Earth: Charlie
Charlie jumped into the foxhole, plasma flying directly above his head. He grimaced as his hand briefly strayed to his side, where a stray Carbine shot had caught him. Then he brought his hand up and grasped a grenade. He looked at the Marines in the foxholes to his right and left, nodding to them and then chunking the fragmentation grenade over the twenty yard span, where it landed in the trench that the Covenant were using for cover.
A Grunt came running towards Charlie, the grenade clutched in its hand and fear filling its eyes. He felt a small sense of pity for the creature; but it passed quickly. He raised his weapon and fired a burst into one of the grenades, causing it to explode. The bright flash caused him to shut his eyes.
"Fall back, fall back!"
Charlie turned and watched as his company – what was left of it anyway – started running back towards their H.Q. He stood to follow. As he tried to stand, a great weight fell on his shoulders, forcing him to fall to the ground. He twisted to see an Energy Sword aimed at his face.
The Elite wielding the sword yelled out victoriously. His arm came back, ready to stab into Charlie's face-
Charlie jumped out of his sleeping bag and grabbed his M6D, spinning in a full circle and surveying the Mess Hall. Everyone was asleep. He took a deep breath and put the pistol the waistband of his pants before walking to the doors.
"What's the matter?"
The voice made Charlie jump. He gripped the handle of his weapon and watched Sop deactivate his cloaking shield. He released the gun.
"Sorry to startle you," Sop said.
"Don't worry about it," Charlie replied, looking out of a firing slot in one of the windows. "Just had a nightmare from a past battle, that's all."
"I see. The same thing happens to me from time to time."
"It does? I figured you would have dreams of killing us."
"That's the nightmare. Now that I am an ally, that I'm learning of your culture and not just slaughtering you, I've come to like your race."
"Well, thanks I guess."
Sop just nodded and walked off. Charlie watched him for a moment before sighing and sitting at a stool by a window, where he would be as a sentry for the next three hours.
Soon, after about an hour after his conversation with Sop, Charlie noticed that everyone was getting up and moving around. He just sat there, looking out of another, slightly larger firing slot.
Outside of the Mess Hall, the base was dark. The Brutes hadn't tried to attack them, or even search for them it looked like. But Charlie didn't like that. Usually Brutes would pursue and attack, not sit and wait. He thought that they needed to find out what was going on before they Brutes did attack. But, alas, no one would listen to him.
He heard someone walking towards him. Charlie turned to see Tom carrying a tray with breakfast and something to drink on it. The Marine nodded his thanks and took the tray. Tom walked off, probably taking food to the other sentries posted around the building.
Charlie watched him go, wondering how he could become a Spartan. The thought quickly passed though; he didn't like working for O.N.I directly that much. Then he dug into his meal, his first hot meal in a while.
Earth: Tom
Tom walked to the back of the building and looked at the guards there, making sure that they were still alert. They were. He nodded to one of them and walked back into the main room of Mess Hall, just in time to be sent flying against the wall.
He stood and grabbed the BR55 that was strapped to his back and aimed at the gaping hole in the front wall. A stream of plasmafire hit the wall beside Tom. He fired a random burst into the cloud of dust.
His surprise from the attack turned to anger at Charlie for not saying anything, before he realized that Charlie was on the ground, unconscious. As he saw the Marine, his anger shifted towards the aliens attacking them. He yelled at someone to help him get Charlie some medical help.
"Can't, they're attacking the rear to!" someone shouted back.
"Then give me some support!"
He overturned a table and jumped behind it, barely avoiding getting his head blown off by a sniper's round. He really wished he had his helmet on. He was unused to fighting with his brown, shaggy hair flying in front of his eyes. He brushed his hair away from his face and fired another round over the table. A stream of plasma and spikes hit the other side.
Tom knew that sooner or later the enemy would attack. He knew that it would be sudden; he just wasn't expecting it to be like this. He didn't think it would be this coordinated. But, then again, the U.N.S.C didn't know that much about the Kyr'am anyway.
Tom shook the thought from his head so he could focus on the current battle. A spike finally penetrated the thin metal of the table and cut the very tip of Tom's nose. He growled and popped up, shooting the rest of his clip into the crowd of advancing Brutes. They kept marching as he fired, shooting their deadly spikes his way.
