship could still prove deadly without shields.
Suddenly there was a suddenly jerk in the pelican, a small shake, and then it stopped. The back end of the pelican opened up and everyone who wasn't already stood up. They had arrived. Jastis was the first one out and stood looking around the hanger. It wasn't that big and could only hold the pelican and a couple of F-41 Broadswords. The ships comm systems went up, "Sierra-015, please report to the bridge."
Jastis looked at his squad as they exited the pelican, "You're all relieved."
Jane clapped her hands, "Woo! Let's get something to eat, I am starving."
"I can agree with that," Yuri spoke following Jane as they turned to leave the hanger. Everyone else also followed to get a meal. Lucky for Jastis, he wasn't hungry. Then again as a Spartan-II he could go much longer than the average human and even S-IV's without food. Leaving the hanger he made his way through the grey colored halls until he reached the bridge.
There the Captain of the Living Life stood, Andrew Colvo, an older man who had survived the entirety of the Human-covenant war, a hard boiled veteran. "Good work down there Sierra-015," the Captain began without even turning to face the Spartan.
"Delta Squad is good. This was a simple mission," he responded back.
"Indeed," the Captain said as he turned to face the Spartan, "I assume you have already done the report?"
Jastis handed the Captain the report and began to quickly read through it, sliding down the page with a smile going across the page. "A bit excessive with the explosives but they had what was coming to them, those who continue to go against Humanity."
"Do we have another mission Captain?" asked Jastis.
The Captain quickly copied the report to his own data pad and handed Jastis pad back, "Nothing yet but I wouldn't think it would be too long. However we have been told to get back to-". Suddenly the ship began to go red and the Captain turned to face the rest of the bridge. "What is going on!?"
"Captain! A Covenant Cruiser just came out of slip space. It's targeting us!"
"A Covenant Cruiser… Hurry up and heat up the slip space core!"
"Sir, Covenant boarding crafts inbound!"
"Damn! Shoot them down!" The Captain turned back to the Spartan, "Spartan, get your team and fend off any crafts that get through!"
Jastis nodded and turned out from the bridge, "Delta-Squad form up! We're under attack from a Covenant cruiser and boarding vessels inbound. We have to defend until the slip space core is up."
"Just when we were about to eat…" Jane murmured over the comm.
Delta-One marked on his map the location of where they were to meet, nearby where the Covenant boarding crafts would land. On his HUD he could see the update on the battle going outside. A good chunk of the crafts got destroyed but some slammed into the side of the ship and began to enter. Soon after he told the squad to form up they were on the point.
"Finally, some real action," Yuri yelled out as they began to engage Covenant.
Irila just shook her head, "Not the best place to want it!"
"Action is action, doesn't matter where it is…"
There wasn't much room to move in the crowded halls of the ship but there was at least cover. Everyone fell on the ground from the shockwave of another boarding craft slamming into the side just near their position. Standing back up Jastis commanded his squad, "Delta-Two, Three, and Six go over to craft that just landed. I, Four and Five will go and fend of this wave."
The three nodded and left the spot to go to the other craft. "Move up!" Jastis yelled out as there was an opening in the wave. Jastis slid into cover and leaned out with his Assault Rifle and sprayed a nearby grunt. Oren with a DMR began to shoot an Elite in the background whose shields began to flare, Jane with her sniper rifle shot once and the head of the same Elite exploded into a gore of indigo. Oren thumbed up Jane and they continued to fire.
Jastis leaned out only to get hit by a beam from a Jackal sniper who was trying to sneak around the crates and metal of the corridor. "Five take out that sniper!"
"With pleasure!" As she aimed her sniper rifle at the Jackal that was designated. It didn't have time to react as the bullet pierced the Jackals helmet and their blood splattered the other side of the wall. Another Elite, a Ranger, rushed up to Jastis position and the Spartan rolled away as a sticky grenade landed on his spot. Taking his own grenade he threw it at the Ranger and before they could leave the area of effect they flew up into the air and slammed against the ceiling from the explosion.
