Chapter 6: Hellfire

July 27th, 2568

Fort Keyes, Minerva, Lambda Rho System

Phoenix stood once more in their Commander's office. Her steely gaze swept over them silently. Their collective posture could rival the stiffness of a flagpole. Finally after what seemed like minutes she broke the silence. "At ease Spartans. I'm glad to see Phoenix here in mostly one piece. I trust your leave was relaxing and eventful." The four Spartans nodded in unison. "Good. I certainly know Spartan G199 had an interesting time in Sydney. Isn't that right? Must have if I got a police report, an injury report from a hospital and a note from Oceana Military Spaceport stating that you're fit for duty." All eyes were on Andrew. "Show me," McKnight commanded. Andrew pulled his left sleeve up, displaying the fresh fifteen centimeter scar for all. "I didn't read the police report, so do enlighten us on how this happened." Andrew pushed his sleeve down and shifted his weight.

"Alright, Commander and chucklefucks listen up. It happened the day my shrink showed up at my hotel room," he started. His tone shifting from sarcasm to irritation as he mentioned how the morning started, clearly aiming his ire at McKnight. "So, I was a bit surprised when both my former and current shrinks were banging on my door. I was just getting back from some PT at the beach. We went in and talked for a little bit before I showered and then we all went to lunch. Later that evening after Doc Hartford left, I walked the Doc back to her hotel. Or rather tried to. We ended up not getting there because some dipshit tried to mug us. I decided not to scar the Doc's psyche and fight rather than shoot. I took it slower than normal and that's why I got cut. You should've seen it though. I spiked him into the duracrete like he was nothing. I made it out with the cut and minimal blood loss. He's still alive too. A broken arm, three fractured ribs, fractured skull, severe contusions and concussion. My smart glasses caught it all." McKnight glared at him for the lack of decorum, naturally he ignored it. "Is that all you wanted Commander? We have some unpacking to do." She stood up and tapped a command on her desk. "As a matter of fact, no. You'll be unpacking what you need for immediate combat purposes. You're going to redo the simulation that caused your little fight. I'll be making some adjustments so that King won't slip away so easily. I expect all of you to make it out 'alive.' No unnecessary C7. Spartan G199, I trust you'll go full speed today. I expect you in the War Games simulator yesterday Spartans! Double time! Let's move!"


Andrew practically spooned Bertha as he hid in his firing position. Phoenix was right back where they were just over a month ago. His grass, pepper and white Viper class MJOLNIR was nearly invisible in the underbrush. "Did you really need to get a second knife Andrew," Sam questioned over TEAMCOM. He heard the fuss Andrew had made with the armor techs about getting the weapon mounted to his left gauntlet. "Yes, as a matter of fact I did. You can never have too many options," Andrew responded to his Scout-clad teammate. "Keep it professional you two. Commander is watching this time. I mean it," Thermer barked over the channel. Two green acknowledgement lights winked on Thermer's HUD. The first radar ball pinged. "Eyes on targets. Oh-Three get ready," Sam chimed in. Another ping. "Same formation. Should be easy to yoink him," Sam stated. A third ping. Thermer cut in, "Green light, Oh-Two." Andrew's opening shots were all the confirmation the team needed. King popped a smoke grenade and made his move reserving his active camo for if he needed to run and hide. "Objective secure, Oh-Three moving to extraction point."

Andrew saw two innies try to take after King again. "Oh-Four, take the far target, I've got his buddy. Oh-One cover me." Sam didn't hesitate this time. The crack of his round's impact was the first thing anyone noticed, the second was the grapefruit sized exit wound. Andrew had already leapt from cover, securing his SAW on the back of his waist. The closest insurrectionist didn't get the same treatment as last time. He instead vaulted over the man and shouted at his target. In a flash Andrew's thrusters closed the gap and the Spartan swung his right arm wide from left to right. His target dropped clutching the gash in his neck. Andrew resheathed the knife under his left wrist and turned with a black and red canister in hand. "Dropping hellfire. The rest are yours Overwatch. Moving to support Oh-Three." The grenade left his hand and promptly showered its surroundings in thermite. Andrew ducked into the forest leaving the screams and gunfire behind him.

King wasn't too far from the path, making it easy for Andrew to find him. The two Spartans stayed tucked into the underbrush. King had found McKnight's changes. "Two support patrols. I haven't been seen. They're alert," King signed to Andrew. The brown armored Spartan held the hostage down in an attempt to keep them unseen. "Stay here. I'll divert them. Run for exfil on my signal," Andrew signed back. King cocked his head to the side in a silent question. Andrew simply responded with a Spartan smile and walked away. King shook his head in defeat, 'We are gonna lose,' was his singular thought.

While Andrew preferred to be an overwhelming presence in combat, he could still be stealthy when needed. Pulsing his ARTEMIS tracker the Spartan managed to get a lock on the patrols' secondary weapons. 'They are so gonna patch that after this.' He had managed to lure the two patrols away from King and deeper into the forest. Now was his chance. The bark of his SAW was all King needed to hear. While Andrew gunned down the innies King had a clear shot straight to their ride out. Andrew's rounds ripped the bark off trees and spat wood chips across the forest floor. "Your ass is grass and it's time to mow the fucking lawn!" The Spartan was right at home. Suppressing his targets and spewing vulgar one liners was something he loved about the job. "Oh-Three arriving at exfil. Objective secured," King affirmed over TEAMCOM. The simulation fizzled out leaving all four in an empty room. A slow clap filled the air. "Congratulations Phoenix. You managed not to kill each other or the objective. King and Andrew handled my little twist well I'd say. Communication was excellent," McKnight stood at the entrance to the War Games simulator seemingly pleased with their work. "No explosives either, I'm impressed."