The Spartan ducked back down, cursing as another Jackal sniper fired at him. Pulling a flashbang from his belt, he pulled the pin and kept it in his hand for a moment. After counting to three, he tossed it over the table, shut his eyes and clapped his hands over his ears. He heard the loud BANG of the grenade going off. He stood, making sure everyone was disoriented. He smiled when they were and ran over to Charlie, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder.
He quickly turned and sprinted all out for the room that held the back door. As he turned another corner, he nearly ran into Sop as the Elite lead the other Marines, O.D., doctors and medics towards the front door.
"Spartan," Sop said, nodding,
"They push you back too?" Tom asked, staring at the group.
"Yes, we thought you were beating them back."
"Ye-no. I may be a Spartan, but I can't take the entire military on by myself."
"Then what are we to do?"
Tom shrugged and sighed heavily, setting Charlie down on the floor against a wall. He looked at the Elite and shook his head. "I guess we'll have to leave the wounded here, along with two or three guards. The rest of us will split evenly, go to the front and back doors and try to hold off the enemy for as long as we can."
Sop nodded. "Ok. I will take the O.D. and go to the back, you take the Marines and go to the front."
"Sounds good."
The crowd had been listening and immediately split into different groups. One Marine walked over and handed the Spartan his helmet. Tom nodded in thanks and reloaded his pistols and BR55. The assembled group of humans all shook hands as a final goodbye before stepping behind their respective leaders.
"Ready?" Tom asked his fireteam.
"Sir, yes, sir!" his men replied.
"Then let's go!"
Tom shouted as he and his men charged from the hallway, firing into the group of Brutes rummaging around in the main room of the Mess Hall, searching for any surviving humans among the rubble of the wall. What they found instead was a group of mad, crazy, armed Marines running full tilt at them. Seeing the group gave them temporary paralysis.
Tom ran ahead of his fellow humans, firing short, controlled bursts from his weapon until he was within five feet of the Brutes. He strapped the gun to his back and flung his arms out to the side, his katanas appearing in his hands.
One Brute finally snapped out of his trance and ran forward, raising his Spiker and chopping downwards. Tom knocked it away and stabbed forward, catching the beast in the neck and going completely through, the Brute's yell being cut short.
Tom quickly pulled his weapon out and spun to his left, his katanas following his body. They cut into the next Brute's neck and chest. He stopped his spin and stabbed the next in the chest, taking it to the ground but not killing it.
The sight of their dead comrades sparked the last three Brutes into action. They roared and dropped their guns, hunching their shoulders. He groaned inwardly. He hated facing these beasts when they went into "berserker mode". But no matter, he would kill them too.
The Spartan dropped into a crouch and crossed his weapons over his chest in an X. The Brutes charged, oblivious to the fact that he was just waiting for them, his katanas on the ground and his arms outstretched. The first Brute arrived and was thrown back by a blast from Tom's Gravity Pulse Gauntlets. He barely missed the other two aliens as he flew through the air.
Tom raised his other arm and fired another blast, this time hurting the next alien since he was closer. As the second Brute went flying away, the last one roared out a challenge and lunged at Tom, trying to tackle the Spartan. He didn't let the Brute get close enough.
Moving both his arms so that he was pointing directly at the Brute's chest with both Gauntlets, he fired. The alien's chest was caved in by the blast, sending blood spraying through the air. The corpse was sent into the far wall, where it slid slowly to the floor with a blood splatter and a small trail following it.
"Help!"
The cry ripped Tom's concentration from his fight and to the Marines that had charged out of the Mess Hall through the gaping hole in the wall.
When Tom looked over, his heart sank. The Kyr'am had shown up and were cutting down the Marines with little to no difficulty. Out of the original fifteen that had followed the Spartan into combat, five remained, and out of those, only two were uninjured. Tom was split. He could go and help them, but that would allow these Brutes to flank them. On the flip side of the coin, if he finished his battle, then the Marines would die.
The decision was made for him a moment later as two Warthogs came barreling through the enemy forces that were clustered together. They stopped their vehicles in the proper spot to keep the Kyr'am from hitting the battered Marines. The drivers got out and ran over to the group.
