Warning sirens blared and lights flashed as the UNSC Bridge to Heaven suffered heavy damage. The Charon Class Light Frigate was far from home or UNSC space in general. After a miscalculated Slipspace jump, it and her crew ended up in unexplored territory. And they had just so happened to stumble up a couple Covenant cruisers that were passing through the area. The crew managed to limp the ship to a nearby planet before the atmosphere vented from all decks. The distress beacon had already been activated before the first shots were fired. The only person that remained alive on the frigate was a Spartan II. He had started to arm the self-destruct of the ship after everyone had perished.
Sebastian typed away at the command terminal near the captain's chair while his AI Veronica read out the self-destruct code. Seconds later Sebastian ran out of the bridge and down the length of the ship. "Think we'll make it in time?" Veronica asked in an English accent as she kept a projected path to the SOEIV pods on the lower decks. With auto launch systems set to launch a trooper pod and ordnance pod in the next five minutes, they didn't have much time to waste. "We'll make it in time." Sebastian simply stated as he ripped open a ladder access hatch. He jumped down the shaft that led to the bottom decks.
A reverberating thud and clang sounded through the shaft as Sebastian landed on the bottom deck. He kicked open the hatch with enough force to send the metal bulkhead crashing against the opposite wall. He stepped out and started down the highlighted path Veronica had laid out for him. He ran as fast as he could, barreling down the hallways at tremendous speeds only a Spartan could reach. He crashed through the door into the pod bay, jumping into the personnel pod with only seconds to spare. The pod was cramped thanks to M90 on his back and the small weapons on his legs. But the pod managed to shut and drift out of the bay with the ordnance pod. Seconds later they were shot down to the planet's surface at breakneck speeds.
Sebastian didn't know how long he was out, the turbulence in the pod was overpowering. He couldn't stop his head from bashing into the pod door. He groaned as he pulled himself forward a bit. He hit the explosive bolts on the pod door, causing it to go careening forward into a tree. He stepped out of the pod and stretched a little. "Veronica, sitrep." He commanded as he looked at surroundings. They appeared to be in a forest that red like autumn. Even down to the grass it looked red. Suddenly Veronica appeared on Sebastian heads-up display. She had long black hair with a button nose and soft features. She appeared to be wearing a sweater that covered one shoulder and exposing a dark strap running over the other. "Unknown. We appear to be on an undiscovered planet in an unknown system. The only signs of life I'm detecting are coming from the south of our current position. Unknown if hostile or not. I would recommend caution Pack Leader."
"Noted. Keep surveying. I'll start going south to see what we're dealing with." Sebastian said as he turned south heading towards the signs of life.
A couple of hours had passed Sebastian negotiated the more rocky and steep hills and a couple of mountains. He had passed through a valley in the middle of the forest that a rail line which was surprising, to say the least. He encountered little resistance as he trekked through the red forest. Only a few creatures had stopped to engage him. All of them being a strange wolf-like biped animal. It didn't take much to finish them. Sebastian had elected to take a more hands-on approach to save what little ammo he had. Veronica remained in the background as she processed and archived what data she could about this new planet.
It wasn't until Sebastian reached the top of the third mountain that they could start to see some light glowing in the distance. That's when they saw how that red gradient of the forest slowly start to turn green the further south it stretched. Sebastian started down the mountain at a slow pace, to make sure they run headlong into some other creature that could cause trouble. "Have a hypothesis why the Covenant were all the way out here?" Sebastian asked as he dropped down onto a rock. Veronica didn't respond for a few seconds before appearing on his HUD again. "Unknown. Maybe they were exploring further out of the Orion Arm to find suitable resources to continue the conflict. That is the best hypothesis I could come up with."
Sebastian continued to scale down the mountain while he remained vigilant. "You know you've passed the ordinance pod a while ago right?" Veronica asked as she pinged the homing beacon of the pod again for Sebastian. The ping popped from behind them, over the mountains they just crossed. "I know. I want to make sure we know what we're dealing with first before we set up anything permanent." Sebastian responded as he neared the less sloped sections of the lower parts of the mountain. He took a cautious step after cautious step. Even if he was a Spartan II, he didn't want to go tumbling down all of a sudden.
