Intentions and Agendas

By Chief Ratchet

(A.N: Dang, how long did this take me? I'm really sorry for how long it took for this new chapter; a million things impacted on its production. With a new story coming up, this is probably going to be pushed to the sideline, but it will still be updated every now and then.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Command and Conquer. They belong to Bungie (I suppose its Microsoft now) and EA respectively.

Chapter 4: Engineer, reporting in!


SPARTAN-015, otherwise known as Jack, dove to the side to avoid a volley of bullets as they slashed through the air where he had been moments before.

Around him, three MA5K's unloaded their rounds at the general area where the original burst had come from. Bullets, stun rounds, tore through the bushes and thickets, creating small splinters as they impacted on trees and the ground, throwing up small fountains of dirt.

"Cease fire!" he shouted.

Immediately, the sound died away as the last round left the barrel, and impacted on something.

He motioned for another Spartan, Jessica, to move forward and check the area where they had just sprayed. She loped around carefully, peeking around the bushes slowly, and then shook her head. Just as she was about to push past another thick bush, a storm of stun rounds roared through, hammered her body, and flung her to the ground.

"Man down!" screamed another one of his teammates, Tom.

"Garry, go get her!" he shouted.

The other SPARTAN-III by his side dove forward, and covered Jessica's prone form as Jack and Tom sprayed stun rounds over them.

There was a scream as one of the bursts hit a target, and zeroing in on the sound, Tom and Jack sprayed another volley from where the scream had originated.

More shouting, not their own, as another Spartan appeared, diving at them, in an attempt to cover his own squad. Three long bursts struck the leaping form, and sent him crashing back.

By this time, Garry had dragged Jessica back and propped her against a tree.

"You alright?" he asked.

She nodded, panting as she tried to breathe.

"Flashbang!" shouted Jack, yanking one out. "Fire in the hole!"

He threw the non-lethal explosive at the bushes where he thought the gunfire was originating from. The photo reactive panels on the SPI Armour still reacted to the bright flash coming from the flashbang, which in turn would cause the amour to turn a stark white, the wearer becoming a signal flare.

The explosive detonated, and he covered his eyes. They would all stand out in their white armour, but he was partially covered by a tree, so only part of the armour turned white.

In contrast, three figures suddenly appeared in the bushes and even perched on the trees above them. He shouldered his rifle, and took aim.

Before he could fire, the exercise was interrupted suddenly by their radio blaring.

"All Spartans, halt exercises. Repeat, exercises and drills have been halted. Report to the amphitheatre."

The white figures died out, and then stepped out of the bushes.

"What was that?" the one in the lead asked.

Jack shrugged. "We better do what he says."

The walked off the range, and headed for the base. Their training base was located deep within the mountain ranges, making it ideal for training SPARTAN-III's in relative secrecy, all of which was about to end.

They passed Marines on patrol, Marines training, and automated defences as they proceeded past the gates, and into the amphitheatre. Inside, three hundred and five SPARTAN-III's congregated, exchanging talk amongst themselves excited. Though not as young as the first class of SPARTAN-III's, they had already received their augmentations and had been in training for the last year or so, waiting for the time when the next Covenant Loyalist force would attack.

So far though, they hadn't seen what they had been designed for: war.

Many of them were becoming restless, tired of endless exercises with each other, or the occasional Marine platoon, which was even less satisfying.

Major Forrester entered the room. A balding, heavyset man wearing full Marine combat fatigues, he was flanked by a pair of Marines. All the Spartans rose up as one.

"At ease, Spartans," he said, reaching the central podium in the centre of the amphitheatre. They all sat down in perfect unison.

He cleared his throat. "As of 1400 hours today, we are officially at war."

Would it been anyone else, there would have been murmurings, but the Spartans remained silent. Other than the occasional glance at each other, there was no other movement.

"A new race of aliens has landed, and they have wasted no time launching assaults against cities and UNSC bases. However, we have no intel on these attackers, so you'll be deployed to assist the Marines in repulsing these attacks. Gear up people, you're leaving now. Except for Fireteams Charlie, Tango and Foxtrot!" he called out.

Jack slumped back onto his team, as did eleven other Spartans. Major Forrester walked off the platform, and approached the railing that lined the front row seats.

