Main Characters:
Spartan III Tanner A 297: "Hotshot", General weapons expert
Armor: SPI (Mark II)
Age: 18
Rank: WO2
Spartan III Chelsy B 278: "Lucky", Demolitions expert
Armor: SPI (Mark II)
Age: 17
Rank: WO2
Spartan III Anton G 291: "Ghost", Team sniper
Armor: SPI (Mark II)
Age: 16
Rank: WO1
Spartan III Kacy G 284: "Whisper", stealth and recon expert
Armor: SPI (Mark II)
Age: 16
Rank: WO2
Spartan II Liz S 121: "Kicks", second in command, communications and translation expert, and expert in hand to hand combat.
Armor: MJOLNIR Mark IV-V
Age: Estimate 20-25
Rank: LTJG
Spartan II Nash S 125: "Boss", Team lead, General weapons and tactics expert
Armor: MJOLNIR Mark IV-V
Age: Estimate 20-25
Rank: LT
(Somewhere deep in a forest on UEG Chi Rho.)
"Shadow one to all shadows, spartans check in". Lieutenant Nash 125 called over the team's COM channel as he took his position behind a large tree at the edge of the forest. The sun had just set across the horizon, and the sky began to grow even darker with large storm clouds.
"Shadow two in position, nothing to report." Lieutenant Junior Grade Liz 121, the team's COM and translation specialist checked in. She had taken a position 200 meters to the south of Nash's position.
"Shadow three in position, targets in sight ready to execute." Warrant officer Anton G291, the team's sniper reported from his hide in one of the nearby trees.
"Shadow four in position, ready to go." Warrant officer Kacy G284 the team's recon and CQB specialist checked in as she surveyed the large covenant camp in front of them.
"Shadow five in position, ready to pull the trigger Boss." Warrant officer Chelsy B278 the team's demolitions specialist cheerfully reported as she readied her detonator for the explosive distraction.
"Shadow six in position, those covies won't know what hit them." Warrant officer Tanner B297 the team's heavy weapons and vehicle expert checked in as he readied his M739 light machine gun.
"Shadow one to Shadow actual. all Shadows accounted for and in position. Ready to execute." Nash reported. Besides Liz, Nash couldn't pin point the other spartan IIIs as they were already taking advantage of their SPI armor's active camouflage.
"Shadow one this is Shadow actual the mission is a go. Get it done spartans. Out." The ONI officer gave the order quickly and with a sharp tone in his voice.
"Wow the spook sounds like he's having a good day" Anton sighed sarcastically as he readied his silenced SRS99D-S2 anti-material rifle. He pulled the weapons bolt back and let it fly forward, and the sound that it made filled the spartan with satisfaction. He took aim at his first victim. "Say the word Boss." he said as he steadied his scope's reticle on a jackal look out.
"Hit it Lucky" Nash ordered as he raised his assault rifle.
"Yes sir!" Chelsy exclaimed as she smashed the detonator trigger causing a truly amazing display of explosions on the opposite side of the forest.
"You have truly outdone yourself this time." Anton complimented as he steadied he aim again after the concussion of the blast.
"All Right cut the chatter Ghost we go on my mark. Flash acknowledgement." Nash ordered. He got all five green light flashes in his HUD simultaneously. Nash counted down with his acknowledgement lights "Green... Amber… Red."
when the last light flashed the spartans rushed into action. Anton took out the two Jackal lookouts with precision head shots, while Chelsy, Tanner, and Kacy rushed the the remaining guards. Taking all them down quickly and quietly. When the three were done Liz and, Nash sprinted to wall and leapt over it as Tanner and Chelsy helped each other over the wall.
"Kacy, go back and cover Anton's position we'll handle the rest." Nash ordered as he snuck up on an unsuspecting grunt. She flashed her green acknowledgement light then took off back towards the tree line.
Nash grabbed the grunt's head and spun it with ease, making a sharp snapping noise before it tumbled to the ground. "Alright spartans let's get to work." Nash received five green lights, Just what he wanted to see.
"Hotshot, Lucky, start planting charges" Nash received two green lights as they disappeared into the camp.
"Liz you're with me" Nash said as he peaked around the structure they were behind.
"Got it boss" she answered as she prepared her M6C/SOCOM.
The four spartans continued through the camp towards their respective objectives. Tanner and Chelsy moved from building to building, hiding explosive charges all around the camp. Liz and Nash went after the primary objectives, an elite zealot, and an artifact that the covenant had recently unearthed, and Anton and Kacy covered the other spartans from the tree line.
"I'm surprised how well the distraction worked, they didn't leave any guards for us to deal with" Liz said as she shot the few Jackal guards outside the main structure. "This is too easy" she sighed.
"Don't jinx it Kicks, the last time you said that we got ambushed by hinge head specops. Remember that?" Nash complained as they moved towards the entrance.
