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Spartan 062 (Chapter 1)
Date: 17 January 2008, 7:45 am
This story is seven pages single spaced on a MS Word. I don't know if it is too long, so you have been warned.
The Spartan II program began in 2517 with the monitoring of 150 children of identical ages. These children were all considered to be smarter, faster, and stronger than any of the other children of the same age. Though 150 were monitored, only 75 were "chosen" to become Spartan II soldiers as part of the UNSC. At age six, they were taken from their homes and sent to Reach, headquarters of the UNSC Marines, to begin basic training. They were continually drilled in battle tactics, formations, weaponry, science and mathematics in order to become the ultimate soldiers. Throughout their training, the children became attached to each other, creating a bond much like brother and sister. When one fell behind, others stepped in, when another excelled, the others caught up. They all worked, lived, and fought as a perfect team.
Even in these extreme training circumstances, each Spartan soldier had their own quirks and or traits that defined their individuality. In the case of Spartan-062, Maria, had one thing about her that would be considered both strength and a weakness. She cared about people. Though she tried to suppress this early on in her training, signs of her compassion still leaked out towards her team mates. Three other Spartans: Kyle, Amy, and Shelia took an immediate liking to her and the four become close friends. They survived Chief Mendez's grueling training for seven years, but the next phase of the Spartan II project was one of the hardest things Maria had to experience.
At age 14, the children were given a series of physical augmentations to further enhance their abilities. However, this augmentation came with a high price. Thirty Spartans died in the process and twelve more were physically and or mentally damaged to continue active duty. As a result, they were reassigned to military strategy positions in ONI, utilizing their minds in tactics and battle formations. Kyle and Amy were not even fortunate enough to even be reassigned. Their bodies were cremated along with the other Spartans who died in the process and jettisoned into space. Maria let out painful cries inside, though her face remained emotionless, as she and her fellow Spartan brothers and sisters saluted the canisters of their comrade's ashes floating away in space. As a result of the remaining Spartan's augmentation, their bodies underwent radical changes. They had the physique of an Olympic athlete, stood taller than most enlisted soldiers, noticed significant changes in their visual perception, and seemed physically indestructible with their muscle mass and unbreakable bones.
Several months later, they received the final phase of the Spartan-II program that would be able to defeat a new impending threat to not only the UNSC colonies, but to the entire human race. A new prototype exoskeleton suit called MJOLNIR. The suite was unlike any other type of standard armor. It had its own power system allowing it to move along with its user via neural implants causing a dramatic increase in strength, speed and reflexes. Because of this, no normal human would be able to handle the system without sustaining life threatening injuries. The modern versions of the suits were specifically designed for the Spartans because they were the only ones who could function in them with perfection. When Maria realized how much the suit amplified her already super human abilities, she became convinced that with this suit she could protect any one and anything. And for eleven years of combat with flawless success, she was right.
New Harmony, UEG Capitol City
November, 30, 2536: 1615
"Hold still, I know this is going to sting, but suck it up," a medic yells to an injured marine. The two sit in what use to be the restaurant of a converted hotel, now serving as an apartment complex. The bar covers them and other wounded soldiers from the recent Covenant attack, though there are so many wounded, it is almost impossible not to trip over someone. The marine reaches into an exposed shelf and grabs a bottle of alcohol. He takes a big gulp of the brown liquid and grits his teeth. The medic pulls off the marines forearm armor along with a layer of protective clothing and burnt on flesh. He holds his jaw shut while trying to muffle any sign of screaming. He slowly opens his eyes with the dulling acid pain just in time to see a enormous green suite of armor walk past. He had heard rumors about a green super soldier; one was said to have taken out an entire Covenant platoon single handedly, but nothing more than that.
"The civilians are in the second basement," says the squad's sergeant as he tries to keep up with the armored Spartan. "Covenant forces were literarily meters away from the barrier, but thanks to you two," the sergeant's voice trails off.
"Shelia," says Maria, "guard the front, I'll check the civilians."
The two walk down the emergency stair way with the sergeant still talking, "I mean, wow. I've never seen anyone fight like that before. There were, like, four Covenant all around you, and then, I don't know how, but you managed to kill all of them without even taking a hit. Truly amazing."
