The Halo Universe belongs to Microsoft Studios and 343 Industries. But these characters are my own creation and cannot be used without my permission. If you do use them without my permission, then Buzzsaw will cut you into fifteen pieces and then put them into a soup for your family to eat. Enjoy the show.

The Sangheili 800 Squad

Chapter 7: Technical Difficulties

February 2550 (Human Calender)

0903 Hours

Frozen Forest

"Are we there yet?" Utarz groaned.

"Guess." Tracer replied non-committedly.

"We are?!" Utarz sat up straight.

Tracer turned to him and snapped, "I said, guess!"

"Oh." Utarz slumped back into his seat.

The 800 Squad had been travelling over a forest that was covered in slowly melting ice for about two or three hours. Everyone had been bored for quite a while.

Zen was bored and worried. Every now and then, the Phantom would make odd creaking noises that made Zen anxious at the least. The lights would occasionally flicker on and off, which annoyed everyone on board. On top of that, they were moving so incredibly slowly for a Phantom that Zen wondered whether the Wraith they were taking with them was acting as a weight.

He asked Tracer about it, to which Tracer replied, "Probably. But I mostly blame the poor state the Phantom's in."

As if to prove his point, the Phantom's lights suddenly switched off and the Phantom went into an alarming dive. Then, it suddenly righted itself again. Except the lights stayed off.

"Oh, by the Prophets." Tracer cursed.

"What's going on?" Miara asked from the back.

"The anti-gravity engine ran out of power." Tracer explained. "So it automatically redirected the power from the lights to the engine."

"Is that good?" Atar questioned.

"Not really. Not a lot of power goes into the lights. We'll have to land so I can make some repairs."

"Already?" Zen said incredulously.

"Yup. Already."

Atar grumbled. "Very well… let's land this thing."

Tracer quickly found a suitable clearing and directed the Phantom to it. Once the Phantom landed, the doors opened.

Actually, a more accurate term would be that they fell off.

"Well, at least we've got light." Repora said optimistically.

"Wonderful." Tracer stood up in a seriously annoyed manner. "We wouldn't have to do this if we just left a few days later."

"The sooner we destroy the escape pod, the better." Atar argued.

Tracer just grumbled something under his breath and got out his toolbox. "Repora, can you get me a plasma core?"

"Nope!" Repora said happily. "I'm going to kill Utarz!"

Immediately, Utarz's tiredness disappeared.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Utarz backed away from Repora. "Hold up. I don't have my Ghost with me, remember? It wouldn't be fair."

"So… go get your Ghost." Repora said.

"Dude, that thing is all the way back at the base!" Utarz said before realising something. "Which isn't all that far away…"

Which was true. Despite the three hours they had been travelling, the base was merely twenty minutes away.

"Something else to improve." Tracer sighed, staring at the Phantom's boosters.

"Exactly!" Repora said. "So go get it!"

"But… I have no way to get it out of the canyon…" Utarz tried.

"Repora'll find a way." Atar said. "Go get your vehicle, numb-nuts."

"What?! But-?!"

"NOW."

"Let's go!" Repora grabbed Utarz arm and dragged him away.

Once they were gone, Miara turned to Atar and asked, "Uh… why did you do that?"

"Because we might need a high-speed vehicle to use in a battle or something." Atar replied. "Unlikely, I know, but… just in case."

"But if they get the Ghost, then Repora will go on a rampage." Zen pointed out. "And there's no bomb shelter here."

Atar registered this.

"Fuck." He said.

"Yeah, that plan was a bit flawed sir." Tracer called out from underneath the Phantom. "No offense meant."

"Right…" Atar started to think. "Then we'll just have to find some reason to stop Repora from going on a rampage. Zen! Scout the area. Find something. I don't care what it is; just find something to divert us!"

"Yes sir." Zen said dutifully, although he was a bit annoyed. He walked off into the woods.

"Right." Atar sat down in the snow. "For now, we wait."

Miara went over to Tracer and sat down next to him. "Need any help?"

"Not at the moment." Tracer replied. "But you didn't come over here to help, didn't you?"

"No." Miara admitted. "Just to talk."

"About?"

"Stuff." Miara replied. "When people talk, they don't always have something in mind to talk about."

Tracer would've smiled at her if he was human. "Well then. Let's talk."

"Dude, seriously." Utarz grumbled. "We just left the place. Do we really have to go back?"

"Do you want your Ghost?" Repora questioned.

"Not really." Utarz replied. "If I get it, then you'll just kill me, won't you?"

"Well, I'll certainly try. Hey look, we're here!"

And so they were.

"Great." Utarz mumbled. "So how're we going to get my Ghost?"

"Leave that to me." Repora said kindly. "Now get down there."

