CPU Domain: Public. Program…? HaxHaxHax.exe Rerouting… Entering Sect.Zer: Enter A-Code: 117343…Access Approved.
UNSC/ONI Biographical Records
CLASSIFIED
Warning: These files are classified. If evidence is found that any unauthorized personnel have viewed this file, then they will be immediately stripped of their rank, discharged, and brought under investigation by The Office of Naval Intelligence.
…Accessing. File 01/425 of PROJECT: CHRYSANTHEMUM: Delta Company
Spartan-III D001 - Flynn Harne Biographical Information
Continuing Program…
Now accessing information on OPERATION: HARBOR, third mission of Delta Company.
OPERATION: HARBOR
Date: December 4, 2552
Location: Covenant Controlled Space, Miridiem Asteroid Belt.
1114: O.N.I. Officials gain information on Covenant Forces in the Miridiem Asteroid Belt: the Mobile Docking Bay, The Withstanding.
1200: Fire teams Frito and Douglas of Delta Company are brought to Combat Alert Alpha and are dispatched to the O.N.I. Prowler Victoria, which is standing by.
1326: Victoria launches the Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pods containing Frito and Douglas from slip space.
1329: The two fire teams of Delta Company land on and enter The Withstanding.
1336: The two fire teams attempt to plant a NOVA warhead in the Reactor core of The Withstanding. They encounter heavy resistance.
1343: Spartan-IIIs enter the Reactor core.
1346: Spartan-IIIs fall back to the Emergency Launch Bays. They also disable the ship-undocking mechanisms on The Withstanding, preventing other docked ships from leaving The Withstanding's docking ports.
1351: After disabling the tracking devices on an escape pod, the Spartan-IIIs leave the system via Covenant escape pods.
1353: The NOVA detonates, destroying The Withstanding and all other ships docked to it.
Result: UNSC Victory, with minimal casualties.
Manuscript of Operation
Mirtee was in the aft fighter bay of the Covenant Loyalist Destroyer-Class Persistent Foe. He had just been promoted to Major Grunt by the Brute Chieftain on board, Ristel.
Ristel was a tall, hulking Brute, yet his large size did not interfere with his ability to dance nimbly with a Gravity Hammer. Unfortunately for Mirtee, Ristel was quick to dole out punishment, so he knew that he would need to be extra careful in order to keep his new rank.
He looked at the other Grunts under his command, each of whom was napping. He thought of waking them up, but decided against it. He figured that he would let them sleep longer in order to build their morale under his command.
He agreed with himself, and decided that letting them sleep would be a good idea, unless-
"Damn it, Mirtee! I told you that your Grunts should be awakened when you are!" Boomed a thunderous voice from behind him. Mirtee turned to face the one behind him, and it was none other than Joktanuus, a Brute Captain. He was even quicker than Ristel to hand out punishment, and Mirtee feared for his life.
"Please, mighty Joktanuus, me no mean disrespect by me actions! Me only wish to have happy Grunts as team-mates!" Mirtee pleaded.
"Hmmm…" Joktanuus grunted. He said nothing more to Mirtee, but instead walked over to the other napping Grunts and began waking them up – violently. "Wake Up!" He would yell as he kicked them, punched them, or briefly unhooked their methane hoses. After all of them were awake, he told them, "This rude awakening was curtosy of your squad leader, Mirtee! Maybe next time, you will do what I order, not what he ordered."
The other Grunts looked angrily at Mirtee and began to stroll away to their posts. Mirtee looked out the window, and said quietly "Me knew this was going to be bad day."
----
"I got you now, you bastard!" yelled Matt from behind a barrier.
"Oh Yeah? I'd like to see you-" Buster started, but didn't have the chance to finish. Mike vaulted over the barrier where he was hiding, and put six purple rounds right on his face plate.
"I mean," continued Matt, "He's got you now."
