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Spartan IV by Master Chief Spartan-117
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Spartan IV #1 : We Regret To Inform You
Date: 14 July 2005, 5:06 pm
We Regret To Inform You
"LZ is hot, advise mission abort! I repeat grid Tango-31 is hot!"
"Here that marines?! Looks like they came to us! Now lets give em' what they came for!"
"Yes Sir Sergeant Durson!"
The marines of Sigma Company had been fighting the Covenant on Xerxes III non-stop for the past four weeks. This was to be their last mission before falling back to ONI Section Three's CASTLE II base on Sanction. Not that they wanted to. Sigma Company's leader, Sgt. Durson, wasn't exactly held in high regards by the spooks at Section Three. Sigma Company would prefer to spend a year fighting the Covenant on Xerxes III then have to face Section Three in a briefing room. They were curious about the Spartan IV project at CASTLE II, but not enough to want to go to ONI's fortress. As a matter of fact they wouldn't even talk about it for fear that that slime; Colonel Asimov would think they knew too much and permanently silence them.
"We're at the LZ. Everyone off. Now! Now! Now!" shouted Sgt. Durson as he and the rest of Sigma Company jumped out of the Albatross drop ship. "Neil, Vasquez, and Robertson, take the 'Hog and flank those split lips! The rest of you, with me!"
Sigma Company's Warthog was no ordinary Warthog. Instead of a gauss cannon or a chain gun, PFC Neil, the company's mechanic, had mounted a captured Shade in the back, a modified Jackhammer launcher had been mounted next to the passenger seat, and mounted in the front were two LRAC's or Light Rapid Assault Cannons. Smaller versions of the chin guns mounted on Pelicans. To top it all off long spikes were mounted to the front and rear bumpers.
"Grenade" someone yelled. Suddenly the soldier next to Durson erupted in a blue ball of fire. Suddenly it was quiet. "Where are they" asked Corporal Jones, the company's demolition specialist.
"Use your head marine, they're camouflaged. Alright people I want five seconds of continuous fire, then light up those alley ways with grenades. They came for something, so let's give it to them!"
Gunshots echoed everywhere as Sigma Company turned the streets and alley ways around them into smoldering piles of rubble, blood, and Covenant bodies. An Elite's shield generator exploded on his back. Another's armor was melted onto his body by Jones's MB393 flame thrower. Once the marines of Sigma Company were sure they had completely turned every elite within five city blocks into the equivalent of melted Swiss cheese, they turned to Sgt. Durson for orders on what to do next.
"Now that's what I call an honest-to-God turkey shoot!" said Durson. "Now that the Covenant know we're here, getting those access codes is going to be a lot harder. Brayton, Cosenza, Abelar, and Recchia. You guys are Blue Team. Your job is to try to get the Covenant away from the museum long enough for us to steal the codes. Pedroza, Jones, Hirano, Morente, and I are Red Team. We're going to infiltrate the museum and take back the codes. Provided Blue Team can keep the Covenant distracted long enough, this should go off without a hitch. And Brayton, your Blue Leader. Feel free to use those HAVOK tactical nukes."
"But Sir, what about Neil and the others? Are we just going to leave them behind?" asked Cosenza
"If we didn't see them back in that firefight earlier then I don't expect we'll se them again. Hopefully they're not dead and will follow order by picking us up in front of the police station. Otherwise, we'll have to fight our way back to the drop ship." replied Sergeant Durson.
Sigma Company's mission in the Xerxes system was to find and retrieve an AI memory cube that was stolen by the Covenant. The AI in the cube had access codes that ONI so desperately needed that they sent in Sigma Company to retrieve the cube no matter the cost or time required for such a dangerous mission. The only reason the Covenant hadn't been able to access the cube was a fail-safe designed to detonate the fifty kilotons of explosives incasing the cube if it was accessed anywhere but at CASTLE II Base. Normally a mission in the Xerxes system would be relatively easy due to the large number of UNSC ships in the area but a massive Covenant fleet had exited slip space in the middle of the system. Strangely and much to the disadvantage of the UNSC, the Covenant ships had cloaking devices. Therefore they destroyed the UNSC battle cluster around the system from the inside out. Oddly enough, they didn't glass a single planet. Instead they sent thousands of troops to each planets surface. Sigma Company had been too every planet in the system and now they ended up on Xerxes four and a half months after their mission had started. The ship they had taken into the system, the Prosecutor, had been badly damaged and might not get them to Sanction.
