AN: Sorry for the delay! Another chapter!
DevineWhisper16, possibly much later on. Still lots to be told before anything like that.
Also I just noticed something… For some reason I had suddenly began saying it was July when really it should be June. All chapters should be corrected by the time this gets up.
Another thing, with the Omega DLC, I will need to watch it, I don't know if I plan on getting it. If it makes any major changes, I will go back and rewrite.
Enjoy!
June 11th, 2556 – Unknown Location – UNSC Infinity – 1000 Hours
For Marsiani there wasn't much to do, they were going to contact HIGHCOM and see what she was to do. Her original designation was to watch over and aid Spartan-015, but now he was missing or dead. A waste for a Four-Gen Smart AI such as herself to sit around and do nothing, it was also not good for her systems and doing nothing was a Smart AI's worst nightmare and could help lead to Rampancy.
It was then that Roland, the ships AI appeared, "HIGHCOM has a new assignment for you. A Spartan-IV squad, Fireteam Alexander that will be assigned to the Infinity starting next month when we head back to Earth."
The AI sighed, they were very much human in many ways, and Smart-AI's nearly blurred the lines when it came to being able to project emotions. Some AI's like BB or Black Box felt no need to have a human form but most AI's didn't feel this way, as she and Roland both had human appearances. His being that of Roland Beamont, a British fighter and test pilot for the Royal Air Force during and after World War II. "Spartan-IV's…"
"Problem? You're rather lucky; I always preferred to run Ops than the ship."
The AI shook her head, "No problem, not like I have much of a choice. Just not much of a fan of the IV's, I find them… Less interesting compared to the II's and III's. Too lively, too... normal."
"Would have to disagree with you there missy, then again I have spent more time with the fours and not too much time with the II's and III's that have passed by."
Again the AI sighed; she already missed Jastis, the Spartan-II whom she had spent the most time with. She still was dismal that they weren't going to look for him, a Spartan-II, one of the few remaining. It was an outrage if she was honest, but she was an AI, built by the UNSC, for the UNSC, to serve the UNSC, and she had no influence to change this. Maybe some AI's, but not her.
"I guess they will do…"
Roland turned away from her, "Captain is calling, good day Marsiani."
June 11th, 2191 – Crescent Nebula – Tasale System – Illium – 1200 Hours
They got their rest and arrived at Illium the next day. Jastis had read up on the planet the night before, he knew to try and watch out for scammers and the endless other dangers that lurked on Illium, Joker had been right from the reports and information he gathered it was just as dangerous as Omega. His team was ready; having four members would prove useful as they could move in twos if they needed to. He had briefed the squad beforehand, they were to move in and find this Ember fellow. They were going to need to get dirty and move into the darkest sectors of Illium to find them.
"Is everyone ready?" He asked once more before they ventured into the city.
Each of them nodded, and they walked through the decontamination room and then they were off. Unlike on Omega they couldn't be as itchy on the trigger, and had to move elegantly through the masses but still they were cautious. A waypoint on their HUDs formed and they began to follow it leading them to the last known location of the black market dealer. It came to no surprise to the group all of the suspicious looks they got.
One thing Jastis noticed was the large amount of Asari, he remembers the information of Illium was an Asari founded colony but not considered an Asari colony. It had been damaged during the Reaper war and it was still being repaired but it was quickly being worked on. He had to admit, while he didn't expect anyone like Aria, he almost had thought there was going to be some big wig who noticed the Earth arriving and decided they needed to meet with them. Instead it was a simple procedure, land in with clearance and go.
As they moved into the lower parts of Illium the lights began to get dimmer and dimmer and the people shadier and more diverse cast of characters. "Never been here before," spoke Fastina to break the silence.
"I have on occasion in the past," Mariika told the young Quarian, "it's has its ups and downs if you are willing to look past the illegal dealings."
Rent chuckled out a small laugh, "without the illegal dealings what else is there in Illium?"
