Chapter One: Modus Operandi
Three SPARTANs crept through a hallway, two holding rifles, the other a bulky scanning device. The bulbous, purple Covenant nanolaminate walls were stained with blood and dirt, and the doors they passed through sat half-opened with no power to hold them closed. Not only was the ship devoid of life, but also the central core's normal hum. Through her helmet, the armoured human holding the scanner frowned, holding up her right hand in a fist to halt the advance of the other two super soldiers. A yellow blip appeared on the small OLED screen, followed by an audible ping.
"One hundred metres this way on the left, should be the third door up on this next corridor," she whispered into the comm, gesturing to the hallway on the trio's right.
"Copy that," the SPARTAN to the lead's left replied, unwavering in position as he examined their next direction. This path, unlike the ones they had come through so far, drew into the core of the ship, and was completely pitch black at its far end. Gesturing with a quick flick of her fingers, they moved in. The blip on the scanner got more defined as the three SPARTANs walked up. On her left and right, the two with rifles tightened their grip as the final door came into view, sealed closed with only a small sliver of light reaching it from the outer windows. Setting the scanner on her belt, the SPARTAN reached a hand up to her helmet, fingering one of the many buttons off to the side of her visor.
"Kingpin, this is Dragon Leader. We're at OBJ, how copy?"
"Dragon Leader, we read you fine. Get inside and capture the package. That Forerunner tech can not get returned to the Covenant."
"Got it, sir," she pointed to the plasma-shot door control panel, "moving in."
The two other SPARTANs put away their rifles and got on either side of the door, sliding their armoured fingers into the exposed seal. Using a screwdriver on her belt, the woman pried open the control panel, opening up a completely disheveled mess of wires. Ignoring standard protocol, she ripped out the wads of metal, completely shutting off the remnant systems holding the door closed. Depressurizing, the two SPARTANs were able to slowly but surely open up a space so that the third could toss a flare into the dark room. Her HUD radar didn't show anyone else except her companions, so she moved in followed by the others.
"Wow, that's… something," one of the others muttered. The woman nodded in agreement. What stood before them was a twelve-foot obelisk, glowing blue as it floated in place, surrounded by Covenant energy shielding.
"Kingpin, this is bigger than intelligence reported. We didn't bring carry clamps or a Pelican."
"Affirmative, but whatever it is is so important that a Zealot team raided a convoy near Psi Serpentis."
"We'll find a way, then."
Turning off her comms, the SPARTAN shrugged and turned to her counterparts.
"Well?"
"First, get those shields down. We don't want any remnant Covies being alerted."
One of the SPARTANs shrugged. "If there are any left, they're scrambling for the pods," he joked, gesturing to the hallway. It was true, they had depressurized the ship upon their entry, suffocating any remnant survivors on the derelict vessel that weren't in Ranger suits.
"You can never be too sure, those Elites can last in space for a little bit," she replied, crouching down to take off the plate on the shield generator. The male SPARTAN gave a breathy laugh while the other stood sentry at the door, constantly scanning the dank crevices with eyes hidden behind the silver visor.
"Need help?" the armoured soldier said, stepping slowly next to the woman.
"No, I got it," she pulled the metal frame away, "there." Now to deactivate it. Four thick wires ran from a central breaker attached crudely to a portable fusion generator, only set in the metal container that contained it by eight screws - two of the wires were purple, the other two were black. From her limited knowledge of the standard dialect of Sangheili used by the Covenant, the purples were labeled 'shield' and the blacks were 'core'. Glancing at where they were connected to, the shields were from the breaker to the shield projectors, while the cores were from the breaker to the fusion core. Considering their lack of time due to limited oxygen in their suits, she decided to detach the core wires. Much to her happiness, the shield fizzled out and the core's indicator light flashed red - nothing connected.
"What do we do now?" the male SPARTAN asked, kneeling next to her.
"We lift," and lift they did. On touching it, the Forerunner device stopped glowing and fell to the ground, a trait seen regularly among the artifacts. Sliding their arms under it, the trio heaved it up - struggling even with their physically augmented forms.
"I'll get Juno to bring the ship in," the third SPARTAN mentioned, finally breaking their silence. While not expressly a 'ship', Fireteam Dragon's modified GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptor had more than enough room in its hold for the obelisk.
"Good, make it fast," the woman soldier grunted, straining her fingers to keep a good grip on the smooth metal.
"I heard someone call?" an overly feminine voice called over the channel, causing the trio to smile as they made their way back to the windows on the outer hall.
"Yes, bring the Longsword to the hangar. We have the package."
"Of course, sir. Give me two minutes," and with that, the comms channel was switched off. Something fell around the corner as they neared the crossroads with the external corridor, causing the three SPARTANs to set the Forerunner object down and stop. Pointing around the corner, the lithe woman held up a flashbang grenade. The others nodding, she ran to the corner and threw the cylinder, turning her head away as it blew up, flooding the hall for a split second with bright white light.
"Go!" she ordered, pulling an M6G off her right thigh's magnetic clamp. Rounding the corner she came upon… nothing. Then, suddenly, nothing moved right toward her, with an energy sword. She fired six times, backing up a step each time while simultaneously gesturing the others over. Dodging the cloaked Elite's first strike, the SPARTAN jumped, boosting almost to the ceiling to land on its back.