One hour, twenty minutes later, Red Team was right under the museum where the Covenant were keeping the AI cube.
"Jones, use the arc cutter to give us a way in. As soon as he finishes the hole, everyone fire your grappling hooks up the hole. Once we're in use hand signals only. If you have to shoot then make sure you're silenced and don't use anything explosive without my orders." whispered the Sergeant.
Jones finished putting a hole in the sewer roof and removed a circular section of it. It opened into a dimly lit room with a couple of crates and chairs folded in the corner. Red Team fired their LD55 grappling hooks systems into the ceiling if the room above, then pulled themselves through. When they got to the top, there weren't any Covenant in the room. It didn't look like there were any outside the room either. Durson held up two fingers and pointed to one side of the door, then the other. Hirano and Morente moved to one side of the door, Jones and Pedroza did the same thing on the other side. Durson fired down the hall way with his silenced HPAR31 rifle. There was a muffled thump and an elite appeared. He fell to the ground with a soft thud. Durson motioned for the rest of blue team to follow. As they crept down the hall Sgt. Durson noticed the dead elite looked different. He couldn't quite place his finger on it but he thought the armor looked different. "Oh well" he thought. "Times a wastin'" As they entered the next room he noticed smudges in the air. Camouflaged elites.
"Open fire, they know we're here! Screamed Durson. The elites were hit with hundreds of rounds each yet did not fall. As the elites fired back Pedroza was hit in the left arm by a plasma bolt.
"Agh, crud that hurts. I'm gonna kill you scaly freaks!" Pedroza unloaded his rifle into the elite that shot him. Still the elite did not fall. Morente threw a plasma grenade and it stuck to the elites head. Three seconds later it detonated. The elite was on the ground but not dead. Half of his face had been blown off and he lay there in a pool of his own purple blood. Pedroza walked over to where the elite lay and emptied his clip into the elite's mouth and it died.
Once Red Team finished of the rest of the elites they moved on to the room containing the AI cube. Suddenly the walls on either side of them exploded inward. A hunter stepped through on both sides and moved to guard the cube in the center of the room. A small plasma turret on a platform was mounted to each hunter's back. Standing on the platforms were black armored grunts firing the turrets. Plasma impacts splashed all around Sgt. Durson and the rest of Red Team. Hirano aimed his Jackhammer launcher at one of the hunters but it only destroyed the platform on the hunter's back. The hunter roared and charged at Hirano barely missing him and crashing into the wall. Jones's MB393 made short work of the first hunter but the second still had the plasma turret on it's back. Durson silently crept up behind the hunter, jumped onto the platform and ripped off the grunt's methane rig. The rig spewed methane everywhere, including on the hunter. Jones ignited the methane with his flamethrower and both the hunter and grunt were engulfed in flames.
"And now for the prize" said Durson. He walked up to the pedestal in the center of the room on which the cube and fifty kilotons of high explosive sat. "Morente, you carry the cube. Everyone else form up around him. Now lets get out of here."
Red Team made their way to the front of the building only to see mass chaos in front of the museum. Hundreds of grunts, jackals, and a few elites all fired down a street in front of the building. They didn't notice Red team running through there midst and if they did they did nothing about it. Suddenly a warthog came flying to the street. It was Blue Team! But it was Neil's warthog. Red Team ran over to where the hog' stopped.
"Brayton, where's Neil and his team?" asked Durson
"We found them when we were trying to draw the Covenant away from the museum. They're bringing the drop ship. We're supposed to wait here till he picks us up. We wired five HAVOKs in the sewers around this part of the city. We wired them to a single detonator with a voice code to activate the five second countdown." Replied Brayton. Sigma Company held of the Covenant until the Albatross drop ship arrived.
"Good to see ya Sarge" said Robertson.
"Neil! You're late!" shouted Sgt. Durson as he and the rest of Sigma Company boarded the Albatross drop ship. Once they were safely in the air Durson gave the order to detonate the five HAVOK Tactical nukes placed around the museum area of New Cote De Azur.