"Can't you do it?"

"No."

"Look, let's be reasonable here. You could probably survive a fall from this height. I couldn't."

Repora pulled a backpack-like item out of nowhere. He gave it to Utarz. "Here, put this on."

Utarz did, although something confused him. "Where did you get this from?"

Ignoring him, Repora continued. "Now, when I push you off the cliff, pull the strap thing."

"Okay… wait, what do you mean by-"

Repora interrupted him by shoving him off the edge.

Utarz yelled in terror for five seconds before realising what Repora said. Quickly, he pulled the strap and a parachute suddenly expanded from the pack.

"Made it down okay?" Repora shouted down.

"FUCK YOU!" Utarz raged up at him.

Repora chuckled.

POOF

"You know, you could've just ended it right there and then." Hell pointed out.

"By shoving him off a cliff with no parachute?" Repora scoffed. "Where's the honour in that?"

"Screw honour!" Hell snapped. "Do you want to kill him or not?!"

Repora waved a hand through Hell, causing him to disappear.

Utarz, meanwhile, walked through the base until he got to the vehicle bay. When he got there, he immediately searched for the familiar, small purple vehicle.

"There you are." Utarz said happily when he found it. "Come to papa."

Utarz hopped on the Ghost, grabbing the controls and sitting in the familiar seat. He admired the thing. Ever since Tracer gave the Ghost to him, Utarz had loved it. To him, it was more than a getaway vehicle from Repora. It was a living thing that deserved treatment fit for royalty.

In a way that where he knew that it was an inanimate object.

Utarz activated the Ghost, the anti-grav engine kicking in and causing the Ghost to rise. Utarz then drove the Ghost over to where he landed. He looked up and yelled, "Okay, I'm ready to come up now!"

"Alright!" Repora replied.

And then a crane arm lowered down.

Utarz did a double take. "Wha- WHAT?! Is that a crane?! Where did you get a crane?!"

Utarz received no response. Completely befuddled, but willing to go along with it, Utarz allowed the crane to pick up his Ghost.

As he was rising, Utarz heard an odd noise. Guessing that the noise didn't mean anything good, Utarz got out his Plasma Rifle and waited.

Sure enough, when he got to the top, Repora was waiting with a shotgun pointing at Utarz.

"I'm afraid that you aren't going to be able to use that Ghost for much longer." Repora said.

"Really dude?" Utarz asked.

"Yup. You have your Ghost now, right? That was the deal: you get your Ghost, I get to kill you. So, it's time for my end of the deal."

"You're going to kill me in cold blood." Utarz said, thinking quickly. "There's no honour in that."

"What do you know about honour?" Repora asked. "Besides, you're holding a gun, so it's not really in cold blood."

Fuck. Utarz quickly thought of something to stop Repora. "Look, it's not really fair, because, I'm in a crane. I can't move. It's much better to chase me, isn't it?"

"Well…"

"Look, just don't be a dick, alright? Let me go and you can kill me once we get back to the others, okay?"

Repora thought about it.

Don't do it Repora. I need to continue the story, and you won't help by killing off one of the main characters.

Repora sighed and threw the shotgun over his shoulder. "Fine. But once we get to the others, then you die, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Utarz agreed. "Can you get me off of this thing now?"

A red alarm filled the Phantom that the Heretics were travelling in.

"What is it?" Iro asked Buzzsaw, who was piloting the controls.

"Out of fuel." Buzzsaw replied. "I told you that we should've filled up before we left!"

Iro sighed. "Just land the Phantom somewhere so we can refuel."

"On it."

Buzzsaw moved the Phantom towards a small clearing. Once he landed the thing, the doors opened up and all three climbed out.

Buzzsaw got a large plasma core and plugged it into the Phantom. Immediately, the Phantom began to glow as the power seeped into it.

"Any idea where we are, Tank?" Iro asked.

Tank pulled out a GPS-like device and looked at it. "Far from artefact. Is a long way ahead."

"Great." Iro muttered. "And we're stuck here."

"Because you said 'Don't worry, we don't need to refuel.'" Buzzsaw said mockingly. "'We'll be fine, don't bother about it.'"

Iro growled at Buzzsaw in a threatening manner.

Tank moved the map a bit to see what else was around them. "800 Squad ship is close by."

"How close?" Iro queried.

"Close enough for them to walk towards us in two minutes." Tank replied.

"Are they in the same position we are?"

"Similar." Tank replied. "Purple one appears to be repairing."

"Good." Iro said satisfactorily. "So they're not going anywhere soon either."

"Affirmative."

"You said they could get to us in two minutes." Buzzsaw said worryingly. "What's to stop them from attacking us?"

"First, they would have to know where we are." Iro said.

