Hello everybody! I'm back.
I'm only doing an Author's Note on the top of the page this time because I feel like doing one at the end would ruin the flow, so to speak.
So a very big thank you to my partner and fellow Author Theotherpianist for beta'ing this chapter. As always I couldn't have done it without you.
If you'd like to beta this story or influence it in any way send me a PM or a review. I'm open to ideas. (Or you could give feedback, that is just as good)
if you celebrate Easter like myself then happy Easter to you! :)
i'm done, read and review please!
"I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air—
I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still. I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deep Pillowed in silk and scented down,
Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
Where hushed awakenings are dear...
But I've a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous."
Poem by Alan Seeger, 1916
SPARTAN Sophie-G317, Aboard Marathon Class Cruiser Fire By Rank, 01:23 hrs, July 11 2557 UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time
"SPARTAN G317...how are you feeling?" The ships chief medical officer asked.
"Fine, ma'am, nothing to report." I said though I knew that she knew that wasn't the case.
"You wouldn't be here if that were the case." She said. "I know about the hallucinations you've been having. You could get discharged for that. Honourably, of course."
"No ma'am! My place is with my team, my family." I replied instantly.
"I know. You don't need to tell me. Your team were just begging to be in here with you. If you want to get out there we need to find out why your having these hallucinations. We'll figure it out together, alright?" She replied as if talking to a child. Technically that assessment wasn't wrong, like the rest of my team I was still a minor. What was it? 15? Yes that's it, god. It feels like I'm 50. I thought.
"Now these team members. Who were they?"
SPARTAN Sophie-G317, Planet Onyx, 10:34 hrs, September 4 2547 UNSC Military Calendar/Military Standard Time
I slowly lowered myself to the ground, my six year old form disappearing in the thick jungle that had become my home. I pulled my shaking arms close to my chests as I crawled. I heard a twig snap to my right and froze. The figure, whoever they were didn't move. I slowly edged my way over, hoping, praying it wasn't a trainer. To my happiness I found Ellie-G056 of Fireteam Cutlass. Her light brown hair was caked in mud and dirt and her face was buried in the ground as if that would protect her from the stun rounds used by our instructors.
I gave the resident Demo-Man a thumbs up as she slowly realized no one aside from me had seen her.
"Sophie? Is that you?" She quietly asked, her voice filled with fear.
"Yeah. You found anyone else?"
"No. But I think Saber, Katana and Gladius got found."
I paled. Those three teams were considered the best of us. If they had been found...
"We need to keep moving, the trainers might come for us any minute." Ellie whispered.
I nodded as we set off at a bear crawl towards our objective.
This was a simple exercise, all we had to do was ring a bell without our instructors finding and shooting us. There were 330 of us and only 150 of them. It should have been easy.
It never was.
The closest anyone had gotten had been 500 metres to the bell before the trainers had surrounded and shot them. My record was a 1000 metres away.
Along the way we found Rachel-G267 of Fireteam Cutlass, Russell-G303 and Jake-G006 of Fireteam Foil. They hadn't seen anyone else, either.
"Where do you think everyone is?" Rachel asked. Her thick Irish accent making it hard for me to understand her.
"I don't know, don't care. I'm getting to that bell and no one will stop me." Jake replied. For a team leader he didn't really do any leading. I huffed. Boys.
"You won't make it alone. We need to go together. As a team." Ellie said.
"We should try and find the rest of our teams, first. Strength in numbers right?" Russell, Foil's Sniper, said.
"I agree with Russell. Team first." I said, putting a hand on a nearby tree.
"Fine, but when the Ghosts get you don't blame me." Jake replied.
The ghosts was our nickname for our predecessors, Petty Officers Tom and Lucy. Tom only spoke a few words to us every so often, Lucy spoke none. They were the reason we could never get the bell. We hated and feared them but also admired and looked up to them. We would be them in a few years, after all.
"Let's go, quickly." Jake said. We started off again, sporadically we would hear the sound of weapons fire and shouts from the trainers as our numbers were whittled away one by one.
"How many of us do you think are left?" Rachel asked. She was a talkative person, almost always starting conversations with people. I found that odd. She was a sniper, after all.
"Not many. Less than half." I replied.
We soon came across the rest of our teams bumping our number up from five to fifteen. After twenty minutes of silent crawling through the underbrush of the thick jungle we found three more people. They identified themselves as members of Fireteam Claymore. I didn't know anything about them, not even their names. The rest of their team had been found and eliminated.