PFC Abelar picked up the detonator and entered the voice code "Let's blow this popsicle stand." Sigma Company saw five huge blossoming balls of fire as most of the city was engulfed in flames. Ironic that New Cote De Azur should share the same fate as that of old Cote De Azur; Only on a much larger scale.
"Welcome aboard Sigma airlines. This is your captain speaking. ETA at the Prosecutor in three minutes. As soon as we dock report to cryo bay 7B for cryogenic freezing. Once all non-flight personnel are frozen we will enter slip space and begin voyage to ONI Section Three's CASTLE II Base on Sanction in an uncharted system. Slip space voyage to Sanction estimated to be one day, six hours, and thirty three minutes. Thank you and have a nice flight.
One day, two hours, and thirty three minutes later Sigma Company had been revived from cryo sleep and were preparing for there arrival at Sanction. Once they docked they exited the Prosecutor only to find a heavily armed escort waiting for them. The AI cube was put into a heavily armored tank-like truck. Sergeant Durson and the rest of Sigma Company were blind folded and led into the back of a pelican drop ship. Once their blind folds were removed they were sitting in a dark room with what in the dim light appeared to be a table and more chairs in front of them. The lights came on and Sigma Company saw a woman and a man sitting side by side at the far end of the table.
"Welcome to CASTLE II, I am Dr. Lauren Halsley. For those of you who are wondering, Catherine Halsley is my mother. The man to the right of me is Colonel Asimov though I'm sure most of you have already heard of him." We thank you for retrieving the AI cube and I am sure you're curious about what this is." Dr. Halsley inserted the cube into the slot on the table. A holographic image of a lavender woman flickered into life. "This is Cortana. She is a smart AI created by my mother. She has been involved with the Spartan I, II, and III projects. Her remaining operational life span is two and a half years. She has the access codes to release the Mjolnir Mark XII armor suits from the high security vault containing them. Cortana, what is the code?"
"We Regret To Inform You" replied Cortana. Dr. Halsley entered the code on a small nav pad. Two huge vault doors opened behind her. Inside, standing on metal mannequins, were thirty black, green, and silver Mjolnir Mark XII armor suits. Olive green metal alloy layered on matte black with silver lining all the ridges on the armor. There was a full head helmet. Mounted on the left shoulder pauldron was a small, football size missile battery.
Dr. Halsley keyed her personal COM and said "Spartans, you can come in now." Thirty men and women walked into the room. Each one was easily at least six foot five. "Do you like your new armor? The Mjolnir Mark XII. The pinnacle of UNSC engineering."
A team of technicians hurried in and began helping the Spartans don the ¼ of a ton armor. Once the Spartans were fully suited up, to Sigma Company they looked almost as lien as the Covenant. In their armor each Spartan was at least seven feet tall. With the armor and their own biological augmentations they could lift eight times there own weight.
"Well ladies and gentlemen," said Sergeant Durson "looks like we can finally win this war."
To Be Continued
Spartan IV # III: The New Covenant
Date: 14 December 2005, 10:47 pm
"Times are changing."
"The barrier has been breached."
"It is the Interlopers!"
"Nay, we have only time to blame."
"For the sake of what is left, I hope you are not wrong."
The Inner Sanctum of the New Covenant was a massive structure. After the fall of the Prophets, some 15 years ago, the Elites fought the Brutes for control of the original Inner Sanctum but the struggle was abandoned for neither side dared risk anymore attacks by the Flood. The Human Marine known as Spartan- 117 had stopped the activation of Delta Halo with the help of the Twenty Third Blade of the Prophets, also known as the Arbiter. By doing so, the two sides ensured some sort of a treaty. At least a temporary one. When the Brutes left behind on High Charity attempted to crush the Elites in the Battle of Bolvangr, the Humans assisted the Elites with what little help they could muster. Grateful for the help, the Elites reluctantly returned the help by sending ships to repel the Prophet of Truth and his Brutes.
Truth was forced to retreat but the Elites did not pursue his ship. Instead, immediately after the Prophet's retreat, the Elite Commander known as Half Jaw ordered the Sangheili Fleet jump to Slipspace. It is unknown where they went but rumors have surfaced; rumors of a powerful army and a massive armada moving slowly towards the Human Colonies. It known, however, that many of the Elites deserted there positions under the command of Half Jaw and the Arbiter to take up arms with the Prophet. It remains unknown what happened to the Arbiter and his forces.
