Chapter 8

Tying Up Loose Ends

Part Four

620 Hours, November 7, 2525(Military Calendar)/
Safe House, Naiobi Plains.
Planet Jericho VII

"Road blocks set up?" John asked

"Sir yes sir." Maria replied

"Sir, Foxhound is on station and is awaiting further instructions, plus new orders from Dr. Halsey; it seems that the spooks at ONI want at least one of the rebel leaders alive." James spoke up.

"Alright, change of plans, James and Josh secure the rebel leaders in side the main office, if we are going to be attacking the main camp, they're most likely going to be hiding in there. Take at least one of them alive." John explained

"We'll have two, just so the ONI spooks can have some fun." Josh said happily and nodded to James.

"OK, Maria, Will, Malcolm and I will lead the assault on the, main camp." John said

"Where am I in all of this?" Lauren asked while cocking the shotgun in her hand. She was fully dressed in ODST battle armor and looked fearless of the upcoming battle. She had her sidearm, M6D HE Pistol, and a combat knife was strapped to her boot.

"You have your own squad of ODST's and flank them from the rear, taking out there heavy weapons." The squad leader explained

"Heavy weapons, sir?" She asked

"Yes, Malcolm spotted some while running around the camp, which I have yet to talk to you about, because you could've put this whole operation at risk." John replied

"But if I didn't, our air and ground support would be pretty much screwed over, and we wouldn't know what hit us until it was too late, so I believe I deserve a thank you." Malcolm said smiling.

"Thanks." Maria said

"James, tell Foxhound they can start unloading the Marines and ODST's at the drop-off point, we'll organize our squads there." He ordered

"Alright." James responded

James, in all truthfulness, was nervous, he had the gut feeling where you know something's going to happen, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Chief Mendez always taught them to trust there instincts to the death, because it just might postpone it.

"Foxhound this is SPARTAN- 076, orders are too drop off Marines and Orbital Drop Shock Troopers at the designated rally points." James said over the comm. Channel.

"Alright, the flyboys are doing their last pre-flight checks, and they'll be off. Good luck, and Godspeed, Foxhound out."

"Is everyone set?" John said while donning his helmet

"Sir, yes sir!" They all replied in unison

"Alright, James, Josh, wait for my signal then move into the office, but go now and set up positions so you can see if they come or not. If they don't get over here and help with the assault." He said

"Ok Josh lets go." James said

They exited the house and ran across to the hills opposite to the main doors. After a few minutes of running, they already heard guns blazing and people shouting orders at each other.

James was itching to go into combat, every ounce of muscle was screaming at him to join the combat behind him, instead he had to play baby-sit with some rebel leaders who will die anyways.

"James there is a convoy of armored vehicles coming your way; no doubt it's the leaders. They have quite a few guards and ornament, so watch your back." John said over the com.

"Finally some combat." Josh said

James nodded in agreement.

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"Wilson, lay some damn fire on them!" Lauren shouted at one of her men in her squad.

"Yes sir!" he responded

"Greene, help him out, Davis, O'Brian, stick with me!"

"Davis give me some of your grenades, cover our six, O'Brian grab as much adhesive tape as possible, we need to take out these heavy weapons. The Spartans did us a big favor taking the guys out before they could get to them, so lets not let them down." She ordered

The two went over to the rows of rocket launchers, mortars, and anti-armor shells and strapped explosives to them. O'Brian took out some charges and stuck them to the adhesive tape. Fire could be heard behind them, and it sounded as if Greene and Wilson were having some trouble. From the amount of cursing coming from both sides, not much besides "Fuck" could be heard.

"Alright they're all set, and ready, here's the switch." O'Brian said while handing the detonator to Lauren.

She switched to the squad com channel and said "Everyone, pull back to phase line Charlie!"

Greene and Wilson took out a few rebels and ran off towards the Lieutenant, O'Brian, and Davis, who was holding a sniper rifle picking off his targets.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!" She yelled, ducked and clicked the switch.

But nothing happened.

