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The Halo of the Hero
Chapter 7 Mendez final lesson
He slowly tried to open his eyes, but failed, he couldn't see anything.
Darkness.
The pain was unbelievable. It felt as his entire body was burning and freezing at the same, like there was a thousand knives buried deep within his chest, slowly being turned.
But he didn't have the power to scream, all muscles where just burning more as he tried to use them.
It felt as if his skull was being split open, the pain was unbelievable, this was ten times as bad as the neko-ken had been. He could feel his entire body shake and spasm uncontrollably.
When he thought it couldn't get worse he felt a small stick in his neck. It felt as every single cell in his entire body was being ripped apart and then put back together, again and again. He couldn't stand it anymore and his mind blacked out.
He regained conscious, his eyes opening slowly. He was greeted by the bright ceiling lights, and it felt like knives in his eyes. He had a hammering headache, felling like someone had hit him over the head with a tank.
He opened his eyes yet again, trying to get used to the levels of light in the room.
God damned that's bright! He thought.
When his eyes had adjusted to the light and his headache had gone from totally-unbearable-please-kill-me, to tell-those-dwarfs-to-stop-hammer-my-head-with-mallets, he looked around the room. In the bed next to him lay Kelly and to his right Grace.
He tried to move his body to get of from the bed but when did it his entire body began to shake uncontrollably.
He stopped and just lay back, trying to remember why he was here.
He remembered Dr Halsey saying something about augmentations, and something about operations. He couldn't remember clearly, the drugs in his body making his entire mind dizzy.
He just stared up at the ceiling, falling unconscious in a matter of minutes.
"There were some unexpected side-effects on subject 012, 051, 117, 145 and 186." Izack said as he handed her a folder.
"What kind of side-effects?" She said tiredly, she had under the last week been leading the operations on half a dozen or so Spartans.
"The liquid crystal that would connect their brain and neural implants leaked out and began to spread trough their brains" He said.
"How are they?" She asked now worried.
"To subject 012, 145 and 186 this proved fatal, their brains couldn't handle the shock. Spartans 051 and 117 are alive, but subject 051 is lying in coma and isn't believed to wake up. Spartan 117 isn't healing as fast as expected but he will probably make a full recovery.
On 117 we don't know if this is a side effect because of his special treatment."
She just nodded.
"How long before they have recovered and can begin their training?"
"About 2-4 months I believe" He said.
"How many will survive?" She said.
"It is too early to say" He said and then left, leaving Dr. Halsey all alone in the laboratory.
"And so we commit our fallen brothers and sisters too space. May they find the peace in death that they didn't find in life"
As Ranma said the last words he closed his eyes solemnly. He stood rigidly on the fire deck of the cruiser, the normally crowded area was now only filled with the burial detail of the Spartans.
He pressed a control and the canisters filled with the ashes of 83 of the Spartans were loaded into the ejection tubes. Ashes of my family He thought sadly to himself but his face didn't show anything at all.
"Duty, honour and self sacrifice. Death doesn't diminish these qualities in a soldier…
We remember" He continued.
He could hear the thump as the canisters was ejected into space. A screen showed as the canisters left the ship and began to fall behind the cruiser as it continued on its course.
"Honours…ten hut!
Every one of the surviving Spartans gave a crisp salute, eyes locked into the screen as the final canister disappeared into the void.
Ranma looked and for every canister that disappeared it felt as a part of himself was lost.
It felt as they where leaving them behind. Each and every one contained a person he had known from early childhood, persons that had been like brothers or sisters to him.
"Crewmen dismissed" he said as he ended the salute and turned around.
He looked back at the rest of the Spartans, not all was lost he reminded himself. They where 107 Spartans left, but over thirty would never be able to see any combat, the damage on their bodies after the augmentations had been too great.
He looked as everyone left except a man in the back. He turned towards the man as was about to order him to leave when he saw that it was Chief Mendez.
It was the last man Ranma expected to see, the last he heard Mendez was on a new mission, the location was secret. The man walked over to him and looked on the screen that displayed the stars.
"God day Sir" Ranma said as he gave the man a salute.
Mendez looked upon Ranmas shoulder where his rank was seen.
"No, I am the one to give a salute here Master Chief" He said.
"Old habits die hard" Ranma said and looked out at the stars.
Mendez only nodded. He then turned towards him, looking into his eyes.
"Something bothering you?" Mendez asked.
Ranma only sighed and shifted his look towards Mendez.
"And?" Mendez continued.
"The death of all the Spartans" He said simply.
"A soldier must be ready to take the death of a fellow soldier, and leader must be ready to send the soldiers under his command to their deaths." Mendez said and turned towards the screen once again.
"I understand" Ranma said.
"You do this because your duty to the UNSC and mankind supersedes your duty to yourself or even your team-mates" Mendez continued.
Ranma only nodded.
"It is acceptable to spend their lives if necessary" He said and turned towards Ranma. "It is not acceptable however, to waste those lives. Do you understand the difference?"
"Yes sir I think I understand" Ranma said. "But what was it here, lives spent or lives wasted?" He asked.
Mendez didn't answer as he turned towards the screen again.
He dodged the kick and deflected the punch aimed at his head. He then began to move towards his target, seeming to flow around every kick and punch that his enemy threw at him. His opponent threw a left hook, which he skilfully deflected with his right arm.
Ranma then punched hard into the gut of his opponent who only grunted and continued to throw punches and kicks like nothing happened.
