PROLOGUE
2100 Hours, November 13, 2552 (Military Calender)/
UNSC Orbital Defence Platform, Cairo (Hull Classification Symbol (HCS) ODA-142) military staging area in orbit around Earth, Sol System
Maloney, Patrick
Rank: Major General, United Nations Space Command
Service Number: P1989-552J-2552M
That was my service details. For now that is all you need to know about me.
'God damn. Fuck off you ugly in-human mashed banananas for brain son-of-a-bitches' (That as well as that me swearing means either I am really annoyed or having a ball) I screamed at the Covenant as they rushed us for another untold time. Originally there were twelve men and women including me and my mate Andrew in my squad. Now we were down to six. In the weeks that followed the mysterious disappearance of In Amber Clad and The Master Chief, the battle had raged on with new enemy "CCS" which were Covenant Capital Ships appearing every now and again directly off the rim of the Battle Cluster that was being slowly taken apart. On top of all that another Super Mac Gun Platform the Afghan had been destroyed. Meanwhile Andrew and I had had fun blasting or blowing up the last of the Covenant boarding parties. Now with the last of the boarders either dead or departing the Cairo via their boarding boats a voice breaks over our earpieces
"Got a new contact. Unknown classification"
"It isn't one of ours. Take it out"
"This is SPARTAN-117, can anyone read me? Over"
"Isolate that signal, Master Chief you mind telling me what you are doing on that ship?"
"Sir. Finishing this fight."
A young Corporal had just died taking one Elite and about twelve Grunts with him. Ten minutes after the broadcast the 15 bridge crew left under guard of another 51 regular recon marines. Instead of going with them and protecting the High Admiral even more we left for our HEV's or Human Entry Vehicles which were stationed on the other side of the Cairo. We stripped the fallen of weapons, grenades, body amour, their dog tags-which I put around my neck- and two of them was assigned to carry a couple of duffle bags each for storing extra weapons and ammo. Two of the bags were empty hence all the empty shell casings, and empty clips dropped everywhere. 17 other bodies lay dead around the vicinity of the bridge, they were regular recon marines. Therefore had something we didn't but surely would need, and that was an Armalite MH-12 Maghook. A grappling hook which also contains a high-powered magnet for adhesion to sheer, metallic surfaces. We all checked the gas gauge on the weapons and they had not even been used. We stored them on our backs and put the others in the duffle bag. We stripped their amour and other weapons, even their helmets, and dogs. We made our way down the stairs and through Recreation R.01. The hall next to the Recreation room had a small group of dead Covenant bodies, two blue Elite's and six red and orange Grunts. A small group of marines were there walking around looking board.
'Marines what's your status?' I asked
"It's getting boring so do you mind us tagging along Sir?" Said one of them
'Sure why not. Wolf! Restock this platoon with ammo and the rest of you join the line.' I said. Less then a minute later my team were a group of eleven twelve. The new people were recon marines and also had the Maghooks. When everyone was full of ammo and grenades we moved up the stairs into Security R.01 with the man manning the M60 Chain Gun at the rear. Down another flight of stairs we came to a room called Commons R.01 more dead bodies of all kinds and more weapons and armour to salvage. Next came a set of stairs that lead to Hanger bay A.01. We found more dead bodies and more weapons but no D77H-TCI Pelican Drop ships. We policed the weapons and amour and moved on. The next room was Hanger Bay A.02, and you guessed it even more bodies and weapons. But no D77H-TCI Pelican Drop ships. We policed the weapons and amour and moved on. Inside Armoury A.01 laid the dead body of a Master Gunnery Sergeant, whose dog tags and weapons were missing. On the table next to him was pouches of shotgun ammo and I grabbed them. My team also grabbed all the sub machine guns, pistols and battle rifles and made sure they were fully loaded. A couple of my men and I went through the boxes. There to my surprise were M6D pistols, M6C Magnum Pistol, M90 Shotguns, MA2B Assault Rifle, MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle, M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher, BR55 Battle Rifle, M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun, SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper's Rifle, M9 HE-DP Fragmentation Grenade, Combat throwing knives, crossbows, and an attachment that locks onto the battle and assault rifles to make them a grenade launcher and so we had twenty grenade launchers, and two M60s' also two Samurai Swords. We found a few more empty carry crates and loaded the weapons into them. Now with the Armoury no longer stocked we left and continued on. Andrew was impressed with our own miniature Armoury. A few rooms on we found Hanger Bay A.04. Inside were two D77H-TCI Pelican Drop ships. We checked them out and started stashing our weapons. As the Marines stashed weapons the Hell Jumpers stood guard. Just as they had finished stashing our boxes and weapons Colonel Silver came in over the Hell jumpers earplugs.
"Attention all Hell jumpers. We are ordered to dump this boat and make our way down to the surface." All commanding officers radioed in with their answers.
'Colonel this is Major General Patrick Maloney of the 105th Alpha Regiment. We are in the Hanger Bay A.04. I repeat Alpha-Zero-Four. We have marines in tow. We can not. I repeat can not move on. We have collected weapons and Amour and are making our way down in a Pelican. I will see you on the ground. Patrick out' I said a couple of moments later the Colonel came back on line.
"Roger that Major General. See you soon" and with that the Marines finished strapping down the boxes and duffle bags and moved into the belly of the Pelican. The Marines and the Hell Jumpers took the seats in the belly and Andrew, also a Major General, and I went to the cockpit while an ODST Sergeant stood in as the Crew Chief. When the hatch was sealed and the Pelican was pressurized I signalled the subroutine of Cortana to open the bay doors and seal them behind us. As the doors opened slowly I spotted loose gear and bodies fly into space. As the doors were fully open I saw another door blow open and saw about twenty Grunts and six Elite's go get sucked out into space along with the door that bounced off the top of the pelican. Now with a clear passage into space Andrew the Pilot turned the pelican around and powered her outside. As we cleared the doors they came back down. As we flew past the bay I spotted more Covenants decide to dock with the station. I pointed this out to Andrew and he nodded. Before any of them could get out of the lead boarding craft I shot a Missile into its nose and that shattered it into a billion pieces of armour plating armour and bodies. Andrew flew the bird down to the surface past what remained of the 34 blown up MAC Platforms. I slipped on "Paradise City" by "Guns 'n' Roses" which was a really old band by this time, onto my helmet speakers and let Andrew fly us down to Earth. By the time it finished we all were landing on the landing platform outside Drumond Base. When we landed a group of technicians and marines came rushing onto the platform. The back hatch came down and we were told to leave the weapons on board. And so we did. We were lead to different barracks and showed to our beds. I placed the weapons I had on me, on the floor next to my cot and got out of my suit. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
***
The next thing I know it is 0300 and Alarms and Klaxons are ringing in my head and I am out of my cot putting on my uniform. Andrew and I are strapping on our weapons and helmets while we are flying out the door. We race to the Armoury and I grab a Rocket Launcher and five ammo packs for it. Two rockets in each case that is, what ten Rockets, it doesn't matter how much rockets, all that matters is that there was enough to blow a few banshees and tanks and have enough left to fry some Aliens. I am joined up with Jemma and Jessica and they gather weapons. I grab a set of keys and run towards a M12G1 Warthog LAAV. The one with a Gauss cannon on the back. I threw the keys to Andrew as he jumped into the driver's seat, Jemma gets in the passenger seat, and I climb into the back with Jessica sitting at my feet with a MA2B Assault Rifle. Jemma has a Rocket Launcher with her. We shoot off the mark and follow the sounds of battle. Suddenly the Warthog gets' hit and we are flung to the ground. I land on my head and flip. Instantly out.
***