The end of an era
Chapter 2
Joe charged into the fray, not caring about his safety. Plasma bolts pinged off his M52B ceramic-alloy plated battle armor doing little harm to his body. His chest armor plate hissed as it cooled rapidly.
Instacrete barricades had been placed along the mess hall for cover. Though instacrete dried quickly, the barricades were not fully dry. When they were full dried, they barricades could stand up even to a hunter's fuel rod cannon blast.Just as he was preparing to fire a rocket at a hunter who was taking pot shots at marines with its gigantic and seemingly impervious shield, a group of grunts and a Golden Zealot wielding an Energy Sword burst into the mess hall from the door to his left.
Though he had never encountered an elite wielding an energy sword before, there were tales that it could decapitate a human with one swipe. The Zealot took a swipe at the nearest marine severing the torso from the rest of the marine's body. Though the body was severed and mangled, there was not much blood because the sleek blade immediately cauterized the wound. Joe immediately concentrated his fire on the Zealot. The Zealot roared in frustration as the bullets, specially modified armor piercing 7.65mm bullets, struck an invisible barrier that was its shield. Its shield flickered but held.
The Zealot charged at Joe. One second before Joe was in range of the sword, a green armored hand holding an M90 shotgun shot a round at the rampaging elite. The intensely strong slug blew the elite backwards. The owner of the hand quickly shot another round at the elite. It was a headshot!
Joe looked up and saw a Spartan II clad in MJOLNIR Mark VI Battle Armor. It had black alloy plates that were luminescent and glowed green. The Spartan was easily 7ft tall. A giant! "Thought you needed some help." The Spartan had a warm and calming voice despite his voluminous stature. "Thanks."
It was Spartan-104, Fred. Fred saw a figure moving stealthily across the room through his polarized HUD. He shot a round at the figure and it confirmed his suspicion. It was cloaking elite!
He quickly strode over to where the elite was and the elite thinking that the Spartan could not see him, stood still. Fred's hand balled into a fist, his knuckles white, and punched the elite. The elite's skull caved in killing it instantly." Come on, lets clear this ship of covy asses," Fred said to Joe.
Together they cleared most of the ship; only one large room was left. It was packed to the gills with covenant. There were dozens of Elites and Grunts inside the room. Fred quickly tossed in a belt of plasma grenades he found on a dead grunt, and then quickly took cover behind Titanium-A bulkhead.
The grenades exploded taking out half of the covenant before they knew what hit them. It started with the grenades exploding and then it caused the grunts' methane tanks to explode. The grunts' tanks turned them into exploding fragmentation grenades.
When Joe sneaked a peek, all that was left were a handful of grunts and elites. The other entire covenant was nothing but charred meat still sizzling from the heat.
Fred strutted into the room carrying a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. He fired off four rockets in rapid succession. M19 SSM Rocket Launchers were used to confuse rather than destroy the enemy. They could lock onto vehicles like Ghosts and Banshees. He then double wielded M7/caseless Sub-Machine Guns and started spraying the room with bullets.
The grunts started shouting "the demon is here!" and ran in circles. The Sangheilli shot plasma bolts at him, many of which missed. One foolish grunt came too close. Fred effortlessly kicked him away. Fred took out the elites and grunts.
Just when he was about to run out of ammo, a pair of hunters charged into the room. At the sight of the blood, the hunters charged at Fred and swiped at him with his shield. Fred, caught unaware, did not dodge. The swipe sent the half-ton of man and machine flying away and crashed into a wall. He did not get up.
It was up to Joe. Joe quickly switched to his Magnums and shot the hunters' unprotected back when their backs were turned. Orange blood poured out from the wounds. The hunters slumped to the ground. Dead.
Joe quickly ran over to the injured Spartan. Fred was in a bad shape. His body was aching all over. Pain coursed through his veins. He could barely stay conscious and the adrenaline from the battle was the only thing keeping him awake.
