Chapter one

June 16th, 2558, undisclosed location

In the steamy jungle, a Promethean Crawler stalked through the foliage. The dog-like creature stood at about five feet tall, with floating pieces of alien metal making up the body and head, coupled with glowing orange light. This particular crawler had an elongated head, ending in what appeared to be a pair of mandibles. This was a sniper variant. These types generally hunted in pairs, but this one had been separated from its partner hours before. Suddenly, there was a rustle of leaves nearby. The crawler looked up and tensed, searching for the source of the noise.

"Bang!" The Promethean let out a feral screech as it disintegrated into hundreds of orange specks. The unfortunate Forerunner construct might have been a formidable sniper, but it wasn't used to protecting its backside. That was from where the attack had come. The brush behind where the crawler had been moved again, giving was a Spartan wearing turquoise colored Centaurion class armor stood up, slinging a DMR onto his back. This was Fred-104, a member of Blue Team, a squad of some of the remaining Spartan IIs. Fred depolarized his gold visor, to reveal a pair of brown eyes filled with satisfaction. "Now that's how it's done."

"You could have just killed it with your knives, you know." A female voice with a British accent responded over the comm." That would have been quicker." Fred was unshaken." Maybe Kelly, but it's quieter than your shotgun. That would've brought a whole pack of those things, or worse." "Noted." Fred watched as a female Spartan dropped out of a nearby tree. Kelly- 087, also a member of Blue Team, wore a set silvery azure Hermes class armor with a globular visor with similar coloring as Fred's, was armed with a standard UNSC shotgun, which she currently gripping in her hands. "Have you heard from any of the other teams?" she asked. "Negative. Linda and Chief haven't been talking either." There was a shriek, followed by the howls of what could only be a pack of Crawlers, or possibly a Knight. "The one you killed must've been a scout. We should get moving." "Copy that." replied Fred.

The pair of Spartans covered vast amounts of ground thanks to their augmentations, eliminating hostiles as they went. They were just approaching the edge of a clearing when Fred called out," Hold up! We got something." The pair slowed down at the edge of the clearing. Sure enough, two dozen Promethean Crawlers ran into the space. Following behind was a trio of Promethean Knights. Two of them were Lancer variants, armed with Forerunner suppressor rifles and hook-like hard light blades, while the third was a Captain variant, identifiable by the plates of gold hard light covering the body and face.

This monstrosity was armed with a forerunner scattershot rifle and a blade designed for clean, precise cuts, making it even more lethal than its bodyguards. Fred turned to Kelly." I'll head behind them, try to flank the bigger ones. Think you can handle those crawlers?" He could practically hear the fellow Spartan chuckle under her visor." Leave them to me. This shouldn't be a problem." Fred nodded, and stalked off into the brush. The turquoise armored Spartan II pulled the DMR of his back and added a fresh ammunition clip into the barrel. He had modified the scope for extra precision shots, thus saving the bullets.

He would need every last one, especially for the Captain; that class was considered one of the most dangerous Promethean units known to the UNSC. He had reached the far end of the clearing. He crouched down and aimed for the Lancer to the left of the Captain. The scope focused on the head, just behind the neck. Fred pulled the trigger. "Bang!" the bullet smashed through layers of hard light and steel before exiting on the other side of the Promethean's head. It let out a blood curdling screech before disintegrating in orange pixels. That sent the rest of the pack into a frenzy. The remaining Lancer turned and caught sight of the attacker. It roared, revealing the bright orange skull hidden beneath its mask. It aimed its suppressor at Fred, firing off hundreds of rounds of superheated particles at the offending Spartan.

Fred had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. He felt several of the rounds scrape his energy shields. He fired off more bullets as he ran through the trees. He shouted into the commlink," Kelly, now!" "On it!" He watched as Kelly charged into the clearing, firing shotgun rounds into every crawler in sight. He ducked down as more particle rounds headed his way. These were closer. Crap. The next barrage will take out my shields for sure. He spared another glance into the clearing.

