-1Garrett woke up to a rumble and then explosions in the background. He jumped to his feet, shot for the armory, and heard gunfire along the way. Plasma bolts whipped along the side of the building he was in, showing easily through the plexi-glass windows used. Apparently, there were pelicans landing with what looked like… a SPARTAN! He only caught a glimpse of him before he entered the armory, grabbed an MA6B and a few extra clips plus a bandolier of grenades, then hauled out like his ass was on fire. He heard a rail cannon open up from a modified warthog as it tried desperately to take care of a few seraphs and a couple of phantoms. It looked like the covenant was tangling with reinforcements. "Shots fired. Drop the weapons and the armor will engage" Auron's voice popped up from his arm unit. "And why would I do that?" Garrett said as he saw a charged plasma bolt from a jackal, rolled, and opened fire on him, the bullets pinging off the shield. "Your weapons are ineffective against these enemies. Engage the armor." Garrett had already emptied most of the first clip before sighing and dropping the weapon and bandolier.
The armor encompassed him from his arm. He couldn't figure out how such a powerful and BIG armor could fit inside the arm unit. Probably had something to do with spatial compression or some such. He didn't want to think about it right at the moment as he had a working wraith sitting in the back, hailing plasma mortars all over.
He targeted the tank long range, a sniper cannon instinctually came into his hand, and he fired, a greenish plasma shot emitting from the barrel and burned a clear path straight toward the bastard. A few elites got in the way, but not for long as the superheated energy ball melted through them. He then swapped the rifle for another, this time aiming for drop ships trying to leave some live cargo. "Heads up, we have inbound trying to drop reinforcements! Bad day! This is a Bad day!" a marine yelled out and opened up on anything in front of him. At that moment, Garrett fired, the shot connecting with the hull of one of the ships, and then doing something not exactly needed.
The explosion in the side caused a fusion reaction, and a supernova like effect rippled out from it, destroying multiple other ships and anything nearby in a 500 meter radius. "Are you insane!" One marine yelled as he watched in shock, while another yelled "You're scarier than the covenant! Whoa, I'm glad I'm on your side! Just point that thing somewhere else kay?"
Suddenly com chatter hit, and he gained the knowledge that a strike force was heading over the mountain horizon from the south. Both he and the Spartan raced to the back, he getting there first and assisting a scorpion tank. The awakened behemoth fired a round into a seraph, punching through one side and shooting out the other, allowing sparks and smoke to trail from it for a few seconds before the fuel tanks caught. The resulting damage caused the flyer to crash into another and both fell from the sky. Phantoms were attempting to land, and Garrett pulled a rapid fire laser chain gun and started unloading into the sky. He was hitting a good deal of them, but was sadly doing not as much damage as he had hoped and a few of them were still dropping off troops. The Spartan reached the area in time and ran towards one of the ships. Was he insane? Garrett thought, and changed his mind when the green warrior threw a plasma grenade into an opening door, and then threw a frag under the opening hatch, blasting it upward and closing the helpless hostiles inside with the blue fireball. Garrett turned to his left to find a charging hunter coming right for him and he braced his arms up to defend.
The shield came down and… he stopped it mid air. The hunter looked surprised, Garrett became shocked at what he could do, and the Spartan nearby brought his sniper rifle to bear on the orange stomach in front. He fired one round, and the armored juggernaut crumbled. The remaining forces retreated, and the battle was over. The Spartan walked up to the armored trooper. "Who are you, or… WHAT are you?" He asked. "Lieutenant Garrett Gryphen, 126th heavy support battalion, sir!" He crispy saluted, hearing the clang as his armored hand shot to his head. "I thought the 126th were infantry support for armored columns. You seem more as if you'd fit in the armored column more than supporting one." Garrett chuckled to that. He was probably right. "Sir, you can probably get more of the story from the Captain as I have to check on my squad mates." Garrett heard before he left a female voice emit from the helmet. "Major, we should assist in taking care of the wounded, then gain what info we can."
