Chapter two

He wasn't always the smartest one in his pack but Tayap would never let that stop him from getting what he wanted even if that was the next ship to go to his home planet. As he walked down a blood stained corridor he noticed that some of the dead Grunts where members of the pack that he used to be in before being reassigned. He felt a horrid sickening feeling in the base of his stomach because he wasn't aloud to tend to the body of his kind before those that ranked over his kind. Although this was a great honour for a Grunt of his rank he resented them for it. After about 30 cycles all the bodies had been cleared from the area and stored on the ship. Tayap was aboard one of the ships that were assigned to carry the bodies back to the planets of which they came from. He was assigned to a room in which 3 other Grunts were trying to put a body of a fallen Hunter into one of the cryo-tubes that littered the walls all the way around the room. After a great deal of time the Grunts had succeeded in putting the Hunter into the tube but before Tayap was able to press the cryo-tubes close button the bulky body fell out of its resting spot hitting the floor with a great thump. Three of the four Grunts ran to the other side of the room in a fit of panic, Tayap turned to see what it was they were running from. The Hunter's giant body had landed on top of one of the Grunts. Tayap and the other Grunts rushed over to help the other but as they got to him the noticed that the spikes of the Hunter had impaled the impish Grunts body.

"Commander Keyes, this is Eco 919 we have the Spartan and casualties ETA 5 minutes" The pilot spoke down the radio happy with the work she had just done

"Eco 919 you are clear for landing on platform f-12" A voice replied back

"Roger that HQ" The pilot swiftly called back

As soon as they had landed the chief was greeted by the Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson. They both gave the chief a quick nod as soon as they had finished John repaid the greeting with a nod of his own.

"Master Chief we have a mission for you that I know you're not going to say no to"

The Commander spoke in Calming voice "let go inside to my office and speak"

The three of them walk towards to gigantic titanium-A doors as the opened.

"Ma'am if you don't mind I would like the change into something a little more appropriate" John asked "if that is ok with you?"

"Yes you may Spartan" The Commander answered "you will need to relax before this mission anyways"

"Thank you ma'am" John said as he saluted "I will be there as soon as I can"

The Commander and Johnson saluted him back and walked off towards the Commanders office. After about 15 minutes John arrived at the Com. Keyes's office he knocked and waited for permission to enter Johnson opened the door and signalled him to enter. He entered and stood in front of her desk.

"Have a seat please chief" She said before continuing "this mission you will be going on is classified as a Spartan mission"

John eyes widened as he sat down "What do you mean by Spartan mission?"

"We have retrieved some Information from a Covenant ship we managed to disable and Capture that one of the ships that has just left this planet has aboard something that you might want to recover" Keyes spoke

"Me?" The chief asked in a confused way "What in the world would I want that the Covenant have?"

"A Spartan" Sgt. Johnson replied "More to the point the body of James"

The Spartan jumped jump out of his seat as if he was ready there and then to go on the mission. Commander Keyes looked up at him and then at the as if to ask him to sit.

"Chief before I can let you start to get ready you must know that there is very little known about the ship that she is on" Keyes said trying to keep eye contact with John

"I under stand Ma'am" The chief said almost unable to sit still but forced him self to.

"Chief before you go to get ready you will be taking a team with you" Keyes said

"But Ma'am with all…" the chief start to say getting interrupted mid sentence

"Chief that is not a request it is an order" Keyes spoke calmly back at the chief "this team will be made up of 3 marines, 3 ODST's and 1 AI named Remus, I know you would sooner work alone but these are not my orders "

"Ma'am?" John asked with a confused expression on his face "Who gave the orders?"

