A/N: I wanted to put in a little bit about the Blades, My Wunderwaffle iz missin's mercenary team, but I figured that that would just be a bit of an insult to the Blades for the position I had planned, so this is just a shout-out to My Wunderwaffle iz missin. I want to thank him or her (No, I don't know his or her sex, so I make up my own theories. I like my current theory that My Wunderwaffle iz missin is actually a 29 year old female SPARTAN from 2557 that time traveled back to 2013 to warn us of what will come to pass.) for giving me encouragement and just being there (or, you know, accessable online) while writing this story. Thank you My Wunderwaffle iz missin, and please enjoy, everybody.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Microsoft, Bungie, or 343 Industries. This is for my enjoyment and, hopefully, the enjoyment of others. I do not receive a profit.

Silent as a Tomb

Quin woke up with a nasty headache. At first, he thought he was drunk. The memories he could find would certainly account for it, but his armour wouldn't. Quin shook his head to try and clear the fog. Some of it effused out his ears, and more memories came to light. Not just watching as his head ballooned into a pin and his toes curled purple and his ears began to whisper the secrets of the people of Geldenland.

Now he remembered the snow and the ship and the bufotoxin. Reynolds had managed to sign that much before his hands had turned into jellyfish.

Quin glanced around and realised that he didn't recognise the surroundings. Three stark metal walls, a simple floor and high ceiling, and an energy field stretching across the entire open wall. He tentatively rose from the place he lay and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. He chinned his green light to see if it gave a response. A moment later, two greens appeared. Quin tried to remember the assignations of the lights. Brady's was out, and so was Pearlman's. Quin guessed that Pearlman's small size and petite form (for a SPARTAN) was making recovery harder for her.

Bored, Quin walked up to the energy field and peered out of it. He could make out several cells probably very similar to his own. Purely by luck, he could make out two shadowy figures standing near their own force field doors as close to the wall as they could. Quin hoped one of them was Reynolds, so he slammed his fist on the energy door, praying that it would make a sound.

It must have worked, because the figures turned and stepped right next to the fields, allowing Quin to make out Reynolds's black Gungnir armour and Kahn's red E.O.D. armour through the double layering of energy. He signed, /What's going on?\ to Reynolds.

The response was quick. /The Covenant used a decoy ship and a hallucinogen called bufotoxin to capture us, remember?\

/Yes, my memories have come back since I woke up, but I mean, where are we?\

/Captured, probably being held in a Forerunner storage facility of some sort. Kahn thinks it isn't really a prison because he believes that he can override these doors from the inside.\

/Really? How?\

/Once we're all up, he's going to trigger a localised electromagnetic pulse, hopefully shutting down the energy doors. We'll just have to stand back so that the EMP doesn't knock our suits out.\

/How is he going to make an EMP? They stole my weapons. I should just be glad this armour doesn't come off, or I bet they would have pilfered that, too. Heck, why haven't they just killed us?"\

/Don't know why they aren't killing captured fireteams, but as to the EMP, well, Kahn has all sorts of gadgets stored in the nooks of his armour. Everything from a sonic screwdriver to a neuralyzer. They didn't strip-search him, so he has a microdot with limited EMP capability attached to the underside of his boot.

/The one problem is that the EPM may trigger an alarm, so he won't trigger it until everyone is ready to go.\

/How will you know when Pearlman wakes up?\

/Although this base blocks long-range radio, we have been firing off our green every few minutes, hoping thar you and Pearlman will respond. And now that you are-\ Reynolds was interrupted by a green light. Quin beeped his and was relieved to see a total of four green lights a moment later. After a moment, they winked out and Reynolds signed, /Back away. Firing EMP.\ Reynolds retreated and Quin hastened to do the same.

A moment later, Quin felt the hairs on his body raise as the remnants of the electromagnetic pulse washed over him. Although his helmet screen flickered for a moment, Quin's suit was far better off than the door. The bluish field began oscillating back and forth before abruptly shutting down. The lights flickered out as the Forerunner equivalent to a microchip had all of its circuits scrambled and fused. Quin flicked on his helmet lights and stepped cautiously out of the cell into a narrow hallway. Glancing around, he saw that five of the cells had been deactivated by the pulse. His own and the one next to it on the left, as well as Kahn's and the ones on both sides. One was empty, but Kahn and Reynolds emerged from theirs and the one next to Quin revealed a tired looking Pearlman. Although her armour was put on properly, her slouched posture suggested that she was wearing the armour under protest.

No one needed to say what came next. Kahn opened the entire cell block and all five piled into the cell closest to the door. A moment later, the doors leading out of the cell block slid open, admitting a group of Grunts that must have been sent to check on the power failure. Pearlman held up three fingers as the Grunts passed. She lowered them one by one by one. On the signal, the four jumped out of their hidey-hole and killed the Grunts. Quin's target had enough time to turn around before he picked it up as used it as a shield. One of the other Grunts pumped it full of plasma before Kahn kicked the other Grunt's face in and stole its plasma pistol. Quin took the needler out of his shield's hands and aimed at one of the last Grunts. He pulled the trigger and watched as the Grunt detonated.