His opponent hit him in the chest and he flew backwards and hit the floor with a loud thud.
He groaned but was able to stand up, clutching his chest.
The eight feet giant didn't give him any time to rest thou and he just continued to throw punches at him.
He flowed around the punches and was able to deliver a fast left-right combination and a fast kick. The enemy groaned and then fell backwards.
"Ok… I give up" Sam said as he was helped up on his feet by Ranma.
"Man… that was a good fight" Ranma said as he dried his sweaty forehead with a towel panting hard.
Both had been training hard the entire day, trying to get used to the changes done on their bodies.
When he first had woken up from the process he couldn't walk properly and falling often.
They had said that it was okay, that his brain needed to learn to work with faster reflexes and stronger muscles.
The last 2 months they had gone trough a daily routine of stretching, isometric exercises and light sparring drills.
At the end Ranma and Sam decided that they would have a short sparring match, first to three wins was the rules. The "short sparring match" turned into a two hour long slug fest, where Ranma had won with only a small margin.
As he looked around he could see the marines stare awed at them. It probably had something to do with the fact that Sam was a little over 8 feet and Ranma a little under 7 feet, giants among men with other words.
Or it was the fact that they had been in the 4 gee area and traded punches and kicks like the gravity didn't bother them at all.
Both Ranma and Sam didn't care as they walked towards the canteen to get some food. They where ordered to eat at least five high-protein meals a day.
Another thing since the augmentations was that he had gained a lot of weight, now he was weighing over a hundred and thirty kilos and gained more weight every day, but was still as lithe and agile as before.
There was only 75 Spartans left, 83 had died during the augmentation process and 32 had suffered from the side-effects and had been reassigned to tactical and strategic duty.
Maybe they weren't able to be frontline-soldiers anymore but they still were some of the brightest the Navy had to offer.
Ranma was currently lying on a desk in the medical bay in Reach Military Complex.
They where calibrating his neural implants and retinal sensors, to see if they where working at one hundred percent.
"Do you see any data on your retina?" The doctor asked as he stood over a computer and typed in some commands.
"No" Ranma answered.
"Now?"
"No"
It took them over three and a half hour to find the correct neural frequency.
"Now?" The doctor asked again, sounding really bored.
It stung a little but then he could see as purple-red text slowly began to appear before his eyes.
"Yes" He said.
"Officer on deck" Ranma said as the captain entered their quarters. Everyone stopped what they where doing and saluted.
"At ease" He said and then turned towards Ranma.
"Master Chief, I need talk to you" The captain said and pointed towards a corner where they could talk without anyone hearing.
"Yes sir" Ranma said.
"I have got new orders from Dr. Halsey." He said and continued. "You and your men will be moved to different military units, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and the regular Marines most likely."
"Sir, may I ask why we are split up?"
"First they want you do get first hand experience. And second they don't want every Spartan on the same ship, one lucky hit with a Covenant plasma torpedo and every single Spartan would be gone."
"I understand" Ranma said.
Ranma walked into his new living quarters, closely followed by Kelly, Sam, Linda and Grace, his team.
He had been reassigned to the cruiser ATLAS, as a member of the UNSC Marines 105th. He scratched the tattoo on his right arm absentmindedly.
The tattoo was that of a flaming golden comet. Over the comet it stood UNSC MARINES. Under that it stood 105th Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.
Under the comet it stood Helljumpers and under it their motto "Feet first into hell".
The ODST-Helljumpers was probably, apart from the Spartans, the best soldiers in the entire UNSC navy.
They had a reputation for success and for brutality.
He looked around in the quarters. It had about thirty military bunks, lined after the walls. He looked around after his bunk, spotted it and walked over.
The nametag on his footlocker read Ranma Angelo Craven S. Matthews, the name he was given by HQ. He thought it was a little long but didn't bother too get it changed
He dropped the backpack he was carrying on the floor and began to empty it, checking his gear and placing it in his locker.
He pulled out his M6D pistol from the backpack and inserted a full clip, then placed it in his holster. Always be ready, never let your guard down He thought to himself.
"Who are you soldier?" he heard a voice from behind him.
He turned around and saw a man wearing the strips that indicated that he was sergeant.
"Private first class Ranma A.C.S Matthews, reporting Sir" He said and gave him a crisp salute.
"The new recruits?" he asked.
"Yes sir" Ranma said.
"Well then, welcome to the helljumpers"
7 June 2549, One and a half years after the augmentation process.
Location: Outside UNSC controlled space.
UNSC Marines, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.
Mission: Retaking of cruiser Prometos
Ranma pulled on his ballistic armour that every helljumper wore. It was made of titanium and ceramic to withstand the plasma from covenant weaponry better. The entire full body armour was black and weighted 30 kilos, to a Spartan that was nothing.
He tightened the straps on the forearms protection made of Kevlar, he then flexed his hand to see if they were fastened correctly. He picked up the breastplate and checked it for any defects, and finding nothing began to put it on
He heard a click as the breastplate was attached and then pulled on his helmet. He put on the shoulder plates and the flexed his shoulders to see if they were attached correctly. That was the last piece of armour.
He jumped up and down a few times to see if anything was lose. Hearing nothing scramble, he began to walk towards the armoury to get his weaponry.
He checked the MA5B assault rifle for any superficial damage and finding none inserted a full clip. He could hear the click sound as the rifle chambered a cartridge. He then pressed the safety on
He then checked the pins on the grenades he had around his belt, nothing was wrong.
