I awaken a few hours later, my HUD glitching out a little. But not enough to worry about.
I blink a few times as my HUD comes online, the shield bar full and my radar clear of any contacts.
I feel the water lapping at my armor and the distant feel of cold water that doesn't seem to touch me. I clench my fists and pull in sand as my armor unlocks. I climb to a crouch and retrieve my magnum, blinking hard as the sun glares at me from the oceans reflection.
I look around and see what looks like a forerunner tower to my left and cliffs surrounding the area. Its a hilly type area with a stream running through it, coming from a waterfall from the far side of the area.
I stand and find a boulder that juts out from the ground and survey the area. "Where am I?" I mutter. I spot another tower at the other side and decide that I'd better check it out.
I spot an ancient crashed pelican that must have been shot down years ago. The dirt and plants have completely taken it over and it is partially covered in the ground.
As I turn away from it, a single bullet slams into my armor. It was a low powered Magnum round. And it only caused annoyance.
i turn around with a growl and find a slight distortion sitting on the wing of the Pelican.
I activate my active camo and sneak around the back. The attacker is panicking, searching to see where I went.
I am suddenly behind him and kick him off of the Pelican where his shields break as he slams into the dirt.
The camo drops and a Spartan appears. Seizure, my AI, marks him as a friendly and retrieves his basic files. "A private. Private Fernandiz. He was onboard Jumpy when it crashed," Siezure says.
I deactivate my camo and jump down from the Pelican, approaching the private who is standing on one knee.
"Sorry, sir," The Private says, seeing my rank. "I didn't realize you were a friendly."
"Next time think before you shoot. How long have you been down here?" I ask him. "A few hours. I was with the ship when it crashed. My pod was dislodged and I crashed somewhere in the hills. Came down here because i spotted some structures," he says. "Something doesn't sit right with his story..." Siezure says, voicing my thoughts. "What's the model, spartan?" I ask him. "Um...SOIV. I was about to drop when the ship was attacked, got locked in it," he says hesitantly. Now I know hes lying. but what choice do I have but to accept it?
"Alright. I'll help you get back to safety. Just stay behind me, and don't get in my way," I say and head up onto a rock where Siezure puts out a distress beacon using the Towers arrays to boost his signal.
"Lightning...something's wrong. My signal is being blocked by a remote source. I can't get a beacon through. DO NOT let on that you have an AI. Something seriously wrong is going on," Siezure says through a private COM channel. "Understood," I reply to him and turn to the Private.
"I know of a place we can stay until help arrives. Its away a few miles, but we can make it. It might be a while until we can get some help," the Private says. I don't question how he knows this, i just go with it. I must be on guard at all times around this Spartan.
We travel for about two hours, crossing over the mountain range and into a snowy area that Siezure clocks the temperature to be -10 degrees farenheight.
"Here we are. We can hide out here until help arrives," The private says, gesturing to the UNSC base.
There is a garage, two guard buildings, and an old barrack that sits up on a ledge.
I have Siezure scan the area for threats, but he finds none. "Alright, thank you. I can take first watch," I say and clip my weapon to my back. "Alright. I'm going to go get some sleep. See you in an hour," He says and goes inside of the barracks.
I had slipped a microphone onto his armor, one that would monitor both his COM activity and his speech.
I make my way to the top of the guards base and crouch down, watching for any signs of trouble.
"Not good. I'm picking up COM chatter from our drone," Siezure says after 20 minutes pass. "Patch it through," I tell him.
"Where are you?" A males voice asks. "At the location. I have the target. He has no knowledge of the situation," The private says with a chuckle. "We're enroute. Hang in there. Make sure he doesn't find out," The voice says.
I curse and bring my weapon up to bear, quickly jumping into the base and flattening back against the wall. "Tangos inbound. I'm reading three signatures, all Spartans. They're coming in from the west!" Siezure hisses.
"Not good," I growl.
"Where are you?" the Private asks me over a COM channel. I have to play it cool, get the jump on them. "Down in the furthest building. Just checking out what's in here," I say coolly.
"I'm coming over, i've found something of interest," he says.
"The four signatures are fanning out. The private is coming, he has a SAW. Be careful!" Siezure says.
