Chapter Eight
Spartans, Recuperate and Prepare
John stepped from the Pelican and onto the landing pad, even as it came in for its landing behind him.
He was impatient to get moving, unwilling to wait for the standard landing procedures with the Pelican even as his squad waited without him.
"Where's the other Pelican?" The Spartan asked, his voice gruff with tension.
"It's located a good fifty meters south, along another one of the landing docks about three floors down in the UNSC's portion of the Tower. It seems the good Colonel is waiting for you too," Cortana replied after a quick moment, a waypoint appeared on his HUD to mark his destination as she answered.
Suddenly, he was off in the direction of the waypoint, set to confront the man who'd order him to leave his team at risk. They weren't his brothers and sisters, not like the rest of the original Spartan-IIs, but they were under his command.
As Mendez had said, there's sacrificing a life and there's wasting a life. If any of his team had died because he hadn't been there, that life would have been wasted.
His team followed after, their moves mirrors of his own.
"Calm down, Chief. The order was made, and it was made right. Everyone else is okay." Cortana reasoned, her words hurried as the world sped past the Spartans and the ODST that lagged slightly behind.
"No Spartan gets left behind, that has been my way since training. Since Reach. He tried to stop that. These enemies are unknowns for us, Cortana. We have to be careful, and Terrance ordered the opposite." John said, his tone level. He was infuriated, but his body didn't betray that, only his words would unless he allowed otherwise.
"Don't do anything rash, John. We don't need a repeat of Crimson." The AI advised, her voice trailing off.
It wasn't long until the team entered back into the UNSC portion of the Tower, the trek down stairs and through hallways nothing but a few scant minutes. And there, there stood the Colonel, two UNSC soldiers by their IFF tags which registered with his MJOLNIR stood closer in guard posts.
"Hold on, hold on." Terrance began, only to be stopped as John brushed past the soldiers with little effort and stood before the Colonel, towering over the smaller man. The two troopers turned and aimed their rifles at his back, which he only gave a simple glance to. They wouldn't shoot, he and the Colonel were too close and they knew what a Spartan was capable of.
"You put my team at risk." John growled, the external speakers of his armor projected his speakers out at a conversation level despite his anger which he now allowed to show.
"And yet, they're here. They're alive and not a bit worse than they'd have been otherwise."
"You tried to have me leave them behind!"
"No. They're here. I had faith that you and your team would prevail and I was right. You showed the Hive as well as the Guardians that you Spartans are here, and that you're a threat against the Darkness, one that has never been seen before. Never before has the Hive been so thoroughly defeated, but this showed that they can be!" Terrance retorted with a grin cracking and a chuckled that boomed. "You essentially halted the advance of one of humanities biggest threats in this era, and you did it without a single casualty!"
"I wouldn't say it's been halted, Terrance. Just staggered. Delayed, maybe, for a few months." Zeke said from the right, John's head turned slightly to spot the ONI Quartermaster leaning against a pillar a couple meters to his right.
The Master Chief scowled behind his armored helmet and took a step back. He had to admit, the Colonel was right, his team had survived despite the unnecessary addition risk that was provided and they had halted the enemy advance. Against the Covenant, this would have been something from the regulars to celebrate about.
"That's true, and they won't be fully halted until we find a way to stop them from reaching Earth. Which means, we need ships. Actual ships, dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers, maybe even an Autumn-class frigate." Terrance conceded with an inquisitive glance to Zeke.
"No, I don't have one of those in my stash. I'm good, but even I was unable to find a ship in the stashes spread throughout the Sol System." Zeke trailed off before falling silent, presumably in thought. "I may know somebody who knows somebody, give me some time and I'll try and dig up some old contacts." She continued after a moment before she turned and left into one of the side hallways.
"Well, until she gets back to us, there isn't much else that I can add. Until then, I'd say to take this time for recoup and rearm. There are many useful people here in the Tower that are dedicated to aiding the Guardians, get to know them."
"My team, my orders. Colonel?" John asked, with no small amount of a concealed aggression in his voice.
"That's what we decided, I remember. Just a suggestion, Chief." The Colonel brought his hands up in a relaxed sign of surrender. A silence persisted until he backed away a step. "I'll keep my eyes and ears open and see if I can find anything else that may interest you on Earth." With that, he turned and walked away with the two UNSC troopers at his side.