Quin scavenged munitions while Kahn started toying with the methane packs and a plasma pistol. Reynolds explained. /We have no clue what's behind the door. In Kahn's words, 'Take methane, add plasma, you get a bomb.'\

A minute later, Kahn had rigged things so that the pistol would begin to overcharge when he pulled a string. Attached as it was to a methane tank, the plasma would ignite the methane. The primary detonation would send the other attached methane packs flying, and, a moment later, they too would explode, having been ignited by the first explosion.

Quin hit the door controls and Kahn shoved his homemade bomb out the door. Quin closed the door with another press of the controls. Kahn waited a moment, probably for the sounds of investigation, and then yanked the string he held through the closed door. Reynolds listened for a moment before signing, /Now.\ Quin let the doors open all the way this time.

Four SPARTANs emerged on a war zone. Kahn's IED had done its job well. The floor in front of the door was blackened, as were the walls of the wider hallway. There were no recognisable bodies in the immediate vicinity, but an Elite Zealot lay collapsed a ways down the hall. There was a black mark about a metre away where one of the packs had sailed down the hall.

Reynolds walked up to the collapsed Elite and almost lazily flipped his knife out. He paused a moment and Quin could tell he said something. Then he knelt and drove the knife into the Elite's left eye. Reynolds took the Elite's storm rifle and tossed his plasma pistol to Pearlman, who caught it deftly with her free hand.

The group moved carefully down the hall, a single unit sweeping through the remnants of Forerunner civilisation. The short hall soon opened into a hexagonal room with a smaller honeycomb cell in the centre. Pearlman crept to the door that led to the secondary room and stationed herself on one side of the door. Kahn joined her on the other side while Reynolds and Quin snuck to the edges of the inner hexagon. Pearlman counted down from three with her fingers.

When she reached zero, Quin swept around his corner and encountered a pair of Jackals. One started shooting plasma at him, so he responded with needles. Unfortunately, they bounced off of the shield, so he changed tactics. Quin took a running leap and rushed into the first Jackal. His momentum bowled the Jackal over and his weight crushed it.

As Quin turned to the second Jackal, he saw that it had brought an Elite . . . and an overcharged plasma pistol. Before Quin could react, his shields were gone and the Elite had leveled a carbine at him. He ducked to avoid getting headshotted while pulling the trigger of his needler. He didn't even get a chance to aim, just to shoot. Luckily for him, the needles still found their targets. Twenty-two angry needles began to veer toward the Covenant. Some split off to chase the Jackal while the others flew at the Elite.

The Jackal was already dead, even if its body was still breathing. And although the Elite had jumped to the side at the last moment and shot a further three bolts from its carbine, hungry needles had still embedded themselves in its flesh. Quin groaned as biofoam sealed his chest and upper arm where the carbine had punctured. The Jackal and Elite detonated and Quin's shields started to recharge.

Quin walked over to the Elite and picked up his carbine. The longer barrel and shoulder stock felt comfortable in his arm, even if it was an alien weapon. He turned the corner and encountered a trio of Grunts. Quin aimed and squeezed the trigger. It only took three shots to down the group.

Quin swept around the last corner in time to see Reynolds executing an Elite. He shoved the storm rifle into its mouth and pulled the trigger. Plasma burst out of the back of the Elite's skull, followed by bits of brain. The pair turned to where the door should be. A blank wall greeted them.

Pearlman stepped around the corner. A minute later, Reynolds signed, /Pearlman says there's a lift in the centre. We go back around and ride it up to the surface. Call a bird and escape.\ Quin nodded and the three SPARTANs dashed around to the door to the central room. A pair of Elites and a clutch of Grunts lay dead. Kahn stood in the middle and motioned the others over. Once they were all gathered on the lift, Kahn pushed the hard light button and the lift rocketed skyward.

When the lift secured itself into the floor, four SPARTANs spread out into the small antechamber. Three walls and a roof covered the lift area, but the fourth wall was open and led into a jungle. The four walked to the jungle and Quin noticed Pearlman open a comm. link.

The foliage was thick, so Quin soon lost all sense of direction. Pearlman led the group on as straight as she could, clearly heading for an objective some ways away. As the SPARTANs walked, ghosts constantly popped up on their radars because of the movement of the jungle. But the jungle was empty of actual enemies.

Pearlman stepped into a small clearing. It was too small to admit a Pelican, but six Ghosts were parked there. Pearlman grinned and climbed into one. Reynolds explained. /The foliage is too thick for a rescue, so we'll use these to get to thinner trees, but be ready. Data suggests that that area is filled with Covenant. Quin hopped onto another Ghost, as did Kahn and Reynolds. Pearlman led the way, rocketing into the forest. Kahn gunned his own engine and Quin followed behind him. Reynolds acted as rear guard.

Quin wove through the trees right on Kahn's heels. He, in turn, followed Pearlman, who dashed through the jungle with reckless abandon, nearly clipping trees and breaking right through ancient swathes of moss. The forest periodically darkened before betting lighter and darkening again as though the forest couldn't make up its mind as to whether it was going to thin or get thicker. That worried Quin. At least until he caught sight of a Wraith through the trees. If such a bulky craft could get through, then Pearlman's clearing must be close.

