Halo: Wrath of the Humans

Chapter Eight: Ground Engagements

ZR: Sorry for the long delay. I had matters to attend to…and the fact I lost all of my documents in a file transfer to a new computer…..It sucks.

Spartan 684 and Spartan 709 were more closely related than any other Spartan. They were long lost brothers separated by light years of empty space. 709 was the older brother, 684 was the younger. 709 was proficient with all types of weaponry, mainly heavy weapons, Human, Hiigaran, or Covenant. 684 had a knack for explosives…And getting himself into trouble when he shouldn't be. However, these incidents moved him up to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Only his brother, and Spartan 590, the leader of the Spartans, had higher rank than he. Even they didn't know that another one of these incidents was about to occur.

"Blue-two, what's your status?"

"Lure is ready to go boss."

"Blue-three, Status?"

"Ready to go sir."

"Blue-four, Status?"

"Explosives set, and ready to detonate."

"Roger. Blue-three and four rendezvous at my location and be ready to clear the main camp."

Blue-one, Spartan 709, sighed slightly. This mission was tough, even for a Spartan. The plan was to distract the Covenant out of their secondary camp, just five klicks south of their position. They were to keep them distracted long enough for Red team to drop off the "Presents" under each Tree, AKA the power generators. Thus knocking out the power to the entire base, and allowing a carpet bombing run on the covenant base. But this is what Spartans are trained to do, defeat the enemy at minimal cost of lives.

Three minutes later, Blue three and four materialized in front of his eyes from the thick jungle underbrush. Both snapped a crisp salute. 709 returned the salute.

"So, you ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be sir." Replied 684.

"Us three will wait outside the base for Jessica. She will be the one who takes care of the lookouts. Martin, your job is to take out the base coordinators. Myself and Bryan will soften their forces before we lead the out of the base. Clear?"

"Yes sir", they replied.

Bryan hefted the Rocket Launcher, Will, Spartan 709, loaded his rifle, and martin grabbed a silenced SMG, three combat knifes, and a grey tubular object.

"You're bringing that thing?" Asked Bryan.

"Hey, if it cuts, it works."

'Well then I'm bringing one too."

"Alright Bryan, follow me, and stay close. We don't want you getting into trouble again."

"Trouble finds me bro, I don't find it."

"Right."

The three of them activated their cloaking devices, and slipped into the underbrush.

At the Covenant camp, the entire base was buzzing with activity. A few Jackals kept watch on the perimeter. Drones buzzed about in single mindedness. And the Brutes were being…well, Brutes.

One Jackal in particular, on the north side of the base, spotted a blur of movement in the tree line. He raised his Beam Rifle, and scoped the area. Nothing.

"What's wrong Krak?" Asked another Jackal.

"I thought I saw something."

"You're eyes play tricks on you, there is nothing out- " He never finished his sentence as a bullet pierced his head, and killed him instantly. Krak stared at the corpse for a split second, and then was killed by a second bullet.

All around the camp, all the lookouts fell before shots to the head. These were followed by series of rocket volleys annihilating the defense turrets around the camp. This was again followed by a series of muffled shots, and gurgles of dieing breaths from the command tent. An invisible figure sprinted out of the tent, dropping explosives as he went. Two other invisible figures sprinted throughout the camp, again dropping explosives. In their wake was explosions, chaos, raining meat, and cries of agony.

Once they were two-hundred meters away from the camp, they decloaked, and attempted to lure the Covenant away from the camp, which went extremely well after the lower ranked Brutes rallied the troops and charged the Spartans, en masse. The ground trembled beneath their feet. As they neared to one-hundred meters, the trap sprung. Fifty tubes filled with napalm and shrapnel ignited, sending the entire forward flank on the Covenant into a massive Iron wall and Inferno. Three seconds later, three dozen super Claymore mines detonated, sending another wall of metal into the oncoming Covenant force. This whittled the Covenant force down to six-hundred. The Spartans cloaked and sprinted into the forest. The remaining Covenant split into groups of no less than seven and searched the forest.

One of these groups, consisting of four Brutes, three Jackals, and four Drones were searching up a small stream.

"How much further must we search? My belly aches, I didn't get my morning meal today." Groaned one brute.

"I only got up a few units ago! I still can't see straight.." Mumbled another.

"Quiet! You two squabble like Jackals over fresh meat." Barked their commander, "You two should be more like those Drones. Single minded, and always obeying orders."

The Commander halted. He tilted his head u, sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Asked a Jackal.

"Something isn't right, I don't like it." He retrieved a plasma Grenade and held it tightly in his grip.

Off to their right, a twig snapped. Al of the swiveled to the direction of the twig. As they did so, a single figure appeared from the brush behind them, and fired three shots into the back of the commander's head. The commander dropped dead, and the remaining Covenant swiveled back, and fired. The Spartan rolled to his right, firing as he went. He took down the drones without trouble. The Jackals, however, were another story. The bullets pinged off their shields.

The Spartan grabbed his combat knife, and threw it through the small hole in the Jackal's shield, impaling the jackal in the chest. He then grabbed a frag grenade and tossed into the group. It exploded, and killed the Covenant who were standing there. The Spartan paused, and surveyed his deed.

He went to the Jackal and retrieved his combat knife. As he stood back up, there was pressure on the back of his helmet.

"Drop your weapons!" Growled the Brute.

The Spartan dropped his weapons on the ground.

"You're coming with me Demon."

"Are you sure about that?"

The Spartan quickly grabbed the cylindrical tube, and ignited the Human made, Energy Sword. He spun around, and sliced off the Brute's head. The headless corpse made a slight gurgle, before collapsing backward.

"Told ya."

He deactivated the sword, and clipped it back onto his belt. He grabbed the rest of his weapons, and made his way back to their camp. When he arrived, the rest of Blue team was already there.

'What took you so long?" Asked Will.

"Another one of those incidents."

"I see." He glanced at the dark purple blood covering his armor.

A Burp of static came over their speakers, before Read Leader spoke, "Blue-team, sabotage complete, they won't know what hit them."

"Roger that Red Leader."

"Meet us back at HQ."

"Affirmative, Blue leader out."

Will gave a quick glance at their camp, "Alright Spartans, pack the gear. We're headed out."

ZR: Yay blood and gore! Hope the next chapter doesn't take as long. Summer is almost here!