Hello hello! theotherpianist is declaring his break of hiatus over! I am back and ready with fresh ideas!
Like many authors of FanFiction, the horrible tragic monster of schooling has sucked up more time than I would like.
Seriously, like how many tests do you really expect a student to study, complete, and cry over in two months? My hiatus period is over and I'm happy to be back in the Halo x Star Wars Universe.
Before we begin this installment I must preface with a special thanks to gwb99 for usage of Fireteam Rapier, however brief their involvement in this chapter will be. All other characters are property of myself.
Please enjoy the show.
Chapter 17:
Pelican 3MZ,
Planetary Orbit of Planet Cryptum, December 9th 2559: 10:18:04 Hours UNSC Standard Military Time/Calendar
Spartan William Gunther
The Pelican rocked slightly as it flew through fringes of the planet's atmosphere.
"Are we all settled?" he asked to his team.
Seven Spartans in black standard issue bodysuits nodded.
"So tell me what's new?" Hansu said breaking the momentary silence. "We've been out for a while, have the squid-heads kept their promises to us? What major life-altering events have happened while we were on ice?"
"The Sangheili are in the middle of a civil war right now. The Arbiter's faction, the Swords of Sangheilios, are entered into alliance with us. For the most part the Unngoy and the Lekgolo are our allies, the Kig-Yar structure of Government is failing to prevent widespread piracy and mercenary activity, and the Brutes have regressed. Some are allied with us but the majority are fighting amongst themselves right now. The biggest threat right now concerns the events of the Campaign on a Forerunner Shield World dubbed Requiem."
"What's that?"
"Forerunner shield world. Was the home of a single Forerunner preserved somehow with an army of armored servants known as the Prometheans. The Master Chief was found there and tried to warn Infinity away from the planet. In the process he awoke a Forerunner called the Didact. He disabled the Infinity and the Master Chief fought to regain possession of the ship. They drove the Didact away and Infinity left for Earth to report on their findings. Somehow the Didact located a missing weapon on Installation 03 and traveled to Earth. Navy did what they could but they were unable to stop him. He fired a weapon that digitized the entire population of New Phoenix. He was stopped by the Master Chief detonating a Havok class nuke on board and perhaps killing him. We don't know. At any rate we're still at war with the Prometheans and Storm."
"So what happened to Requiem?" asked Elizabeth.
"Six months later the Infinity went back to establish science operations. They discovered the planet was home to an artifact called the Janus Key. This artifact when brought to someplace called the Absolute Record is supposed to show the location of everything the Forerunners ever built, and it's located somewhere on this planet."
"You totally made that sound like the end of a ghost story or something." Brittany said after a second of reflection.
They chuckled and were interrupted by the Pilot calling them to attention and announcing they were arriving at their destination soon.
The Pelican touched the surface of a landing deck and the hatch opened.
The eight Spartans grabbed several large crates containing all their gear and pulled them out. Will stepped into the hangar and took in the sights. It was much like the Dauntless but...bigger. Everything was bigger, much bigger. They were in one of the small hangars towards the rear of the ship but it was still decent sized.
Groups of people were milling aimlessly about or running to and from assignments.
"Afternoon gentlemen." said a male voice.
They turned to see the yellow-gold avatar of a British WWII Aviator flash to life and salute.
"Welcome to the Infinity Spartan Team Castle. Someone will be by for your gear in a moment. For the moment please wait on the yellow and black line. Someone will be here for you shortly." he snapped to another salute and disappeared.
"That was...cryptic." Chelsea said.
"On the line." William said gesturing to a painted line that ran the length of the hangar.
They waited for only thirty seconds before William noticed a female Spartan heading their way.
"Castle Team, Commander on deck!"
They all crisply saluted.
Commander Sarah Palmer stared back at them again with stern and observant eyes.
"Well well, we meet again Castle. You have just transferred here correct?"
"Yes Commander." Will said.
"Fair enough. From now on Special Warfare Team Castle, while you are serving aboard the Infinity you are to be known as Fireteam Castle. On this ship we are all Spartans, all the same. The name Fireteam Castle was once held by six brave souls. You would do well to honor that name Spartans. I saw what you did on Requiem and I'll be honest, you've impressed me. That is not something easy to do. But please, don't let it go to your head."
She smiled just a bit.
"All right Fireteam Castle. Welcome aboard the Infinity. Your tour of duty begins here, we'll be running a four kilometer loop around the ship and to our final destination. While on our tour I will point out major points of interest. We start now."
With a twist of her body she started a fast jog to a corridor that ran the length of the ship.
Will nodded his head and the team began following behind closely.
They were indeed given a tour. Palmer was kind enough (or torturous according to some hushed whispers from Elizabeth and Felix) to tell them everything about the ship. There were indeed many things to pointed out. Some were useful, like the ships two large mess halls (apparently there was a third one for Spartans) or some of the ships foundries, armories, the location of every infirmary in the ship, and the Quartermaster's workshop. Others were more geared towards testing the patience of Fireteam Castle as she pointed out occasional holes in the walls (the result of a Promethean attack on the Infinity) various maintenance closets, dorms of Marines, etc.
The tour got more interesting when they took an elevator down to the bottom of the ship (she was insistent they jog in place as well) and Palmer stopped them as they exited.
"You're going to want to remember this room." she said as the doors opened and they stepped out onto a catwalk that circled a series of eight domes below them. below them was another floor were there were windows all along the perimeter of the room. Looking down Will saw a large domed structure where it looked like a Firefight was going on.
"Welcome to the War Games room." She said with a degree of pride. "Here is where we are going to keep your combat skills sharp. No more using hangars and changing everything around."