"Orders, Chief?" Cain asked from farther behind him, and John turned to face the other three Spartans as well as the AAG operative that had been assigned as the team's handler.
"The Colonel gave sound advice, it'd be best to listen, John. We can't expect to have the billions of UNSC assets backing us up like we used to, and they have those new powers of theirs that it would be best to train." Cortana advised after a second of silence.
John nodded slightly.
"Spartans, recuperate and familiarize yourself with the Tower and your newfound abilities. We're going to be here for awhile, atleast until we're needed." John addressed the gathered Spartans before he turned his attention to the sole ODST of the group. "You, though, you're coming with me, Mobuto. Dismissed."
The three Spartans snapped to a salute before they wandered off the way they'd came.
"Chief?" Mobuto spoke up a moment later as the duo stood still.
"Mobuto, we're going for a trip; Cortana, get a Pelican for us."
"The one we came in on is refueling, they'll be ready in five minutes." The response came quickly, and the Chief nodded.
"Let's get going."
The Spartan-2 Class Two Titan
"I'll be going to the gym, I'll see you two later." Cain bid the other two farewell with a quick Spartan Smile before he branched off to the left, leaving the two Threes alone. After walking some distance away, he cursed himself as he took off his helmet and held in limply at his side.
"Where's there a gym in this place?" He grumbled to himself before he brought a hand up and ran it through his closely-cropped hair. The cool feeling of the MJOLNIR glove against his hair and scalp was always strange, though not unpleasant.
His body felt sore, it ached with every movement. But this was something he was familiar with, and he suspected that this was something that would be a regular occurrence as he and his team fought to rescue humanity.
'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' The thought crossed his mind and he let out a chuckle.
"Abel, you awake?" He asked aloud and the small form of his Ghost appeared infront of him.
"Always." The small construct bobbed up and down infront of him, back a good two or three feet.
"Is there anywhere that I can store my armor and weapons? It wouldn't exactly be a good trip to the gym if my armor's doing all the work for me."
"Of course, one moment." A pillar appeared around Cain, his eyes closed quickly at the blinding white, for a split moment before it fell apart and he opened his eyes once more and glanced down. His MJOLNIR armor had been stripped from him, gone.
"Where'd it go?" The Spartan asked, feeling unsteady now. While he did not exactly have the intense preference to forever be in their armor like the original Spartan-IIs, the large man still felt naked without it, and the thin undersuit he found himself in only punctuated that feeling. A second later, a pair of cargo pants and a tight-fitting, dark grey long-sleeve shirt appeared over the ballistic undersuit.
"I digitized and stored your armor inside myself, Guardian, as I am meant to. And, then added some basic clothing to aid in blending in with the local populace." The small Ghost answered, earning itself an arched eyebrow.
"Okay...now, would you happen to know where I can find a good gym?"
"I can help you with that, big guy." A feminine voice came from behind him and to the left suddenly. His head turned to spot an Awoken woman standing behind him, her arms folded infront of her. She appeared dressed in standard street clothes, a loose fitting, grey t-shirt and jeans. "Name's Killian, Titan of Kilo-3 under the UNSC; you're one of those 'Spartans', right?" Cain nodded with a raised eyebrow. "Come on, there's a gym I know about down in the City that's usually pretty empty, the rest of my squad is waiting."
"After you." Cain said after a moment's thought; a small, pleased smile passed his lips as he followed after the woman, Killian.
'This might be fun.' The thought crossed through his mind. 'I can't wait to test the strength of these Guardians for myself.'
It wasn't long until the duo found themselves passing through the streets of the slums of the City.
Cain's eyes moved about scene around the two of them, taking in the sight not that he wasn't following his squad leader for some mission.
This is what they sought to protect, these people that filled the City's streets to the brim. This is all that was left of humanity, the once proud civilization.
"It has always baffled me that it is nearest the Guardian Towers that the quality of life for the residents of the City is so low." Abel mused in his ear, a soft, light tone. "You would think the people of the City would stick closer to their protectors."
Only a few scant minutes later, the duo came to find themselves infront of a large gym, with some generic name along the top which stated its owner's first name.
Nothing too impressive.
"This is it?" Cain asked as Killian made her way to the door.
"Yep, it's better on the inside than it is on the outside, believe me." She answered before she opened the door and made her way inside the dark entranceway.
The Spartan followed after, doubtful yet still curious.
Around the entranceway, numerous decorative plagues dotted the walls and trophies in display cases. Boxing appeared to be the main reason for the awards, though there were a few for other sports.