A big number of space pirates had ambushed a badly damaged UNSC cruiser after a Covenant attack, and the UNSC wanted it back.
They would send in group of ODST to take the ship back, and to search after survivors.
The UNSC didn't have any intel on how many, or how well armed the pirates were, but one thing was sure they wouldn't be happy to see them.
"Okay, get moving marines. GO, GO, GO" He heard the sergeant yell.
They fell into a slow jog towards the hangar bay where their drop-ship was waiting.
They would board the ship through one of the many airlocks, and then take back the bridge and engine room.
He jumped into the waiting vessel. He sat down on the uncomfortable seat and just let his mind drift.
This wasn't his first mission against humans and it probably wouldn't be his last.
Under the last year in the ODST he had been on 58 missions, twelve of them where against human pirates and renegades.
He looked around the compartment, seeing the faces of the marines around him, and he wondered how many would die today.
After over a year of combat most of the original ODST he had meet were dead.
One after another they had died, being replaced by new soldiers, and they to had died and also they had been replaced.
It was only him, the other four Spartans and three others that were left, and they were now the veterans. He shook his head, he could remember every name of every soldier that had been in their unit.
He looked on the faces of the other soldiers, even though they tried to hide it he could see they were scared. He just leaned back in his seat and relaxed a little, now everything rested by the pilot.
He could hear as the engines of the dropship started and could feel the slight increase in gravity as the ship took of. He could see as the left the ship and could see the stars and void beyond.
"ETA 30 seconds. Get ready marines." He heard the pilots' voice over the com system.
He checked his weapon, everything was working as it should. He could see the cruiser, over the entire hull he could see impacts after plasma torpedos, the armour had been boiled away and the blackened and scorched structure of the ship could be seen, looking like the burned skeleton of a dead soldier.
The dropship slowly flew towards the ship, docking at an airlock.
He readied his rifle, putting it against his shoulder. The airlock opened with a hiss.
The corridor was dark, the only light coming from some sparking monitors. The first marine took a flashlight and began to scan the corridor.
The artificial gravity wasn't working, so they could see some spent casings from assault rifles slowly drift by.
He let the light from his flashlight slowly sweep over the interior of the corridor, the objects floating by casting shadows on the walls.
"The, bridge is that way and the engine room that way" the sergeant said as he pointed right then left.
The marines nodded.
"Team-1, follow me to the engine room, and team-2 get to the bridge. Matthews you are in charge."
The sergeant and his squad began to move down the corridor and then disappeared around a corner.
He turned towards his team, they were ten.
"Follow me" He said and then pushed of from the wall, beginning to float down the other corridor.
He grabbed a steal beam and pushed of again. He could now see more and more casings. As he swept the walls with his flashlight he could see the where the bullets had hit.
He could see the rows of bullets impacts that showed where a dieing soldier had put his last shoots. He could see that it had been a big fight, but they didn't find any bodies, which really bothered him.
Here and there he could see small drops of blood floating around but still no bodies. The entire ship seemed deserted, no lights, no gravity, no sign of the crew or pirates for that matter. Something wasn't right.
He let the flashlight sweep over the walls again. As he turned around he thought he saw something in the corner of his eyes.
"Scatter!" He yelled and pushed himself and three other marines behind a steel beam.
He could hear as automatic rifles fired, and the bullets impacting on steel. He looked around on his squad, five of the other marines had been able to find cover, but the sixth had been hit. He could see as the body floated around, spilling blood from a head wound everywhere, flying around in small red blobs.
"Flashlight out!" he yelled.
The marines turned of their flashlight and the only thing that was seen was the nuzzle-flames from the pirate's weapons.
He took aim at one of the flames and fired a three round burst. He could hear a yell and the flame disappeared.
The rest of the marines followed suit and began to empty their weapons at the enemy.
He primed a grenade and then threw it at the pirates. The grenade flew in a straight line thanks to gravity or lack there of.
The grenade exploded, covering the walls for a moment in red light. The flames of five of pirates disappeared and didn't come back.
He could hear a scream behind him and saw a marine clutching his chest, floating out from behind his cover.
He saw as another marine from the wall opposite him pushed of from the wall and flew straight over and through the hail of bullets towards the injured marine. He grabbed the waist of the injured and dragged him towards cover, bullets flying only centimetres from the two.
"COVERING FIRE!" He yelled and leaned out from his cover, letting lose on full automatic.
The pirates began to take cover and the brave soldier was able to drag the other man in cover. He primed another grenade and threw, hoping to lose up the lines of pirates a little.
The grenade exploded and another three pirates died. But the pirates just continued to fire.
He looked behind him where the team's medic was trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn't working and the marine was going into shock, shacking uncontrollably.
The pirates were slowly gaining ground and pushed back the marines.
"This is Matthews, we have encountered heavy resistance, one dead and one injured." Ranma said
"I hear you, but we need the bridge."
"Yes sir" He said.
He looked around for something, anything that could help them.
The pirates were taking cover behind a barricade of steel plates and doors, making it almost impossible to get a good aim.
"Harris, Davis, give me your wielding sets" He said.
They looked confused but did as they were told. The blowtorch was small, slightly bigger then a pistol. It was part of the standard gear the marines had when they boarded ships. It was used to open doors or cut through metal debris. The torch was completely useless as a weapon because the range of the flame was less then ten centimetres.
