Chapter 1: Relocation
Author's Note: Hello all my Halo fans Me and my friend drakon49 have decided to write a story about the Flood and Halo, but is a little different from your average story. We decided to write a two sided story with one being right here, and the other on drakon49's page. We feel like the Flood don't get the appreciation they deserve in fan stories so we have decided to write a darker and different kind of Flood/Halo story. With that being said I hope you enjoy my story about Eli, a young space marine transferred to a shield world named Harborage which is home to many experiences and unspoken horrors. Thanks for reading =).
I do not own any part of the Halo franchise
I remember as a child I would always look into the sky at night and imagine all the wonderful and amazing planets out there waiting to be explored. Endless stars sprinkling the sky each giving place to new life never touched by man. Now as a twenty year old about to leave his home planet for the first time I felt this same sense of wonder return to me. Avani, the planet I've called home for all these years, and now as I step into the escort Pelican I must say goodbye to it. I waved to my family from the bay door, standing there in the crowd of people waving away us "soldiers" as we went of to war. My father, brother, and mother; each of them waving goodbye to me, and continuing their life on this planet just as we have done for many generations. But here I am screwing all that tradition up. I shouted one final goodbye to them as I turned towards the interior of the ship ready to accept my fate.
It's funny, you would think that I would be sad as those Pelican bay doors closed behind me, leaving it all behind. Yet that same feeling I had corseting through me when I graduated Basic Training at the local UNSC military base only two years back, was with me now. I was finally getting the chance to pave my own path in life.
"May I have your attention you rookie scum!" I heard a voice shouting to everyone from inside the Pelican, snapping me into focus. All heads shot towards the sound of the voice wondering what kind of man could have made it. In front of me stood a tall strong military "manly man" who vaguely resembled a tank in a human body.
"My Name is Sgt. Cade, and I am your Commanding Officer for our ride to a shield world called Harborage. This is where you four will be stationed for the foreseeable future helping protect our military base located there. We will be stopping at a UNSC starship 6 hours from now in order to order the supplies for your guy's and gal's stay (Sgt. Cade winked at the one female marine sitting in the Pelican; Causing her to blush, as she hid her face in her hands). From there our flight will be directly to Harborage understood?! Okay good; now make yourselves comfortable and don't kill each other." Sgt. Cade announced as he joined the pilot as the front of the Pelican, and left us all in silence.
There was about a minute of silence before someone finally spoke up.
"Well that was quite the introduction wasn't it?" the boy sitting across from me said jokingly as he snickered to himself. "Am I right?" he added in looking at all of us. Upon first glance this guy seemed to be your "cool guy", because he defiantly looked the part. With black spiked up hair, dark brown eyes, big frame, and that tone in his voice you could kind of tell what he was going to be like. "I'm Joseph by the way, but everyone calls me Joe. Who are all you guys?"
I had lived on Avani for so long, yet I realized that I had no idea who any of these people were. They must have been trained at other facilities other than my own. Another boy sitting to the left of me spoke up and introduced himself next.
"Well my name is Zach... and holy c**p we finally made it!" he let out a sigh of relief at the fact that we were now all on our way to actual first mission. Zach was quite different than Joe in a manner of ways. He had short smooth blond hair, and greenish blue eyes which made his face light up compared to the black tee shirts we were required to wear. Not to mention he seemed quite a bit friendlier than Joe. After his introduction both Zach and Joe looked at me waiting for an introduction seeing that the girl seemed to be fairly shy, and not likely to respond next.
"My name is Eli." I said satisfying their curiosity. "And yes Zach we finally made it!" I shouted while giving Zach a high five, feeling the excitement flow through me. We all turned our heads towards our final member, the shy girl sitting diagonal to me.
"My name is Iris" She said in a quiet voice, " I apologize for being so shy, it's just that this is so overwhelming to me right now with the whole starting a new life thing. It is very nice to meet you all though." she added shyly. The rest of us nodded our heads, and the ship went quiet again. Upon first glance I had to admit that this girl across from me was very attractive. With her amber red hair, light brown eyes, and petite, but cute body. I couldn't help myself blushing a little while sitting there trying not to be awkward. All remained silent until I felt the whole ship shake slightly.
"What in the world was that!" we all shouted in unison as we all got out our seats panicking at the unexpected turbulence.
"Well take a look for yourselves" Sgt. Cade said as he gestured his head to the front window of the Pelican revealing that we had just broke the atmosphere, and were now in outer space. Crowding our way to the front we all were star struck (pun intended) by the sight before us. I felt as if I had been seen space from underwater my whole life looking at the sky in a blurry, distorted way; and only now was I breaching the surface, and seeing the universe through open eyes. We all found ourselves speechless, only letting out an occasional wow to portray our amazement at the event. "It gets them every time." Sgt. Cade said to the pilot as they both laughed at our reactions. From that point on the ship was filled with predictions on what Harborage would be like.
"I bet there will be Alien weapons that we have never seen before." Joe exclaimed with glee.
"But what about the Aliens themselves? Aren't you excited to see what a Elite look like up close?" I added in.
"I just hope that we don't run into any troubles on the way." Iris said seeming concerned.
