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Chapter 1
(Note: The Spartans are named after old friends I've met as a tribute to them)
On the small planet Mattie, in the early hours of the morning, when the sun had barely risen and dew was spread on every blade of grass, four warriors waited patiently in hiding. These four were Bryan, Justin, Katie and Charlie; they were the pinnacles of warfare technology. They were Spartan III's.
Bryan, the squad leader, was positioned on the second floor of an office building next to a hole which had been blown out by Covenant artillery, and was right next to a main road leading to the UNSC base. Bryan was a tall Spartan, when in his blood Red armor he was as least seven feet two inches and stronger then anyone else in his squad. He was an excellent leader and was famous for being the best Warthog driver of all the Spartans. Justin was Bryan's second in command and best friend; Bryan knew he could trust Justin with anything, even his life. Justin was a very cheery guy and was always popping one-liners where they were needed; he was also the shortest Spartan in the squad, only six feet eight inches even with his Cobalt armor. He was positioned behind a bunker in an alley across from Bryan's position. Katie was the demolitions expert of the group, even thought all the Spartans knew a lot about every kind of explosive, Katie knew a little extra. She could jerry-rig a bomb or grenade from house-hold equipment faster then anyone else in the Spartan III program. She wore Sage colored and was perhaps the fastest thinker of the Spartans, though all the Spartans were extremely intelligent, Katie could, for some odd reason, process information faster the most Spartans. Charlie was the best sniper in the group, though was not the best sniper of all, which Charlie seriously resented; he didn't like being second best. He wore Yellow armor, but his armor color didn't match usual mood; he was usually very moody, quiet and almost never talked to the rest of the squad, unless it was to talk strategy or an all Spartan meeting. If Charlie ever spoke, it was usually never longer the 1 sentence. He preferred to be isolated and thus, was the perfect sniper. He could effortlessly disappear in to his environment and was almost never found unless he wanted to be, which basically made him the squad's reconnaissance expert.
Bryan was going over the plan in his head for the umpteenth time as he sat in his perch with his trusty M90 shotgun and M19 SSM rocket launcher tucked next to him. As he thought he hunkered deeper into his cover until he was sure no one could see him, removed his several million dollar helmet and began snacking on a ration bar. As far as he could see the plan couldn't go wrong, everything had been planned out and prepared for the Covenant attack. All they had to do was continue waiting. They had been waiting for 3 days. His squad was bored and getting careless, this was bad. Already he had had to tell Katie twice last night that she couldn't jog back to the base for a book. If something didn't happen soon, they would all go up the wall! "Bryan, enemies sighted to the East." Charlie said over the COM as if he was saying the ice cream man was coming around the corner. I should be more careful what I wish for Bryan thought to himself.
Chapter 2
The squad quickly snapped into action; Bryan downed his ration bar and stuffed his helmet back on and sealed it, Katie, who was busy taking her submachine gun apart, put it back together in seconds and Justin, who was listening to heavy metal music he downloaded into his helmet against regulations, turned his tunes off and hefted his heavy rocket launcher with little effort, thanks to his Spartan III strength. "Charlie, how many hostiles do you see?" Bryan asked over the Spartan's private COM. "20-30 Grunts, 12 Elites of various colors, 2 Wraith tanks and Jackals guarding the flanks and rear." Charlie stated as he looked at the phalanx of Covenant troops through his sniper rifle. "Do not, I repeat, do not engage the enemy before I give the signal." Bryan ordered unnecessarily. All the Spartans remembered the plan; Bryan was just making sure their boredom didn't make them forget. "Spartans, do not allow yourselves to be seen until we've sprung the trap, over." Everyone's acknowledgment light flashed. Bryan sunk lower into his hiding spot.
Justin kept his head down, but allowed his head to rise just enough so he could see through the little slot in his barricade. He could hear the hum of the Wraiths' gravity boosters that let it float two feet above the ground. The dark purple tanks were sloped forward at a downward angle, with the plasma launcher on the top of the slope. They could launch a blue ball of plasma the size of a small car, and obliterate anything in the blast radius. Justin tightened his grip on the launcher and set his sight to the corner where the first tank would be passing any minute.
"Detonator…Check. SMG magazine… Check. Grenades… check." Katie carefully checked her arsenal again for the third time. This had to be perfect. She pulled an optic wire out of her pouch and eased it around the corner, linked the wire's transmission to her HUD, and waited. She now had a full view of the main road where the Covenant advance would be coming down. She saw the Wraiths ease, with casual slowness, around the corner and start towards the UNSC building five miles down this road. Katie carefully thumbed open the detonator.