"This is new." Chelsea said as she looked over the lip of the railing.
"Everything you see here was the result of Forerunner reverse engineering. Sophisticated software allows us to turn one of eight of these smaller rooms into larger rooms. We can also simulate almost everything including virtual enemies. However, we usually have our Spartan compliment fight against other Fireteams."
"Participation is mandatory?" Asher asked.
"That is correct." Palmer said approvingly.
William looked over again. Two Fireteams had just entered and were squaring against each other.
Who's in that one?"
"That would be Fireteam Crimson and Fireteam Majestic. Those two have a major rivalry going all the way back to our campaign on Requiem."
In a small room a Crimson and Blue colored team were moving into a bleak and empty room with the exception of two foldout walls on opposite ends covered with gear.
"Five on Four is slightly unfair don't you think?" Elizabeth asked as they all looked over to watch.
"Just wait and watch. You'd be better off watching below" Palmer said indicating a set of stairs that led to a lower level.
They followed her into a dark room below with a window taking up an entire wall giving allowing some light to filter through to them.
"Elimination!" a male announcer called out and the room suddenly changed as stone pillars began rising out of the ground.
The Spartans tensed and readied themselves. Three short beeps followed by a higher pitched one and they moved forward at once.
"Phyllis, Begin recording this session for review later."
"Recording session." A Female voice said over an intercom in the room.
"Who's that?" asked William.
"F.I.L.S.S is a computer system A.I. that was the brainchild of some part of an ONI program. Roland was being overwhelmed with coordination so ONI sent us a gift in the form of her and another Jeff, the male announcer you just heard, working the War Games system. Personally I find Roland a much better conversationalist than either of them. Jeff doesn't communicate that much and Phyllis will talk too much."
Palmer went over to a panel and flipped a switch. The lights in the room turned on and various screens burst to life with live images of what was going on in the room.
A Blue Spartan in soldier armor was the first to make contact with the enemy. He brought up his weapon and fired several bursts from his battle rifle. The shields flared on one of Crimson's Spartans but the Blue staggered and fell as one of the Crimson soldiers jumped on him and plunged a knife into him.
"Whoa!" Brittany exclaimed jumping to her feet. "Commander! He just—"
Relax. It won't hurt him. All the weapons in here are simulation only. The knife didn't kill him but he'll feel a bruise from where he hit the ground.
"Casualty, DeMarco." Phyllis announced.
DeMarco suddenly vanished from where he lay only to reappear in a small box to watch the fight.
"He just re-spawned." Palmer said noting confusion. "If you "die" on the battlefield a teleportation grid will spawn you right into the action again. Hopefully you will have had made less mistakes and therefore not die again. We generally use TTR rounds and lockdown paint because teleportation doesn't simulate the importance of survival. If anything it encourages people to make mistakes." she said frowning at the two Fireteams.
Ninety seven seconds later Fireteam Majestic was immobilized and the computer was calling Crimson's victory.
"Like your teammate mentioned participation is mandatory. All inclusive war-games are usually Sundays but due to our deployment the schedule has been changed. We're having Spartan War Games tonight here. I'll expect you all there. Time to continue our tour."
William noted that they still had yet to see the bridge. His observations were proved correct when Palmer stopped them outside a set of doors several levels above.
"Look sharp people. Captain Lasky has been expecting you." she said before walking in.
Will followed and entered through another sliding door before entering a spacious room.
The bridge on this ship was the largest he had ever seen. It was spacious compared to those he had seen before on other ships. The Bridge was dominated in the middle by a large holotable and holoprojector displaying a current real time position of the Infinity around Cryptum. A large observation window dominated one end of the room where the floor slopped downwards to accommodate a couple crew stations. On either side of the holotable was another room filled with service members doing their jobs. Behind the holotable were additional stations raised slightly to provide visibility.
One man was hunched over the table talking to Roland. They stopped a respectable distance away while Palmer walked up to the man. She said something inaudible and he looked up.
"Fireteam Castle." Captain Lasky looked up and greeted them each with a handshake. "Welcome aboard the Infinity."
"We're glad to be onboard." Will replied.
"I've heard good things about your team. From what I was able to pull up and learn I believe you are in a position to help the other Spartans of Infinity realize the caliber of skill we expect from them. That is why I've brought you aboard. We are at war with an enemy that is as-if not more dangerous, than the Covenant. We need soldiers of your skill level on board." he gestured to Sarah. "It's time to prove that to us. Sarah?"
"Right then. Thank you Captain. I'll brief you on the results of tonight's War Games."
He saluted and they returned it and turned about to leave. From there it was another quarter mile before they reached their ultimate destination.
"-and here is where we stop." Palmer said as they entered a white room that extended on for some distance.
There were some whispers from the rest of Castle but Will was instead focused on the room.
It was a wide three tiered room with each tier progressively farther up and away from the previous one. A large walkway ran down the middle with elevators at regular intervals that would take personnel to the rapid deployment hangars.
"Welcome to the S-Deck Fireteam Castle. Below us is the Spartan's mess hall and further on is your quarters. I'll take you to your armor stations and I'll leave you be for the moment."
She led the way back through where they came from and to the right down a set of stairs. They entered out onto a long walkway with sets of ring like machinery and lockers extending to the end of the room. She led the way all the way down until they were near the door before stopping.
"These eight machines are configured to help you get into your armor quickly, safely, and efficiently. They are to only be used with the help of trained personnel, and armor is not to leave anywhere but here. You will be issued the titanium composite inner layer to your armor suit which you many wear daily. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good. Lasky informed me that five of you are in need of new suits correct?"
"Yes ma'am!" Five voices chorused at once.
