UNSC Infinity, 04:52 February 7, 2558
"I'm telling you mate, within the Spartan IV program individual ranks are meaningless." Joe explained to Josh as the two walked down to the Armor bay in Spartan Deck. "While whatever rank you held before you joined still stands, everyone among the IVs is equal regardless of rank. Commander Palmer is an exception of course, but the only thing close to a higher rank among Spartans is Squad Leader."
Josh scratched his head. "Yeah I heard about that, talk is the man who put this together said we're 'genetically superior' and the title Spartan is rank enough." He sighed. "And all the hard work I did to receive the rank Warrant Officer goes flying out the window." Joe chuckled. "Well, you have the experience to look back on eh? You specialize in heavy weapons correct?"
Josh nodded. "Anything from a SAW to a Spartan Laser I'm qualified to operate." Joe patted him in the back. "Good to know I can trust someone other than David to handle explosive ordnance. Speaking of which, don't tell him about the whole rank thing. I still want him to refer to me as Captain for a little bit longer. " He pushed Josh ahead of him. "Now get suited up! We'll be taking on Covies soon enough."
Josh responded with a lazy salute and headed off to an empty armor bay station. Joe turned around and headed to the nearest armory to pick out his usually gear when he spotted Brittany. The latter smiled and waved at him before stepping into an armor bay. Joe waved back at her as he continued on his way.
A few moments passed when he spotted David in one of the armor bays, seeming to be having the time of his life. "Having a good time there mate?" Joe asked as he stopped in front of the bay, he smiled shook his head slightly at his friend. "This is kind of fun!" David yelled as the machine placed his armor on piece by piece. "Like one of those ring rides that spin you around every which way, only not as intense."
Joe chuckled and waved his friend goodbye as he continued on his way to the Armory. As he walked, Commander Palmer strolled out to the middle of the deck, she wore her silver Scout armor minus the helmet. She looked over all the Spartans in the armor bays, nodding to herself with satisfaction, and began to speak. Her voice magnified so everyone on the deck could hear her, a trick courtesy of the A.I Roland.
"Ladies...and other Spartans. Listen up, I know you heard some of this before but I have to make sure that every last one of you are on the right page. Your new work place is a planet first discovered by humanity 6 months ago called Requiem. Some of the old hands here know what you're in for, the rest of you are due for an education. The eggheads upstairs what to set up research stations, but before they can do that we have to fend off some Covenant squatters. The Covies. They believe this is the home of one of their gods. The way I see it, if those freaks want to meet God, then it is our duty to help them along."
Joe reach the armory when Palmer said the part about "eggheads" and vaguely listened from there. He placed his hand on his chin as he scanned the weapon racks filled with various UNSC weaponry, debating on which weapons he should choose for the upcoming battle. He decided and grabbed a DMR, a Magnum, several clips for each of them, two combat knifes and a handful of frag grenades.
He checked over his weapons before putting them on his person, double checked to see if the grenades where firmly in place and wouldn't detonate prematurely, and made sure all his spare clips where within easy reach. After he was satisfied with his inspection, he strolled to the center of the armory and waited for his teammates.
After a few moments, Joe sat on a nearby crate and pulled out one of his combat knifes, he began to balance in on one finger. This continued for a minute or so when he felt the floor rumble slightly. He was about to comment on it when Josh came in, followed by David, Brittany and several other Spartans all in their separate armor configurations.
"Looks like the party started." One of them said, Joe wasn't sure who. "So I hear." He said more to himself than anyone else. Joe sat up and walked over to his team, they were picking what weapons they were going to take for the battle.
Joe walked up to the nearest one; Josh, stopped beside the man and patted him on the shoulder. "Listen up Crimson. Sooner or later we'll be called to battle. Just want to say this now; whatever happens, I am proud to fight alongside each and everyone of you."
David brought his fist up. "You can count on me Captain." Brittany picked up a Battle Rifle, slapped a mag in, and loaded a round in the chamber. "I'll be sure to live up to your expectations." Josh turned his head to Joe, the latter turned to meet him. Josh nodded. "Feet first into hell sir." Joe smiled inside his visor. "ODST all the way." He turned to leave. "Meet me in the hanger bay when you're done." And with that, he strolled out of the armory.