"Exalted Hierarch, the Thane Roka Oramee just sent word that his fleet is ready."
"Good," replied the Hierarch Jura Kursamee, known to most as Half Jaw. "And the other Thanes; what of their status?"
"They are all ready as well. They await naught but your word to launch." said the Sangheili messenger.
"And is it clear to the Thanes what they are to do?" asked the Arbiter, stepping out of the shadows.
"Ah, Noble Liberator, I knew naught that you would be here. It is an Honor to be graced with your presence." said the messenger, startled.
"The Thanes are aware that they are not to provoke the target; only to let them know of our presence." said Kursamee.
"I hope you are right. We do not want to alienate possible allies. Especially with the revelation of the Tornak Exarun." whispered the Arbiter.
"Tell Thane Oramee to start the launch. I want his fleet in the lead. And tell the Lekgolo Emissary that we accept his offer. I want their ships backing Roka's fleet." ordered Hierarch Kursamee.
Kryn Soramee thought silently to himself as he checked over his blue and silver armor. What if the Hierarchs were wrong? What if they Humans would meet them with hostility? No, he thought, Hierarch Kursamee would not throw away lives. Soramee cursed himself for thinking such thoughts. The New Covenant was more lenient than the Prophets had been but never the less, heresy was not tolerated.
Once Kryn had finished checking his armor for problems he carefully took it if the stand and put it on. He had been promoted to Core Master and he didn't want Lesser Battle Master Yuramee reprimanding him simply because he had a scratch on his new armor. In fact, Soramee wouldn't have even been promoted if it wasn't for the Battle Master. Yuramee had managed to convince the High Battle Master that Kryn deserved it.
As Soramee exited his quarters and walked down the hallway of the Atelier he thought anxiously to himself. Rumor had it that the scientists had developed new weapons. The first time he had seen his Core in combat simulation he could tell they were anxious for something new to kill with. When he reached the Central Hall his Core was waiting for him. They followed him through another door into the armory. To confirm Core Master Soramee's hopes, their were several grey armored Sangheili scientists and three grav-racks projecting beams of energy into the air which held several of the new weapons.
"Core Master Soramee reporting as ordered!" barked Soramee upon entering the room. He slapped his fist against his chest as a sign of respect. The scientists returned the gesture to signal that Soramee and his Core could stand at ease.
"This is our best in special ops weaponry," began one of the scientists, "The Ion Beam, the Photon Launcher, the Electron Plasma Rifle, and finally, our most traditional and honored weapon… the Lipikeu. Far more refined than the crude implement of war and honor we used so long ago"
As Core Master Kryn Soramee and Thirteenth Core were briefed on the new weapons and loaded into the new Phantom rapid drop-carriers to prepare for the upcoming "occupation", far far away in the depths of space three human ships moved slowly towards their massive target.
NOTE: Somehow, this series name no longer exists. The actual Fics are still their but I can't choose this as an existing series.
Spartan IV # 4: Rifles and Real-Estate
Date: 20 February 2006, 6:47 pm
"Captain Gould, we're nearing the target; preparing to exit slipspace in T minus thirty seconds."
"Understood Lieutenant, get the firing technicians ready to charge. I want those guns ready to fire the minute we're out of Slipspace." ordered Captain William Gould. If the Prosecutor encountered resistance once they exited slipspace Gould wanted to be able to meet resistance with several thousand tons of tungsten ferric.
"Yes sir! Ferric or compost shells sir?"
"Load cannons A1 through B3 with the ferric shells. B4 through C12 with compost shots." ordered Gould. The compost shells were made from the original tungsten ferric HE shells which were now obsolete with the invention of a better design. When three hundred of the obsolete shells were packed into the size of one, it made one devil of a shell. Normally, one of the new Orihalcon-class cruisers wouldn't have had more than two or three sets of guns but the Prosecutor had undergone drastic alterations when it was refit at Sanction. An additional set of cannons had been mounted to the top of the ship. Also, the bottom of the ship had been expanded. It held two sets of cannons, more commonly known as MAC racks.
