Halo: A World's End

Chapter 3

Being the best they could be was all Eric and his fellow Spartans had been taught for the last fifteen years. When Reach fell all the Spartans, at the age of fourteen, had been going through the augmentation process. While evacuating them off planet CPO Mendez, their trainer and the only father-figure in their lives, went KIA trying to evacuate them off planet. The Spartans were then taken directly to Earth regardless of Cole Protocol. Once safely on Earth and their augmentations complete they began readjusting their bodies to the various changes done to them. Out of the sixty that had started the process only twenty five were fit to fight. Fifteen had died and the other twenty had various cases of bone malformation and some cases of Alzheimer's disease. Their training mainly involved playing capture the flag matches against the Hell jumpers.

That was until the Covenant attacked Earth. The twenty five operational Spartans were sent in five hunter killer teams. Each team was assigned to a certain part of New Mombassa. Eric, Jenna, Marko, Sean, and Phil were all stationed at the center of the city. Eric, the red team squad leader, radioed the others it was time to move out. After spending the last hour here and encountering nothing he had decided it was time to get back to the LZ. The LZ was in a soccer field to five blocks south of their position. Opening a squad wide comm he told them the rundown, "Alright folks, there is nothing here. We are going to proceed to the LZ. I want Marko scout ahead with Jenna to snipe for you. The rest of you fall in," With that Sean and Phil came trotting up from his left. Waving the okay signal the fanned out to both sides of the street. Crouch walking alongside a storefront Eric came across an alley way. Holding out his fist he signaled them to hold. Pulling out his fiber optics cable he stuck around the corner. Down the alley way sat two Hunters accompanied to white armored Elites. Keying his mike he gave Phil and Sean the layout, "There are two Hunters and two Elites down this alley way. Sean I want you to come stand on the other side of the alley mouth with me. Phil I want you to launch your Jackhammer missiles right into them once me and Sean use our grenades," Receiving two red acknowledgment lights from them he set his M90 aside. Sean, looking over, did the same with his BR55. Pulling out and prepping two plasma grenades in each hand Eric waited till Phil was in position. Looking back and making sure he was, Eric gave a nod to Sean. Priming the grenades and counting to two he through them. Four plasma grenades and four frag grenades sailed though the air. All four of the plasmas stuck to the first Hunters head, sealing its fate. The four frag grenades landed underneath the two Elites. Hearing the ping of the grenades hitting the ground the looked down only to have the grenades blow their bodies to shreds. Phil, launching his missiles into the fray struck the last Hunter in the face. The other missile impacted right next to its unprotected back sending shrapnel into its exposed flesh, instantly killing it. Keying his mike Eric spoke, "Alright lets get moving before more show. Section III has Mjolinir ready for us when we get back. Let's move," At that the Spartans turned and started sprinting down the street.

Reaching the soccer field thirty seconds later Eric motioned for Sean and Phil to secure the perimeter. Walking slowly up to the waiting Pelican Eric leveled his M90. Turning around the corner he found nothing. Striding forward he checked the cockpit. Nothing. Where in Hell is the crew he pondered. "Jenna, Marko where is the crew?"

"They were ambushed outside about three hundred meters south of the Pelican. They saw some Marines fighting and decided to flank the Covenant. The Covenant ended up ambushing them. None of them made it," Marko solemnly replied.

"Alright hightail it back to the Pelican we need to get to Section III ASAP. They should have Mjolinir online by now,"

"Beat you to it Eric," replied Jenna as they came running up from the west. Piling in Eric moved to the cockpit and looked over the controls. After a quick search he found the auto-pilot and engaged it. With a throaty rumble that shook Eric to the core the Pelican lifted off and turned towards Section III. Walking back and looking over his team he spied Marko. Marko was the unit's best scout and second best shot. With Jenna, the squad's best sniper, they were undetectable even to the Spartans. Meanwhile Sean and Phil, the twins, had the best teamwork out of the entire Spartan division. Usually Spartans could 'know' what the other would do in a fire fight but Sean and Phil however, were on an entirely different level. They moved in such fluid coordination during the first exercises that Mendez had used that as the template for the rest of their team training. Running a mental check on himself he pondered what he was. Some said he was the bravest and a natural leader while other thought of him as the tactician of the group. Not really caring about he went back into the cockpit and watched the scenery roll by. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw a white flash light the sky. Fearing the worst he turned the Pelican back to his control. Hitting the throttle lever he sped the Pelican from a measly 250 nauts to over 500 nauts. When the light disappeared he slowed the Pelican down and looked back at the city. The only thing left was a smoking black crater. Sending out a quick status report to other Spartans he dreaded that the worst had happened. Receiving weak signals from the other twenty Spartans he checked their life signs. Nothing, they had all flat-lined. Holding back tears he re-engaged the auto-pilot. Standing up he walked back to the last Spartan-III's to tell them what had happened.