Another doorway left the duo walking into a bright gym, spotless unlike the filthy outside, and furnished with more than enough equipment to erase the doubt he'd had. It all appeared similar to a ship's gym from the time he'd been stationed aboard or hitching a ride at ONI's behest.
The gym had a few other occupants, not many so it was easy to spot the duo of Guardians who likely made up the rest of Killian's fireteam.
"Okay, not bad." He conceded as his eyes wandered, his head nodded with appreciation subconsciously.
"Up for a little competition?" The sudden question brought his attention to the short Awoken, an eyebrow rose in interest.
"Depends, what's the competition and what's the prize?" He answered, allowing his voice to show a little intrigue.
"Just a friendly match. Prize is bragging rights." Killian stated, nodding her head to the center of the room where a octagonal ring stood; it appeared clean, well taken care of, and also stocked already with the necessities of a MMA ring. Practice gear and actual gear for a match stood on racks just outside ring along one side. She had already begun to make her way forward by the time the Spartan-II had nodded. While this wasn't something he'd intended when he'd decided to go to the gym, he'd still accept the challenge.
'This'll be a good warm-up.' He thought to himself as he followed after the woman.
He placed his hands just below the padded top of the ring, easily nine feet in height, and then swiftly jump-pulled himself up and over the top with ease, Killian did the same on the opposite side, albiet a tad less fluid. Those in the gym had stopped what they'd been doing in order to watch, though two in particular, a human man and woman, had come to stand at the sidelines behind Killian. He assumed they were the rest of Kilo-3.
"Again, Killian?" The man asked, an exasperated tone in his voice. "What's it this time? Defender or Striker?"
"Spartan, actually." Cain answered from his corner as he began to put on the set of red MMA gloves and a mouth guard he'd grabbed before leaving into the ring, which he inspected quickly to insure it was clean. His shoes vanished with a flash of light, Abel's work.
"Oh, great." The man brought his hand up to his face and shook his head. "You're going to get in over your head one of these days." He was addressing the Awoken woman, but the Spartan couldn't help but wonder about what was said last.
''One of these days?' Do they expect that I'll lose?' Cain thought was an internal chuckle. He'd already planned to dial back a bit with his strength and speed, but maybe he wouldn't quite so...lenient if they were assuming that he'd lose.
"Nah, Strikers don't lose. Not in a fist fight." The other woman said, a laugh in her voice. "Still, it'd be fun to watch~" The tone was carefree, but it still set off a bit of annoyance in the II.
"Ghosts will be the refs, both of ours, and look to call fouls and each rounds." Killian called over as she put her set of gloves on, blue instead of red. Her own Ghost had appeared above her and seemingly stripped her of her own footwear before floating to the ring side. "Standard match of three rounds, five minutes each. Wins are by knock-outs or tapouts. If neither happens by the end of the third round, the match goes to public opinion of who the winner is."
Abel appeared beside Cain, bobbing slowly in the air for a heartbeat, and then followed the other Ghost.
"Call 'em fair, Ajay." The Awoken called over to her Ghost as she rolled her shoulders.
"Full contact, I always aim to draw blood." She grinned as she then addressed the Spartan.
The Spartan Titan simply shook his head as he flexed his fingers and then opened and closed his hands. Tight, but not overly so.
"Sure you don't all want a go? Maybe make it fair?" Cain snickered and placed his mouth guard in, his teeth bit down once, testing the material.
The Awoken smirked and shook his head at his suggestion before she slipped her mouth guard in.
The two stood in opposing corners, one clearly outweighing the other by atleast fifty pounds and roughly a foot taller than the other fighter of 5'7.
In any professional fight, this match wouldn't occur. The class difference was too great, but they weren't normal humans.
A bell toll came from the side, from one of the Ghosts, in order to signal the match starting and the two began to creep forward, into the middle of the ring.
Almost as soon as they were in reaching distance, a sharp kick came from the shorter fighter, aimed distinctly at Cain's head; whom dodged the kick with a duck that placed him firmly in line with a flying knee from below. His hands quickly came up, his fingers interlocked, and he caught the knee before he lunged back.
'Not bad.' He thought to himself, an eyebrow arched. 'Fast.'
He dodged a quick, right jab aimed for just above his left eye, caught the arm with his right hand and tossed her past him single-handedly.
