Chapter Two: Capture the Flag

0230 Hours, June 8, 2547 (Military Calendar) \
Onyx, Zeta Doradus System

10 km South-West of Camp Currahee

Spartan-III Alex-G004

I always enjoyed pelican-rides over the wilderness; they provided a breath-taking vista that not many would usually see in their lifetime. The Company was dropped in a large clearing eight kilometers north of the marine battalion's HQ and we had been steadily advancing for an hour and fifteen minutes. Now, we were only a klick away from our objective. I had worked with several other sharpshooters from other teams and we had already taken out several marine patrols, allowing the company to advance.

I lay still in the bushes as several teams advanced ahead of me. I adjusted the sights on my sniper rifle and scanned the area, making sure those spartans wouldn't receive any surprises. I opened a COM channel with my team. "Team Leader, what's your status?" I whispered.

"Moving up and securing the next leg, Eagle-Eye," Tyrone referred to me by my call sign, "You're clear to advance, over."

I lowered my sniper rifle, rose into a crouch, and began moving forward. "Eagle-Eye, moving up," I said over the universal COM channel, the channel everyone in the company could hear.

"Acknowledged, Eagle-Eye, advance to position thirty-six," I recognized the voice of Ash-G099, the leader of Team Saber and the spartan who usually took de facto command of the company during operations such as this.

I followed Ash's order and moved past most of the advancing teams into sniper position thirty-six; an outcropping of the ridge that overlooked the southern approach into the 103rd's Battalion HQ that had enough underbrush and vegetation for me to become invisible but still have one of the best views I could ever ask for, short of an ocean view in an apartment on Emerald Cove. I went prone and fixed my sights down into the 103rd's northern perimeters.

The only thing between the hills and the 103rd's HQ compound was a half-klick stretch of land filled with short trees and several huge hedges, but no marines or patrols. That made me frown; the 103rd usually always had a patchwork of men waiting in that stretch of land in every previous op we had done against them.

The rest of my team regrouped behind me and we waited for the rest of the company to form a line on the ridge. It took three minutes to fully organize for the strike. Gamma Company got ready. Breathing slowed and grips tightened on rifles.

Sounds from the HQ compound ahead began to drift over to the hills. Marines could be heard moving into position, shouting orders and calling for units to move this way and that.

I noticed something abnormal through my scope as I swept through the no-man's land in between us and the 103rd. Something wasn't quite right about one of the hedges. It almost looked as if it had rustled, but there was no wind. Frowning, I switched my scope to thermal. I gasped at what I saw and had time only to swear briefly before Ash gave the order to advance. I stopped my team, but the rest of the company began to move down the hills and into the no-man's land.

I got onto the universal COM channel and urgently said, "Omega-3-3," our emergency abort code. When Omega-3-3 was ordered, the entire company was to immediately abort the mission and retreat, and that's what we did right now.

The 'hedges' rumbled to life, took aim at the retreating spartans, and opened fire. Heavy 90 millimeter tungsten shells exploded everywhere, causing bright flashes and sending dirt and debris flying every which way.

"Holy shit, those are scorpions! No one said they had tanks!" a spartan shouted over the COM.

"Why in hell they're using them now, I have no idea," Ash agreed over the channel, "alright—all teams retreat to rally point bravo, we need to re-think our strategy. Eagle-Eye, you still there?"

I responded quickly, saying, "Yeah, I haven't moved and neither has my team."

"Alright, Alex—––Ty, you hearing me?"

"Loud 'n clear, Ash," Tyrone answered.

"Ty, I'm designating Team Rapier our ace in the hole. You guys will be the ones to get the flag back. I'm thinking we should use Alex as a Sinon and gather enough intel from inside the compound to be able to mount an assault," Ash suggested.

"Given the circumstances I'll allow it, but only if Alex volunteers. He could be physically harmed doing this," Ty said calmly, but firmly.

My mind was made up in a nanosecond, although I knew that being the Sinon had lots of risks. "I'll do it," I said.

