Prologue
Military Calendar Date: 9th January 2543
Outpost Gamma, Harmonia
"Alright, Pack it in for today Spartans," said Gunnery Sergeant Miles "We need to be ready for our next mission, and that includes resting."
Spartan team GHOST put their weapons back after their extensive training session with the new DMR model made for the navy, the prototype BR55.
"Damn Sarge, when are we gonna see some real action," said Stone, their heavy weapons specialist "I mean c'mon, were SPARTANs. We don't need ONI baby sitting our asses when we could be out there take out some Covies"
"That's enough lip now, Stone. ONI will let GHOST on some more missions when they need us," said Miles "But for right now I need you and the rest of GHOST Team to get rested for tomorrow."
GHOST was a SPARTAN-II team made up of Spartans from batch two of the supposedly cancelled program. Their squad included Stone-their heavy weapons specialist, Ace-their sniper, Knight-their CQB specialist, and Dune-their leader and all-around expert. These batch two SPARTANs, had been hidden from most eyes by ONI Section-III since their creation. Gunnery Sergeant Miles had been training these Spartans for years to be the best of the best. Not even Blue Team was better.
"I wonder what's in store for us tomorrow," said Knight "I mean are we finally gonna see action after two weeks away."
"That's a better question for Dune," said Ace "He always knows what's going on."
Dune had snuck up on them while they were talking "Yeah, I might know what's going on for us tomorrow but I'm not telling you anything other than you'd better be up at 0600 or were leaving you behind."
"Alright then sir," Ace said, annoyed, "We'll see what you have in store for us tomorrow."
Chapter One
Ace woke up and swore "God damn it," there were a bunch of explosions going outside, "What the hell is going on."
He noticed that none of the other Spartans were still in the barracks, so he decided to go to the armory to get some weapons in case the Covenant decided to do a ground assault. Where the hell is everyone, Ace thought, why didn't anyone wake me up and tell me what was going on. He continued walking in the direction of the armory and was able to dodge falling rubble to get there about ten minutes later.
"Nice to see you're actually here Ace," said Knight, then to the rest of the squad,"Hey look what I found guys. One Sniper named Ace."
"Shut up you asshole. Not my fault you left the barracks with out waking me up and telling me what the hell was going on." said Ace.
"Take it easy. You don't need to argue with Knight every time he says something, Ace." said Dune, "We need to get out of this building and off this Planet. Anyone have ideas?"
"Well there is something we could do..." Stone trailed off.
"If you've got an option let us here cause we don't have much time left for bickering at the moment," said Dune, "So go ahead and spit it out."
"Well we could take a combat equipped Pelican and then fly up to the UNSC Prowler Dawn of Blood," suggested Stone, "Then we could convince them to jump us out of this system to Reach." "Sound plan," said Dune, then picking up the Intercom microphone,"All Units report to the Hangar Bay now."
"Stone, I hope this plan of yours works or we're all gonna get screwed,"said Knight, "Just wanted to tell you that so if we all die, it's your damn fault."
Aboard the UNSC Prowler Dawn of Blood
"Alright Shadow, damage assessment," called out Captain Greg Halls, "And give me casualties as well." "
STL drive damaged, but our FTL drive is still operational," replied Shadow of Death the shipboard AI, "We've lost most of our engineers so we might not be able to repair the STL drive. And it appears we have Covenant boarding parties inbound... what's this?... We've got Pelicans coming up from Outpost Gamma, heading to land on our ship... and they've got four Spartans."
"Music to my ears, Death," Halls said, "Plot our jump to the nearest UNSC repair base. But don't jump until all the Pelicans arrive onboard."
"Shall I tell the Spartans we've just received to start taking out the Covenant boarders?" asked Shadow.
"Yes. Do that, and after they've mopped up those Covenant, tell them to come up to the bridge."
Hangar of the UNSC Prowler Dawn of Blood
"Alright everyone, get set to kick some Covenant ass," said Dune to all the ODSTs who had made it onboard, "Fan out and make your way up to the bridge."
As the ODSTs left, Dune's squad began to make preparations for the combat against the Covenant who had made it on board. Ace checked is sniper clips to make sure that they were all full. Knight checked his shotgun and SMGs to make sure they hadn't been damaged. Stone unloaded and assembled a SPnKr rocket launcher and prepped his Spartan Laser. Dune loaded his modified Assault Rifle with shredder rounds and loaded his M6G pistol with explosive rounds.
"Everyone set to move out?" asked Dune, "Cause if you aren't you'll be left behind."
"We're all set Dune, 'specially me," Stone said, lifting the SPnKr to his shoulder "Let's get to killing those Covie bastards." "Alright everyone," said Dune, "Ace, you take point and be ready to fire on any Jackals or Elites. Let's move."
The four of them started creeping through the strangely abandoned hallways, all of them were ready to fire on a moments notice.
Then, suddenly Dune ran into something invisible. "Fire!" yelled Dune pulling the trigger on his assault rifle, knocking out the Elite's camo. Then a sniper bullet went through the Elite's shield, embedding itself in the wall behind the Elite after passing through it's brain.
"That was one helluva shot, Ace," said Knight "Couple more seconds and he could have raised the alarm."
"Yeah, great job, now I've got Elite blood on my visor," said Dune, but they all knew he wasn't actually angry at Ace, "Hey, Knight how about you take the lead. You do have a shotgun after all." "Damn it," swore Knight, "Just what I always wanted. To be the one who bumps into the next invisible Elite."
They made it up to the bridge after a few small battles. There Dune found out that two of the ODST squads had been massacred.
"Where's the Captain?" asked Dune and two ODSTs pointed to him, "Thanks."
"Welcome aboard Spartans," said Halls "We're about to jump to Reach for repairs to our STL. So just hang tight for a bit and we'll be there in no time."