"Misfire! Misfire! Anybody got more dets?" She yelled

"We're fresh out Laur!" Greene yelled back

"Shit, anyone got anything else that has enough power to blow those charges?"

"No!"

"I guess this is the definition of being screwed over eh Davis?" Greene said

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James looked down the sights of his MA2B and spotted the first guard at the door way. He nodded to Joshua who also took out his modified assault rifle and spotted the other guard. They got up and jogged towards the guards, they both pulled the trigger once and both guards went down. They kicked the door down, and spread out. Josh took the left, while James took the right. There were guards stationed around pillars in defensive formation, and sighted James and Josh.

James took slow, deep breathes and squeezed the trigger. Three bullets came out and neutralized one of the guards. Another controlled burst of shots and two more guards went down. He went behind cover and looked over at Josh, who was being suppressed by continues fire. James ran behind the guards and flanked them. He took out the main gunner which freed Josh. He then got up and killed the next two guards.

One guard was still alive and crawling away, James went up to him and grabbed him by the neck.

"What floor are the leaders on?" He asked

"Top floor, please, please don't kill me. I have-"

James cut him off by shooting him once in the head. "Sorry, I have my orders." He turned, through the body and met Joshua at the elevator doors.

"Even though the doors are open, they shut down elevator controls; it looks like we have to use the stairs." He said

"No good, we'll be bunched up and easy targets, we'll climb the rope." James said

"Ok."

They went inside the elevator, popped one of the roof panels and climbed on top. He slung his MA2B around his shoulder, and started climbing. They climbed with all there effort and dead silence. They got to the top floor and James strapped some explosive tape to the doors. He stuck the charge on it and slid down the rope to a safe distance.

He nodded at Josh, who took out two frag grenades, and got ready. James pressed the button, and the doors flew inward. Josh pinned one of the grenades lobbed it to James, who in turn threw it inside. They repeated the act with the second grenade and jumped into the hallway. Only a few charred bodies were on the ground.

He un-slung his rifle and jumped inside looking at both sides, Josh jumped in with a shotgun and surveyed the area. They made sure no one was there to jump out them later and left to find the leaders.

They kicked every door down until there was only one left, and they couldn't believe what they saw.

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Lauren thought a lot about what there next move was, there was increasing resistance around the heavy weapons, and Greene said it all, they were screwed over.

"Davis, shoot one of the grenades with your sniper rifle." Lauren said

"Sorry el-tee, no more rounds." He said in a heavy British accent

"Lieutenant, we either do something now, or DIE!" Wilson yelled while shooting rebels with his sidearm.

Laurens mind was racing, she knew what she had to do, but she was too afraid. But if she didn't, her whole squad, and the rest of the assault force, would crumble. She did the sign of the cross, said a prayer and mustered the courage to do what she knew was right. And if she pulled it off, she would be truly rewarded, and her parents would be proud.

She pulled a piece of paper out of one of her pockets, and handed it to O'Brian. She didn't say a word, despite the confused look on his face. She pumped a round into her shotgun and yelled "SUPRESSING FIRE!!!"

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Notes, papers, files, videos, of everything the UNSC was doing. They either had a mole, or they were spying. James heard of the rebels buying UNSC stealth cruisers from the black market. But he couldn't fathom how long they have been doing this. But what surprised him the most was that the leader had no body guards, or a weapon.

James went around the corner, and saw everyone dead so he turned the other corner and saw Josh interrogating him.

This isn't right, where's the guards? Have we over looked something?

He took a deep look around the office and shot out every camera. He went over to Joshua and looked at the man who he was interrogating. He took a picture out of his ammo pocket and compared it to the beat up man.

"This isn't our guy..." James whispered

"What?!" Josh

"He's not our guy!"

James ran over to the room where the dead bodies were, but they weren't there. He immediately turned the corner and there was a broken window, leading to the outside.

"Shit! Josh get over here, we're going hunting!" James yelled

"Ok." He yelled while his gun discharged

They both grabbed hold of the ropes that were left and free repelled down. They raised their rifles and ran across the field and in the distance; the engines from a helicopter could be heard. They looked over at each other and picked up the pace, following the footprints on the ground. They ran and ran until they made it to the air strip. When they came to it, the rebels were boarding the helicopter.