"So lemme get this straight, your shrink randomly shows up at your door with the guy who used to be your shrink and you just to take them to lunch?" Sam was a little beyond confused. "Yep. We went out for an afternoon of complete nothing afterwards. Just explored the city." Andrew wasn't sure why Sam had such a hard time processing this. "What I wanna know is why the Viper, Bane of Scumbags, didn't just shoot the bastard. Why would you take it slow? Why not just kill him," King questioned. "Because there's more to protecting a civilian than physical trauma. To her, Andrew's stories are just that. They aren't as real to her because she wasn't there. If he shot or killed the man she wouldn't be the same. Probably wouldn't be able to do her job. As it is she's not all there after seeing him get injured," Thermer interjected. Andrew let out a slow sarcastic clap. "Jesse Thermer, the great philosopher everyone. All snark aside, he's right. I didn't want to protect her from one kind of harm and subject her to another." Thermer shot a glare at Andrew for that one. Andrew shrugged it off.

The team was presently in the Spartan division's armory. Each of them were tweaking their gear as needed. Andrew was making some modifications to Bertha that under normal circumstances would be unsanctioned. He wanted to alter the gas system so that he could switch between two rates of fire, fast and faster. The workbench's analysis only told him one thing, the weapon would likely jam if he did so. "Mother fucker." Andrew pieced Bertha back together, taking time to carefully fit each part perfectly in their battle-scarred casing. "What's wrong," King asked hesitantly. "I can't do what I wanted to her. I wanted to mod the gas system so that I'd be able to switch from fast to 'fuck your cover' fast. Turns out she'd only jam up in the first few shots." Andrew was obviously frustrated by Bertha's insistence on remaining unmodified. "Why would you need that? You can already dump your drum in just under five seconds. Why would you need it any faster," Sam interjected. "More corpses for Ares. More lead for the lead wall," Andrew said jokingly. "Judging from how fast that thing already fires, you'd probably melt the barrel rather quickly. Why not just mod Bunsen? Make it burst fire," Thermer asked. "One, I can't do that to a SOCOM, much less a regular M6C. Two, that would defeat the purpose of Bunsen. Three, no I will not upgrade to the M6H2. I like the weight of the C. More metal than polymer." Andrew came off blunter than he meant to.

Click! Bertha's last component snapped into place. Andrew shouldered the weapon and swept the room. Satisfied he set her down on the bench and got to work cleaning his Battle Rifle. King nudged Andrew and signed to him, "Work on project later? Been over a month." Andrew simply nodded in response.


"So, tell me about the young innie you befriended. I know that part of why this mission left you messed up has to do with him." King decided to go for a tough one this time. Andrew was visibly uncomfortable already. 'Fucker. You really had to go there. Guess it only makes sense.'

"As I said before, the kid was just that; a kid with a heart bigger than his brain. He wanted peace, he hoped that if they put up a fight the UNSC and UEG would just give up. He figured they'd just back down. With the war having just ended he would've probably been right, we're the colony not an agricultural one. With most of human space in shambles, agri-colonies were pretty important in the immediate post war years. You can't rebuild worlds with a starving workforce." Andrew caught the tangent before it went further. "You get the picture though. He was an idealistic kinda person. He just wanted what was best for the people of his homeworld. He worked in communication mostly, spent a lot of time working on captured radio equipment. He did come into combat a few times. I could tell it took a piece of him each time. He wouldn't be as cheery or upbeat. I told him he should just leave, go back to his simple life. He always argued that he had to be the change he wanted. Fucking hell was he stubborn. He was gentle too. The way he treated the local children, it showed how much he really cared. Maybe it was because he wasn't much older than them."

"So he was charismatic, kind and compassionate. How did you two become friends?" King could see the pain in Andrew's eyes. It was the kind of pain that only came from years of pushing the ugly truth deep into the recesses of one's mind. Andrew's normally vibrant harlequin eyes were dull and grim.

"He trusted me. Gave me a chance. Believe it or not, but he was the first person in my life to show me true kindness. Camp Currahee was hell. Competitive attitudes were promoted even within fireteams. We didn't know kindness. Only war," Andrew sighed as he finished his sentence. It took him a moment to start up again. "In a way, I guess I latched on to the first source of goodwill I found in a human. Which is ironic because as the months went by I continuously tried to get him to get the hell out of Dodge. Up until I arrived on New Harmony I'd never had a real friend. After the end of the op, I refused to open up to anyone for years. I was a dealer of death. O.N.I's personal reaper. I shut down every emotion I deemed unnecessary after the deed was done. That, however, is a story for a different day. I think I'm done for now."


Okay, we are back in the Lambda Rho System. This is the part where i dump some lore and explainations. This story is based on a community that I've been part of for several years. Operation: OUTCAST was started before the community chose to reboot some lore and streamline. As such this will be considered an AU to the community and will feature some concepts that were rejected. One of these will be featured in chapter eight. Speaking of chapter eight it may be a while before that comes out. I have yet to finish chapter seven and do some research for the aforementioned concept. Sorry if the chapter was a little all over the place, but I wanted to tackle multiple things here.