Demarco from Majestic team walked over to the remainder of Crimson team, Madsen followed close behind. He was in full SOLDIER variant armor while his 'tail' was in a full RECON variant. "Well I'm all inspired now." Demarco said, hinting that he heard Joe's little speech. "So where are the bad guys?"
David walked up to him. "On the ground, which I will personally introduce you to if you keep being an ass." He shoved Demarco into Madsen, the latter manage to catch his squad leader, preventing the two from falling. Demarco took a few steps toward David. "Take it easy! Don't you know how to take a joke?"
David let out a short laugh. "Of course, but what you're doing isn't what I call a joke." He walked up to Demarco, the two were nearly face to face now.
"You see, what your doing is disrespecting the man who saved the lives of me and my old unit more times that I dare count. So, I would appreciate if you don't from now on. If that's going to be a problem-" He fully stretched out his arms at both sides. "-I'm more than willing to discuss it. Right here, right now."
Demarco stared at David silently for a few moments, thinking on how he should handle this situation he got himself in. Finally, he nodded a few time before walking back to his team, Madsen briefly looked at David before strolling after his teammate.
David let his arms drop to his sides and exhaled. He didn't realize he has holding his breath. Josh walked to his side. "Wow...I never thought I'd see a serious side to you Dave." David looked at him and chuckled. "There's a lot you don't know about me."
The two walked back to the weapon racks, finished picking out their gear for the upcoming operation and, with Brittany, headed off to meet Joe in the hanger.
A few minutes later...
Crimson team sat inside the hold of a Pelican dropship. They were waiting along with several other Spartan teams in separate Pelicans for the air corridor to Requiem to be cleared of Covenant resistance.
During the wait, Joe had plenty of time to look over his teams' armor configuration and weaponry.
David wore a 'Solar' visored EVA helmet and chest, Defender shoulders, Outer-plated forearms and legs. His armor was colored Sliver armor Red lines. He had an Assault Rifle, a belt of five frag grenades across his chest, several cans of C7 and a Sticky Detonator.
Josh wore a Protector helmet, a Stalker chest, CRSH shoulders, ODST legs, and Mark V forearms. It was colored Steel and Blue. He had a Battle Rifle, a Railgun, a combat knife strapped on his right leg and several frag grenades,
Brittany wore a Gungnir helmet, Tracker shoulders, an Enforcer chest, Mk VI forearms, Over-locking legs. Her armor was colored White with Purple lines. She had a SAW, a Battle Rifle, three frag grenades and a first aid kit attached to her left leg.
Josh nudged his head at David. "Any reason you decided to go with the 'Ramdo' look?" David held his AR up and shook it several times. "Cause I'm one dangerous son of a bitch!" He pointed the rifle at Josh, still shaking it playfully. "Don't you forget that!"
Josh raised his hands, BR in his right. "All right, I wouldn't tough guy." He lowered his hands and turned to Brittany. "You ever deal with guys like him?" "Loads of times." Brittany hit his shoulder. "When we get back, remind me to tell you about them. You wouldn't believe the stories I have to share."
"Joy." Josh turned to Joe. "Hear that Captain? Brittany wants to share here love life with me." Brittany slapped Josh on his head as soon as he finished speaking. David laughed as Josh did a "what was that for?" gesture. Joe chuckled. "Well Josh, looks like you have a reason NOT to get shot today."
David was about to add to that when someone over the comms give the Spartans' dropships clearance to launch. The engines roared to life, lifting the ship up. The Pelican propelled out of the hanger bay, followed by several others and their Broadsword escorts.
"Here we go." Joe said calmly, he sat up and moved to the front of the Pelican. He placed his hand on the only piece of metal separating the cockpit from the rest of the dropship and looked out the viewport. Debris from several Covenant cruisers and UNSC frigates filled the space between the giant metal planet known as Requiem. From their course, they were heading into a giant glowing hole: the entrance to the Forerunner Shield World.
The pilot, who seemed to know Joe was there the entire time, looked back at him briefly. "Quite a sight, an't it Spartan?" Joe nodded. "Forerunner tech usually is."
Requiem, location designated REQ-931-B or "The Quarry"
5 Pelican dropships flew above the series of canyons and mesas. Suddenly, Palmer's voice came over the comms.
"Spartan Sarah Palmer, Infinity Commander to all Navy, Army, and Marine forces, you can relax. The Spartans are here."
Crimson team checked over their gear one last time, loading their weapons if they hadn't done so already, and made absolutely sure everything was in A-OK condition for kick some Covenant ass. As they went though there routine, another unfamiliar voice came on the comms.