"They are the orders of lord hood" Johnson answered "here are the profiles of the men and women you will be taking with you"

"You may leave now get you and your team ready" Keyes said "you will be leaving at 1200 hours tomorrow"

"Thank you Ma'am" John said as he stood "Sir nice to see you again"

The chief walked out of the room and towards his assigned quarters to start reading up on the crew that he was to take with him. Once he arrived at his room he started with the file of the marines. The first file was that of Gunnery Sergeant Lee Simons who is considered the best pilot in the UNSC. The second file was that of Sergeant Anne Simons the sister of Lee Simons who is the best linguist of the UNSC. The third was that of a Lieutenant Sam Connors who is an expert in ground combat weapons and a medic. Then he started to read the files of the ODST. The first of these files was that of Lieutenant Mark Ullric Mathews who is and expert in Hand to hand combat. The second file was that of Captain Jack Caine an expert in mechanic. Lastly was the file of Captain Abby O'Neill an expert in heavy weapons. Then he started on the mission file telling what and where his mission was to take place at. After finishing all of the files John sat back in his chair and thought to him self that all 6 of these put to combine would not even make up one Spartan but they will have to do for this mission. John stood and walked to the other side of the room then laid down on his bed and drifted off with the thought of the other Spartans and the missions that they had gone on together.

It had been almost 30 day cycles since the ship that Tayap was on had departed from the planets surface. Tayap was in the methane room resting when the door opened and a Brute stomped his was in and grabbed the Grunt by the back of his next and forcefully handed him his breathing apparatus. As he was being carried out of the room the Grunt rushed to put on his equipment this was not an easy the way he was being held.

"Are you the Grunt call Tayap?" Demanded the Brute "if so you are wanted by the grand council"

The Grunt was scared to answer because rarely a grunt was summoned to the council and if they ever where it never ended well for them even if it was to be a simple mission such as good watch out for enemy forces.

"Yes that is me" he answered

"Good it took me long enough to find you" The Brute replied in disappointment

The Grunt looked up at the Brute wishing that he would let him go so. The Brute walked up to two big doors with two chieftain Brutes standing guard

"Hold it there under-rank" the Brute on the left called out "what business do you have with the council"

"I have brought the Grunt that the council have requested to see" the Brute holding Tayap replied "here are the documents given to me to bring him to see the council"

The Brute on the right took the documents off of him and started to read. Then after a moment he nodded at the other Brute. The two Brutes moved out of the way of the doors to let him pass. As the Brute started to move forward the other two put their arms up in the way of the Brute. He stopped looked at them puzzled.

"Only the grunt may go any further that these doors" The Brute on the left spoke "you may go back to your regular duties now"

The Grunt gave a sigh of relief as he was being put down on to the floor. Just as the grunt had stood up right the Brute that had fetched him pushed him through the doors with one of his giant feet. Tayap jumped as the enormous doors slammed shut behind him and a light appeared in the centre of the room. He slowly started to walk over to the light. Once he had arrived on the light he could hear the whispering of the grand council. The grunt grew more and more nervous as they spoke between them selves.

"By now you must be wondering why we summoned you to come here." One member of the council asked him they then passed for the Grunts to see response

Tayap nodded, looked around the room trying to pin point the location of the voice.

"Well small one we have retrieved evidence that members of your old pack where some of the ones killed by the Demon" One voice said and was interrupted by another

"We are giving you control of a 250 Grunt pack that will be working along side 250 Brutes, 250 Jackals, 250 Hunters and 250 Drones" The voice was stop by yet another

"Each of the groups will have one of their own kinds in charge of them, you are the one in charge of the Grunts" he was then spoken out by a last voice

"Do you have any questions about your assignment?" the mysteries voice asked

"Yes your excellences why are there more Drones than Grunts?" he ask carefully

"That Grunt is a question in which we do not have time or patients to answer" Two voices said at the same time "You will be fetched when you are needed, leave us now"

The chief had gotten 6 hours of sleep leaving him 6 hours to brief his team and gear up for the mission ahead he start by putting on his MJOLNIR armour this would take up 2 hours another 2 to brief and a final 1 hour to get the equipment need ready. Before he started to gear up he went to the door and handed the guard standing on the other side a piece of paper with the names of his team on it and asked him to go tell the personnel that he would be taking to meant him in briefing room 6 at 1100 hours. The guard gave him a quick salute and went on his way. As soon as he had gone John start to put on his MJOLNIR armour. This took less time than he had planned for with another 30 minutes till the briefing he prepared some thing to eat. Having dealt with his armour and nourishment John made his way to briefing room 6. As he approached the room he noticed 2 heavily armoured guards stood out side of each side of the door.