"Right. So what's stopping one of them from spying on us?"

"Nothing."

"And you're okay with that?"

Iro scoffed. "They're rejects, remember? Rejects are sloppy, useless, unworthy soldiers who…"

"No." Tank said suddenly. "Atar is not."

Iro and Buzzsaw stared at him.

Tank offered no explanation.

"…Anyway…" Iro turned back to Buzzsaw. "They're not good soldiers. I honestly doubt they'd be able to do much against us."

"Uh, huh." Buzzsaw wasn't convinced. "What about that white guy?"

Iro turned to Tank. "Well? What about the white guy?"

Tank hesitated. "Repora is… special."

"Meaning?"

"…"

Buzzsaw shrugged. "Well, if you honestly insist on doing nothing about them, then I won't stop you. But if we all die, then it's your fault, alright?"

Iro shrugged. "Very well. How much power does the Phantom have?"

Buzzsaw went to go and check. He looked at a gauge and said, "Eh… about thirty-five percent full."

"Good. All we have to do now is wait." Iro said, going back inside the Phantom to sit down.

Tank grunted and looked at his arm. It shifted again, as if it wanted to become something else. But it didn't.

Tank growled in frustration.

"Just give up." Buzzsaw said. "Wait for Gears to come back and then we can fix it."

Silently, Tank trudged back into the Phantom.

And meanwhile, Zen put down his rifle and thought about how convenient this was.

Tracer had to agree that Utarz's past history was incredibly amusing.

"A whole box of them." He said in disbelief. "All up his nostrils."

"Yup." Miara chuckled. "Those were the days."

"Gods above." Tracer muttered, readjusting one of the Phantom's thrusters. "And I thought he was stupid now."

"Yeah… well, there's a difference between child stupidity and adult stupidity."

"True…" Tracer agreed. "You know, I have a theory about Utarz's behaviour."

"Really?" Miara asked. "Because I thought it was pretty straightforward."

"No-one goes into the depths of dishonour like Utarz has gone into for no good reason." Tracer explained. "He'd need a reason."

Slightly annoyed, Miara said, "His reason is that he's a dick. Always has been."

"That's not what I meant." Tracer responded. "I meant an event of some sorts."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But… anyway, it's just a theory."

Miara grumbled, but she kept Tracer's theory in mind.

Then she heard a familiar engine whirr.

"Speak of the devil." She said, watching as Utarz burst into the clearing on his Ghost.

"Finally back, eh?" Atar asked. "Where's Repora?"

"Some few metres back." Utarz replied. "Hey, uh, Atar…"

"General, or sir."

"Whatever. Could you do me a favour?"

Atar snorted. "Right. Me doing you a favour. It goes the other way round, Utarz. Look at the chain of command."

"Okay, look." Utarz sounded desperate. "You don't want Repora to go on a rampage and neither do I. I don't have the same space I did when I was at the base. Once he gets here, he's gonna try and do it, so I really- What're you two doing over there?" Utarz suddenly noticed Tracer and Miara.

"Sitting together, genius. What does it look like?" Miara asked.

"…Uh… just that… I guess… but still-"

"As an answer to your request," Atar interrupted. "Zen went out looking for a reason to stall for time, so we have to wait for him to come back."

"Too late." Repora said cheerfully.

Everyone froze when they heard Repora's voice.

"Oh, Utarz?" Repora said in a singsong voice before going into dead seriousness. "Prepare to die."

"Hey, look, Repora?" Utarz said nervously as the Fuel Rod Gun came up to his face. "We kinda have a mission… if you blow me up, then…"

"I'll what, jeopardize the mission?" Repora asked rhetorically. "I honestly doubt that you'd contribute to any part of it, so… I see this as a win-win."

"Actually, you'd probably kill everyone else as well." Tracer pointed out. "Due to the confined space we're in."

"Not everyone." Repora said. "I've survived worse."

At this point, Zen walked into the clearing.

"Whoa." He stopped. "What's going on?"

"Hi Zen!" Repora said happily. "I'm going to kill Utarz!"

"…Yeah…" Zen decided that now wasn't the time for this. "You're going to put that dream on hold."

"Aw…" Repora put down his gun.

"THANK you." Utarz said.

Ignoring him, Zen turned to Atar. "We've got a problem. The Heretics have landed near us."

Atar straightened up immediately. "They have?! Why?"

"They ran out of fuel."

"Seriously?" Tracer asked.

"Yeah. But they won't be empty for long."

Atar growled. "They're no doubt here for the escape pod."

"They called it an 'artefact'."

"How is an escape pod an artefact?" Utarz asked.

"The artefact in question is no doubt inside the pod, moron!" Atar snapped. "We must get there before they do!"