Rachel chatted with them a bit and I learned one of them was named 'Gus'.
Another thirty minutes later and we came within visual distance of the bell. It was in a small clearing with no real cover around it. The three team leaders, that is Kevin, Jake and Sara decided to make a plan, The three man team of Claymore, on the other hand, ran in.
I knew what was going to happen before it even began as three shots rang out from above and the trios only female member fell with a TTR round to her head. The other two members zigzagged in a vain attempt to dodge the well aimed bullets coming at them. They failed. 'Gus' was the last one to fall with three rounds in his back, he was 200 meters from the bell.
The rest of us stared in silent shock, contemplating whether to rush as the now 'dead' trio did or come up with a plan better than hope to not get shot.
"Was it turrets? Regular trainers? Ghosts?" Michael asked, shakily.
"Don't know. Didn't see." Cole-G107 replied.
"Well I think we should come up with some sort of plan or-!" Sara-G209 said before being cut off mid sentence as Emily was dragged, screaming and kicking into the bushes.
I saw Michael and Jake get taken down by an invisible foe before pure adrenaline fuelled me to charge the shifting spectre that was Lucy. I jumped onto her back as Kevin grabbed hold of her legs and Russell and Cole grabbed her arms and weapon respectively. In the frenzied melee we were in Cole was kicked unconscious and Kevin was shot from behind by Tom. I heard but didn't see the Beta Company S-III dispatch the rest of our fifteen man unit until I was the only one still remaining, I knew this was purely down to luck as Petty Officer Lucy fought to throw me off her back.
In a last, desperate attempt I managed to kick Lucy's right leg out from under her however the motion threw me off her back. I slid across the ground before coming to a stop infront of the now De-cloaked Petty Officer Tom. I stared up into his gold visor as he uttered a single "Failure" before knocking me unconscious.
I awoke with a start, my body ached and I felt as though I could die.
"Finally awake, eh? Good. Lieutenant Ambrose wants to see you and your team on the triple." A voice to my right said. I realized it was the camp doctor and my fear propelled me out of his office in a speed that could rival a SPARTAN II.
I was still in my fatigues from training so I didn't need to go to the barracks, thankfully. I headed right to the commandants office.
I could see the rest of Rapier, Cutlass and Foil loitering outside. As I neared them Sara noticed me and waved. Like me they were still in their fatigues from training though Cole had a bandage wrapped around his forehead.
"You okay, Cole?" I asked, staring at the bandage.
"No, I was kicked in the head! Do I look okay to you?" The eight year old yelled.
"So in other words he's fine." Elizabeth-G330 said, softly punching him in the shoulder.
"What happened to the rest of you guys? And how long was I out?" I asked.
"We were shot, all of us. Aside from Emily and Cole here, Em was stabbed by PO Tom and Cole, well you know." Brian-G034 said, chuckling.
"I thought so. Oh well, we were close though, right?" I said, looking towards Kevin.
"Yeah, about 300 meters. Come on we should get inside." The fifteen of us walked in to the office, sitting on the other side of an oak desk was the camp commandant, he was imposing but at the same time had a kind look to him. All of us treated him as though he was a god. I guess in a way he was. He decided if we were worthy enough to become SPARTANS, to become demons to the monsters that had taken our families from us. We would follow him to hell and back and then some.
"Teams Rapier, Cutlass and Foil, what a surprise." He said, his eyes drilling into us.
"Lieutenant Ambrose sir, allow me to explain our actions." Jake said quickly.
"Why do you think you're here, In my office?"
"Sir?"
"The cameras we placed near the objective showed you were discussing something. What was it?"
Jake drew in a breath: "We were thinking of a plan, sir. To complete the mission."
"We?"
"Yes sir, that is G-097, G-100 and myself, sir. We planned on combining our numbers."
The Lieutenant moved his eyes over all of us, as if inspecting us on parade.
"You are aware this wasn't a company themed exercise, correct?"
"Sir, yes sir however we were never told whether to view other Gamma company units as friend or foe, we merely chose the former, sir." Sara added. "We believed the chance of hostile contact near the objective was high and knew greater numbers would be needed to successfully get to the objective, sir. To add on to Gamma-006's talk of a plan, sir we decided that my team would act as bait while Rapier and Cutlass found and hopefully eliminated the hostiles in the way."
The Lieutenant said nothing, merely watching for a reaction on our end. I shifted feet nervously.
"Thank you for that explanation. You are all dismissed."