"You're in luck. We picked up a shipment of MJOLNIR before we left on deployment. There should be enough to fit you adequately and give you all a choice. For the moment you will be issued standard Recruit armor before we assign you anything more specialized. You are allowed some customization with colors but all of it must fall under regulation. Your standard team colors are for the moment pre-determined to be light blue on dark blue unless otherwise requested by your Commander. All armor color is to follow UNSC regulation."
She turned and pointed a finger towards the wall.
"Your rooms are over there, dinner is in two hours, and we have War Games in three. Be there on time."
They were interrupted by the voices of a couple Spartans who were in armor walking slowly back. One of them had said something funny and the rest of the team was laughing boisterously.
"Hey Majestic! We got visitors!" a blonde male said as he caught sight of them.
"Shut up Madsen." a redheaded woman scowled at him.
Another male Spartan walked up to them.
"Well hello there. You guys are obviously new here." he stepped forward and offered a hand to William.
"I'm Paul DeMarco, leader of Fireteam Majestic."
"William Gunther. Fireteam Castle, pleased to meet you."
"Castle eh? Used to be another group on here named Castle. They were good men though. Still, glad you to have you on board."
His attention was diverted for a fraction of a second by Brittany putting a few stray hairs back into place.
"And who might you be?"
She flushed and froze for a moment.
"Uhhh...Brittany...pleased to meet you."
Palmer cleared her throat rather loudly.
"DeMarco I would worry about your match against Crimson today more than meeting the new people on board. There is after all another group of Spartans coming on board this ship."
The other Spartans of Majestic gave several chuckles at her remark but an eyebrow from DeMarco quieted them.
"Commander, we beat Crimson the second and third rounds though." the redhead interjected after a moment.
"I didn't question you beating them. You and Crimson are our best. Until others prove it to me it will remain that way."
Will swore that he saw Palmer stare at his team as she said that remark.
"One more thing Castle One. We may be equal in rank but I command our Spartans. Until Lasky removes me from duty or I happen to die you are under my supervision."
"Understood Commander." He nodded in understanding.
"Go unpack. I have a few more words for Majestic."
They turned away and proceeded through the doorway.
Through the door they came to a large common room that was followed by a large hallway filled with rooms with the Fireteam name and symbol etched into the walls and doors. The rooms appeared to be octogonal. And jutted out into the walls at regular intervals. Tables, chairs, and desks were sit into the natural alcoves.
"Here we are." William said as they approached two rooms emblazoned with a black castle.
He opened one and proceeded inside.
The room was octagonal with another common room in the middle. A table for four dominated the middle. This could be put into the floor via two two doors that opened in the floor. To his right was a storage unit for his team while to his left was a set of four cryo pods. A door straight ahead led into a small rec room with a couple couches and a small holo sceen projector.
It had obviously been a party room some time ago. Everything looked heavily used and almost broken. Most interesting were the variety of divets, dents, and stains on the wall.
"I vote we change up the decor." Elizabeth's lip curled as she observed it.
"Agreed. This place is a mess."
"At least the other rooms aren't." Brittany pointed out.
The doors she was gesturing to outside led to two rooms that were identical bedrooms. They each had two beds (with an extra cot for a third person in a closet.) Two bunk beds set into the wall lay freshly made. Desks lay adjacent to them. On the opposite wall of the beds were two bathrooms that connected with the room next to them.
Exiting back into the common room they were interested in finding that running through their room was a corridor that directly connected their dorms to the others through a set of doors. Will ordered them to open up the door on the other side turning a four person room into an eight person room.
"Asher you take the women on the right and I'll take the guys on the left." William ordered as they finished exploring.
He opened up their storage unit to see all their articles in one place, albeit haphazardly placed. He grabbed a big duffel bag and brought it into his room.
"I got the bottom." He announced as Hansu entered the room with him.
He shrugged and climbed up top taking his stuff with him. Will hunched over and started unpacking his clothing when a knock on the door distracted him.
He got up slightly wearied and walked over to the door and opened it.
"Good afternoon." a man in a white lab coat said crisply
"I have to speak with you about your team's armor. The sets are all awaiting you when you armor up. Diagnostics show that your old armor is fully functional. However, the standard for our operatives is the Generation II MJOLNIR line of armor and per protocol we are requisitioning your other armor for storage. Should you so desire you may still use it but we advise you to try out the new sets and become comfortable with them. Please have your team read these and wear these bodysuits."
With that he deposited a thick stack of user manuals into his arms and turned away.
William shut the door and turned back.
"Who wants required reading material?" he called out.
One by one the rest of them came to see what he was taking about.
"Manuals?" Elizabeth grumbled.
"Sweet. Time to see if this is as good as they claim it to be." Felix chorused picking up his manual with an attentive eye.
"If we're participating tonight I doubt we'll get time to test everything out thoroughly. Read through quickly."
A knock on their back door interrupted them.
"I got it." Elizabeth said going and unlocking it.
The door swung open to reveal five Spartan IV's gathered loosely behind the door.
"Hi there." said Paul DeMarco as he entered through the threshold. "We didn't get to fully introduce ourselves and show some more hospitality. So we brought you this."
The largest Spartan in the group pushed through carrying a large crate of what had to be alcohol.
"Best stuff there is."
"Wow!" Chelsea exclaimed as she took a hold of it.
"Alt Burgundy? Seriously?! Where the **** did you get a hold of this?" Ralph interrogated as he opened one of the boxes and removed a shiny green bottle with tender care.
"We found it on an OP in Rio. Guy was hoarding the stuff by the ton so naturally we took our fair share. This here fetches a hefty price on the market should you choose to sell it as well." DeMarco grinned. "Consider it our welcome gift to the Infinity."