"You haven't been a sergeant for very long, have you Evers?" replies Maria.
"Uh, no, ma'am. Officially it's been almost," he counts on his fingers, "twenty hours since our last sergant was KIA." The two walk over the corps of three Elites when they get to the second basement. "Oh," the sergeant remembers about the civilians. "We cut though the first layer of the fallout shelter, but that's about it. We ran out of cutting plastic and well, frankly, we are out of ideas. We don't want to risk of injuring anyone inside, so explosives are out, and we still don't know how to work the Covenant's weapons yet to be completely accurate." Maria steps up to the doors and knocks at the base and works her way up, checking for any differences sound. "These shelters were designed back when the only thing humans had to worry about was nukes, but recently they added an extra layer of protection to hold off Covenant plasma fire, at least for a while." The eight foot double doors were charred and had long burn streaks around its base and top. A hollow sound is herd in the middle of the bottom door, just below the line where the vertical sliding doors meet. She takes a step back and kicks the spot she tapped. An indentation gives her just enough room to give her fingers a firm grasp. She forces the top of the door up causing the gears to spark and smoke. They finally giving out as the doors are sucked back up into the ceiling and the bottom half into the floor.
Inside is a group of fifty civilians, mostly women and children. They all back away from the entrance at the sight of the Spartan. The seven foot figure seems as alien as the Covenant; Maria raises a hand and the civilians flinch backwards. She reaches behind and pulls of the helmet. The civilians ease from their tension when they see a human face underneath the suit of armor. "It's ok, my name is Maria, and we are here to rescue you." Her hair is short and shaved to a quarter of an inch and her skin is almost a ghost white making her black eyebrows and hair stand out even more. "Let's go," she says putting her helmet back on.
The civilians begin to walk out and Maria opens a COM channel. "This is Spartan 062 to Foxtrot 338. Last of the civilians are located and are ready for dust off at position 008-232."
She hears static through the COM channel, "Roger, Foxtro….8 en ro…"
"In need of additional transport, there are multiple wounded."
"Ro….call sig…. Ec…494….mma 526 en route to…"
"Say again 338, re-state call signs."
"Cal…Echo 4…nd Gam….26."
"Roger, waiting for dust off."
Maria signs off from the COM channel and feels a small taping on her thigh. A small boy wipes his bright red face. Tears create little breaks in the blackened dirt smudges on either side of his face.
"I-I-I lost my mom," he says. "Have y-y-you seen her?"
Maria kneels down on one knee and studies his face. After a moment, "I'm sure she was in one of the other bunkers," she says.
"No, she wasn't. I w-was the last-t one in, and she was b-b-behind me."
"Maybe she is in the dining hall. We already cleared out the other bunkers and checked the upper stories for anyone else, so she must be with the others."
"Really? You think so?"
"Yes"
"O-Ok," he wipes his face, smiles at her and then runs off.
She walks out of the basement and up back up the stair well to get a better signal. "This is Blue leader calling Red leader."
"This is Red leader, Go ahead Maria."
"All civilians have been successfully secured and are waiting for dust off."
"Roger that. We are at the Covenant gravlift and our Furry Nukes are ready to go. Just got wait for them to get in the ship."
"Transport is on the way for wounded and civilians. Ready to go whenever you are."
"Roger, Red leader out."
She felt uneasy about her operation. There was light opposition to the ground forces and in only one wave, but not just at this location, the entire city was the same way. Something was going to happen. The Covenant never took prisoners and they don't stop until every human is destroyed. Red team hadn't received any major opposition either, so what's going on?
At dining hall entrance, the little boy who stopped her earlier ran up to Maria. "My mom isn't here," he cried.
"Ok, just calm down. I'll see what I can do." She looks at the sergeant that was with her earlier, "Sergeant Evers," she calls out. "Has any one picked up any one else from the upper floors?"
"Yes, ma'am. There were a few on every floor. No one is up there now except for massive casualties; probably all the people who couldn't get to a shelter."
"Is there any possibility that there could be other survivors?"
