WARNING: Strong language and gore present within story. This is a war story after all.
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or the Halo universe. Halo was created by Bungie and is owned by 343 industries. I do however own any original Characters added in which will be listed at a point I deem appropriate possibly at the end of each chapter.
Prologue: New Arrivals
1500 hours, January 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Eridanus System, Eridanus III Theater of Operations
"Move, move!" a man in black armor yelled while green and blue bolts of plasma flew past him and impacted trees around him scorching and melting the foliage. Immediately following were pink needles that exploded shortly after impacting their targets. There were five of them total, one of them wounded from a Jackal. The bird-like alien wielded an elongated rifle that was made of purple allow topped off with a dull, long silver barrel with several pinkish thin crystals protruding from both sides of the weapon's mid-section, a Needle Rifle. The wounded soldier was being supported by another man in black armor. They were ODSTs, the Special Forces in the UNSC.
"Command, this is Charlie two-six. We're under heavy fire. We have wounded and KIA and request immediate support!" the leading ODST yelled into his helmets comm systems. It was supposed to be a simple scouting run, the marines and ODSTs had just taken back one of their bases which had been Alpha base. Charlie squad, a squad consisting of ODSTs was scouting the jungle east of the base when they were ambushed by covenant forces and lost a man in the ambush while another was wounded. The wounded ODST had been hit by a round from the Needle Rifle which had exploded shortly after impacting the man's right side; if they didn't stop the bleeding soon he wouldn't make it.
"Roget that two-six, we have a pelican en route to your location, ETA is two minutes. Hold on down there. Command out." As soon as his helmet was silent again the ODST barely ducked behind a large moss covered boulder in time to dodge a bolt of green plasma. The bolt had struck a tree in front of him and melted the center of it which in turn started its collapse.
"Shit!" was all the man could say before diving out of the path of the falling tree. He tried to get some of the mud off of his visor so he could see. It took longer than he would have liked but as he started to get his feet he heard the sound of footsteps close by. The next few seconds went by slowly as a skirmisher rounded the corner, its small, semi-circular purple; weapon with bright green tips was drawn and aimed straight for the unfortunate man. The weapon's green ends flared to life as it prepared to ODST instinctively reached to his side holster for his M6G Magnum. Much to his horror however, he realized he had dropped it when he dove to avoid the falling tree.
He was snapped out of his fear induced stupor when he heard the sound of gunshots. It was two of his fellow ODSTs who were gunning down the bird-like skirmisher right in front of him with their MA5C Assault Rifles.
"Get a move on LT! We need to go!" one of the two men shouted shortly after the gunshots stopped and the skirmisher lay in a pool of its own purple colored blood. The five troopers continued their run through the jungle towards Alpha base when they suddenly heard the roar of a pelican drop ships engines.
As soon as the pelican was in sight a voice broke over the leading ODSTs helmet's speakers. "Hey Jack looks I'm pulling you out of the fire again huh?"
Jack the leading ODST laughed before replying. "Yeah sorry about that captain but I'm glad to see you're still kicking. I haven't heard from you in so long I thought you might have bit the dust."
"In the covenant's dreams maybe, I'm not dying anytime soon. All right Spartans let's go help the Lieutenant and his men and teach the covies a lesson they won't soon forget!" Within moments the drop ship touched down in a clearing a few meters ahead of the fleeing ODSTs. As soon as it landed the back hatch opened up and six men clad in Mjolnir powered assault armor filed out. One of them wore red armor with a Mjolnir R variant helmet equipped on top of his black skin suit while the rest wore dull black armor with equally black S variant helmets. The helmets and armor both matched the color of the skin suit underneath the armor that was made of layers of matte black metal. The armor covered the chest, shoulders, forearms, knees, shins, outer thighs and the groin and weighed over one-thousand pounds while it was in use. The armored soldiers stood over seven feet tall each. They were known as Spartans, genetically augmented super soldiers. The only ones who could use the Mjolnir powered assault armor because of the armor's weight and inhuman reflex time. The red armored Spartan stepped forward while the other five followed close behind. "Don't worry the cavalry is here. Saber squad, move it!"