We were playing paintball in the training facility in Camp Heights, Australia. It was Fire Team Frito versus Fire Team Douglas, the number two squad in Delta Company. It was Me, Matt, Mike, Carlo, Sarah, and Christine who were still in the battle field. Eric was shot out due to not watching his backside. Fire Team Douglas consisted of Lindsay, Buster, and four other Spartans whose names I didn't remember at the time. The paint-guns that we were using were simply modified Marine-standard issue rifles: SMGs, Battle Rifles, M-90s, and paint grenades.
After a week of laying low, the members of Delta Company thought it would be a good idea to have a competition amongst its remaining fire teams to see who the best squad was. For the past month, my fire team scraped and shot its way into the top slot.
Of course, we didn't use our expensive SPI Armor for this competition; we instead used black, padded suits that freely fit our forms. The pads of the armor were beneath the fabric layer to allow for superb mobility. Also, we had ODST Helmets, which provided a mock HUD to show if members of our team were hit.
"Why'd you steal my kill?" Mike was asked by Matt, who was pumping another round into his M-90.
"I didn't see your name on it." Mike replied while he reloaded his BR.
"Move up, guys. That title is as good as ours." I said to the group.
We held our rifles in traditional style, keeping them up as we moved. Carlo had point, and was peeking around a corner when we saw the light blue faceplate of a member of Douglas look past a wall in front of us. They hefted an SMG up, and hosed down Carlo. We fired at them right as they ducked their head back down.
"Aww, dammit!" Carlo complained as he walked off the battle field.
"Matt!" I said.
"What?"
"Wanna wake 'em up a bit?" I asked.
"Why not? They seem a bit sleepy, anyway." he replied as he unhooked two paint grenades.
Matt put his back to the wall and handed me a primed grenade. He then threw one over after I threw his, and we waited for a few seconds. A foul expletive and a couple of hearty "pows" later, Matt and I lifted up Sarah to confirm the kills.
"Two down, three to go." She said with a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
We put her down and continued around the corner. The only three left were Derek, Lindsay, and one other.
"Be on your guard, folks. They could be anywhere." I said as I motioned Matt, Christine, and Mike across an open path. They were almost there, when the stuttering blast of an MG was heard. The three looked over right as the front of their armor was hosed down in purple goo. They all yelled in disbelief, and dropped their rifles as they walked off the field.
It was just Sarah and I left behind a small barrier, while some maniac from Douglas was hosing us down with fire.
"What is that?" I asked while attempting to look out around the corner.
"It's pretty old; it's a Confetti Maker, judging by the sound of it." Sarah replied while unhooking a paint grenade. "Can you see the shooter?"
I removed my helmet and held it so that the reflective visor showed the soldier firing the Confetti Maker. "Yeah. Why?"
Sarah stepped forward and spun around. She whipped the grenade with what I could tell was all her strength. She sat back down and I looked back into the visor. I saw a small black orb connect with the head of the shooter, and he went down like a rag doll. The grenade exploded, spraying white paint up into the air.
"Two to go." She said.
Sarah began to run out into the open, BR in hand, but I grabbed her foot and held her back. I held up one finger and waved it, the sign meaning "wait". I looked around, and found a large rock. Casually, I tossed it over my shoulder and into another barrier a good 10 feet ahead of our position. It made a loud "clang", followed by the peppering fire from the remaining members of Douglas. I made a motion with one finger to the approximate spots where they were, and ordered a flanking maneuver for them.
We headed in different directions, Sarah went left, and I went right. The two remaining members of Douglas kept on pounding away at the barrier where they thought we were. I suppose that was the reason why they were only second best; they put so many rounds on a target that it was almost impossible for them to miss.
I stopped a few feet behind the shooter on the right, and waited a moment before they had to reload. Once I heard the click-and-unclick of an SMG and a BR I jumped on the shooter with the SMG. While we were rolling, the other who was watching the scuffle was assaulted by Sarah.
I pinned the shooter, and said simply "Gotcha."
"Like hell you do!" came the reply. It was Lindsay; I could tell due to her southern accent. She fumbled for her pistol, and began to pull it out.
In response, I unsheathed my "sword", which was actually just a slightly-electrified glowing baton. The idea of the "sword" was that it simulated a combat knife's behavior. One tap and you were out. I brought it down dangerously close to her faceplate, without touching it. She put her pistol against the side of my head, tensing up on the trigger.