As one body we saluted and left the office. Cole and Joseph talked about how lucky we were that we weren't in trouble. I turned towards Ellie to find her smiling at Jake and Kevin who were talking excitedly with Sara on how to better plan an attack for the next time. Michael, Russell, Emily, Rachel and Brian were chatting about how best to go about the various aspects of staying hidden and Julianne was tinkering with a datapad. Elizabeth was looking at the armoury, most likely waiting for the day when she could get her hands on an actual weapon with real ammunition and take the fight to the Covenant and Cutlass's resident CQC expert (AKA Kyle-G157) was sharpening a very long non-regulation knife he got from who knows where.
"So Kyle, any plans to actually hit the enemy next time instead of being, y'know, a bullet magnet?" I asked, trying and failing to hide my smirk. Kyle was known to boast about everything he did involving CQC however he was known for never actually getting close enough to do anything during training missions. Sure, if we sparred he'd mop the floor with everyone in the company, easy but that didn't really matter if your enemy could shoot you before you got to him. What use was a knife in a nuke fight? For example.
"Yes actually. I've even thought of 30 ways I could incapacitate or kill every single one of you with just my bare hands and this knife." He must have noticed my shocked expression and me taking a few steps back because he said: "Just kidding...29."
My only reply was my fist hitting his stomach.
I slowly crawled into my bed, my body ached from the training we did today, to my right and left I heard the snores and sounds of the other sleeping trainees however I heard two hushed whispers to my immediate front. I slowly smiled as I heard the same conversation that happened every night.
"Hey Kevin, you still remember, right?"
"Yeah, Julianne, I still remember, I'll never forget. Do you want to hear it?"
"No. Do you want to hear yours?"
"No. Thanks anyway."
"Your welcome. Don't you ever forget it, please don't forget it."
I knew what they were talking about and I had my own way of remembering, I had it stenciled into my left boot. it was indistinguishable unless you looked carefully. I picked it up even in the pitch black and after a few seconds of searching I slowly, carefully as if touching a holy text moved my pointer finger over the letters. G-A-R-R-E-T. I whispered the word to myself, it felt alien, abnormal to have a last name. I pushed the thought out of my mind. It made me feel like a human again. To the instructors I was just a number, a faceless figure to be sent to die, having a last name felt good, it felt freeing.
I smiled one last time before falling asleep peacefully, they continued talking into the night, not teamleader and teammate but friend to friend, brother to sister.
"Wake up Candidate! Up!"
I quickly scrambled off the warm bed, my bare feet hitting the cold ground and I recoiled from the feeling, falling to the floor as I did. I noticed I wasn't the only one as Kyle and Ellie respectively joined me on the cold ground. Around us trainers were waking the others. I saw Kevin shocked in the feet and sides while Julianne was pulled off the bed by a very big trainer and hit by his shock baton repeatedly in the stomach. "That was bloody pitiful! you all want to be SPARTANS? You have to wake up on time!"
"Yes sir, Sorry Sir!" We all yelled, though for some it came out as coughs and sputters. The shock batons zap all your will power to do anything.
"Damn right your sorry! Your all wanted on the parade square , on the triple!" Another trainer yelled. We ran as fast as our feet could carry us into the humid weather after putting on socks and our boots. I gave my left boot a quick but still affectionate pat right where the letters were.
We formed up outside, the humid air felt good to be in, I could hear the sounds of the other barracks forming p behind us. We were the first ones out.
I could see Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez and Petty Officers tom and Lucy come out of the trainers barracks, Mendez's uniform was spotless. It looked as though he had never worn it. Tom and Lucy however wore their SPI armour, also pristine.
"Good morning Gamma company! Today we have something special for you! today in three hours you will have to move into the forest and attempt to take down Petty Officers B-292 and B-197 and the other instructors. You have those three hours to get ready in any way you see fit within reason. you will not attack other gamma company teams. Go!"
Instead of running towards the barracks or the woods as most of the company did I held position where I was. I noticed the rest of Rapier followed closely by Cutlass and Foil start to converge with me.
"Idea's?" Kevin asked plainly, looking at all of us.
"We cant just rush them." Sara said. I heard Kyle and Michael sigh and groan respectively.
"We don't have weapons, they have rifles and pistols." Jake said, crossing his arms.
"Well so do we." Julianne said, holding up her datapad. "I managed to unlock the armoury. Its just the small arms but it gives us a small surprise factor."
"Isn't that, you know against the rules?" Rachel asked, her voice wavering. We all stared at Julianne in mild surprise. So that's what you were working on. I thought.