Jack and his fellow ODSTs were still moving towards the clearing with covenant forces not far behind. Jack then called out to the trooper to his right. "Hey Jackson, toss me your sidearm and help support Williams so we can make this trip a little faster."
"Right!" He called back just before throwing his Magnum to Jack then went to help support their wounded comrade. The covenant forces were closing in on the five men as they retreated. As soon as it was within range a skirmisher opened fire with its plasma pistol, many of the shots missed but one managed to hit Jackson in the shoulder. The man screamed in pain as the plasma burnt through his armor and scorched his shoulder, he then collapsed and fell to the ground clutching his shoulder. The sudden lack of support on the left side of Williams caused the other ODST who was supporting him lose his grip and drop him.
"Wilson! Ramirez! Grab Jackson and Williams and pull back, I'll cover!" Jack yelled.
"Sir!" the two men shouted in unison before grabbing Williams and Jackson by their under arms and began pulling them back behind a large boulder at the foot of a small hill.
As soon as they began moving Jack caught sight of the skirmisher that had shot Jackson. The creature was fast, it was clearly faster than any human. It was almost too fast for Jack to keep in his sights. Not long after it started its sprint the skirmisher opened fire. Jack ducked and rolled behind a nearby tree narrowly dodging the incoming plasma fire. He rounded the tree and sighted the skirmisher; as soon as he saw it he fired three shots from his magnum. The first shot hit the skirmisher in the leg causing it to trip; the second had impacted its shoulder while the third had hit the creatures head killing it instantly. "One down" Jack said to himself as he made his way back to his men. "How are they doing?" he asked.
Wilson turned his helmet covered head and answered from behind his opaque visor. "Not good. Jackson's wound looks pretty bad but he should be fine if we can get him some treatment and I mean fast. Williams doesn't look so hot, he's got it real bad. He's lost a lot of blood and it looks like he might pass out soon. We ran out of bio foam a while ago so he's in real trouble LT."
Jack looked down at his men and was trying to figure out a way to get them to safety as he thought over everything that had happened. "I see. Well there's not much we can do but hold here and hope the captain reaches us in time."
Ramirez turned to Jack and asked "Is this it lieutenant?"
Jack then placed his left hand on Ramirez's shoulder. "Don't give up. I'm sure our captain will come through for us."
That gave Ramirez some hope. He shook his head slowly accepting the lieutenant's words "Yeah I hope you're right LT. I want to see earth again."
It was Jack's turn to nod "Me too."
Wilson took off Williams' helmet to reveal a young man with short cropped dark brown hair and green eyes. A small trickle of blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth down past his chin. He looked very pale from his loss of blood and was on the verge of passing out. Wilson then grabbed his canteen and splashed some water on Williams' face. "Hey there buddy, don't you go leaving us just yet. The captain's on his way and we'll get you fixed up and back home in no time."
Williams smiled despite the pain and managed to speak in a tired and pain filled voice in between short, light gasps. "Glad…to hear….it."
Jack turned back around to face the other four ODSTs and began to speak. "All right, Wilson hand me your rifle and grab Williams. Ramirez you help Jackson to his feet and stay near him in case he needs support. We're moving out, now."
Wilson looked at him in disbelief "did you see Williams's wounds? There's no way we can move him. We need to find some way to stop the bleeding before we move him."
Jack understood the concern but his mind was made up "I know but I'd rather risk that than take my chances and get all of you killed while waiting here to be saved. Those two skirmishers we killed were just scouts. It won't be long before the covenant catches up to us and we're finished."
Jack then felt a tug on his arm; he looked down to see it was Williams pulling on his arm. "Give me a gun LT. I'll hold off the covenant as long as I can while you guys get away. I doubt I'll live from this wound anyways, I know how bad it is." He spoke through clenched teeth, it was clear he was in a great amount of pain.