We sat there for a moment, without moving, seeing who would do what.
"Your move." She said nonchalantly.
I tapped the end of the "sword" to her face plate. "Thanks." I replied.
----
"I can't believe that I wrote you a frikkin' blank-check like I did." Lindsay said angrily as we walked to the post-game lobby. I was just walking back from the field, and the rest of Frito was already celebrating our victory.
"Well, I've done stupider things." I said, as I recalled what I did to save Christine during our first deployment. "I've seen dumber things, too." I continued, remembering Kaylee.
"Yeah, well, now I'm gonna get dogged by the rest of my squad for not pulling through." Lindsay replied. "They're gonna think-"
The rest of her comment was cut off by an alarm going off inside the room.
"Well, folks," a very tired-looking Buster said, "Here we go again."
----
I went over the briefing in my head as I suited up: board a Covenant Mobile Docking Bay which is full of Brutes, an enemy Delta Company hadn't faced before, get to the Central Fusion Core and plant a NOVA super-nuke, and get off the ship before it was too late.
Piece of Cake, I thought as I slapped on the final pad of my SPI Armor.
"Attention all Spartan-IIIs: This is the captain of the ONI Prowler Victoria, Adam Moody. Take off in five minutes, I repeat: Five minutes." Said a voice through the Barrack's speaker.
"Hey, Flynn!" a voice came from outside my door. Carlo and Matt stuck their heads around the corner of the door frame, smiling like idiots.
"Get your stuff together, Boss!" Matt said.
"'Cause it's time to kill us some aliens!" Carlo finished, and let out a cowboy-like whoop.
"I'll be right there." I replied. I grabbed my MA5K and a few clips of Ammo, and rushed outside. In front of me, the other members of Frito were conversing with the troops from Douglas. They all were talking about the paintball match that had finished only minutes before.
"Man, when you hit me with that grenade…"
"Nice shot on that one kid…"
"Next time I won't be using a Battle Rifle…"
"I think he crapped his pants when I shot him…"
"Did not!"
"They were on the ground looking' at each other for a long time…"
They weren't saying anything of particular importance. I walked up to the group and whistled, which was accompanied by a flick of the hand, which signified "move out". They groaned and grabbed their packs, saying goodbye to the members of Douglas.
"See you ship-side." Mike said to one of the other soldiers. He then walked over to me. "Wassup, Flynn? You in the mood to kill some Apes?"
"God-damn right, I am!" I replied enthusiastically. "These hairy bastards don't have anything on Delta Company."
Mike beamed, and replied simply, "Hell, yeah!"
----
"God-dang-it, I'll never get used to that." Eric said as our Squad-Pod began to slow down. After roughly an hour of Slip space flight, we would finally be able to stretch our legs - and use our guns.
"Ready for deployment, guys?" asked Christine.
She received a chorus of confirmations and punched in the unlock code. "Six-Seven-Oh-Three-Nine." A near-silent "beep" rang, and the door began its unlocking process.
"Secure helmets!"
A series of "whishing" noises could be heard, followed by the green acknowledgement lights appearing in the top right corner of the HUD.
"Activate Thermal-Imaging and deploy Stealth!"
Several more acknowledgement lights appeared in the HUD, as the soldiers next to me began to disappear. All right, I thought, here we go.
The door opened, and the seatbelts in the squad pod unbuckled. We floated freely through space. It would take at least five minutes for Frito to get to an area where we could get into the ship - without alerting every soldier onboard The Withstanding.
After half a minute of dead silence, I raised Matt on the Comm.
"Hey, buddy, you got any songs that would get us psyched up for the impending battle?"
"Eh, two seconds…okay. Beaming it now." The pounding noise of electric guitars filled the Comm speakers. After only a few seconds of listening to it, I contacted Matt again.
"Hey, man, what is this tune called?"
"This is 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden." Matt replied. "Pretty kick-ass, huh? Oh sh-"
Suddenly, the music shut off, and the eerie silence filled the senses again.