"Yeah but that's the point. If they don't know we have them they wont expect it." Brian said, taking Julianne's side. I saw Ellie and Elizabeth nod in affirmation.
"Lets go then, quickly before the instructors check." Emily said.
"No wait. We should have three groups. One goes and grabs the weapons, one gets us food and the final one finds a good spot to set up an ambush." Sara said. "Preferably somewhere we can wash ourselves. Why do boys stink so much?" She continued, plugging her nose.
After a good laugh and a quick solidifying of the plan we made off with our groups. We had picked a place by a stream. It was a small cave we had seen many times during our capture the flag games that would provide ample cover and we could retreat into it further if we needed to. The stream was for bathing and filling up our canteens, not necessarily in that order.
We were in charge of the weapons and by we I meant Julianne, the teams snipers and myself.
We sneakily made our way past the three instructors guarding the entrance with little trouble, they were idly chatting and one of them held a cigarette between his fingers.
Julianne made her way towards the pistols, her fingers furiously tapping away at her datapad.
"And viola! Enough guns to deal with a small insurgency." She said as the cases holding the weapons unlocked, showing us their contents in full. The three snipers made their way over to the multitude of M6C handguns on the rack while I grabbed an M6J carbine preferring the detachable stock to the reduced recoil of the M6C.
After we had loaded our arms and rucksacks which we had retrieved before coming here with handguns of almost every type we made our escape.
We still had two hours to meet up at the ambush point but we went there as soon as we left the armoury.
When we arrived everyone else was already there. We quickly handed out the weapons.
"Right, so uh we need to bathe. Right?" Russell asked quickly. I don't know why he was so embarrassed, our barracks had to shower altogether anyway so we had seen each other naked before.
"We have an hour and a half so do you want to do it by genders or by teams?" Sara asked.
All the boys gave a unanimous vote of "genders" so that's what we did. Kevin and Sara had a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who went first. Kevin lost so the boys went first. The rest of us divvied up ourselves into groups. One group would guard while one would make the cave combat ready. Julianne, Ellie, Rachel and myself were chosen to do guard duty.
"So, Julie...What were you and Kevin talking about?" Ellie asked.
"What do you mean? When?" She replied quickly.
"You know, every night I hear you guys talking. Its always the same conversation, about remembering something."
Julianne looked like she was about to bolt but she stood her ground. "Well you guys know I have a bad long term memory and that I don't have anything to remember my family by so I knew due to the training and them giving us numbers instead of last names I might not even remember that so I made a deal with Kevin. I remember his name and he remembers mine. Every night we would see if we each remember. And I'm not the only one, you know. Sophie stenciled hers into her left boot."
I nodded, giving my boot a pat before turning towards Ellie "Do you remember yours?"
"No. It's been two almost three years since I was called it. I forgot my own last name." She replied, panic in her voice. "I'm just a number, now." Not really knowing what to do I pulled her in for a hug, everyone else joining me after a second. We stayed there for at least five minutes, letting Ellie cry into us before the boys came back and it was our turn to bathe. We went quickly, taking ten minutes altogether.
By the time we were done I felt the most refreshed I had been In a long while, my fatigues were soaking wet courtesy of Rachel throwing me in but her clothes were just as wet due to Ellie pushing her in behind me. We all washed then got into a small game of who could dunk the most people.
I won.
We had a half hour left before the game started so the fifteen of us ate the MRE's we had 'requisitioned' from the mess hall and just made sure the ambush spot was suitable for an ambush.
We separated into our Fireteams and spread out, making sure we could see each other but at the same time being separate so we could combine fire if needed.
"Alright Rapier listen up. Cutlass is on our left and Foil is on the right. We draw the trainers in then they surround them, clear?" Kevin explained. We all nodded. "Good. Rapier 2 scout ahead, 3 and 4 set up on my left and right respectively, 5 I want you up top."
A chorus of affirmatives answered him and we went to work concealing ourselves as best we could. within minutes Julianne came running back, panting heavily.
"There's like, thirty of them coming this way! They all have SPI armour!" She yelled, jumping behind a rock, her M6G out and ready to fire.
They came out slowly, checking their rear periodically, no area was left uncovered. They had MA5K's and just like Julianne said all of them had SPI. There were five of them so far.
"On three...one...two...three!" Kevin whispered, jumping up from the bush he was hiding behind. The five man team seemed surprised but all trained their rifles on him. Before they could fire the one in front was peppered with red paint as Emily fired, the report of her weapon stopping the squad in their tracks. They dove for cover as the rest of us opened fire. I managed to hit one in the arm, the semi automatic 12.44mm rounds tearing though the humid, foggy air.