Will and the others nodded their thanks.
"I didn't catch your names." He said staring at the eight Spartans. "I know that you're William, and you're Chelsea from Coruscant. But who are you?"
"Asher Bretzing." His Lieutenant Commander stepped forward and offered a hand.
"Hansu Chen." He stepped forward.
"Elizabeth Whitley."
"Ralph—"
"—and Felix"
"Brittany."
The largest Spartan on the other side of the door stepped forward.
"Carlo Hoya. Pleased to meet you all."
"I'm Tedra Grant." An Irish woman stepped forward and offered her hand.
"Anthony Madsen." A confident blonde male said.
"And I'm Gabriel Thorne." Said the last individual.
"Pleased to meet you Fireteam Majestic." Will said.
"Do you happen to know the kids that are bunking adjacent to us?"
"Kids?" Asher blankly asked.
"Five kids showed up in the room next to you. No idea who they are."
"I think you'd be interested to know that the members of Fireteam Rapier are Spartans."
DeMarco choked for a second.
"Seriously?" Madsen laughed clearly not believing them.
"Fireteam Rapier is part of the last class of Spartan III soldiers. We were part of the proceeding graduating class." William said gesturing to the others.
"Uh huh. I ain't buying it." Hoya said in laughing disbelief.
"You guys are Spartan III's?"
"We'll prove it tonight in the War Games." Asher spoke up suddenly looking DeMarco in the eye.
"Oh snap." said Hoya breaking out into fresh laughter as DeMarco stared back trying to digest her challenge.
"Come on Paul, you can't back down now!" Tedra said edging him on.
"Shut up Tedra." Paul grimaced. "You just want to see my *** planted on the floor." he turned back to Asher.
"Well?" she inquired.
He stared back for a moment and placed his hands on his hips.
"If you win you can have part of the Observation Deck to yourselves. We won that right a week ago in a match against Crimson but I'll put it on the line. Only 30 minutes though, then it opens up to everyone else. I don't have any money to give you cause I lost my betting pool against Fireteam Switchback yesterday so that will have to suffice. Fair enough?"
Asher looked at William who nodded.
"Deal."
There were some cheers from both sides and DeMarco stepped forward again.
"You know, I think we're going to get along just fine. Just be careful about the other Fireteams though. Crimson bunks from across us and Fireteam Eclipse and Talon are adjacent to them. Take my word for it, you do not want to **** off any of the guys on Eclipse or Talon."
"How come?" Brittany asked.
"Later." said Paul. "Dinner starts soon and I do not want to be stuck in the back of the line again, especially when its taco night."
The five members of Majestic turned and started heading out to the lunchroom.
"By all means sit with us tonight. We don't want you guys to be totally alone tonight." said Thorne turning around before heading off to join his team.
Will watched the door close.
"Elizabeth, go hide the wine somewhere where we're not going to demolish all of it in one night."
"Got it." she said hoisting the boxes in her arms and going off to her room.
"So now that they mentioned it what do you think about the other III's Will?" asked Chelsea when she had returned.
He paused and thought for a moment.
"Hmm. I don't know yet. What do you think about them?"
"Them?" Chelsea cocked her head to the side. "They seem...off, if you know what I mean."
"Like just in general?" Hansu asked. "For where they are, they're pretty **** good for their age. I'd even bet they're probably better than we were at that age.
"Oh man Hansu. You're bringing back memories of Onyx and Mendez." Ralph grinned.
"I think I'll wait to pass judgment on them. As long as they can do their job like they've been trained then I see no problems here. I think the only thing I'm seeing is a lack of experience in the field. We've been in active duty for what...more than ten years now?"
"14." Asher replied.
"****." Felix muttered.
"Language guys." grumbled William. "Other than that I think they'll be fine. Its the IV's I worry about."
"Are we making a judgment just off of one Fireteam?" Brittany asked.
"Doesn't seem a little fair."
"No. I'm not passing judgment on all of them quite yet. Some of them are closer to us like Tedra and Thorne but the other three? Even Commander Palmer to some small extent, they're arrogant and overconfident."
"True, I mean they're not as professional as us but I mean yeah we can be casual and loose out of combat but these Spartans take that to a whole new level." Elizabeth added.
"Come on, let's give them a chance." Brittany said. "Judgments can wait. Food can not."
"Amen sister." Chelsea agreed emphatically.
"Fine. Let's go eat." Will said unwilling to continue the conversation.
Chelsea and Elizabeth traded high fives briefly and the rest of the group went to prep everything for dinner.
When they were all assembled and in fatigues Will led them out into the hallway and they began to retrace their steps.
They ran into several groups of Spartans wandering in the same direction. They waved but said nothing more as they conversed among themselves.
"You would think they would notice new people." Ralph observed as they lapped another group.
"Give it time." Chelsea said.
"I wonder how many gals there are aboard." Felix mused trailing behind Chelsea.
Asher raised an eyebrow at his comment.
"I'm wondering the same thing. You can't tell me you have all these Spartans on board and not have a few women be among them." Hansu grinned.
Brittany and Elizabeth both traded aggravated glances.
"Don't forget they're not just women. They're Spartan women. They don't just look good, they perform just as-"
Brittany slugged Felix's shoulder angrily.
"Ow-hey! What the ****?! Britt!"
"Language Felix!" William called out.
He heard something unintelligible from Felix but decided to drop it. At this point they were now walking past the armor assembly area with its rows of circular machines and lockers. They exited through the door on the far end descended a set of stairs to their right.
They emerged through and came to another short corridor lined with twenty Spartans all standing hungrily waiting for food.
Ralph, Hansu, and Elizabeth all let out groans as they saw the line.