Tom quickly turned and fired two blasts into each of the downed Brutes before running up to the Warthog drivers.
"We're here to get you guys out of here," one of them – a young lieutenant – said. "You all that's left?"
"No, the rest are in the back, holding off the Brutes," Tom replied. "I'll go get them."
With that, he turned and sprinted to the back of the building, instructing the wounded and their guards to get to the warthogs.
Earth: Sop
Sop fell back and gripped his side. The stupid alien had shot him! Sop groaned and crawled back to a wall, where he sat up and fired until his weapon's battery was depleted. He discarded the weapon and threw a rock, just to distract the Kyr'am.
"Get to the Warthogs!" Tom's voice rang out above the din of battle.
Sop turned his head to watch the Spartan rush in the room, firing his gun at the nearest Brute or Kyr'am soldier. He started backing up while firing. When he reached Sop's location, he stopped firing, put the gun on his back, and picked up the Sangheili.
"Thank you, Tom," Sop had trouble speaking, the plasma must have hit something important. "What about the others?"
"Don't worry bout them," Tom replied.
Sop looked at the human incredulously and looked behind them, to see the Brutes running away and the Marines cheering and pursuing them. He allowed himself a small smile and coughed, spitting out blood when he was done.
Sop looked up at Tom and said, "I'm afraid I won't make it, my friend."
"Don't say that, you'll live, we got evac outside waiting on you," Tom scolded.
The Sangheili just shook his head and fell into unconsciousness.
Earth: Chase
Chase jumped out of the Pelican and ran for the Mess Hall. His orders were to get a Spartan, Elite and a certain Marine onto the ship so they could get out of here alive and be given another mission after a twenty-day rest. He wasn't happy to be a babysitter. He'd rather be on the front, helping his fellow Marines. But orders were orders.
He entered into the building and watched countless Marines stream in and out, helping wounded, heading to the back where the enemy was rumored to be attacking, or helping sift through the rubble to pull out Marines who were dead from the initial attack. How am I supposed to find one Marine out of all of these people? Chase asked himself.
He sighed, pulled off his helmet, and ran a gloved hand through his regulation-length brown hair. He put his helmet back on and walked inside the base, looking for the Spartan. He saw him a moment later as the man sprinted around a corner, carrying the Elite that Chase had to escort back to H.Q.
"Spartan, come with me," Chase said, motioning at the monster of a man.
"Sorry, but this Sangheili needs medical attention immediately," the Spartan replied.
"I know, I have medical personnel waiting for you onboard."
The man nodded and motioned for Chase to lead the way. The Marine Staff Sergeant did just that, jogging back to the Pelican. When the two were onboard, he excused himself and ran back to the base, asking for the specific Marine and showing a picture to everyone. He found the man on the ground, alive, but unconscious.
"Help me," Chase ordered a Private First Class.
"Sir, yes, sir!" the kid replied, bending down and picking the Marine up.
Chase helped situate the man on a stretcher then ordered a medic to take a look at him. When the medic gave the all-clear, Chase and the Private ran him back to the Pelican. The Private saluted and jumped out the back as the ship rose into the sky. Three medics started to make sure that Charlie was ok and that he didn't need anything more than a little bit of rest. He didn't need anything.
"So, Staff Sergeant, why did you suddenly show up and pull us away from the counterattack?" Tom asked.
"HIGHCOM has another mission for you," Chase replied.
"Which is?"
"We are making the first Covenant-Human flagship. The Sangheili and a few leaders of Human colonies around the universe requested that the commander of the ship be Sop 'Vamdee."
"So why drag Charlie and me along?"
"How the heck am I supposed to know?" Chase snapped, glaring at the Spartan.
"Whoa, hold your horses man."
The rest of the trip to HIGHCOM was made in silence.
As the Pelican touched down in the middle of a bustling military compound, Tom woke Sop up and threw Charlie over his shoulder. Chase quickly walked off the ramp and made his way to a heavily guarded building. After going through a series of security measures, the four were able to go inside and make their way through countless corridors to a darkened room.
When they walked in, lights kicked on.
Earth: Sop
Sop tried waking the unconscious Charlie as the group walked inside the buildings. Just before the Marine Staff Sergeant opened a certain door, Charlie woke, shaking his head and looking around groggily.