"Spartan Miller to Fireteams Castle, Majestic, Domino, Ivy and Crimson, sending coordinates for your Ops now." The Pelican pilots each received the individual coordinates for the Spartan teams they were caring, the dropships broke formation to the predetermined locations to drop off the teams.
As Crimson's dropship neared their LZ, Spartan Miller came over the comms again, on their team channel. "Crimson, I'll be your handler for today."
"Roger that Miller." Joe said, he walked over to the end of the Pelican as his team stood up. "So we got a babysitter now?" Josh said aloud, more as a complain than a question.
Joe looked over his shoulder at Josh. "Its more than that," He pointed at the roof of the Pelican. "He's our link to Infinity Command, any orders for us that come down while were in the field go to him, than to us. That, and he can get in touch with local units and help coordinate them, he even be our eyes in the sky and tell us about any surprises."
"So he's much more valuable than any 'babysitter'." Brittany added in. Josh responded by shrugging in a "what do you want from me?" way. The Pelican's back ramp opened up, revealing a desert, some Warthogs, a Covenant sniper tower and several Marines. Crimson team stepped out of the dropship, it flew away as soon as they where off. Joe looked a the Hogs, there where 3, each a different type. He looked around at the Marines, he counted six in total.
Miller's voice came on the comms again. "Crimson, we've dropped you off behind enemy lines to lend some Marines a hand. Play nice now. We're here to knock some heads together."
David walked up to Joe."By 'we' he means us right?" Joe let out a short laugh than walked off to meet the Marine who was heading towards them. "Figure that one out yourself mate?" David shook his head a few times. "I meant he's not coming down to fight too is he?" Joe looked over his shoulder at David, still walking all the while. "I doubt it mate, he's doing the tech part of job while we're doing the hands on part. We shoot while he tells us what to shoot."
"That's one way of putting it." A familiar voice sounded over the comm channel. "Commander Palmer," Joe stopped and put his left hand on the side of his helmet, the universal signal for 'I'm taking a call.' Even though it was unnecessary given the MJOLNIR comm link configuration, the gesture let the approaching Marine know he was momentarily occupied. "How long have you been on the line?"
"Long enough to hear you explanation of Miller's job. Speaking of which, Miller light up the targets for Crimson." Four red blips appeared on Joe's visor. "Those are power cores, intended for long-range distribution. Destroy them or the Covies will build bases and we'll have a hell of a time rooting them out."
"We'll make sure that doesn't happen." Joe turned to David. "An't that right Dave?" The latter pumped his fist in the air as a response. Joe turned back around, the Marine who was approaching them earlier stood in front of him patiently waiting for a chance to talk. "What's the situation here Sergeant?"
"We've been trying to destroy those cores for the past while, only managed to destroy one so far. They dropped us with two full squads, now its down to the six of us." Joe nodded at the Marine. "We'll see what we can do about the others." He turned and gestured Brittany and Josh to come to him. "Take one of these Marines and load up a Hog. See what kind of defenses these Storm bastards have. The rest of us will follow shortly."
They nodded and paced off towards the Gauss Hog. Along the way they gestured for a Marine to follow, loaded up in the Warthog-Brittany driving, Josh gunning and the Marine riding shotgun- and drove off. Not even a minute later. the sound of the Warthog's turret firing echoed along the canyon walls followed by the sound of plasma fire.
Joe turned back to the Sergeant. "Have one of your men provide overwatch from that sniper tower. The rest of you load up in the Hogs, we're taking these guys by storm." The Sergeant saluted and moved to carry out his orders. Joe turned around and walked back to David. "I see what you did there." He said as Joe pasted.
"Clever right?" Joe waved his hand at David. "Let's go, Rocket Hog, you're gunning." David fist pumped, let out a quiet "yes", and followed after Joe. A Marine with a BR joined them, all three loaded up in the Hog. Joe looked over and saw the third Hog load up with the Sergeant and two other Marines and drove off.
Joe was about to do the same when he heard the crack of a Sniper rifle. He looked up and saw the Marine left to provide cover in the tower, sure enough, he wielded a Sniper. 'Well if you gonna leave someone to cover you from afar, might as well be someone with the right weapon to do so.' And with that, Joe started up the Warthog and drove off.