"Not now." Chelsea said. "Let's make our first impressions be somewhat decent."
The line moved forward and with a flash of bright fluorescent light they entered into the mess hall.
It was a well-lit space with rows upon rows of tables and chairs for eating, all reinforced to bear the weight of the genetically modified super soldiers. There was a stair case in the center that led to an upper floor that overlooked the main level and descended to a lower floor as well with a plexiglas railing running around it that a couple groups were leaning on as they talked.
The line curved against the left wall.
Set far back against the wall underneath the top level was a bar with a long granite countertop that was filled with people. To the right of that was an open door leading to the kitchen where men and women were carrying finished plates and trays. To the right of that was a long line of buffet style tables where a variety of food was being offered and taken. Further off the line there was a salad bar, pizzeria, grill, and sub-station, and a very crowded dessert bar.
Will watched a Spartan receive some food and proceed to a row of computers at the end of the station where he produced a sleek silver gray card and scan it. He moved on and was followed by another male who did the same thing.
"Were we supposed to get those?" Asher asked as she observed the line as well.
"What?" asked Brittany confused.
"The cards they have."
"Oh. I don't know."
A male Spartan ahead of them turned around.
"You guys don't have cards?"
"Yeah, what are they for?" Will asked.
"Doctors onboard insist that we eat a balanced diet. Our meals are individually tailored so that every Spartan gets the exact amount of calories they need." He turned and looked all of them over.
"You're new aren't you."
"Indeed we are." Ralph answered.
"Cool. Horatio Fry, Fireteam Shadow."
"William Gunther, Fireteam Castle."
"You guys are the replacements huh?"
Will looked at him confused. Before he could interrupt he was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.
A short doctor in an impeccable white labcoat was staring at him.
"Spartans? I have your nutrition cards here. You will need to scan these every-"
"I got it Doc. Explained the whole thing to them."
"Oh. Well." The doctor looked slightly confused on what to do next. "If that's the case then I'll leave."
He deposited eight cards in Will's hand and Will passed them out while Horatio turned to them again.
"So. How long you guys been Spartans?"
"14 years." Asher replied.
Horatio's faced changed to perplexed.
"14? But the Spartan Program is only-"
His face changed again.
"Wait, are you guys Spartan II's?"
"Not quite. Will replied after a moment.
"Three's…?"
"Bingo." Ralph nodded.
"Woah. That's…wow. Three's? Like conscripts from Orphanages?"
"Uhh, not quite." Will said hesitantly. "It's still classified...ish."
"Some of us are Orphans." Elizabeth grimaced.
"Oh…I'm sorry." Horatio awkwardly mumbled as he tried to think of what to say.
"Hey Horatio!" someone called out.
"They turned to see a group of three men walking towards then."
"Hey what?"
"Remember that bet you made when we said that you'd be late again when-"
"Oh shut up man. Come on, give me a little slack. I was being nice to some new faces. I'll pay up tonight after the War Games."
Will didn't follow the conversation after that. Instead he focused on the faces of the men standing now across from Horatio.
There were three of them standing there, one was of Hispanic descent, the one next to him was a tanned and muscular brute that towered over everyone else. He was at least seven feet and had enormous muscles. He was built like a Scorpion and Will knew that he was looking at a brute. His face was hardened and cold and he observed everything around him with an air of contempt. He had no reason to do so but he instantly felt a surge of dislike and hate towards him. Confused he forced those feelings away and turned his attention to the next man.
The next Spartan was the one that intrigued him the most. He was slightly shorter than him and long blonde hair cropped to one side with a nasty looking scar across his face and amber eyes that were shockingly intense. They both locked eyes for a second and stared at each other confused.
A moment later the other man continued as if nothing had ever happened.
Will racked his brain. He knew him. There was a definite part of him that knew him.
"Trade places." Will said shifting Ralph who was still four inches smaller than Shadow's brute into his place so he could stand next to Asher.
"What is it?" she asked as he walked up next to her.
He caught her arm and escorted her a few paces back to the end of the line.
"Does he remind you of anybody?" he asked.
"Which one?"
"The blonde and the tank."
She stared at them both for a second.
"No?" she said after a moment.
"I know him for somewhere. I'm telling you."
"Will, he probably just looks similar. We're what, trillions of miles away from Earth." It couldn't be anybody we know."
Still unconvinced he shrugged and let the matter drop.
"So you guys ready for the War Games?" Horatio asked striking up conversation again.
"Heck yeah! The males chorused confidently. Will just shook his head and chuckled to himself at the enthusiasm his male comrades still had. Being a soldier hadn't quite burned it out yet.
"Good. Just a heads up though. Palmer usually does something special for the new teams we get. Be on your guard."
"What type of new thing?" Hansu asked.
"Well in years past we had King of the Hill matches were you could only use Rockets, Palmer's given them extra shield strength, slower mobility, no HUD, knives to a gunfight, always something that's a little out of the ordinary as a 'initiation' of sorts.
"Ouch." Chelsea winced as he named different in ways in which Palmer had unbalanced the playing field.
"Yeah. Palmer can be a pain but we need something like this. Combat is never truly fair and it's a good teaching tool."
"We'll be ready then." Will said.
The brute spoke for the first time in a low deep voice.
"Ha. You act like children. Don't you understand that you can never be ready? Take your arrogance elsewhere."
Will shot out a hand behind him as Ralph and Hansu almost jumped upon the man.
"Hey! cool it Issac!" Horatio interrupted the brute. "Daniel, Bjorn, you three head back and prep yourselves for tonight."
Issac grunted and turned away flanked by the other two men.
"Excuse him." Horatio muttered apologetically.
