Unbreakable
Disclaimer: I do not in any way shape or form own Halo. Bungie, 343, and Microsoft do.
Chapter 3:
The sun had already set on the Ring by the time the rest of the Spartans arrived at the forward operating base designated as Alpha base.
The Pelican landed on one of three landing platforms that were captured by UNSC forces. Defenses were already set up which was impressive considering the base just recently established. A few 50mm autocannons were monitoring the airspace as well as the perimeter. Patrols and guards were keeping an eye out for any sign of the Covenant. Casper noticed warthogs out in the distance when the dropship landed and he stepped out along with the rest of the passengers.
He continued to look around as he and the others were escorted by an ODST to a few small rooms. "This is where you'll be staying. We're still receiving survivors so consider yourself lucky that you have your own rooms."
The Master Chief decided to speak on behalf of the three Spartans. "They'll do, thanks."
The ODST nodded her head. "I'm 1st Lieutenant McKay. The other two Spartans are organizing things with Major Silva. Your commander told me to tell you to get some rest. When he's ready, he'll send someone to pick you up."
When she finished speaking, the 1st Lieutenant moved back down the hallway. Emile, John, and Casper moved into their designated rooms and closed the doors. Once he was inside, Casper removed his helmet and took out a spare MRE. He was starting to get hungry and while MRE's didn't offer much in terms of taste, he ate enough of these to not be bothered by the taste.
Except for the veggie omelet MRE. He doubted anyone could get used to how that thing tasted. Even in the Halo universe they had it and while it did taste better than the ones back home, it was still horrible to eat. Six wouldn't even wish for his own worst enemy to eat it.
As soon as he was finished, he checked over his armor and weapons to assess for any damage. His suit had some dirt on it but other than that it was fine. The DMR and Magnum were still in working order, and he still had a few mags for each of them. When he was done, he placed his firearms to the side and took off his armor to clean himself up. Later, he took apart his Magnum and DMR and began to clean their parts. One of the worst things to happen in the middle of a firefight was if your weapon had a misfire. Casper knew that from personally experience. Soon as he was done, he laid down on his bed and slept, thinking about saving Keyes from the disabled Covenant ship before he did.
Soon as Six finished putting on his armor, he heard a knock at his door. He yelled for whoever was outside to came in and a Marine with a rank that said he was a Lance Corporal opened the door. "Sorry to interrupt you sir, but you're needed at the tactical operation center." Six dismissed the Marine and quickly grabbed his weapons and equipment before heading out the door.
Chief was already waiting there first while Emile came out a few seconds later. Both of whom were fully armored up and holding the rifles they carried the previous day before. The three greeted each other with a short nod before moving through the base towards the TOC. As they got there, they were greeted by a pair of ODSTs who told them to halt once they got to the door. "Identification please," one asked.
"Spartans 117, B312, and A239 reporting as ordered to the TOC," John answered for the three of them.
Their numbers were the only names other UNSC personnel were allowed to know. Only other Spartans and a select few UNSC personnel were authorized to know the true names of Spartans.
"Spartan 117? B312? What are those kinds of names?" one of them questioned.
"Coming from a guy named Yutrzenika, that's pretty rich." The same ODST who escorted them to their rooms the previous day, Lieutenant McKay, said as she came up behind the Spartans. The ODST's let out a laugh. "Don't mind them. They're just jump happy. Come on. Let's go in."
As they entered the room, they saw Carter, and Kat planning something out with an ODST. He looked to be Major Silva as his armor bore the insignia of a Major in the UNSC Marine Corps. The three began discussing something around a table with what seemed like another AI. Support personnel and techs sat at various consoles and computers located around the room, communicating with units out in the field, issuing them orders, or receiving reports. 1st Lieutenant McKay went to one that was nearby while the Spartans went to their commander. Silva didn't appear to be very happy at the moment, most likely due to the fact that Carter outranked him, which meant that a Spartan was in command while he was not. However, he seemed to keep his opinion about the Spartans to himself as he continued to listen to what Kat was talking to him about. As soon as they noticed Emile, John, and Casper, the Lieutenant-Commander spoke up first.
"Good to see guys, hope you had a good rest while we continued to work," the Kat joking said.
Emile and Chief let out a small chuckle while Casper shook his head in amusement. Once they were done, Emile took the opportunity to ask the commander a question.
"What's the situation boss?" Emile asked Noble 1.
"We still pulling in survivors as we speak as well as much gear, weapons, equipment, and vehicles that we can salvage. Recon teams have scouted out locations where the Covenant have set up shop. We still don't know what exactly their doing yet. Wellsley here," he gestured to the AI who gave a short nod in acknowledgement," has been monitoring Charlie communications, though we haven't picked up much of anything of value yet. However, we do believe we found where they are keeping Keyes." Before Carter could say more, Silva interrupted him.
"A group of my ODSTs reported in a few minutes ago with the location that Charlie took Captain Keyes," Silva said with a smug grin, "They say they're holding the Captain at a disabled Covenant vessel located here." Wellsley pulled up a map as Wesley pointed to where it was. "Unfortunately, they couldn't acquire more intel as they were forced to bug out when they were spotted and made contact with the enemy."