Jack then placed his hand on Williams's shoulder just before speaking. "No way in hell. I'm not going to leave you behind Williams. Remember our captain's favorite motto? No one gets left behind. We're either going to get out of this together or we're going to die together. We-" Jacks words were cut off by the sound of footsteps. The five men the turned to their right and faced the direction of the footsteps and their possible demise.
The foot falls were much heavier than the skirmishers and coming around the boulder the ODSTs were behind. The footsteps got louder and closer by the second. An Elite rounded the corner; the Elites were the frontline leaders of the covenant's forces. It was clad in metallic blue-ish armor that covered almost all of its body including its digitigrade legs. It towered above the men as it stood over seven feet tall. The creature opened its four mandibles and let out a low growl as it raised its plasma rifle. The weapon was made of two round elongated ovals, one larger than the other being connected by a steel-colored grip, with the front tips flaring an electric blue. It was preparing to gun the men down.
"Damn," was all Jack could think. He was the first to react by grabbing his magnum and aiming it at the elite as he got up and stood between the alien and his men. Jack was prepared to die protecting his men; he knew however that his magnum would more than likely very little against the elite's shields.
Out of nowhere a man the same size as the elite who was clad in red armor tackled the elite against the boulder. The man pulled his right arm back and slammed it into the elite's chest, knocking the wind out of the alien. The elite's shields shimmered around it, they glowed silver before dissipating with a popping sound. As it let out a growl of pain the elite tried to raise its hand that held the plasma rifle but noticed that it was pinned to the boulder by the man. The red armored titan reached up and unsheathed a knife on the left side of his chest. He quickly flipped the knife around to face downward just before he stabbed it into the elites elongated neck. The elite let out a cry of pain as its purple blood spewed from the wound an onto the Spartan's armor. It only took a few seconds for the elite to lose its strength and slump down to the ground, the life drained from its body.
"Captain!" Wilson called out.
The towering man then turned to face the ODSTs. "Sorry I'm late, ran into some slight resistance on the way here. The covies had an ambush waiting for you up ahead but we took care of it."
Wilson was slightly confused "we? Where are the other Spartans?"
As the red Spartan pulled his knife free of the elite's corpse he pointed is knife over his shoulder indicating that the Spartans were right behind him. Just as he did that five more Spartans clad in dull black almost grey armor came over the hillside. They were just as tall as the first Spartan that showed up.
One of the armored giants then spoke "sorry we're late Captain Wells. We were finishing up the last of the covenant forces between here and the LZ."
The red Spartan was Captain Jonathan Wells, the commander of over seventy Spartans onboard his own ship. He then turned back to his fellow Spartans before speaking. "Jones, Taylor come over here and patch up Williams and Jackson. I want you two to take them back to the pelican and head back to base. Jack, you and your squad are pulling out, I'm taking over."
Jack let out a small laugh "nice to see you too Captain. I'll head back to base but do me a favor and give 'em hell." Wells nodded and replied "I plan on it, now go get some rest Jack, the pelican is just past that hillside in a clearing." Jack made a half-salute gesture before smacking the back of his hand lightly against Well's armored shoulder and heading to where the pelican had landed along with Wilson and Ramirez.
As this happened, Jones and Taylor reached into the medical bags that each of them carried and pulled out two canisters of bio foam. They pulled up on the nozzles that ran the length of the canisters and put them just barely above the wounds on Jackson and Williams. Both of them then pressed a button on the top of the canisters and light greenish white foam suddenly spewed out of them covering the wounds. As the foam covered Jackson's wounded shoulder and the large wound in Williams's abdomen the foam began to harden.
While the foam sealed and covered the wounds Captain Wells reached up and pressed a button on his helmet opening a comm channel. "Saline I have seven heading back to the pelican, two wounded. They need an immediate evac to base. Once you're there I want you wait on standby until I say otherwise."
A calm female voice replied in a generic English accent "should I respond to any emergency pickups that need to be made? Also Commander Wells found something interesting on her scouting run that you might want to take a look at when you get back."
