Chapter 3: The Lost Platoon
Aboard the UNSC frigate Black PrinceKelly-087 was still asleep when she received the order from Colonel Ackerson. Groggy, she sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes, groaning slightly.
"Why was Colonel James Ackerson doing this of all things?" She asked herself. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, he had finally given up his misconceptions about the Spartans and started to respect them.
She smiled to herself, then hit the showers and got dressed.
"Hey," Linda-058 mentioned to Fred-104. "Get to the briefing room quick. Our next mission is coming up real soon."
Fred grinned and pretended to rub his forehead. "Man, I'm still recovering from the last one," he joked.
They headed to the mission briefing room. After a few minutes, the surviving Spartans who were capable of combat except for the Master Chief were there. Just four of them.
Out of all the Spartans, only Kelly, Fred, Linda and Maria-062 were present and capable of fighting. The rest were either wounded, dead, missing in action or discharged.
Admiral Samuel Kluge shook his head sadly. He turned to the Spartans.
"You see, Spartans, other than the Chief himself, you are the only ones left of what had been a plan to retake the galaxy from the damned, godforsaken Covenant. The plan was perfect, yet so flawed. Many of you died even before seeing combat, while we biologically augmented you. So before we begin our briefing, I would like to request one minute of silence to commemorate our fallen Spartans."
Kelly, Linda, Fred and Maria contemplated their comrades, heads buried in their hands.
"Ah. Now we can get to business." Admiral Kluge moved to a holographic projector. "Maybe, Kalmiya, you can take it from here?"
"Certainly, Admiral." The slender form of Kalmiya appeared. She was Cortana's older and much lesser known "sister", also cloned from Dr Catherine Halsey's brain tissue.
"All right then. I leave you here." The admiral left the briefing room.
Kalmiya smiled. "As you all know, the Elites have joined us to fight the Prophets and their followers. Now, with our renewed strength, we can crush the Covenant and the Flood. But that will follow as soon as we are in a position to do so. Right now, he have a rather different mission for you."
"What do you mean, "rather different"?" Maria asked.
"I couldn't help listening to Admiral Kluge. He didn't know…when he said you were the last ones…" Kalmiya trailed off. "He was wrong."
The Spartans gaped. "You mean, there are more of us?" Linda asked.
Six holographic Spartans appeared next to Kalmiya, three boys and three girls.
Fred studied them. He looked at the first boy, who had dark hair and cool, collected eyes, armed with a MA5K carbine. He was the picture of seriousness. The second boy had a crew-cut hairstyle and a square jaw. He had a scar down one cheek. He was a head taller than the rest of the holographic Spartans, hefting a variety of heavy weapons. He was smiling, his teeth gritted. The third boy had brown hair and blue eyes, which seemed to dart here and there. He was poised on his feet, ready for action. He wielded an M90 shotgun.
And as for the girls…
Damn, they were beautiful.
The first girl had red hair that hung to her shoulders down both sides of her face. She had pale skin and she was smiling, wielding two MA5B assault rifles and demolition charges slung across her slender waist. The second girl had cropped brown hair and a slender face. She carried an SRS99D sniper rifle, which was rested on her shoulder. The third girl had black hair that almost seemed to flow down her face. Even from the hologram, you could see a gleam in her eyes and a thin smile forming on her lips. She carried a small supercomputer and two M6D pistols. Fred couldn't help eyeing their sleek figures.
From the corner of his eye, Fred saw Kelly looking disapprovingly at him, an eyebrow raised. He hastily averted his eyes.
"From left to right, they are Ricoh-119, Leo-262, Scott-560, Tanya-109, Alexandra-298 and Juliet-525. They are also known as the Lost Platoon, as outside of the Office of Naval Intelligence they never existed. They were supposed to go into the highest levels of ONI: espionage and deciphering of Covenant messages. In fact, they were trained in reading and speaking Covenant and Forerunner languages, using Covenant and Forerunner technology, using Covenant vehicles and piloting ships. In short, they were our human Covenant warriors."
Their holograms disappeared and were replaced by the seven Halos and the Ark.
"They were assigned to travel the galaxy and capture all Activation Indexes of all the Halos for use against the Flood. With the exception of Installation 04, or Alpha Halo, which the Master Chief John-117 captured its Index, they have secured the Indexes of Installation 01, 02, 03, 05 and 06. However, we lost contact with them over Installation 07.
"This is your mission. Find the Lost Platoon and bring them back here. We require their assistance in our plan. They will be using Covenant weapons, as they had no access to ammunition in human weapons. They were last seen wearing the old Mark V Spartan armor, but knowing them, Juliet must have modified their armor somehow. You, on the other hand, will be using the Mark VI armor. Good luck, Spartans."
Kalmiya's holographic figure disappeared from sight. The Spartans left the briefing room, headed for the armory.
"To think that there were so many of us, and now we're the only ones who can fight," Linda observed.
"Until we find the Lost Platoon, we won't be the only ones left," Fred answered.
"Yeah, we all know why you want to find them. Especially the girls," Kelly ribbed, sending everyone except Fred into stitches.
"No, really. This is battle on a galaxy-wide scale. Four of us isn't much of us to go round," Fred explained after the laughter had subsided.
"Make that five," a gruff voice behind them replied.
They turned, surprised, as the Master Chief entered the ship, MA5C assault rifle in hand.
"No," Cortana added from the Master Chief's armor. "Make that six."
The Black Prince headed for Installation 07.