Accessing Recordings… WARNING! FOLLOWING DATA NOT TO BE VIEWED BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL! Halsey Log - HYBRID-I Program.
"Unlike the candidates for the Spartan Program, the Hybrid's own are of significant lesser age. Such was the necessary prerequisite for the earliest augmentations in genetic modification. Similar to their counterparts, however, the children were handpicked for their unique gene pool and physical biology as well as other appreciated quirks. But we had to account for age, if only for the mental consequences a drastic change in species. The reason could be found in thousands of scientific analysis and overenthusiastic xenologist blogs, also taking into account the beyond counting examples on the saiyan home world of Vegeta. It boiled down to a simple sentence: Humans and Saiyans thought differently from each other."
RECORD END.
-Doctor Halsey HYBRID-I Records 001
Be Hybrid
Chapter 13: Bombing the Scarab
LOCATION: Arcadia Outskirts. DATE: 2/10/2531. Military Time: 6:22
Trunks-315, a Hybrid-I super soldier, lay hidden with the rest of his Red Team comrades within the foliage of the Arcadia Outskirt undergrowth, they had succeeded in stealth into enemy territory after the UNSC had brought down the Covenant planetary-ground shield with the help of prototype plasma-based vehicles. The team of super soldiers had been called to enter the zone to eliminate a dangerous new incomplete Covenant super weapon that would now be classified as a Scarab.
This alien vehicle would bring significant military casualties due to his operational head, which would shoot forth an incredibly powerful plasma beam, incinerate any UNSC or SSA forces that come into its field of range.
Sergeant Forge had wanted to engage the Scarab with a large force, but with the addition of SSA Double Sunday's troops.
After small debate over possible tactics, Captain Raditz and Captain Cutter decided to send Red Team to destroy the Scarab from within.
Alice-130 climbed down an elevated boulder, crouching next to Trunks and Jerome-092, the latter who was using a set of binoculars to further improve his helmet's magnification capabilities.
Jerome switched on his com, "Douglas, patrols at point B, C, and F. Mark points A and D then meet us at point E."
"Roger that, moving to the site," Douglas-042 answered from the other side of the com.
"Check," Jerome spoke to the rest of Red Team.
Trunks have a brief check over his equipment, it was always important to make sure all your equipment was ready for any engagement, faulty technology was likely to get you killed and fail the mission at a critical point. Such tools were only as good as those that wield and care for it.
The chamber from the MA37 Assault Rifle ejected, the Hybrid-I checking it before loading it back into the UNSC firearm. He checked the two SMG attached to either side of the magnetic belt of the SVALINN Mark III, sure enough, they were fine, though there was little need to check the magazine due to its unique making.
His Ki reserves haven't had the time to replenish themselves much after extensive usage during the battle of Arcadia's only city. Ki naturally restored itself after R&R or a decent meal, in a way it was like all living things, it itself is energy much like stamina in this regard. But with the amount he currently held within, all he could do worthwhile would be small short burst moments of self-augmentation, such as increased strength, speed, or any movement necessary in an emergency.
"Ready," Trunks-315 answered.
"Prepped," Alice called back.
"Let's move," Jerome stated.
They did not charge in.
Why charge in when you can take down the place without being caught?
But if worst comes to worst, they were prepared for it. They had been trained all their lives for these missions. Unless they hit a snag, something that their training didn't prepare them for, such as civilian-related hiccups that appeared when revolving around untrained humans or saiyans.
Of course, civilians were all evacuated by this point.
It was time to do what Spartans and Hybrids do best.
Finish the mission with success.
Alice-130 took point, Trunks shadowing right behind her as Jerome covered the rearguard. The three super soldiers heading towards the designated meeting point to group up with their scouting fellow team member, Douglas-042.
They used the surrounding ruins as covered, the tall nearly wall-like structures all that remain of some ancient unknown civilization now overtaken by plant growth and slowly converting to mineral. Yet, these constructs still held some semblance of their old glory with the seemingly glowing blue hues emitting from the cracks of the rock and vines that surrounded it.
Still, they served a purpose for the joint UNSC/SSA military group.
The Covenant.
They patrolled widely in the area, tensed and combat ready for facing their human and saiyan foes. The three Super Soldiers stopped immediately, utilizing nearby cover in cause they were spotted by the small unit of grunts waddling by.
Trunks zoomed in with his helmet, the Point had just received some unwelcome reinforcements that put a tiny, just a tiny one, dent in the plan.
Bringing the MA37 to bear, the Hybrid-I was prepared to engage enemy forces if at any moment their stealth was given out. Jerome motioned to proceed when it appeared the best moment to continue onward.
They passed quickly and quietly, Trunks having to resist the very tempting shot towards an elite for all the human lives that alien most likely had slaughtered while positioned on Arcadia.