Jane using her armor ability went invisible and vanished from the sight of the covenant. When there was only a few left, a Jackal and two grunts they began to move away in an attempt to retreat. Suddenly however the Jackal was forcible turned and then stabbed in the head with a knife. The grunts yelled out but were silenced by Jane's BR. "I would say that was a pretty good job."
Suddenly Jastis was alerted that two more nearby had struck. "Splitting up again; Four and Five you together go to the nearby craft, I alone will take the farther one."
"Will you be okay?"
Jastis grunted, "I am a Spartan, what's the worst that could happen?"
"A lot actually…" Oren solemnly stated and Jastis just glared at the Spartan through his visor.
Irila, Yuri, and Morgan arrived on site just in time to help some Marines and some workers, the latter which just wanted to run as far as possible. The room they attacked was larger than the halls with even a second level that looked down. "Yuri I want you to go up there and give us covers fire!"
Yuri quickly moved up a set of nearby stairs and set up shop. Not before taking out a group of grunts with his SAW who had already gotten up with their "jetpacks" that they used that looked more like an explosion that sent them flying.
Down below Irila and Morgan moved in on the exiting covenant soldiers. There were a lot in this boarding craft. Irila ducked as a fuel rod cannon was shot directly at her. That grunt with the fuel rod cannon was going to prove to be trouble. The creature was in between Elites and Jackals with shields which were showing to be resilient to the shots from Yuri above. Whom had to keep moving from the shots being fired on his own position.
It was made worse that all the squad had to work with was active-camouflage, not a jet pack, hologram, or even a Thruster pack. And in their current position, there was no way to sneak around. Too enclosed to move around effectively.
The fuel rod cannon's plasma continued to fire upon them until Irila took a chance and rolled out of cover. Quickly with lighting speed shot her DMR at the grunt and they fell to the ground. With an opening Morgan got from out of cover with a sticky detonator and shot at a nearby Elite who screamed and then proceeded to explode taking the nearby jackal and grunt with it.
Yuri above was smiling as he poured bullets into the final covenant soldiers. The shielded Elites no match for the plethora of damage. Taking a second to breath, Irila contacted the Captain to see the progress on the slip space. "Captain, what is the progress on the slip space core?"
"Sixty percent, Spartan."
Just then the ship shook horribly as a plasma round slammed into its side.
The bridge was in chaos with all of the damage that was being dealt to the ship and how much they had to keep track of. However they were trained for this and wouldn't give up, they would make it out alive. The Living Life was holding up and in just a few would be on its merry way. It would be somewhere random so that hopefully the Covenant cruiser couldn't follow.
"Fire missile silos seven through twelve, aim at the Cruisers plasma canons!"
"Right Captain!"
"What is the progress on the boarding crafts?"
A crew member quickly brought up the data for the Captain, "Just two remain. No more seem to being sent out."
He was thankful for that, however the Living Life couldn't take much more. An image of the battle taking place just outside was showing up on his screen, the much larger size of the Covenant cruiser was menacing but he survived the war and he had seen worse odds than this. He would make it out of this alive and so would his crew. He would make sure of that.
"Oren duck!" Jane yelled and the Spartan ducked just to see a sniper round wiz over his head and slam into an Elite.
"That almost hit me!"
"I told you to move."
Oren sighed, "Woman and hitting my head…"
"Hey. Can't blame us, you practically asking for it."
Jane couldn't hear the words that Oren spoke under his breath but he didn't care much. Jane continued to fire with her sniper rifle with utter precision that put many Marines and ODSTs to shame. But a Marine she no longer was. A blue light went through the sky and Oren quickly shot it before it stuck to anything or anyone.
Quickly the Covenant placed a stationary shield generator and they got behind it. Oren attempted to move up but then was sent flying as a fuel rod cannon hit the ground nearby. "Oren!" Jane called out as he hit a bunch of crates nearby.
