Hello! First of all I would like to apologise for the blatant disregard for this story which I am really into. Basically life happened, which I know is a bad excuse, but going to University is kinda crazy! Anyway, I'd like to thank the Guest who reviewed this ages ago! I'm not revealing too much about the outcome of the fic, but I'll be showing flashbacks throughout to give you guys some idea. Anyway, I'll try and update this fic as and when I can, but I can't guaranteeregular intervals. Again, if you can see anything wrong, feel free to comment! Apologies once again, hope you enjoy!
-SS
27th April 2545
System: Unknown. Planet: Unknown.
03:00 Hours
The general rule is that, if you're a Spartan, you're nigh impenetrable. While this might help during battle, hiking around all of your equipment and your giant frame for over a day tends to take its toll. Dex ground to a halt behind a large tree trunk, taking in large mouthfuls of air, trying to recover from all the running. He'd nearly gotten away twice, before a keen eyed Jackal had spotted him both times. He'd lost count of how many Phantoms he'd seen over the course of the past day. I thought they'd never fucking end. I can't keep this up for long, I need to contact the Gurnsback and get an extraction. There was only one problem with that plan. As soon as a link with ship is set up, the Covenant will be able to trace the outbound transmission to, both, the sender and the receiver. Heads you win, tails I lose. Fucking great. The matter wasn't helped by the fact that he was currently being hunted by an army of Covvies that could be on him at any minute. You need to make a decision, you're running out of options. The situation was now past Fucking terrible, it was now FUBAR. As the thought ran its way through his neurones, a Needle rifle shot skimmed its way past the Spartan's side, shaving the trunk of the tree in the process. Cursing, he broke into a full on sprint toward the edge of the trees. I need to get rid of this phantom. Grabbing one of the explosives on his chest piece, he sprinted his way toward a tree that looked fairly easy to climb. The Phantom, meanwhile, dropped closer to the canopy of the trees, gauging where the Demon could be. Hopping from branch to branch, Dex made his way up. Getting to just before the top, he stopped. Planning how he was going to do this. A thought entered his mind. He realised that the needle rifle shot must have come from ground level. I'll deal with the Jackals later. He focussed back on the matter at hand. Waiting for the perfect moment, Dex crouched. He would need as much lift as he could get to make it top the tree and further onwards.
The Phantom dropped low to the treeline, almost skimming the trees as it passed. The pilot didn't have enough time to swing the troop transport away as the large Spartan leapt from the green of the tree tops. A large thud could be heard as the soldier hit the bottom of the carrier. The Jackal at the helm cried to the operations officer in control of the plasma cannon, alerting the rest of the crew to what had just transpired. Turning back to controls of the Phantom, the pilot flicked the side doors of the shut, preventing the Spartan from entering the ship. Little did the Kig-Yar realise that Dex was already dropping through the tree canopy to the forest floor. His distraction had been enough, whilst he'd been attached to the bottom, he'd slipped an explosives pack in the shuttle. What many soldiers didn't think was that the inside of a Phantom wasn't armoured and thus was the optimal strike point. But being trained by Kurt Ambrose meant you didn't think like a normal soldier. As the Spartan hit the floor the Phantom exploded above the tree tops. I am so badass. He took off at a sprint in the bearing to his extraction point.
27th April 2545
System: Unknown. Planet: Unknown.
04:23 Hours
Dex came to a halt about 4 Kilometres out from his primary extraction LZ. I need to by the Pelican some time before the Covvies find the actual extraction point. "Alright Dex, if you're gonna do this, you're gonna have to haul arse." Bringing up his UGPS, the Spartan accessed the communications panel. Here we go. "UNSC Hugo Gurnsback, this is Spartan B-312 calling in for primary extraction at point Alpha, co-ordinates 4-7 Latitude, minus 1-2-2 Longitude. How copy?" The coordinates he had given were 5 kilometres east of his current position, in an attempt to throw the Covenant off of the actual LZ. As he waited for a reply, he set up a tripmine, just in case a scouting party traced his current location. Once he finished, he awaited a reply.
Silence.