Three hours later and standing in nothing but a surgeons dress he looked over at the others. They were all as nervous and excited as he, even though the men and woman they had come to know as brothers and sisters died. They were all standing in a stark white room with five gunmetal colored tubes at the other end of the room. To his left was a firing range with all sorts of weapon and an obstacle course. On the right side were rows of test cubicles and data banks. What had their attention captivated however was the door next to the tubes'. Just then the door opened to reveal a man who looked to be in his mid-sixties with balding hair, a sagging goatee, and a cane he hobbled on. Behind him came six orderlies. The man came to a stop about three meters in front of the Spartans, "Well it looks like you five are all that's left. What a shame. I hope they went out fighting. Oh well. Your Mark VII Mjolinir suits have different layers. Each layer was specifically designed for each Spartan but they are interchangeable. The outer layer can dispel a direct shot from almost any weapon the Covenant have. You also have upgraded shielding. The shields can withstand two consecutive shots from a Covenant Beam Rifle. They were strengthened due to the Jackals increasing tendency to use the rifle. The other stuff, well, you'll just have to figure it out. Now who wants to go first? "Instantly all five Spartans stepped forward. Looking them over he choose Jenna. Damn she's always just a little faster than I me he thought. Watching her suit up with envy in his eyes he heard the man speak, "Alright now, I want you to move your arm but, I just want you to think about moving your arm,"

"Okay," With a flash her arm snapped up in a crisp salute, "Wow. That was amazing. Eric wait till you try this," One by one the Spartans got suited up. When it was finally his turn Eric was full of anticipation. Getting all but his helmet on, he saw Jenna working through the live fire course. Finally the orderlies put on his helmet with a hiss of air.

The suit rapidly heated to an agonizing level of pain then dropped so low that Eric thought his feet would fall off. The helmets view screen had five or so HUD displays. In the upper left hand corner were his vitals, lower left hand were his motion tracker and his shield bar. On the opposite side was his ammo counter and mission objective screen. Hearing the man tell him to move his arm he had just barley thought about it when his hand flew up. Not being able to stop his arm it bounced of his head. His wrist was throbbing agonizingly, if I hadn't of gotten those bone augmentations he thought, I would have shattered my wrist. One of the orderlies told him he could move to the obstacle course so, turning around and breaking into an all out sprint he reached the course in three seconds flat. His first obstacle was to scale a thirty foot wall. Decoding to test out his new armor's strength he punched the wall. With his strength almost quadrupled, his fist went clean though the meter thick wall. Stepping though the hole he had just made he came across the next obstacle, a minefield. Boosting his shield to 100 charge on his lower half of the body he started to walk forward only to fall on his butt. Just like walking of ice he thought. Getting up and deciding walking wasn't gonna him across he started sprinting. Eric was going fast enough through the field that the Lotus Anti-Tank mine's blasts weren't even close to touching him. Passing through the mine field he came across a game he had played with Mendez. Ring the Bell. There were stakes sixty feet high that he would have to traverse through to get to the bell on the other side. But knowing his other trainers they probably wouldn't make it that simple. Willing to bet his life on it, he guessed there were stun mines, exploding sticks, collapsible bridges and much, much more.