Joe and David's hog pasted by several Covie bodies and some destroyed Ghost. They also noticed that one of the red blips was missing. Joe opened the team comm link. "Why didn't you tell us you destroyed one of the power cores?" Josh answered on his end. "Cause you didn't ask, sir."
Joe chuckled before speaking through the comm again. "Fair enough, what's your status?" Brittany answered this time. "Just took out a Wraith, now engaging an enemy defensive line near the second core with the other Hog. You boys better hurry before we kill all the bad guys." The comm shut off with a click.
"Hear that Dave? Looks like we have a challenge on our hands." David laughed. "I say bring it!" "I'm game." The Marine riding with them added. Joe floored the Hog, they reached the other Hogs just in time to see Josh destroy the second Shade turret. Josh seen them arrive, turned and waved at them as he balanced off the back of the Warthog. Only managing to say on due to his one hand holding onto the Gauss turret and one of his legs firmly on the Hog.
"Look who's here!" He said in a pose that some would take when going 'Ahee.' David responded by flipping the bird at him. Joe drove the Hog right on by. "Yeah, the really men are here. You can relax while we take care of the rest."
"Oh thanks, I think we deserve a break for doing most the work."
David looked over his shoulder and pointed at the second power core. "You missed a spot!" He turned the Rocket Pods towards it and fired. The rockets made contact and blew the core to pieces. Josh waved dismissively, Brittany chose this moment to start up the Warthog again. They followed after Joe and David's Hog.
Up ahead, a Phantom dropped off a fresh Wraith tank in front of them and flew away. The Wraith turned to the nearest Hog-the one with the Sergeant- and fired. The Marine managed to swerve the Warthog enough to avoid a direct hit, but the blast imploded off its left side making it fall on its side. Joe speed his hog up and commanded David to fire on the Covenant tank, Josh assisted by firing his Gauss turret at it.
Overwhelmed by the combined firepower, the Wraith exploded in a ball of blue plasma fire. Now with no enemies in the immediate area, Joe pulled his Hog up to the toppled over one. He was relieved to see that the Marines survived the blast, well most of them. "You ok Sergeant?"
The Marine walked over to Joe. "James took the blunt of the blast, needless to say he didn't make it. The two of us will live though, still ready to shoot some aliens." Joe nodded, he pointed to their Warthog. "That Hog still work?" The Sergeant turned around. "Can't say that I know sir." He walked back to it, gestured for the other Marine to come help him, and pushed the Hog back on its wheels. He hoped in and tried to start it, after a few tries it started up again.
Joe smiled, he lifted his hand out the side of his Hog and swung it around is small circles. "Party's still on boys and girls." The three Hog moved off, Joe's leading followed by Brittany's on his right and the Sergeant's on his left. They were met by another Wraith and two Grunts with Fuel Rods, they were quickly mowed down by the Warthogs' combined firepower, as was the power core they were guarding.
The three Hogs maneuvered towards the final core, all that guarded it were two Elites. One wielded a Concussion Rifle and fired at Brittany's Hog. Josh returned fire, the round cut through the Elite's upper torso, killing him instantly. The other ran towards a nearby Shade turret, and was cut down by the Marines.
Joe moved the Warthog in front of the final core, giving David a perfect shot to blow it up. "Alright Dave, blow it to hell so we can go." "With pleasure," David said as he jumped off the back of the Hog. He walked over to the core, grabbed a few cans of C7, opened them with a knife and placed them all over the core. It wasn't exactly the way Joe expected but it would get the job done.
After a few minutes, David finished placing the C7 and got back in the Hog. Joe moved it far away from the core, when he and the others where at a safe distance, David blew the C7. The blast was powerful enough to render a Wraith tank into ash. All throughout the explosion, David laughed hysterically. The Marine riding with them looked at him with concern, wondering if the Spartan had gone insane.
When the blast cleared, Joe shook his head back and forth. "I'm telling you mate. I'll never know why you enjoy blowing stuff up at the extent you do. Overkill doesn't even begin to cover it."
David was about to respond to him when a new voice buzzed in on the comm channel. "Miller, you have multiple Phantom inbound on Crimson's position."
Brittany was the first to ask the question that was on everyone's mind at the moment...at least for the rest of Crimson anyway. "Who was that?" Miller answered over the comms. "Spartan Dalton, he in charge of providing air support for Spartan team, he also monitors enemy air traffic via our observation satellites."
