What's up, ok to clear things up a little this story is not going along the lines of the actual timeline.
Yes you're correct, the Spartans were a thing before the war. However I need to alter that in order to throw something in that will come to play later.
Also the female Sangheili. Yeah, not in the real Covenant army but a small twist I wanted to experiment with. Sorry if this comes off as harsh. I'm on a bit of a time crunch. Will be until September. Thanks for the comments. Hope this cleared some stuff up. Hope you all enjoy!
The Test
Spartan's 117's POV
(May 2526)
"Spartan..." Mendez stood at his door. The Spartan stood up, now towering over the CPO. Though he was fourteen the augmentation they had gone through boosted his growth spurt among many other things. "... It's time"
Mendez left the Spartan to gather his thoughts. It's been a full month now since his augmentations. He was still adjusting to his new... abilities.
The Spartan left the room and made his way down the hall towards the briefing room. In there stood the doctor, Mendez, and an officer. 117 snapped to attention and rendered a salute.
"At ease" The Spartan went to parade rest. "I'm sure you know why you're here Soldi-... Spartan" the officer glanced over some papers, making sure he was getting it right.
"Yes sir" 117 said coldly.
"We have little intel to tell you, you are to infiltrate a small Covenant base on Former colony world Corvi II. Last year it fell to the Covenant. Now they use it as a post to stage attacks against our fleets. It also, we believe, holds crucial information that could help us turn the tide of this war..." the officer peels off his cover, revealing his grey hair. "... our resources are low, we're running out of options. You're all we got. Avoid confrontation with there army's. Lethal force authorized only if necessary. Try to stay to the shadows as best you can"
"Sir" The Spartan nodded and started for the armory. Before he made it to the door Halsey pipped in.
"Oh, you won't be needing your old armor or weapons for this mission, we got something else in mind..." Halsey said as she gestured to the wall. The wall slowly split. White steam flowed from the growing crack.
The expanding hole revealed armor. But there was something different about this armor. The helmet had a orange colored visor covering up the entire face. The armor had thick, olive green plating that covered all of the body. It was massive, standing at around seven foot two inches. Painted on the left chest plate was a shining white 117.
The Spartan looked over to Halsey who only gestured for him to put it on. He slowly walked up to the armor and pulled down the helmet. It was lighter than it looked. He heard a small gasp from behind him. He turned to see surprised stares from the officer who turned towards the doctor.
"That helmet weighs no less than eighty pounds and he's holding like... I know you said you... changed them but..." he looked back at the Spartan who began suiting up.
The process took twenty minutes. It fit perfectly. He went to grab the weapon on the mount next to the armor stand and accidentally smashed the wall to nearly crushing the weapon.
"The suit has a built in hydronic system tapped into your neural lace... what you do it amplifies..." Halsey chuckles.
"Right..." 117, mindful of what she said, carefully grabbed the gun. It was an M392 DMR outfitted with an advanced scope and silencer. He was surprised by how light it was. He wasn't sure if it was the augmentations or the weapon. If he wasn't looking at it he would have believed there was nothing in his hands. It felt essentially weightless.
Inspected the weapon and placed it on the magnetic mount on his back. He grabbed the second weapon. It was an M7/ Caseless SMG. He inspected the weapon and placed on the magnetic holster on his thigh.
"When do we move?"...
... "ETA ten minutes, ready yourself" the unsteady pilot stated from the cockpit. The Spartan shifted his shoulders, seeing if the armor restricted his movement; it did not. The ten minutes seemed like a long time to him. He was still getting use to it. Time seemed to have slowed down slightly enough to make a noticeable difference after his augmentations.
"Green light. Drop now!" The pilot exclaimed. The Spartan was gone before she could even finish the order.
It was dark out. The Spartan pulled out his silenced DMR and activated the his suits night vision system.
His target was due East ten klicks. He only had two hours left of night to operate in. It would have to do.
He slowed his pace two klicks out from the location. His motion tracker showed minimal movement about twenty five meters out. Another patrol. He knew he was drawing close. The patrol groups were more frequent. They looked odd. He saw pictures of Covenant forces but he's never seen one in person before. Well all except an Elite many years ago. Most of the species that associated themselves with the Covenant were smaller than him. All except the Elites, Bravo Kilos (Brutes), and Hunters. Most of the unites he saw were minor Elites and Grunts. The occasional Jackal would be spotted.
The objective was over then next hill. "This is Spartan 117 to Bravo Echo actual... Nearing objective. Moving in..." 117 rushed up and over the hill; avoiding a single patrol near top of the hill. The Covenant base was huge. Heavy activity. Banshees swarmed over the base like insects.
"Spartan... the object you're looking for is a small info-scanner. It's small, should be black or purple. Sending possible coordinates to your HUD now" as the transmission cut out a small blue diamond materialized in the Spartans visor. It hovered over a small building about two hundred meters past the outer wall.
The Spartan snuck up to the wall. Only Elite Ultra stood guard. Shouldn't be a problem. He sighted in on the alien. It stood there looking out towards the hills.
He held his sights on the Elite for the better of a minute. His memory tugged at him. His training taught him that these were ruthless creatures that kill without thought. Why didn't that one kill him then. The Elite didn't notice him and he could probably find another way around. The Spartan mentally sighed and lowered the weapon. The scanned the wall. There seemed to be a weak point not too far. It may be a bit louder but he could try climbing in that way.