Deciding that half a ton of armor would most likely obliterate any stick he jumped on, so he decided the shorter the journey, the better the results. Taking less than a second he surveyed the stick jungle. To his left were a series of shorter and flimsier fifty foot stakes. Spotting a rope next to them he climbed up to the first one. Getting onto the pole he discovered that they were stronger than they looked. Rocking back and forth he set himself up for a jump. Hitting the apex of the swing he jump and landed on a pole five meters in front of him. Using his forward momentum he lunged to the next pole, only to trigger the stun grenade attached to the bottom of the pole. Falling fifty feet in a shower of two foot long wooden shards he landed wrong on his knee. Hyper-extending it was bad enough but having of the shards go right through his leg was even worse. Unbelievable as it was, the shard was now sticking out the other side of his amour. Holy shit, that shard must have been going amazingly fast to go through armor that could stop an S2 shot he thought, grimacing as a fresh wave of pain went through his body. Breaking off one side of the shard, he pulled the remaining half of it out in a gush of blood and coolant. Fighting against the pain induced nausea he uneasily stood up. Pushing the pain away from his mind he started to sprint. Running as fast as his bleeding leg would carry him, he shot passed all the remaining stakes with adrenaline coursing through his veins like wildfire.

Stopping at the edge of the stake jungle he looked over his next task. It was an open field covered with converging blanks of fire by three .50 cal auto cannons on each side. Mentally doing the math in his head he figured each cannon could turn at around 40 kph. His top speed was 50 kph at top condition but, with his leg it made to around 42 or 43 kph. That would be cutting it close he thought. Changing his shield settings so that his torso was mostly protected while below his knees had only a half a millimeter of shielding. Getting himself ready he crouched down like a sprinter. Shooting out like a bullet, albeit a limping one, he reached the first set of Ma Deuces before it could swivel and track him. Opening fire before they came lined up with him they took out the second set of auto cannons. Staring down the barrel of the last set he watched as the barrels started to pour lead into the air. Rolling to the turret on his left he leaped over the bunker housing the turret. Ducking into the bunker and ripping the turret from it's mounting he fired at the turret across the way. Quickly reducing it into a smoldering wreck he hobbled off to the firing range.

Reaching the firing range he went to the med kit and grabbed some bio-foam. Inserting it into the hole in his leg he pushed the eject button. The foam shot through his leg with accompanied with a wave of pain. Sealing itself the foam hardened into a vacuum proof band-aid. These things have their highlights but they sure hurt like hell, he thought as he limped over to the gun table. Sitting on the table were all the guns he had trained with plus a few more. Turning to the orderly next to the table he questioned, "What guns are those?"

"Well sir the one on your right is a Mjolinir Shock Rifle. It has three firing modes: full-auto, three-round burst and semi-automatic. It fires a .50 caliber bullet. When you fire on full-auto it is inaccurate at all but close range. With three round burst it is the perfect mid-range weapon. With semi-auto and a bullet enhancement it also makes a sniper rifle. On the bottom of the rifle is a grenade launcher that is adaptable to fire both M9 grenades and the Covenant Plasma grenades. The rifles special feature is however, a certain firing mode. When in semi-automatic you have the option to turn on a controlled EMP blast. The power comes from your armor shielding though. So to completely take out an opponents shield you yourself must drain half of your shield to supply the power. The rifle also features a plas-steel grip that will mold to your hands. Any questions?"

"Can I try it out?"

"Yes pick it up and hit all the targets of the range," Picking up the gun Eric looked it over. It had the same iridescent greed his armor had. The HUD in his helmet showed that there was a full clip in the gun and that it was coded to his DNA and the other Spartans. Sighting down the barrel he only had to think and the target he was sighting jumped closer. Wanting to see how far the rifle could scope he tried jumping to 5x magnification. Having a gut feeling it could go farther he thought again. Jumping to 10x magnification he took aim and shot the farthest target in the dead center. Putting it down, he picked up the other gun. It was a pistol with a barrel thirty percent larger than a normal HE pistol. Snatching a magazine off the table he popped it in, only to find the gun was perfectly balanced. Sliding the magazine out, he looked at the bullets. They looked to be .45 caliber bullets with explosive tips. Putting the bullet back into the magazine he took aim at the nearest target only to see it jump to 2x magnification. Interesting, he thought, that will be useful. Taking careful aim he fired. The explosive tip of the bullet did a whole lot more damage than its size indicated. Sliding the back target forward so he could compare the impacts he saw the single .50 caliber bullet in fact did less damage to the .45 caliber bullet. Must be one goddamn strong explosive, he thought mildly amused. The pain from his leg reminded him that he should probably go see if he severed an artery before he bled to death. Hobbling off to meet with his team he wondered what his next mission would be.