Part 20
Otterburn Firing Range, United Kingdom
John and the others made their way on towards the cliff face to the north. Each of them were brandishing the HHAG as though it was some kind of metallic child, holding it close to their armour.
Olivia had reclaimed her role on point with Mark close behind. He like Linda, were the only two carrying the reliable and deadly sniper rifle.
Mark was walking with his rifle permanently aimed at the distant cave entrance. Occasionally he would briefly stop to use the rifles powerful scope to check out the entrance as Olivia carried on ahead, blending into the knee-high grass and patches of heather that covered most of the area.
John walked alongside Fred in an almost casual manner, but this was far from the truth. Each Spartan was well prepared and determined to see out any encounter, no matter the enemy, or the weapons they carried.
About fifty metres to the left of John and Fred, Kelly moved along in a half-crouched walk, nimbly avoiding the large tufts of grass and earth with un-rivalled grace.
Each tuft of peat filled mud was the size of a large water melon. If this path had been walked by a marine with his usual pair of issued boots then the trip would most likely be brief, and filled with sprains or a fractured ankle.
The terrain, although green and pleasant, was littered with these so called 'Babies heads'. The British based military arm of the UNSC often referred to these irregular mounds of earth as fields of heads. All of which could break the ankle of any unwary soldier.
Since John's arrival on Earth he had received a brief upgrade of armour plating and software. Something which now enabled him to see all of his squad members military records, and he was impressed with the new additions to the squad.
To the right strode the confident and eager Ash. And despite his youth, especially when compared with the Spartan II's, he had matured into a proficient and capable leader.
Olivia was a well-proven scout and as quiet as the smallest of cats, whilst Mark was the younger version of Linda, and just as capable with a sniper rifle.
John could see that Kurt had performed admirably in his role as an instructor.
John was pleased that he had been reunited with his remaining Spartans, but despite this he was concerned with his constant absence from Cortana.
Her voice had provided sound advice since she had been installed into his armour all those years ago on Reach.
Since defeating the loyalist arm of the Covenant and the lie filled uttering's of the prophets, John had thought that his remaining time alive would be filled with endless conversations with Cortana as they glided in empty space.
She would no doubt discuss every previous encounter with the Covenant, analysing each combat scenario to a degree that a neurosurgeon would be proud of.
He had anticipated that her eventual descent into rampancy would be quickly followed by his own madness, something which he was content with. His role in the war with the Covenant had been fulfilled, and all of his enemies had been cut from their delicate grip on life.
John had finally relinquished himself to an eternity of silence, far from the sickening sound of screams and gunfire, and the bright blue light of exploding plasma.
But as he soon discovered, Cortana was not his only concern.
When the other Spartans had escaped the assaulting army of Covenant soldiers on Onyx, they had found themselves in an environment filled with wonder. All of it created by the Forerunners.
But Doctor Halsey had other priorities. In addition to the desire to escape the artificial prison that had protected them since their arrival, they needed to uncover the Forerunners advanced grip on technology to free another squad of Spartan III's.
Team Sabre had been imprisoned in a series of stasis pods, but their method of capture was presently beyond the abilities of Doctor Halsey and the full weight of the UNSC advanced research division.
He knew full well that mankind had an understanding of Slipspace, but it was only enough to send space faring vessels through to their remote and distant destinations.
It was simply a question of knowledge and experience in a field that mankind was quite new to. The Covenant were however, more experienced in this area. But even they had been at a loss to solve the Sentinel induced puzzle of Slipspace enveloped stasis pods.
John's other additions were also a concern. Lucy another of the Spartan III's, was currently receiving treatment for posttraumatic vocal disarticulation - a condition that prevented her from speaking.
John was unsure whether this was from any physical trauma, but whatever the case, he wished her a speedy recovery.
But regrettably his reasons for wishing this were not born from sympathy, but a need for more soldiers, soldiers that could give mankind another glimmer of hope, against a formidable foe.
John was sometimes disappointed that he lacked the almost sympathetic attitude to his fellow Spartans. Unlike Fred he always concentrated on the objective. Achieving it was what he strode for. And unfortunately, that often came at a heavy price.
Tom was another of the Spartan III survivors, but his responsibility currently revolved around Team Sabre. There was little he could do apart from provide a presence in case the technicians were successful. Something which John thought was unlikely, at least for now.
The technicians also had another mystery to solve. Both John and the other Spartans had managed to get back to Earth by finding a Forerunner hangar. Now the UNSC was in possession of two advanced vessels.
Unfortunately these two craft were only shuttles, but they would hopefully provide some answers in the search for new technology.
John's return journey to Earth had been brief, but the other Spartans had had further to travel, in addition to carrying the doctor around after she slipped and fractured an ankle.