It was however fuelled by a small canister filled with a highly flammable liquid gas.
He quickly dismantled the torches and took the canisters.
He took a bit of duck tape and stuck a grenade to the canister. The second canister he threw down the corridor towards the pirates.
"McLees, shoot it!" He yelled.
McLees did as he was ordered and aimed his shotgun at the canister. He hit it dead on, making it fly to pieces and spreading its contents, and drenching the pirates.
He removed the pin on the improvised molotov-coctail and threw it down the corridor.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE" He yelled and took cover behind a pillar.
The grenade and canister exploded in a fireball and then ignited the fuel from the first canister. The explosion was huge, they could fell the immense heat even trough their armour as the shockwave hit them
It wasn't in the book, but on the battlefield it was adapt or die, simple as that.
He could hear the terrified screams of the pirates as the flames consumed their bodies. The screams then began to disappear one by one and the only thing that then was heard was the sparking flames. Everyone could smell the stench of burned flesh.
He turned towards the injured marine and saw that he his breath had become shallow and blood flowed from the chest.
"Get him back to the dropship, the medics will take care of him" Ranma said, he knew that it was a lie, the soldier wouldn't make it.
He floated toward the killed marine and removed his dog-tags, tucking into a pouch on his belt.
Ranma and the six other marines began to make their way towards the barricade. Everything was black after the explosion and here and there they could see the burned remains of the pirates.
The skin was black except on those places where it had where it had burst and displayed the red tissue underneath.
One of the marines threw up at the sight, and he couldn't blame him. The sight would make any normal human fell disgusted. But he was Spartan, and this didn't really bother him, sure he didn't like or enjoy it, but the pirates had been enemies and had to be neutralized.
You just don't cry over a dead enemy.
He let the flashlight seep over the area, looking for any hostiles that may have survived the flames. He let the light sweep over the pirates, finding only burned corpses.
Wait, there was something moving, he moved the light back again.
The light stopped on one of the pirates, his left leg from the knee and down was gone, and his entire body was badly burned. He was clutching what was left of his left hand to his chest. His breathing was coming in small gasps, and blood trickled from his lip.
The throat of the pirate had a piece of metal sticking trough it, which had probably cut trough his airways.
The pirate mumbled something, but he couldn't hear what. He leaned forward, making sure the pirate didn't have any weapons in his hands.
"Please… please…" he said and gasped.
"What?" Ranma said calmly locking eyes.
"Pain… it hurts… please… make… the pain… go away…" The pirate continued.
"How?" Ranma asked, already knowing the answer.
"Kill me" He said.
Ranma brought up his M9D pistol, pressing it against the forehead of the pirate.
"Thank you" The pirate said and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
He calmly pulled the trigger, ending the life of this pirate. He could see as the 12.7 mm round blew away the backside of the pirates skull, painting the wall red with blood.
He knew he should fell remorse and shame for killing, felling disgusted with himself for taking another persons life. He didn't feel nothing, this was just another of countless lives he had taken, knowing full well that it needed to be done.
He defiantly didn't like killing but he didn't hate it either, it was just part of who he was, of what he was. He was a soldier it was that simple, and to him killing was second nature.
They had to be, the military didn't want people that would hesitate if it came to killing, but they didn't want blood frenzied psychos either.
He reholstered his pistol and then began to make his way down the corridor.
As he moved down the corridor he talked into his microphone.
"This is Matthews, we are moving towards the bridge, any enemy contact?"
"No, we haven't found a trace of anyone" Came the sergeants' reply.
They continued to float down the corridors, eyes and weapons trained in anything that looked suspicious. The only thing seen was the glittering of empty casings floating by.
As they moved farther down the corridor the more casings was floating around. They walls was full of bullet impacts, and here and there they could see scorch marks where grenades had exploded.
Down one of the corridors he could see some bodies of dead pirates floating around. Down the corridor he could see a blast door almost entirely closed, only a feet or so was still open.
He stopped and began to float down the corridor, pushing the bodies of the dead pirates to the side.
The fact that the bodies of the pirates were cold meant that they had been dead for at least 24 hours. Then why haven't the pirates removed the corpses? He thought.
He peeked trough the slit in the door and could see the remains of a couple marines.
"Come here and help me open this door" He said and began to try and widen the gap.
The machinery operating the door must have been damaged because together they where able open it another feet.
He squeezed trough the gap and scanned the area.
The door let to a small hall and the only other way out was through a small door.
It looked like it was here the marines had put up there last stand, trying to fight of the pirates.
He removed the dog-tag from every marine and then began to move towards the next door.
The door wasn't locked so he could easily push it open. The inside was dark so he lit his flashlight. He came face to face with thirty or so weapons, but the men and women that held them weren't pirates, they all wore an assortment of different UNSC clothes.
He could see everything ranging from hardcore badass ODSTs to kitchen personnel, everyone holding a weapon.
"Hold your fire, it's an ODST" Came the voice from a woman in her late fifties wearing the pins of a captain.
She continued.
"Who the hell are you soldier, and where did you come from?"
"Second lieutenant Ranma Matthews from the 105th ODST, and we are to take back the ship, captain" Ranma said.
"Reinforcements? About goddamned time you guys showed up" The captain said.
"yeah, we have been stuck here for over five days" A sergeant said.
"Don't worry we will get you back home" Ranma said and continued. "But is there more survivors?"