"I don't know about you but I'm hungry." Elizabeth said deflating the tension as they came up to the line.
Horatio bid them farewell and he left the group as they went to collect their food. They were indeed the last ones in line as they took tortillas and loaded them with toppings.
"These actually look and feel like tortillas." Will commented as he accepted two large ones from a young server behind the counter.
"That's 'cause they are! We got them a week ago, these have just been sitting chilled. You won't find too many ships that will give you food like this! Often we just give you MRI's for days on end but the Captain's feelin' extra generous tonight." the server chimed in.
"I'm not complaining." Ralph laughed as he applied an enormous amount of guacamole to his overloaded tortilla.
"Aw **** man. You guys are new aren't you." he said as he looked at them.
"Uh huh! But I love it here already!" Elizabeth bobbed up and down.
The Marine who was serving them was slightly taken aback with her enthusiasm but continued.
"Uhh..okay. Well, uhhh, do you know what we also do here on the Infinity?"
"What?" asked Hansu.
"Food competitions." he said mischievously.
"Seriously?" asked Chelsea.
"Mmmhmm. We have a 'Master Chef' on board who's into this type of thing. I'm friends with the guy. Name's Jonathan Lowell, the most temperamental man ever but he does wonders in the kitchen. He's like Gordon Ramsey but fatter and he's actually pleasant most of the time.
"Gordon who?" Will asked.
"Aww nevermind. That ****s ancient, you wouldn't know him."
"Point made. Continue please."
"Okay. So I guess the biggest event we've had was when Infinity completed her tour on Requiem. We had possibly the best Chili cookoff. Ever."
Noting the skeptical look on Will's face he added, "You'd be surprised at how many amateur chefs we have on board."
"How hard of a competition?"
"Well the heads of everything on board are your Judges. Its randomly chosen leadership but the Captain's always a part of it, not too much of a hard crowd. But man, that was a lot of food."
"Who won?" Asher asked.
"Well each Branch had their own winners but for you guys it was Fireteam Forrest. You'll meet them later I guess. They put the winners in the final round and my squad won."
"Nice." Chelsea nodded approvingly.
"What's the next event?" Brittany asked, curiosity perked.
"Well its hard to say. We haven't gotten an updated list of R&R activities yet since we came here but we always do something the week before Christmas."
A balding man suddenly emerged from the kitchen and roared for a 'Jenkins'.
The server paled suddenly and cast a nervous glance over his shoulder.
"****. Sorry, I gotta go. Good luck tonight."
'Jenkins' then dashed away and disappeared to be replace by someone else.
Will walked up to computer.
An robotic voice ordered him to place it on a scanner and scan his card. He did so and his tray was scanned in a burst of red light.
"Scan completed. Food levels within boundaries. Please scan your card and have a nice day."
"Charming." he replied making a face at it to which his team laughed as he scanned his card and stepped back.
He waited for the rest of his team patiently while they went through the process smoothly until they got to Ralph.
"But I don't want to give it up!" Ralph whined as the robot/dietician ordered him to return half of his second burrito to a trashcan that popped out of the base.
"Just do it and come on!" Hansu groaned impatiently as the rest of the team laughed at the demo experts debacle.
He finally gave it up to the trashcan and the computer chirped at him to have a lovely day.
"So where are we sitting?" Brittany asked as they all rejoined.
Will scanned the room looking around.
"There. There's a spot by Majestic if you want."
"Uhh. I'm okay." Brittany said nervously.
"Huh?" Chelsea asked turning to face her.
"Let's go sit over-"
"Over where? Majestic has saved us a few seats." Asher pointed with a finger to a table near the edge of the staircase leading down.
"There's no where else Britt." Felix added.
"Stop calling me Britt!" she protested.
"Wait." said Hansu with a sudden glint in his eye. "You think one of them is attractive don't you." he said triumphantly.
"What?!" she spluttered turning red instantly.
Castle let out a collective Ohh! as her face gave her all the confirmation they needed.
"DeMarco?" asked Elizabeth.
"Ewww no!" she said disgusted regaining some of her color. "Total player. No."
"What about Madsen?" Elizabeth tried again.
"No..."
"Is it Thorne?" Will said after a moment smiling.
She looked down instantly turning red again and trying to hide a smile.
Ralph and Felix whooped as she nodded slowly.
"Calm down guys." Will said trying to withhold a smile as they celebrated. "Brittany you can sit farthest away if that makes you feel better."
"Thanks..."
They walked over with food in hand over to where they were sitting.
"Hey!" Madsen greeted them loudly as they walked over.
" 'bout time you show up." DeMarco added as well. "We were wondering if you got lost."
"No. We just met Fireteam Shadow and one of the servers."
"Fireteam Shadow's not one to mess around with." Hoya said warningly. "Horatio and Bjorn are the most likeable by far. Issac though, ****, he's a menace on the battlefield. He prefers to use his hands instead of any weapons with pretty bloody results."
"Daniel is more of a maniacal genius. He likes using strategies of fear against his enemies and he's also a brilliant strategist. Just when you think you're one step ahead of him you realize too late that you've been played."
"He's...unorthodox." Tedra added as she sipped a glass of lemonade.
"Remember the fusion coils?" Thorne asked.
Majestic let out a collective groan.
"Why'd you have to bring that up?" Hoya shook his head.
"What happened?" Asher asked.
DeMarco shook his hand.
"No no no. Too embarrassing. Later."
The table fell silent for a few seconds until Thorne perked up.
"You guys are III's right?"
"Yeah?" Will responded after a moment. "Why?"
"What was it like? I mean are you allowed to tell us?" Thorne asked.
"Well I mean stuff is still classified but I can tell you it was hard. I've heard that the II's were trained harder. If that's the case the life really sucked for them.