"Exiting slipspace now, Captain!" shouted Lieutenant Yun. Captain Gould barely managed to buckle himself into the command seat as the ship decelerated into normal space.
"Open the plasma converters to the cannons. Don't let the plasma burn out in deceleration. Ensign Berumen, anything that resembles the target on optics?" ordered the captain.
"Nothing sir; wait, I think I'm getting something. There's a dark spot on the radar. Nothing shows up about million kilometers behind us. Switching to aft cameras now." replied the ensign.
As the holo-screen in front of Gould flickered into life, he saw the target… and something else.
"Congratulations crew, we found Twilight's Executor. And a fleet of Covenant cruisers, and let me tell you, they really went all high tech with the paint. Yun, I want firing solutions ten minutes ago! Ensign, switch all available cameras to that fleet. Nichols, it looks like the ship on the far left is the most vulnerable. Flank it." said Gould, his voice rising to a yell.
"Oh god, not again." muttered Master Chief Petty Officer Lance-331. The hostile-proximity-alarm was going off. Again.
"My Thane, the humans have taken the bait. They're moving towards the ghost ships"
"And so the animal chases the shadow." replied Thane Roka Oramee.
"And the boarding parties, are they ready to launch?" asked the Arbiter, from his small, shadowed, alcove in the wall.
"Do not worry Liberator. My Sangheili will not kill anymore than necessary." replied the Thane.
"They will not kill at all!" roared the Arbiter.
"Noble Liberator, do not question me. I don't think the Patriarch sent you to command my fleet! You're not even supposed to be alive! You wouldn't want that secret to accidentally slip now would you?" the Thane roared back.
"If you wish to keep all four of your mandibles then I strongly suggest that you speak of this no more. I'll have you shot for every human killed. Better yet, I'll shoot you; with a Lipikeu." as he finished speaking, he stepped back into the alcove and disappeared into the inter-ship teleporter matrix.
"Remember, you are not to kill any of the humans; even if they attack you. If it is absolutely a necessity, neutralize them, but not fatally." ordered Core Master Kryn Soramee as the Phantom rapid drop ships flew towards the three human ships.
"For the Patriarch!" barked the Thirteenth Core as they slapped their fists against their chests as a salute.
"Captain, sensors indicate multiple Covenant boarding craft on approach."
"Yun, rewrite firing solutions to match the boarding crafts trajectory; hit them about halfway to the ship. Initiate the contact-sensors on the airlock discharge mines. Ensign Nichols, send word to Delta squad and Sigma Company. Tell them to get to the bridge A.S.A.P. I'm initializing the A.I."
"Yes sir!" acknowledged Nichols.
Cerebaton, the ships A.I., was a refined copy of the other A.I. on the ship, Cortana. Essentially, Cerebaton was Cortana with a slightly different personality and a faster processing matrix. With Cerebaton online, the Covenant wouldn't stand a chance.
"Sir, they've somehow disabled the airlock defenses!"
"Damnit Yun, what are you talking about?"
"Sir… I'm not getting any signals from the MAC racks," interrupted Ensign Nichols.
"Then we're defenseless. I want all of you working on those guns! Get the firing systems rebooted! Do anything! Just get our guns running!"
"Captain, should I alert Combat person-"
"Where's the Covenant fleet?"
"What do you mean sir?" asked a puzzled Berumen.
"The Covenant, their ships… their gone." Barely before the Captain had finished talking was he cut off. An Elite faded into visibility behind him. Judging by what he could see in his immediate vision, Gould counted twenty more. No telling how many were behind him; let alone the rest of the ship.
"Before you embark on some desperate attempt to kill some of my Sangheili along with yourself, hear me out; no matter how much you wish not too." It was the Elite behind Gould that had spoken.
"Give me that staff and I'll show you how to be diplomatic!"
"Shut up human. We do not wish to make a bad "first impression". The Thanes had hoped you would listen peacefully, to our message." growled the Elite. He let go of Gould and shoved the Lipikeu into Gould's arms, knocking him into a nav-console. "Now, you have my weapon, kill me if you wish but I guarantee you, my Sangheili will make it quite true that none of your crew will take another step without being pulverized by force bolt."
"Ok Scaly, let's talk. "I'm guessing real-estate?"
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