"It's done, then, Alex, we'll see you soon," Ash cut the connection.

The scorpion tanks shed their natural disguise and, reinforced with at least a company of marines, began to advance into the hills.

I crawled over to Ty and hissed, "Hey, Ty! I'll trade you my rifle for the MA5B; I don't want my rifle getting damaged."

"Aight," Ty unslung his assault rifle and passed it to me while I gave him my prized sniper rifle.

"G'luck mate," Robin called over.

Sam squeezed my hand for a few moments before letting go. "Don't kill yourself out there."

"They're closing in; you guys better get going," I warned. I nodded to them one last time as they disappeared into the forest.

As a tank and contingent of marines drew near I activated my helmet camera and lay in wait until they were all around me. I seized the moment and rose up out of the underbrush, leaping at the nearest marine.

The unfortunate man had time only to let out a startled yelp before I clubbed him down with a well-aimed punch. I brought my MA5B to bear and opened fire at the marines as they swiftly recovered, knocking five of them out with a wide spray of tranq-rounds.

Then one of them returned fire, hitting me in the back. I felt an incredible pain explode around the points of impact. I was confused for a moment; no tranquilizer-rounds could produce that much of a punch. They were using live rounds, too! I realized as I sank to the ground. There was no internal injury at least; my armor had deflected the rounds. I had that much to be thankful for.

I lay there groaning and attempting to crawl away until one of them planted a boot on my back right where I had just been shot. Agony exploded through my torso, making me scream. I'm sure my fellow spartans could hear me and I'm glad I wasn't one of them. If I had heard a comrade in pain like that and been helpless to stop it I would have felt like ten tons of shit. But then again, the alternative was being the one in pain which was just as bad. God, I hate catch-22s I thought to myself.

The marine on top of me bent down and whispered, "Kick our asses now, kid. Even ONI's freaks can't stand up to scorpions; gotta love 'em," the marine straightened up and called out to one of his peers, "Henderson, go tell the Major about our little catch here. The rest of you help me get him into the holding block back at HQ. Move it!"

I was picked up and crudely slung over a large man's shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried all the way into the HQ compound, which was now completely illuminated with plasma-powered lights. Marines and other personnel who caught sight of me being held like that whooped and cheered. I heard a lot of "The tables have turned" and "How the mighty have fallen". I didn't mind that; this was their first time capturing a spartan and that was only because we had never found it necessary before.

I looked at the weak-points in the perimeters and the possible routes to the command post and ultimately saw the flag in all its glory planted next to the CP. I was careful to observe as much of the compound as I could for as long as possible to work out the layout before I was taken into a small building lined with reverse-engineered Covenant force cages: energy fields combined with anti-grav generators that would keep the prisoner hovering in the air while inhibiting nervous messages to the rest of the body, rendering the prisoner immobile from the neck down.

A marine sergeant wearing a full helmet entered after my bearer. His stripes told me he was a staff sergeant. "The Major put me in charge of…welcoming our young friend," the staff sergeant said, "Put him into one of the force cages and get that armor off, then bring him to the questioning room."

"Yes, sir," the marine carrying me replied. He tossed me into one of the cages. I immediately felt the effects; my body tingled for a second and I felt light-headed, but only for a second. I could only move my head. I hated that feeling of knowing your body was all there, but there was nothing you could do to move it, no matter how hard you tried.

My man the marine unsealed and removed my helmet and peered into my face. I'd like to say that I looked rather normal; I had shortish light-brown hair, a thin face with higher cheek-bones, gradually upturned nose, a spray of freckles across my nose and cheeks, and, as Sam put it, shockingly blue eyes. I guess that's why the marine looked so surprised; because the face of one of ONIs 'freaks' was no different than a normal 11-year-old's.

"You guys gonna hurt me?" I asked in my shaky innocent voice as the marine removed my chest, arm, and leg plates, leaving me in just my t-shirt and camo-print pants.

