[Praise be to]

We were about seven kilometers into the trip. I noticed that not one of the Spartans ever de-polarized, so I elected not to, lest I break the image. I was already a fifth wheel as it was…I wasn't about to give them any more of a reason to distrust me. Heather was back ahead, talking privately with the other woman, Julia. I couldn't help but notice…they all sounded kind of young. I wondered just how old these guys were. I wasn't about to ask, though. There was something just…supremely awkward about being the one helljumper surrounded by the UNSC's best. I suppose I shouldn't feel that way, though. Soldiers were soldiers, no matter where they came from.

I kept walking, trying to push off my feelings. They wouldn't really serve me in a combat situation. You're a soldier, damn it.

All of the sudden I felt a pat on the back. Maybe it was a Spartan tap. It hurt. A lot.

"Hey, gunny," said the voice. I turned around. It was Daniel, the shotgunner.

"Uh, hello," I said. It was highly out of term to speak like that to someone who was probably my CO, but it didn't seem to matter. "sir," I added, just in case.

"No need, Jackson. Speak freely," he said, almost nonchalantly. It was odd; he wasn't quite like the others around him. We kept walking, trudging over random piles of sticks on the ground. I struggled in my head for what to say to that. Finally, I had something. "Who are you guys?"

"We're the same as you guys. Just, soldiers." It was such a weird way to put it. It was almost like they resented their status as the heroes of mankind. Like they wanted to be seen as just the average buckethead. I left it at that. Anymore, and I might make an issue where there wasn't one.

We kept walking through the jungle. There were all kinds of noises, and twice I stepped into what I can only hope wasn't local…droppings. They were so sticky, almost slimy. It was everywhere, too. Nightfall came. We were all pretty beat. Well, that was a generalization. Spartans. You never knew if they were tired or even moving. Maybe they were robots. Finally, we stopped. "Alright, we're still about eight kilometers away from the site. We'll make up time tomorrow. We'll camp here. Who's got the supplies and rations?" All of the Spartans looked to Heather. "I just have the medical gear…Oscar had all the supplies." I assumed Oscar was their sniper.

"Well…that ain't good," Daniel said. It wasn't. Without rations, we'd all be running on fumes in the morning, and we'd be zombies by this time tomorrow. Or at least I would be. Then I remembered something.

"Permission to speak, sir?" I asked aloud, addressing it to whoever felt like answering.

"Granted, and keep it that way. It's easier," Arthur said. Well, that was nice to know.

"I think I have my team's supplies in my rucksack," I said, grabbing it out of my bag. Sure enough, there it was, in all its foil wrapped, non perishable, vacuum sealed glory. Five meals, ready to eat. It even had toilet paper. I don't know why, but it did.

"Wonderful," Julia said. It was only the second time she'd addressed me. I threw them to each party member. All of them grabbed them with one hand. Heather opened hers, but before she could eat the contents, Eric stopped us. "Hold on. First, grace." Funny, Eric was the last guy I thought of as religious.

Arthur put his meal on the ground and knelt next to it. Everyone else soon followed. The fire I'd started blazed on, and everyone's armor glowed a very serene shade of orange.

Eric started. "Dear lord, we thank you for this meal."

[Things that go bump]

Arthur knocked on my helmet. It was early morning. I had fallen asleep kneeling on some log. "Get up, gunny. We've got ground to cover." The VISR came into focus, but I'd left the light on, so everything was incredibly bright. I turned it off and grabbed the rifle next to me. Most of the other SPARTANS were already up, except for Heather. She was sleeping with her arms folded, cradling the Spartan Laser. Julia tapped on her helmet. "Time to move." Within seconds, she was up and ready to go.

We all got out in the open. It was about 0600 local time. There was occasional rustling of the leaves. "I hate jungles," Julia said. "You never know when to shoot."

As we continued to walk, we heard more rustling. And then more. After the third time, Arthur started to get suspicious. We all did.

"Julia and I will scout ahead," He said. "The rest of you, cover each other and keep us posted on the situation.