"That hurt," is all he responded back with. She no longer could see him behind the large crates but then saw a grenade fly out and land right next to the shield generator. It didn't even have time to go red before it just vanished.
"Good job!" Jane called out as she shot her sniper rifle at the unguarded elites and jackals. Despite the shields the jackals held, they had one flaw. Their hands. In that one spot that was free she abused it and made sure they would drop.
Suddenly a blue aura glowed as the familiar sound of an energy sword came into existence. At just the worst moment Jane checked her ammo only to see nothing left. Taking the assault rifle from her back she began to fire and the shields rippling against the Elites armor. Just as it got too close for comfort its head was brought back and a knife sliced into the open neck of the Elite. It dropped his sword put its hand on its neck and fell to the floor.
Oren stood from behind it, "That was pretty good kill right there."
"Eh… A eight out of ten."
Oren folded his arms, "That's it? More like hate out of ten."
Jane just laughed at her fellow squad mate, "Oh don't be so melodramatic. If I was Morgan I would have hit you in the head again. Although you two… I would almost think something was going on."
"No-never! What would make you think that? Geez…"
Suddenly the door on the other side of the room opened up, Irila, Yuri, and Morgan walked through. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Oren spoke.
"He was referring to you Morgan."
Morgan just looked at Oren, "What were you saying about me?"
Oren just waved his hand in front of his face, "Nothing, and nothing at all." Hoping that she wouldn't pester on about it.
"Nothing, yeah right. I was just talking about how you two seem like a great couple and Oren agreed," Before Oren had time to react Morgan walked over and hit him in head, "oh that last part was a joke," Jane then decided to answer.
"Jane!" Irila yelled out and Jane just burst into a fit of laughing. "Will you ever grow up?"
"Do I get more food?"
"Maybe."
Yuri was the one who brought the squad back into focus, "Where is the Commander?"
Everyone formed up and Oren updated the three, "He went by himself?" Irila asked but no sense of surprise in her voice.
"Such a Spartan-II. I did hear that Sierra-015 was quite the lone wolf during the war," Yuri added.
"Come on, let's see if we can catch up with him."
Taking on a group of Covenant alone wasn't strange to the Spartan. In fact many times during the war he went on many solo missions and slaughtered more Covenant than he cared to remember. In the shadows above the room where the Covies he stood watching their positions. Quickly he made sure to lock the doors so none could escape his attack but at a moment's notice he could unlock with a simple command.
Jumping from out of the shadows he landed on top of an Elite and killed him instantly with his knife and his own weight. Unlike the IV's he was nearly the height of the Elite. The Jackals began to fire and his shields going crazy, however with some acrobatics the Spartan got back into cover all while shooting his assault rifle.
Over the squad comm's he heard the familiar voice of Irila, "Commander, we're coming on your position!"
"Roger that."
Suddenly he heard something else over the comm's just as the ship got hit from another plasma shot, "Commander! Sorry it will take a bit longer. We just got hit bad and Morgan's armor just got pierced and she is bleeding heavily. We need to get her to medical asap, and large broken pillars and fire are blocking us from a direct route."
He didn't like the sound of that but there wasn't much they could do, "That's fine! Just get Delta-Three to medical! I can take care of this."
"Roger that Commander! Over and out!"
Jastis quickly got out of cover and began to fire with his assault rifle which didn't have much ammo left for. Kicking down a grunt, he quickly switched to his pistol and fired on the creatures head. Taking his knife he threw it at an unshielded Jackal and it directly hit in-between the eyes killing it.
Suddenly he heard the sound of a beam rifle and dodged out of the way of a hit. Another fire hit and barely missed him. Jumping back into cover he looked around to see their position. The covenant was going to flank him from both sides. But his priority was the Jackal sniper. It would be easy to spot, the Covenant remnant for some reason think it's a good idea to place right lights on the snipers.
He recalled the mission from earlier and how easy it made to spot them in the night and rain. Whoever decided that function should be fired or whatever the covenant do to those who fail. Most likely death now that he thought about it. However since he noticed so many with the light maybe it provided them some tactical advantage he just wasn't seeing from this end.