Kelly had switched from her shotgun to a pair of magnum pistols, which she was currently using to fend off the few crawlers that remained.

Unfortunately for her, the Knight Captain was quickly advancing upon the lone Spartan, hard light blade raised. It had just deployed a Promethean Watcher from its back. The bird-like creature flew about with a pair of circular wings, firing energy rounds from the Boltshot embedded within its body. Fred watched as his partner's shields flared, sputtered, and died. That was it. He charged into the clearing, bounding to the aid of his fellow Spartan. The Lancer that had been attacking him swung its blade, aiming to slice him in half. Not this time. He slid beneath the Promethean, ducking below the blade as it passed mere centimeters from his helmet. He aimed his DMR up, and fired all the remaining ammunition in the clip. The Lancer's leg exploded in a flurry of sparks. The reaction traveled up the rest of the body, utterly consuming the construct. It let out a dying scream as it fell, dropping its suppressor.

Fred grabbed it before it hit the ground. He kept running toward the remaining hostiles. He aimed first at the Watcher. He fired of a few particles before the machine fell to ground in a smoking pile of charred metal. He continued to sprint head on towards the Captain. It had just pinned Kelly to the ground, and was about to thrust its blade into her midsection. "NO!" The Knight turned to find the source of the noise. It was met with a barrage of projectiles from Fred's suppressor. It backed away from Kelly, attempting to shield itself from the sudden assault. It aimed its cannon towards the attacker. Beams of orange energy streaked toward Fred. He engaged his thruster pack. He soared into the air, finally landing on top of the Captain's back. The Promethean roared in outrage, spinning around and flailing its arms in a desperate attempt to get this pesky human off its back. Fred stowed the Forerunner weapon onto his back and grabbed one of the giant plates that covered the giant's back. He pulled up. There was a metallic 'crack', and the metal drape fell to the ground. The Promethean bucked and kicked, screaming in rage. It managed to throw Fred to the ground, only to be caught by Kelly. "You alright?" she asked. He nodded." Yeah, though I'm not sure how long we can hold up; This one is tough." They watched as the Knight recovered its strength before turning to face them. Its face opened up to reveal its bright orange skull. It aimed the incineration cannon at the pair. It glowed orange as it prepared to fire. "Bang!" There was an inhuman screech of pain as the Knight's right arm exploded in a blaze of orange flakes, dropping the cannon to the ground. Kelly and Fred stared as a pair of Spartans charged out of the trees.

The first was a woman clad in tan Argus class armor wielding a similarly colored sniper rifle. Linda-058, the sniper of Blue team, was an expert with long range weapons, human or otherwise. It was she that had fired the round. The twin peek-holes in the helmet were perfect for such attacks. The second Spartan was just as intimidating. Dressed in dark olive green Mark VI armor with an orange gold visor and armed with an Assault rifle, Master Chief petty officer John- 117, the leader of Blue team and the savior of Humanity two times over, sprinted toward the Captain at breakneck speed. He grabbed the Knight's blade, dislodged it from the magnetic field holding it in place, and drove it into the Promethean's exposed chest. It let out a final screech before dissolving in a cloud of orange.

Linda ran over to Kelly and Fred, helping them to their feet. " Sorry we were late. Resistance was more… extreme than expected." Fred chuckled.

"I'm sure it was. Good timing by the way." " Blue one, Blue three, status." John had walked over to where the rest of his team was standing." All systems are green on my end, Chief." Fred replied. "You good, Kelly?" "Well, besides a few scratches here and there, I'm fine." John nodded." Alright." The was a metallic hum as a voice spoke." UNSC Infinity Warzone simulation Requiem completed. Well done your four; You broke your previous record." John turned to the rest of his fireteam." Good job Blue Team." Their attention was suddenly drawn as the entrance of the simulator opened to grant in a woman with dark brown hair clad in silver Scout class armor entered, flanked by a pair of Spartan Recruits.