"Don't know, after the fight with the Covenant we put most crew in cryostasis, and when the pirates came we didn't have time to wake them up. We initiated the Cole protocol and then made our way to this armoury. This is the only way to cryobay, the Covenant but a plasma torpedo at the main access, so there could be more survivors in cryo-stasis."
"Why haven't you made your way to the cryo-bay and found out?" Ranma asked.
"Most blast-doors in this compartment are malfunctioning, and we didn't have any way to open them" The captain said as she ran her hands trough her shorn hair.
"How many pirates do you think there is?"
"No idea"
He nodded and he then talked into his microphone.
"Sergeant, this is Matthews, we have found survivors."
"How many?"
"Thirty-four, including the captain and her bridge crew"
"See to it that they make it back safely to the dropship."
"Yes sir".
He looked back on the crew of the ship.
"Okay we are getting you out of here, now follow me"
They did as they where told and followed him out to the waiting marines. Ranma pointed to two of the marines.
"You escort the crew back to the dropship."
"Yes sir" Came the reply.
The crew and the escort took of down the corridor they had come from, while the others under the command of Ranma continued towards the bridge.
He primed another grenade, his last, and threw it down the corridor.
It exploded, killing 5 pirates, but didn't do much to stop the wave of enemies moving towards them.
They had made it to the bridge uneventfully, securing it and then began to check the ships status.
During this the pirates had attacked, trapping them inside the bridge. During the first assault one of his men had died and another one was injured, so they where three left. They where able to push the pirates back, but after the first attack came a second and a third…
The had successfully repelled all attacks, but was slowly running out of ammunition, everyone was out of grenades and most was down to their last clip.
He aimed and shoot a single bullet in the head of a pirate, a cloud of blood appearing behind his skull.
He aimed at another pirate and shoot, also this time in the head with the same result.
The ODST was giving the pirates hell, dishing out some serious pain.
He aimed at another pirate and when he pressed the trigger he only got a click, click, click.
The display was down to zero, and he didn't have any more clips. He let go of his rifle and unholstered his pistol.
He aimed at a pirate and pulled the trigger. He could see as the 12,7 mm semi armour piercing- high explosive round hit the pirate under the left eye. Everything from the jaw and up disappeared in a gory cloud of bones, blood and brain tissue.
He aimed, pulled the trigger and then began from the beginning again.
He emptied his last round and then drew his combat knife.
"Pull back!" He yelled and began to back away toward the door to the bridge.
He took position around the corner of a wall, and when the first pirate walked around it he stabbed her in the neck, cutting through the spine and killing her instantly. He grabbed the pirate's rifle and unleashed hell upon the pirates.
In the small corridor there was no cover, so he couldn't miss, bullets filling the air like angry bees, ripping into the pirates with vengeance. When his clip was spent the only thing in the small corridor was the floating corpses of the pirates.
He grabbed one of their rifles and threw it to the nearest ODST, who deftly caught it. He went from corpse to corpse, gathering together weapons and ammo.
The pirates were all equipped with a small compact sub-machine gun, which now had landed in the hands of the small group of ODST.
Now they didn't need to worry about ammunition, every pirate carried a backpack full of it.
The next wave of enemies came only after a minute. He use one of the many corpses as a shield and then returned fire, spraying metal death towards the pirates. His rifle clicked and he threw, he then grabbed the extra rifle slung around his shoulder and resumed the shooting. The radio crackled to life.
"Matthews, my team have secured the engine room, so vent the ship NOW!"
"Yes sir" Ranma said.
"You heard the man, pull back and lock the door" He yelled and put up covering fire as they moved back into the bridge.
He was shooting at the pirates, moving backwards towards the door. He could feel as some bullets pinged of his armour. One pirate became lucky and hit the gap between the shoulder pads and chest plate.
His shoulder burned with the familiar feeling of a bullet wound, but he didn't mind it as he kicked of a wall and flew trough the door.
He slammed the door shut and pressed the locking mechanism, locking the door and making it airtight.
"Vent it now" He said calmly.
The injured marine nodded and then pressed in a short command into the main consol.
The plan was to take over the two most important locations on the ship, the first was the reactor/engine room and the other was the bridge.
If they found any survivors they would take them back to the dropship.
When that was done, they would lock down the two compartments airtight and then vent all atmosphere to take care of any pirates.
They would then commandeer the ship back to dry-dock.
"This is second lieutenant Matthews to dropship Charlie 4-16, we are venting the ship now" Ranma said into his microphone.
"Affirmative, lieutenant we are moving out. Have a good flight marines:" Cam the reply over the radio.
Over the entire ship the airlocks opened, flushing out every pirate in the ship. The screams from the pirates wasn't heard through the vacuum of space.
He walked over to the consol and put in a small datadisk in the AI slot. It contained a simple program that would make the ship enter slipspace and go towards reach.
"Can you check the cryo-bays for any survivors."
"No problem, sir"
The marine walked over to a different consol and began to type in some commands.
"Sir ship inventory shows that all cryo-tubes are fully operational. Ship crew is intact."
He leaned back into a chair, removing his shoulder pad so he could treat the wound. The bullet went right trough and it didn't hit any bones, so no permanent damage was done.
He sunk into the chair as the ship entered slipspace.
Another mission finished successfully. He thought as the team's medic began to fill the wound with biofoam. He leaned back in the chair, trying to get some rest.
9 September 2549
Location: Planet Kaln
UNSC Marines Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
Mission: Recapture of the Karn space-port
"Get your asses moving marines" The sergeant barked out.