"How the hell did this thing find us? We went through all the silent entrance precautions!" the male SPARTAN said, grabbing and twisting the Elite's arm. With its sword-arm out of action, the woman slammed the back of her Magnum into the creature's neck, stunning it. Jumping down, she gave a swift front kick to its chest, knocking the gargantuan soldier to the ground.
"Riok ni' jinohag thugra," the Elite muttered - invading the SPARTANs' comms channel - as the female SPARTAN wiped a smudge off her forearm plate, walking over with her Magnum trained on its head.
"You two go on ahead, I'm going to make sure we don't have any more followers," she ordered, her gaze unwavering at the fallen warrior. The two other SPARTANs nodded and continued on with the trudging work, soon disappearing around another corner. Smiling, she kneeled, staring hard at the Elite's armour. There were four things on its set that would allow it to contact others or be tracked; the comm link on its forearm, the beacon in its helmet, the tracker in its back plate, and the emergency handheld radio. Keeping the Elite at gunpoint and explicitly avoiding depressurizing its suit, she deactivated and destroyed all of these systems, stepping back from her handiwork. The Elite glared at her the whole time, incapable in its position to do anything.
While deactivating the warrior's systems, the woman had also taken note of whether this one was alone or not - it was. She stood there for a moment before gesturing it away. The Elite, conflicted and genuinely surprised, rose to its feet and bowed while slowly backing up, glancing between her face and the Magnum now at her side. Much to its good fortune, it decided to walk away, not glancing back.
"All clear, boys, we're home free," the SPARTAN relayed into the now-clean comms.
"Copy that. Juno is in position, waiting on you, over."
"Roger, moving up," the next position, the hangar, wasn't that far. Getting to a fast jog, the female SPARTAN entered into the large room, holstering her Magnum as she went. On the far side, the Longsword was touching down, and below it her two companions and the obelisk. Coming up to them as the landing gear extended on the interceptor there was a short pause as, again, the three took a moment to look over the Forerunner monument in front of them.
"This'll fit in the hold, right?" the male SPARTAN queried, glancing under the landing ramp of the Longsword at the thin door used as a loading dock. The other SPARTAN shrugged, while the woman laughed.
"Move all of your thousand sniper rounds over and we'll talk," she shot, earning a snicker from the man. Keying the button on her helmet once more, the woman called in Kingpin.
"Status?"
"All clear, package is secure. Anything else we need on this bucket of bolts before we lift off?" she asked. Looking around the hangar, it was apparent how much the UNSC ambush days earlier had done to it mainly by the multiple missile holes apparent in the hangar's back wall and the several dozen dead Elites and Grunts lining the ground.
"Negative, just get out of the-" the comm fizzled.
"Sir? Kingpin, come in. Kingpin?" she tapped her helmet with her hand, assuming it was her antenna. Then, out of nowhere, an infantry plasma bolt struck the Longsword, alerting the trio to the presence of a dozen or so enemy combatants storming the door they had come from. Four Jackals, five Grunts, and three Elites stood before them, bearing arms and ready to fight. The other two SPARTANs opened fire with their MA37 rifles, striking a pair of Grunts in the heads.
"We need to go, now!" the male SPARTAN yelled, the two of them halting their spray of bullets to pull the Forerunner object onto the ship. An Elite holding a Fuel Rod Cannon came out from the door, making the woman come back down to the ground to take aim - there was no way the Longsword would be able to launch with a burning fuel pod stuck in its engine cell.
"Get the obelisk out of here! Dragon Two, give me your rifle!" the woman yelled as three more Ranger Jackals ran out of the door, Beam Rifles in hand.
"We have two Covenant Corvette-class ships coming out of slipspace, get that package onboard," Juno exclaimed through the mic. The AI flared the engines, their signal to leave. With the other SPARTAN rifle-less, he heaved the obelisk on board, followed by the other two. As the woman got aboard and the ramp began to close, however, still firing aimlessly at the growing crowd of Covenant soldiers, she was struck in the shoulder by a plasma beam, sending her lurching forward off the ramp.
"N- Juno, land the ship!" the male SPARTAN yelled to the front of the craft, getting no response. Her visor cracked from the several metre fall, the woman flipped over, saluting the other two as Juno continued the mission. Using her Magnum, she took out the Elite with the Fuel Rod Cannon the instant it fired, sending the explosive veering off into space instead of incinerating the escaping UNSC fighter. Standing frozen as the ramp sealed, the male SPARTAN and his companion stared, too surprised to move. The mission had gone perfectly, every protocol was followed, what went wrong?
Hey guys, it's Lex! Welcome to my newest story, Through to Spring - yet another Halo fanfiction. This, for anyone who actually paid attention to the details of Halo: Legacy, will get some reference I'll be making in later chapters. Speaking of, because I 1. ran into writer's block for it and 2. have this story now, Legacy will be on hiatus (although I will continue to slowly write it out). I have big hopes for this story's future, so, stay tuned.
Also, yay, school's out in three months.