The Captain then stood and reached for his assault rifle which was attached to the magnetic strips on the back of his armored suit. "All right I'll take a look when I get back to base but I might be a while longer, it seems as though there might be a covenant base north of my location. Respond to and aid any squads in need of help."
Saline replied "Would you like fire support sir?"
As Jones and Taylor supported Williams and Jackson while they headed back for the pelican Captain Wells replied. "Negative, I can handle things down here; just get those men back to base."
Saline was Captain Wells' personal "smart" A.I. she was in charge of running the ship while he was on the ground. The ship was called the UNSC Righteous Conviction, a Phoenix-class Colony ship that was refitted for war. The ship was equipped with a large Onager Magnetic Accelerator Cannon or MAC for short. Since Saline was networked into the ship she could also remote control the pelican drop ships so that they would not have to risk losing a pilot. She often did this in high-risk operations or when they were simply short-handed on pilots.
Wells then thought over what he should do next. "All right, fan out and find your positions. We're setting up shop here. Those covies wouldn't have been far behind Jack's squad." The rest of the Spartans replied by nodding their heads and began to move with fluid motion.
Joseph Kane, the team's explosives specialist managed to find a position between two thick trees and laid flat on his stomach. On his back his back he carried two 'Damage Packs.' Each pack held multiple types of explosives, one of which carried C-12. C-12 shaped charges are highly explosive and volatile. One small cube a C-12 can level a five story building in seconds. As he lay down on his stomach he raised his M90 Shotgun towards the direction the covenant would be coming from.
Allen Smith, Saber Team's sniper positioned himself on top of a large flat boulder for a wide sight line. He rested his rifle with the bipod mounted just under the front of the scope to steady his aim. Afterwards the marksman adjusted his SRS-99 AM Sniper Rifle's scope by twisting the dial on top of it slowly. The scope his rifle was equipped with was a special model which outlined any heat sources within the scope's sight. The scope also featured a night vision mode for use during night time operations. He carried a bag full of extra clips and special types of ammunition ranging from tranquilizers to heavy armor piercing rounds.
Jacob Wyatt the team's computer specialist took position behind several medium sized boulders. He leveled his MA5C down range and awaited his targets approach. The bag he carried contained several tools for breaking into and hacking electronics. He was trained in and given what amount of information the UNSC had on Covenant technology as well as decryption software programmed into hand held computers. In short he was the next best thing to an A.I. when it came to hacking and decrypting.
Captain Jonathan Wells, Saber Team's commander positioned himself at the forefront of the formation behind a tall slab of rock not far from Wyatt's position. He waited eagerly for his targets to show themselves as he crouched and leveled his MA5C around the slab. The bag he carried held the team's smoke grenades. The green smoke grenade was for an area that was safe to land in. The red one however was for an emergency evacuation for if things went south. He also carried a signal flare as a backup. Each of the Spartans wielded M6G Magnums for side arms on their right thighs.
Wells pressed a button on his helmet to open a com link "Smith, got anything?"
He heard a click through his helmet as Smith replied. "I count six, no seven hostiles. Three grunts, two skirmishers and two elites. They seem a bit relaxed, must think their scouts took care of the ODSTs."
The Captain thought things over, "Smith, take the shot on one of those elites when you get it. We don't need them causing trouble." A green acknowledgement light winked on in Wells' HUD.
If Smith was using the acknowledgement light then that meant he was going silent and preparing to take a shot.
Wells spoke up once more "everyone ready?" a moment later two more green lights winked on indicating his team was in position. "Fire at will, no going solo. Stay together and watch your sides." As soon as he said those words a loud crack echoed through the forest.
The elite that lead front of the covenant scouts heard the crack just before the sniper round hit home. The elite's energy shields flickered silver before dissipating under the sheer force of the bullet. The bullet however continued on its path past the shields and struck the elite in its neck. The elite wrapped its four fingered leathery hands around its neck as its thick purple blood poured out of the wound. Within seconds it fell to the ground choking on its own blood and died.