After being debriefed, The Major followed the Battle Frame along the back of the base to a waypoint, and then towards a guard post. The frame was huge, about 15 feet tall, and the black armor drunk in light, making it look evilish or menacing. The look of it was interesting: The entire body was black armored with silver armor under. The head had a visor similar in look to the visors on the helmets for marines, but more angular and more extended and sloped toward the eyes, giving a mysterious casting of shadow over the face. Two sensor horns protruded from the side and pointed diagonally backwards and up, having multiple antennas extending and contracting as if they were used like ears. The face had two green ocular cameras that just looked like deformed upside down squat pentagons close to the visor, and the face plate over where a nose and mouth would be was angled forward, two parts pushing outward from the middle. Slits in the sides seemed to be a form of ventilation. Twin black angular pauldrons jutted out from the collar, and armor plates jutted out from those downwards, close to the upper arms. The chest area was large and angled as well, probably housing electronics and power supplies, as well as increased armor layering to protect vital organs. The legs were fairly curved with seams of armor paneling warping in certain areas and booster openings in several areas for jump jets. An armored skirt extended from around the waist, and two pieces extended down toward the ankles in front of the legs, giving the thing a slightly smaller or squat look to it. These he found out could extend or detract as needed for more protection of the legs. There were two wing like appendages on the back as well, looking like the head of an arrow when the two parts of one wing moved in opposite directions towards the body, allowing Verne's to be used in between for thrust. Overall, the machine was quite impressive. It even had an AI built in, which Cortana tried to talk to and gain some more info, but was denied politely. When Cortana tried to break in, the AI, Auron, threw her back effortlessly.
They reached the guard post, and the marine waiting for them looked straight up at both of them warily, less so at the frame as it was his direct superior and a squad mate. "Nothing to report sir, as if we'd have anything to report about after you knocked those bastards flat on their asses." Another marine turned his head from a prone position looking over a valley. "You kicked some serious ass out there sir!" whooping and cheering. "I, uh, did what anybody else would do. I just wish I knew more about this thing; otherwise I would have called my shots more wisely. You saw how much damage I did to the countryside compared to the enemy." The marine was about to comment in an encouraging manor, but stopped when Auron piped up "Your accuracy was 60. You require more practice with this frame. I suggest…" but was cut off by a loud shut up yelled by Garrett. The decryption systems in the frame allowed Garrett to hear Cortana chuckle, and the marines cracked up as well. Apparently, everyone had heard the choice words he had used with Auron. He sighed and turned around telling the marines to let him know if they see anything.
He walked on, the Spartan following behind. He watched the armored trooper walk ahead of him, trying to sense anything from the 15 foot tank. The face didn't show anything obviously, but he could see the armor slump forward and the head hang somewhat low, as if the lieutenant was… depressed? Exhausted maybe as he was perhaps? The marines at this colony had been fighting for quite sometime, with no relief for quite a while. He too had only gotten a few hours of sleep lately, and if he didn't get to rest soon he was going to snap and request relief duty on some back water station. Cortana had mentioned that before, and he ignored it, but now that he thought about it she might have been trying to get him to be stationed at one back water place because she was trying to take care of him, or maybe make sure he didn't burn out.
His thoughts snapped back to a loud yelling from the lieutenant. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LANDSCAPE IS STRUCTURALLY UNSOUND! YOU DETONATED THE SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IN THE COMPLEX, SO YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE OUR BASE! I THOUGHT IT WAS A STUPID IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE!" He screamed, gesticulating wildly with his arms. The Mjolnir clad soldier jumped back a meter, keeping out of distance from the arms.
Garrett and many of the other troops were finally going to get a chance to get off this rock and get home. Quite a few of them had homes on Earth, but were stationed here for about a year, including him. He could at least get a little bit of R&R after he got on the pelicans. He was finally going to be able to leave, once the packing was complete and tomorrow happened to come around. He was to report for a debriefing in front of a council, and which one of the people is none other than the woman that invented Project Mjolnir, the armor that the Spartans wore. He didn't want to come off as an idiot in front of so many people, who were proving his worth and a soldier. He had seen some of his friends enter for a meeting, and they came out depressed or worn out. The council hit hard, taking every ounce of information you had and gobbling it up, then kicking you out. The Major he was with, SPARTAN 117, had been through a few, and even he sighed after one of the meetings. He was all set, and he had to get some sleep. He was given some time off, and he took it gratefully. The Spartan was also sleeping near him, completely asleep when his head hit the pillow. The AI matrix was placed in a terminal nearby, and Cortana turned after watching 117 sleeping soundly to see the half dazed marine walk in, kick his boots off, drop his armor and gear on the ground, and walk towards his bunk. Cortana said a hello, and he stopped slightly, looked at her with a goofy sleepy look, waved bye bye, then hit the bunk and was asleep instantly. The heaters inside the bunker allowed the soldiers to luxuriate in the warmth, falling into a sleep a mortar round wouldn't wake them up from. Dreamland at last, after so much happening.