12 February, 2538 (UNSC Calender)/
Artemis' Dispute, Ferrum System, in orbit above Jericho XXI
2 Weeks Later
"The covenant are interested in something here, they don't normally camp out like this. Your mission is to find out what they're looking for" the A.I. said, showing a map of the area.
"Status on ground forces?" Eric asked armoured up, except his helmet, which was held snuggly against his armpit.
The team had been given a new colour configuration for their mission; black everything, including the visor. So Eric assumed the mission was meant to be stealth.
"We're getting hammered. We'll be pulling out soon so you need to finish this mission ASAP. Your helmet cameras will be used to document everything you see and the ship's ONI liaison, Captain Pearce, will be providing tactical support"
"By tactical support you mean exactly?"
"He's going to talk to you from the ship"
"Wonderful"
"You have a pelican waiting for you in hanger bay 3"
"Alright Spartans, move out" Eric commanded.
Viper squad filed out and headed for the hanger. The crew watched in awe as the Spartans, in their new colour schemed armour, and walked the corridors of the Artemis' Dispute. They entered the pelican and headed towards the drop zone.
"We hit the dirt in 5 minutes!" the pilot yelled.
"Got it!" Eric yelled back.
"You excited?" Tina asked.
"Yeah" peter said with a shaky voice.
"Sounds like you're shitting your pants" Ken said.
The Spartans erupted into laughter when the hatch started to open. Looking out the hatch the Spartans saw green AA fire exploding all around them, some of the Flak coming into contact with the Pelican.
"2 minutes!" the pilot yelled.
The Spartans unstrapped and stood. They lined up; ready to jump out the moment the pelican got a safe distance from the ground.
The light in the troop bay went from red to green as the pelican swooped in low and the Spartans all started jumping out.
They hit the ground and set up a perimeter, not that it was needed to, but protocol is exactly that, Protocol. They seemed to have landed in a grass field, thus visibility was low.
"Viper, on me" Eric ordered.
No sooner had he given the order than his squad turned up.
"Alright, we're Oscar Mike"
Viper headed towards the enemy encampment using all the stealth measures they could, even private radio silence, which was untraceable.
Eric took point, M392 in hand and an M6G on each leg. His chest was covered in pouches full of ammunition, they probably wouldn't need that much ammo but it pays to be on the safe side.
He looked back at his squad who were all similarly outfitted. The girls all went for their M3A3s, Ken went for a BR55 and Peter went for a M90 shotgun. Though Peter instead of a sidearm had one of the tubes he had taken on each leg.
Eric put his fist up as they approached the enemy encampment, signalling his squad to halt.
"Ken and Tina, I want you two to scout the area to the East, Alice and Trisha, you got West, report what you see" Eric commanded and his HUD got green lights pop up next to the chosen squad members names.
"Why didn't I get an order?" Peter asked.
"Because you're too fidgety to run recon" Eric deadpanned, keeping an eye out for any covenant that may stumble upon them.
"Well that's rather harsh" peter stated, obviously hurt by his superior's words.
"Indeed" Eric said back.
"Sir, West side is mostly clear" Alice reported.
"So is the East side" Tina added.
"East side is closer to the objective, regroup on Tina" Eric commanded.
Viper complied with the order and went to the rally point. From there Eric scouted for himself.
There was a 'street' sort of thing running a direct path towards an odd structure; on either side of the street were purple buildings with rounded walls and rooftops.
"The building at the end, that's forerunner architecture. You are to enter that building" a voice came in over the COM.
"Captain?" Eric asked.
"Yes, this is Captain Pearce, enter the building Spartan" Pearce ordered.
"Sir" Eric said before ordering the squad to move.
They walked down the street, three on each side to help avoid the enemy spotting them.
"I wonder why there are so little of them" Tina thought out loud.
"Chances are they're in that building" Ken replied.
"Yeah, probably"
They headed for what seemed like the entrance to the building, to find a holographic panel. Eric couldn't make two cents of the language and the captain noticed this.
"Hold your hand over the big red circle, Spartan"
Eric did as he was told.
"Ah, that makes sense" he said as the door fell into the ground.
The Spartans started walking in the building, guns raised and searching for targets. It was dark, very dark. So dark that the night vision mode on their visors didn't work and they were forced to use the torches on their helmets, making them easy targets.
"I got a bad feeling about this" Ken whispered.
"That is so cliché" Alice commented.
"Cliché or not, it's true" Ken said.
"Well shut up. You know what happens when people say that in movies"
"Well yeah I do. But this is real life. And in real life, I have a bad feeling"
Then the lights came on. Viper was completely surrounded by Covenant.
"Well, we found the Covies at least" Ken stated matter-of-factly.
"Just shut up" Alice said in an annoyed tone.
"TAKE COVER!" Eric yelled.