"Well if you're a celebrity there is much, but I guess for the standard person there is probably the prospect of enticing goods and resorts."
The Turian looked at the Asari, "guess there is more than I thought. To be honest it was an ignorant comment."
Mariika shook her head, "no, to be honest I am not surprised; Illium is quite the illegal breeding ground of criminals. Mainly because of the more lax laws."
Fastina didn't want to admit it but considering her track record she fit in with Illium. She looked up at Jastis as they continued he didn't speak to the group or even look at them while they spoke. With his visit yesterday she had almost hoped he was going to be more open compared to the times she has been with him but he was still silent and let them talk. They stepped into an elevator and were going to be waiting a while; this dimension he noticed was notorious for its slow elevators.
Suddenly a COM channel opened up and a voice began to speak through his helmet but only to him, the others stayed ignorant. "Spectre Jastis, I see you and your posy have arrived on Illium." He couldn't tell the gender of the speaker as the voice was being modified, immediately he thought of two possibilities, it being a Reaper Children pawn or being Ember.
"I also see you're coming after me. I can assure you that you won't catch me. Under one condition though you can."
This wasn't good; this seemed off, something was wrong and there was no reason to trust the voice that he assumed now to be Ember. "You can meet with me if you're willing to give me the schematics for that armor of yours."
"Ember… If you think I will fold just like that, you have underestimated me," he spoke back to the voice while his squad stayed unaware of the conversation.
"… Your funeral I guess. Good bye Spectre."
The elevator across from them caught up and that's when he saw some goons with their guns aimed at them. He was happy when his squad reacted immediately to them and shot at them killing them before they could get a single shot off. Jastis didn't even have to do anything. That impressed the Spartan. "Haven't even gotten there yet and they already are on to us," Rent spoke to the group.
"Then we should be extra cautious. Everyone keeps your weapons ready," Jastis replied. Each of them nodded, getting more ready than they were before. He didn't understand how they knew they were coming, while they were unique on Illium, they were going in the general direction of the scum of Illium, so how where they able to pick them out of everyone. And again how they were able to access the COM channel.
There were many possibilities, but they had to stay focus and find Ember. Making sure the COMs to Ember were silenced, he then told the group. "Just before the attack, I was contacted by Ember; he wanted to get my schematics for my suit. I refused and thus he attacked, but the fact that they were able to strike that fast, they must have known from the start that we were coming."
"He wanted your suit's schematics or we die?" Mariika asked.
Jastis shook his head, "No, he wanted the schematics and he would let us meet with him. I couldn't give him the armor schematics; it would be horrible for this dimension for the terrorist groups to get ahold of his armor. Your armor I have studied is very good, but this armor would give a cutting edge over the Alliance and groups. I can't risk something like that."
Rent agreed, "Understandable. Also considering we have no idea if we would have met with him anyway. More so since they knew we were coming, he could be off world for all we know by now."
"Yeah, but let's continue on. We don't want to let him get the chance if he hasn't left yet," Fastina finished.
Jastis nodded, and the elevator stopped at that moment and they stepped out. They were on a much lower level, close enough to see the ground below and the lights from above lit the skies but those lights didn't touch down here, no instead a mixes of reds and blues from some neon lights and fires in barrels, it was evident that this was the place neglected by the repair companies, probably didn't care much for the poor. Although Illium it was stated in the Codex fought hard against the Reapers who apparently didn't expect that much resistance from the planet. So a large chunk of the planet was left unscathed but still some of the lower parts were hit from the Reaper forces that did land.
They continued to follow the path that EDI designated for them, and as they moved it was clear this was merc and black market territory with various dealings going around, naturally they got cautious as the squad moved through, hands on their weapons. Soon enough they expected to meet resistance. Once more they moved down a set of stairs until they reached the level where Ember was supposedly. On his HUD various tangos were registered and it was clear these were Ember's thugs as they moved at them with guns raised. Their armor is similar to the Blue Suns, but was a red-orange with a flame for their logo.