From ahead, Quin saw as Pearlman raised her right hand and motioned. It wasn't sign language, but the meaning was still clear. Two fingers pointing left and then two fingers pointing right. Pearlman and Kahn broke off and veered left, while Quin and Reynolds flanked right.

Once the SPARTANs were in place, Reynolds opened fire. His Ghost spit plasma at the Wraith. It began to turn, aiming at him through the trees. It only managed to lob a single mortar shot before Quin, Kahn, and Pearlman opened fire distracting it.

Although the four SPARTANs individually were no more than hornets to the Wraith, as they circled, the Wraith and Elite in the turret had an almost impossible time attacking. First Quin's Ghost and then Kahn's. and eventually, the combined plasma of four Ghosts crippled the Wraith. It fired another mortar shot, this one also at Reynolds. Even as it sailed through the air toward the Ghosts that had moved into the clearing for aided mobility, the Wraith's shell gave way. The plasma ate through something of import, and the Wraith began to shake.

The Elite in the turret tried to bail, but to no avail. The Wraith exploded in a massive fireball at the same time as its mortar impacted near Reynolds. The impact sent his Ghost flying with him still in it. Quin tracked it as it disappeared over the horizon. He reoriented his Ghost and shot back into the forest.

Even as Quin began to see signs of conflict, Kahn and Pearlman caught up to him. The three snuck nearer the flashes of light before parking their Ghosts and peering out from behind trees. Reynolds was dueling a pair of Hunters. His Ghost was planted nose-down into the ground several metres away. His backdrop was a sheer cliff face with a breathtaking overlook. Dark green and foggy, the perfect example of a high altitude rainforest.

Reynolds's storm rifle flared and plasma washed over one Hunter's shield, but that was just a decoy. As the beast hunkered behind its shield, Reynolds ran up to it and jumped, planting one foot on the shield. He turned in midair and pulled the trigger. This time, the plasma burned through the orange worms that made up the Hunter. Quin, Pearlman, and Kahn added their own shots, and Kahn hurled a plasma grenade square onto the Hunter's back. That much combined fire served only to enrage the Hunter. It roared and waved its shield around - a deadly mistake. Reynolds finished the job by taking a step forward and slamming the Hunter's neck with the butt of his gun. The Hunter collapsed.

The other Hunter had been trying to aim at Reynolds but couldn't fire without the risk of hitting its bond mate. But with the collapse of its bond partner, the Hunter roared and charged Reynolds with an unprecedented speed.

Reynolds had only the time to turn and sign a very quick, /Feet first,\ before the Hunter crashed into him. Even with his Deadeye armour zoomed in, Quin couldn't tell exactly what happened next. But somehow, the Hunter was flying over the cliff with Reynolds on its back, a grenade in hand.

Quin ran over to the edge and peered down. The cliff was long and very steep. He couldn't see any hand holds, or what he was actually looking for. A set of black Gungnir armour. Quin beeped his green.

Nothing.

Quin beeped it a moment later, but only Kahn and Pearlman responded. He turned swiftly to look at Pearlman and Kahn their heads were together, but Quin had no clue what they were talking about. His last link with sound had been cut off.

Quin slashed one hand into the air for emphasis and shouted, "No! We hold here." Reynolds was alive. He had to be. So when he came climbing over the cliff he would need his teammates waiting where they had left him.

It certainly seemed as though Kahn and Pearlman agreed with Quin's statement, but he couldn't hear a response to the positive, either. He couldn't hear any response. He couldn't hear at all.

So he stared. Quin stared through his Midnight visor and through Pearlman's Sunspot visor. He held her look for one minute . . . two. Finally, she nodded and opened a channel with the Pelican that would rescue them. When she was done talking, Pearlman held up seven fingers.

Seven minutes. Reynolds could climb the cliff within the time frame, right? So Quin stationed himself against a tree, carbine ready.

It was a big jungle, but the smoke and flames of the burning Ghost certainly caught the attention of several Covenant. Grunts and Jackals would wander in, thinking that an accident had happened. They were easy pickings, and Quin only ever used one carbine shot to take them down. The Elites that came to investigate were a bit more trouble, and Pearlman's dual Plasma Pistols were instrumental in killing the Elites before they could call for backup.

Those seven minutes stretched on forever, with Quin constantly looking over his shoulder for Reynolds. Eventually, he gave up and fell into his routine of firing with complete concentration. So immersed in the world of the scope was he, it took Pearlman shaking his shoulder to sign to him that the Pelican was there. Quin turned reluctantly and boarded the dropship. It just . . . felt wrong to leave without Reynolds. He had understood leaving without Brady. The Flood had to be stopped, but to leave without Reynolds, to leave in absolute silence, that was far worse.

A/N: Confession time. I actually had this finished a while back, but wanted to post it today so that I could say, "May the Fourth be with you." I love Star Wars day, but, like Lord of the Rings, it's one of those sacred institutions I don't want to touch. Yes, like Halo, they have whole universes from which I could create completely new characters, but unlike Halo, the plot holes aren't big enough to try to fill in. There isn't an equivalent to Spartan Ops.