Carlo began to question Matt, but he immediately shut up. The thermal imaging crapped out; it seemed like the energy coming from the members of Frito were suddenly dwarfed by something overhead. We were forced to switch to regular vision. Nobody moved. Even Carlo, who had rolled over to look at Matt, was frozen in the awkward position of flying with his belly towards a Covenant Craft. He turned his stealth off upon seeing the Covenant Destroyer.
Now, I had seen Carlo do some pretty stupid things, but this was, by far, the dumbest thing I'd ever seen him do: he waved at the passing vessel. Enthusiastically, to boot. My jaw dropped, and I could almost sense that everyone else's had also. Destroyers had enough fire power to almost single handedly take out a UNSC Battle cluster, and Carlo was waving at it like it was a childhood friend. The sensors on those craft were so sensitive that they could pick up the movement that a fly made blinking.
But, much to our surprise, the Destroyer did not do anything. It did not slow down, speed up, open fighter bays, or anything else. It just continued on its original course. It flew right over us and proceeded to dock with The Withstanding.
Carlo rolled back over, only to see all of us looking at him. "What?" he asked innocently, as he re-cloaked himself.
At that point, everyone began to laugh at Carlo's hair-brained antic. Part of the laughter was the irony of it all, and the other was disbelief.
It was only then that I noticed that Mike had a large, black case attached to his back, next to his MA5K. It was at least a meter long, and a bit oddly shaped: almost like a microphone.
"Hey, Mike! What's in the case?" I asked him.
"Oh," he said with a sense of satisfaction in his voice, "You'll see."
----
Mirtee stared out the window at the empty blackness of Space. He wondered if anything of interest would happen to him today that didn't involve a demotion.
"Attention, crew. This is Ristel. We will be docking with The Withstanding momentarily. Secure your possessions."
Mirtee put his Plasma Pistol on a magnetized rack and looked back out the window. It was then that he saw something odd: a small green spec was floating alongside the ship. He pulled out his binoculars, and increased magnification. What he saw horrified him: It was a humanoid-shaped being, clad in the green of the Humans, and it was moving its hand rapidly back and forth. Then, it rolled over and disappeared.
Now, normally, Mirtee would have called this in as soon as he saw it. But, due to the argument he had with Joktanuus, he knew that if what he saw was just his imagination, he would be severely beaten. Mirtee contemplated it for a moment while he put his binoculars in his backpack compartment. No, he thought, me sure it was nothing.
----
After four more minutes of drifting, we finally made contact with a set of empty docking bay doors of The Withstanding. The thermal imaging showed that the other fire team was already waiting for us.
One of the smartasses from Douglas was floating in a reclined position, and he even asked "What took you guys so long?"
"Eric, set up the Spoofer, we're breaking in." I said.
"Roger that, boss-man." Eric replied.
He placed a small, grey box on the large, black doors of the refuel bay, and punched in the access code. The small LCD display showed three red lights – which progressively changed into three green lights. The display flashed green three times, and the large jet-black doors opened. The best thing about the Spoofer was that it not only opened the door, but it hacked the computer network so it looked like nothing had happened.
Each of the formless blurs who were soldiers floated in to the docking bay. I stayed on patrol to make sure that everyone got inside safely, and felt that it was a good idea to observe my surroundings. The Withstanding was truly massive, at least the length of two MAC Canons, maybe two and a half. There were several ships docked to The Withstanding, at least twenty-two, if not more. The thing that struck me oddest of all was the fact that nothing, not a single scanner had picked up Carlo's antic and raised an alarm. But, I thought, that's all for the better.
----
It was very fortunate for us that un-used docking bays were always kept empty, or else we would be heavily peppered by fire right now.
"Well, hangar secure. What now, Flynn?" asked Christine.
I thought for a moment to formulate the battle plan. I motioned to Sarah to display the holo-map of The Withstanding. It flickered to life in a bright blue.
"We are here," I pointed to a small purple chamber. "But, we need to get here." I ran my finger across a series of criss-crossing paths. "Easy, right?"
The other soldiers nodded.
"Wrong." I continued. "If you look here, there is a trench-like path that overlooks a hill, which is completely open. The only cover there is inside the trench, so we'll have to move quickly."
