Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Cobalt Team. Enjoy the 2000-word chapter. I down own Halo, 343 and Microsoft do.
(Epsilon Eridani System, Reach, February 10, 2531, 3 Weeks before Cobalt Redeployment.)
Halsey knew all of her Spartans, she knew them like the back of her hand… She went through a quick mental note of the Spartans in her head.
Spartan-077, Liam Tribune, the commander of Cobalt… And the heart of the team… Also, the tallest.
Halsey knew the Spartan Commander from his quick movements and quicker thinking, the Jade eyed, Black haired boy was from Harvest.
Halsey knew he still had reservations about John due to a few failures in boot camp… He had still made an expert leader due to his ability to adept to a situation as it evolved.
And he disliked her familiarly with him due to his appraisal of the other Spartan-IIs as family.
Joesh-122, the sniper of Cobalt… One that rivaled Linda-052… If his bad joking had been swapped for more training.
He had always been a jokester compared to the rest of Cobalt…. That made him stand out as much as his black hair and yellow amber eyes.
He was still one of the more unmatched Snipers in the UNSC… Halsey wondered if one day he would surpass Linda.
Ralph- 103 the Brown haired, Brown eyed assault expert of Cobalt… And the most aggressive.
Haley had seen an impressive amount of disregarding orders and such… Stanforth probably cleared him of these…. He was the one Liam usually fought with… No one on the team was better at assault missions then him.
Hayden-042… The tech expert and the only stickler for rules on Cobalt… The Purple eyed, red haired, Fair Skinned Spartan was known for his cautious movements and more prone to being eloquent in his words.
Liam didn't approve of his lingo… But he helped the team as much as the others.
Elise-046, the heavy weapons expert of the team… And the fouler mouthed and route of the team.
She was as gung ho as the weapons she used… And yet her blue dyed hair and Orange eyes showed a fair daintier personality…
Sienna-092, the medic of the team… And yet one that seemed much too keen on details for a Spartan… Her Brown hair and Sliver eyes showed she had an eye for tactics.
Rose-062, the explosive expert of Cobalt and the fiery one compared to Ralph.
Her red eyes and fiery red hair held deep passion… And deeper sorrow for her home of Harvest.
Halsey wondered if she would be ok after that.
Daisy-023… The CQC Expert of Cobalt and the soul of the team.
Halsey knew she had organized the breakout with Joseph, Ralph and Liam, she was cleverer then she looked… And she was Fred's match on CQC…. She was as close to Liam as Joseph and Ralph were.
Her blonde hair and blue eyes helped her stand out.
"I got the food."
Hayden said as he returned, Liam took his from Hayden and the others did as well… Eager to escape the situation.
"Dr. Halsey… Good to see you again… Cobalt, to the tables."
Liam ordered and Cobalt moved, Halsey watched them go before turning to John.
"Is the Commander ok, Ma'am?"
Kelly asked and Halsey nodded, she broke her gaze with the Spartans.
(With Cobalt.)
Daisy looked off her knife and turned to Liam who sat next to her.
"She stopped watching us…. What's the next mission, Sir?"
Daisy asked and Liam glared at her, she smiled a bit more now.
"Liam."
She corrected as Liam nodded and brought up his datapad and tapped a few keys on it.
"We have 3…. First is an Insurrectionist Military base on the moon of Venezia…. The second is another Orbital Op, CCS-Class Battlecruiser, Unyielding Penance…. Charming… The third… Is to recover a V.I.P at… Sargasso…."
Liam read, Daisy froze up before Liam placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Dai… It will be fine…. Joseph, I want you to make sure our gear is ready for redeployment… Ralph, I want to make sure we are trained for redeployment…"
Liam ordered as he continued to eat, he knew what Sargasso meant to Daisy, he would need to make sure a Condor or Prowler was ready if they were picking up and escorting a V.I.P.
"Anyone else hope we don't have to…. Never mind..."
Liam crossed his arms after he started to speak, the longer the military unit was on Reach, the more his doubts stewed in his head.
"I wish we were on Harvest… Popping Covenant heads with a sniper… Nothing better than that… Quick and simple…"
Joseph stated, Liam nodded and finished off his food before wiping his mouth.
"Yeah… But we need time to prepare… Admiral Stanforth told me after these 3 missions we are free to assign our own as long as they are vital to the war effort…. We also won't be staying on Retribution any longer if you forgot…. That means we have to say good bye to the Captain…."
Liam put in, he longed to have his DMR in his hands, looking down the scope…. Killing the enemy and making sure the UNSC was secure…. It wouldn't be as long as the Covenant existed.
"Yeah, shame about Retribution, she was a fine ship to serve on… Wonder if the captain really will miss us…."
Hayden put in, Liam shrugged, it was a ship to him… Not that he wouldn't be sad, Liam had been fighting ever since he was a teen… This would be just another assignment to him.
"You heard Covenant got kicked off Arcadia? Omega and Red team forced them off the Planet…. Spirt of Fire broke that siege…."
Hayden put in, Liam raised an eyebrow at this, Covenant forces were beaten back by the UNSC?