A quickly glance and he spotted the sniper, without leaving cover he aimed down the sights of the pistol and shot a couple of times. It was a clean kill and the sniper fell to the ground dead. But it wasn't enough to stop the flanks. Just then plasma rained down on his position from both sides and the Spartan moved out of the way. Taking his grenades he threw one on each side to spread out the covenant.
However the Spartans shields was getting low and so he took a chance and ran to his left at the group of Covies. Taking back out his assault rifle he shot at them as he jumped over a grunt that he quickly turned and kicked away like a soccer ball. Once he landed on the ground he killed the remaining on this side.
Still the other Covies remained and began to fire at him and rushing. A sticky grenade flew at him and he ran out of the way of it. There was one Elite in the group. Dodging out of the way he quickly shot the Jackals hands and then killed them as they tried to regain their posture.
The Elite however had other ideas he quickly pulled out his sword and rushed at the Spartan. Jastis turned to fire at the Elite but then found nothing came out, the Assault rifle was empty and so he threw it to the ground and took out his pistol which was also equally empty. "Just great!" he yelled in anger.
Now he had an Elite with an energy sword after him. Jastis got close to a nearby window and ducked just as the Elite slashed cutting the window like paper. Suddenly he heard over the ships PA system, "Slip space engaging in 5… 4…" and just as they hit three the ship was hit once more with plasma, exactly where Jastis was fighting the Elite. The window shattered despite being extremely tough and heavily layered. "3…" suddenly all of the air in the room flew out and anything inside was flying.
Jastis didn't have much time but he magnetized to the ground and grabbed the Elite whose helmet closed and also magnetized to the ground. As he grabbed the Elite the Covie tried to slice Jastis but the Spartan moved to quickly and slammed his fists into the back neck of the Elite. Not having his knife on him and still in the Jackal that had flown out of the room was going to make this a lot tougher.
However when he hit the Elite's back of his head he dropped the sword and before it could fly out Jastis picked it up. "2…" The Spartan rushed at the Elite and stabbed him through the stomach. The Elite no longer was magnetized to the floor and simply flew out of the window, not before Jastis pulled out the blade. "1…" Suddenly the ship was hit again in the same area and Jastis lost his balance and was off the floor.
"Slip space engaged."
Outside everything changed to pitch blackness, however just before the window automated systems could react in time, Jastis flew out into the darkness with only the energy sword with him.
Everything flashed before his eyes, his entire life up to that point. His brief childhood before being kidnapped to Reach and trained as a Spartan-II, his training on Reach and all of the drills. The day they got their augmentations, the terrible pain he and the rest had to endure. And the Covenant attacked and they were called to the front lines of a new war.
And then after the war when he learned of the Spartan-III and not only that but that he was to train the new generation of Spartans, the IVs. That's were Delta-squad was formed.
He had no idea what was going to happen now in the blackness and void of space. Was this his end?
Logic should have told him no. This wasn't his end, the GEN 2 armor was designed to prevent this from being a gateway to hell. The armor would on its own exit slip space if the need was ever there.
Suddenly from the darkness a bright light shot forth and blinded the Spartan. He opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the appearance of gravity and the lack of a floor. Quickly without moving his body he looked around and realized he was in the sky of some world, not a very green world from that with deserts and some bodies of water stretching out to the horizon. Although the darkness of the night seemed to make it hard to see anything with great detail.
Looking down below he then saw it, the bright lights of a city. However it was immediately apparent this wasn't any Human city, in some parts it didn't even look Covenant.
Then it got really hot as he began to quickly with immense speed fall down the planet at an angle. From what he could tell he was going to land in this city before him. He survived slip space but could he survive the fall? The Master Chief did on Earth but he landed in a patch of dirt not on a hard metal surface.