"Well isn't that handy." Josh said. Soon enough, the Phantoms Dalton warned of arrived. They moved to the high ground and began to drop of troops plus another Wraith and two Ghosts. The three Warthogs raced towards the new arrivals and, much like there previous engagements, wiped out all that stood in their way. However, even MORE Phantom dropships showed up, dropping off more troops.
The closest group were where the defensive line for the second power core was, a mixture of Grunts and Elites. They opened fire as Crimson and the Marines rushed towards them. Plasma rounds singed on the Hogs as the made contact with the Storm forces, maneuvering amongst their ranks and running them down. A Carbine round broke through the windshield of Joe's hog and hit the Marine next to him. The Marine fell forward into the dashboard, he was dead. Joe ran over the Covenant Elite responsible for the Marines death.
After finishing with that group, they moved onto the next group. The results were very much the same, the only difference was that there where no fallen barricades that got in their way. Once they finished with that group, Crimson witnessed a third being dropped off along with another Wraith.
Joe was about to start another charge when David stopped him. The latter hoped out of the Hog and walked over to the damaged one the Sergeant was using. After a few moments, the two Marines stepped out of the Hog and walked over to Joe's. The Sergeant climbed into the back while the other moved to the passenger seat, he carefully pulled out the body of his fallen squad member and placed him on the ground before hoping into the seat.
Joe looked over to David, his friend was strapping the rest of his C7 all around the Warthog. Joe turned to the Marine next to him. "Let me guess, he said he had an idea to takeout the enemy Wraith and asked to use that Hog for it." The Marine nodded in confirmation. Joe did a facepalm. "Typical David, always doing something crazy." The Sergeant laughed. "Yeah, you have quite the teammate there Captain." Joe rolled his eyes. 'You don't know the half of it.' He thought.
Without warning, David hopped in the damaged Warthog and drove towards the Covenant forces. He flew pasted by a group of Grunts, leaving his belt of grenades as a present, all active of course. They exploded, killing three and wounding two more. The Hog flew towards the Wraith tank, the Elite on its Plasma Cannon fired on David, only to be shot by the Marine Sniper a little ways away.
Moments before the Warthog collided with the Wraith, David broke the accelerator and jumped out. He rolled on the ground, picking himself up in time to see his bombed Hog collide with the artillery tank. David smiled and pulled out the detonator. He pressed it and watched as the Wraith exploded into a fireball.
Not to far behind, Brittany and Joe drove their Hogs towards the remaining group of Grunts and began to mop them up. As they pasted, Joe pulled out his Magnum and fired on two Grunts, killing them with headshots. He swung the Warthog around so that David would be right in front of him(and not the Hog) and stopped. He looked at David as he turned to him. "You're crazy, you know that."
David laughed. "Tell me something I don't know." Brittany's Hog skidded to a halt a few feet from them. "I hate to tell you this," She pointed to the sky. "But it looks like we have some Covies who are late to the party." The Phantom grew closer to them, it hovered over the top of a hill right in front of the humans and dropped off several Elites, Grunts, and a pair of Hunters.
Joe jumped out of the Warthog, upholstering the DMR on his back and pointed at the Covenant reinforcements. "Up the hill." He said before charging up it. The others complied and followed close behind. The Elites on the hill opened fire, exchanging plasma fire for bullet as Crimson team and the Marines returned fire. The Marine Sniper opened fire as well, popping off targets from the tower he was still on.
One by one, the Elites were wiped out but not before taking down one of the Marines and wounding another. The Sergeant grabbed his wounded comrade and hefted him down the hill, looking for a save place to treat the wound. For he knew that the Hunter pair was still alive, and they were as dangerous as a dozen Elites if not more.
Crimson reached the top of the hill, where the Hunter pair was waiting for them. Joe, Josh and Brittany threw several of their frag grenades at the pair, but it barely affected the two. Brittany opened fire on them, forcing them to shield their vulnerable areas, preventing them from firing their Fuel Rod Cannons for the time.
David and Josh flanked the pair from each side. Josh brought up his Railgun, aimed it at the closer Hunter and fired. The round breached its armor but the Hunter shrugged the round off like it was nothing. David took out his Sticky Detonator and fired at the other. The sticky landed on the Hunter's face, he detonated it, orange blood spilled onto the ground but the Hunter still stood. David quickly reloaded his weapon an aimed it again when the Hunter charged at him.