"Where did you guys fight?"
"You guys familiar with Fumirole?"
"Yeah. I had a brother who lost an arm there." Madsen admitted after a moment. ****, I...I don't even know where he is right now. He was sent back home to receive a prosthetic and I...well, I lost track of him after that.
"My dad served on Fumirole. He and my uncle both. My uncle died the day we won. I'm still shocked that the Covies even left it alone after they were defeated.
"Wasn't like Harvest."
"All right so you guys served on Fumirole. Where else?"
"Uh. Sargasso, New Llanelli,"
"Born there." Madsen interjected. "Sorry..."
"I'm sorry. We were there for Skopje."
DeMarco and Hoya both whistled.
"That entire battle was a massacre." Hansu said. "Covies were smart and targeted the spaceports first. No way to get any civilians off the planet."
"Is it true that civilians turned and tried rushing the Navy ships?" Tedra asked.
"Yeah." Chelsea said sadly. "Once they figured out that the only way off was on our ships they tried attacking our **** men when they realized they were stuck. We had to fire in self defense...it was-"
"-a tragedy." Will finished. "After that we were at Paris IV, Concord, and Meridian."
"Just the eight of you?"
Will's face hardened.
"No. We were under Special Warfare Group Three like NOBLE Team on Reach. We were a 23 man unit."
"Were?" asked Carlo looking at the group.
"We lost five on Reach." Will said trying to keep his voice casual and conversational. "They were still just adolescents..." he sighed. "I think we can all agree Reach is still pretty fresh." he pointed a finger to Asher. "Her unit was almost completely KIA. After we escaped we had her transferred to our team. It wasn't that much of a stretch because she was still in a SWG team. "I'm sorry. I don't like to talk about Reach that much." he apologized. "Everybody else was KIA in an operation against the Covenant.
Majestic nodded in understanding and let the matter sit. Madsen was staring off into space though with a thoughtful expression.
"Something on your mind Madsen?" Asher asked.
He blushed slightly.
"Uh yeah actually. If you wouldn't mind me asking...did you serve on Noble Team?"
She sat expressionless for a second but flicked a quick expression at Will.
"Do I tell him?" she asked behind those green eyes.
"You decide." he shrugged imperceptibly.
"Yeah. I am...or was Noble Six."
The table immediately became fixated on her.
"The Noble Six?" asked Tedra trying to clarify?
"Who's-?"
"Shut up Hoya." she said getting excited. "You're rumored to have the 11th highest kill count of any Spartan, saved hundreds in the siege of New Alexandria, helped take out a Supercarrier with an improvised bomb, and you've made entire Innie groups vanish all within a period of a year and a half."
Asher became suddenly interested in her food, twiddling a forkful of rice around.
Tedra tried again thinking that she didn't hear. Asher looked up though her face unreadable.
"Some of that I have no idea how you got your hands on. Between me and you though I hated being Colonel Ackerson's personal hitman, never showed an iota of care for what I wanted or how I felt about anything." she lamented bitterly.
Noting their confused faces she continued.
"I may have the 11th highest kill count of any Spartan but let me be the first to say I hate the act of killing itself. Yeah, you heard me. There's something wrong about killing a living creature with a mind and will of its own that just...feels wrong, especially when its another human."
DeMarco opened his mouth to counter but Asher ignored him.
"I have a talent yes, I understand that more than I would like to. However I would prefer to keep that talent as unused as possible."
"Fair enough." Thorne replied trying to switch the conversation.
"Hey guys. We only have a few minutes." DeMarco warned noticing a clock overhead.
"But I just got my food!" Ralph said indignantly stuffing half a burrito in his mouth immediately after he spoke.
"Palmer hates people that are late. Best not to get on her bad side early." Thorne added to which Paul nodded.
"We'll catch you later." Madsen said. "Nice to meet you all again."
They left quickly after that and Will tried to enjoy the food as much as possible while hurrying to finish and leave. Majestic was soon swallowed up in a growing crowd of Spartans.
"Done." Will announced as he polished off the last mixture of guacamole and salsa left over from his food with a single chip.
Without any further words Castle stood up and moved quickly back to their rooms. Five minutes later saw them all back in their rooms getting ready with little time to spare. When he unpacked the bodysuit he gave it a few minutes of inspection before trying it on. The bodysuit was made of a nonrigid titanium-based material, making it very strong and yet very flexible. The suit, according to the manual had numerous functions, small but vital to the safety and survival of the wearer. It also served as another layer of protection against ballistics attacks and was coated with a heat-resistant material to disperse heat from plasma weaponry.
Putting it on wasn't too much of an issue and he was amazed at how light and flexible it was compared to the bodysuit he had with his Generation One armor. It was almost another suit of armor in and of itself. Fancy.
"We're cutting it close!" he warned as he stopped admiring it and finished adjusting the suit to where it was comfortable.
"It's not my fault I put this on backwards!" Felix complained from inside the bathroom.
"We're ready Castle One!" Asher yelled from the common room.
"Take the women then and start making your way down." he said exasperated as Hansu finally emerged from his hiding place fully ready with Ralph.
Felix staggered around the corner a moment later.
"Got it!" he panted heavily.
He just sighed and led them out the door.
"Come on, double time it all of you." he said spurring them on.
They broke out into a run and made it to the armor bay in record time. It was filled with Spartans milling around in small and large groups all glad in the same bodysuit. Most of the suits interestingly had patches of color splashed about. They had little time to relax though as they formed up next to the armor area assigned to them when the lights dimmed suddenly.
"Ladies...and other Spartans, welcome to tonight's annual War Games match." said an amplified and enlarged video image of Sarah Palmer that projected itself on several walls.