Everyone knew the drill and was soon standing in two rows facing each other. The sergeant was slowly walking between the two rows.
"The Covenant has found the colony world of Karn, and the UNSC has begun the evacuation of the planet. Most civilians have already left the planet in the evacuation ships. I say most because the Covenant has captured the flight control to Karns main space-port.
Most civilians in the city were able to escape before the covenant arrived, but one ship is still docked in the underground bunker, unable to take of because of the covenant presence. A small number of marines are holding the entrance to the bunker but they haven't enough firepower to take out the covenant forces.
That's why the UNSC are sending down two groups of regular marines backed up by us there to clean the place up, so the civilians are able to leave. Any questions?"
"No Sir" Came the gathered ODSTs reply.
The sergeant got an evil smile.
"Now the rest of your fellow grunts are already on route towards the port. They will ride in air-conditioned comfort, drinking whine and nibbling on appetizers. You however, will leave the ship by a different method. Tell me boys and girls… how will you leave?"
This was a time-honoured ritual, something that was almost as old as the ODST, and they yelled out in unison.
"WE GO FEET FIRST, SIR"
"Damn right you do, now get your asses in gear and move out, triple time"
They jogged to the HEV launch bay. They made a last gear check and then climbed aboard their personal HEV. The HEV, or Human Entry Vehicle, was the ODST-way of entering a fight. The vehicle was oval shaped and about 3.5 metres tall.
Most combat landings were made with armed assault boats or dropships, but they where slow and was an easy target for enemy anti-aircraft fire, so the UNSC developed the HEV.
They where small and had room for a single person, but entered the atmosphere incredibly fast. Anti-aircraft fire would hit some of the pods, but would only result into one death instead of a dozen.
The craft was a single time use however, as the friction made by the entry in the atmosphere burned away the ceramic skin of the vehicle. Because of this the temperature in the HEV was immense, sometimes enough to kill a persons, and that was the reason only the bravest was OSDT, it was an all volunteer-outfit, it took a special kind of crazy to join up. And that was the reason the ODST was referred to as Helljumpers.
Ranma climbed aboard his vessel after checking each member of his team. He fastened the belts so hard that they almost cut of circulation. He pressed the close button on the small computer and the hatch closed with a hiss as the airlocks sealed.
He looked down on the timer as it slowly ticked down to zero. He could hear a loud thump as the tube was ejected from the craft and began to move towards the planet. Someone put in a small disk into a data-player and pushed the play button, and then played the disk over the team freq.
Ranma could hear as the radio crackled to life and the metal music that was the Helljumpers unofficial anthem boomed over the speakers.
Ranma knew that unauthorized use of the com freq was against the regulation, but he also knew that if he ordered the ODST to stop it, the moral would drop. And besides it wasn't his job to do it, it was the sergeants.
The sergeant kept quiet and so did Ranma, not bothering with a small thing as a little music. The real problem was the masses of Covenant down on the ground.
Ranma leaned back as the pod hit the atmosphere and began to slow down, not bothered the slightest by the increased temperature.
"Take out that tank now goddamned it" the sergeant yelled.
The man carrying the rocket launcher turned towards where the sergeant was pointing. Two 102 mm rockets left their tubes and hurried towards the tank. The first rocket hit it the left grav-pod blowing it away and the second slammed in trough the plasma mortars firing mechanism.
The tank irrupted in a huge ball of blue plasma, flying to pieces and hitting the covenant infantry with shrapnel.
Ranma aimed at a banshee as it flew over head. The thing turned around for another strafing run. A quick burst of bullets hit the small aircraft in the forward cockpit, but making nothing except a couple of small scratches in the paint.
The banshee sprayed the human forces with plasma fire taking out three more marines.
As the craft was making it was from the group, Ranma aimed at the unprotected back of the pilot, making the back of the craft erupt into a geyser of purple blood.
He took cover in a crater, changing his clip to his rifle. As soon the ODST and regular marines had landed on the space-port all hell had broken lose. The Covenant had been extremely well dug in, and the marines had taken huge losses when they retook the flight control.
Over a third of the marines where dead and another three fourths was severely injured.
They had managed to get the wounded to the civilians and marines at the bunker.
The ship would need thirty minutes to take off, due to damage in the ships engines.
The marines where ordered to protect the gate from any and all covenant attacks.
At the beginning it had been easy, taking out some grunts and a couple of jackals and one or two elites. Then the covenant had begun to send in heavy stuff, like the wraith-tanks, the ghost light attack vehicle or the banshee aircraft. And worst, over eight hunters, they where like tanks with legs, huge, though, and packed a lot of punch.
The defenders were now down to 13, not precisely the lucky number.
He aimed his rifle at a band of grunts trying to flank them. A couple of short bursts later and the grunts were on their way to the big swamp-lands in the sky.
He opened fire towards an elite, thirty rounds was needed to take down his shield and another three to take the alien down. He ejected the almost spent clip and injected a new one.
"Sergeant we are good to go, tell your men that they can pull back." Came the voice over the comm. Channels.
"You heard the lady, move your lazy asses" The sergeant said as he emptied a clip on an elite and then throwing the rifle towards a group of grunts. The sergeant turned around and took of towards the bunker entrance.
Half way there he helped a wounded soldier to get on his legs and then half carried, half dragged him to the towards the evac.
Ranma saw as a pair of grunts aimed towards the sergeant and the injured soldier.