A memory flashed a mission that Red Team was assigned to in the sieged colony of Crysgodal.
An entire view of smothering ruins desolated buildings.
Ash remains.
Endless corpses.
People hiding in fear within the buildings, trying to cling on after the failure of the evacuation due to those monsters.
Red Team was that cities civilians only chance of survival.
He was their only hope of combating the Covenant.
Trunks-315 blinked, recollecting himself back to the task at hand. He has to remain focused, his training and discipline shouldn't allow for such zoned out emotions and memory flashbacks!
Silently cursing himself, an odd thing to do but it brought a marginal comfort, the half saiyan super soldier pinpointed Alice and Jerome just ahead of him and followed their lead. His motion tracker detected movement all around them, but as far as the aliens were concerned, Red Team wasn't there.
They approached hastily, and Trunks took notice how incredibly massive the Scarab was when up close. One could stack multiple UNSC Pelicans together before coming to the size of the machine. It's head alone was the size of a Scorpion Tank as it heaved it left and right one-eighty degrees in a continuous motion, a bright headlight of some description marking its line of sight for the deadly plasma weapon attached to its metaphorical mouth.
Douglas-042 met them at the meeting point. The member of Red Team having attached to him, a dozen charges of high-grade plastic explosive devices assigned to them to deal with the Scarab. But now came the most difficult part, applying them to the selected attachment areas on the Scarab's figure while simultaneously either remaining in stealth or locked in combat should the former fail.
The com sparked with audio activity.
"Headway, move quickly, first mark ten meters, forth joint," Jerome-092 ordered.
"Roger," Alice-130 replied.
"Copy that," Douglas-042 confirmed.
"Covering rear," Trunks-315 stated, getting a nod of approval from his team's leader.
They made it there without incident, strangely enough, there were barely any enemy forces in the area surrounding the place outside of a few working jackets or grunts.
"Odd…" Trunks said to himself, the majority of his attention covering their rear guard. Douglas in the meantime had begun applying the device on the underhand cover of one of the Scarab's joint. Jerome stood next to him, making sure Douglas wouldn't take any immediate fire if they were discovered.
His eyes to his motion tracker, which strangely flickered now and then with an enemy circle, yet as he checked the surroundings, nothing could be seen.
It was Alice who cried out.
"Contact!" She said, raising twin SMGs from her waist and spraying a heap of lead into the air in front of Trunk's position, which shimmered brightly with a blue light that he quickly identified as Covenant energy shielding technology.
The Elite, once realizing his cover was blown by one of the demons, made hastily ignited his energy sword and slashed at an arc towards the warlock in front of him.
Trunks moved, his body twisting and legs pumping his frame backward to avoid the lethal strike of the blade that he knew would cut through his shielding and armor plating like paper. He barely avoided it, the tip of the blade coming close enough to discharge the chi shielding completely from its fruitless effort to protect its user.
But that desperate move left him unable to counterattack, his momentum was working against that action. So he continued backpedaling, silently hoping Alice's barrage would destroy the elite's own shields for either him or another to kill.
They did, SMGs shot a large sum of rounds with a ludicrous amount per second. Thus causing the blue glows to simmer and burst like a bubble in which Jerome-092 took full advantage of with his DMR, popping several shots through the alien's skull.
But even with the successful kill, it would only be a matter of time before more arrived. The loud and familiar sound of human weaponry, and the fact there was conflict at all would be the warning bell throughout the construction site.
"Finished, three to go," Douglas stated, grabbing hold of his M7 Shotgun and reattaching the magnetic box holding the explosive devices to his backside.
"Alright Red Team, cover Douglas, we move to the third leg. Double time, don't stop and fire at will at any opposing targets." Jerome said the order.
Nothing more needed to be said.
The team of Spartan-II and Hybrid-I rushed towards their next destination, cutting down grunts and jackets alike with relative easy.
They weaved around the terrain like they owned it, utilizing the covenant's own setup fortifications and construction as cover against plasma fire, the UNSC kinetic weaponry firing in return and knocking off alien after alien with inhuman accuracy.
Douglas dodged a bolt, avoiding more for the sake of covering the metallic UNSC case attached to his MJOLNIR-IV, as even if the chi shielding could take a few hits, it wasn't so reliable as to tank anything.
The Spartan unloaded the equipment the instant they approached the targeted location, unclicking the case's locks and bringing out one of the C-12 Shaped Charges and placing the 4x4x4 cube on the third leg's joint. His mind doing the quick calculations within milliseconds as to the time it with the rest of the C-12 devices.
"Primed!" Douglas-042 said.
"Next point!" Jerome-094 gave out the order as Spartan-042 finished locking the case and placing it on the backside of his armor.