John refocused on their new objective. The Brutes would be desperate after the weeks that had passed since their defeat. Not to mention the initial bombardment of the cave entrance.
They were lucky that there was any entrance at all.
The bombing of the cave had been stopped after an orbiting Elite vessel had detected an unusual energy reading from beneath the cliff face.
The residing Elite fleet master at the time had offered his assistance to Hood in clearing the cave, but Hood's initial acceptance of the offer was quickly overruled for reasons that were unknown to him.
John was unsure where the order to deny assistance had come from, but he had a good idea that one of the senior officers from the debriefing yesterday had something to do with it.
What he did know, was the reason for the order, greed and power.
Whatever was lying beneath the cave was not only of interest to the UNSC, but to the Brutes as well. That was probably why they were even in Europe at all instead of strengthening the loyalist presence in Africa.
"How do you want to play this?" asked Fred over the COM
"Standard guerrilla clearance." answered John "We'll use grenades to clear the mouth of the cave and then throw in a flare for good measure."
"Linda and Mark?" queried Fred
"Outward flanking positions to provide accurate fire support. Then we'll call them in once we're twenty or thirty metres inside."
Fred nodded. He liked the plan. But more than that it was like how it used to be. It was like being back on Reach.
"Who's first in?" he asked
"I am," Answered John confidently "then you, Kelly, Ash and Olivia. Once I'm happy its clear Olivia can put her skills to good use, and take point for the route inside. GEO says the route narrows after the entrance, and the last thing we need is a bunch of walking tanks clunking around, giving the Brutes any idea of how close we are."
"They'll know we're here once we start throwing grenades." Noted Fred
"I know, but the route further inside the cave will be greatly in their favour. At that point we'll need stealth, not shooting."
Mark suddenly stopped and squatted down into a fire position. All of the other Spartans immediately stopped and crouched down.
"What is it?" asked Fred
Mark steadied himself into a statue and stared at the mouth to the cave. "I had some movement. Not much, but enough to tell it wasn't a deer or a sheep."
"What makes you say that?" said John
"Because sheep aren't eight feet tall," Chuckled Mark
John raised his thumb and fore finger to his faceplate – the Spartan smile gesture. "Good eyes Mark. Keep them open."
They were all still a good eight hundred metres from the cave, and at that range John knew the Brutes had little in the way of weaponry that could hit them with any accuracy. But he was not one for complacency.
"Linda, Mark. Take up a stationary fire position fifty metres to the west. If you see any more movement from the cave then relieve whatever it is of their head."
Both of them quietly creeped off to the left; still maintaining their view on the cave as they took it in turns to cover each other.
John immediately motioned the rest of the team to move forward.
Olivia set off like a cheetah. The rest of them followed behind - weapons at the ready.
Olivia managed to move forward to within a hundred metres of the cave before two simultaneous high velocity shots rang out.
"Movement sighted in the cave." Announced Linda
Olivia dropped to the ground and immediately magnified her vision to see what they had been shooting at.
Inside the cave and barely visible, was the shadow covered shape of a brute soldier.
Although unable to make out what rank it was she could tell easily tell that it was minus its helmet and weapon.
The shape quickly slumped to its knees before keeling over onto its front.
Their was a brief scuttling sound like rapid footsteps moving over the hard wet rocks of the cave.
John and the others ran forward into a forward fire position.
Fred tossed two grenades into the cave, followed by two more from Kelly. A double pair of muffled explosions filled the entrance, and a small cloud of stones and dust erupted from the darkened hole.
John moved further forward and then threw in a flare. The small golden orb bounced around inside the cave before settling behind a trio of large rocks and exploding into a small sun. Its direct glare was blocked to the outside, but the intense light still illuminated the rest of the cave.
Another shot rang out from Linda. "That's two."
John and the others sprinted forward to the sides of the cave entrance before the flare had finished its display.
Another two grenades were thrown by Olivia. They exploded filling the cave with more shrapnel.
Then John entered the cave.
John's vision quickly adjusted to the dim light, but to avoid presenting an obvious target to the brute soldiers he left his field light off.
He heard movement several metres off to the right, behind some more rocks. He quickly turned and raised his HHAG simultaneously.
Out from behind the rocks strode the large bulk of a Brute Chieftain. The large ape growled loudly before charging towards John.
John calmly pulled the trigger twice and the weapon coughed two, sub light titanium darts at the Brute.
Two large holes erupted in the chieftain's chest sending blood and gore in all directions. The brute, almost unaware of the injury continued its charge.
John sidestepped the bloody hulk, and the brute ran headlong into the opposing cave wall and then collapsed into a heap on the ground.
"That's three." Informed John
The rest of the Spartans moved into the cave before they descended into the darkness.
To be continued...