"Maybe," he pauses for a moment, "there were a couple of people who had some serious shell shock, so some might still be hiding."
She kneels down, "Where is your home?" she asks the boy.
"The, uh uh, it's uh…." he studiers.
Maria snaps her fingers focusing his attention. "Just, calm down. Where is your home?" she asks again.
The boy takes a breath and focuses. "Fifteenth story, uh, room seven."
The two drop ships land outside the main entrance, kicking up dust clouds. She brings up her COM channel again, "Spartan 062 to Foxtrot 338; Echo 494 and Gama 526 arrived at checkpoint. What is your status, over."
"This is Foxtrot 338, ETA ten minutes, over," says a young male voice over the much clearer channel. "Roger that," Maria switches cannels, "Shelia, form up."
The other Spartan jogs up to her position.
"There is a problem. This boy has lost his mother; and there is a possibility that other civilians could still be on the upper floors. Foxtrot will be here soon."
"How high up are we talking?"
"Top story."
"Bet you can't beat me." Shelia had always been slightly faster and stronger than Maria, sparking many competitions between the two.
"Sergeant Evers," yells Maria. "There might be more survivors. Get everyone out of here when Foxtrot arrives. No exceptions. If we find any more people, we will send them down."
"Ma'am," he salutes.
She looks down at the boy, "What's your name?"
"Tom," he replies.
"Lets find your mother, Tom," extending her free arm. She picks him up with ease and runs into across the restaurant into the residential stair well.
Atop the stair well, Shelia moves her MA5B though the cracked opening in the door. Peering though the empty darkness, she sees bodies along the floor, blood in on the walls and scorch marks from Covenant plasma fire. The civilians were strewn about all over the hall way with burn marks, holes, and missing limbs; men fell on top of women with charred flesh, women on top of the children, and even the children had burnt skin and holes. There was no mercy for these people, it was a complete slaughter. She glances back at Maria and Tom and then goes though the door, stepping lightly over a corps. Maria slings her MA5B over her shoulder and presses Tom's head into the black mesh underneath her helmet and above her chest plate. He wraps his arms around her neck, leaving her right arm free to grab her M6G magnum.
Shelia flicks on her light and looks to her left and right, finding only the same stillness from when they entered. The two hug the wall and walk front and back scanning the dark circular hallway.
"This is it," says Shelia stopping in front of Tom's door. She swings around the entrance and peers through the partly opened door. There are three more bodies in the front entrance, two women and a man with burnt clothing charred flesh. Shelia pries the door open with her free hand and steps over the bodies. Maria follows behind with Tom still wrapped around her neck.
The apartment is neat and organized with a table for four in the middle dining room. A single pane glass window covers the entire wall giving a view of the city limits and several highways that disappear into dense foliage. In the distance, about ten kilometers, is a Covenant Battle cruiser projecting a thin purple beam. Inside the dining room, Shelia sweeps her assault rifle up the steps and up to the second level. Maria levels her magnum around to a lowered entertainment room spotting a woman sitting on a couch clutching her knees to her forehead part moaning and part sobbing. Her faded red, single piece dress is soaked from her tears and has tattered edges along the bottom, while the white long sleeve shirt has patches of dirt and dried blood. Holstering her magnum to her thigh, Maria taps Tom's shoulder and lowers him to the ground.
"Mom!" he yells.
Tom's mother looks up with a red face, blinks for a moment and wipes her eyes. "Thomas!" she yells getting up to hug him. "Oh God, I thought I lost you. After we got separated, I didn't know what to do."
"It's ok, mom. These people helped me find you," says Tom pointing to Maria.
"Oh," she stands politely at the massive suite of armor. She looks up and down at the Spartan, speechless.
"Mom, it's ok, she isn't going to hurt us."
"She?"