"Check your 4, 315!" Alice-130 yelled as she reloaded two magazines into her dual SMGs.
"Copy!" Trunks said, whirling his MA37 Assault Rifle towards his four, spraying all thirty-two rounds only to take cover as his weapon's ammunition flicked off against a Jackal's carried shield. Trunk's chi shielding flared, being cut in half but a dozen green plasma bolts.
Although the Chi Shielding Technology within the SVALINN-III and MJOLNIR-IV is considerably helpful for their super soldier users, even with the SVALINN-III's stronger shielding than its Spartan counterpart they were still much weaker than the Covenant's own shielding for even their minor Elites.
Thankfully, Jerome flanked the Jackal's side, crushing the alien's spinal cortex with an augmented bone-crushing strike.
They made it to the third point fairly shortly, having decimated a number of Covenant forces. But while there was a short calm before the storm, Red Team knew with absolute conviction that alien reinforcements would arrive shortly.
"Alright, the third one is ready. Another two then we leave," Douglas stated as he locked the case once again, having placed another C-12 onto the second joint leg.
"Last one, try to keep up Trunks!" Alice-130 said as Red Team began to move again.
Trunks grinned inside his helmet but kept up with his comrades.
Hybrids were weaker than the Spartans, not that it was visible from the public eye or within a war zone. The augmentations that the Spartans had were more severe and potent than the Hybrid's own, making the Spartans have superior mental and physical capabilities despite the Hybrid's biological advantage as a species. However, that was when the Hybrid's Ki advantage took place, being able to self-enhance their own physical abilities to match or exceed their Spartan counterparts depending on how much of the energy they use.
Then there were those rare moments, those certain brief periods in which a Hybrid's Ki spiked dangerously, every time they did, the Ki seemed to leak out into an aura due to its sheer amount.
"Frag out!" Trunks said, throwing a Fragmentation Grenade toward a group of Jackals and Grunts who tried to flee only to been blown apart by fire and shrapnel.
Red Team had one more to attach, then they can get out of here.
"Enemy fire!" Alice cried out as she took a nearby pillar as cover.
"Get behind cover," Jerome said in the coms.
A tiny group of Elites had flanked them, forcing the team of super soldiers to halt their advance as to take cover and avoid unnecessary casualties. Plasma Rifles fired repeatedly, the Elites utilizing their own side to avoid the human weapon fire while trying to kill off the Spartans and Hybrid.
"Tch," Trunks growled underneath his helmet, briefly checking his Ki reserves to see if he had enough for a single Ki technique.
He could fire a small line of Ki blast, the namesake being the most basic, weakest, and also lowest costing technique.
The Elites were giving heavy fire, reinforcements couldn't be too far off for the Covenant. They had to finish this now.
Trunks-315 channeled in his inner Ki, putting his life away for favor of his missions, Jerome could scold him later, they had to stop the Covenant from completing this Scarab, he had to stop those monsters.
"Heyaaaaaah!" Trunks yelled as a sphere of yellow appeared in his right gauntlet's palm, which he brought back to his left side before swinging it in a horizontal pattern. The Ki unleashed, blasting multiple balls of energy and exploding a curved line all across the positions of the Elites.
The area shook, smoke decorated the surroundings after the explosive aftermath from the Hybrid's Ki technique.
The SVALINN gave him a crucial alert, his vitals were at the edge, but he could still function for the rest of the mission, if only barely.
His Spartan teammates gave him a few glances, but didn't argue, there was no place for argument in the midst of enemy territory. Red Team would converse later in a safer, secured location.
But thanks to Trunks action, Douglas was able to safely place the last C-12 before Red Team retreated from the area.
The view of a fire and smoke remains of the Scarab from the distance did wonders for morale as the UNSC and SSA forces charged in and cleared out the rest.
Everything was going quite well, Red Team's Spartans gathered on a Warthog to meet with Sergeant Forge while Hybrid-315 retired to a Pelican until he could recover his lost Ki reserves.
Then Professor Anders was kidnapped.
Author's Note: Hey everyone, just wanted you to know about crucial changes I've done in the complete rewriting of Chapter 2 a few weeks ago (if you didn't notice). When I say complete rewriting, I mean I CHANGED A LOT OF SHIT in that chapter, it reveals crucial plot points, corrects numerous mistakes that prevented future story-related material from happening (without breaking continuity), and reveals some backstory of the Saiyans' origin.
But I think the most crucial change was the population, before rewriting it there were only around 100,000 saiyans in my story! Barely a quarter million! Well, I fixed that right up in the redone time table of chapter 2. There's over 1 million now, which continues to grow quickly. Really helps in making a more reliable (and overall presence) in the UNSC/SSA joint military forces.