She landed, with more dexterity than he'd thought possible for a non-Spartan, and he grinned internally.
This was going to be fun.
William stared out over the edge of the Tower, the courtyard they'd first landed in sprawled out behind him.
Nothing too interesting at his back.
A Gunsmith, a 'Cryptarch', a vendor for something called 'Sterling Treasure' which used a currency he had none of, and a postmaster.
What captured his attention, though, was the sprawling metropolis of The Last City beneath the ominous Traveler.
Through the enhanced zoom of his helmet, he could see the sprawling miles of slums, the cityscape that blossomed from beneath the Traveler akin to New Alexandria of Reach, and more.
This was the last stand for humanity, the last true stand.
Humanity had, once again, been pushed to the brink of extinction and it was up to Spartans to save it.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." He murmured to himself, his tone melancholic.
"I suppose it would seem that way to you, wouldn't it?" A synthetic voice came from behind him, and he could already tell who it was.
Cayde-6. The Hunter Vanguard leader.
William turned to face the Exo, his head nodding once at the rhetorical question.
"We traded one alliance of genocidal, human-hating aliens for another." The Spartan stated mirthlessly, a shake of his head followed.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, these ones aren't allied with one another. We just drew the short end of the stick and pissed off everyone." The Exo quipped, before he moved to stand beside the tall Spartan and then lean against the railing. "It's a free for all out there, alien versus alien versus us; and, even on our home planet, there's more of them than there are of us."
Cayde paused as he turned his head to gaze out into the City before he continued.
"On Earth, we fight the Fallen, whom also fight each other, and now the Hive approaches. The Hive has dominion of the subterranean Moon with the Fallen on its surface. The Vex have taken Mercury and Venus, though the Fallen try to take Venus from them. And Mars is a battleground between the Cabal and the Vex. The fighting stretches out farther into our solar system, but it's scattered. Lunar skirmishes and fights over asteroids in the Belt, mostly. Our only potential allies are each other and the Awoken in the Reef, though they seem less than willing to help." There was another pause. "It's hard to win a war when you fight the Vex, whom can travel through time, teleport across the system, and whom have made the planet of Mercury itself into a machine for their benefit."
William hummed within his helmet at the news, taking it all in. While the enemies were no greater a threat than the Covenant, in fact, they appeared to be a threat several degrees lesser than the Covenant in many ways, this was still a larger scaled conflict than many he'd taken place in. Most times, conflict with the Covenant was through naval battles in space and perhaps a colonized planet or moon, rarely were two or more separate colonies able to be founded in the same system due to lack of habitable planets or moons. Sol system was different, before his death Earth, Luna, and Mars had been colonized; and now it sounded to be that the conflicts would take them to Mercury, Venus, the many moons of the Sol System, and the Asteroid Belt.
"Then, we take out those we can. We take back this system, one enemy at a time, until they have been pushed back or wiped out." The voice of Mobuto came from behind the two, and the duo turned back to face the Titan. "Aim for the commanders, destabilize the grunts, and then sweep them up. Same as we always do." He smirked, his eyes appeared to stare off into space for a moment before he came back to them.
"Anyway, I've received word of two priority targets within the Fallen House in Russia, at the Cosmodrome we were at early. Two targets, Riksis, the Archon of the House, and Sepiks Prime. Both have been major threats and caused the numerous deaths of many Guardians." He continued, and then brought up his Ghosts with a wave of his hand. "I was thinking that we could hunt them quickly, Spartan. Though, the added help of a Vanguard would do wonders to make this easier."
"I have been itching to get back to the field." Cayde mused aloud, the plates on his face rose to form, what William assumed was, a smile.
"Let's go hunting, then." William conceded after a moment. Taking out two leaders of the Fallen would definitely help in the long run, and this was an opportunity to experience to abilities of an Exo, and more so, one of the three Vanguard leaders, first hand.
"My Ghost says that he has a ride for us, Spartan. It's the same Pelican we came in on, they're refueled and ready for us," Mobuto stated, and the Spartan nodded in response.
Without a word farther, William turned and began his walk to the Pelican, the other two followed.
Lilith stood, her back against a wall, as she perused over a holo-pad; information covered its surface in quick bursts as she scrolled.
It was all information that she'd requested from the Chief's companion, Cortana, and information that she had been provided once she'd spoken with one of the local 'Cryptarchs' whom had been absolutely thrilled to share information with 'one who shares his order's interests in the past.'