As the elite fell, the rest of the covenant scouting party began to panic and run for any available cover. Too late, as soon as the second elite began to move Smith took another shot and hit it directly in its head, causing the elite to fall helplessly to the ground with its blood slowly forming a pool.
While smith took out the elites and caused the covenant team to panic the rest of Fire team Saber advanced.
Wells moved straight up through the center. As soon as he was close enough he fired once burst from his assault rifle.
The small flurry of bullets was directed towards one of the grunts. The rounds pelted the small aliens orange body armor and hit its throat severing its breather mask. The shots missed the cone shaped tank containing methane the creature carried on its back. It fell to the ground clutching its throat and making a quiet gurgling noise. Its luminous blue blood covered the tree next to it.
Wells caught sight of another grunt but as he did Kane was upon the small creature and drove his knife through its tiny neck.
The last grunt tried to run away right as Wyatt opened fire catching the small alien's tank causing it to ignite and explode in a light green haze, sending its body flying.
All that was left was the two skirmishers. One of the skirmishers attempted to flank Kane but was cut short by a rifle round from Smith. The creature fell to the ground in an instant, lifeless.
The last of the two skirmishers tried to go after the Captain. As soon as Wells caught sight of it the skirmisher opened fire with its plasma pistol. Wells dove to the right to avoid the shots. He noticed a rather large tree in between him and the skirmisher. He also noticed that the tree was old and had a loose foundation, he smiled beneath his helmet. As soon as he made the realization he broke off into a sprint and threw his leg forward into a mighty kick. The blow had impacted the tree and splintered the trunk where Wells' foot had struck. The tree gave way under the pressure and began collapsing. The skirmisher noticed this and immediately jumped to its left dodging the tree.
As the skirmisher righted itself it looked forward to see captain Wells running towards it. Before the skirmisher could react Wells was already upon it. The Captain brought his knee up impacting the creature's head causing it fly backward from the staggering blow and hit the fallen tree. The skirmisher would not live from a blow like that. Multiple bones in its neck and throughout its bird like, feather adorned head were shattered. Wells then pulled the knife free of the holster on his shoulder once more. He pulled his arm back and slammed the blade into the skirmishers neck with enough force to pin it to the tree. The alien died almost instantly while its thick purple blood ran down the tree it was stuck to. The covenant scouting team had been slaughtered with no chance of victory against the Spartans.
As Captain Wells wrenched his knife free of the tree and the skirmisher he began to speak. "Why did the covenant just send a hand full of troops?"
It was Kane who responded "don't know maybe they thought this would be enough to finish off the ODSTs."
Wells wringed his blade of as much blood as possible before sheathing it again and spoke. "Or maybe, they're keeping all of their forces back to protect something and can't spare much."
As the rest of the team gathered around Wells, Smith spoke up "either way it's your call Captain. We were just supposed to help out those ODSTs but we can go for a scouting run and check out whatever the covenant is up to."
Suddenly a voice broke inside of Jonathan's helmet, it was Saline. "Captain, I repositioned a satellite and it seems that covenant forces are gathering not far from your location. It looks like they found something, some sort of structure."
Wells pressed a button on his helmet to reply "appreciate the heads up Saline, we'll head back for now and take a look."
The calm voice that was Saline's soon spoke again "aye sir, rerouting a pelican to your location now."
It had been over an hour later before the pelican reached them. It was covered in dents and black spots. As the Spartans walked up the ramp in the back of the pelican they noticed the rest of Saber Team was there.
Richard Jones was the first to speak up "apologies for the late ride Captain, pelican took a pounding on the way back. We had to make repairs."
As Wells sat down on one of the many wall mounted seats in the back of the pelican drop ship he replied "don't worry about it but saddle up when we get back to base. We're going for a hot drop and breaking up a covenant excavation party soon after we arrive." Jones and Taylor nodded as the pelican's engines roared to life and started its journey to Alpha base.
