0900 hours, November 12th, 2542 [MILITARY CALENDAR]\ Jirack System, Planet Graff
A mask is fitted over my face and a needle is injected into my skin.
I remember this, it was the day of our Augmentation. But something is wrong, I should be asleep by now. I am still fully awake as they prep for surgery. Panic rushes through me, but I can't move. I can't speak, I can't do anything. I watch the doctors hover over me with their instruments and fear what's coming next. "Begin incision," The surgeon says.
Something tears into my body and unimaginable pain shoots through my nerves. I scream silently on the inside, unable to release it.
I can feel them digging around, cutting me open to expose my muscle tissue and bones.
The pain lasts for hours, with a brief rest in between.
"Subject-333 has been successfully augmented. Moving to recovery wing," A surgeon says.
I snap awake and sit up. I instantly begin gagging as something foul rises in the back of my throat. I lean over the Cyro tube and hack up the gunk that they put into your mouth during stasis. I wipe my mouth and shake my head, stepping out of the tube. My team is waking up around me, the cryo-storage room is all but empty. We must have been woken up last.
For a few seconds, I consider my dream. I recognize 333...Parkson's numbers. But what the hell happened? It was too real to be a dream. But I don't have much time to dwell on it as the others emerge from their tubes.
We stand in the room with only our underwear, which we became used to years ago.
"Why the gunk?" 211 says, wiping his mouth after he vomits up the stuff. "To keep our throats from going dry and to keep from barfing up our last meal," Kia says, fixing her hair which had come out of its bun during the stasis period. "Where are we?" 211 asks. "At our destination, i would assume," I say. "Lets get to the armory. I'm sure we need to get suited up," Kia says and leads the way to the armory where we get suited up and retrieve our weapons. They had taken my Energy Sword from me, but return it when I ask for it.
"Spartans to the hanger," A male's voice rings over the PA system.
We head down to the hanger and are given a Falcon to use when down there. We are also given rations for the week that we'll be there. If we need more, we're told to hunt.
We leave the frigate and find the base where we're oriented and given the coordinates to the city we'll be fighting in.
This planet is lost, all there is left now is to evacuate as many people as possible before they begin "glassing" the planet. Glassing means using their high powered weapons from their ships in high orbit and turning everything the beam touches to a hard surface that is reflective, much like glass. The Marines call it Glassing because of this reason.
We rise high over the land, clipping mountains and soaring over vast plains which quickly turn to barren deserts, which then turn into a barren landscape that is void of any life. The ground is battle scarred and the occasional shell of a vehicle, both human and Alien, scatters the area for miles. At the edge of the barren landscape lays a city. The city stretches for miles and miles. It was a very prosperous city, despite its remote location from any incoming and outgoing traffic. But the Covenant found it and attacked it, it was the last place to fall victim to them.
The large skyscrapers are smoking and in ruins, the sleek buildings are crumbling and on fire. The roads are abandoned. The main street, where the civilians would gather for their every day lives, is now the main center for the ongoing battle.
We weren't called to help fight the frontlines, we were called to help clean up the side areas, as in rescuing trapped Marines and civilians from the hands of the covenant.
We have no field experience, so we're very much curious as to why they have us helping this city and not the more experienced Spartans.
We drop in the outskirts of the city and gear up from there. "Alright, Spartans. Today is our first mission. Don't screw this up," I tell my team. "Why the hell would we screw this up? A bunch of hinge-heads haven't got anything on a group of Spartans!" Kia says with a grin. "Hell yeah!" 211 laughs. I shake my head, supressing a grin. "Lets get in there and fight some Aliens," I say and unsling my AR then take point.
We enter the city VIA the rooftops, silently making our way across them until we find our objective.
Our first objective is a low security Covenant encampment. It holds a small handful of Grunts and a few Jackals but no Elites or Hunters. there's a power source here that is giving power to some of the Anti-AA turrets in the area. The turrets are giving the transport's troubles as they try to get the Civilian and UNSC soldiers off of the planet.
I motion for Parkson and Kia to take up Sniping positions while me and 211 drop from the roofs and end up almost underneath the balcony.
The Aliens are careless with their patrol, not really having one. We watch them for any patterns, but it seems that they are just lazily standing around. "Move in, take the Jackal on the right. I'll get the left," I say to 211 who nods.
We didn't know at the time that Grunt's panic easily, so we skirt the Grunts like they are Hunters and stay out of their limited line of vision and make our way around the small courtyard.
The power core is a cylindrical device with an exposed core with weak shields surrounding the core which is held up with thin metal-like material. This place looks more like a temporary back-up power site then a major power supplier. This will more then likely temporarily cripple the Anti-AA until it gets another source of power. It'll give at least one of the transports enough time to get away.