Centuries. She'd been dead for centuries.
The concept was...difficult to process.
The Covenant had been defeated, the Neo Covenant as well, and yet humanity still fought against a looming threat of extinction.
Every Spartan, from the IIs, the IIIs, and the IVs she read about now had died for nothing.
'No, not for nothing,' she chided herself, 'we died to give humanity a chance at life, to allow for humanity to even get this far. And now we may have to do so again, us four against more alien species.'
The many factions within the Guardians would have to unite as a unified force with the UNSC to have any real chance. Her team had been surrounded when they first awoke, but the abilities of the Guardians had easily wiped out the hundreds of enemies when in mass numbers. These small fireteams she saw walking around weren't a viable option for long term combat, not for any large operations, not for anything that could be used to turn the tides against these alien forces.
"These people aren't Spartans, to expect them to operate effectively against such overwhelming odds is idiotic at best, and suicidal for humanity's survival at worst." She hummed to herself, her attention now was focused on a short video featuring something called 'The Crucible.'
Two teams of three Guardians fought each other to the death in brutal matches comprised of several rounds to see who could win a total of four first. What she found interesting was that the fights were actual death matches, and they clearly came back between rounds, occasionally in the same round if a teammate was able to get to the downed ally without perishing themselves.
Lilith briefly wondered whether this could be done in the field. If so, then her team would be infinitely more of a deciding factor than compared with the Human-Covenant War, something hard to imagine even when their deadliness had already been increased by the capability to create grenades from nothing and to utilize the abilities all but the Chief had displayed during their assault on the Hive Wizard.
The abilities to create a strong, destructive wave of energy and to spawn a protective bubble shield - in the case of Cain.
She, herself, had the capabilities to throw out a swirling vortex of energy that destroyed those in range of the initial detonation and consumed those within it after the detonation.
Then there was William, whom had used his own abilities after they had separated from the Chief. A golden gun that obliterated anything in its path and an electric energy that consumed him and his knife and allowed him to sprint across the battlefield at speeds faster than even a Spartan-II's sprint. A dangerous combination of abilities for one of the few Spartans dubbed 'hyperlethal'.
These abilities, they would have been invaluable against the Covenant and Lilith found herself feeling a shred of hatred towards the mysterious 'Traveler' for not making itself known when humanity needed it previously.
"A strange thing, isn't it? Guardians will fight each other to the death, several times over, in order to gain popularity. One must wonder as to what started such barbarianism." A voice came from behind Lilith, only to be met with her side arm pointed at the source.
"You don't sneak up on a Spartan." Lilith advised, holstering the weapon. Before her stood what she assumed to be a Guardian, he...it was cloacked in tight-fitting armor but the face was obscured by a miasma of black smoke that appeared to have tendrils poking out from it. "Who are you?"
"The Guardians call me Xur, Agent of the Nine. I have a...proposition for you." The man's voice was smooth, calm, and the Spartan briefly wondered if she should subdue this...Xur. He was no Guardian, he had said this himself, and yet he was at the top of the Tower.
"Speak." She ordered when a silence formed between them.
"You are a...Spartan, correct? A Pre-Golden Age supersoldier?" The man asked rhetorically, continuing immediately after. "The Nine believe it would be...useful to have a favor to call on, if the stories are true about your kind."
"It would take something pretty substantial for you to earn a favor from my team and I," Lilith advised, concealing her peaked interest.
"How about...one of the UNSC's old warships? Or rather, a point in the right direction?" Xur asked with a smirk in his voice.
"And how would you know about this?" She asked, her curiosity reaching a slow boiling point. A ship, even just a light frigate would be invaluable, more so if were still well-stocked.
"I know nothing, and I only offer that which I am ordered; the Nine, though, know much of this world, and numerous others," He said cryptically.
The Spartan-III gave a shallow grunt of annoyance as she brought a hand up to the side of her helmet. "Chief, I may have a lead on some interesting information."
The voice of her team lead came through after a moment. "What is it?"
"A man named Xur is offering to sell us information on where we may be able to find an old UNSC ship." She informed him with a little hesitance, she had turned on her helmet cam to show the Master Chief whom it was that she was speaking with.
The voice of Cortana suddenly cut through, excitement in the AI's tone. "A ship? A Frigate, Prowler, Cruiser, maybe even a Destroyer? Or a Freighter or Colony ship?"
"He stated a warship, but didn't specify was to what class."
