DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Halo mythology. That belongs to Bungie. Team Phoenix and the other OCs are mind though. A certain quote was taken out of Halo: Fall of Reach, so I don't own that either….im pretty sure I don't.
AU: Sorry it took so long to type this up, jeez this one is much longer than all the other ones. Ive written up to Chapter 3 and I can't type as fast as I can write. T.T. So for those of you that are starting to like this my apologies for the wait.
Chapter 1: Congratulations…. You Beat Easy Mode.
0135 Hours, November 3rd 2525 (Military Calendar), Aboard UNSC vessel, Xerxes Fall, Epsilon Eridani System
Cody turned off his helmet's HUD and gripped the underside as he removed it from his head, taking a deep breath of air through his nose and mouth. He placed it on the edge of his bed and lightly ran a hand over his shaved head. His hair had not grown back since the day he and his fellow Spartans went through the surgeries that made them what they were. He could remember the needles, how they drilled through hi skin, muscles, and bone. He remembered the screams that he kept silent as the seemingly endless pain surged through every layer of his body.
You know what they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. He thought to himself.
And stronger he became, faster too. Everything around him had gained this… slowness to it, though at the same time moved as normal. His only match when it came to training now was the other Spartans. He had to pull his punches when training with Ashen Company, which was a select group of soldiers handpicked to assist Team Phoenix in battle. As good as they were, they were not Spartan-good.
Kate was sitting across from Cody, stripping off her suit piece by piece, until she was in nothing but her undergarments. Flipping her short locks of brown hair out of her face, she then nonchalantly threw her crew uniform over her body, which covered her more aesthetically appealing features.
"That's much better." She said exhaling, "Those suits do not leave a lady much to work with, so uncomfortable, itchy too." Cody let out a light burst of laughter which was imitated by the other Spartans in the room, save for Steven.
Michael was busy disassembling his sniper rifle and cleaning each individual part, a daily routine that he enjoyed immensely. That gun was everything to him.
Eric and Brandon were usually bantering back and forth as they were right now. Whenever Cody took the time to join their conversation, it was usually about what happened in yesterday's training, so logically they were most likely now talking about today's mission.
Steven took his helmet off and looked over at the Squad Leader, nodding in acknowledgement as he usually did. His hair was growing back as well, ink black and clinging to his head because of how short it was. The Spartans' quarters were quite decent for military quarters were quite decent for military quarters with beds a little better than average and enough space for at least three more Spartans to bunk, and that's saying something.
When Cody and the other original seventy-five Spartans began their training, they were aged anywhere between four and six. By the time they were deemed ready for augmentations, they were between twelve and fourteen. He and the rest of Team Phoenix had gone through that several months ago.
He reached over and grabbed a datapad off the rectangular box at the foot of his bed. With a few quick flicks of his fingers he had begun writing their mission report. He chronicled their flawless entry, their near-execution at the hands of Mathers' firing squad, and their neutralization the Insurrectionist force by cutting the facility's life support. He pressed the send button and placed it back on his bed. He stripped out of his black vacuum suit and threw on hi crew uniform, a black jumpsuit.
The intercom crackled to life as a beautiful, calming voice spoke over it.
"SPARTAN-223, Lieutenant Commander Ross would like to debrief you and your team, please report to the bridge." The voice said.
"Got it Eva, tell him we'll be there ASAP."
Eva was Xerxes Fall's shipboard AI, she was installed into the ship when it came off the assembly line. Though she was very intelligent she was what the tech specialists would call a "dumb" AI, meaning she had a limited learning capacity. This did not interfere with her duties aboard the vessel however.
The rest of Team Phoenix stripped off their vacuum suits and changed into their black jumpsuits. Jogging down the hall, they stopped at a large bulkhead that turned green and opened a second after they stopped. Walking in, they stood in a horizontal line behind their commanding officer, who was currently watching something on his datapad. He looked up, and promptly flicked the video off, Cody couldn't get a good look at the image.
"Squad Leader," he said, "good to see you and your team." Cody and his Spartans promptly placed their hands to their heads in salute and Ross returned it.
"Good to see you too sir." Cody replied.
"I am…" the Lieutenant tried to find a word that fit his feelings, "very impressed at how well you and your team did in neutralizing the Insurrectionist threat on the scanning outpost.
"Thank you sir, but to be honest, if it wasn't for Kate we wouldn't be here, not all of us anyway." Kate smiled proudly at the mention of her actions.