Bryan was very surprised; he had expected a much larger Covenant force. He had been told to prepare for at least five tanks when there were only two. 'Oh well, looks like that's a couple of saved rockets' Bryan thought as he pulled out his launcher and took aim at the first tank. He waited 1.3 minutes for the first tank to get into position, and then gave the order. "Mines go."
Katie pressed the detonator.
The Lotus Anti-Tank mines under the first tank exploded. The shrapnel alone tore the under belly to pieces, causing the plasma power generator to explode. It then, unceremonious, crashed into the pavement, blocking the second tanks advance. "Rockets go." Bryan and Justin fired their rocket launchers at the same time, sandwiching the second mortar tank between two fiery blasts. Bryan and Justin then fired their remaining rocket into the throng of Grunts, causing several to fly through the air, their blue blood smearing the walls of the surrounding buildings. "All Spartans fire at will!!" Bryan yelled into his helmet COM as he tossed the rocket launcher grabbed his shotgun and jumped down from his second story perch, his heel slamming into the back of a confused Elite's neck, killing him instantly. Justin also discarded his empty launcher, leaped over his barricade and opened up with his Battle Rifle. Katie abandoned her cover and charged at the Covenant, firing her SMG. The Grunts, utterly confused and frightened, ran in random directions. But the Elites, too proud to run away, held their ground and fired back with their plasma rifles, carbines and plasma grenades.
"HU-RAH!!" Justin yelled as a three round burst from his Battle rifle hit an Elite in the head after Bryan took down the alien's personal shield with a shotgun at point blank range. Suddenly Justin's shield flared as five nearby Grunts and two Jackals regained their wits and fired with their plasma pistols and needlers, forcing Justin to duck behind a wrecked car while his shields recharged. "I need help over here! They've got me pinned!" Justin yelled into his COM, when suddenly the aliens stopped firing. Justin poked his head out and found his antagonists were all dead, with holes in their heads.
Charlie smiled, which was a rare thing indeed. Charlie went back to work picking off the last of the fleeing Grunts.
Bryan felt a bead of sweat go down his forehead as he struggled to keep the Elite from killing him. He had been tackled by an Elite, a black Spec-ops one no less, and was lying on his back while being strangled by this black enemy kept him pinned to the ground. His breath was getting shorter and blackness was clouding his vision, but Bryan ignored it and focused on throwing his attacker off him. The Special Ops Elite laughed, sensing Bryan's weakening. Suddenly several bullets connect with the Elites side and the force of them threw him off. Bryan rolled out of the way and pulled his M6C Magnum sidearm from his holster, all in one smooth motion. He found himself standing next to Katie, who had her SMG aimed at the Elite's chest. They exchanged looks and opened fire at the same time, Bryan with his Magnum and Katie with her SMG. The stubborn Elite fell before the barrage of bullets and died, emitting a long, echoing scream before he transcended to the great beyond.
Chapter 3
After a through search of the area, where there were several small skirmishes, the Spartan III's grabbed their gear and headed back to base, where their presence was requested immediately. The ride out was better then the ride in because UNSC forces had arrived and destroyed the 2 Covenant Cruisers who had attacked the planet. Once on New Reach, the colony built over the ruins of the UNSC planet Reach, the Spartans were immediately whisked away to a deep underground meeting room. The room was circular, with a stage and holo-projector to show holograms of maps and objects. The four Spartans were seated in front of the stage; where none other then Senior Chief Petty Officer Spartan-104, also known by the first Spartans as Fred, was standing. "Greetings Spartans 295(Bryan), 274(Justin), 197(Katie) and 237(Charlie). You are here because you are some of the best we have." The SCPO said in a low voice. "What you are about to hear is top secret, it will never leave this room until you get to your objective. Understand?" Bryan's Spartans nodded "Good. Some time ago another team of Spartans raided a Covenant held Forerunner structure; they succeeded and found a great amount of data. But this," A hologram of a sun with a long ribbon going around it appeared "is the single most defining piece of data they found. Yes?" Katie had raised her hand. "Sir, what is that?" "The most destructive weapon in this universe." Several eyebrows rose at this. "It is another Halo. A bigger Halo. Much, much bigger." All the Spartan's, especially Fred's, spine tingled. The Halo's were gigantic rings that were in orbit above other planets or gas giants in the case of the first Halo. They had water, oxygen, plants and lots and lot of space; they were each ten thousand kilometers in diameter and 22.3 kilometers thick. However they had all been destroyed, either by the Covenant or Humans, because of what lived on Halo. What lived on all the Halos was the Flood.
