This is my first attempt at a Halo fanfic. I hope you enjoy, and if you do, please review :)!
Disclaimer: DraconicKeyblader, "I own nothing save for the plot and OC's."
Spartan-008 Matthias's eyes opened slowly as he sat up in his open cryo-pod. Coughing up the surfactant in his lungs as he looked left in right to confirm his squad mates, Spartan-095 Marika and Spartan-103 Jackson were waking up to. They were the only Spartan squad with three members, because their fourth, Spartan-067 Mark, was killed when he blew up a Scarab tank during a ground engagement, and there weren't enough Spartans left to replace him. The three floated out of the pods, stretching their muscular bodies as they grabbed their uncomfortable uniforms off the post at the doorway. They quickly donned them, and continued out into the hanger of the UNSC Frigate MacTalon. Everywhere ship personnel scurried around, making repairs, prepping equipment, and generally trying to be useful. But all stopped and stood respectfully as the Spartans passed on their way to the bridge. The three entered the elevator, and leaned against the wall as it went up to their desired floor.
"You to sleep well?" Jackson said, scratching his stomach.
"Like a baby," Marika replied, rolling her eyes at her squad mate's discourtesy.
"We all did, that's what cryo-sleep is about genius," Matthias said, grinning at his friend.
The elevator slowed, then stopped. The doors opened and the Spartans entered the bridge to see Commander Masterson sitting in his chair, staring off into space, and Maria spoke softly, "Sir, you woke us?"
Masterson jolted, spinning around to face the Spartans, "Ah, yes, yes I did. Orders have been received from FleetCom. Covenant have been spotted headed towards Antris, and we've been given leave to go evacuate the planet."
Jackson grinned, "So we get to kill some more Covenant? Cool!"
Masterson sighed, looking pityingly at the bloodthirsty Spartan, "Actually, we're merely acting as an escort. We plan on being gone before the Covenant arrive."
Marika tilted her head, "So why were we woken up?"
"Because I think it's always better to be safe than sorry," the Commander replied, looking at the tall woman, "And because I thought you all could use a wake-up call."
"So when do we arrive?" Matthias asked, looking at the screen behind their lazy Commander.
"In about, three, two, one, now." The white of Slipspace faded away, and Antris came into view. It was a beautiful world, with three small oceans and numerous small towns. The rest of it was covered by a mysterious and stunningly huge jungle. The citizens of Antris had numerous times attempted to explore it, but were never able to penetrate very far into the close trees, quicksand, and vicious animals. Now it was surrounded by twenty transport ships that were deploying and accepting Pelican dropships, and were hooked up to the Welcome Wagon transports.
"Wow, now I really wish we were fighting the Covenant. I love jungle warfare," Jackson sighed.
"Too bad buddy," Marika said, putting an arm around her disheartened friend.
Suddenly, there was a massive flash of light, and ten Covenant Frigates, two Assault Carriers, and three Carriers appeared. The Assault Carriers and Frigates launched their plasma torpedoes, burning through the armor of the last two transport ships still evacuating citizens. The other ships immeadiatly turned around, engaging their Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines and vanishing into Slipspace as two more were destroyed. The fifteen escort Frigates turned towards the incoming Covenant fleet, MAC guns opening fire. The battle began in earnest as the Assault Carriers and Carriers began to unload their Phantom dropships into the atmosphere. Masterson began to spout orders to the bridge workers before turning to the Spartans, "Get down planet side! We just got a transmission that there are still people down their!"
The Spartans didn't need any more prodding. They leapt into the elevator, Jackson yelling as they did, "Yahoo, let's go fry some aliens!"
The three squad-mates entered the armory, grabbing their grey Mark V MJOLNIR armor and donning it with practiced ease. Matthias pulled on his helmet, and felt a cool sensation run down his spine as his AI, Alice, appeared on his HUD, "Good morning, I take we've got some action?" The kimono wearing AI asked as she stifled a yawn. Her long black hair, barely obscured her her beautifully pale blue face.
"Yep, see if you can get us a map of where were going and send it to Jackson and Marika while your at it, please."
"Got it chief."
Marika grabbed a M90 CAWS shotgun with ammo, two combat knives, and five grenades. Jackson put on his BR55HB battle rifle, grinning as the familiar weight hit his shoulder. He also picked up a sniper rifle, and three frag grenades. Matthias picked up his favorite MA5B assault rifle, two M7 machine guns, a M6 magnum sidearm, and his prized weapon. A captured Covenant Energy Sword, taken from the hand of an Elite who wasn't going to be using it anymore. He stuffed it into his belt, and Alice appeared once more.
"Okay, got that taken care of. We're headed to a small town called Ventarus, it's one of the closest to the jungle, so if we need a quick escape, there it is."
Jackson spoke over the comm., "Heck yeah! We might go commando yet!"
Marika answered, a snort of derision bursting out of her, "You're a little too excited about this. Remember, this is an extraction mission."
"Yeah, yeah, but if we come across some Covenant, they're going down."
"Are you two going to sit here and talk all day or are we headed out?" Matthias interrupted.
The two Spartans looked at each other, then back at him, "Sorry boss." The three launched themselves into the hanger, finding the Pelican and pilot meant to take them down to the surface off in the corner.
He was joking with the eleven Marines joining them when they floated out, and the fighters immeadiatly went silent, "So you're the Spartans we're taking down?" The pilot asked, looking over the armored warriors with a mixture of fear and awe. "Interesting."
The ship rocked as it went into an evasive maneuver, and Marika gesture to the Pelican, "We should probably be going now."
The crew jumped into the ship, and pilot sat into his chair, "Hang on people, we're clear to go!"
The ship took off shakily, but leveled out as it got into formation with the other Pelicans and Longswords headed towards the planet's surface. They swiftly evaded a small contigent of Seraph fighters, and the Longswords escorting them broke off to engage them. Silence reined over the ship's bay, the Marines not quite knowing how to deal with the three legendary humans sitting with them. The ship began to heat up slightly as it dived into the atmosphere, and finally cooled as they began to fly over Ventarus.
"Give me a sec and I'll land us in the town center," the pilot yelled over the Pelican engines.
Alice came over Matthias's comm., "We don't have that kind of time! Covenant forces have already landed and are advancing on the town!"
Matthias looked over at the pilot, "We have Covenant inbound on the target, we're gonna drop and hold them off as long as we can!"
The pilot stared at the Spartan in shock, they were over 150 feet off the ground, "You won't survive the drop!"
The Spartans grabbed three parachutes, and Jackson engaged the Pelican's bay doors to open, "No choice mate, you guys gather as many people as you can, and we'll bring whoever we find."
"I can't let you..." the pilot watched as the Spartans leapt out of the bay doors one by one, shaking his head as they did, "Bloody lunatics they are."
One of the Marines grinned, "Who cares? They're Spartans, they'll be okay. It's us you've gotta worry about."
Matthias felt himself float for a moment, then gravity took him into free-fall. He watched the ground shoot up towards him, gauged it, and yanked the parachute cord when he guessed they were close enough. The chute took him for a moment, then he started to fall faster once more, "Alice, what's going on?"
"You idiot! The chute can't take your weight!"
Matthias looked down again, seeing the building they were headed towards, "Oh great." He braced himself for impact, and blacked out as he hit the concrete roof.
Well, there it is. I hope you enjoy it and please review! Chapter 2 will be up soon and if you want you can check out my other fanfics.