In ten seconds the entire team was dead. I quickly gabbed their rifles and handed then out to my team. Emily practically squealed with joy. We heard Cutlass and Foil engage other teams and soon we all met up, carrying MA5K's and pistols. Soon other, stronger teams of trainers attacked and we were forced back to the cave. We were fighting a losing battle and we knew it.
We had been fighting for an hour continually and were almost out of ammo. It was a miracle none of us had been hit yet.
"We need to push up! If we keep falling back we're as good as frozen!" I yelled. Grabbing my last magazine of pistol ammunition, my rifle had ran dry a half hour ago, I got into a more mobile position, ready to run if needed.
"We can't just move up! They have the entire area covered. We stay here or we-!" Ellie began to say before she was shot in the side. Before we knew it almost all of Cutlass team was frozen from well placed shots. Kyle was the only one not frozen however he had no more ammunition for either gun so he threw his rifle and pistol at the first trainer he saw, throwing the woman's aim off, he then rushed her and successfully tackled her behind a rock, shooting her with her own MA5B rifle before firing the rest of the 60 7.62mm rounds into another Fireteam. He was shot soon after.
Foil was soon separated from us and I learned after that they were picked off one by one, the trainers taking their time with each 'kill', taunting and teasing them while they did.
We planned a tactical retreat into the cave before Michael and Emily were caught in a TTR grenade, knocking them both out of the fight. We ran into the cave however I tripped and fell, hitting my head in the process and losing my weapon. I could taste blood in my mouth and my head felt like it was burning from the pain. TTR rounds exploded all around me so I knew the instructors would think I was incapacitated. I played dead. Three of them ran forwards, their rifles pointed at me.
"She's gone, move up." One of them motioned the others to move up. when they were past me I opened fire. The 12.44mm rounds catching them off guard. I took an MA5B from the leader and moved further into the cave, I was soon greeted by Kevin and Julianne, both of them were almost completely frozen.
"Orders? Rapier 1?" I asked. He turned to look at me.
"Hold this position." I nodded. We were done for.
The next few seconds went by in a blur as one of the instructors threw a flashbang grenade. Disoriented, I fired the entire clip of the rifle at what I hoped was the entrance. When my vision returned I saw the bodies of ten instructors. They were all frozen. I turned towards Kevin and Julianne but found them frozen as well. Having no other option I ran out of the cave and into the open air of Onyx. I saw a firing line of trainers and before I knew what happened they had immobilized my arms and legs. I saw the form of Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez standing over me, a smile on his face.
"Almost, trainee, almost."
Chief Petty Officer Elise-109, On the surface of the Halo, present day
"I'm on the gun Castle Four, Chief get in the troop 'hog, Helljumpers go with her." The SPARTAN III officer said. I jumped in the driver seat, revving the engine as I heard and saw the four ODST's get in as well as the other two SPARTANS jumped in the Gauss 'hog.
"We lead, you follow." I said to the SIII. She nodded from behind the wheel
We sped off.
"Highest concentration of friendly transponders is due east." Private Harbor said from the passenger seat, holding a datapad. I turned the Warthog towards the east, jumping over hills and rocks, I heard the ODST's cheer and holler from the troop compartment. I chuckled under my helmet.
We were in a heavily forested area and visibility was extremly lacking. I analyzed the terrain as we passed, noticing a hill to our right. I classified it as a probable ambush point before foucusing on the other areas, namely a small ditch and what looked like a cave.
"Hostiles right!" One of the Helljumpers yelled as my motion tracker lit up with contacts. I noticed the shots were coming from the hill on our right.
I ducked as plasma fire fire over our heads and hit the Warthogs hood.
"Where are they? I don't see them!" Private Harbor yelled.
"They're in the trees, the trees damnit!" The Lance Corporal yelled, firing wildly. "Derose I saw an LMG in the side compartment. Pick it up and use it! Mckenzie light shit up, short controlled bursts!"
I heard a weapon I was unfamiliar with begin to fire as well as the steady beat of three rounds from a Battle Rifle. Behind me I heard an M68 ALIM fire from the other warthog. The report of the weapon echoing in the close proximity of the trees.
I thought we were in the clear when the fire began to slack when I saw, to late, a fuel rod gun wielded by a particularly gutsy Elite Major fire from atop a rock.
I swerved and the five green globs missed however I saw that the second 'hog wouldn't be so lucky.