He began to worry. Why aren't they responding? Quickly scanning through his comm channels, he found nothing wrong with them. Why aren't they pinging back? "UNSC Hugo Gurnsback, I repeat I am awaiting extraction at" The comm crackled to life. Dex could barely register what the specialist was saying. "Spa… B-31…. is the… Gurnsback.. We ar… troub… comms… Pelican is en… one hour.. ow copy?" As per the UNSC comm protocols they were required to give incorrect information on timings. He had 15 minutes. "This is B-312, good copy, I repeat good copy, out." The soldier took off like a cheetah to the LZ. This was going to take it out of him. Faintly behind him he could hear his tripmine going off, undoubtedly taking out the patrol that was unlucky enough to find it. His lungs began to burn as he broke out of the treeline, spotting the ridge in the distance. His HUD location marker gave its distance. 1900m. Looking up he tried to spot the Pelican descending through the clouds. There! In the midst of white fluffy clouds he could make out the dark shape of the bird.
"Spartan B-312, this is Pelican Bravo one niner, we are 1500 meters out and closing. You ready for a quick dust off soldier?" The pilots voice sounded familiar. Slavic. Kat? An explosion behind him brought him back to the present. Turning his head, Dex spotted a pair of Banshees honing in on the LZ. "One niner, we're gonna have some company, so yes please!" The Pelican swung down on the ridge, awaiting its passenger. "Two bogies on your tail." Weaving whilst sprinting, Dex barely avoided the rows of hot plasma. "Don't worry I got them." Going to pull two grenades from his belt, he found nothing. Shit, shit, shit. Idea's bloomed through his head. What do I do? Suddenly it clicked. I have a sniper. Grinding to a halt he pulled the SRS99 from his back, the Banshees passed above. Not expecting him to just stop, but in the process revealing their weak points. The pilot. Scoping down, the Spartan traced his target. Breathing in, he waited between heartbeats. CRACK. The rightmost Banshee fell, the pilot dead. Dex shifted to the second one. CRACK. It followed its partner to the ground. Oh I am definitely badass. Shouldering the sniper, he made for the Pelican once more. Hitting the metal of the inner hull, he slammed the shutter button. "Let's go one niner!" The D77-TC's engines roared into life, thrusting the dropship away from the planet. Inertia pulled Dex into one of the seats in the cargo area. He strapped in, readying himself for the flight.
Looking out the window, the blue sky of the planet quickly turned into the black of space. It's like the reverse of the drop pod. He shook his head, leaning back against the hull, closing his eyes. The pilot turned back to look into the cargo area. "You alright back there soldier?" They shot straight back open. Memories of training back on Onyx flooded his mind.
~SB~
29th May 2542
System: Zeta Doradus. Planet: Onyx.
12:45 Hours
"You alright back there soldier?" Kat's voice brought him back to the Warthog. Bouncing in the back of the troop carrier, Team November prepped for the exercise. "Yeah, sorry zoned out." She smiled warmly at him. "Don't worry, but if you do that during the exercise.." She leaned in close to his face. "I'll kick your ass." Leaning back into her seat, laughing. Dex's face flamed. Jayce-B013, teamleader of November, cleared his throat. "Now that we're all awake." Decidedly looking at Dex, who hid his face - flaming again. "Our assignment today is capture the flag." There was a collective groan through in the Warthog. Gemma-B199, usually the quiet one in the team, leaned back against the inner hull. "You know how bad we are at this." Jayce rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Look, I don't pick the exercises, and we're up against Foxtrot today, so prepare yourself for a beating." The Warthog came to a hault. "Alright November, lets move." They filed out of the Warthog. Jayce faced them again. "You know the drill. We get the flag, get it to their base or beat all of them to win. We go on the sound of the klaxon. You ready?" The group snapped to attention. "OOH-RA!".
~SB~
27th April 2545
System: Unknown. Planet: Unknown.
05:30 Hours
"Hello?" The voice brought him back from his memories. "You in there?" Dex shook his head and cleared his throat. "Yeah, sorry just tired." It wasn't Kat piloting the Pelican. The Pilot shook her head, turning back to the controls. Bringing the Pelican back to the Hugo Gurnsback.