They quickly ran across guns blazing. They picked off the guards surrounding it, and Josh sniped the pilot in the cockpit, rendering the copter useless. James jumped and pointed his gun inside the passenger cabin.

"Hands up!" He yelled

Josh ran over and took out a few photos. He looked at each one of them and double checked with the photos they took while on recon duty. They both took duct tape and wrapped it around the rebels wrists. Josh went into the pilot's seat and threw out the body, and revved the engines. James went to the back and pointed his gun at the people.

"Move, I dare you." He taunted

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"Lauren what the hell are you doing?" One of the squad members asked.

Lauren didn't know who said it, but she knew what she was doing was for the good of the UNSC. If she pulled this off, the rest of the marines would have a much easier time. If her life meant saving them in this operation, then it was worth it. Her parents would understand.

She pushed her thoughts aside and ran over to the charges. Her plan was to change the settings on the charges and dets so the charge could be blown at a short radius, one foot to be exact. She quickly changed the wiring around, changed the settings on the detonators. If her planned worked, then everything would be fried in a 10 meter radius, including her. The squad would be safe at the distance they're at now.

She grabbed the detonator, held it close to her chest, and stepped closer to her death. She flipped the safety off, and pressed the button.

No one saw the one tear that rolled down her face.

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The helicopter roared over the battle, marines and rebels fell a like, but James was focused on the men and women who were sitting across from him. Josh was on the com channel talking to the Commanding Officers leading the assault, trying to get a landing area. James gave into the temptation of looking outside to see how the fight was really going, and wish he hadn't.

He saw her; he saw what was going through her mind, and that justified taking her own life. Lauren ran across the field, fixed whatever she needed to, and blowing her, the rebels around it, and all the heavy weapons up. He was struck with a pang of regret, she took them in, and helped them a lot, and if they were to face whoever glassed Harvest, they needed everyone they could get.

James didn't tell anyone else what he saw, he left it alone, he pushed the thoughts aside and concentrated on holding the gun in front of him. It was getting heavy, so he put it down, and pulled out his pistol.

"Are you going to kill us?" One of them asked nervously

"Not me, and not my squad mates, and not anyone here." He replied

"But can you guarantee our lives?" A middle aged woman with a long nose and glasses asked

"No, I can't." James said softly

The helicopter touched down and some armed marine escorts came, and took the prisoners. James got out and breathed in deeply; Josh came up next to him, and did the same thing. They walked up a hill and saw the carnage, bodies and guns lay everywhere. These men and women died for the UNSC, and secured their freedom from rebels and pirating.

John, Malcolm, Maria and Will ran up to the hill in blood soaked armor. They looked like fine despite what had just happened. But it's what Chief Mendez told them to do, "Don't show your emotions, your cold hearted soldiers. Don't go weak."

"Hey! We're dusting off; this is your only direct route to your ship!" A pilot yelled from her pelican.

"We're coming, where's Lauren?" John asked

"We don't know." Maria replied

James stayed silent; he didn't want to tell them. He buried it down and never gave it thought.

"Well, one things for sure," Will said

"What's that?" James asked

"I'm sure as hell not doing the laundry." He said gleefully

They each gave him a playful shove and boarded the pelican to the Foxhound and home.

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"Congratulations Spartans, it was a full mission success." Dr Halsey said while the Spartans unloaded their equipment.

"Ma'am, how long till we get back to Reach?" John asked

"We're not going to Reach, per se, we're stopping their, switching shuttles, regrouping with the rest of the Spartans and heading over to complete the SPARTAN-II Project, with Project MJOLNIR."

A/N: Well there you go, the end of the flashback. Besides that I don't have much to say except when Halo: Ghosts of Onyx comes out, I won't be doing much writing. Comments are always welcome, constructive criticism is welcome, the more you give me, the better my story will get. I hope you enjoyed it.