This was Commander Sarah Palmer, the leader of the Spartan IVs onboard the Infinity. Though not quite as powerful as the IIs, mostly due to the less extreme augmentations performed on them, Palmer and the rest of the IVs were quite formidable in combat. Palmer addressed John first. " Not too shabby Master Chief. I'm impressed by you and your team, as always. It's no wonder you have one of the best service records in the UNSC." "Thank you Ma'am." The Chief replied. Palmer continued. " Still, I didn't come down here to chat. Captain Lasky needs you and the rest of your team on the bridge." Fred spoke up." If you don't mind me asking Commander, why are we all required there? John's the leader." "As much as I would like to know myself, I'm as clueless as you are. The Captain simply requested your presence immediately. That's about all I know."

John said," Tell the Captain that we'll be there shortly." Palmer smiled." In that case, I'll see you four at the armor bay afterwards." With that, she and her two escorts left. Kelly asked," Why would Lasky ask for all of us?"" Must be something worth listening to, whatever it is." Linda responded. They turned to see that John was already leaving- without the rest of his team. They ran to catch up with him "Wait up!" Fred called. Kelly said to Linda," He's been acting quiet lately…" "He's always been quiet." "I know that, but this is different. He was always withdrawn, but ever since what happened on Requiem-" Linda cut her off." Kelly, I'm aware that he lost Cortana. We all know. He's trying to deal with it the only way he knows how. If he needs help, he'll tell us." Kelly, of course, did know. While John was the only member of Blue Team who knew Cortana personally, it was easy for the rest of his team to see that the loss of his friend was having a devastating effect on the supersoldier. John, like all other Spartan IIs, had been abducted as a child, augmented, and trained to be cold stone warriors. Their humanity had been seemingly lost in the process. Cortana had been John's one link to such feelings. Without her, he seemed as emotionless as ever.

It didn't take long for Blue Team to reach the command bridge of the Infinity. They found it slightly less busy than usually. The Human flagship was currently orbiting the now rebuilt UNSC planet Reach, making for a stunning view. Captain Thomas Lasky was approximately five feet four inches, with sandy brown hair that contrasted his gray uniform. At the moment, he was talking to the Infinity's AI Roland. Roland was a third generation smart AI designed specifically for the flagship's systems. He resembled a World War II pilot. Lasky caught sight of the Spartans. He waved a hand to dismiss Roland. He walked up to them, smiling. "Thank you for arriving on such short notice, all of you." Fred said," No problem, Sir."

John spoke up," I was curious as to why Commander Palmer was uninformed as to why we were called." Lasky rubbed the back of his head." Well, I'm afraid that this particular assignment required… extreme discretion. Some of the higher ups insisted." Kelly tilted her visor." Who?" Lasky responded," It's better if I let someone else explain. Roland, patch the Admiral through." Right away Sir." A projector on a nearby wall activated, revealing a life size hologram of a woman with black hair tied in a bun dressed in the attire of an officer of the Office of Naval intelligence. The woman turned to look at Captain Lasky. "Greetings, Captain." Lasky said to Blue Team," Spartans, this is Admiral Osman, head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. She has an assignment for you."

"Yes, thank you Captain. Approximately four days ago, an ONI research facility near Arcadia Known as Romanov Station came into contact with an unidentified ONI winter class prowler at about 1700 hours." The holo-table next to the admiral opened a screen, showing a blueprint of the facility and what appeared to be a recording of said prowler." The lead officer at Romanov, Director Victor Petrov allowed the prowler to enter. When it landed, the platoon sent to investigate the ship was engaged by an unknown assailant who, as far as intelligence officers can tell, was some form of modified active camouflage." The screen changed to show footage of an entire platoon of marines and ODSTs dispatched by some invisible attacker. Fred muttered," My god…" Osman continued." The attacker finally revealed himself to Director Petrov, incapacitating him and overriding an AI to steal data files from Romanov's archives." Linda asked," Did you manage to identify the man?" Osman nodded." That we did, 058. From what can be recovered, the attacker was a former agent of ONI, one Alexander Lucien, a Spartan operative that was labeled as KIA." A hologram appeared, showing a 3-D model of Lucien in full armor. It was a mixed design, with a Warrior class chest plate, Reach variant Grenadier leg pieces, and a Recruit helmet and shoulder armor. John asked," What else do you know about this agent?"

