A New Enemy
Chapter 1: Rise and Shine.
It has been 119 years since Spartan 117's status changed to M.I.A. A new line of Spartan soldiers have been trained to support the UNSC against the on going battle with a new threat… The Hammat.
When the UNSC's cloning facility was destroyed in 2579, cloning kidnapped children became an unlikely option. In 2592 a rogue group from a local colony to earth released top secret details to earths media on information concerning the Spartan project. Many riots were caused, eventually leading to the ban of former ways, and the start of involuntary testing on mind wiped criminals.
It's 2671 and the first 10 Spartan VII are about to be released…
"Temperature: Stable. Breathing: Stable. All systems online. Number 9 is awake Captain, should I release him?"
"No Chase, I want you to stare at the pod some more… Of course! Release him! We're in a hurry!" replied the captain with a sense of anger.
"Sorry sir, I'll send him straight to you." said Lab Lieutenant Chase, "activate the power… release locks…" he mumbled as he clicked away at the keypad in a control room looking over the cryo pod.
*pssshhht* *CLUNK*. Cold air filled the room as the glass coffin where the Spartan had been resting opened.
"Rise and shine Chris" Said Chase, "It's your big day today, everything goes live"
"Eugh! Why couldn't they install a snooze button in here." slurred the Spartan as he stumbled out of the cryo chamber.
A red mist appeared across Chases face as he began to get annoyed with the slumbering giant, "Quit messing about Chris! We're late, and if you keep messing about, the captain will fry my balls!"
"Ah you don't need them Chase, since when were you getting any?" cockily replied the super soldier as he walked out of the cryo room with the doors slowly closing behind him.
"Jokes on you Chris! When you were being modified we cut off your.." shouted the lieutenant as the cold steel of the cryo room doors slammed together.
"Dick… I hate lab dorks" said Chris under his voice. As he continued to walk through the almost endless corridors of dark metallic walls and the rows upon rows of resting rooms where fellow marines had been sleeping, eyes began to gaze upon the giant.
"Wow, they sure do make them Spartans big now don't they Hernandez" Whispered a marine to another.
"Not as big as yo momma" Joked the other marine as they began to tussle around in the corridor.
*Bu-beep* "Spartan, we need you in the briefing room now." said an impatient captain over the intercom.
As the 7ft giant entered the room where the 9 other Spartans had been waiting for hours at this point, an angry voice came from across the desk…
"SPARTAN! WE ARE MOMENTS AWAY FROM DROP! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" roared the captain glaring at Chris, "I should demote you to the rank where you are not fit to polish my French footwear!"
"Sorry sir, it won't happen again." said the Spartan stood straight and saluting.
"Don't let it Spartan, you're one of the best, we don't need slip ups" requested the captain. "We are approaching the human and sanghelli colony of Kantus, it is being attacked by a new threat we don't know much about." Briefed the captain.
"They are the Hammat. They are an insectile race that bare resemblance to cockroaches, they are fast, strong, smart, and their weapon technology would lead us to believe that they are being sold stolen weapons, likely to be provided from the Yanme'e slaves in the covenant war." interrupted Ben as he informed the Spartans on the information he had gathered.
"Thank you Ben." replied the captain, clutching a cigar.
"Hey, look at chief kiss ass over there." whispered Chris as he nudged the Spartan next to him with a smile on his face.
All Chris seemed to receive from the Spartan he nudged was a glare that pierced through both of their visors, "God, does no-one in this squad have a sense of humour" thought Chris to himself.
As the captain began to speak more about the mission, a huge figure, bigger than any other Spartan that had ever been seen before, appeared from the corner of the room, as he walked toward the briefing table that the other 9 Spartans and the captain had been standing around, a booming voice came from his helmet "So when do I get to blow things up?"
All visors began to look in the 8ft Spartan's direction.
"Attention Spartans," said the captain trying to regain focus, "this is Daniel, he is our explosives expert"
"Call me Tank, that's what everyone else calls me" said Daniel as he slammed his right fist in to the palm of his left hand.
"Ok" said the captain "it would seem you're all acquainted with Tank there, It would be an idea for you all to get to know each other because you'll be spending a lot of time with one another. Ben, lead the squad down to the docking bay for extraction, we're dropping in T Minus 30."
"Sir, yes sir!" replied Ben "Ok we have places to be team! Lets gun up, strap up and get out of here! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" ordered Ben to the other Spartans.
As the squad left the briefing room Chris looked towards a Spartan with scout variant armour, and a number 1 sprayed to his right shoulder, "Erm, hey?" he said, "I'm guessing you were the first out?" he asked staring at the scout waiting for an answer.