With one last look at the Ultra, he went with the plan. Despite his size he was quite silent. With little difficulty, he landed on the opposite side of the wall. Avoiding many groups of Covenant he managed to sneak his way to the building. Before entering he performed one small brace check in his DMR and SMG. Seeing the weapons as ready as he was he infiltrated the building. The room only had two Grunts in it. The poor bastards had no idea what hit them literally. One round killed the one standing on the far side of the room. The second one, startled, spun around only to meet a blade. The Spartan led the body to the ground to avoid any unnecessary noise. Once clear 117 began his search for the black/purple box. Didn't take too long. The Covenant didn't expect anyone to try and break in. It was laying in one of the counter tops. The Spartan picked up the small Black box and placed it on a magnetic holder on the back of his hip.
"117 to Bravo Echo actual. Package sec-" He herd a small shuffle at the door. Without hesitation he pulled out the SMG and swung his arm out towards the door.
An Elite minor filled the doorway. It stared back at him. 'I wonder if he thinks I'm a human' he thought. It looked around at the two dead Grunts. With a battle cry it pulled out a plasma rifle and began firing at him. Almost sensing the creature's action he began firing at the Elite. The SMG quickly tore through the Elites shielding system. The last few rounds in the clip cut through the Elites armor and into the aliens upper torso. It howled in pain and fell back dropping the rifle. Seeing the Elite desperately reaching for the Plasma Rifle the Spartan ran up and stepped on its wrist, trapping it to the ground. He switched to the DMR and held it to the Elites face. "Don't make me..." the Elite stared back into his faceplate and muttered something. He has been doing a little bit of studying into their language but he wasn't anywhere good enough to understand them yet.
His slight interest in what the creature said backfired. A sharp pain tore into his abdomen. It nicked him off balance; he took a few steps back as knelt down to comfort the pain. The Elite has a demonic laugh as it believed it killed him with his plasma pistol. The laugh was cut short.
The Elite looked at him in complete shock as the Spartan began to stand back up. The Elite frantically took aim to fire another shot but it was too late. A single DMR round buried itself into the Elite's head.
The Spartan looked down at the wound. Not bad. The armor took most of the burning plasma. A little made it to his skin but luckily didn't cause too much damage.
"117 to Bravo Echo actual. Object secured. Contact with Covenant eminent... moving to LZ, ETA five minutes..." he was outside before he finished the transmission. Multiple Covenant forces fired at him immediately.
"Roger 117, Drop ship in rout. Get the hell out of there"
The Spartan returned fire. He prioritized unshielded targets. Running towards the wall he discharged seven round front the DMR. Three Jackals and four Grunts simultaneously dropped. The Elite Ultra stood at the exit, energy sword ignited. It swung at him as he approached. The Spartan left stepped, effective avoiding the attack and put the Elite in an arm bar and threw him to the ground with enough force to knock out its shields. He put the DMR to its head. It stared back at him in hatred, accepting the honorable defeat, however the Spartan pulled the DMR away and ran off into the hills.
117 deployed a few smoke screen grenades to mask his escape. He sprinted down a small valley. He rounded the corner and found a Pelican drop ship with two Marines posting security waiting for him.
He rushed into the Pelican followed by the Marines. Before the last Marine made his way to one of the seats a small green projectile burned through his chest, killing him immediately. The first Marine dove deep into the drop ship. 117 aimed back were the round came from and spotted that Ultra Elite aiming a still-smoking Carbine. He should have killed it when he had the chance. Angered by the Marnies death 117 fired at the Elite. It's shields were back up and the drop ships door sealed before he could kill it.
The other Marine was in shock. From seeing his partner killed in cold blood and the Spartan. He knew the UNSC was working in something to help them in the war but this... it was huge, completely metal, and silent. A silent giant. He wasn't all too sure it was human. Maybe machine. Either way it looked deadly.
The Spartan carefully flipped the corps and covered the body with a small sheet the Marine found in the Pelican.
The Marine broke the silence "what are you?" He asked shakily. The Spartan glanced at him before resuming his stare at the ground with no verbal answer.
The Marine gave up on the conversation out of fear of annoying the silent giant. The Spartan wasn't annoyed at him or ignoring him. He was simply contemplating the question. What was he? Found himself asking himself the very same question ever since that operation. He was one of the few that survived. Most of his brothers and sister were killed during the operation. He felt better than every but dirty at the same time. Born in cold blood to spell blood. That was his purpose. Kill those threatening humanity. To fail would be the end of humanity. A lot of weight rested on his shoulder and only very few live to share the weight with.
Before they knew it they were docking with Burning Edge. The door of the Pelican opened revealing the same officer from earlier.
Both the Marine and Spartan snapped to attention and rendered a salute.
"Sir" they said in unison
"At ease... your relived Marine" The Marine took that as his cue to leave.
"Well done Spartan, flawless victory. We have been needing something to give us hope for this war..." the officer removed his cover.
"Well... almost flawless sir" The Spartan stated.
The officer looked passed the Spartan at the Diseased Marine.
"Don't beat yourself over it. You did all you could, I'm sure you did. There is always a cost..." the officer took the small black box from the Spartan.
"1st lieutenant Keys... Captain Morgan wants you the bridge ASAP..." an AI blasted from the over head speakers.
"Well, looks like Captain needs my guidance again..." Keyes joked. "See you around Spartan"
Hope you enjoyed! See ya next time!... hopefully.