Zen looked at the Phantom. "Uh… their Phantom is in better shape than ours is though… it'll be difficult to go faster than them."

"Tracer!" Atar said. "How soon until the thrusters are fully repaired?"

Tracer stared at him. "Sir… with all due respect, it's taken me about forty minutes to re-install a power core. I highly doubt I can fully repair the thrusters in any convenient measure of time."

Atar quickly thought up another plan. "Very well then. We'll just have to attack them!"

"Attack them?!" Miara looked at Atar as if he had just suggested that they make Utarz the leader.

Utarz, meanwhile, just said, "Right. That's it. I'm out. I'm quitting the army."

"No-can do, jackass." Atar replied. "We need you to drive the Ghost."

"Uh, sir?" Zen started.

"I know that you're low in confidence, but I think we can do this." Atar butted in.

"Sir, it's just that…" Tracer quickly thought up an excuse. "We're rejects, you know? We're lousy and we can't do anything right. Our previous training exercises should prove that."

"You sound a lot like Iro, you know that?" Zen said.

Tracer glared at him. "You're not helping."

"Listen, they're a group of three, remember?" Atar insisted. "We're a group of six. Last time I checked, that gave that advantage two-to-one! Plus, we have Repora on our side."

Everyone turned to look at Repora.

"I like bathing in blood." Repora said cheerfully.

"Exactly!" Atar said. "Er, wait, what?"

"I like bathing in blood!" Repora repeated. "It does wonderful things for your skin complexion. You should try it someday!"

Now everyone stared at Repora.

"I'm not convinced that this is a good idea." Tracer stated.

"I dunno." Utarz said thoughtfully. "Atar has a point."

"What?!"

"Think about it. Repora can defy physics in the most mind-fuckingly way possible. I'm sure that if he put his mind to it, he could make bullets go through him."

Tracer growled in frustration. "Utarz, that's impossible and you know it."

"Dude." Utarz deadpanned. "Repora teleported to the top of the sentry tower to snipe at me once. When Zen shot him through the head, nothing happened to him. Twenty minutes ago, Repora pulled a crane out of his ass to pull me up from the base. If you can explain that to me in a logical way, then I'll believe that we have no chance."

Tracer wasn't sure what to be more amazed at, the fact that all of what Utarz just said was true, or the fact that Utarz of all people was agreeing with Atar.

"Then it's settled!" Atar said happily. "We'll attack them as soon as possible to delay them. But first we'll need a plan."

Miara sighed. She supposed that she may as well go along with this. After all, there was no real way out of it. "I suggest that we divide our resources."

"As in, split up?" Repora asked.

"That's a perfect idea!" Atar said. "That way, we can attack all three of them at once and we won't have to worry about any of them sneaking up on us and stabbing us in the back!"

"I dunno if that term applies here sir." Tracer said.

"Shut it. Now, here's the plan:" Atar quickly began formulating something in his mind.

"First, we'll need to attack Tank. That way, we'll take out the most dangerous of the bunch. For this, me, Repora and Miara will take him on."

"Me?!" Miara exclaimed, alarmed. "Why me?"

"Because you can set him alight, of course! What better way to defeat an enemy than with fire?"

She and Tracer looked at each other and Miara suddenly realised that she hadn't told anyone except Tracer about her flamethrower issues.

"But-" Miara started.

"Then, Utarz will attack Buzzsaw while we're engaging Tank." Atar interrupted.

"Which one is Buzzsaw again?" Utarz asked.

"The Grunt."

"Oh." Utarz snorted. "That'll be easy."

"Then, Zen and Tracer will engage Iro."

"Us?" Zen and Tracer asked simultaneously.

"Affirmative. Hopefully, two Sangheili against one will be enough to overpower him."

"Very well, sir…"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now, Repora." Atar turned to said Sangheili.

"Yeah?"

"Your role will be very important. If things start to go down the drain, then you will sneak to the Heretic's Phantom and place an explosive on it."

"What kind of explosive?" Repora asked pleasantly, pulling out a bunch of different bomb-like objects. "I've got plasma grenades, frag grenades, C4, C12, Nuclear Bombs, Sticky Bombs…"

"I don't really care what kind you use." Atar told him. "Just something that they won't notice and something that'll put a dent in their craft."

"C12 it is then!" Repora said happily, pulling out a brown package and throwing everything else away.

"Right!" Atar turned towards the Heretic location. "Sangheili 800 Squad! Today, we make history regret our placement here! Move out!" And with that, he marched off.

"Other way, sir." Zen pointed out.

Author's notes

Okay, so the next chapter will have some action and conflict in it. Everyone okay with that?

Too bad, you don't have a say in the matter.

Thanks for watching.

Potato.