"Yes of course." Anthony Ross then frowned as he looked down at his datapad, then back up at the Spartans, "Unfortunately, I'm not big on good news at this very moment." He gestured at the datapad and threw it to Cody, "take a look at this and you'll see why." Cody easily snatched it out of the air and clicked it back on, starting the video from the beginning.
"The UNSC lost contact with the colonies on Harvest, a farming colony on the outer reaches of UNSC controlled space." He explained as the video played, "FleetCom deployed the scout ship, Argo, which they also lost contact with shortly after it exited Slipspace. They then sent the destroyer, Heracles, and the frigates Arabia, and Vostok, the group was led by Captain Veredi." His frown deepened, "They had entered the Harvest system in early October. When they returned, the only thing that came back was the Heracles, nearly dead to rights, along with Captain Veredi and some of his crew. Fortunately, we were able to recover its video recordings of what happened."
The video feed was from the view of the Heracles. Cody watched as the Arabia and Vostok came on screen. Then a ship that he had never seen before appeared on screen.
Where UNSC ships tended to be angular in shape, this ship had a rounded, curved appearance to it. Its blue exterior resembled the chitin of a bug, smooth and seemingly flawless. It didn't have the same form of propulsion as their ships, where their ships had very active propulsions, with flames and such, this strange ship emitted a blue glow as it glided through space.
"Sir?" Cody asked dumbfounded, "Is this an alien ship?" The other Spartans huddled close to him as they watched the blue craft drift parallel to the Arabia.
"Indeed, it is alien." Ross answered, "That ship is what wiped out the two frigates and almost destroyed the Heracles."
Cody looked at his commanding officer with a suppressed look of shock on his face, and then looked back at the datapad video feed. Suddenly a lance of blue light shot from the ship and it slammed into the Arabia, boiling straight through its armor and out the other side. Ignited atmosphere exploded from the inside of the human ship and it was no more.
The Vostok and Heracles fired upon the alien vessel with their missiles, but to no effect. The shots slammed into a previously invisible barrier. It shined a brilliant silver as the ships' missiles impacted. It fired again, this time destroying the Vostok as easily as the Arabia. The video cut out a few seconds afterwards. Team Phoenix wanted to watch it again, not believing what they just saw.
"Captain Veredi was lucky to get out alive." Ross said, "This new enemy calls itself the Covenant' they have superior technology and weapons. Just from this clip, we saw that they have superheated plasma weapons and energy shielding effective enough to protect large vessels from concentrated fire." His tone became more solemn as he went on.
"They sent a message to us in our own language, it reads, 'Your destruction is the will of the Gods and we are their instrument.' which means peace talks are out of the question."
"What do you suggest we do then sir?" Cody asked.
"You won't be doing anything right now." Ross said, "Our ship is currently headed towards Reach, we're going to get you and your team into the final phase of Spartan training."
"What is that sir?" Cody inquired, now very curious.
"Project: MJOLNIR." The Lieutenant Commander said, as if he expected them to know.
"And what is that?" Cody asked.
"Something that will even the odds against our new foe. John-117 and the other thirty-three Spartans are going to be told this and are going to be sent to another facility to get their hands on it as well."
John-117… Cody thought on that name for a long time. Other than the six Spartans in Team Phoenix, thirty-three other Spartans survived their augmentations to fight for humanity. John was made Squad Leader of the original seventy-five candidates. Unfortunately, he and the other Spartans, they would never know of the survival of Cody and the rest of Team Phoenix. The ONI representative on Xerxes Fall, Dr. Alina Hollis, said that Team Phoenix was better off kept a secret for now. Though Cody had a certain longing for hi old squad leader, he was content with the position he was in right now.
"Ok Spartans, dismissed." Ross said smiling despite his bad news, "Get some rest, Eva will call on you when we've reached our destination." Team Phoenix once again saluted Lieutenant Commander Ross, and he returned it, after which he turned around and started looking over data and ship diagnostics on the holoscreen behind him.
Team Phoenix exited through the bulkhead and went back to their quarters. Cody laid on his back staring at the ceiling from his bed.
The Covenant? The way he saw it, they reminded him of a certain group called the Persians he was taught about during his Spartan training. This is what they were made for, the Spartans of old, numbered around three-hundred, killed hundreds upon hundreds more Persians than there were Spartans. The same would happen to the Covenant. Team Phoenix would do what they were made to do.
They were going to win.