"Well, most of that is classified, Master Chief. During the war, he was an expert on Covenant communications systems, making him an invaluable asset during his time. Afterwards, he was assigned the codename Umbra, and was sent to infiltrate remaining insurrectionist movements, as well as retrieving artifacts from known Forerunner sites. Five months ago he was sent on one such mission to Gao, an rebel stronghold. When he didn't return, we assumed that he had been discovered before he could complete his objective. However, it would seem as though he survived and joined the Insurrection."

Linda asked," Do you know what data was stolen?" "It would appear Spartan Umbra was after files pertaining to the Forerunner shield world Requiem, particularly on your encounter with the Librarian and her information on the Composer, Master Chief. As to why he would be after that information is still unclear, but it is possible that he has been tasked by the Insurrectionists to locate one such device. If that is the case, we cannot allow such technology to fall into enemy hands. Unfortunately, he disappeared before he could be intercepted. However, standard security drones managed to attach a tracking device to the prowler's hull. Six hours ago, we received a transmission from the device, which originated from the Outer Colony planet known as Kholo." John asked," What is our mission than, Admiral?" " Simple. You and your team are to find Spartan Umbra and bring him to ONI custody. Retrieve the data he stole and prevent it from falling into enemy hands." Fred asked," What's our transportation?" It was then that Captain Lasky spoke up." We have a modified cargo ship in the hangar bay waiting for you." Linda gawked at him through her visor." A cargo ship?" Lasky raised a hand." You'll be going into territory that isn't UNSC controlled. I wouldn't be surprised if you found a base operated by the NCA. I'm sure you all remember incidents we've had with them." The silence was his answer. The New Colonial Alliance, led by the mysterious Admiral Mattius Drake, had grown exponentially over the past four years, attacking the Infinity twice and nearly succeeding in both cases." The ship will make for an inconspicuous arrival should you encounter anyone. On top of that, it's equipped with a modified slipspace drive, so you should be able to make a quick exit in case things turn ugly."

"We can handle it Sir," John responded." You can be sure of that." "I'm glad to hear it." Osman replied." Good luck to you, John-117. Should you succeed, I'll be sure to reward you and your team very generously." She saluted them, and the transmission ended. Lasky turned to Blue Team." I'll have Roland fill you in on the rest. Good luck to you all." They all responded," Yes Sir." In the hall outside, Fred said to John, "You sure you want to go through with this?" "We have our orders." Fred stepped in front of his leader, depolarizing his visor to look him straight in the eye." That didn't answer my question. You haven't been acting like yourself. Are you sure you can handle this right now?" Kelly spoke up." Fred-" "It's alright Kelly." John interrupted.

He depolarized his own visor, revealing a face covered in battles scars, which did little to hide the slight gleam in his brown eyes." I understand your concern Fred, but I'm fine. We finish this mission, and then we can talk about this. Understood?" Fred gave a reluctant sigh before replying," Understood." "Alright." The Chief polarized his visor again. "I know you all are worried about me, after what happened to Cortana. She's gone. I've accepted that. There was nothing I could do, and I just have to move on. We're still family, no matter what. Alright?" His teammates looked at each other before nodding in confirmation. John smile under his helmet. "Then let's get this done. Blue Team, fall out."

Alright, you guys! This one Chapter One of my first fanfic! Sorry about the long wait. The Microsoft word on my computer was acting up, but I managed to get it fixed. I'm not sure if I did a good job on the characters' personalities, so let me know what you think of that. Next chapter, I introduce my OC. I hope you enjoy. Write your reviews and criticisms in the box below. See you later!

Sincerely, Sierra Nova ;-)