Brittany reloaded and fired on that Hunter, but the titan ignored it and continued to bear towards David. It swung its massive shield arm at the Spartan, the latter ducked causing the blow to miss. The Hunter followed up with an uppercut, David rolled with the blow allowing him to get close to the massive beast. He dug his Sticky Detonator into the Hunter's 'throat', launched the grenade inside, than ran away from it before detonating the sticky grenade. Orange blood and meat bits scattered onto the sand, its headpiece fell on the floor with a thump.
The surviving Hunter roared angrily, it aimed its cannon at David. Before it could fire, Joe got its attention by shooting at its head, the Hunter moved to the Spartan and fired. The latter rolled to one side, picked himself up, and aimed his DMR at the Hunter. Only he didn't fire, because the Hunter was right on top of him. It raised its shield arm high in the air and began to bring it down.
'Oh shi-' Joe jumped to his left, narrowly dodging the hit. The Hunter picked its arm up and slowly walked towards Joe. All the while, David, Josh and Brittany opened fire on it but it had no affect. Joe stood up, leaving his DMR on the ground. As bullets continued to ping off its armor, the Hunter pulled back its shield arm. It threw the arm forward in a thrust, but Joe rolled around the arm. He pulled out one of his knifes and jumped towards the Hunter, he slashed at its head, cutting through half of its 'neck'. It stumbled backwards, stunned.
Joe turned to Josh. "Railgun!" He yelled, the latter threw the weapon to Joe. He caught it, began to charge up a shot, and aimed it at the Hunter's head. It fired, knocking the head clean off. For good measure, Joe took the rest of his grenades and shoved them in the creature's exposed torso. The grenades blew meat chunks and blood out every exposed area in the Hunter's armor. The upper part of the Hunter fell forward into the sand, the lower half remained in their fixed position.
Joe picked up his DMR, walked over to Josh, and gave him back his weapon. "Thanks for letting me use this." He said before pacing towards Brittany, he looked at David as he went, the latter was kicking the still standing corps of the Hunter he killed.
Joe looked back to Brittany. "Call it in." He said, continuing past her to check on the two Marines at the base of the hill.
Brittany activated the comm link, giving Miller the good news.
"Area clear Miller, unless you or Dalton see anymore Phantoms coming toward us."
"That's a negative," Spartan Dalton answered. "You're clear Crimson."
"Roger that Dalton," Spartan Miller cut it. "Your ride is inbound Crimson. Hold position, it'll come to you."
Meanwhile, David finally managed to make the Hunter armor to fall, he quickly moved around it, stood on top of the Hunter corps, and took a triumphant pose. "Quick someone take a picture!" Josh moved in front of him and pretended have a camera, moving around as if he was taking pictures multiple angles. Playing along, David kept changing poses. Brittany laughed as the two fooled around.
Joe reached the bottom of the hill where the two Marines where, the Marine Sniper was jogging over to meet them. Joe bet down, he looked over the wounded Marine. It looked like he'll make it. The Sergeant sat up. "Well, it's not perfect but it'll do." He pulled the wounded man up. The Sniper Marine ran over and assisted. Together they pulled the Marine up the hill, a Pelican could be seen in the sky coming closer and closer.
Joe started up the hill again, wanting to join his team as they waited for their ride. A few moments later, the Pelican landed on the hill.
Crimson let the Marines in first before heading in themselves. Joe was the last one to enter, he looked back as he walked up the ramp. 'This wasn't such a bad first mission for Crimson team.' He thought to himself with a smile. He turned around and settled inside the Pelican. The ramp closed behind him as the dropship took off towards the sky and back to Infinity.
As they went, Miller came back on the comm channel.
"Commander Palmer, mission successful. Crimson's heading for home."
"Already?" She sounded surprised. "Everyone else is hip deep in bad guys. Impressive work Miller, congratulation the team."
A few moments of silence passed before Miller came back on again.
"Well Crimson, I've never heard Commander Palmer compliment anyone before, so not a bad day at the office. See you back on Infinity."
Joe chuckled to himself, almost two full squads of Marines died in this battle, David almost blew up everyone again, and he was almost chopped in half by a very pissed off Hunter. 'And he calls it, not a bad day at the office.'
Joe took off his helmet, wiped some sweat off his forehead, and dangled it between his legs.
"I assume the first rounds on you then."