"The Captain and I wish to commend you all on your action today on Cryptum. You all performed admirably and have our thanks. That being said our training never stops."
William caught sight of her on the far end near the door leading out to the mess hall. She was standing on an elevated observation area with a spotlight trained on her.
"Tonight it is my pleasure to introduce to us some new blood."
A loud chorus of whoops and cheers met this announcement as many of the Spartans looked around.
"You know the drill." she continued.
Several spotlights flashed to life blinding Will. He was standing in the middle of one of them. Closer to Palmer another set flashed to life and illuminated Fireteam Rapier standing nervously looking out of place.
"Poor kids." Chelsea whispered.
Will felt the eyes of all upon him and his group. What exactly did she have in mind for tonight?
"Please welcome Fireteam Castle and Fireteam Rapier."
Applause broke out but Will didn't know whether to believe it to be genuine or not.
"Fireteams Castle and Rapier have an outstanding record, let's see if that's true. Tonight it's every man and woman against these two teams. Your job is to survive as long as possible."
Will blanked.
"What?!" hissed Hansu and Brittany simultaneously.
"Oh no..." Chelsea groaned.
Will despite himself, began to smile and laugh quietly.
Brief extract from the Journal Spartan Kevin-G097
My team and I froze as the spotlight shined down upon us and Palmer delivered upon us our "death sentence". The spotlight was still adding to our discomfort because we were not in anyway social people, conforming to the 'loner' group more than anything else. There were now a fair number of eyes on us, some of their owners were grinning or smirking and one of the men was cracking his knuckles in an attempt to scare us.
We were not impressed with their antics or Palmer's plans for us.
Michael was staring Commander Palmer straight in the face, as if daring her to come down here and take us herself. Julianne was shifting her feet, unsure what to do. Sophie was staring at the other team, Castle. They like us were in a similar position. Emil's face and body were one of complete calm and tranquility, a snipers gift, she had told me once.
"Numbers?" I asked as Palmer began lecturing to us on why this was supposed to help us.
"Us or them?" Julianne replied.
"Them. Who else?"
"Well last I checked this boat carries almost 350 SIV's. If we split up then that's roughly still 175 or so for us and 175 for Castle. Why? whatya thinking?"
"We hide, let them come and wait for them to pass, then we jump them." Michael ever the brawler appeared to protest but I continued before he could speak. "We can't win in a straight up fight so we've got to play dirty."
"Meaning?" Sophie asked.
"Meaning we rig our position with explosives, IV's come in and try to kill us while we're a safe distance away, then boom." I said. "Julianne how long can we stay hidden with invisibility? What's the timer?"
"Around thirty seconds if we move, a little longer than that if we're still...I like where this is going, boss."
"Hey, what if they can somehow disable camouflage?" Emily asked.
"What? Of course they can't. We kept our SPI armor remember?" I said dismissing her fears. We also get a ten minutes head start according to what I heard that guy Dalton say." I said as I looked past the throng of Spartans at our competition. Specifically their team leader. William's face was unreadable except for the trace of a smile. Otherwise he was stoic and looked like a Spartan in every fashion.
"They only thing that worries me is how they have a three person advantage over us." Julianne said hesitantly.
"Numbers are not the key here." I replied.
"But if it comes to surviving the longest don't you think they have the advantage?"
"Not necessarily. Its easier to hide five than eight."
"And if we can hide out for longer-"
"Castle will have to be bait for this to work. We can make them the bait right?" Sophie interjected, piping up. I nodded. "Do we tell them?"
"Nah. That takes the fun out of it!" Michael replied excitedly.
"You are something else, Michael." Emily muttered.
"I know, and you love me for it."
"Shut up."
"Answering Sophie's question." I stated flatly. "No. We're trying to win here. Why would we want to help them?"
With our conversation dead for the moment, Palmer's voice interrupted us again.
"In a real firefight you can often be the last man standing for extended periods of time. This is designed to test how well you work as a team against overwhelming odds."
I swore she smirked at us.
"What an *******." Emily muttered. She had let her feelings about the Spartan IV's be well known to the entire team, she especially disliked the arrogant attitude their officers and team leaders, like Palmer, displayed.
"And just because I'm nice I'll separate Rapier and Castle. You will all be on the same board but you are to stay in the general location of where you are assigned for the first ten minutes. All new Spartans are to report to the armory for weaponry and then to the War Games room at once. You will have a ten minute headstart once you enter. Good luck.
She turned around and exited and the lights came back on.
"Don't let her catch you saying that kid." one of the Spartans next to us called out.
Emily's face angrily flushed but I stretched out a hand.
"Come on guys. We prove ourselves tonight and nobody will be callin' us kids anymore." I said. "And with any luck we'll even beat out Castle."
And there you have it. One more chapter completed. Thanks for your chapter will see War Games action! Fun, for everyone involved right?
As an author's note I would invite you to pay attention to the new characters introduced, they'll become a lot more important as time goes on and this story progresses. I certainly hope some of you keep noticing the Easter Eggs I'm blatantly dropping.
I took several liberties with how this chapter was crafted as far as artistic license for the Infinity. The entire dorm block for the Spartans is based on a piece of concept art used in the Halo 4 Commissioning Trailer.
It's good to be back. I hope you feel likewise.
If you have any suggestions, plot elements, characters, organizations, and general storytelling twists that you would like to suggest feel free to drop a PM off. I'm already working on including some new ideas from one awesome individual. Reviews are appreciated.
Before I sign off I must as always thank partner, contributor, editor, soundboard, and best-est friend ever gwb99 for his work in my writing.
Yours in writing,
theotherpianist