"Our priority is to rescue Captain Keyes from that cruiser. I want Nobles 2, 4, and 6 on this. As well as you Chief, you'll be leading the mission. A squad is ready to provide you backup in case if you need it. We'll be launching the Op in three hours. Any questions?" Carter briefed the others.
When no one spoke up, Cortana took the opportunity to pitch in an idea she had.
"I believe I might be able to mask our Pelicans signature as a Covenant one. Though we still can't get too close or else we'll be spotted, this would same us some time as opposed to landing a mile away and hiking it over there," Cortana chipped in.
"Too bad, I was looking forward to a walk," Emile quipped.
It was at that moment when Six decided to speak up. "Sir, if I may." All eyes turned to the only other Hyper-Lethal other than the Master Chief." I would like to ask for your permission to go ahead of the extraction force alone and establish an observation post here. "He pointed at a small cliff that overlooked where the damaged cruiser landed. "I'll be able to recce the AO and spot out Covenant positions and patrols. This would improve our chances of rescuing the Captain and egress before any Covenant QRF teams respond."
The leader of Noble Team though about Casper's proposal. While he didn't like the idea of sending him in by himself, having more intel would improve the odds of a successful mission with minimal casualties. Six has shown himself to be more than capable of handling himself. Against his better judgement, he decided to approve Six's idea. "Granted, I'll have a dropship ready to take you now." He placed two of his fingers to the side of the helmet to activate its built-in radio to ready a Pelican.
"You good heading in there by yourself Six?" Kat asked Casper. While she made no sign of it, she was concerned about this. She didn't want to lose another member of Noble team like Thom when he sacrificed himself to destroy a Covenant frigate. Plus, he saved her life by pushing her out a sniper Jackal's shot, which would have almost certainly killed her since her shields were offline at the time. She still owed him for that.
"I'll be fine Kat. Don't worry," Casper responded.
"Pelican is waiting for you Six, might be best to leave out." Carter said as took his fingers off his helmets radio.
Six nodded and around to leave the room.
"Don't have too much fun without me." Emile stated before Casper reached the door.
Six gave Emile a soft punch in his shoulder before he made his way out the room and walked towards the landing pad where his dropship was waiting. Casper always got along best with Emile. Both of them enjoyed the thrill of fighting and had an affinity for weapons. They quickly became friends when Casper was assigned to Noble team. Before Six reached the dropship, he stopped by a nearby quartermaster to request more magazines for his weapons, a suppressor for his DMR and a few smoke grenades, frags, and flashbangs. The quartermaster nodded and took out his requested gear, unwilling to question a Spartan. Once Six placed everything in his pouches, he continued to make his way towards the landing pad.
Once he reached it, he climbed onto the Pelican and sat down in one of the many seats as it took off towards his destination. During the flight, he attached the suppressor to his rifle and checked over his gear once more before relaxing for the rest of the flight. After about thirty minutes later, the pilot announced that they reached the landing zone before landing the dropship.
As soon as the ramp was down, Six jumped out and pointed his rifle towards possible directions where enemy troops might be hidden. Once the Pelican left the LZ, he quickly checked his map to confirm the direction of where he was supposed to go before he began to make his way to the cliff where he intended to set up an OP. He walked for about twenty minutes before he heard footsteps and alien chatter.
Casper stopped in his tracks when he saw a Covenant patrol. It consisted of two Grunts, a Jackal, an Elite whose armor was painted in blue. Sic quickly hid behind a large tree to remain out of their sight, keeping his weapon trained on him just in case if they spotted him. Keeping his trigger finger disciplined and off the trigger, he watched as they disappeared out of sight before continuing. He soon encountered more Covenant squads out on patrol and a couple of phantoms sweeping spotlights over the area as they looked for any signs of intruders. Despite doing his best to avoid getting detected, he was forced to quietly eliminate a few when they came too close for comfort. None of them had a moment to react as they were all dead in seconds and their bodies were hidden in a bush
Six finally reached the cliff and positioned himself to observe the area. He saw the frigate as Covenant troops moved through the area and defense turrets remained on alert. Six began to mark the patrols and turret emplacements on his BFT, which was located on the TacPad on his left arm, so he can help guide the rescue team when they arrived. As soon as he finished marking them, he started to scan the terrain to look for the best route for them to take to enter the ship. Occasionally he glanced down as his motion tracker to make sure no hostiles were moving up behind to ambush the Spartan.
After a few hours of searching for infiltration routes, learning Covenant patrol routes, and kill zones for the turrets. He received a transmission from Kat, informing him what he already knew was happening.
The rescue Op was starting.
(A.N): So yeah. Once again thank you to all of you who decided to give this story a chance. As always, if you want to leave a review and or tell me your thoughts and suggestions feel free to go right ahead. I really would like to hear your guy's ideas.
Terms:
- OP: Observation Post.
- AO: Area of Operation.
-QRF: Quick Reaction Force.
- BFT: Blue Force Tracker. (Basically, a GPS that tracks friendly and enemy unit locations).
-TOC: Tactical Operations Center
See you next time Spartans. Thanks to again to all those that left a review.
