10:00
12th Nov 2552, Military Calendar
Destroyed Market Town, 30 miles west of Voi
"This is……calling Sie…..-124, can you……me over? If you can……waves……ships have de….mated the Home Fleet……ships are heading your way. Get to Voi……out."
The same message had repeated over the heavily damaged radio for the last hour.
"That's like the 3rd time that's played in the last 5 minutes. How long till it's fixed?" Staff Sergeant Peterson asked.
"An hour or two, how long's he been out this time? It feels like hours." Lance Corporal Wilson replied.
"That's coz it has been hours. I hope he knows what he's doing."
"He's a Spartan, what could go wrong?"
Sergeant Peterson and Lance Corporal Wilson were part of the 2nd Battalion of the 105th ODST Division. Not many of their fellow soldiers liked them because of their fondness towards the Spartans. Peterson was 39 years old and had fought the Covenant on over 100 colonies. Wilson on the other hand was 23 and had only fought on 32 colonies. They were waiting for Chief Petty Officer Spartan-124 to return from a daily hit and run on a local Covenant base.
Loud footsteps echoed around the room, Peterson looked over at a CB radio they'd pulled out of an 18-wheeler.
"Turn the hog's engine on and get in NOW." A voice screamed.
The two ODSTs grabbed their gear and the damaged radio and threw them into the back of the hog, LC Wilson jumped up and turned the safety off the M41 LAAG while SS Peterson turned the hog's engine on and got into the passenger's seat, his BR55 aimed and where Spartan-124 was going to come from. He keyed his radio.
"Hog's on sir. If you don't mind me asking, what's going on?"
"You'll see."
Peterson turned to Wilson.
"What kind of response is that?"
"Sarge you might want to turn around."
Sergeant Peterson turned around to see CPO Spartan-124 running towards them followed by a Brute Chieftain wielding a Gravity Hammer. Behind the Chieftain were about 20 kamikaze Grunts and a very angry Brute pack. Peterson and Wilson opened up with the BR55 and the LAAG. Two of the Grunts were killed dropping their armed plasma grenades which detonated killing a few more Grunts and a Brute.
Spartan-124 checked his motion tracker, the Chieftain was gaining on him. He reached down to his waist and grabbed a frag and a plasma grenade, after arming them he dropped them behind him. He felt a wave of heat as they exploded. He checked his motion tracker again, the Chieftain was still there and still gaining ground on him. Just as he was reaching down for his M7 SMG a trio of spikes pinged off his shield. He grabbed the SMG, turned around and started running towards the Chieftain.
"Time to die." He muttered under his breath. He emptied the SMG's magazine into the Chieftain's partially damaged armour. Cyan plasma started venting out of the armour's joints. CPO-124 grabbed another magazine, from internal pouches in his upper leg armour, and quickly reloaded. This time the 5mm rounds started piercing through the Brute Chieftain's armour. Blood slowly trickled out of multiple holes in its chest. He re-attached the SMG to his right thigh and reached around his back for his combat knife. He unsheathed it and lunged at the 9 foot tall Brute. The Brute seeing what was happening raised its hammer and let out a loud roar.
The Spartan and the Brute collided, the impact causing both of them to drop their weapons. Spartan-124 tried to stand up but he was too tired, he'd only been out of a military hospital in Australia for a week and he'd had 6 days of straight fighting. He looked up and saw the Brute Chieftain slowly raise an armoured foot, it took him a second to realize everything was in slow motion something Kelly had called Spartan-Time. He closed his eyes and watched his life flash before his eyes, specifically his escape from Reach.