"You and your friends have whooped us a dozen times and caused more injuries to this outfit than I can count; don't expect a walk through a rose garden," the marine chuckled as he grabbed hold of me and pulled me out of the cage. I went limp on his shoulder as my nerves returned to life and wonderful sensation spread throughout my body. The marine sighed with satisfaction as he hefted me and started to walk. "That's better, kid. You're not as heavy with all that armor."

I was taken past the force-cages into a square room at the end of the corridor with nothing but a table and two chairs on either side of it. The marine carrying me set me down in one of the chairs and held me there until the sergeant arrived with several lengths of rope, which he used to tightly tie my feet down to the chair legs and my hands behind its back. The chair had a higher back, making it impossible for me to try to wiggle out.

The marine that carried me in winked at me and left, closing the door behind him. I noticed that the door was sound-proofed. The sergeant turned to me and started our wonderful conversation with a crushing blow to the side of my face followed up with an under-cut to my abdomen. I doubled over as far as the restraints would allow, gasping for breath. I think I spent about an hour tied to that chair, taking a merciless beating from that sergeant.

After the minutes and seconds melted together like butter I began to zone out when the sergeant spoke. I heard his voice, but not his words. Finally, he splashed ice-cold water in my face, snapping me back to reality. My body ached all over from all of the blows. I definitely had cracked ribs from the shooting incident earlier and a broken arm and shattered wrist from this man. I coughed up blood eventually as he bore on.

Finally after what seemed like hours, the sergeant was done. He untied me from the chair, allowing blood to flow into my hands and feet again, and put me back into one of the force cages. I remained there for roughly twenty minutes when it began.

In the Trojan Wars, after the Greeks had made no headway against the defending Trojans, Odysseus came up with the brilliant plan of the Trojan Horse. The chieftains hid in that horse while the Greek Army relocated to the adjacent harbor and made it look as if they had left for good. However, a Greek named Sinon had remained to convince the Trojans to take the horse into the city, sealing their fate. My company had just used me as their 'Sinon', the name we used for the maneuver, making the marines think we had retreated while at the same time gathering the very intel we needed to mount an assault. My helmet camera had recorded every inch of the compound when I was carried in and sent it all to my fellow spartan-IIIs. Now, with the knowledge of the layout of the compound, they struck.

The marines were caught by surprise. After all, how could anyone possibly evade the armored patrol in the forest? The answer was simple; taking a long loop around to the other approach. Gamma Company attacked from the south instead of the north. Dozens of marines were felled by tranq-rounds before they knew what was happening.

I heard the door blow open and turned my head to see Ash-G099, Ty, and Robin, stride into the block. They caught sight of me and sprinted over, helping me out of the force cage and onto the floor.

"Oh, Jesus, man—" Ty exclaimed, but I stopped him.

"Don't worry—it was fun," I cracked a faint smile. It was Ty's turn to carry me, now. Robin came over and joined us as we ducked and ran for the perimeter as loads of re-enforcements for the marines arrived. I saw Sam and Emma grab hold of the flag and sprint our way with it. We all grouped up and got the hell out of there, covered by a blanketing hail of tranq-rounds, courtesy of the rest of the company.

"So!" I managed to shout as we ran for the forest, "who thinks we'll be fighting Covies on Earth when we get outta here?"

"Naw," Robin shook his head, "There's no way those bloody aliens will find Earth, what with the Cole Protocol and all."

"I dunno," Em said, "They came so close so many times. I think it's inevitable."

"Fine, I'll tell you what," Robin rolled his eyes, "If we do end up doing as he said, fighting them on Earth when we get out and all, I'll let Alex give me a five-star."

I smiled wolfishly and flexed my good hand. "You're on."

As my team reached the safety of the forest, the rest of the company melted away into the trees and underbrush.

The marines were left dazed and bewildered as the children who had just rampaged through their HQ vanished into the forest as suddenly as they had arrived.