Chapter 1: The Signal.
Only a few days after the distress signal was sent from the Caluna system just on the edge of UNSC space, a small civilian colony that was founded 10 years after the human/covenant war, Starkiller six was deployed along was a regiment of the UNSC's finest ODST, They were one slipspace travel day away from the system's colony, The signal's message was vague on what exactly attacked them, but the UNSC was convinced it was covenant remnant splinter fleet, hence the Six member spartan III team, They were to expect elite fanatics, Elites are bad enough, but fanatical elites a force to be reckon with, all clinging heavily on the psychopathic unreasonable indomitable faith to a bullshit religion that nearly destroyed the galaxy.
Susan-G325 was in the cafeteria with a combat blade in hand, Susan was excellent with bladed weapons, Squad leader Keith-453 seen her in battle, seen what she can do with a bruteshot, she often got up close and personal, she was lethal, dangerous and short tempered, which was the reason why he had her join Starkiller Six, in fact which is why he had assembled this team of spartan III's in the first place, Jack-121, Sarah-D948, Conner-D302 and Zenna-992, all lethal in their own right, and he was more then happy to have them watch his back, Though the human/covenant war had come to an end, and the elite uprisings have long since died down, he and his team was eager for some much needed action,
"I think you'd need a much bigger knife for elites, elites in energy shields no less" Keith says to Susan as he strolls up to her with a slight smug smirk.
"any bigger, I might not leave any covies for the rest of you" she shot back, Keith could not deny she knows her away around in close combat situations, "Don't worry, I'll leave some grunts for you" she added sarcastically,
"hey now, grunts are fierce when they're grouped together," he reply's jokingly, she couldn't help but smile at that,
Just then a very large spartan entered the cafeteria, his bald head shining under the pale LED lights, It was Jack "You know there's private quarters for certain 'social' activities in this ship you'know" says jack as he takes a seat across from his two comrades,
"oh shut it jack" snaps Susan, in which jack winks in return
"just sayin'" he replies,
"alright that's enough outta you two, save the killing for the covies, we got work to do, we're 9 hours away from our task and i need you two battle ready then, so get some rest" ordered Keith, in which his two squad mates who he commands saluted and went off with a quick simultaneous "yes sir", Keith was often criticized for letting his team act unprofessional, but this did not matter to him, to him his team was his family, and family needed a strong bond, so could give two shits about what others think, to what is right and not right, professional and not professional, he and his team knew when to get shit done and how to do it, He commed the others and repeated his previous order, as much as he wanted action, something did not sit right, something about that distress signal, that message, things didn't add up, he never showed this much urgency to his team before, he wanted them sharp, battle ready, one thing he knew to trust was a gut feeling, today he could swear he could actually feel it, this could be a long mission,
8 hours later everyone was called for a briefing, odst and ship personal was scrambling about, on the loading deck they were gathered, captain Stanford took the stage, everyone saluted at his appearance,
"at ease" he ordered, then continued "10 days ago the unsc had received a jumbled distress signal from this system, the message was heavily damaged, a frantic call for aide then abruptly cut short, we suspect a covenant remnant splinter fleet had been responsible, but scans had shown no covenant vessel was detected, maybe jamming modules are at play, or something completely different, we're not going to risk an all out navy confrontation, instead we're sending in investigation teams in, two squads of odst and starkiller six, you're to deploy to the source of the signal, your mission is reconnaissance, then report back to the Wayword, we'll be dropping you just off the main colony's capital, we expect a full report of the situation and what exactly we're up against, now move out!"
without a word everyone knew what to do, three pelicans were set up, all three teams assembled,
"This is gonna be good" said Conner,
"can't wait to use this bad boy again" added Jack cocking his M739
"This is a recon mission so no hero shit" barked Keith,
"nothing wrong with having a little fun along the way Keith!" replied jack,
Keith did not reply, instead he locked and loaded his battle rifle, nothing wrong with that at all he thought, Sarah loaded her sniper with a full mag, Conner with his shotgun, Susan with her duel smg's and katana, zenna loading her marksmen rifle, 'asolute badasses'keith thought once again.
they were nearing their drop point, no activity, friendly or hostile, this was becoming more bizarre by the hour, as their pelican landing starkiller six exited and the ship and it lifted off, "you know the extraction point starkiller, be there within the next 10 hours, out"
"roger that phantom646" keith comm'd back
"nice of them to give us this troop warthog" said conner "though i'd much rather a scorpion tank, but it'll do,"
"what part of recon mission don't you understand" said susan annoyed.
"the boring part" replied conner
"can it you two!, we got a mission to do, so shut up,"
"do you really think the remnant is responsible Keith?" asked jack
"I'm not sure who's responsible but i do know they're not exactly the happy peaceful type" replied keith.
Starkiller mounted the troop warthog and went towards their target location at an easy pace, not wanting to attract unwanted attention.
moments later they were nearing their objective, the other teams reported they were nearing as well, each team came in from a different direction, south, east, west, starkiller was south,
they were nearing the city's border when the east squad had reported activity, Charlie squad had seen movment on the motion sensor, "we're seeing multiple movement, we think they don't know we're here, moving to some higher ground see if we can get a vantage point" Keith was somewhat disappointed that charlie squad will be most likely to shoot their guns first, and he knew his team felt the same way, but his thought was cut short when he heard gunfire over the radio, "SHIT! they know we're here!" further gunfire, ballistics keith thought knowing that distinct sound of projectile weapons, who are they, mercenaries?, pirates? he never heard of pirates or mercs taking out an entire colony, or setting the entire place on fire as he noticed during their drive in, "Engaging hostiles... shit they're fast, they're not covenant, repeat they're not covena- AAAUGhh" the comm was cut abruptly, that last blood curtling scream sent a wave through his entire team, they were angered, and maybe deep down, a little frightened,
"charlie report!..." no reply "Bastion squad continue to the target objective, we'll find charlie"
"Roger that, out" replied bastion squad sergeant,
"what the hell are we dealing with Keith?.." asked zenna
"... I don't know.." replied keith "but stay sharp, we're moving in."