John let out a grunt to interrupt the two. "You said 'sell', correct? What's the price?" He asked, a question that should have been asked already.
"A favor for a favor, one to be called on by his employers." Lilith answered after a short moment.
The other two seemed to cut off, likely discussing the strange scenario.
"Tell him that we're interested, our Fireteam will be indebted to his employers." The Chief replied after about a minute of radio silence.
She cut off the helmet cam feed and nodded to the mysterious man.
"The Spartans will be indebted to the Nine," Lilith informed Xur, her eyes on him.
"Good." The word was drawn out, and she could tell that he was pleased even without seeing his face.
"Now, where's the ship?" She pressed as stepped forward.
"Remember what I said? I offer only a point in the right direction," He paused and reached over his shoulder, into a pocket of the pack he wore. From it, he pulled out a picture and passed it to her. "Remember, a favor for a favor."
With that, Xur turned and walked away, vanishing behind a corner.
The picture was that of a Guardian, a man with dark brown hair cut in a crew cut and green eyes, clad in ODST armor. When she glanced towards the top, a single name was all that waited for her.
"Cpt. Chris Redfield. UNSC."
Author's Note:
Hello, Readers! It's been a while. Alpha here, checking in on you all.
So, yeah. This chapter ended up a bit shorter than I would have preferred, the word count pre-Author's Note being a hair above 5k, but here's the new chapter. A bit filler-ish, but important elements are introduced, including a ton of new characters, all of them are OCs too!
Okay, maybe not a ton. But, hey, four new OC characters! And interactions with existing, canonical characters!
Credit goes to the reader Overlord of the Afterlife for the triple threat that makes up fireteam Kilo-3: Zala, Anko, and Killian.
And credit also goes to the reader Chris Redfield-General Chaos for the character of Cpt. Chris Redfield, a character who will be properly introduced next chapter.
By the way: I am officially accepting OCs for the Covenant species, from the lowliest Grunt to the massive Hunters, Brutes will not be accepted. Any Covenant species characters will not be introduced for quite some time, perhaps when I get to the section for HoW, which will take place after they get to Venus and do the VoG. So, before I get to any Covenant characters there is still a long while to go, especially since I'll be doing the first two Raids before getting to the HoW.
Speaking of HoW...check out the prequel chapter to that DLC, written by the reader EliteSlayer103 and named House of Wolves - Our Forgotten Heroes Prologue. It's a short one-shot prologue for the DLC which focuses on an OC that will be brought into this fic in the future.
Not going to lie, the HoW arc is one that I'm looking forward to, mainly because a certifiable badass will be coming to the story.
Preview for the next chapter: Cain boxes with three Guardians, William goes hunting, and Lilith, the Chief, and Cortana will meet with the mysterious Chris Redfield as they work their way through Raccoon City...wait, no. Correction! They will meet with the mysterious Chris Redfield in order to work towards finding this unknown UNSC warship.
I also have quick question, for any who may have enjoyed the Death of a Guardian chapter, who would be interested in seeing Mobuto's death as the next one of those fillers?
With that said: stay classy, readers.
Warning: Stop here if you don't care about replies to reviews!
Lord Pyrus: This story is actually set to take place, roughly, during the events of the game, though some events will take place earlier than others; by this I mean, the Spartans just did that beginning mission with the Hive on Earth and William will be doing the first mission after the prologue next chapter, so that's a bit out of order.
Undead Assassin: I wholeheartedly agree with you, Ikora and Zavala were two characters that I found myself unable to even like, couple that with the constant need to run back to Ikora for the old Exotic Weapon bounties and, oooooh, I hated her. I may ease up later on, and turn the role of the bad guys to someone else, a certain cult or a certain former-leader of ONI, but for now Zavala and Ikora are not friends to the Spartans.
edboy4928: The Taken King DLC, and all the others will be included in this story. The issue I decided to create is the order by the Colonel for the Chief to leave his team behind to proceed with the mission. Something that is shown in the novels, and the animated movie 'Fall of Reach', is that John does not like leaving his comrades behind, and he was even told by Mendez that there is a difference between a necessary death and a meaningless death; the latter is what John thought the deaths of any of his team that could have been caused while he push ahead alone would have been meaningless, as the mission would have been able to be completed with less risk if he had been with them.
Anyone else with questions or concerns, feel free to leave a review or, if you want an answer sooner, you can also PM me.