When he finally reached the bottom, he noticed the slight change in colour. It started off as a very light greenish red. But as he went further south it slowly changed to a more vibrant green. Another half an hour later he approached the edge of the now vibrant forest. He stopped at the edge where it met a clearing. To his surprise, there was a large citadel like wall that stretched both ways. In the wall lay a passage through it and into what looked like a city. The paved in and out had some foot traffic but no major vehicles. Two banners hung from the wall that was white with a red animal head and red claw marks behind it. Off to the left was scaffolding with a couple guards on near the wall.
About three quarters up the wall was a rather large jagged hole. Whatever did that wasn't happy with the wall in its way. Sebastian took note of the strange black and white outfits that the guards wore along the masks they had on. The black hood covered their head, making any physical description of hair or ears useless. Suddenly Veronica spoke up, "From my best guess, I would assume that wall is to keep those black creatures out. And judging from how far these people are in technological evolution, they've been behind it for some time." Just as Veronica finished speaking, two men walked out of the passage in the wall, shoving another man along down the road. One guard had what looked like a massive sword in one hand and an old revolver looking pistol with a blade attached to the barrel along with red accents on it. The other had what looked like a short rifle with a scope and glowing blue accents along the barrel. Sebastian watched as they suddenly veered off the road and into the forest on his side of it.
The man they were escorting had greying black hair, a red, tattered cloak, a grey dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. Sebastian made his way to them and followed them further into the forest. Wherever they were taking the man, it didn't look good. As Sebastian got close, he began to shadow them. He followed with little sound, avoiding sticks as they appeared in his path. Several minutes later the men escorting the lone man stopped in a clearing. Sebastian stopped just outside as he listened to the men talk.
"We're sorry we have to do this Qrow. But the White Fang will get us one way or another if we didn't detain and eliminate you." The man that held the sword and revolver said in a sorrowful tone. The second man didn't say anything to the third who was now known as Qrow. Sebastian continued to as Qrow stood tall and looked the other men in the eyes. A sharp look in his red eyes. "So the White Fang have turned you into their little death squad? Is that it? Well fine then. You can try to kill me, but I'm not going down without a fight."
"We have to help him. This sounds like straight up murder. Almost like the secret police organizations from early Earth history." Veronica said rather frantically for an AI. Without a second thought, Sebastian rushed out the treeline just as the first man raised his revolver. The sudden crash of limbs and the appearance of an almost eight feet tall armoured man scared the other three beyond their wits. So much so that Sebastian punched with the revolver-wielding man square in the cheek and sent flying into a tree. The second managed to raise his rifle and fire a shot. The shot harmlessly bounced off Sebastian's shield and landed another solid punch to the second man's gut. He went sailing into another tree close to the first man and slumped down. Sebastian hadn't failed to notice the strange shield like aura he hit when he punched the two men.
Sebastian turned to the third to see he picked up the big sword and attached it to the small of his back. "Who or whatever you are, thanks for the help. But you can go now. Once the Fang find out what you did, they'll hunt you everywhere you go." The man named Qrow said as he started back in the direction of the road. But before he could go any further Sebastian had put a hand on his shoulder.
"And they'll do the same to you once they find out you're not dead." Qrow sighed and turned to face Sebastian. He looked into the goldish visor before looking Sebastian over. Sebastian took his hand off Qrow's shoulder and said, "I could also use some information." Qrow once again looked him over before he spoke up again.
"You look like you're from Atlas before the White Fang. But none of this looks standard-issue Atlas military. What exactly are you?" Qrow stared at the goldish visor with a questioning look. Sebastian only stared back until the two men he punched start to rouse from unconsciousness. "Follow me. We don't want to be around when those two wake up." Sebastian commented as he turned and started back into the forest. Qrow followed behind him with his hands jammed into his pants pockets.
