Chapter 3 is now up! If I owned Halo, do you think I would be on here writing? Heck no! I'd be out using all the millions I have. But I am on here, so I must not own Halo or the characters….

Chapter 3

2345-10/August/2545/ Halo Universe

Somewhere on Onyx

"AHHHH!" Jonah looked around and could see the Covenant overrunning his home. A jackel was in the corner devouring his still living older sister, flinging her blood everywhere in the process. He could smell the discharged plasma and the burning flesh of his father from when the Elite shot him after he tried to fight. His mother had been killed earlier that day by the airstrikes. He could see any other members of his family from his hiding spot inside the kitchen cabinet. An Elite walked into the room with a few Grunts in tow. The Grunts spread out and searched all the places in the house as the Elite watched. Jonah held his breath as one neared where he was. He gripped his older brothers knife in a white knuckled hold, preparing to use it. As the grunt opened the cabinet, Jonah plunged the knife up to the hilt into it's soft neck. Neon blue blood shot everywhere coating Jonah's hand and face as the grunt gurgled, choking on its own blood. The Elite looked over, roared, and stomped over to the cabinet, readying it's plasma rifle. As it flung open the doors, all Jonah could do was curl up in the corner with his knife held in front of him. The Elite let out a gutorial laugh… as it reached for Jonah when suddenly; a blur of green struck the Elite and knocked it to the ground sending purple blood and a few sharp teeth around the room.

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" The droid like creature said. Jonah could only stare at his savior. He was clad in a dull green armor like the knights of old he read about with his brother. His helmet looked modern and his golden visor shown in the semi darkness. The Grunts and Jackels ran from the house and Jonah heard human gunfire.

The Elite roared once again and rushed the man. He simply sidestepped his rush and kicked him in the knee. Jonah watch ad the Elite's knee bent back in a way it wasn't meant to. The Elite Roared yet again, but this time in pain as the masked man removed a pistol and shot the Elite through the head.

The gun shot echoed through the walls of the house for what seemed like years as Jonah sat there. The man reached in and pulled Jonah out of the cabinet. Craddeling a six year old like a baby was no difficulty for the giant of a man. As he walked out of the house a Marine ran up to take Jonah from him. As he was passed from man to man, Jonah looked back. "What are you?" he asked.

"I am a Spartan." And with that, the green armored man took off running toward sounds of gunfire and was gone. The Marine laid him in the back of a shuttle to be taken to Reach and an orphanage for war children there. As he was laid down, Jonah fell asleep, the next sound he heard was his name being whispered "Jonah, Jonah, Jonah." And it slowly grew every louder as the blackness rolled away.

"JONAH!" Roland shouted for the hundredth time into his ears. The explosion had knocked him out cold and locked up most of his armor systems. Roland had managed to remove his helmet and assess him for injuries. Now he was just trying to wake him as rounds flew about.

"What!" Jonah finally replied, trying to sit up.

"Finally!" Roland reached behind him and helped him sit up. A round kicked the dirt up next to them. "Come on, I need to move you to cover."

Jonah pushed with his feet as Roland dragged him to a tent. "The instructors retaliated. They hit back pretty hard before all the positions could be set up."

"How long was I out?"

"About an hour or so." Roland chipped away some of the lockup splatter off Jonah's armor. "Stupid idea by the way. We would have all been clear."

"It was a mortar so… no, ya wouldn't a been."

"Well, thanks… It means a lot to me."

Jonah pulled some more of the stuff off. "Don't mention it. What else are friends for?"

Roland chipped away at the last of the lockup splatter. "Well, let's get back to it, shall we?"

Jonah chambered a new round in his sidearm and racked his M7S. "I do believe we shall."

1013-27/November/2545/ Halo Universe

Somewhere on Onyx

"So, the det cord goes here?" Jonah reached for the reddish tinted wire and wrapped it around part of the door frame.

"Yes, and I place the breaching charge by the hinges." Roland took a magnetic charge out of his pack.

Today was demolitions training. They had finished most of the field testing, done re entry in drop pods, had a basic medical course, gone over every Covenant weapon and piece of Tech that ONI had and now they were wrapping it up. Soon, the head hunters would be out on there own, and the skills they learned here would determine whether or not they survived.

"Any hostages inside?" Jonah asked.

"None from intel. This is to be a hit and run."

"Well, in that case.. 'When in doubt' you know." Jonah was placing a block of C12 plastic explosives by the door.

"No people inside we don't want to kill…. Just make sure you don't bring the building down."

Jonah wired the C12 to the breaching charges and melted back into the shadows where Roland was. "Ready to breach?"

"In 5, 4, 3," Jonah pressed his thumb down on the detonator, arming it. "2, 1. Take it." As the words left Roland's mouth, Jonah released the detonator. His visor kicked in, automatically dimming to protect his eyes from the blast and his helmet greatly reduced the sound of the blast, but boy did he feel it. The shock wave seemed to enter from his boots and rise through his head, but lingered in his teeth. His was on his feet and moving before the shrapnel had even started to fall.

"Flash out." He calmly said as the flash bang rolled through what was left of the door way.

"You got point. I'm on you six." Roland fell in behind Jonah, as everything seemed to slow down.

As they entered, Jonah swept left and right. "Clear. Moving right." As he moved down a hallway, the corner stuck out like a zit on a prom queens face.

"Corner, high-low?"

"I've got low."

"On three then."

"One, two," Roland joined on "THREE!" and the two Spartans came around the corner, Jonah was in a deep crouch scanning low and Roland stood upright scanning high. Several metal targets were set up in the room and the two M7S's spat out silenced rounds toward the targets.

"Clear?" Roland asked, sweeping the room once more.

"Clear. Seven targets down." Jonah cautiously moved up to one. Paatinggg "Eight down."

"Alright, time on target is thirty-five seconds. We're out at ninety." Jonah nodded and began grabbing everything he could and shoving it into a backpack.

Roland intern hooked up his helmet to the computer in the room and began downloading all the files as well as up loading an ONI sleeper virus that would transmit anything else found and wreck the computer if the virus was located. "Seventy-two." Roland calmly said

"I'm up." Joanh started moving down the hall way toward their entrance.

"On your six." Roland replied as the upload process completed.

"Outside looks clear."

"Got a cam?"

"Yes, but I don't want to waste it. I'll just take a peak."

"It's your head."

"That it is." Jonah stuck his head out from around the corner. "We're clear. You can take point now."

Roland nodded and was the first one out of the doorway. He moved quickly to the tree line and waited for Jonah.

"What's taking you?" Roland hissed.

"Just leaving a quick little surprise. With you in ten." Roland covered Jonah as he jogged to the tree line.

"One hundred thirteen seconds from detonation until we were both clear." Jonah didn't seem to be paying attention. "Could have been better."

"Headlights. It's the guards."

"Let's beat feet then."

"Wait one." Jonah took out the detonator again.

"Do not kill them." Roland prepared to reprimand Jonah for again playing with his pursuers.

"I won't. I'm just going to convince them not to follow us." The truck parked about one hundred yards from the building and eight guards piled out and set up a perimeter.

"Go, there probably still inside!" One shouted.

"Not likely." Jonah chuckled as he again released the detonator. While he didn't feel it as much, it looked just as beautiful to him. The fireball shooting out of the windows with an orangish red tint, accented by the darkness of the night. The explosion knocked the men to the ground as the building began to collapse. Before one of the guards had even stood up, the pair of headhunters were long gone.

So, we had a Jonah flash back and another training mission. The real stuff will start soon!