HALO: REACH.
OPERATION_/3212309
MISSION_START-
Reach: New Alexandria. 2552.
It has been a week since they had landed on our planet. The monsters had already begun to destroy our home world, killing neighbors and friends and family. It was now the 4 of us scouting, looking for food and shelter.
Burned buildings, papers fluttering through the air. It looked like a scene from one of those post-apocalyptic movies that James loved so much. Glancing back at my tall friend, his face was a mixed twist of disgust and terror.
James Shurziy was a 24-year-old farmer's son who was costumed to hard work and family. But, when the monsters landed on our planet, they attacked his farm, his family. He had only stopped crying a few hours ago, so Surchme and I convinced him to help us search for necessities.
Surchme Ploe was a pretty young thing. About 21, she had just finished school and graduated from University of Clo with a degree in nursing. She was an outgoing girl, hot headed with a foul mouth. She reminded me of my mother. Especially when she was mad. But, she was one hell of a medic. Which came in handy when we first met our friend Clumsi.
Clumsi Pli, who claims her name is not pronounced 'clumsy', is a 14-year-old teenager with a major attitude. She likes to think that she can do anything by herself, but I guess that's how teenagers are. The calamity of a name she was bestowed is a very good descriptive of her, seeing that (with her sense of independence) she does tend to screw up.
My name is Romona Swiths. I am 30 years old and am in charge the rag-tag army of Reach's current survivors. Many people would call me a motherly figure, loving and caring, but able to discipline. Children tend to be left under my care, when their parents go out with the search parties, looking for other survivors. Good thing I decided to go today… If not, my friend's and family's and neighbor's chance of survival would have been lost.
Guns and other weapons were held in sweaty palms and shaking hands as we trekked through the mess of the city. Boots crunched as our feet collided with the ruble on the gray and colorless ground. Here and there the body of a farmer or an alien could be seen, and I tried to look away.
"This should be it." Surchme mumbled, cutting ahead of me, with an old, torn, paper map in her dainty gloved hands.
I looked up at the building. It was swaying slightly, the top floors looked as if they had received a lot of plasma damage… The burned sign above the door read "Generation Tech. Industries".
I raised an eyebrow.
"Why here?" I asked Surchme.
"We need a better map, this one doesn't have any of the new structures they've built in the last 10 years… Plus when the Covenant attacked, all of the holo-maps were updated with danger zones… Those could come in handy." She explained quietly as she walked up to the dirty glass of the front doors, cupping both hands near her eyes and peering in, "Let's try to be quick… this building looks like it could topple over any second."
"Let's do this." Clumsi grasped the handle on the door and pulled firmly. With a satisfying click, the doors opened to reveal the scene of a massacre.
The first thing that hit me was the odor. It reeked of a million rotting eggs crammed together in a warm, moist wet room. But, it wasn't eggs that were causing the smell…
On the once white marble floor, bloated bodies were strewn about, of aliens in armor and humans in business suits. Flies flew around the room as we moved.
"Oh my god…" Surchme muttered. Over in the corner, James retreated and proceeded to puke up his small breakfast.
"That's so gross…" Clumsi gagged on her own words and closed her eyes tight. Surchme swung her duffel bag over her shoulder, zipped it open and pulled out cotton masks.
"They aren't going to get rid of the smell completely but they should help." I grasped one and pulled it over my ponytail. The smell was already more tolerable. I nodded in thanks and made my way past the front desk, and off to the right, past the elevator. Checking for a staircase, I finally found one.
"James, Surchme, Clumsi… found a staircase." I called out. The three made their ways over, maneuvering around the bodies.
I tugged the door open and held it open for everyone as we piled into the tiny stairwell.
"Alright, I've only been here one other time, and if I remember correctly, the room we are looking for is on the 10th floor." Surchme explained on our way up.
Peering up nervously, James whispered, "I hope we don't run into any Covvies…"
"Now that would suck wouldn't it, Jimmy?" Clumsi snorted.
I led the group up, pistol ready and steady in my hands. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm my nerves. 'Nothing is up here. They all left long ago.' Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks.
"How long?" A strong voice asked.
"Question of my life… If the question is when will this station be back online…" the feminine voice paused, "Two weeks. Earliest."
The voices were faint… And with Clumsi and John talking to each other, they were hard to hear…
"Shut up." I whispered.
"What?"
"I said shut up." I whispered again, not caring who asked the question. Motioning for them to be quiet and stay put, I approached the door leading out of the stair well labeled 'FLOOR 7'.
"This is plasma damage… All major upping components are fried."
"Two minutes is too long."
"Which is why I'm splicing into the main Gen. Tech Computer to get those maps."
I gently grasped the handle, and turned slowly. There was a click and I opened the door to come face to face with an armored giant pointing a gun straight at my forehead.
"Romona!" A voice called out behind the mass of a soldier.
"Sharra?" I peered to the side and saw the young woman, leaning against the wall.
"Burada ne yapıyorsun? (what are you doing here?) Mən sizə evakuasiya edilmiş fikir! (I thought you were evacuated!)" She yelped hopping up and running into my open arms.
"Same goes for you." I chuckled lightly. Behind me the light footsteps of John, Clumsi and Surchme could be heard.
"Where is Alec?" She smiled. A sudden pain wrenched my heart and I looked to the ground.
"Oh no…" He covered her mouth with both hands and tears began to well up in her eyes, "And… a-and Chen?" I nodded slowly.
"Those canavarlar! (monsters!)" She cried. I found it Ironic… It was my son and my husband who were dead. Shouldn't I be the one crying?
"Sorry to interrupt this… moment but, Sharra… Who are they?" Clumsi questioned, pointing to the group of 5 soldiers…
"Spartans…" Surchme muttered in awe.
The awe was understandable. Growing up we had heard about these super soldiers. How they were stronger than god himself, and could defend a whole colony by themselves. My dad used to tell me how a single SPARTAN could over turn one of the freight trains that I used to take to school. I never believed him…
That was until I realized how big they were.
"I am Carter 259. This is Noble Team."
I just got Goosebumps.
A/N: alrigtehhhh. i really wanted to write a Halo: Reach fanfic... so here i go. if i don't get somethign right, like a service number of city name, please feel free to crrect me and i'll try to go back and fix it :) the language that Sharra starts to speak is i think Azerbaijani. not sure who speaks t, but it seemed foreign enough for Reach. haha, so anyway, characters are really yours to be. i wanted you guys to be creative and make the characters your own... so i left out eye color, height (except for James, i need him to be tall for something later), weight, hair color and all that other stuff. So ya. R&R. please?