The plasma started to fly as the Spartans each move to spots where they were out of the line of fire. Eric had chosen a support beam with odd glowing runes. He popped his head around the corner to get some form of an idea of what they were up against.
There were brutes, a lot of brutes, of all kinds, Minors, Captains and a Chieftain. The Chieftain just so happened to have a gravity hammer, which was a worry. There were grunts galore though, so that brightened his mood a bit. Then the Jackals, sharpshooters and skirmishers. Not good.
Eric brought his M392 to his shoulder, sight a few grunts, each ending with a bullet to the neck before he had to duck behind cover or risk losing his face. He turned and shot from the other side of the pillar, suddenly relishing his decision to take a lot of ammo. A few more grunts with bullets in their brains later, he was once again taking cover.
"Lob your 'nades at them!" he yelled, the response being several explosions.
Using the distraction, Ken leapt out from cover and started firing on the enemies. The dazed Covies quickly noticed their allies dying and returned fire.
Before Eric could yell to get back behind cover a purple needle imbedded itself in Ken's visor. He fell to his knees before a pink explosion took place inside his helmet, completely blowing out his visor with bits of brain matter flying out of it.
"NO!" Alice yelled.
"FUCKFUCKFUCK!" Tina screamed.
"Oh god" Eric whispered under his breath.
Trisha just stopped moving, staring at Ken's unmoving form clad in blood drenched armour. Peter had a dark look about him.
Everyone was shocked.
Before anything else could happen, Peter pulled out the tubes from his leg strips. With a quick flick emerged two energy blades from each tube. He held them by his sides, shoulders squared and his head down. Suffice to say, he was pissed, and the Covies knew it.
The Grunts trembled, the Jackals fled and the brutes, the brutes got angry. The chieftain surprised everyone with a charge at Peter, yelling a battle cry the whole way. It got close to him with it hammer raised. Peter didn't hesitate and with one slash decapitated the brute before it could crush him. Putting one sword back on it magnetic strip, he bent down and picked up the gravity hammer. Another foolish brute decided that since his boss had done so well, he might give it a try. Peter just threw the hammer at it. The hammer spun through the air in a wide arc before the powered end collided with the charging brute's head, crushing it's skull in the process.
Eric too felt the primal instinct to seek vengeance and pulled out his blades from their sheaths. He jumped forward, slashing a jackals head off, before running towards the brute pack. They all snarled before reading their weapons but by that time Eric was already upon them. The first brute swung a backhanded fist at him. He ducked and in the motion slashed at its stomach, spilling its intestines over the ground. The next one stepped back bringing its Brute shot to bear. But Eric was too quick and pushed the barrel towards another brute who immediately started screaming. The gun went off, silencing the screaming brute and Eric forced a blade up through the bottom of the original brute's head with enough force to break all the way through the skull and armour on the brute. Eric was about to slice another brute when a blue flash decapitated it. He turned and nodded at Peter who was wielding both of his energy swords again. Peter got the message and they both charged. Peter went into to a flurry of spins decapitating brutes left right and centre while Eric went for the more slice and dice you would have seen the ancient Spartans doing, using rolls and flips to cut down his enemy. The fight was brief, but every single brute lied dead in their wake. The grunts and jackals that Tina hadn't cut down with gunfire had fled and Alice was attempting to comfort the still shell shocked Trisha.
"Spartan, don't forget the mission" the captain said over the radio.
"Yes sir, where do you want us to go?" Eric replied.
"The area the brute were standing, I think I see a door"
"Roger, Viper actual out"
Eric looked towards the area in question and there was in fact a door. He walked over towards the forerunner door, wiping and sheathing his blades. He jumped slightly when the door opened on its own but quickly regathered himself and peered in with his gun raised. What he saw was a room with a pedestal in the middle. On the pedestal was a strange looking gun.
"Uh, captain? I think you're going to want to come down here" Eric said over his radio.
"Yes, yes I am. We are already on our way, our pelican will be your means of travel back to the Artemis' Dispute. Well done Spartan, out"
Eric sighed before turning. He stopped straight away when he spotted the body of his friend and fellow squad member, Ken. He was suddenly filled with emotion again, sadness, anger, regret, pain. He turned and punched the wall, decided it didn't hurt enough and punched it again and again until his hand was broken along with the armour upon it. He turned back and leaned against the wall, sliding down into a seated position and taking of his helmet. He sighed and checked his hand.
"Yep, definitely broken" he said before raking his other hand through his hair.
Tina came and sat next to him, her helmet off as well, and leaned her head against his shoulder plate. Knowing she must be looking for comfort he wrapped his arm around her. She then turned into him and started to sob.
"It's ok, it's ok" he couldn't think of anything else to say, his mind somewhat occupied with thoughts of what they will do with Ken's body.
"It's ok. He's gone to a better place, the same place we'll go. When our time comes" he said, squeezing her a bit tighter.
A/N: new chappie, hope u enjoyed :)