The Spartan rushed ahead of the group with his speed unmatched and moved to a flanking position to the left of the enemy squad. Rent, Fastina, and Mariika moved up to cover as more enemies ran into the corridor. Even before the three would even lean out to shoot, the goons began to put suppressive fire down on them making it harder for them to react. With the flanking position, the Spartan would provide distraction while the three shot down the goons. Taking his Vindicator he aimed down at one of the thugs who hadn't seen him and blasted at them, to the enemies it went in slow motion as they turned their heads to see their fallen comrade. As the suppress fire went off, the three shot at the enemy squads, Fastina used her biotics to send some flying into the air and unable to move.
Making it easy kills for the Spectre squad, once they were downed, they moved on in the direction they had come as they entered the area EDI marked, but was now unknown territory. Opening a door they ducked into cover as a turret rained down on them, just like in the previous mission and just like the Reapers Children, these guys were armed to the teeth. "Fastina, use your active cameo to get around to that turret, we will keep its attention and make sure you're not spotted," he commanded the Quarian.
No word was spoken, she simply went invisible and made her move to the sides of the room, Jastis for the brief moment that the turret stopped took a shot at an enemy who could have spotted Fastina, and they fell over as their shields flared. She silently thanked him for that and continued on. If all turned out well, it should end the same way she destroyed the last turret on Omega, a boom and some dead soldiers. However above a biotic goon came out of hiding and lifted up Fastina into the air, she was unable to use her biotics back, Mariika though quickly to ahold of the situation and lifted up the enemy biotic and crushed him with her powers, Fastina landed on the ground without a hit, but was now spotted and being targeted.
Rent placed out his sentry turret and moved up; he was able to then quickly land a hit on the head of an enemy who jumped down and landed next to Fastina who was occupied by another soldier ahead. Jastis followed him ahead, the turret bullets did a number on his shields, and they began to flare out, but he was able to get next to Fastina and out of the turrets range. They pulled off the turret and began to move it to get a better angle on the squad but the Spartan didn't allow this, while they had the chance, he leapt up onto the top where the turret was. He ran across the cat walk with and shot at them as he strafed.
Once the turret fell and so did its soldiers, the rest fell back into another room. Lots of crates were littered around the next corridor. Into the next corridor the squad pursued. They stepped in and the lights went dark, but no shots followed, it was quiet. Jastis' helmets lights went on and he was able to see ahead. Still no one was seen. "A trap?" Rent put out.
"Hard to say," Jastis responded. From the darkness they heard various screams in the distance. They followed down the corridor to the end of the hallway. The next room opened up, the lights were dim and most of the room to dark to see, but it was enough to see the bodies of Ember's goons littering the ground.
"What happened? They seemed in order just a moment ago, now they're dead," Mariika thought aloud.
It was clear they had been killed by some blade. Omni, most likely, just as he had been stabbed before. "Another rival black marketer?" Questioned Rent.
"Possibly, or Reapers Children is also a possibility. Let's keep moving, I detect no one in here, but everyone keep frosty, never know if they can somehow avoid our radars," Jastis announced as he moved through the room, stepping over bodies.
AN: Hey sorry for ending short, I just wanted to get something out there, next chapter the mission will maybe finish and it will go back on track of being at least 3,500 words or around there. Needed this out just so people know that the Fic isn't dead, just updating slower.
It's been kind of hard lately, I have been having writers block and more in the mood for fantasy lately, which is why I now have a second story on Fiction Press called Durisall: Book One – The Mechanicals. An original story, it will update alongside this, but will probably outlast it in time. (Much more you can do in an Original story than a Fic, not that this will be short.)
Also I may possibly, be changing the title of the story since I feel like eventually it will be outdated if I do decide to introduce other Spartans or even just other Halo-verse characters. Not much A Spartan Alone, if there is more. But for now the title will stay.
I will ask, what is your opinion? Would you mind a title change? And if I do change it would it matter at all?
Thanks again for reading. :)