Chapter 9 1513 hours, January, 26th 2655/Military Calendar/Ghosts of Reach (Silent Valley)

Over the past thirteen months they group had learnt a lot about each other: their habits, favourite foods, opinions on different matters. They had became like the family that each-and-everyone of the Spartan's craved for since the loss of their own.

One of the most shocking discovers, was that April and Lewis were actually brother and sister, separated just after birth as their planet was glassed.

Lewis was sent to a contrasted planet, Gottesman of the URSA Major_ALPHA system. Terichi, where Alys had come from was filled with rich, posh families. However the continent where Lewis was found, Detriod, was a slum, with markets, crime, violence and scraps for food. He had been arrested and placed inside the orphanage because of his lack of discipline... and the fact he stole seven-hundred credits worth of traded goods. A few months later in the orphanage, ONI had found and conscripted him into the SPARTAN-VII Project.

By a stroke of luck, Alys was moved to Detroid for national schooling and was even moved into the same orphanage. She had been sent there by her parents as, being ambassadors for the continent of Terichi and had to travel to other planets and help to expand the UNSC empire. She had been left behind by her parents because of the amount of time that would be wasted rather than being educated further. She was extremely smart for any child of her age, having an IQ closer to that of histories greatest minds, only at the age of 6.

Meanwhile April had been shipped to District 9 of Adraulus, in the Alpha Coronae Borealis star system. She was immediately placed into an orphanage after she was transferred to the planet only two days before and was almost simultaneously conscripted into the SPARTAN-VII programme.

Michael had the worst background, as his family was slaughtered before his eyes as he crouched in fear behind a door in his house. His family members were stripped limb-from-limb by Brutes that were tearing apart the planets villages and small towns, as the rest of the planet and major cities were glassed. Michael was found a few days later, after the Covenant had left, still in his house with the remnants of his family and the Brutes. He had never told them how he had done it but he had murdered each Brute in their own little way.

These strange backgrounds and personalities helped them instantly bond. So when Lieutenant Woodcock, who they had started to now respect from both admiralty and fear, had ordered them into the teams they wished they knew simultaneously who they were going to be with.

The students had been split into teams. Graham's team, Blue Team, consisted of April, Alys, Lewis and Michael. A week ago the teams had been assigned different tasks; Blue Team's, Graham and his "family", was to retrieve a key for their food. The only thing to stop them was a thirty-five man squad of ODSTs (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) and twelve dogs which all combined to make up Gamma Company, along a huge pole with a flag on it, which is where the key is fastened to. This was the final day to which they had time to complete the task, and over the six day period of time, Lewis had taken: weapons, equipment, rations, lighters for fire and even had Alys make some compounds to put in the dogs meals to make them ill for three days. Which gave them until tonight to finish.

A distant echo reverberated inside his head. It was calling his name, repeating over-and-over again, a warm tapping then started on his leg as he hung upside down, with his legs slung over the beam.

"Graham. Graham, she says there's a car moving across from the West. Come on get up."

Graham cracked out of his stationary state and lowered his arms that were crossed across his chest. He reached up and pulled himself up onto the branch, beside him was Michael, leaning up against the tree.

Above him was Lewis, "Hey, I know I'm pretty, but there's no reason to stare." He whispered, a smile dancing across his face as he descended to their branch.

He looked around to observe his surroundings.

The three of them sat on the branch of a large tree, about seventeen feet off of the ground; the tree was perfect because of its height and the amount of leaves that covered it. It allowed for good visibility out, but worse looking in. Below the tree was bushy undergrowth enclosed by thick, green slime-coated water. The swampy water glistened in speckled patchy light. Bugs and insects floated around in the light like frozen rain in space. The heavy, wet air hung around the three boys, giving a green hue to everything over a five metre range. Graham looked up to the sky and a tiger-skin of daylight and darkness dabbled around, showing the sun was now at its highest point.

"Pass me the mirror," Graham asked, as Michael reached into his cloth for clothing and pulled out a slither of glass, no bigger than his hand.

Graham took the mirror and looked east to find a length of vines drooping down the side of a massive cliff that stretched off from North to South. After he found it, he angled the mirror in his hand to reflect the sunlight up to the top of the vines. He turned the mirror slightly, back again and off again, causing the mirror to flash in a certain order for bursts and blazes, like Morse code. After a few brief moments several flashes replied to his.

April sat upon the cliff with the vines to show her position to the rest of the team, she held a SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle with an Oracle A337 scope with 20x zoom that Lewis had stolen over the week.

The flashing light signalled for a truck possibly carrying weapons or troops, heading North-East, towards a recon positioning. The plan; get there first and set a trap.

"Okay, they've got a truck on its way, so we need to give them a nice, warm welcome." Graham ordered, pointing towards the encampment.

Michael and Lewis nodded in anticipation. Now the real games would begin.