After about half an hour of walking, Sebastian and Qrow were ambushed by the strange wolf creatures. Sebastian stood with his fists ready and feet parted a little ready for another attack. Qrow was on his six with his sword turned scythe. Both men cleaved through the approaching Grimm as Qrow called them. Wolf-like ones were called Beowolves and the few bears that approached them were called Ursa. With a quick response against a Beowolves that approached, Sebastian activated the energy dagger and embedded it in the wolf's neck; severing its spinal cord from its head. For the next few seconds with practiced efficiency, Sebastian cut his way through the pack of Grimm that surrounded them. He performed amazing feats of physical and combat prowess. He jumped, backflipped, front flipped and slid around and through any Grimm that were in his way. Qrow watched in amazement as the armoured Goliath was as graceful as a leaf on the wind with his movements.
Sebastian stood amongst the carnage with the glowing energy blade before deactivating it and turning to face Qrow. Sebastian started to walk north, headed for the beacon on the ordinance pod, "Come on, we're almost to where we'll set up the base."
/ONI .SEC.PRTCL.1A/
/…/
/ANY QUERIES WILL BE LOGGED WITH THE OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE/
/…/
/ONI SECURITY OVERRIDE CODE ACCEPTED/
/…/
/OPENING FILES A6054-A6061 CODENAMED "HUNTING PACK"/
/…/
/A6054 LOADING…/
FULL NAME: Sebastian-045
SERVICE NUMBER: S-045
CODENAME: Grizzly
DATE OF BIRTH: [CLASSIFIED]
HEIGHT: 227.7cm
WEIGHT: 140kg
MJOLNIR MARK VI INTEGRATION:
HEIGHT IN ARMOR: 237.7cm
WEIGHT WITH UNDERARMOR: 189kg
WEIGHT WITH FULL ARMOR: 461.3kg
BRANCH: UNSC Navy, Naval Special Weapons
RANK: Lieutenant Commander
BIRTHWORLD: [CLASSIFIED]
CURRENT RESIDENCE: N/A
STATUS: Unkown
ROLE: Leader, CQC Specialist
LOCATION: Unknown [presumed KIA after the disappearance of the distress signal from the vessel he was on]
SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT: Standard Mjolnir Mark VI Powered Assault Armour/C Variant. Modified right gauntlet to house Covenant Energy Dagger. An activation button on the outside of knuckle close to the thumb. Fingerprint scanner keyed to his thumb so it won't accidentally activate. M90 CAWS acquired from the Fall of Reach. Modified tube magazine to hold twelve shells. Dual M7/SMGs acquired from the Battle for Earth. An M6G PDWS acquired from the Battle for Earth. Hardlight Shield module acquired after Requiem incident. Type-1 Energy Sword when it can be acquired. AI companion Veronica, serial number VRC-4563-4.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Sebastian has shown increased levels of empathy. More so to newer members of his Hunting Pack. While Hunting Pack has never exceeded six members active at once, there has been a few replacements. Sebastian has shown to be a father like figure to any new members while also being like a drill sergeant when the situation calls for it. He does have strict rules that every squad member has to follow, but that varies from member to member. He is an exceptional leader on par with the other Spartan-II leaders. He is also shown to be extremely intelligent in battlefield strategy and tactics. Though he never really shows it, he has directed several pivotal points in the Hunting Pack's history as a unit. Ultimately, he expects absolute dedication to their mission and to the Hunting Pack.
OFFICIAL FEATS: Has fought Zealot Field Marshal in hand to hand combat and won. Helped hold key sites during the Battle for Earth. Escaped Reach with the majority of the Hunting Pack. Freed several prisoners from Covenant captivity.
/A6061 LOADING…/
CLOSING THOUGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF ONI HIGHER-UPS
The Hunting Pack is one of the most effective Spartan teams in service. They aren't Blue Team, but they can get the job done quickly, quietly and on short notice. Any evidence of them in either Spartan Program has been completely erased. Not even Halsey or Ackerson have their files anymore. Even their kill count has been kept highly classified from anyone except the ONI director and their highest agents. Every assassination mission is permanently erased from any records. If they were ever to go, rogue, we'll have to call in Blue Team and other assets to eliminate them. Until further notice, they are suspended from any missions until Sebastian is found. Even if he is confirmed KIA, the public will never know about it. Neither him being MIA. These personnel files will be the only record of them anywhere. Even then, only people with special clearance will access them. These files are to be kept up to date whenever a new addition to the team is added.
/CLOSING PERSONNEL FILES…/
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/HAVE A NICE DAY CAPTAIN/