Behind him the slip space bubble closed and he continued to fall. Quickly he engaged the systems armor lock. Maybe just maybe he could survive the fall then. He could see flying cars in the city. What if he hit one and killed someone? Jastis hoped that it wouldn't happen.
He was now in the City, no doubt everyone saw the appearance of the slip space bubble and him falling out. From the level of technology he could see it was apparent they were very advanced and no doubt tracking him as this very second. Maybe who ever these people were would catch him?
Finally he could see where he was going to land and he smiled. There was a little garden area in the middle of the City, the dirt and plants would maybe cushion his fall. To people he probably looked like a fire ball crashing into the planet.
Bam. Everything went black for the Spartan. A shockwave knocked over anything in the garden as he hit the ground. A crater circled the Spartan and he was still on the ground, but he was alive.
It was a minute before Jastis regained his senses and unlocked the armor lock system. He was staring at the night sky and then he heard a scream just behind him. Getting himself up and off the floor he turned and what he saw surprised him, it was a humanoid creature but it was surely not Human. It was wearing a helmet and what seemed to be a skin tight suit that was blue colored. They appeared to be female. He then noticed they only had three fingers and their legs are bowed backwards.
What was it? It didn't appear to be Covenant, never once did he see a race like this during the war. Maybe it one of the races that the Covenant didn't take over?
They began to speak but he couldn't tell what she or it was saying as it was in some foreign language. Just as Jastis was about to open his mouth suddenly he heard something loud from above and looked up. Large flying machines that reminded him of gunships appeared and they began to yell at him in some foreign language.
Not knowing what was happening the Spartan took his own initiative turning he ran over to the edge of the garden and quickly climbed over the metal wall surrounding. What he didn't realize was that he just jumped off the side of a building and was once more free falling. However suddenly a flying car from below that had no idea the Spartan was there flew under and the Spartan crashed on top of it creating a huge dent in the top.
Before he could even attempt anything the flying car began to swerve in the air and then before he could he keep hold he was flung off but lucky for him it was near ground. Regaining his balance midair he was able to land on the ground, roll and then get back into a standing position. Now he was a bit away from his original drop point. Looking around he was now in some sort of plaza and surrounded by the new aliens.
It wasn't long before they began to run away and what appeared to be cops began to close in on his position. He decided to keep running. Armed with only the energy sword there wasn't much he could do. Running away from the plaza he made his way to what appeared to be a sewage area nearby that went deeper and closer to the ground floor of the city.
It began to get darker and so he once more turned on his VISR to get a good idea about the surrounding area. For now it appeared that he had dodged the authorities. Now he would need to find a way to contact the UNSC. He began to open up his comm's to try and get a hold of the Living Life but everything came up empty and the signal was dead meaning there was nothing UNSC nearby in this system.
This wasn't turning out to be a good day, despite the overall completion of the mission, the Living Life was attacked and now he was in some unknown part of the galaxy in an alien city. Quickly he stopped just for a moment as he watches the authorities running around above him however they didn't seem to see him in the shadows.
He slowly moved through the unknown area. Although something that was strange was the technology. Just from the brief glances it didn't appear to be anything he had seen before. Not Human, Covenant, similar to Forerunner but still different enough to be worth studying. Hell they had flying cars, Humanity still uses roads on the ground.
Although personally he wasn't too fond of the idea of flying everywhere. With how many accidents are on ground level, it would be worse in the air.
Removing that thought from his mind he continued forth until he came upon something he never thought he was going to see. A worker, but not any regular worker. They were Human.
Well done! Thanks for reading! I hope the first chapter of this reboot has lived up to the few expectations that there was. As you can already see, Jastis isn't exactly the same. He isn't bogged down by "laziness" that was there in the original. For which a subplot I felt in the original that was lacking. I did address it sometimes but not well enough in my opinion. So I got rid of it.
I do hope that 10k words is good enough to chew on for now. Well hope you, the reader, stick around to reading the next chapter!
Please review and tell me what I can improve upon! If you feel any part of this was rushed or just needs a bit of expansion on please tell me and I will go in and edit.