Disclaimer: Everything seen in Bungie's HALO series is © Bungie 2001- present. Everything not seen (including characters and such) is © Jon Smith 2003 – present.

::::Authors Introduction::::

Hey, I'm Jon Smith, a fourteen year old lad from England. My most well- known online alias is "End of Days", nothing to do with the Arnold Schwarzenegger films. I hate trying to spell Arnie's second name. My newest one, while "End of Days" is in Purgatory on GameFAQs is "MC Master Chief", look out for that.

Anyway, this story (Halo: Fire Team "Mercs") is based upon Obsidian13's "Rebellion: The Grunt Wars". Well, not really based upon, but they do visit a planet named "Xau 14"...infact it's the same planet (EXACTLY – they meet the characters from that story too) that the Grunts HQ from that story is on. Sorry if this bothers you Obsidian, but I love your story so much...just thought I would credit you for a part of my story. Boy, am I dragging on...

Just thought I'd clear some things up before I started. This story is based just before "Halo: The Flood" ends and just after "Halo 2" begins.

Enjoy,

Jon

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Chapter I :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "What the hell is that?!" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The stars shone brightly as a strange ring shaped planet came into view. "What the hell is that?!" came a voice from the cockpit. Her eyes strained as they tried to bring it into view. She checked her radar to see if it had registered – no, it hadn't. She brought down her visor, to try and clear the space dust out of her view, and magnify whatever it was. It looked like a huge sort of facility – it certainly wasn't just a strangely shaped planet. It was man made...

"How can the Chief be on that? I don't see any vital signs within 10,000 miles! Well, not human, anyway," she thought. "Damn, Chief's not human." The pilot stuck the Pelican into Auto-Fly and flicked a switch above her head, opening the cockpit door. She swivelled round to face the marines.

"Hey, Lieutenant, how far away is our DZ?" asked Sarge. The Lieutenant shook her head.

"No human vital signs are coming up on my sensors – I know the Chief ain't human – so I doubt he's alive with no Spartans to help him out," she replied, sounding a little worried.

"You obviously don't know the chief Lieutenant!" laughed one of the marines. Suddenly, the Dropship shook violently, many of the marines falling out of their seats – the Pilot flew out of her chair and slid across the floor, smashing her head against it. Sarge jumped up and raced to her side while the marines tried to gather their composure, while the medic pulled himself over to Sarge and the Lieutenant.

"Sarge! I've...I've broken my leg!" he wailed as he clasped his right leg. He lay on his back as the marines felt the Ship gather speed.

"What the hell is going on?!?" cried Sarge. "Toey! Go see what the hell is happening," he pointed to the cockpit. Toey nodded and looked out the cockpit window.

"Uhm, Sarge. Brace yourself...." whispered Toey. Sarge grunted.

"Listen private, I don't have any time for your dumb-assed riddles!" he shouted in reply. He looked up at Toey and saw the flames engulfing the Pelican. They'd entered something's atmosphere – they were heading at it...with no Pilot.

--- ---

"T-t-toey?!" whispered Sarge as he tried to bring himself to his feet. There was no answer. "Toey?" he said again – still no answer. He looked around and saw his cap lying in a pool of blood infront of him. He felt his body and searched it for blood before even thinking of his Team- mates. He picked up his cap and raced over to Toey.

"Joe? Joe?" he whispered as he picked Toey's upper body off the floor and sat him up. His eyelids flickered...he was alive. His eyes opened slowly, squinting through the light to see Sarge's dark, rough face. Sarge gave off a look of relief on his face.

"Hey S-sarge!" laughed Joe. He shook his head and adjusted his eyes to the light. His helmet was cracked, knocking his binoc-panel offline, but that could be fixed.

"Try and wake the others," said Sarge as he walked around trying to wake his team. Only one couldn't be woken – the Pilot. "No great loss. We can hitch a ride, as long as we know where the hell we are!"

Still, the team sat and mourned over their Lieutenant before Sarge stood up and ordered his men to grab their weapons and supplies before they headed out. "I'll try and see if I can contact another Ship, see if we can get off this...wherever we are," said Sarge as he loaded his Assault Rifle. Too other men were holding the medic up – Sarge thought heavily of whether to leave him here and to pick him up later, but he was too valuable.

"Keep your guns raised and your eyes fixed outside – we don't know what's waiting for us outside!" ordered Sarge. "JoJo, James – you two get behind Toey, he'll protect you and your weak pistols. Keep Jones safe!" he commented before turning to face a big red button.

"Ready?" he said. The team replied with a confident "Sir! Yes Sir!". "Here we go!" he cried as he punched the red button and took aim outside before the door fully opened. Deserted...it was a big green field, with a bit of foliage and a huge structure shooting bolts of blue energy into the sky.

"Huh?" whispered James. JoJo shrugged, before pulling "Medic" up onto his shoulder.

"Alright Medic?" whispered JoJo as he pointed his pistol forwards. Medic groaned – JoJo took this as a "shut up you bastard". "Righteo!"

"Phillips – what do you see?" Sarge asked the Teams Sniper.

"Not a lot, a few pod thingy's...WAIT! They're our Life Pods! The Pillar of Autumns' Life Pods!" he said as he saw the light maroon title on their sides. Sarge's mouth opened as he ran out into the open.

"SARGE! Wait there!" cried Toey as he ran out after him – but it was too late. The big purple thing hovering just above them that Toey had just spotted had seen Sarge. It started to fire as it lowered to the ground....