"Oh so that's what that 1 on my shoulders for?" jokingly replied the Spartan, "yes that would be me Chris" The Spartan extended his arm to receive a hand shake "I'm Mike" he said.
"Nice to meet you Mike" replied Chris, gripping his hand to shake, "so… you know who I am then?" stuttered Chris as he worried about the impression he had made.
"Indeed so, I don't think anyone in the briefing room doesn't know you now" said Mike laughing in between words, "but I already knew who you were before that anyway" continued Mike.
"Huh?" replied Chris.
"Not personally, just as the first Spartan out I had some time to look into your files, just to get some info on the squad, I know who these people are, where they were from, and what they do" explained Mike.
With a look of relief on Chris's face he asked "So who are these guys then? I suppose this could save us some time"
"Well Tank, as you know, he's the explosives expert, he's not too clever but if you need something not to be there anymore, he can sort that for you. Ben, he's the leader type, gives us orders, makes the decisions and has his spoon so far up the captain ass that he could drink the acid before the shit solidified. That guy you nudged earlier, that's Ed, but we call him Evil Ed, he's got a real temper problem, but his Hand to hand expertise are second to none, he's a real 'up close and personal' one…"
"So I'm already on his bad side" worryingly asked Chris.
"Nah, I don't think so, I just wouldn't make eye contact with him for too long, and don't expect him to speak… he doesn't speak too much" answered Mike.
A worried face appeared across Chris's face only covered by his helmet. "So what about the other five and you Mike?" asked Chris.
"Well, see the guy on the right with the white helmet with the red tiger stripes, that's Nat, the ladies man, he's got a smooth tongue and can talk himself out of anything, and even if that fails, he could put a BR55 shot through your head from a mile off"
"That's me darlin!" shouted Nat from the front.
"Oh yeah, and shutting him up is a problem too" continued Mike
"You love me though don't you Mike" replied Nat letting out a laugh, before getting close to the female Spartan at the front, "hello gorgeous".
*CLANK* "Get off of me weirdo" screamed the Spartan as she slapped Nat across the back of the head.
"Yup, and that's Stevie." said Mike
"The E.O.D variant chest piece gave it away" cheekily said Chris.
"Well they've got to go somewhere" replied Stevie, grabbing her chest piece.
"She's not your standard woman admittedly, but she can drive anything that has wheels on it, she was picked for her impressive times around the test track back on earth during training, just don't tell her to get in the kitchen, her sandwiches poisoned her commander during catering training." continued Mike
"I heard that Mike" said Stevie raising her middle finger towards him.
"Typical Women!" said one of the two Spartans that had been walking in front of Chris and Mike, high fiving and laughing as they continued to walk to the pelicans.
"The two guys in front of us are Tom and Zack, they're twins, some say they're telepathic, most say they're predictable, either way, they are both VERY good at what they do, Tom is a tech expert, he can get you into any terminal, open any door, or hack any mainframe, give him a precise weapon though and he's not too great, he'll be gunning the automatics. Zack is our flight expert, he could fly a pelican through a pipeline if he wanted to, he'll be transporting us in the pelican." said mike as they neared the pelicans that would be transporting them down.
Mike Stopped Chris as the 10 Spartans split into the two pelicans. "Chris, I'm your second pair of eyes, you can trust me and if things get sticky down there, you can count on me, but we need to speak…" said Mike with a worrying whisper.
"Ok…" said mike, the confusion in his voice signalling into his next speech, "what's going on Mike, why did you stop me and no-one else?"
"I don't want everyone to know, it will process to much paranoia throughout the squad." replied Mike.
"Well that's reasonable but… why me?" asked Chris again.
"Look Chris I don't have time to explain, but did you see the Spartan with the zero on his shoulder standing next to Tank? Well, I couldn't find any information on him, I could be completely wrong, but I don't want to take any chances, now please listen to me, anything suspicious that he might do, contact me, just make sure you're alone on a private line" said Mike as he put his hands on Chris's shoulders, "Good luck, I'll be watching over you".
As Mike made his leave to his pelican, Chris stood there and wondered what Mike was on about, could this Spartan jeopardise the mission, or was there a bigger picture that the others did not know about?
"CHRIS! Get in, we're about to drop, we can't leave without you" shouted Zack as he started to close the pelican's back hatch and fire up the engine.
Chris ran towards the pelican and jumped into a seat, as he strapped in the mystery Spartan turned to Chris and said "Nice to see you are coming along, we couldn't do this without you" in a gravely voice that chilled Chris to the bone.
As the floor of the mighty frigate began to descend, releasing the many pelicans from the belly of the beast, Chris had one big question running through his mind, "Who is Spartan Zero?" …