Maria had always been stared at in uncomfortable
ways ever since her augmentation. When she received the MJOLNIR armor, it made her seem less human, and even less feminine. She clears her throat, "Ma'am, we need to get to the main lobby. There is a drop ship coming in to pick us-"
A loud rumble shakes though the room. Maria turns and sees a blinding flash that soon fades showing an enormous mushroom cloud making its way up to the hovering Covenant Battle Cruiser, though the cloud stops just short of the ship. The faint traces of pink from the gravity lift start to flicker as do the thousands of individual lights lining the hull. Just as the lights and gravity lift give out, the shark like ship split in half with a blinding light. Her helmet polarizes in time to see two massive halves of the battle cruiser fall to the ground.
"Red leader to Blue leader," crackles though
Maria's COM.
"This is blue leader."
"Target is destroyed, we are returning to base," Red leader pauses, "wait, we are being tailed, something big is coming."
In the distance, trees rustle and part as if something was creating a furrow in the dense foliage. A shine of deep metallic purple catches Marias eye. The single highway leading into the wooded area is littered with empty cars. Two Warthogs race out of the forest along the broken highway with both gunners firing into the trees. A glowing green aura comes from the tree tops, and then a blue green beam shoots out just missing the two Warthogs. What could be best described as a mechanized insect exposes itself from the foliage. Its four massive legs pulverize cars and make spider web craters with each step, and underneath the mechanical spider follow a myriad of dark blue purple bulky and rounded vehicles, shooting out white blue plasma mortars, and those are followed by smaller and faster deep pink counterparts. The two Warthog gunners focus their attention on the ground threat and pepper the speedy Ghosts. More movement from the other highways leading out of the city shows more covenant forces flooding the city. Even formations of Banshee fly in to the city.
"We have visual, Red leader. Head to checkpoint three, dust off is en route." Maria switches COM channels, "Foxtrot 338, what is your status, over."
"We are on your position now, ready for dust off in a few moments," the roar of the pelican's engines vibrates the windows as Foxtrot circles around the apartment.
"Roger that, Red team is en-route to our location, and are coming in hot." Maria turns to Tom's mother, "We have to get to the main lobby."
"No, I can't go back out there," she panics.
"Listen there is no other way, we have to go now."
"They'll be waiting for us; they'll kill us, all of us."
Shelia runs up behind Maria, "Get down!" she yells grabbing the back of Maria's suit throwing her back into the dining room. She grabs both Tom and his mother and pushes off the floor as a neon blue green beam of plasma vaporizes half of the room. The beam arches down into the lower levels, cutting a perfect hole though the entire complex, causing the cylinder building to lisp for a moment.
Maria shakes her head, blinking her vision back from the blinding white. She sits up holding her head, "What the hell was that?"
"Scarab," replies Shelia shaking off rubble. "I think it was trying to target Foxtrot," she looks down at Tom and his mother covered by Shelia's body, "you two ok?"
"Oh my god, oh my god, we're dead, we're dead," mumbles the mother.
"Mom, we're not dead, mom, mom," pleads Tom.
Shelia punches the floor next to the mother's head creating a small indentation, "Listen lady, if you stay here, you will die. But if you keep this up, I'll knock you out myself and drag you out of here."
Maria activates her COM channel, "Foxtrot 338, status, over."
Her radio crackles, "Did you see that? That plasma beam skewered the apartment," she hears voices in the background, "Go, go, go." Foxtrot yells back, "I know, I know, we're leaving now." His radio pops again, "Damn, these Covenant are coming out of the wood works."
"Roger that," she glances though the hole, "relocate to the roof, prepare for dust off."
"Foxtrot out."
Maria kneels down, "We're going now. Tom, you're with me, Shelia, carry his mother."
Shelia nods and reaches for the mother but the she knocks her hand away, "I'll be fine. I'll go with you."
Tom sits on Maria's arm and Shelia pushes a wall of rubble out of the way exposing the door. They make their way out into the hallway with a now exposed flaming trench from the scarab's shot; they circle around and find another exit into the stair well. The three run as fast as the mother up one level to the roof. They slam through the door, and hear the howl of three circling Banshees. Shelia levels her assault rifle at one of them, but doesn't fire. They stay close to the wall trying to present a small target. The three banshees break their circular formation and start diving to the four. Shelia opens fire at the nearest target, just as a missile slams into the first Banshee, blowing it to pieces in an orange explosion and throwing parts of the pilot though the air.