More nods.
"All right. Move out!"
----
Mirtee had been called to Ristel's personal chamber. As the Brute Chieftain for the entire Drakk Legion, he was instantly given leadership status upon boarding The Withstanding.
Mirtee walked past several hulking Brute guards, all of which were snorting and speaking to each other in hushed voices. He finally reached the massive chamber doors; they "beeped" and opened.
Ristel was staring out of a view port at the inky blackness dotted by white.
Mirtee felt that he shouldn't interrupt until spoken to. He stood quietly near the door, until Ristel spoke.
"Guards, leave us." Ristel said. The large, red armored ape-like creatures grunted a response and left the room.
"Hmmm." Ristel sighed. "Mirtee, come here." Mirtee walked over quietly. He secretly had no clue what was going on, but he was scared nonetheless.
"Mirtee, why did you do it?"
Mirtee paused. "What?"
"This recording from your binoculars – it is on screen now – is quite alarming."
Mirtee turned around to see the screen flash to life. It displayed the blackness of space, which enveloped a small dot – a small green dot. Mirtee felt his heart jump into his throat.
"There appears to be a humanoid figure flying through space in dangerous proximity to our ship, the Persistent Foe. Now, if my predictions are correct, these are the same soldiers from the initial assault on Earth and the loss of the Twilight Compunction."
At that time, images from the two mentioned occasions appeared next to the picture of the creature that Mirtee saw earlier today. They all had the same armor. Upon seeing this, Mirtee's simple mind put the pieces together: these human soldiers were possibly onboard The Withstanding. Now, Mirtee feared for his life: not just for what might befall him at the hands of Ristel, but what the humans would do to him if they found him.
"Now, would you mind telling me-" Ristel continued, "-why you didn't report this as soon as you saw it?!?!" Mirtee noticeably flinched at the last question. He covered his face with his forearms.
Ristel stared for a moment, and then let out a booming laugh. Mirtee, confused, let himself chuckle a bit, too.
"Do not worry, Mirtee. I am not punishing you. You are being promoted! By not sounding out a general alarm, we now have an element that was robbed from them: Surprise!" Ristel grabbed at the air and clenched his fist. "We will covertly let select lances know about the threat, and we will crush them like the insects that they are!" Ristel concluded with a laugh.
Mirtee was surprised. All he could muster as a response was "Wait, me get promotion?"
"Ha! Yes, you will now be a personal bodyguard – to me! We will give you new, shining armor, a Plasma Rifle, and even a Fuel Rod Cannon!"
Mirtee smiled. This turned out to be good day after all!
----
Frito and Douglas were now in the trench like path, with their stealth engaged. I made sure we all were on the same path, and then waved up the rest of the group. Eric walked in front of me, and snaked a fiber-optic cable over the top ledge.
"Uh-oh."
I sighed. "Dammit Eric, you know I hate that word. What is it?"
"Look." He pushed a series of buttons on the cable's base, and the video was sent to my HUD. There were ten groups of Covenant troops, each one with a large red-armored Brute and several Grunts of various armor colors. In the middle and behind the line of soldiers was a Brute in shining gold armor, clutching what Intel reported to be a Gravity Hammer. Next to him stood a Grunt in white armor hefting a Fuel Rod Cannon.
"Folks, hold up. Check your weapons." I heard the clicking of rifles being loaded and cocked, and unlimbered my MA5K. "Guys, turn off your stealth. It's not like they're givin' us a parade." The olive-clad soldiers reappeared right next to me. Each of them was looking at me, wondering what to do next. "Spread out. Keep moving; make them think that there are more of us than there really is." They moved across the trench, traveling alone or in groups of two or three.
I turned to Mike, who decided to stay near me. "Hey, bud, want to get this party started?"
"Ha. Watch this." He flipped out a Combat Knife and twirled it in his hand. He held the long, black blade between his index finger and thumb, stood up, and flung the knife at the line of Covenant.