"Roger that," the rest of us said in unison. I felt kinda weird saying that. It was almost like I belonged now. Or maybe it was just me being self—

"Contact," Daniel whispered. I turned the VISR onto its lowest setting. I saw three shimmering red outlines on either side of me. They were short, almost childish, standing at about five feet tall each. "Grunts," I whispered back. The other three Spartans nodded in agreement. This could be bad.

"Eta-H46 to Eta-H13," Heather began, "we have contact on either side of us, they haven't started combat. Permission to engage?"

Julia's reply was very swift and brief. "Granted. Be quiet about it."

Everyone went about it silently. Most took out their silenced M6s. I screwed my extra silencer onto my M7 and brought it up to firing level. What was I doing? I was a sniper, not a pointman. This was a job for Daniel or Eriq, not me. Unless, unless being a SPARTAN sniper meant you had to be totally prepared for anything.

Heather went first, taking Eric with her. Daniel and I took the opposite position. We spotted them first. They were all dressed in black uniforms. Both on our side were carrying Fuel Rod Guns. "Spec Ops," I said wordlessly. Daniel nodded in response. They hadn't noticed us yet. Either that, or they'd been ordered to stand back. Suddenly, Arthur crackled in. "We've got elites. They know we're here. Go loud."

Daniel went loose. He took out the first grunt with a shotgun blast to the back of the head. I laid twenty rounds into the other grunt's head, hearing him whimper a bit before he fell over. On the other side, Heather nailed one with a melee to the back of the head with her Spartan laser. We ran for the front line of the expedition. Arthur and Julia hadn't updated them, so either they were in a firefight, or dead. In any case, we rushed over to their last known position. All the sudden, Heather cracked in "Hang back, Jackson. We need your sniper cover."

Finally, a chance to do my job.

I found a nice spot by a rock where I could set the rifle up. She wasn't mine, but she still felt familiar. The touch, the grooves on the metal, the bore of the gun, all totally familiar. This was my new baby. I took aim, syncing the scope with my VISR. Everything was solid. From here, I could see a few elites engaging the Spartan team. I was about to ask if I had permission to engage, but I remembered that "go loud" is generally a standing order.

Two shots. The rifle ejected the spent shells casually, almost lazily, out of the side of the gun. The first round hit the elite, making his shield turn all fuzzy and yellow. It went dead soon after. The next shot hit him square between the eyes, spinning him around felling him. As he went down, he sprayed his plasma rifle all over the place, his trigger finger locked in combat with nothing in particular.

The elite opposite took notice that he was also under fire and quickly dived into some near ferns for cover. Not enough. I turned the VISR back on, found his read outline, and fired two more shots. The rifle's loader pulled back, a sign of an empty cartridge. It was then that I realized I was completely out of ammunition for the thing. I hadn't thought to bring the bandoleer full of rifle ammunition from the HEV, and they'd only handed me the gun.

This was bad.

Without thinking, I ran back to the dead grunts and picked up a fuel rod gun. I was going to do this the hard way.

The first jackals showed up. Easy pickings for one packing heat such as I. Or they would have been, if Eric hadn't struck first. A jackhammer round flew straight between the legs of the jackals, sending them flying twenty feet. They apparently didn't know the concept of a phalanx. They fell on the ground with a satisfying thud. I zoomed in with the empty sniper's scope on the weapons they were carrying. Particle Beam rifles. "That's more like it."

I ran to where they were downed, to hear Julia yell, "gunny, get back in position, we've been missing your cover fire!" I didn't have time to respond. I grabbed both rifles and ran back to my position, holding one over my head to bring down on anyone who dared to get in front of me. I slid around and put the beam rifle in position next to the sniper rifle. It was cold, alien, and unfriendly. Nothing like my baby. But it would have to do.

I zoomed back in and started picking at anything I saw. That's when I saw it.

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A/N: Sorry about the wait, guys. Got my arm hurt so it kinda hurt to type. Feeling better now.