The Pelican opens fire with its chain gun and fires another missile at the other Banshee. The chain gun punches multiple holes into the Banshee's hull sending it tumbling out of the air in a smoking heap. However the remaining Banshee pulls a back flip, evading the missile.
"Move!" says Shelia running towards Foxtrot.
A stream of blue green plasma from the Scarab below shoots past the Pelican and it swerves around the stream. Shelia grabs Tom's mother and makes a dash over to the drop ship that circled around to the opposite side of the plasma fire. The back hatch opens showing the four Spartans from Red team and several Marines. Maria follows Shelia but then stops when a hail of blue plasma bolts pepper the ground between the two. One remaining banshee sets its sights on Shelia and Tom's mother, ceasing its plasma fire for a moment and then angles the front up. A green bolt shoots out of the bottom of the Banshee. She pushes Tom's mother away and jumps in the opposite direction. The torpedo rips the floor apart with an explosion of pale green, scattering bits of white hot metal fragments.
Maria set Tom down and swings her MA5B, unloading a full clip into the purple Banshee while strafing over to Shelia. Tom's mother struggles to push herself up only to collapse screaming. Maria reloads and looks over her shoulder at the mother, the bottom half of her dress is torn to pieces and left leg is bleeding after catching fragments of the explosion. Tom runs up to her and tries to pull her towards the awaiting Pelican just as another Spartan jumps out with a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. The Spartan takes aim and fires both rockets at the banshee; the first hits the left wing, causing it to spin and role into the second rocket, exploding into a ball of yellow and amber.
The Spartan reloads "Blue one and two, move it." He starts walking up to Tom then stops. Though the hole from the Banshee's shot and through the first Scarab shot, he sees the Scarab charging for a third shot. Maria feels the floor rumble and looks up as another green blue stream of plasma cuts though the building and shoots up from the middle of roof. The beam arcs down towards the Spartan and the Pelican, "Foxtrot, break left!"
Maria's helmet polarizes to compensate for the burning plasma as it moves closer to Tom and his mother and finally consumes both of them. The passing beam of plasma stops leaving another white hot hole, making opposite half of the building bend away until it finally snaps and crumbles to the ground in a massive tower of smoke and dust.
Collapsing to her knees, Maria sits in a daze staring at the place Tom had once been. Feeling like she was hundreds of meters away, Shelia's faint voice yells at her to get into the Pelican. Her heavy legs and arms move sluggish under an unfamiliar weight, something Maria hasn't felt in so many years. Even though her body was running towards the Pelican, she felt as if it was more out of reaction. Her stomach churned and her head spun, but still she moved forward. Looking back at the red hot strip of burnt metal where Tom and his mother sat made her trip and fall to one knee. Dots of water drip over all over the inside of her helmet; she stands and continues the short distance. Shelia and Red leader lift her into the Pelican.
Maria slumps into the nearest seat and looks out of the back hatch, staring blankly into the remaining half of the apartment building as it become smaller. The back hatch closes and she feels her weight shift as the Pelican speeds upwards into space. She blinks and sees her vision blur again, so she takes off her helmet and wipes her eyes with two fingers. It stings slightly when she rubs them.
Shelia sits next to her; Maria rubs her face and puts her helmet back on.
"It was out of your control."
"I know," she clinches her fist.
"The mission was a success," announces Red leader. "We successfully evacuated over ninety eight percent of the civilians and staled the Covenant forces long enough to make an effective stop to their ground advancements on New Harmony even though we loss of the city."
Maria remembers the de-briefing. Red team was to destroy the Covenant vessels while Blue team evacuates the city and keep Covenant forces within the city limits. Once both teams were evacuated, a formation of battle ships would destroy the city from orbit. Both teams had done their job, but despite the numbers, despite stalling of the Covenant, all of it, it still was a failure to Maria. If she hadn't let go of Tom, if she didn't fire on that Banshee, if she moved them into the Pelican faster, they all would be alive. She wouldn't let it happen again. Ninety eight percent isn't good enough; it has to be one hundred percent, maybe even more. There has to be even more that she can do to prevent something like this from happening again.
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