"SHUZUMI, TAYLORS COVERING FIRE!" Ranma yelled and opened fire on the grunts.
They turned around and let lose on full automatic, cutting down the grunts in seconds.
Shuzumis rifle then went dry and he then ran towards the rest of the marines.
"TAYLOR PULL BACK!" Ranma said and then began to run towards the entrance and the waiting transport back.
About halfway there Taylor was hit in the leg, and he fell to the ground screaming, clutching his leg.
Ranma ran like hell and didn't even stop as he grabbed Taylor and slung him over his left shoulder. He zigzagged to avoid the plasma fire from the Covenant and then threw himself and Taylor trough the door.
He looked on the marines spread out in the compartment. They where 32 left, the thirteen that had defended the entrance and 19 of the injured from earlier. In his hand he held 21 dog-tags, the rest of the 28 dog tags either the sergeant had or had been left on the battlefield.
He made a short prayer towards the fallen soldiers and promised to continue the fight, never to give up. It was his way of showing the soldiers their last respect, to continue the work that they had begun.
18 June 2550
Location:
Special Forces Black Ops, Ghosts
Mission: Hostage Rescue
Major Camilla Martinez was lying face down on the cold stone floor. Her hands and legs were tied together painfully. Dried blood covered her naked body giving the air a smell of copper. She breathed slowly every breath was painful. She coughed up a little blood.
She tried to move but the metal wires she was tied up with dug deep into her flesh. She was able to roll over to her side.
Under normal circumstances she would have been considered beautiful, but know with her face covered with bruises and dried blood not much of that beauty was seen.
She had been the person in charge of the routs of the UNSC supply vessels, and she had been kidnapped during a routine flight to one of the outer colonies.
The pirates wanted to know the routes so they could attack them. She hadn't told them nothing, even after that they tortured and raped her she kept quiet. The last had been the worst, she still cried, not because of the pain but of the fear it would happen again
She had to keep quiet, if she didn't men and women in the UNSC would die.
She had been stuck here for over two weeks, being tortured and raped daily, and any hope of rescue had vanished.
She knew she would die here, but the knowledge that the pirates needed her for the information and keep her alive, made her remain quiet.
Once she told them she would be executed.
She cried again tears of pain, fear and humiliation falling and running down her cheeks.
Her sobs turning into small coughs. She knew that soon they would bring her up again at it would start all over again. She looked around seeing nothing in the darkness. She was in a basement with stone walls and floor.
The only source of light came from the light that seeped trough the floor boards. Soon she knew that the wooden hatch would open and they would walk down the stairs.
In the distance she thought she heard something, but couldn't be sure what it was. The floor boards above her creaked as people was running over it.
Then everything was silent, the people stopped running.
She could hear a loud bang and then the angry screams of people.
She could hear the sound of rifles firing and people screaming in pain. The flashes from many rifles and guns firing was seen well through the floorboards. It only took five seconds then it went quiet again, the only thing heard was a loud thud as something heavy hit the wooden floor.
She heard two metallic clings as something hit the floor and then two ca-clicks followed shortly after each other.
She tried to look up but the wires around her hands and legs dug in painfully in her flesh.
She could feel something drop from the ceiling and down on her body.
A little hit her on the cheek and ran in her open mouth and, she knew then that the fluid was blood. She could hear the slowly dripping of the liquid as it hit her and the stone floor around her.
The wooden hatch open and in the light she could see the outline of a tall man holding two small sub machineguns, one in each hand. He holstered on rifle and brought up a flashlight instead.
He turned on his flashlight, and as he let the light sweep over the floor she could see that it was covered in pools of blood.
He let the light rest on her body and then he began to walk down the stairs towards her. She tried to edge away from the dangerous stranger but failed because of the wires. He holstered his other rifle and brought up a combat knife instead.
As she saw this she began to cry, scared of what this man would do to her.
The man took an iron strong grip on her wrist and then moved the knife towards her.
But instead of slitting her throat he cut, he cut trough her restrains. She looked up fearfully at the, not knowing what to do.
"I am Sergeant Ranma Matthews, special forces. I am her to take you home." The man said and covered her body in a grey-blanket.
It was at that moment that her emotional walls burst completely. She wrapped her arms around the mans neck and cried into his shoulder.
"Don't worry its all over" he said.
She just continued to cry, holding on to the man like her life depended on it. He wrapped the blanket around her tightly and then lifted her up like she didn't weigh anything. She still clutched the man tightly, still crying.
As the man walked up the stair she could see the entire room covered with the bodies of dead pirates.
She just clutched the man tighter. She looked around the room with a scared expression. She was afraid of what had happened to them, to tired to understand that the man she was holding on to was the cause of it.
She looked for the first time up at the face of the man. He didn't seem bothered by all the corpses that were lying around him. He walked towards the door that was lying in pieces on the floor, it looked like someone had kicked it in.
She then looked at his eyes in hope of finding any form fear, fright, or disgust at all the dead.
His eyes were ice-blue, with a tinge of red/purple at the edges, and only displayed death and determination. It was as looking at a piece of ice for all emotion found in them.
But still she held onto the man leaning her head towards his shoulder, falling in a dreamless sleep, and for the first time in a long time felling secure. Ranma just fell into a fast run, still holding the sleeping form of Major Camilla Martinez, towards the evacuation point.
17 November 2550
Location: Unknown.