The Flood is parasitic life form that comes in three forms: the Infection forms are basketball sized gas balloons with short tentacles, proboscis for stabbing into your neck and advantage in numbers. The Combat forms, which is what you become when the Infection forms infect you, are crazed, mutant, zombie freaks with amazing speed, a powerful melee attack, incredible resilience and almost no brain power. And the Carrier form, which is what the Combat forms turn into when they are destroyed, are slow moving, potato-shaped mobile incubators for more Infection forms. Every Spartan knows about the Flood, they were taught to all Spartans ever since the first Halo/Flood incident, in which Master Chief had had first-hand experience fighting the Flood. But the Fore Runners, the ones who built the Halos and took care of the Flood because their 'survival as a species depended on it', weren't stupid. They knew the Flood was dangerous, so they built a fail-safe; a pulse beam built into all the Halos that could destroy all sentient life with in 25,000 light-years of the ring. Also if one was triggered, all were triggered, destroying all life in the galaxy. With no sentient life to infect, the Flood would starve out.
After a few moments of silence the Spartans got back to business. "This Halo is several hundred times larger then the other Halos. It circles this sun, named Sylvan, in the Zephyr region of the galaxy. Fortunately, the Covenant hasn't found it yet. But that doesn't mean they won't. You need to get there first and destroy it before the Covenant arrives. Is that clear?" Bryan raised his hand. "Sir, how do we take that thing out? We won't have another Pillar of Autumn to blow up." "No, you won't so you'll improvise. Once there you'll need to find a way to blow up this Super Halo and get off. We can only provide one ship, some ODST and one AI." 'Hmmm, I've never worked with an AI before. Could be interesting.' Bryan thought as he rose. "Sir, as squad leader, I'll volunteer to take the AI to the surface. I don't think anyone else here wants something like an AI put in the back of their skull." Actually, none of the Spartans would have minded it if it helped them finish their mission. "What's so wrong with AIs?" A voice over the speakers asked, automatically every Spartan except Fred reached for their side arm that wasn't there; they then scanned the room and, finding no one else there, turned to SCPO Frederic. "Aida! Come out." Fred shouted, seemingly to no one, when suddenly a slender female AI with long hair down to her shoulders appeared on the holoprojector. "Hi!" She said to the Spartans, who nodded back. Fred stepped over next to Aida. "This is Aida. Aida's a valuable asset if used right. Treat her with respect." He turned to Aida. "Are you ready Aida?" "Sure. Let's go." Aida said, just a little sadly. Fred pushed a few buttons and pulled the chip with Aida in it out of the holoprojector and handed it to Bryan, who gulped and inserted it into the slot in the back of his helmet. There was a slight sting and then the feeling that he wasn't alone in his helmet. "You ok?" A voice in his head, Aida, asked. Bryan nodded, in time he would get used to feeling her presence. Bryan turned back to the SCPO, who had one more thing to say. "Your team name will be Alpha squad, and you will be rendezvousing with the team of Spartans who found the Forerunner info, designated Beta squad, at the Super Halo. When you meet them the code phrase you ask is 'Do butterflies fly in the desert?' The answer will be: 'Only cactus quills fly in the desert.' Dismissed."
Chapter 4
One and half weeks later, the UNSC ship Arrowhead arrived in the Zephyr sector. In the dead center of the sector was a star slightly larger then our own, Sylvan, and circling around it was a ring. The ring was just far away enough so it wasn't affected by Sylvain's gravity and heat. And, upon closer inspection, bodies of water, glaciers, forests and plains were dotted all along the inner part of the ring. It was so beautiful and yet so deadly. The Arrowhead made contact with the other ship in this sector, the Powatan, and were told the Spartan team who resided in this ship had already left for the Super Halo. Bryan, his team and 21 ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, but also known as 'Helljumpers') prepared for their descent to the Super Halo's surface. In the main launch bay, all the Spartan's loaded into a Pelican, except for Bryan, who was heading towards the Pelican at Aida's urging. But Bryan spotted an ODST heading for the launch bay next door. He was easy to spot thanks to his black armor and the T shaped visor on his helmet. Bryan stopped him. "Where are you going? All the Pelicans are here." "I'm going to the ODST launch bay. We're going down feet first!" The black clad trooper replied, saluting "Only the best, go the ODST way, sir!" "Oh, really? Stay here for a minute corporal." Bryan ordered as he headed back to the Pelican full of Spartans. "Spartans! Out of the Pelican, let's go!" Bryan yelled over the roar of the Pelican's engines. The Spartans obeyed instantly, though a little confused. The Spartans followed Bryan back to the Corporal's position. "Lead on corporal." Bryan ordered to the surprised Helljumper.