"Spartans," he began once the rest had filed out. "I need you to gather intel on this new enemy. We're running blind, not knowing what they are capable of or what they are here for. We've got a break though—satellite has spotted an enemy base that's still under construction, and looks to be their largest foothold on this planet. I need two teams to go in and initiate a battle, whilst another team infiltrates the base, steals anything that's not nailed down, blow the place to bits and get out."

"Yes sir!"

"Fireteam Charlie. You'll infiltrate their base, while Fireteams Foxtrot and Tango distracts their forces. Arm up heavily—Jackhammers, rifles, Spartan Lasers, whatever you need. The Spartan Lasers have gotten their chargers, so take a few extended batteries to keep you while the others recharge. Fireteam Charlie, ONI's latest hackware has arrived with the Adriatic, which you'll need to hack whatever information they have. Priority on language decryption and intel on their troops. Good luck Spartans."


Twenty minutes later, two Pelicans, loaded with a total of twelve SPARTAN-III's, flew above the ground. Inside, Fireteams Charlie, Foxtrot and Tango sat, checking over their load out. Fireteam Charlie had the least weapons, but considering the number Fireteams Tango and Foxtrot bore, it wasn't saying much. Loaded with Spartan Lasers, Jackhammer Launchers and various other arms, Fireteams Tango and Foxtrot were well armed.

"You're lucky," said Jack to Casey, leader of Fireteam Tango. "You get to do the fighting."

"We're a couple of lucky bastards, aren't we?"

"So what's the plan?" asked Garry.

"We'll get on the ground, make a nice big noise to draw away as many of the troops that are there as possible. While they're distracted, you'll go into their base, while Adrian and Nicole cover you with snipers," answered Ken, Fireteam Foxtrot's leader.

"Sounds fun," remarked Jessica.

Seconds later, the Pelican landed, and disgorged its cargo onto a small cliff overlooking the enemy base. Twelve Spartans stormed off the transport, and immediately blended in with the surrounding environment. Three of them went back into the Pelican, and pulled out three AIE-486H Heavy Machine Guns, with enough ammunition for all three to last an hour of continuous fire.

Fireteam Charlie attached hooks and lengths of rope to the cliff edge, and strapped themselves onto it.

"Good luck," whispered Ken over the radio as they descended into the darkness below. "Give us the signal when you're in position."

As the Spartans of Fireteam Charlie descended into the blackness below, the remaining eight Spartans set themselves up for an extended firefight, laying out clips, rockets, setting the chargers for the Spartan Lasers up and charging a few while readying the rest, and setting the chainguns up. Adrian and Nicole, two of their best snipers, set up their rifles and lay prone, viewing the base through night-vision scopes. Ken activated the night-vision settings in his helmet, and saw the expanse of the enemy base.

Multiple squat structures, shaped like a dome but with 'arms' curling inwards were around the entire base. He could see some aliens patrolling the base, and one of the structures embedded in the ground at the centre of the base. A small structure, shaped like a triangle with circular points and a trio of arms constantly moving was located next to it, looking very miniscule next to the gigantic thing. Numerous other structures were located, including a handful of hand-shaped structures swivelling on mounts and domes with what looked like clouds of metal surrounding it. But there were only a handful of them, and they were all sparsely located, and the loss of a single one would severely compromise the alien's defences.

There was a single structure that stood out though: a medium sized structure (compared to the others) with a pair of antenna extending out. From the fact that there was only one of it, he guessed it was the most important structure so far, and the fact that it was located near the centre of the base only strengthened the fact.

"Fireteam Charlie, in position," whispered Jack over the radio. Instant silence fell over the eight SPARTAN-III's.

"Roger that Charlie. Get ready to sprint through," whispered Ken. "Adrian, Nicole, you ready with the snipers?"

"We're all green," Adrian replied.

"Okay, Spartan Lasers first. Target those hand like things and the hives. Try to make as much noise as possible. After lasers, put two Jackhammers into anything that moves. On my mark."

They readied themselves.

"Mark," whispered Ken.

Three Spartan Lasers instantly began humming, a thin red laser emitting from the barrel as the laser started to build up to their full strength. Within three seconds, the humming had grown more intense, at four, the light was becoming brighter and harsher, and at five, they discharged.

Three blood red beams of destruction swathed down at the base, slamming into one of the hand shaped structures with deadly precision. The lasers ripped through the structure, but it still stood.

"Again! Make sure it goes down!" Ken ordered.

Five seconds later, a second trio of beams lashed out and struck the structure. This time, it collapsed on itself, leaving a decidedly large gap in the defence grid. Fireteam Charlie ran.