I stop 211 as one of the Jackal's shifts. I then notice it's asleep. It's tilted head, slacked arms and relaxed posture are an obvious sign of slumber. Turns out both of the Jackal's are asleep by their mirrored posture.
I motion for the take-out and 211 moves forwards, drawing his knife and grabbing the Jackal by its long mouth. I grab the second Jackal and ram my blade into the front of its throat as hard as I can. My blade slips right through its soft neck and I almost stab my chestplate. I was expecting more resistance.
As soon as the Jackals go down, the Grunts panic. But Parkson and Kia take no chances and quickly take out the grunts."All clear," I call up to the two who slide down from the roof. Parkson kneels next to the explosive power supply and begins deactivating it. "Ugly SOB's aren't they?" Kia says, nudging one of the Jackals with her boot. Parkson stands with a nod. "Alright, there's another encampment 20 meters from here. They have some UNSC personnel in their custody. We're to free them with no mercy," I say. "Lets get to it then, wouldn't want them to escape," 211 says.
Kia and Parkson take to the rooftops while me and 211 keep to the ground level.
The streets are void of any life. Bodies of both civilians and soldiers litter the ground in clumps in certain areas. We ignore them and press on, eventually reaching a courtyard guarded by Jackal snipers.
We see the UNSC soldiers underneath a sun-block that extends 15 feet in the air. There used to be a bench sitting underneath the sun-block but it was ripped out by the Elites in order to store their prisoners.
There are ten UNSC soldiers and ten civilians stored in the area. We'll have to neutralize the targets before evacuating the prisoners. For our first mission, things are getting complicated already.
"Parkson, Kia. Take up sniping positions, take out the hunters on my signal. 211, you're with me. We'll go for the Jackals first," I say. "Which are the...Hunters?" 211 says, raising an eyebrow. "Do you not remember the briefing?" I ask him. "I wasn't paying too close attention..." He admits. "Yeah, I thought so. Just look for the biggest targets, alright?" I say.
We pull back from the alleyway and Kia hacks a door that allows us into the building. We come into a dark and destroyed kitchen which leads into a living room. There are two dead civilians in the middle of the floor, cooled needles in their backs. I ignore the people and climb the stairs which lead up to the second floor. There is an attic who's entrance has been broken, the stairs hang loosely from the hole. 211 climbs the stairs first before we come up with him. There's a hole in the attic, leading to the roof. Kia and Parkson climb it, positioning themselves on the roof next to us. We jump down and roll onto the next building's balcony, all the while never drawing the attention of the aliens below.
We climb down the stairs, and I stop 211 as we reach the lower story.
"Jackal," I whisper to him.
There's noises coming from the kitchen as the Jackal rummages through the ruins of the house. It finds something and eats it, and that's when we take our chance.
We advance, crouched and silent, to the end of the counter which walls the kitchen. We stop at the end of it, right behind the Jackal. It has the dark fridge open and is pulling out the shells of cans and rotten food. It finds a small scrap of food and downs it. I gesture for 211 to take it out.
He advances quickly, pulling his knife and grabbing the unsuspecting Jackal and ramming his blade into its throat. He doesn't make the same mistake I did as he quietly drops the Jackal's body.
I nod to him and we move to the door which leads to the courtyard.
"All clear out there?" I ask the two snipers. "All clear, you're free to advance," Kia reports. "Roger that," I reply and motion for 211 to stay behind me.
We exit the building, quickly getting behind a line of bushes which leads to an abandoned car. We crouch behind the car and I nod to 211 who primes a grenade and judges the distance, then lobs it in between two jackals. They jump from the blast and are showered with shrapnel, their shields deflecting the damage. An Elite, who I assume is the leader, checks out the explosion but doesn't do much about it other then yell at the two jackals. We hadn't seen the shields from our first Jackals, so we hadn't known about them. And this was a complete surprise to us. None-the-less, we advance further and find ourselves right behind the place where the human prisoners are being held. It's a small depression where the walkway is put into the ground a few feet, and there we wait. "I'll take the Jackals. You get the prisoners out," I say to 211 who nods his acknowledgement.
There are two loud explosions, and two inhuman voices cry out, followed by two thuds as the bodies hit the ground. "There go the Hunters," I whisper.
I climb the wall and come up behind the prisoner's area, staying out of view of the fully alert Jackals who cradle their weapons carefully.
I gesture for 211 to flank right, and he nods.