The Corporal led the Spartans to the ODST launch bay. It was a long hall with catwalks between rows of small one-man HEV, or Human Entry Vehicle pods, which looked a lot like coffins with ammo pouches and survival gear strapped to the inside. The marines called this room 'Hell's waiting room'. Almost all of the pods were full, except for four pods at the end of the hall, but a group of ODST was heading towards the remaining pods and the Spartans were too far away to get there in time. Or so it appeared. Bryan bolted towards the group with the speed of a large cat, a red blur to the naked eye. The other Spartans quickly followed suit instantly, keeping pace only a foot and a half behind, and leaving a surprised ODST corporal very confused as to where they were. Bryan appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in between the Helljumpers and the pods. The rest of his squad soon followed. The ODST were surprised so thoroughly that one black-clad warrior jumped backwards a whole foot and bumped into an occupied pod. "We need these HEVs." Bryan said matter-of-factly, the lead ODST stepped forward. "You can't just take our rides! How are we gonna get down?" The leader objected, indicating to his troops. "There's still one Pelican left in the other launch bay. Plus, I'm the superior officer soldier, what ever I say goes." Bryan said calmly, though rather irritated, indicating to the rank on his chest, which read 'Senior Chief Petty Officer'. All the other Spartans were CPO Second Classes. The ODSTs realized this, stood up straight and saluted, "Sorry sir. We'll go find that Pelican." They left without another word.
"Think you were hard enough on him?" Aida asked in his head. Bryan chose not to answer and addressed the Spartans. "Pick a pod and let's go!" Every one scrambled with amazing speed towards a pod, got in and sealed it. Soon, everyone, including the ODST, were all in their own HEVs and the tech crew, who were double-checking the HEVs thrusters, had left. Suddenly Justin piped up on the COM. "Please put your seats and tray tables in their upright and locked positions. Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and, most important of all, hold onto your helmet!" Then the room vented its atmosphere and the large clamps connecting the HEVs to the Arrowhead let the pods fall, one by one.
Bryan shifted in his small pod. It wasn't quite built for his size, but it beat going down in a Pelican any Covenant fool with a gun could shoot at. As the group of pods fell into the Super Halo's atmosphere, the pods inside began to heat up very fast. But thanks to the gel layer in Bryan's Mjolnir Mark VII, he still felt slightly cool, yet not cold. When they were about 30,000 feet up and doing eight Gees, small thrusters activated and slowed them down just enough so they weren't killed on impact. The pods fell one by one and Bryan's teeth shook when he impacted, then Bryan's pod door blew opened and he jumped out and drew his shotgun, ready to take on the Super Halo's challenges.
Chapter 5
"Whoa." Aida said with just a little breathlessness. For as far as Bryan could see, there was nothing but the plain they were on, which had nothing but ankle high green grass. But to Bryan's left he could see the purple majesty of a distant mountain range and behind him was a distant ocean, glittering gold in the noon sun. But what struck Bryan as amazing was the silence all around him, no planes, no cars, not even birds. Nothing moved except the wind, until the other pod's hatches opened with a crash that broke the calm like a sledgehammer breaks sugar glass. But even the serious Spartans and the gung-ho ODST had to stop for a minute and marvel with open mouths at the natural splendor. A sergeant suddenly realized what he was doing and yelled at the marines, "Don't just stand there gaping! The Pelicans are coming and we need to get ready to move! Get everything you can carry!" The other soldiers shook it off and got to work taking bags off their HEVs and placing them in spare pockets and pouches. As Bryan started taking his supplies off, Katie walked up to him, her face and upper torso covered in white gel. "What happened to you?" Bryan asked. "A stupid bottle of disinfectant got too hot and blew up in my face." Katie replied as she wiped more disinfectant off her visor, "Go ahead and laugh, Justin already laughed and I'm pretty sure I saw Charlie snicker with his external speakers turned off." "I won't laugh" Bryan handed Katie a towel from his survival bag, trying to keep a straight face "Here." "Thanks." She accepted the towel and wiped her armor off, then handed if back. Bryan balled the towel up and tossed it back in his survival bag, "No problem." "That was nice of you." Aida said, Bryan just replied, "I know it was."