At the same time, the attacks had gotten the aliens attention. They started massing forces near the largest structure, as many of the four legged ones and large ones gathered. This time, they were supported by apparently what looked like vehicles: one that looked like a tank, hovering like the Wraith but a bit smaller, and the 'turret' floating separate of the main body, and another that was a six-legged…thing, that had a large spout and a large, round bulbous back.

"Hit them!" Ken barked.

More lasers charged, and then discharged their deadly beams. One of the small, tank-like vehicles was hit by two, and exploded, the turret blowing off. The rest of the body sank to the ground, blue fires popping up as the aliens suddenly turned in the direction of the lasers. Squealing, the aliens charged en masse, headed in the general direction the eight SPARTAN-III's were in.

As per his orders, the SPARTANS picked up and shouldered their Jackhammers, and aimed, leading the target to give the rockets ample time to travel. They fired, as eight, and then a total of sixteen missiles were launched, trailing brown exhaust as they flew…straight into the alien's midst. Explosions blossomed, hurling alien bodies and bits of them into the air as they were caught in between and by multiple explosions. Some of the tanks exploded as well—some caught by rockets and taking direct hits, others only scarred by the explosions. The walkers also slumped down, while others were unharmed.

The aliens, caught by surprise by the sudden amount of firepower, halted. It was enough for three Spartans to man the AIE-486H chain guns, spin the barrels, and then firing.

Hundreds of rounds were sent down at the aliens, plucking their bodies up and hurling them away. The rounds bounced off the vehicles however, as the aliens started to swarm at the SPARTANs. There were the steady cracks of the sniper rifles going off as one by one, Adrian and Nicole picked off aliens that had spotted or were going after the SPARTANs of Fireteam Charlie.

The Spartan Lasers went off again, searing through alien armour as more rockets lanced down at the approaching aliens. However, the aliens started to fire back. Bolts of energy struck the ground around them, throwing up columns of dirt that rained down on them. The six-legged walkers fired as well: bluish-purple bolts of energy struck the ground and sizzled. One impacted near Ken, and the temperature in his suit rose.

"Hold your ground!" shouted Ken, as even more bolts of energy struck around them.

The smaller aliens, which he guessed had a very limited range, were forced to find a way to the top of the cliff where they were located, while the others simply tried to position themselves to gain a bead on them. With the smaller ones gathering in large groups around the bottom of the cliff, he primed two frag grenades, and rolled them over the edge. Twin explosions rocked the gathering aliens below, as they screeched and squealed in pain.


The explosions in the background echoed in their ears as they silently infiltrated the enemy base like ghosts.

Appearing as no more than a quick flicker, the four SPARTAN-III's made their silent way through the base, hiding against strange, rounded structures that dotted the entire base. The sounds of whirring, alien machinery sounded from the gigantic structure at the heart of the base, and the small, three armed structure next to it also emitted such strange sounds. The arms continuously moved back and worth in deeper into the depths, before withdrawing and proceeding.

With explosions still sounding through the night, they reached their target structure, and quickly assembled around it.

One SPARTAN-III started to take out and shape small blocks of C-12 high-explosives, as the others took positions around him. The shaped charges went onto the frame of the structure, and within seconds, the entire group withdrew.

A small squad of the four-legged aliens scooted over to investigate. Their investigation was ended abruptly as the charges went off. The explosion blasted off a chunk of the wall, and also took with it the alien squad. The Spartans slipped inside the building, as more alien vehicles and troops were sent to find them. One of the vehicles was one of their light tanks: when it approached, a violet beam—similar to that of radar—came up, and swept around their entry point, revealing them from their camouflage for all to see.

"Fall back!"

The four Spartans instantly started to proceed deeper within the structure, as the tank fired; a series of purple discs that flew through the air and struck the edge of the hole. The discs burnt away a bit of the edge, as the Spartans fired back. The light tank couldn't come in any further, and soon gave up as they flattened themselves against a corner.

A trio of the large, rounded aliens shuffled past them, not even knowing they were there. Jack flashed a red status light three times quickly: take them out.

There were four coughs from four silenced assault rifles as the Spartans fired. The expertly aimed armour-piercing rounds cracked against the alien's tough armour, knocking small chips off. The trio whirled around, snarling, and were met with another burst, this time straight between the slits. They dropped to the ground, dead.

Fading from view again, the Spartans proceeded deeper into the structure. Minutes later, the four found themselves in a room, which they hoped would be the main command and control centre.