The knife made a whishing noise as it traveled through the air. I followed the path it flew along, and saw it make contact with one of the Brute Captains' heads, burying itself handle-deep in the alien's brain. It fell backwards; the Grunts who were gathered around the now-deceased Brute began to run around, arms flailing as their feet splashed in a puddle of black blood.
"Nice throw." Matt said as he hi-fived Mike.
The Brute with the hammer yelled and waved his fist at our position. As he did, several Grunts raced at our position, followed by the Brutes who commanded them.
We all fired, blasting away at the oncoming line of aliens. Only a few of the Grunts fell; two members of Douglas concentrated fire on a Brute captain. At least twenty of the rounds connected, but the Brute did not fall. There were several dark holes pock-marking his chest and arms, but he was not slowing down, and his eyes were growing bigger, wild with rage. He raced forwards, dropping his gun, towards our position. The Grunts behind him pulled out small, black egg-shaped objects and threw them on the ground. The instant they hit the ground, wells of purple energy flew up from the eggs, and the Brutes and Grunts moved to hide behind them. Energy Shields, I thought.
The other Covenant soldiers were advancing behind the shields, so as not to be hit by potentially fatal bullets. All but the Chieftain, who still stood smugly on his pedestal next to the white-armored Grunt.
The only one not behind the shields or out of range was the berserking Brute, and at least three Spartan-IIIs were firing on him. Nothing short of a rocket would stop the bastard.
"Oh, what a perfect time to bring out 'Mittens'." Mike said with a giggle.
"What the shit are you talking about?" Christine yelled over the Comm. as she shot the energy shields with her Sniper Rifle. Despite the well-aimed shots she and Eric were placing on the shields' power sources, no visible effects were taking place.
The Brute was nearly ten feet away, and I decided to put a stop to his charge. I aimed my rifle between his eyes, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
I depressed the trigger repeatedly. Still no result. It was only then that I realized-
"Shit! Jam!" I yelled. I immediately released the cartridge, pulled the rotating-bolt action several times, and reached for another clip, but by then it was too late. The Brute had reached the trench, side-armed a handful of Spartan-IIIs, and picked one of them up by the torso.
The menacing Brute roared right in the face of the Spartan clenched in his hand. He reeled back with his right hand and delivered three powerful punches to the side of the Spartan's head, and threw him from the trench into the open. He turned to face the others who had not yet been knocked down and roared. I frantically attempted to slam another cartridge into my gun, but fumbled and couldn't put one in.
Just as the Brute took a step towards us, a revving noise from behind was heard. The Brute, who was hunched over on all fours, froze and looked at the source of the noise.
I turned around to see Mike, holding a strange object. Not just any object, either.
He held a chainsaw. The jet black chain was revving at an incredibly fast speed, and the olive green handle was clutched by Mike's gloved palms.
He leaped with the agility of a professional gymnast, and before the Brute could voice his displeasure, Mike's friend "Mittens" was brought down hard on the beast's left shoulder. The saw ripped away fist-sized chunks of meat as it drew a diagonal path through the beast's torso.
Black splatters covered the front of Mike's armor. Once the Brute was in two distinct pieces, Mike turned to face us and depolarized his faceplate. His smile took up most of his face, and he spoke to us through grit teeth.
"Now, was that some awesome shit, or was that some awesome shit?" Mike said enthusiastically.
The congratulations were cut short by the yelling of the Spartan who was forcefully removed from the trench.
"Medic… oh God…my head…" He mumbled before he passed out.
"Doug!" Lindsay yelled through her microphone.
"Crap! He needs help!" Carlo shouted.
"No! If anyone goes down there, they're dead, too!" I said out loud.
Carlo was the closest to the downed Spartan – twenty feet away. He looked at "Doug", then back at the rest of us.
He dropped his MA5K and scrambled out of the trench. He sprinted towards the downed Spartan, and picked him up on his back.
"Carlo, No!" I yelled.
The Covenant bastards knew how to pick their moments, and this was one of them. As soon as Carlo picked up his wounded comrade, he came under fire from the Covenant. Green, red, and blue plasma along with slow moving purple needles were fired at his position. Most of the shots missed, but at least three or four of the shots connected with his back. Each time I saw his body jerk from being hit with searing hot plasma or explosive needles, my heart skipped a beat. Despite being hit from multiple directions, he did not drop Doug. He kept walking; limping back to the trench.