"Attention!!" one guard called out saluting the Master Chief as he approached the door "Chief the personnel that you asked for are waiting for you in here sir"

"At ease marine" John said "thank you for retrieving them for me"

The Chief entered the room took one look around then walked to the table in the centre of the room. He placed his helmet that he held in one hand down and started a role call since the profiles did not have any photos.

"Please stand after I call your name" the chief asked "Gunnery Sergeant Lee Simons"

"Sir" A young man aged 25 with green eyes short brown hair and of medium build stood up and saluted him.

"Sergeant Anne Simons" Again he called

"Sir" A young woman aged 25 with brown eyes short brown hair and of medium build stood up and saluted him.

"Lieutenant Sam Connors" The chief requested

"Sir" A another young man stood aged 26 with blue eyes brown tall and medium build stood up and saluted him.

"Lieutenant Mark Ullric Mathews" The chief requested another person

"Present Sir!" A man aged 30 with short blonde hair dark blue eyes and big build stood and saluted.

"Captain Jack Caine" The chief once again called out a name

"Present Sir!" A man aged 34 with average length yet black hair Brown eyes and large build stood and saluted.

"Captain Abby O'Neill" He called out the final name

"Present Sir!" A woman aged 31 shoulder long black hair green eyes and average build stood and saluted.

"You all may sit now" John signalled towards their chairs "before I start to brief you all I would like to let you know that if you have any questions ask them as I go on will not have to time for questions at the end are we clear on that"

"Roger sir!" all six called out at the same time

"Good" the Chief replied "As you may or may not know we will be departing this base at 1200 hours today after this briefing is complete you will have one hour to get the equipment required ready"

John took a moment to look around the room to check every one is paying attention.

"First we will be taken to a battle cruiser in orbit that will take use to our first location where we will be collecting the AI" he took a breath "then we will be taken back to the battle cruiser where we will be taken to a Covenant hostile planet name unknown, once on the surface we will be a loan there will be no back up or pick up until the time given to use when we get there, we then will be taking a vehicles to the location of what will be called Alfa base"

"Sir what vehicle will we be using" Capt. Jack interrupted

"Good question what do you recommend?" John asked

"Well there being seven of us I think that it would be best to have two vehicles" he answered "best choices would be a Scorpion Tank and an LRV Warthog both able to take out Covenant forces from a distance and with ease"

"Good thinking we will use them then" John replied "is there anything else to add?"

The ODST looked down at the table took a moment to think and answered "No sir"

"Thank you" Chief responded "Once at Alfa base we will take out what ever Covenant that holds that area, Lieutenant Sam and Capt. Abby I want you two to take care of what weapons ammo we will be taking with us, make sure we have enough to last two days of continues fire even though that might be a bit much"

They both nodded and replied "Sir Yes sir"

The Chief continued to tell them what they will be doing when and what each person will be expected to do this took up almost 2 hours.

"Right we have 1 hour and 15 minutes till the start of the mission get weapons, vehicles, medic supplies, food and anything else will be needing" John ordered "you all may leave now thank for your time"

"Thank you sir" All six saluted at him and left the room.

The time to leave had arrived The Master Chief stood by the side of two pelicans one with a Scorpion on the back of it and the other with the Warthog. Both loaded up with the supplies that they were taking along with them. John waited for all six of them to get on to a pelican assigned to them. Then he got on to the one with the Warthog and signalled to the pilot to leave. Both dropships roared off into the sky towards the battle cruiser.