Luckily, his suit quickly administered morphine to him to lessen the Pain. Spartan training had made them the toughest soldiers in the human army but this pain, this very pain was excruciating, beyond anything he had ever felt. He felt his vision clear and saw stars in front of him.
For one second, he thought it was his suit that was malfunctioning but he then realized that it was his body that was malfunctioning. "Fred! Can you hear me? Wake up soldier! That is an order Spartan!" Fred shook his head to clear the stars and then said, "I'm fine." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I'm alright."
Joe helped the heavy Spartan to his feet. His muscles ached with every step and his calves were on fire. He shuddered to think what would happen if he let go. "Come on Spartan, Haul ass to the Infirmary!"
After a long journey of compassing three decks, they finally reached the Infirmary or infirmary. Fred lay on the stretcher. "Whoa! What have you been doing?" with that, the medic took out a portable scanner and read out Fred's injuries.
"Crushed ribs, punctured lungs, broken femur and a dislocated arm. A lesser man would surely have died out of that many injuries, not to mention slight concussion and a slipped disc."
Joe left the Infirmary for the mess hall for two reasons, to let the medic tend to Fred and his stomach was growling. Joe queued up like the other marines did for their food. After a long wait, it finally came to his turn. The Chef issued him a grey mucky bowl of gruel. It was a staple in the marines.
Joe stared at the sloppy muck that was his dinner losing all his appetite immediately.
"Mind if I sit here?" asked a female marine. The female marine was a beauty. She had long luscious rolls of brown and black hair. If not for the war, she could be a model.
"Yeah, it's empty." "Thanks. " Don't mention it, its okay." "What's your name, mines Janissary James but people call me Jan." "I'm Joe. Joe Miller." They chatted for the rest of the break.
Joe was attracted to Jan immediately. Her pear-shaped figure and smooth curves. She reminded him of his ex-girlfriend on Antiga-Prime. She died when it was glassed by the covenant. Joe was one of lucky ones; he had been in space on the UNSC Radeon and had escaped unscathed apart from some emotional wounds. Eventually, time healed those wounds. That was 3 years ago.
The Next morning,
Joe awoke to find himself on his bed. Jan snuggling warmly beside him. He gave Jan a little kiss then dressed himself. Before he left the room, he wrote a note to Jan. Your breakfast is on the table, I am heading to the Infirmary to check up on the Spartan.
Joe perambulated into the Infirmary, his rifle slung on his shoulder. He greeted the medic with a wave of his hand and strode over to Fred's bed. "Your friend here is lucky he has a fast recovery rate, he'll be up in no time," the medic said.
"How are you feeling, Fred?" Though they had only known each other for a brief period, they had become firm friends. "Sup Joe, I won't die on ya before u return my favor, I still don't feel safe on this metal piece of creak shit!" said Fred. All Spartans had the same type of mentality; they hated working in space with no dirt under their shoes. A smile came to Joe's face. He gave a mirthless chuckle.
"Hey Fred, I gotta go. I owe ya one."
"Bye!"
Joe quickly walked out of the infirmary. On his way to the briefing room, a person wearing a military officer's suit spoke to him. "Joe miller is it? Follow me.". Out of respect for the officer, Joe saluted him and the officer returned the salute. Joe stole a glance at the suit and saw medals and badges festooning the suit. The stripes and Badges showed that the officer was a colonel. He led Joe to a room that was similar to the briefing room.
Some twenty ODSTs were inside the room. They were wearing jet-black armor with polarized visors. ODST armor was denser than normal marine armor and could take more punishment. Unlike standard issue marine armor, it covered the entire body, giving the wearer maximum protection. Like marine armor, it dissipated heart very quickly making it the second best armor. The only better armor being the MJOLNIR Armor that Spartans wore. ODSTs hated Spartans and called them "freaks".
Without further ado, the Colonel began briefing the soldiers. "Everyone here has been selected for my special program. All of you troopers here will undergo a special treatment. It will make you stronger; have faster reflexes, to cut a long story short, you will become Spartan 3s!