He finally made it, throwing Doug in before he fell in after him. He landed within two feet of me. I dropped my gun and ran over to his body. I yanked off his helmet so that he could get some air.
"Sir?" he asked with a half smile on his face.
"What?" I said, voice stuttering.
"I think I've been hit."
The smile disappeared from his face. His body went limp. He was gone.
Tears streamed down my face: tears of anger, of sorrow, and of pain. Each one ached for revenge.
I turned his body over, and what was left of his back was scorched black by plasma and explosive purple shards. His bronze skin was torn and singed, and had bubbled over from the heat. The burns went so deep that the back of his ribcage and spinal cord had been scorched a jet black.
"Guys…"
"What? What happened?" came the voices from the comm.
"Carlo's gone."
The comm. was completely silent for a full ten seconds. I heard noise, and turned to see Mike, Sarah, Matt, and the rest of Frito behind me. They all were crying, too.
I got up to brush the tears away. I pulled my helmet back on, took a deep breath, and turned to tap Eric on the back. My sadness had suddenly become blind anger.
"Yeah, man?" he said, fighting back tears.
"Give me your fucking Rifle." It was on the ground a few feet away from him. He picked it up and placed it in my hands.
".50 Cal in the clip?" I asked. He nodded.
"Good." I replied, as I pulled the bolt-action.
I linked the smart-scope to my HUD, and sent the feed to the other members of Frito. I centered on the Chieftain, who was still standing behind the other troops. It was obvious from the smirk on his face that he felt confident that he would win.
"Yeah. Smile, motherfucker. Because your ass…is…"
----
Mirtee stood next to Ristel. As his new personal guard, he had to be with him – or, at least near him - at all times.
Ristel looked through his binoculars at the position where the humans were. One had tried retrieving a fallen comrade, and was punished by being hosed down by plasma.
"Ha! One of them is surely no more! That will show them how merciless we truly are." He said smiling. Ristel turned to face Mirtee.
"Yes, thanks to you, Mirtee, we were able to stop this threat before they could truly do any damage. When the Prophets hear of this victory, we shall…" Ristel rambled on. In truth Mirtee was busy watching the battle. He was paying attention to the human warriors who fought so hard to save a single wounded soldier. A fellow Grunt would merely have left the wounded soldier, and he admired the Humans for their bravery and commitment.
"…yes, Mirtee," he continued, smiling, "You have done very-"
A whining noise and a loud "splut" snapped Mirtee back into reality. He was unsure why Ristel had stopped speaking, so he turned to see if something was wrong. When he went to look at Ristel's face, he knew something was very wrong.
The entire upper half of Ristel's head was gone. All that remained was the lower jaw, which hung from the neck limply. A small spurt of black blood came from the newly opened throat of the Brute Chieftain, and his dead body fell forwards and off of the floating pedestal that it had previously stood on.
Mirtee was so shocked, so frightened, that all he could do was utter a mere "moop" and fall to the ground, passed out.
----
"…grass." I finished.
"That's right. Make 'em pay." Mike said angrily.
"Hell yeah, that'll open up his fucking sinuses." Sarah said harshly.
I turned off the video feed, and called for a regroup of Frito and Douglas.
Everyone returned to my position, and I handed Eric his rifle back.
"All right. We've lost too much just sitting around, so we need to – Hey!" I said as one Spartan walked into the huddle a few seconds late.
"What?" he asked.
"Your name Doug?"
"Yeah. Why?"
I motioned Mike to follow me, and he dropped "Mittens". I picked Doug up by his right arm, Mike by his left, and we dragged him over to Carlo's body. He didn't know what was going on, until we got closer to our destination.
"You see this?" I asked angrily. Doug noticeably averted his gaze from Carlo's body. "Yeah, you'd better see it. 'Cause he died trying to save you!" I yelled.