"Set up the hackware here," Jack ordered.

Tom nodded, and pulled out the small datapad and opened it. Trying the wireless hack, he soon found himself inside the systems.

"I'm in," he reported.

"Good. Keep going. We'll keep watch."

Minutes ticked by, as the hackware churned, and sifted through mountains of data, all of which could be useful. Anything deemed of use was quickly copied into the steadily growing pile of data that was starting to turn into a treasure chest of secrets.

The clicking of alien feet caught the Spartan's attention, as they backed away from the door, and aimed their rifles as Tom hacked. The door opened; a trio of aliens, similar to the ones before, stood in it.

"Fire!" ordered Jack.

The Spartan's, excluding Tom, instantly fired, rounds peppering the alien's tough armour. It growled, and fired back, a bolt of violet energy that struck and cratered the ground behind Jessica. Two lucky bursts struck through the slit in the armour, and the alien dropped as it its two fellows piled in, and fired.

Bolts and bullets crossed paths in the spacious room, as the Spartans ducked and rolled to avoid the bolts. The aliens were too bulky to avoid the bullets, but many of the rounds failed to penetrate the armour. Silenced rifles weren't nearly as effective as their non-silenced cousins. Eventually, the two aliens fell, still growling.

"You done yet Tom?" Jack asked, as even more aliens smashed inside. "Shit! Take them out!"

More gunfire erupted as the Spartans threw everything at the horde of aliens literally knocking on the door. Frag grenades wiped out masses of the smaller ones, but often only knocked the larger ones down, and didn't deter the aliens from attempting to storm the room.

"Tom!" Jack shouted over the radio.

"Done!" Tom triumphantly said, as the files and language decrypter were downloaded onto the datapad, ready for examination.

"Good. Team, cease fire and ensure camouflage cloaks are on," ordered Jack.

They stopped firing, and flattened themselves to the wall as the aliens poured in, unsure of where they were. Tom did his best to quietly close the datapad, moving around slightly as so he wouldn't bump into one of them. With the pad secured, he quickly flashed his green signal status light twice, which was answered by the green light going off quickly four times in succession: Move out.

As they moved, within metres of the door, disaster struck. One of the aliens hurried into Jessica's way, and they ended up knocking each other down. Every single alien snarled, and turned towards them.

"Garry, get her! Everyone else, open up!" Jack shouted.

He and Tom instantly started to shoot, firing at the aliens closest to Jessica and Garry, who tossed a few HE grenades into their midst. The explosions rocked the room, and hurled alien body parts around as bullets flew. The aliens, unorganised, couldn't react in time as the Spartans escaped. However, one shot managed to land near Jack and Tom, and the heat burnt out the camouflage cloaks.

"Everyone out!" Jack ordered, seeing as how the aliens were rapidly crossing the floor over to them, as several stayed behind to blast them.

They ran, through twisting corridors and hallways, as they tried to retrace their steps out while being hounded by alien patrols. Alien bolts pounded the walls, burning out craters while bullets flew back occasionally.

"Spartans, break pursuit!" Jack ordered.

They spun around suddenly, with Tom and Jessica dropping to a kneeling position as Jack and Garry stood behind them, all with their rifles raised. Three aliens rounded the corner into the path of two frag grenades. The explosions cut the aliens to pieces, as the Spartans fired. The sheer number of bullets striking the armour of the two large aliens shattered through, and they dropped, just as another two grenades knocked back the others.

"Retreat!" Jack ordered, and they spun around and ran. "Garry, how much C-12 do you have left?"

"Enough to bring down a building or two," Garry answered.

"Drop them along this path. If we're lucky, the charges will break the structural support."

Garry started to arm and drop the blocks of C-12, dropping them on the floor or throwing them wherever something important looked to be. The beeps of the charges made an ominous sound as they ran, and fired back at their unrelenting pursuers.

"There!" Jack said, pointing at what looked like the exit.

They ran, and burst out of the building, and never stopped running. Behind them, the timers on the charges started to approach detonation, and within seconds, reached it.

With an ear-splitting roar, the C-12 charges exploded, their explosive fury tearing through alien armour, metal and support beams. They consumed everything within the building, as the explosions, uncontained by the walls, exploded outwards, leaving massive, gaping holes in the structure. With a final groan, the structure collapsed onto itself, shaking the ground and throwing a massive cloud of dust into the air among alien screeches.