"Boss you got company coming. looks like the covies caught on to our little charade." Anton radioed as he watched dozens of covenant that had gone out into the forest, where now rushing out of the forest and back towards the camp. "They don't look happy Boss.", he joked as he found his next target.
"Great." Nash sighed. as they entered the building. "Okay let's find the artifact first, with any luck we'll also find the zealot there.", he said as he and Liz cleared the first room.
Liz holstered her weapon and ran over to a nearby terminal, and she began swiftly tapping the icons and insignias on the screen. Liz was one of the few humans that could understand, and fluently read most of the covenant languages. Which came in handy when hacking into covenant systems without the help of an AI. "Done." she said as the screen changed to a real time map of the building. "Transferring the data to our HUDs. We won't have the real time aspect of the map but at least we'll have a map." Liz sighed and un holstered her gun. The two of them ran through the halls and dispatched a few more guards before they reached their destination.
The door opened to reveal a large dark empty room. The spartans cautiously entered the room, but as they did the door shut and locked behind them and the room lit up revealing another door at the far end of the room.
"Well that's one way to walk into a trap." Nash said as the two trained their weapons on the door in front of them. The door opened and through it came the largest hinge head Nash had ever seen, it had to duck below the door as it entered the room. It wore extremely ornate maroon armor and was armed with an energy sword. It also wore something on its left arm that didn't match the rest of his armor.
"This must be the zealot." Nash said.
"Yep and that thing on his arm is the artifact ONI wants." Liz replied.
The gargantuan elite let out a thunderous roar fully extending his four mandibles, but before he could charge, the spartans opened fire. The zealot quickly raised his left arm which activated a Forerunner hard light shield in front of him, easily deflecting the incoming bullets.
"Well we know what it does now." Nash said as he reloaded his rifle.
The elite charged the spartans, slashing wildly as the spartans evaded his attacks. Nash tried to shoot him again, but before he could pull the trigger his rifle was slashed in half. This slash was followed up with a kick to the gut, sending him flying into a wall. Liz saw an opening in the elite's attack and was able to dart behind him and she kicked him in the side as hard as she could, sending the beast to the ground. She followed up by firing an entire mag at the downed zealot, which finally broke through his personal energy shield. The elite scrambled to his feet. It powered up the artifact again and charged her, letting out another roar. She dodged his initial attacks but the elite bashed his shield full force into Liz as she dodged his sword. Knocking the Spartan to the ground. The enormous elite planted his foot down onto the spartan, preventing her from moving. The beast laughed as he raised his sword for a killing blow. Before he could strike Nash swept up behind the zealot and tackled it to the ground. Liz jumped back to her feet to help Nash. The elite escaped from Nash's grip, grabbing Nash and throwing him to the ground. Nash quickly reacted with a kick to the behemoths legs, making it fall face first on top of him. Liz took this opportunity to end the fight. She raised her leg and slammed her boot down onto the back of the elite's neck, causing an echoing combination of a snap, and a thud as her foot met the zealot's neck. It's body instantly went limp, proving the beast was dead.
Liz hauled the dead elite off of Nash and helped him to his feet. "See it wasn't that hard." she said, as she moved her index finger and middle finger across the face of her helmet, showing a "spartan smile".
"yea well you weren't the one being kicked across the room.", Nash responded with a similar motion as he knelt down beside the zealot. He lifted its arm and tried to remove the artifact, but it wouldn't budge. "Damn, why does this always have to happen?" he sighed as he unsheathed his combat knife. He used the eight inch blade to sever the alien's arm below the elbow.
"Is that really necessary?", Liz sighed.
"Well it's better than wasting time trying to figure out how it works.", Nash replied as he stashed the severed arm into the equipment bag he had brought, and stood up. "Primary package secure. How's our exit?" He radioed to the rest of the team.
"Sir things are getting a little hot out here." Kacy responded as she took a few pot shots at a group of covenant.
"Boss, this party's ready for the big finale, but we're running low on ammo, and the covies aren't going to quit any time soon." Chelsy reported as she and Tanner stalled the covenant at the main gate.
"Alright Spartans fall back to the rendezvous point, and Lucky… please wait until I give the signal this time." Nash said.
In the last operation Chelsy had pulled the detonator trigger too early, Nash and Tanner being a little too close to the blast were sent flying fifteen meters before they came slamming down to the ground.
After Nash gave the order, Tanner and Chelsy cloaked themselves and slipped past the covenant. They scaled the outer wall and were about to get away when Tanner heard what sounded like a covenant beam rifle. A jackal sniper had spotted them, and they were now in it's sights as it was preparing to fire again. "Get to cover!" he yelled to Chelsy as they ran through the open field towards the forest.
"There isn't a-" Chelsy started to say, but was cut off when a beam pierced her armor, burning clean though the spartan's lower abdomen. Before Tanner could react, he was hit too. The beam hit him in the thigh causing him to tumble to the ground.
