Speck was awoken to the sound of boots hitting the floor. He realised he had fallen asleep on the sofa, and was just waking up when-
Wait. What had attached itself to him?
He looked to his right and saw Art rather clumsily draped across him, herself in a deep sleep.
Of course. The two had been sat there for hours just chatting and joking, after the fight had snapped part of her ankle and she'd been in need of a friend.
"Well isn't that adorable? You and her seem to get along mighty fine, Speck."
Montoya was stood there with a grin as wide as he could muster, before he toned it down and spoke more softly.
"Command's spoken to me, we're taking a 3 person team down to some colony. Some ex-Covenant mercenaries were spotted there and need to be taken out discreetly."
"How do I fit into this bloody thing?"
"It's you, me, and Joseph. He put you forward. He'd never say it himself but he sees you as a little brother already, dude. "
Speck smiled, then paused and asked a critical question.
"What about our squadmates? I don't want Monika roughing Artie up again, mate."
Montoya answered, in a calm voice.
"Well, Rorke will be out training with Monika, and 'Artie' will be spending the day here. She'll be fine, I promise."
Speck gently got up before walking over to his gear. Today would be his first mission with Fireteam Scorpio, and he was nervous as hell.
Speck, Joseph and Montoya were all seated aboard a specialised Pelican, one equipped with an experimental active camoflage. They were coming in to land now, dust kicking up off the barren wastes.
"Welcome to the glasslands of Sigma-something 5. I don't remember the name, honestly. Home to one of the biggest resource operations in the entire UNSC once. Now only charred dust remains."
Joseph spoke up, adding something.
"I'd say we're dealing with Skirmishers. And they appear to have Prowlers judging by the tracks."
"Anything else?"
"Hunter prints, captain. But given that purple splotch... I don't think these Hunters are against us. They're with the Swords of Sanghelios most likely."
"We hope."
"Alright. Speck, you're middle, I'm rear guard. Joseph, take point. Silencers on, gentlemen."
Meanwhile, back at the base, Art was chatting with Maria, the two having become surprisingly good friends in a short amount of time.
"So, anyway, what did you need me for, friend?"
"Go to the quartermaster. I need some supplies for something."
"Mind telling me what?"
"It involves Speck, I'll say that much..."
The three man patrol had covered about 2km, and had stopped for some water when a guttural, gurgling roar bellowed out a few yards away over a ledge.
"Hunter?"
"Hunters, Speck. There's always 2."
They peered over the ledge, Speck armed with an M7 silenced SMG, Joseph with an MA37, and Montoya with a SAW. The 2 Spartans both had thrusters as standard, and Speck had an active camoflage module.
The Skirmishers and Hunters were fighting, with one of the Hunters on a mini rampage.
The Skirmishers barely lasted 2 minutes, and the small human fireteam all had a small celebration... before the Hunters fired at them instead.
"Shit! Get down!"
A green explosion blew off the side of their makeshift cover. Montoya simply gave up.
"I don't think there's much we can do now. 2 Hunters and we've no rocket launcher."
"We could improvise, sir."
"Speck's right. We should at least kill one."
Joseph jumped down, Speck running after him.
Joseph was running at the first Hunter, and as it lunged he jumped over and onto it's back. The other Hunter charged and smashed into it's ally's back, sending it to the floor in seconds.
While it was distracted, Speck circled the second one and jammed an incendiary grenade inside the writhing Lekgolo that made the creature. The grenade burst, causing the Hunter to cook from the inside out, and soon it dropped to the floor dead.
The young ODST punched the air in celebration, before he watched the first Hunter rise again. He nimbly dodged a fuel rod shot, but was impacted by an offhand swipe. The swipe was fairly light, thankfully, but was enough to send him sprawling. As he rose, he saw Joseph tear down the ridge, before jumping on the Hunter's back.
The Spartan-III jumped on the Hunter's back, ripping out Lekgolo and slashing with his knife.
It took about 3 seconds before the massive alien had dropped to the floor, blood pouring from its back.
Montoya stumbled down the ridge, and spoke in disbelief.
"Holy shit... Command picked you guys well. Excellent work. Come on, we should get moving before more show up."
Art was busying herself with a cooking book in the mean time, trying to figure out how one made an apple pie. As a young girl she'd been a very energetic soul, and as such had never had any interest in cooking.
She had gotten through the majority of the rather dated recipe with ease, but now she had to actually cook the damn thing.
"Alright Speck, you got your active camo?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Good. Use it and sneak past those Skirmishers and plant the bomb. Once that's done, engage."
Speck activated the cloaking device, light refracting around him.
Soon enough he was slowly creeping past, using the broad side of an old Brute Prowler. The feathered things had no clue he was there, and finally he planted the detpack on the fuel tanks they had for the vehicles.
After getting to cover, he patched back into the comms.
"Detpack is live, boss."
"Blow it."
The explosion threw up dust and flame for 10 yards, Speck unharmed by some miracle but the Prowler having partially caved in and melted slightly.
The remaining Skirmisher crawled along the floor, away from the scene. Speck took an axe from his holster, and in seconds the young ODST had buried it in the Skirmisher's chest, ending its suffering.
"An axe, Speck? Each to their own, I guess."
"Got the job done though, eh sir?"
"Permission to speak, sir?"
"Granted, Joseph."
"I prefer this here knife, sir."
Montoya smirked, saying but one thing.
"You boys and your blades, eh? Well, we should get moving. Evac bird's coming in at 12:00, so we need these Covies wiped out."
"Roger that."