A few minutes later the Pelicans came, carrying vehicles and equipment. There were three M12 LRV 'Warthogs', three Scorpion MBTs (Main Battle Tanks) and, curiously, one ATV. No one was sure who the ATV belonged to until Charlie stepped up and inserted and turned his key, revving the engine. One Pelicans also contained supplies, which were fastened and strapped to the backs of every vehicle, even Charlie's ATV. Soon, the convoy was ready with three people to each Warthog, one driving a tank, four riding on the tank's tread protectors and Charlie on his ATV they all just fit. Bryan stepped into the driver seat of a Warthog and revved it, testing the engine, as one Helljumper hopped into the gunner position to man the M41 LAAG chain gun and one rode shotgun. Justin manned the Gauss cannon of another Warthog and Katie rode on a Scorpion's tread protector. "Beta base is over this way." Aida informed Bryan, putting a nav point on everyone's HUD. Bryan nodded and opened a channel to all his personnel. "All vehicles move out!"
The trip was extremely uneventful and rather boring. Charlie and his ATV took point while the Warthogs rode along side the slow moving MBTs. After a few hours of driving, Bryan looked up and realized that the sun was still in noon position. Then it hit him, the ring circled the sun so the sun never set. After a while, Bryan noticed something on the horizon, something that made him stop his jeep and stand up in his seat. Since he was at the lead, everyone had to stop when he stopped. At first they looked puzzled, and then they followed his stare. At first glance it looked like a cloud, but it was too straight edged to be a cloud, it was moving towards them, against the wind, and the fact that it stretched along the entire horizon and was as black as obsidian "Aida, what the hell is that?" Bryan asked, awestruck. "We've dubbed then 'shadows squares'. They move along the ring and simulate intervals of night." Aida informed him. After a while Bryan regained his senses, sat down and started driving again.
After a while the shadow square finally was right over them and 'night' descended. The distant moon Mosaic, which was only halfway up, was anything but a mosaic. It was a ghostly blue and its light was the only illumination the convoy had, but that would soon change. Once the square got between Mosaic and themselves, it would be total darkness. The convoy soon found an area where the grass ended and sand stretched for miles, sand hills of all sizes made traversing difficult but they soon found a lake amongst the sea of dunes and Bryan decided to set up camp there. A few tents were set up and those without tents had no problem sleeping outside, as it was a warm, clear night. Justin and 3 Helljumpers were set up as the first watch and the rest settled down to sleep. Bryan stepped in his tent and lay down on his small cot, his lower legs hung over the sides, but Bryan didn't mind. Aida asked, "Are you tired?" "Not really," Bryan replied "But our mentor, Chief Mendez, once said 'rest can be as deadly a weapon as a pistol or grenade'. So I need to rest. What will you do while I sleep?" Bryan inquired to Aida. "There are a few well guarded ONI files I found when I was still on New Reach and I want to see if I can crack them." Said Aida who, much like Cortana, liked to hack and crack top secret files when ever she got bored, and she got bored often. "I'll see you in the morning." Bryan said as he took off his helmet and stored by his cot. With that done, Bryan crossed his arms and promptly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, on the other side of camp, Justin was patrolling the outer edge of the camp when he saw them. Any ordinary soldier wouldn't have seen a thing, but Justin wasn't an ordinary soldier. He could see the things falling silently from the sky as though they had neon signs on them, thanks to his incredible internal night-vision. He quickly went prone behind a large dune and signaled to the other three Helljumpers who were awake and on patrol, "Go prone, we got hostiles and they're coming in quiet." "I don't see anything, sir." The greenest of the troops said. "Try turning on your night vision, dumbass." The senior of the trio hissed back at him. The Helljumpers snapped on their night vision, but Justin preferred thermal vision. He saw as then 10 or so pods fell with an eerie silence to the ground with a slight thump. These were Covenant insertion pods; they were the Covie's version of HEVs but made a lot of external heat and were easy to spot with thermal vision. The pod's hatches suddenly sprang open and Elites jumped out of them, drew their weapons and scanned the area. Fortunately for Justin, without Mosaic to give natural light, it was so dark most people couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. Justin had the element of surprise on his side; he didn't intend to waste it.

To be continued in Battle Royal Part two...

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