The three boys leapt from tree to tree, stopping every-so-often as patrols of two Marines walked around beneath them on the murky ground.

The birds sang delightfully in harmony to the whistling of the trees in the cool wind. The warm moist air was only broken by the ghastly rays of light beaming down from the green heaven above. A putrid stench clogged the atmosphere from rooting plants and animals.

When they finally arrived at the "encampment", which turned out to be just a small tent with a mounted-turret poking out of the front, they moved across to the tree just above it.

Now it's the tricky part, Graham thought.

They lined themselves up in order across the branch, Graham, Michael and then Lewis, and linked hands. Graham and Lewis slid backwards until they were up side down.

Graham looked down at the men as they fiddled with their ammunition and an MP3 player. The men were too occupied with listening to rock music to realise the rustling leaves of the branch. He looked back up to Michael as the hard bit started.

Michael now slid around the tree backwards as well and then pushed upwards. His face contorted with the huge effort as he lifted Lewis and Graham off the branch. The two boys unhooked their legs from the branch as Michael lowered them. Michael stretched his arms down towards the men as Lewis and Graham prepared themselves. The two boys spun around back-to-back and put their feet together. They linked the feet closest to the men and pushed off with the others and kicked the two men's heads together.

A few birds squawked in approval, as the two bodies flopped to the ground, blood on their noses. The rock music continued in the background as Graham and Lewis attempted to pick the turret off its tripod. The boys struggled to lift the gun until Michael came across and lifted the gun away from them and chuckled to himself.

Alys ran around some trees with two Assault Rifles in her hands and one more on a strap on her back. She handed two of the rifles to Lewis and Graham, and they smiled in appreciation, the third she took off her back and inspected it before cocking the rifle's barrel and raising the sight to her eye. She lowered the weapon and looked at Graham, before courtesy nodding her head with a smile hidden behind a think layer of green and brown mud.

Graham put his finger in the air and twirled it in a circle: come to me. The two boys and Alys walked across to him inside the tent.

He walked across to one of the radios and clicked it on. Nothing, nobody knew anything of what had just happened. Good. He passed Alys the mirror and she walked outside to signal April about the specific radio bandwidth. Lewis had taken one of the walkie-talkies to listen in on what they were doing; now they were going to use their enemy's technology behind their backs to communicate. How ironic, Graham thought as he placed his Assault Rifle on the table beside the radio.

He turned the dials to a specific radio bandwidth and whistled into the microphone in a series of tunes, like a bird. After a few heart beats, a reply was sung: April was good. He flicked the microphone on and turned to the group of three that sat before him.

"Okay Spartans that was the easy bit... Now we've got a truck delivering supplies around the place, this was the last one. So I think that it would be good if we gave them a nice welcome and a rest." Graham said, with a smile across his face. "I want Lewis and Alys in the trees ready on my command. Michael you'll be baiting the trap and being the backup. April, your our backup's backup."

"I wont let you have all of the fun." She said playfully, but in a harsh, cold tone that everyone had become accustom to hearing in her voice when she was in her hunt zone.

"Let's get this show on the road then." Graham finished.

The group dispersed off to their different locations and hunkered down for the wait. Graham thought about how the respect that him and Lieutenant Woodcock now had, had also taught him a lot about how he should be and how he should act. Like the patience to wait for an hour to pass without doing anything to keep him occupied, but to continue to stay focused.

The truck pulled up several metres away from the encampment and one of the men got out of the cockpit of the truck. He was dressed in an adapted ODST outfit; a brown leather-like skin suit, with green camouflaged armour pads on his shoulders, knees down to ankles, back-plate, chest-plate and the standard ODST helmet to make the suit airtight. The man walked around the side of the vehicle and into the encampment but did not emerge. Michael had done his job; now it was time for them to do theirs. One man, dressed the same uniform, clambered out of the vehicle and started collecting the supplies from the rear of the vehicle. Two more men jumped out of the back of the truck and talked to the commander. After the silent voice inside their helmets had finished their conversation, the two men walked towards the encampment to find their missing comrade.

Graham looked up at Lewis and Alys and with his index finger and middle finger out, in the shape of a childish gun, he motioned for them to engage. The two kids dropped from the trees, Lewis brought his hands down on the man's neck and Alys kicked the second adult's head into the ground. Both of the ODSTs lay with their unconscious heads embedded into the floor. Now its my turn, Graham thought as Alys and Lewis ran into the base. The man dropped the supplies he was carrying when he found his unconscious squad mates on the floor, and drew his gun.

Graham grasped onto a vine and slithered upside down, behind the man. The ODST turned and let out a little whelp as the distorted, mud-covered scarred face of Graham yelled in his face. Graham spun around and leapt onto the man and began to smack the helmet from side to side, yelling and growling as he did. The Adrenaline in his blood spiked, he loved it; living on edge, nothing to hold you back. Yet he controlled it and fought back against his uncontainable urge for more.

