Author's note:

Thanks for reading my story! So far it made more traffic than I thought it would I'm really happy about it, so thanks!

Also, the dates in the prologue were wrong because I forgot to change them when I made chapter 1 with different dates but it is fixed now.

I think you already guessed it but if a dialogue is in italic those are the thoughts of the character.
I also tried to break up the articles more. I don't know if it's good or bad so please give your opinion on it.


Chapter 2


0834 HOURS, DECEMBER 18, 2546 \ BRUNELS SYSTEM, ABOVE NEW LLANELLI, UNSC ALL UNDER HEAVEN, CRYO BAY

Tom's mind went back and relived TORPEDO again and again. They all knew what would happen, that it was an impossible mission, but still, it shook him. But if it was supposed to be a suicide OP, then why is he still alive? He was not sure, it must have been pure luck.

Tom only realized that he had been staring at the floor for two minutes when he heard the beeping sound of his COM unit. He scolded himself for being so deep in thought that he forgot about his surroundings.

"Spartan B292 report at Admiral Stafford's office at once," an AI's voice said.

The reason for the Admiral's order was unknown to Tom. The debriefing had been already done for TORPEDO, in reality, a debriefing wasn't even needed, the operation was a complete success and no one expected survivors in the first place.

Maybe it was information about their next mission or a retirement offer. He chuckled at that last thought. "Like they would ever let us retire."

There was one more question echoing through his head. Where was Lucy?

They were separated right after disembarking from the Black Cat Prowler. Both of them were yanked away by the medical crew and taken into different rooms. The doctors did the usual check-ups, put Tom up on a hospital bed, injected him with sedatives and the next thing he knows he is in a cryo-pod.

Finding Lucy had to wait though, now he has orders to complete. He took a quick shower put on his service uniform and headed down the hallway.

As he was walking down the corridors, the people were giving him weird looks. They probably knew who he was. No matter how hard ONI tried to classify the Spartan-III's existence the ship's crew eventually found out who the 300 mysterious soldiers were, and that only two of them returned from their last mission.

He finally arrived at Admiral Stafford's office.


1155 HOURS, JULY 3, 2545 \ 51 PEGASI-B SYSTEM, PLANET PEGASI DELTA, COVENANT REFINERY

Lucy looked back at the factory and then to Tom. She offered her hand.

He took it.

They jumped.

While falling, Lucy felt like a rock in her SPI armor. She straightened herself as much as possible before the impact. She let go of Tom's hand, tensed her muscles and splashed down into the water.

Saltwater filled her helmet making Lucy choke. She paddled to the surface pushed her helmet's release and pulled it off. She was struggling to stay above water. As if swimming in armor wasn't already difficult enough, it started to fill with water weighing her down.

Lucy looked around but couldn't find Tom. She went underwater trying to look for him but it was hard to see in the murky water and the salt was blurring her vision. She finally spotted him. He was sinking, motionless. Fear overwhelmed Lucy. She tried to swim down and reach him, but Tom was already too far.

She wanted to scream but water absorbed her voice.

Seconds later Tom was engulfed by the abyss.


0756 HOURS, DECEMBER 18, 2546 \ BRUNELS SYSTEM, ABOVE NEW LLANELLI, UNSC ALL UNDER HEAVEN, MEDICAL BAY

"Tom!"

Lucy's eyes shot open.

Blinding lights obscured her vision. She realized she was lying on a bed. She tried to get up but couldn't, her arms and legs were restrained. Lucy tried to wrestle out of the bindings' grip to no avail.

Her heartbeat sped up. The only sound she could hear was the erratic beeping of hospital equipment.

"Where the hell I am? What is going on?"

Lucy started twitching and struggling even more. She was desperately trying to get out of the restrains.

"What's happening to me? The Covenant. The reactor. I have to get out!"

Lucy finally managed to free one of her hands by tearing the strap in half. She yanked her other hand so hard the strap's base broke out from the bed. The momentum of her action made the bed tilt to the right and fall over, ripping IV tubes out of her arm, making her bleed.

She tried to get up from the floor but her legs were still tied to the bed.

Suddenly a doctor entered the room with two marines on her side. They were struck dumb by the sight before them. The small girl sitting in a pool of blood trying to break free from the bed. No one expected someone who looked so fragile to break the restraints.

The soldiers rushed to Lucy and held her down until the doctor arrived with a syringe. She stabbed the Spartan with the needle releasing sedatives into her body.

Lucy's vision blurred and her body started to numb. As the medicine kicked in, she slowly started to drift off to sleep.


To be continued . . .


Thanks for reading! This chapter started the Spartans storyline, the romance stuff will be kind of a slow burn, but I hope it's not a problem.

This is also a short chapter but I wanted to post it as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, ideas or advice on how to improve my writing please tell me.

Reviews are always appreciated. :)