"Fireteam Tango, this is Echo 511, what's your status?" asked the Pelican pilot as the dropship roared towards the battlezone, escorted by a pair of Sparrowhawk VTOL gunships.

"This is Fireteam Tango, good to hear from you Echo. Fireteam Charlie's got the goods, and we're just about overrun. We need a pick ASAP."

Over the radio, the pilot could hear the sounds of chainguns, Spartan Lasers, rockets and the strange sounds of alien gunfire as explosions rung in the background.

"Hang tight Fireteam Tango. ETA is forty seconds! Clear an LZ!"

"Roger that Echo," said Ken as the aliens rushed at their position once again.

This time, they had their light tanks right behind them, and yet more infantry. The Spartans were running low on ammo, but the aliens swarmed without fear of pain or death even as the chainguns were rotated towards them, and spat more golden shells. While the other Spartans concentrated on the smaller aliens, the Spartans manning the chainguns aimed them at the larger aliens right behind. The chaingun rounds more often than not punched through their thick, chitinous armour, which kept them back.

Rockets lanced at the light tanks, and one took two such rockets. It exploded, the turret blasted off and the rest of the body losing its anti-gravity propulsion and crashing to the ground.

"Gun's dry!" one of the Spartans manning the chainguns said, taking out his silenced assault rifle.

Seconds later, one of the light tanks fired—a series of purple-violet discs that traced patterns in the air. They slammed into the abandoned chaingun, exploding into purple-violet bubbles of heat and destruction that wiped out the chaingun.

Minutes later, the second and the third chaingun stopped firing as well, the ammunition belts which fed the guns empty and depleted. They added their own assault rifle fire to the others, even as the aliens pressed on, victory in their eyes. The steady cracks of the two sniper rifles went on, snapping the rounded aliens around as the expertly aimed rounds went through the slit or blew away unarmoured limbs; mainly the legs.

In the distance, they could hear the roar of the Pelican dropship and the two Sparrowhawk gunships approaching. They raced over trees and plains at their maximum speed.

"Warm up the autocannons," the pilot of one Sparrowhawk told his co-pilot. "Get a lock for the missiles, and prepare the rocket pods."

The Sparrowhawks rapidly approached the scene. Within seconds, they were within firing range, and had their targets laid out for them. Missiles roared out from their hardpoints, striking the light tanks and walkers that were still surviving. At the speed they were approaching, the Sparrowhawks roared over the battle and were forced to race back in order to use their autocannons to full effectiveness.

The second they appeared over the battle again, a barrage of purple-violet bolts lanced out from below towards them.

"Evasive!" one pilot cried out.

The two Sparrowhawks banked to the left. But one as too slow and the bolts struck its softer underbelly and engines. Fire burst out and the engines belched black smoke as the pilot struggled to regain control over the wounded Sparrowhawk. Another series of bolts sealed its fate.

Losing more and more control by the second, even as the gunner rained shells down on the offending aliens, the damaged Sparrowhawk dipped suddenly, and within seconds, had plunged into the ground. An explosion tore through the gunship as the ammunition that hadn't been expended cooked off.

By the time the last explosion had rung within the shell of the former gunship, the surviving aliens were fleeing. Scampering or limping back to their devastated base, the surviving Sparrowhawk sent a few barrages of rockets their way, smashing a few damaged tanks and walkers as the Pelican landed.

"Onboard Spartans!" Ken ordered, just as Fireteam Charlie came up. "Right on time. Right, let's get you up as well."

"Thanks Ken," they replied, and boarded the Pelican.

Ken was the last to board it, sweeping the area one more time of any hostiles before deeming the area safe. Intense training had taught them that often, something was lying around just waiting to ambush them. But seeing nothing, he too entered the Pelican.

With a roar, the pilot fed more fuel to the engines, and the bulky dropship lifted off, its sole surviving escort flying nearby. Information was vital to any war, and the Spartans had done exactly that: they had information, providing that of course, the data that they stole could be decoded. If it could, life was on the way to becoming a lot easier.

But either way, there was a massive obstacle ahead; the aliens. And without a doubt, the fight was not yet finished.


A.N: Okay, I lied; there is no ODST action, but I hope plenty of Spartan action made up for it. Sub-par ending to me, as usual.

Next chapter actually will be different. It won't have much to do with the story going on now, but just a little side story I thought I might throw in since this is a C&C and Halo crossover.

Until then, review, and I shall see you later!