The first three sailed past the Warthog, the Lieutenant barely managing to dodge them however the last two impacted the hog's front right tire, melting it and causing the already unstable Warthog to flip end over end, throwing the Lieutenant out but pinning the Warrant Officer. I stopped driving, giving the Marines orders to form a perimeter while at the same time jumping out of my own 'hog and jogging over to the now disabled one, my rifle already in hand as the Marines dispatched the remaining Covenant.
The Lieutenant was picking himself up off the ground as I jogged past. I found the other SIII pinned between the ground and the drivers seat. I could see blood all over her chest and arms. Her visor was cracked and a large piece of former warthog was imbedded in her stomach.
I sighed. The best course of action would be to leave the crippled SPARTAN here. She would only slow us down and moblity was a factor we needed, not to mention the waste of medical supplies. I only had one can of Biofoam on my person and that was for me only. Not that I'd ever need it but still...it. Was. Mine.
"Ma'am? What's your status?" I asked. She titled her head towards me.
"I have a piece of rebar in my stomach and am currently pinned under a warthog. What do you think, Chief?" She asked. I cocked my head to the side, suprised she was awake let alone alive.
"Can you get me out of here?" She asked. I nodded, lifting the Light Armoured Vehicle with ease befor roughly pulling the SIII out. I propped her against the carcass of the former Warthog and looked her over before turning towards the Lance Corporal and his Marines.
"Any of your men have stun rounds on them?" I asked. He nodded, jogging over and handing me his pistol.
"It's all TTR, Chief. Why?"
"Because-" I quickly and efficiently ripped the rebar out of the Warrant Officer's stomach, oblivious to her cries of pain. "-We can't seal her up here, to open, so a stun round should stop any blood from coming out."
"Oh." He replied as I shot the EVA armoured SIII in the chest with three rounds.
"Help me get her onto the other 'hog until we can find some place to bunker down and call for help." I said as the Lieutenant ran over.
"What happend here?" He asked, concern evident in his voice. "Castle Four?"
All he received from her was a grunt of pain so I took up the mantle of explanation.
"She's had a piece of rebar removed from her chest, Sir. She won't be in the best of moods now."
"Hey guys! Uh there's something wrong here!" Private Harbor yelled, running over with her datapad in hand.
"What?" I asked. She pointed to her Datapad.
"Well these show the position of all UNSC transponders on planet, whether your alive or dead. The ones we were going towards have started to move towards us and they are moving fast."
"Maybe they know we're coming to help?" The Lieutenant said, coming up behind me.
"No sir I don't think so. Look here, see the green ones here?" Harbor said pointing at two places on the map. "Those are us and base camp respectively but look at the mass of them coming towards us."
I looked and didn't like what I saw. For one it was completely impossible and two made me realize how much blind faith we put on this operation.
"They're neither sir, not alive and not dead." Harbor whispered.
"Lance Corporal you were on a Halo before, right?" I asked quickly.
"Yeah, why."
"What did you fight? Coveanat, Innies?"
"Covvies and little drone things and flood...oh shit!" He said, catching on. "Mckenzie, Derose! Get behind that over turned Warthog! Harbor join them! Che-"
A blood curling scream filled the air.
"Fuck! How'd they get so goddamn close?" Mckenzie yelled, propping her Battle Rifle on the Warhog.
"Everyone behind the 'hog, now!" Derose yelled.
"How many transponders are coming?" I asked the young Australian Private.
"Fifty, ma'am."
"Fifty? That's it?" I heard myself whisper. You can take them. You work better alone anyway. Let these people be bait. You need to test the enemies' capabilities.
"Thats only how many are former UNSC. There's not telling how many others are there."
We waited, shoring up our defenses as the horde, approached. A thick fog settled over the area as I heard Private Harbor call out the flood's distance. "800 metres!"
I have a rendezvous with Death
I checked my ammo for my battle rifle. "700 metres!"
At some disputed barricade
The blue lighted ammo counter showed 36 rounds. "600 metres!"
It maybe he shall take my hand
I quickly calibrated the scope, correcting for windage and elevation. "500 metres!"
And lead me into his dark land
I then checked my M7 SMG, finding 48 rounds in the clip. "400 metres!"
And close my eyes and quench my breath
I did a quick suit diagnostic, finding nothing wrong. "300 metres!"
I have a rendezvous with Death
I sighted down range as the horde came ever closer. "200 metres!"
And I to my pledged word am true,
The Hulking figure of a combat form came barreling out of the fog. "100 metres!"
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