He was about to deliver the final blow to the helmet and smash the glass inwards, but was interrupted by him being thrown off. He rolled across the floor and back onto his hands and feet. He growled in both anger and pain at the man.

A yell from behind stopped him, and as he turned, another ODST, hidden before, ran out with a large log in his gauntleted hands, anger boiling in his revealed face. Just as he was about to bring it down past his head, two cracks echoed in the silent valley. A small dent now appeared in the man's forehead and a pellet fell out as he collapsed to the ground. The other ODST fell to the ground holding his right side with his left hand. His convex visor glinted in a green hue with pain and suffering. Graham stood in shock for a brief second, until he remembered that it was an enemy and a threat, which was disobedience of a superior command not to neutralise those threats. He snorted at the fallen men noticing how they had fallen... he looked up at April.

After few flashes of light to say that he now owed her a favour, he cracked a smile, before running after the others.

He turned the corner into the encampment and found the ODST without a helmet, pinned on the floor with Michael stood holding the turret to the man's forehead.

"We're taking you ride is that okay?" Graham asked rhetorically.

"Why don't you piss off you little runt," The man replied.

"Well, I am very sorry but tough!" He said with sarcasm smouldering in his voice, he shot a look at Michael who took a shot at the man. The body slumped down further and lay still. Although every gun that was on the island only shot pellets, it still really hurt, Graham reflected.

"Come on then, let's get moving." He said. He walked across to the radio and clicked it on, "April we're coming along in the truck, get prepared to drop."

The four children walked across the lifeless bodies and clambered into the truck. It was a make-shift vehicle constructed from a troop carrying M842 Warthog Transport and a large mass of cloth thrown over it and bolted onto the chassis. Alys climbed into the driver's seat and buckled herself in, as Michael sat in the passenger's. Graham and Lewis jumped into the back compartment and threw a few of the crates out to make more room. Alys briefly glanced over the wheel, pedals, gears and other buttons before slamming down the accelerator and tearing off into the jungle.

Static washed over the radio and then a voice broke through, "April we're coming along in the truck, get prepared to drop."

April shuffled slightly and removed the grass and mud she had smothered into her dark black hair and straightened it out.

"About damn time." She muttered to herself as she removed a twig from behind her ear.

She propped herself up against a moss covered tree, which was perched on the very edge of the cliff, and looked down the Oracle scope. A path way of fluttering birds indicated her squad's location.

Up on the cliff the wind whistled in a soothing rhythm with the birds and other animals howling back in tune. The deep green valley beneath her was filled with varying types and sizes of trees, all as green as her hazel eyes.

A few scratches on her face and arms began to sting again as the mud sparked her nerves. She had been through a few rough scenarios that had caused the cuts, but she always had her team right beside her along the way. She could ruthlessly injure, or even kill, a Marine but she loved her friends more than she could anything else in the galaxy, even if they were her real family. She tore a part of her shirt off and poured a bit of water on it from some leaves and began to clean her scuffs.

The Sun had moved down now behind the opposite of the canyon. It sat atop the horizon and a mist had set over the basin from the time taken for the truck to get to the squad, and from them to her. The haze was beginning to glow in an orange hue, which made a full blend of rainbow like colours. The valley and mist turned from green and yellow up to the gold of the blazing sun on the other side of the gorge, to a dark blue and then purple above her head. The sky was fortunate enough not to be obscured by any clouds, and only a few large birds that flew above her floating about among the planets in the sky.

I love the sunsets here, April meditated.

She looked back down to the chasm floor and the birds were a lot closer now with dust fluttering up among them. She threw the sniper away and grabbed the vine hanging over the edge. She wrapped it between her legs and free-fell for ten seconds before beginning to tighten her legs against it. Nothing happened, apart from a now shirring pain now burning through her legs. The floor was approaching fast; she would have to trust her team mates to think ahead. She tightened her legs and flipped up and locked her hands onto the vine. The resultant sudden stop caused the vine to snap and throw her to the side like a leaf. The Adrenaline pumped through her body and she opened her eyes. She was hurtling through the canopy of the jungle with the branches scratching every inch of her body. Below her was the truck. She tucked and rolled but stumbled as she did so along the floor of the Warthog. She trip over once until she became embedded in the front of the truck.

"Hi... Um, you look nice... but could you umm, get off of me now please?" April opened her eyes. In front of her face was Graham's about four inches away. She blinked once and then slipped around the side and exhaled. Her bright face had become reddened with embarrassment as she flicked back her hair over her head and moved a few strays out of her eyes.

"Since when, do you, give compliments?" April asked, a joke toying around in her now playful voice.

"I have my days." He chuckled.

"So where to now?"

"... To the flag. Then off to go and rub it in everyone faces when we win!" Graham roared, as the squad cheered in triumph.

We haven't won yet, April pondered, but I guess that a little bit of bragging after isn't too bad.