I must apologize for how late this chapter is. Late is a bit of an understatement actually. But I've had a very busy past few months. Halo Reach hasn't helped things either. But I've been thinking a lot on how the story will progress, and now that it's the October holidays I have time to start making a stab at this. So here we go.
Three days had passed since Thermopylae had left Earth. Due to the Elites, humanity's FTL abilities had increased incredibly. But it would still take five days to reach Epsilon Eridani. The crew filled their time with any job that could be found, but eventually that venture ended. Without the need for cryo on this trip, thoughts eventually turned to how to relive the boredom. The ODSTs and Spartans entertained each other with trying to out do the other group. In place of the hostility that had gone before, the existed a very friendly rivalry between the two groups. When they had run out of ways to out do each other, they settled into a usual routine of games and sports in their free time. In particular, Basket ball. One of the techs in the workshops had been bribed into making hoops when offered some alcohol from the secret distillery that had already cropped up. So it became traditional after two days to play at least one game of Basketball.
O'Brien was sweating hard as he bounced the ball between each of his hands. In front of him, waiting with the patience of a predator was one of the Spartans. The Spartan was flanked by another two Spartans, one woman and another guy. O'Brien was flanked by two of his sergeants, Gunnery Sergeant Andrews to the right and Sergeant Haverman to the left. Haverman bolted to the left and O'Brien passed the ball to her. But before she could grab it, the woman Spartan snatched it a dribbled towards O'Brien's hoop. A burly ODST called Peters tried to tackle her but the ball sailed over his head and landed in the grasp of the Spartan O'Brien had been staring down. It was all over too fast. The ball thudded on the floor of the Gymnasium as the Spartan spectators cheered.
"Better luck next time Lieutenant" Said the Spartan. O'Brien finally remembered his name was Matthew.
"Maybe." Said O'Brien as he shook the Spartans hand. It was at that moment that they heard a cry of pain from the entrance.
Andreas slumped against the door as the burning pain in his leg made itself known. Many of those in the hall turned and a couple of Spartans ran over, Meghan among them. Meghan reached him first and started talking.
"Goddamn it Andreas where's your brace?" She asked. He managed to point to the locker room and hand her his key. Another one of the Gamma Company Spartans appeared with a med kit. He quickly drew out the syringe, filled it with pain killers and injected it into Andreas' leg. The fire calmed and Andreas was able to prop himself up into a sitting position. Meghan appeared carrying a cage like device. It was shaped like an Mjlonir grieve but was made up of bars rather than solid metal. Andreas took the device and pulled up his left trouser leg. There were several angry red scars on his shin and around his knee. Andreas placed it around the leg and with a savage twist, locked it in place. A faint shimmer indicated that a weak energy field covered the open areas.
"Thanks guys." He said as the Spartans pulled him up. He took a few uneasy steps forward, testing the leg. He then started to walk normally when he was satisfied his brace was working. He then walked into the lockers, with a confused O'Brien following him.
"Would you mind explaining what the heck just happened out there?" Asked O'Brien when he had caught up with Andreas in the lockers. Like most areas of Thermopylae, it was a bare metal with the occasional pin prick of colour. The colour in this case was the red doors of the lockers.
"No I wouldn't mind actually." Said Andreas as he gestured to the bench opposite him. Andreas hadn't talked as much as he would like with O'Brien, put his file had said he could be impatient. A strange quality for a Sniper.
"You know about the fall of Reach don't you Lieutenant?" It was a stupid question, every one in the UNSC knew about it. O'Brien nodded.
"Reach was Gamma Company's first deployment. We were redirected to Reach when the distress calls went out. Half of us Remained in orbit while the rest went planet side. Oni had given us suits of Mjlonir armour for the mission. Which I'm thankful for, I probably wouldn't have survived without it." O'Brien was looking slightly inpatient. Andreas pressed on.
"We were deployed by HEV and my pod was glanced by Anti air fire as we came down. It was enough to knock my pod of course and it landed on it's side. The force was enough to wreck my armour and snap my leg."
"But I though Spartan bones were unbreakable." Said O'Brien.
"They are… almost. I thin I was the first Spartan to ever break a limb." Said Andreas.
"Did it take long to heal?" Asked O'Brien.
"That's the thing, it never did. Ceramic coated bones are both a blessing and a curse. Because the coating in that area is gone, the bone is weak; the slightest thing can set it off. That's where this comes in." He said, gesturing to the brace. "It locks the bone in place so I can move as if it was perfect. Just a bit of Covenant witchery for ya."
"So you've spent eleven years with a broken leg?" Said O'Brien bewildered.
"I've had several operations. I've got another in a month to start replacing the ceramic. So there you have it, your boss is crippled." Said Andreas finishing his story.
"Don't worry sir. From what I've seen, the brutes won't know the difference." Andreas smiled at that.