"We'll be fine." I responded to her trying to bring her mind to ease, even though I had no idea what was going to happen myself.
The next few hours of the trip went about the same as we all got to know each other a little more. I had learned that Zach's father was a soldier just as he was becoming, but never returned from a deployment while Zach was only 5 years old. Joe was a high school star athlete turned soldier (called it). And Iris' family was part of a long line of "nomadic travelers" who have been traveling Among the surface of Avani as long as they could remember. Each of them had there own life story to tell, intriguing me to add to my own. This is why I decided to join the UNSC in the first place; I was tired of living the same old life day after day. I needed to contribute to something bigger, something life changing. The UNSC was my answer.
Our Pelican arrived at a nearby UNSC starship a few hours later, entering into one of the loading bays. The ship itself was huge, towering over our Pelican like a mobile city. As we exited the ship in order for it to be refueled and restocked for our trip to Harborage. I looked around the loading bay at all the different aircraft and people that came to and from the ship. It was amazing how many people were on just one of these ships, and yet it still ran completely smooth despite the seemingly random movements of people from place to place. Marines of different ranks, races, and origins all working as one continuous body that helped this ship run.
As I went and sat on a nearby crate pondering all the mysteries that this ship had to offer, Lt. Cade tapped me on the shoulder calling me to attention.
"Elijah Zosimos isn't it?" Lt. Cade asked me as I stood up at attention.
"Yes sir that's me. What do you need from me?" I asked
"Well it's time we get you fitted into your combat armor Eli... I'm going to call you Eli from now on alright."
"That is fine with me sir." I responded to Sgt. Cade.
"Follow me then." He said motioning to a door on the far wall of the loading bay.
I, along with Joe, Zach, and Iris followed Lt. Cade to a hallway leading out of the loading bay, and into a room full of all different kinds of marine armor. Armor for scouts, snipers, soldiers, etc. each with a slightly different feature that fit the need of the job. During my years of training I had decided to focus on scout duty for my main position. This career choice entailed me to do multiple things. I would have to survey the scene before any other soldiers, and report back to my squadron on the position at hand. Secondly I had to train in basic fire fighting; learning the ropes on most basic weapons. Personally I was the best on the SMG and pistol, but I was no Master Chief. Lastly, with me being only a scout I was not the one to be giving orders, but mostly relying upon them. With this in mind I searched the walls for the appropriate armor. Upon one of the walls I found a dark green scouting suit of armor with enhanced zoom features built into the helmet visor. I grabbed the suit of combat armor of the wall, and fitted it over my uniform. The body piece fit like a glove, perfectly covering me in all the vital areas. With my helmet at my side I looked into a nearby mirror to see what I looked like. Starring back at me in the mirror was a short, dark brown haired, brown eyed man with an expression that can only be described as "excited" plastered across his face. I put the helmet on over my head completing the suit. Turning around I saw the other three doing the same thing. Each looking for that perfect suit of armor that fit them each perfectly.
Iris was the next to finish after me sporting a dark red suit of armor designed for a sniper. The suit of armor was less padded then the other suits, allowing for maneuverability seeing that see would probably not be at the front of the fight.
Joe was next, and had decided on a black heavy artillery suit of armor. This armor had more padding than any of the other armors had, but also made Joe more quite slow. He would be the tank during battles taking most of the focus fire, but also dishing out the most damage.
Lastly we had Zach who had decided on a light blue soldier armor. this was the most well rounded of the armors, being average in maneuverability and protection. This was your average marines armor. With all of us suited up we joined in the center of the room were Lt. Cade was standing.
"Now you all beginning to look like a team," Cade declared as he rounded us in. "Why don't we head back to the ship, and make our way to Harborage."
We all let out a "Who Rah!" as we exited the room returning to the Pelican. As I was walking down the hall Joe came up to me, and started talking to me.
"So you got a girl back home waiting for you?" he said jokingly as he jabbed me in the side with his elbow.
"Well actually..." I hesitated for a moment "I haven't had a girlfriend yet."
"WHAT!" Joe shouted loudly as both Zach and Iris looked back at us curiously.
"See I've wanted to get a girlfriend, but I've been so busy with combat training I just haven't had the time." I responded
"Eli. You're missing out. By the end of this mission I will teach you how to get all the girls, understood?"
"If you can get me a girlfriend then you deserve the medal of honor man." I joked elbowing him back.
"It's a deal then." Joe said as the two of us hurried to join the rest of the group.
Making our way into the Pelican we all looked back to see Cade standing just outside the bay doors. He had a kind of proud look on his face just as my parents had when I had said goodbye to them only hours ago. I knew what was happening, and it seemed like the others did to as we all waved goodbye to our partial instructor.
"I have a job to do here at this starship, but I know that you will all do great. Make the UNSC proud!" Cade shouted as the Pelican doors once again closed behind us.
It was only us and the pilot left on the ship as the Pelican left the hangar bay port, leaving behind yet another temporary home. With Sgt. Cade gone we had no orders to follow other than getting to Harborage alive, which should be easy enough. With that goodbye out of my head came another six hours of flying and talking before we reached Harborage, and boy the wait was worth it.