In less than a second after Tanner hit the ground Anton steadied his aim on the jackal. He pulled the trigger and watched as the bird like creatures head exploded. "Sir, five and six are down. Five is in critical condition, they need evac.", he radioed with urgency as he continued to cover them from the tree line.
"Liz, get Hotshot. I'll get Lucky." Nash ordered as he and Liz jumped the compound wall and raced towards the injured spartans. Nash got there first, scooping up the unconscious spartan III, and then darting to the tree line. Liz was almost as fast, slinging Tanner's arm around her shoulder as she helped him to the tree line, and set him down against a tree.
"Kacy, biofoam. Now." Nash ordered as he set Chelsy down near a tree.
"Hold on Lucky." Kacy said, as she took the biofoam canister and applied the foam to the wound. While Kacy treated Chelsy's wounds, Anton, Liz, and Nash took defensive positions around the other three spartans.
"She's stable Boss, but she needs to be carried out" Kacy reported as she finished treating Chelsy's wounds. She moved over to Tanner and looked at his leg. "You alright Hotshot?" she asked.
"I can manage, but a stimpack would be nice.", he replied as she inspected the wound on his leg. In one sharp movement Kacy pulled out a syringe from her medpack and injected into his leg.
"Okay boss, we're ready to move." Kacy reported.
"Spartans, double time it to the rendezvous point." Nash ordered as he lifted Chelsy again.
The five spartans quickly moved through the forest towards the rendezvous point, one and a half kilometers away. As they got closer Nash noticed a small clearing. "That must be the extraction point." he thought. "Shadow one to shadow actual, all mission objectives complete." Nash radioed as they stopped at the edge of the clearing.
"Copy that shadow one, extraction is inbound, ETA two mikes. Out." The ONI agent replied.
"Alright spartans defensive positions." Nash ordered.
Nash laid Chelsy down on the ground and took his position in the small defensive circle the spartans had formed around her. As they waited, Nash continuously checked the different monitors in his HUD. He saw that Chelsy was now conscious, and Tanner's status was green for now. The rest were in perfect condition. He moved on to his motion tracker, nothing moving. He checked his surroundings with his own eyes to confirm the tracker's read out, then repeated the cycle again. Nash did this over, and over, expecting the rest of the team to be doing the same.
The time passed slowly for Nash, each minute feeling like an eternity, but finally he heard the pilot's transmission "Shadow team this is Specter 482, ready for extraction." The pilot reported as a sleek, Matte black Pelican transport uncloaked above the opposite tree line, and landed in the clearing. " All aboard spartans!" The pilot called as the rear hatch opened.
Nash picked Chelsy up and took her to the to the pelican. The other spartans slowly made their way to the transport staying in a half circle to defend Nash and Chelsy.
When all the spartans were aboard, the pelican took off, and they watched as the lights of the Covenant base became more distant. Chelsy took off her helmet, and winced as she sat up, and looked directly to Nash.
"Now sir?". She asked with a slight twinge of pain in her voice covered by enthusiasm.
"Hit it Lucky." Nash sighed with a slight chuckle.
Chelsy took out the detonator and hit the trigger.
The spartans watched as the base was reduced to ash and rubble as the explosion's blueish purple fireball fully engulfed the it.
The pelican's rear hatch closed, and it began it's climb into orbit.
"Well that went well." Liz said as she took her helmet off.
"Yep, Mission accomplished." Nash said with a subtle grin, as he removed his own helmet, and sat back in his seat.
"Brace!" The pilot screamed. An instant latter the transport was hit by an unforeseen fuel rod cannon. The force of the impact and following explosion jolted all the spartans out of their seats. "Rear port thruster is gone! I've lost control!" The pilot yelled as he tried to regain control of the pelican as it started to spin and lose altitude.
"Pilot, what the hell just happened?!" Nash yelled as he got up off the floor.
"Sir two bogeys came out of nowhere. We've lost the Rear port thruster and losing altitude fast." The copilot reported as she franticly taped the screens in front of her and threw switches to her left and right.
"How did they detect us?" Liz said with astonishment and exasperation as she too got up and braced herself on a bulkhead handle.
"No idea ma'am, but we're going down. Hard." The pilot said with dismay, as he tried in vain to steady the transport as it spun out of control, and lost altitude.
"Brace for impact!" Both pilots yelled moments before the pelican slammed into the ground.
Nash and liz were both thrown back into the troop bay upon impact.
As Nash laid on the troop bay floor his vision began to blur and blacken. He saw the bay door open to reveal three elites. Nash fought to keep himself conscious. One of the elites in elaborate gold armor walked in and looked down on Nash, "Pretend inferiority, and encourage his arrogance. If you humans would only study the great generals of your past then you might have been victorious here.", Nash couldn't hold on any longer and his vision faded to black.
TBC...