Special Forces Black ops, Ghosts
Mission: Assassination
He was moving trough the forest like a shadow, seen by no one. It was raining heavy, making it impossible to see more then fifty meters. From the jungle floor, fog was beginning to creep up, small tendril snaking around the legs of the shadow.
He was running fast, evading the enemy patrols with trained ease. He was clothed in a green camouflage gear with black combat boots. His face was covered with green and black paint.
He had a camouflage net around him like a cloak, giving him the shape of a rock or bush and not the human it in reality was.
In his arms was a S4 AM sniper rifle, a more advanced version of the standard sniper rifle the marines had. That was his only weapon except an 11 inch titanium combat knife in his left boot.
His mission was simple, locate and neutralize the leader of the pirates who had there base on this planet. He had been dropped of three days ago and had to make his way trough a thick jungle, making sure enemy patrols didn't detect him.
He was close to his target, another five minutes and he would be there. He stopped by some bushes and looked down at the valley. In the middle of it he could see an installation. It was their refuelling station for their fighter and lighter spacecrafts.
Intel had pointed out that their leader, a Senator Jane Eddings, was going to do an inspection today. These renegades had been responsible for a number of pirate attacks on UNSC transport vessels, and the UNSC wanted a stop to these attacks.
Instead of launching a full scale operation against them, they would simply take out their leader.
He rolled out a blanket on the ground and then laid himself on it. The he made sure to cover himself with the camouflage net, making him look like a bush.
He put the rifle down and locked trough the telescopic sight and switched to image intensifier, bathing everything in a green light.
He checked the range and wind, making the adjustments to the scope. Usually this wasn't needed, but at range of 4,5 km only a little mistake in the scope meant that he would miss with metres.
He then waited, keeping his focus the entire time.
Be on your guard or be dead. He heard Mendez voice in his head.
He flexed his shoulders to get the stiff out of them and then began to scan the camp. The camp was surrounded by a ten feet fence with barbed wire on top.
Armed guards were walking around the perimeter on patrol.
From the camp there was a small road and he scanned it for any sign of the convoy of jeeps the Senator would use to get to the camp.
He then began to scan the camp and then the road, doing this for over three hours and not a moment losing concentration.
He then in the distance spotted a five vehicle convoy. The first two was simple jeeps with a heavy machinegun in the rear.
The vehicle in the middle thou was a car with roof and shaded windows, which marked it as the car the senator would use.
The convoy stopped at the gate to the camp and an armed guard walked over to the first jeep.
The driver and the guard had a brief conversation and then the guard walked over to the gate and opened it. The convoy made their way to the entrance of what was probably the camp HQ.
The jeeps stopped and a tall short chubby man walked over to the middle jeep.
The door to the jeep opened and a short woman walked out. She had black or brown hair, in the green light from the image intensifier he couldn't tell.
She was short maybe 5.5 and had a petite figure, looking to be 20-25. He zoomed in on her face to make sure it was his target.
The woman and the chubby man then began to walk around the compound. They where always moving so he couldn't get clear shot.
The man pointed out and showed the girl the different parts of the installation.
Finally the stopped and the girl turned towards the man and asked something, she had a smile on her lips.
Ranma centred the rifle cross over the right eye of the girl and then held his breath.
The girl was still smiling, unaware of the danger she was in.
He lay completely still.
He slowly pressed the trigger as to not interrupt his aim.
He could feel the recoil of the rifle on his shoulder as it fired.
It took the bullet 3 seconds to travel the 4,5 km to its target.
The girl was still smiling as the 14,5 mm tungsten bullet hit her a little over the right eye.
She didn't feel anything as the round went trough her skull and made the backside of her head explode in a gory fashion.
Her head jerked backwards as the round left her skull, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll, a pool of blood slowly appearing around her head.
Ranma calmly slung his rifle over his shoulder and rolled up the blanket on the ground.
He then walked into the thick jungle, the rain and mist consuming his body, making him disappear like a ghost.
Another successful mission He thought without a sign of happiness or sorrow.
Authors Notes
Q: Side story?
A: I am currently working on the first chapter on the fall of the forerunner. Don't know if I will post it as a side story or as a completely separate story. Only time will tell.
Q: Super-super Spartans?
A: Yes I know that the Spartans in my story are a little better then the original. But I have tried not to make them to strong, but still giving them a little boost from Ranmas martial arts training. And that's also one of the reasons why Ranma arrived as a six year old child and not after the Saffron incident.
If Ranma had arrived then he could have used the Moko takabisha, yamasen-ken and the umisen-ken and would have been almost unstoppable.
I think I have done it quit well. For example, in the book fall of Reach, Master Chief was able to deflect an incoming rocket with his bare hands (Well in Mjolnir Armour at least), and in the game he was maybe not able to lift it, but he was at least able to flip a 66 tons scorpion tank.
Count in the fact that the in my story the Mjolnir doesn't give the Spartans any speed or strength boost like in the game or books, and the Spartans are just a little better then before.
Basically the Mjolnir it's just a really advanced medieval armour, offers protection, but you will have to carry around the weight.
I just boosted the Spartans capabilities, but made the mjolnir really crapy. So when you compare my Spartans (don't own them Bungie does) and the Spartans in the game, my Spartans (I still don't own Halo or anything associated with it) are just a little better, but not much.
Q: The story of Halo 2?
A: I will write about what happens after Halo, but because the game comes out first the 8-9 November, I will have to rely on the book first strike and my own assumptions.