"Where am I?" he asked, becoming more alert with each passing second. "What happened?"
"The Brutes and Kyr'am attacked, you were knocked out before the battle even started," Sop informed his friend. "We are fixing to meet with your higher ups for another mission."
"Oh, great."
Sop grinned as the Marine slid off Tom's shoulder, standing and scratching his chin. Chase opened the door and led the other three in, stepping in last and shutting the door. As the group stopped walking, lights kicked on, blinding the four and shrouding the rest of the room in darkness. Reminds me of our last meeting with these humans, Sop thought.
"Staff Sergeant, thank you for bringing them here," a male voice said. "We were beginning to worry that you would take too long."
"Sir, I came as fast as I could, sir," Chase replied.
"Anyways, Sop 'Vamdee, do you know why you have been called back from the front?"
Sop nodded. "I was informed by the Spartan that I am supposed to be the Ship Master of the first Human-Covenant vessel."
"You are correct. The ship is not completely finished, but after only twenty or so days, it will be fully operational. During that twenty days, you shall remain here, resting."
Sop simply nodded, not sure if he should reply in the typical Sangheili manner or not.
"Now, Gunnery Sergeant Tom Hasphell, do you know why you have been called from the front?" a female spoke up.
"No ma'am, the Staff Sergeant wasn't able to inform me about that yet," Tom replied, standing ram-rod straight.
"You have been called from the front for another stealth and reconnaissance mission. And if possible, take out a high ranking Kyr'am official. When this is done, you and your team shall plant a Shiva nuke inside the base and blow it as soon as you are far enough away from the blast. This op will be conducted deep in enemy territory. The base is nestled between two high mountain ranges, keeping our bombers from blowing the place sky high. They have guards two miles out, with air cover flying between the base and the perimeter and armor set in different places among the rocks. It'll be hell trying to get in without detection."
"Sir, yes sir!" Tom replied, saluting. "Sir, if I may, who shall my team be?"
"I thought you might ask that. So, I put Staff Sergeant Chase on your team. The other two will be your choice."
Tom nodded as Chase stepped forward.
"Sir, why send me – a regular grunt – on a Spec Op mission? I should be in the field with my company, helping retake that base and taking part in the counterattack," Chase said, staring into the darkness.
"Because, you are now a Helljumper. After this mission, you shall attend O.D.S.T training. Congratulations, your request has finally been approved."
Chase's mouth fell open before he abruptly shut it and saluted. "Thank you, sir."
"That will be all."
With that, the team left the room.
"We're going to need to be quick," Sop remarked when the door slammed shut behind them. "And quiet at the beginning."
"Okay, so we take little ammo and light guns," Tom replied.
"Take too little ammo, and we won't be able to get to the evac point," Charlie said.
"Take too much, we get slowed down and none of us get to see the war's end," Chase cut in.
"So, we have a dilemma," Sop said.
"It would seem," Tom replied.
"We can always use the enemies weapons," Chase said.
"Yes, but how do you know how to use them?" the Elite said.
"Being on the front requires you to know how to use an enemy's weapon. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had to do that."
"Then it's settled. We'll go in light, something goes wrong, then we'll fight our way out to the exfil point," Tom decided. "Let's get to the armory."
Kyr'am Base: Tom
Tom jumped out of the Pelican first, turning in a full circle to make sure no one was there. Sop came out next, the other two humans following. Quickly, with dust and wind from the retreating Pelican against their back, the group rushed behind a large boulder barely able to conceal all of them. They waited until a small, three-man Kyr'am patrol came by.
"Chase, take out the point guard, I got the other two," Tom whispered.
The Marine nodded and slowly inched around the side of the boulder. He raised his silenced M7 silenced submachine gun. The lead alien stopped and started to sniff the air. A soft pffft and the alien was staggering back, several scales cracked in its chest.
The alien roared and charged forward, electricity rod coming off its back. Before its companions could even begin to follow, they were stopped by a 7ft tall, armed and armored human with two swords in hand.
Tom stabbed into the chest of the Kyr'am on his left. A kick had the other one on his back, clutching his stomach in pain. The other sword cut one of his arms off at the wrist. The other alien grabbed the Spartan as he landed and pulled an electricity rod off his back. Tom quickly plunged both blades into his neck and pulled them out to either direction, effectively severing his opponent's head from his shoulders.