Mike leaned in close to Doug' ear. "Yeah. You'd better earn this, you motherfucker." We pushed him back into the trench wall, but his gaze was set on what was once Carlo.
"Guys, we're all upset about Carlo's death, but we have bigger issues now." Christine said. It seemed as if she was still crying.
"Yeah, she's right. When Flynn went all beast-sniper on that Chieftain, they decided that a frontal assault would be a good way to 'avenge' him." Matt finished. "They're headed this way."
Almost one hundred aliens, each of whom was berserk with rage, running right at thirteen teenage soldiers? No way, I thought.
"Grab your gear, guys; we gotta get to the Reactor Core!" I strapped my MA5K on my back and picked up Carlo's body. We all made a beeline to the doors which led right into the ship's reactor.
"Eric, get in first, make sure that door is locked once the last of us get in there!" I yelled over my comm.
"You got it." He said as he raced past each of the other Spartans. He got in first, whipped out his Spoofer, and began punching the key code at a ridiculously fast speed.
One by one, each of the Spartans ran into the reactor core. I could hear and smell the plasma flying by; nearly singing my face and arms. As soon as I got in with Carlo's body, the doors flew shut and glowed red, signifying "lockdown".
"All right." I said as I gently put down Carlo's body. "Buster, Eric, get to work readying that NOVA. We need to be out of here five minutes ago!" They immediately set down the large black case attached to Buster's back, and opened it.
"Phew! Finally got that monkey off my back!" Buster joked.
Eric unhooked a small, black box, and ran it over to me.
"Here, man, make sure to leave them something to remember us by." He said as he hurried away. I looked it over, and saw a large red button that read "Record". I knew that each NOVA was able to be "personalized", as soldiers called it, but I didn't know ONI would set us up with one like it.
How fortunate. I thought.
"Hey, Lindsay!" I yelled.
"Yeah?" she asked walking over; not taking her eyes off of the door which we ran in.
"I don't want any of those aliens leaving this Docking Station alive. You get me?" I said.
She contemplated it for a second, and then looked back at me. She swept two fingers across her faceplate, indicating her smile.
"Computer terminal's right over there." I pointed near the exit door.
She ran over and began typing like mad.
Left to my own devices, I looked over the small black box Eric had handed me. I wondered what would be the proper thing to say in my situation. A thought popped into my head, and I thumbed the red button.
----
"All right, people, let's move, move, move!" Matt said as he waved us all into the Covenant escape pod.
Mike and I had Carlo's body, and we were moving him into the escape pod.
Once he was down, I opened up the ONI Spartan-III files, and added his name to the MIA list.
Spartans never die. I thought as I looked back at his body.
"Okay, we are ejecting now!" Buster said as we were fired out of The Withstanding. A few seconds later, he said "Engaging slip space drive…Now!" The pod was thrusted forward as we lurched into slip space. The eerie gray filled the cabin with an odd glow.
I sat down next to the other members of Frito. Each held their head in their hands. I decided not to hold it back any longer, and began to sob, too.
Eric, still crying, turned towards me. "Umm, Flynn?" He sniffled.
"What, man?"
"What did you record on the black box?"
I smiled. "Can't say, man. I don't want to jinx it."
----
The Brutes' pounding on the locked Reactor room door had finally payed off, and Covenant troops poured into the chamber.
They looked high and low for any signs of the Humans, but found nothing.
Finally, Mirtee walked in. He had regained his composure, after fainting at the sight of Ristel killed. A path was cleared for him, towards the Reactor Core. Near it stood a large silver ring that had several bulges in it. On the ring was a red display panel with symbols that were rapidly diminishing – and disappearing.
"What are you?" Mirtee quietly said to himself. As soon as he did, though, what sounded like a voice recording came from the bulging silver ring. Mirtee listened, but couldn't make much sense of the words. It sounded like:
"Mogliazzi, Carlo! Spartan-III! Service Number: Sec-Z D-017-CM! He was a great soldier…but a better friend."
At that point, the red symbols disappeared, and a blinding white light enveloped Mirtee, the Reactor core, and all of the ships docked to The Withstanding. Mirtee, for the first time in his life, felt at peace.