Damn, the UNSC actually could win this war.
"Yeah, but we will have to Clean up stragglers… We all know the Covenant are going to have to try and take the planet… I heard there's a crashed destroyer on Laconia… We are going to have to mop that up…. We are going to be dealing with battle after battle after deployment…."
Joseph stated, Liam chuckled at this and turned to look at his sniper.
"Hey, we're soldiers…. This is what we do, Joseph…. I want to get back to war, the longer we sit here, the longer we have to sit and let UNSC soldiers fight in our place… At least Reach is secure…. The longer we sit here… Longer we can't be Spartans…"
Liam said as he rose from his seat and started to walk towards the door.
"I'm going for a walk… If you need me, I'll be in the park."
Liam said before he left, Cobalt looked at each other, Daisy excused herself.
"Back to barracks when your done, Hayden, you and Ralph are in charge."
Daisy stated before she left, she didn't want to be in her dress uniform first, Liam had probably gone for a run.
And the Park was a place only the Spartans understood, it would be part of their training.
(Forest, 2 miles from UNSC complex.)
A 'walk' meant different things for Spartans.
To Liam, it meant training, he leapt from tree to tree, trying to reach the next branch faster and faster, he didn't wear his dress uniform and instead wore a simple blue jacket and pants, if he was going to be any less formal, he would have worn the same style of uniform he had as a teen.
"Liam."
Liam heard as he landed in a crouch in an oak tree, Daisy was below a tree near him.
Liam remembered that tree, they had been instructed to climb the same tree… Without rope.
Needless to say, Daisy had improvised… With her combat knives.
The oak was marked with nicks and cuts from her knives, Liam turned to look at her, she wore a simple red jacket and a brown pair of pants. Her Blonde hair was also down, framing her face.
It reminded him of when they had run away from Halsey as teens.
"What's new, Daisy… How did you know I'd be here?"
Liam asked before he leapt down to land in front of her, he was 7.2Ft, she was 6.10Ft.
"You always used to go here when your annoyed… What's wrong?"
Daisy asked, her voice was soft, just like it had always been, Liam looked around, the rest of Cobalt wasn't present, so she had ordered them home.
"Nothing… It's nothing, Daisy."
Liam said, Daisy was silent, for someone who could slit throats in a second, she was always quiet.
And it terrified many UNSC soldiers, even ones under her command.
"This about Reach possibly being destroyed, isn't it?"
Daisy asked, Liam grunted, Daisy was good at being direct, whether it was in Combat, or when she talked to someone.
"I…. Yeah… Yeah…. Damn it…"
Liam said as he rubbed his temples in annoyance, he really didn't want to have this talk though.
"It's the same as it's like Sargasso, Daisy…. If the Covenant show up in orbit, even one cruiser… We know it's going to take several ships to destroy it… I want to be back on the frontlines… There I know I'm doing… Here… The longer we stay on Reach, the longer we are out of the fight… They trained us to be soldiers…. So, waiting like this isn't my cup of tea…."
Liam said as he looked up at the sky, no older soldiers but Spartans would be able to see the UNSC fleet overhead.
"I've been trying to figure out Sargasso's V.I.P… He's Navy, probably an Admiral…"
Daisy said as Liam hummed, that was odd but made a sort of sense, Sargasso was remote, out of the way, the Covenant would never be able to find it…
"Ask Admiral Stanforth, he'd know…. I'm wondering what the mission to Taro… That moon has been under Covenant Siege for 6 months and it isn't part of UNSC Space… We're going to be fighting Covenant and Insurrection troops… An army of both… And all for some Nukes."
Liam said, he and the other Spartans had killed Humans, he knew it was for the greater good and he knew they were trying to kill the UNSC… What bothered him is they still tried to kill UNSC soldiers despite the war… The war was against Humanity and they couldn't unite against Covenant forces?
"HighCom is manufacturing everything they can to fight the Covenant…. Nukes are one of the most effective weapons we have against the Covenant in space… Plus Taro has been on the UNSC hitlist for years… They just didn't have the soldiers to take it…. If they'd sent in ODSTs, there's no saying we would even get the nukes back…"
Daisy explained, Liam nodded and both turned around, Liam turned to Daisy as they walked.
"See if you can get Admiral Stanforth to speed up how long till we get deployed… If the nukes are priority one for HighCom, then we should tackle them first… The Penance can wait and we can recover the V.I.P right after Taro… But we might need a prowler for that…"
Liam said, Hayden and Ralph are the only ones on Cobalt who would like the downtime… And they could spend their off time on the Autumn.
"Yes, sir…. Should I also inform whoever is in charge of the Autumn that we will be arriving soon?"
Daisy said with a smile on her face, Liam nodded and the two began the walk back.
Liam couldn't wait to see the look on the others faces.
Author Notes
Phew, another chapter done… Yes, I know I've been going through chapters like crazy, this story is hard to step away from… As for the part where Halsey ran through Cobalt at the beginning? It was to give a look into the team… Next chapter will be in 2 weeks and will show Cobalt on their mission on Taros. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!