He spun around in time to see the other alien raise a Plasma Repeater and fire three shots. Two slammed into the Spartan's chest plate. The last hit him in the head. He fell flat on his back and used his powerful legs to launch him from his prone position to standing.
The alien came forward, firing. Tom quickly ran to the right and ran straight up a small tumble of boulders. The Kyr'am, clueless, followed him, firing nonstop. The Spartan smirked behind his visor before kicking off with his lead foot, somersaulting over his opponent and landing behind him, stabbing forward with both blades.
Earth: Chase
Chase stumbled back, clutching his shoulder. The alien had happened to shoot at just the right angle to catch the Marine in the shoulder as he peered around the corner of the boulder.
The gun in Chase's hand was empty and he didn't have time to reload it. It fell to the ground, a pistol replacing it. The Kyr'am continued to advance, a vicious grin spread across its face. The pistol spit out three rounds, all slamming into the same scale on the alien's face, directly between its eyes. Its head snapped back, causing it to drop its electricity rod.
"Got you now!" he shouted, firing his pistol until it ran out of ammunition.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he dropped and picked up his assault rifle, his free hand grabbing another magazine. His thumb depressed the magazine release and he slapped the new one in. The alien roared, blood coming out and running down its face and down to its chest. A small burst from the gun had the Kyr'am dropping to the ground, squirming in pain.
Chase ran forward, pulling a combat knife out of its holster on his boot and stabbing it under the chin, shoving it into the alien's brain. He stood to see Tom walking over, the other Kyr'am dead on the ground, headless.
"Let's get moving," he said, looking around. "No doubt another patrol will be by momentarily to see what happened."
Chase nodded and reloaded his pistol and submachine gun. The team quickly took off after that, arriving without incident at the Kyr'am base an hour later.
Brute guards were mixed in among the Kyr'am, growling and barking at each other. The other aliens looked annoyed by the fact that they were working with the dumb beasts.
"I think we're going to have to time it right to hop over the wall," Chase whispered, looking at the guards.
"That wall is five feet high, you and I can't possibly make it over!" Charlie replied.
"Unless we have Tom throw us over."
"I could probably do that, but it'll be hard since we don't want to alert anyone to our presence," Tom replied, shrugging.
"Then let's do it."
The group ran forward, Sop jumping up and throwing himself over, rolling over the top and dropping down the other side. Tom grabbed Chase and threw him up, the Marine landing, taking three steps, and jumping down the other side, rolling as he hit.
"Your turn," Tom said, reaching for his friend.
As he reached over, Charlie's head exploded, splattering Tom's visor with blood and brain matter. The wall next to Tom suddenly had a large hole in it, alerting the Spartan to the fact that the sniper was now trying to take him out.
With anger fueling his actions and a tear sliding down his cheek, Tom jumped up onto the wall and jumped off the other side. Shouts went up along the perimeter of the base. Banshees swooped overhead, spotlights on the underbelly of the aircraft kicking on and moving side to side, looking for the intruders.
"Let's go!" Tom shouted, picking Chase up and running with him over his shoulder.
The team got twenty meters before Jackal search parties, bolstered by a Brute, came running out of the barracks. There were so many of them that they were able to cover the ground without having any gaps in their circle. Chase slid off the Spartan's shoulder and slid the bolt back on his weapon.
"Your not going to fight," Tom said, looking at the human.
"Why?" Chase asked.
"There's too many of them for all of us to fight, get in, plant the charges and get out. If Sop and I stay here and hold them off, you can slip in and get out undetected." Tom cracked his knuckles and popped his neck.
"You'll most likely die if you stay here."
"Trust me, if that happens, thirty of them are going to die with me, not including how many I'm going to kill before I do go."
Chase finally nodded and ran to the right, ducking in between two boulders. Tom and Sop pulled out their weapons. A patrol came into sight and they let loose, cutting down the lead Jackals with ease.
Soon, Chase could hear more patrols arriving, surrounding the two intruders. None of them bothered to check the crevice between two large rocks for the lone human that was waiting for a chance to get into the base.