"I'll get his guard down, then you guys come in and detain him. Be careful, this guys a Major" The Private says over the private COM channel. "Heh, he's no match for us. We're Spartans, remember?" A cocky voice says. "He is too," the private says. "Are you kidding me? You said we're going after a Marine!" A females voice snaps. "I said it might be a Marine. Turns out he's a Spartan. A spartan II to be exact," the Private says. The first males voice curses violently. "This is going to be harder then expected," he snarls. "Come on. We've taken out Spartan II's before. Can't be that hard," another says. "Shut up. Lets get this done. The sooner we get the information out of him, the sooner our mission is complete," An authouritive voice says. Probably the squad leader. "Yes sir," the others reply.
"So, interrogation is what they're looking for?" I say quietly. "Looks like it. Be careful, Lightning. These guys mean business," Siezure warns.
The Private approaches the building and clips his SAW to his back. "Hello, sir," the private says. I say nothing, just watch him. I am watching for patterns, signs that he might be signaling his team.
The Marine is silent as he switches to his Private COM. "You're clear for entry. Try to be quiet," he says. "Copy that," the squad leader says.
"So...what were you doing on the mining ship?" He asks. "They're closing in. Be careful!" Siezure hisses. "I was being shipped out to an asteroid for protection duty. Nothing more," I say simply. "Ah, i see. I was being shipped out with a bunch of ODST's. They died in the crash," he says.
I see him reach behind his back and activate something. It was so subtle, the untrained eye would have thought he was simply moving his hand.
"They're inside the building! Two above and one below. Whatever you're planning, do it now," Siezure says.
In a flash of movement the Private grabs his knife and lunges at me. But i catch his wrist and jerk his arm above his back, wrenching the knife out of his hand and holding it to his throat, then turning to face the attackers who had just stormed the room. They are not four feet from me and the Private.
"Don't even think about it," I snarl.
"Hell...this wasn't expected," the squad leader says over the Private COM. "What should we do?" the female asks. "We can charge him. He can't hold off all of us," The cocky voice says. "Too risky. He could kill Jensun," the squad leader says.
"Put the knife down. We just want to talk to you," The squad leader says to me. I glance behind me and see a window that overlooks a steep cliff which the oceans water crashes into.
I take a step back and press the knife harder into his throat as the leader flinches. "Don't even think about it," I growl.
"Lightning, im reading a new signature. Another spartan, closing in fast!" Siezure says. "To your left, duck NOW!"
I push away the Private and duck, catching the arm and pulling it sharply then ramming the blade into his stomach.
The attacker cries out in pain and stumbles back.
The other Spartans charge me but I quickly turn and jump out of the window backwards.
"No!" The squad leader roars in anger.
I flip in midair and flick my feet out underneath me, sliding down the slope and stopping inches before I reach the water. "They're headed to the Falcon. get out of there!" Siezure says.
I dive into the water and swim to land, booking it up into the rocks and crouching under an overhang, trying to keep my head down. "Where did he go?" The squad leader snarls. "I saw him go into the water. No way out. He'll probably freeze to death before he gets out," The female says. "Lets hope he does. I don't want this mission to be a failure," the squad leader says. "Lets move out. Don't want to get caught in the blizzard."
After a few moments, the line goes silent as the Private and his squad move out of range.
After another ten minutes, I emerge from my hiding place and survey the area.
It is beginning to snow and the wind is kicking up. "I'm afraid we'll have to stay here for the night. Can't go out during a blizzard," Siezure says. I grunt and climb up the slope.
I clear out the second guards base and decide that it'd be a good place to camp out until day-time.
I bring in rocks from the outside and barricade myself in a smaller room. I start a fire as well, using the rocks to insulate the heat but leaving a crack so the smoke from the fire can escape.
I take off my helmet and rub my thumb over the crack on the right side of it. It hasn't spread, or gotten worse. Good.
I put down my helmet and lean against the wall.
Siezure appears in his AI form, a muscular Werewolf, and stands next to me.
"Any idea who those Spartans are?" I ask Siezure who shakes his head. "No idea. I tried to pull their files but...there were none," He says, obviously troubled. "Keep trying. I want to know why I'm being hunted," I say and listen to the howling of the wind which batters the walls and tears at the rocks i put in place.
"This is going to be a long night."