Spartans in the Wasteland
Chapter One: New Gear, New Mission
Year: 2553
Date: September 23
Location: Cairo Station above Earth orbit
The armory master of Cairo Station cycled through the gear in front of him with a disgruntled look. "You know we have a lot of things to pay for ever since that war ended, but judging by the way you fight I don't think money matters to you now does it?"
Fred, Linda, and Kelly all looked at each other somewhat puzzled. Then Fred spoke, "With all due respect sir that blast set off at Onyx heavily damaged our armor. We did what we had to do, sor-"
"Save me your apologies Spartan! Lucky for you Dr. Halsey sent you something real nice to make up for your damaged equipment. Hold on just one moment." Master Hawkins then turned around and retrieved a box and struggled to bring it back to the three Spartan-IIs standing in his armory. "Spartan-087!" yelled Master Hawkins.
"Here!" said Kelly raising her arm. Master Hawkins handed her the box. Written on it was "Mjolnir Mark VI". Under that read "Spartan-087". Mark VI? she thought, must be something good.
Master Hawkins went back to retrieve the next box and yelled, "Spartan-104!"
"Right here sir!" yelled Fred. He took the box from Hawkins. The same thing was written on the box with the exception of "Spartan-104". Linda went to help Master Hawkins with the next box and brought it back to the rest of her team.
"This same armor was given to your pal Master Chief by a friend of mine very shortly before the Battle of Earth. There are significant improvements made to this variant. Including faster and better shields, better magnification, enhanced strength, and some more goodies you'll find on your own." The Spartans bowed their heads at the mention of their friend and teammate John-117. He was the luckiest and one of the bravest Spartans they knew. But the mention of the upgrades in their new armor got them excited and wishing they could test it out. "Well what are you waiting for?" belted Master Hawkins, "put it on!"
Kelly opened her box and in it was the Mjolnir Mark VI with and EVA helmet. But what struck her was that the armor was colored white, a change from the usual green. She decided though that it sort of had a nice personal touch to it, and proceeded to put it on. Linda opened her box and discovered her Mark VI armor was colored a dark, navy blue, with a CQB helmet. Fred opened his to find the Mark VI colored red with the usual Mark VI helmet. The Spartans seemed to favor this new color distinction and put their armor on. There was always that enhancement feeling when the Spartans put on their Mark V armor. This feeling was even better. Fred felt eager to get into a fight and try this armor out. And judging by the motions of his other Spartans they seemed to feel the same. Just then the elevator door to the armory opened up and revealed Sergeant Redman. Sergeant Redman was a cousin of the famous Sergeant Johnson. The Spartans had only met him after escaping the Shield world. And for the amount of time they knew him they could have guessed that Johnson and Redman must have been best friends. They even looked and sounded similar.
"Well, seeing as their armor is on I guess they must be done. Am I right Master Hawkins?"
"Sergeant I haven't tested their shields or weapon systems yet."
"I'm sure their armor works just fine Hawkins. Now snap at it Spartans, Lord Hood wants to see you pronto!"
"Yes Sergeant!" yelled the Spartans.
"Good, Master Hawkins Spartan-IIIs will be up shortly."
"Yes Sergeant." said Hawkins. With that the door shut and the elevator started moving.
"Master Hawkins has been eager to hear about how you guys got off Onyx. I'm sure the Spartan-IIIs can provide a story."
"Yes Sergeant." said Fred.
"Hmm." The elevator stopped and the four got off and proceeded to the little tram in front of them. Looking out to Earth, Redman said, "Earth, Master Chief put up one hell of a fight defending this place. One hell of a fight." The sergeant sighed, "It's a shame we had to lose him, including my cousin."
"A lot of good people died fighting" spoke Fred. "At least it wasn't for nothing." Fred was probably just as hurt as Sgt. Redman. John was one of his best. And he knew Sgt. Johnson as one badass marine. Though Fred refused to believe John was gone. He knew the classified data on the circumstances of John's disappearance, as well as Kelly and Linda. But he didn't think the back section of Forward Unto Dawn could just be left behind. Fred wished he could go to the Ark's location and look. Alone if he had to. The tram stopped and the Spartans along with Sgt. Redman stepped out to proceed to Lord Hood.
They walked into the stations large control room that looked out into space. It was a magnificent site that few these days got to see. "Lord Hood reporting as ordered sir!" yelled Sgt. Redman saluting along with the Spartans.
"At ease" said Hood. "Welcome Spartans, glad to have you back."
"Great to be back sir" said Kelly.
"Yes. I trust you all know the specifics surrounding the Battle of Installation 00?"
"Yes sir!" replied the Spartans.
"Good, then I will tell you that we sent a search party out to the debris field to see what's left." Lord Hood sighed. "Sadly, we didn't find the aft of the Forward Unto Dawn. What we did find, however, was a small void, somewhat like a black hole, just outside the remains of the Ark and Installation 04B. We would like to send someone into this void, see if our lost friend somehow slipped into it. Would any of you be interested?" Immediately all the Spartans stepped forward, followed by Sgt. Redman. Looking pleased, Lord Hood said, "Excellent, I thought you would. You will be boarding the Marathon-class cruiser Alpha And Omega today at 2100 hours. She will enter Slipspace at precisely 0600 hours tomorrow. Any question?"
Fred thought then said, "I'm sorry sir but is it necessary to take an entire cruiser for this mission?"
"You will board a pelican that will go into the void once Alpha And Omega exits slipspace. Any more questions?" No one said anything. "Excellent. You may gather supplies and board the ship. Have a safe trip there and good luck on your mission."
With that the Spartan-IIs and Sgt. Redman turned and walked away to make their preparations. The Spartans were hoping that somehow their comrade may still be alive.
*NOTE: I have checked and it is unknown whether or not Fred, Kelly or Linda got Mark VI armor, so in this story the received it now. I also did color variations to distinguish the Spartans. Please let me know what you guys think, enjoy!*