We advance and I take out two of the Jackals before the rest take notice of us. Plasma fire erupts all around us as 211 herds the prisoners out of the courtyard, with the help of Parkson and Kia. I'm left in a situation, a bad one. I've been trapped in a building with no access to the rooftops or to any kind of exit. I've relocated myself into the attic and pulled up the stairs. I only have to hide out until Parkson and Kia arrive, but they're moving slowly because they don't want to be detected. The Covenant are pushing into the lower levels, flooding the living room and kitchen. I can hear their footsteps and shouts as they set up a perimeter so I can't escape.
An Elite prowls the rooms below me, searching for the entrance to the attic.
Tense minutes pass as I hide next to the attic's entrance, waiting for the Elite to show its ugly head. But when it does, the elite catches me off guard with a boot to my back.
The Elite had found a second entrance, and had snuck up on me! I had underestimated their stealth, and had payed for it.
My blade flies from my grasp as I slam into the wall, shoulder first. I fall to my stomach and try to reach for my blade, but the Elite is too fast and he stomps on my hand, laughing in his alien way as he does so. I grit my teeth and twist my body and pull my fingers away from his feet and slam my fist into his groin. He stumbles back from the unexpected force from the attack and I take the chance to retrieve my blade and side-step the alien and then cut him in the back. But, again, he catches me unexpected as he pulls an energy sword and hits me in the side of the head with it.
Sparks fly as my helmet flies off from the impact and lands across the empty attic, away from my reach. I fall to my stomach and scramble to my back, barely managing to dodge the blade as the alien strikes at me. He says something in his alien language as he backs me into a corner. I'm without any weapons, and he's got me cornered. I don't even have my helmet. My first mission is going horribly.
I hear noises and hear two other elites climbing the stairs to the attic. I'm screwed if Kia and parkson don't get here in time.
the other two Elites appear, both with Energy Swords. They surround me and glare down at me. Their helmets are closed, but have large visors. The glow from the Swords illuminates their heads within their helmets. They are grinning, which is strange looking coming from an alien. But there's no mistaking it.
They trade words, and the original Elite rears back his arm and says something to me before striking.
I time it right, and I roll to the left. But the blade still cuts me with the farthest edge and leaves a gash down my face. I ignore the pain and jump to my feet as two figures appear from nowhere and tackle the two of the three Elites. The first Elite turns to face the newcomers, turning his back on his victim. last mistake.
I swiftly climb to my feet and jump on the Elite's back legs and seize his head in my hands. I jump off of the Elite and bring his head with me, twisting sharply. I am satisfied with a snap and the Elite shows no more resistance as his body falls to the ground.
Kia and parkson bring down their targets and sweep the room before turning their attention to me. "Nasty wound you have there," kia says, tossing a canister of biofoam to me. I catch the canister as parkson finds my helmet. He wipes the dust from it as I apply the biofoam to my wound which was beginning to really hurt. The biofoam soothes the pain and clots the blood.
"Thanks," i say to parkson who hands me my helmet. I put it back on and roll my shoulders then retrieve my combat blade and sheath it.
"Where's 211?" I ask the two after Parkson pulls me through the new hole in the roof. "He's taken the soldiers to a Pelican that was held behind for extraction. I'm assuming they made it there safe, I haven't heard different," Kia says as Parkson sweeps the area for threats. "Lets get-" but before I can finish my next sentence, our COM comes alive with a frantic message. "All personnel, evacuate from the city immediately! The Covenant are glassing the planet. Evacuate now!"
"Oh crap," Kia says and looks to the sky where a Covenant Cruiser can be seen drifting down out of the clouds. It's massive, and is followed by two others.
"Get down, get down now!" I yell to the two.
We slide down the right side of the building and away from the courtyard. We land in a closed yard with glass entrance into a house. "It has a basement. it's our bet chance for survival," Kia says. "Lead the way, and do it fast," I say.
Me and Parkson follow the female Spartan to the door which leads into the basement. We find that its locked, so Kia kicks it down and we flood inside, just in time.
We stand in the middle of the room, flashlights flooding from our helmets and illuminating the dark room. Dust has been kicked up from our arrival and partially clouds our vision. We don't want to use night vision just yet.
"First beam will hit in two minutes," Kia says, consulting her tacpad. "Why so long?" I ask. "They need to get their people out. Gives them enough time to do so," Kia replies.
We wait for what seems like forever, and then the air begins getting hotter as a low rumble can be heard. "Here it comes," kia says, crouching low. Just after she says that, all hell breaks loose.
The beam slams into the house and completely obliterates it. the ceiling is brought down and knocks all three of us down. A screaming noise is mixed in with the crumbling chaos of the collapsing building. All three of us lock our armor to avoid the worst of damage, but we still get a beating.
Rubble covers me and blocks my view from my teammates, and it's not long before something hits me and knocks me out.