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"John, get the team ready in five." Razak ordered, with Rico nodding in agreement as he picked up his weapon. Jean Razak smiled as Rico turned around, the mere thought of Johnny ordering a squad was new but he knew he had to. However, it would not be easing since the death of Doc over a span of a couple of months. It shook them all, but it shook Brutto, the Ship Sergeant, the most. He was harden, mean, unforgiving. True, he wasn't exactly the opposite, but he was not as mean and would occasionally let things slide, but now, Razak just didn't know. He hoped he would come out of it, but that was asking the impossible at the moment.

Across from the troops on the side of the Arckangel VTOL were the Spectre men. David Lancaster silently slept, with Jonah leaning against seat, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. The Elite, Nova Anmei'ee, wore black armor to match with the special suits that the Humans wore. She was not sleeping, but however was remaining perfectly still, thinking beyond the moment. Vladimir Antonavich was sleeping in his seat, next to Lukas as he too slept soundly. Zander was not sleeping, but was pre-occupied with thoughts as he held a book in his hands, The Message To Garcia seen on its border. William was not sleeping, and not awake. He was in a quasi-state between the two, resting but aware of his senses. The only one truly awake was Wolf.

Richard Henderson was originally born Luke Edward Henderson, and lived on Terra in Ohio farm country, helping his father and brother with the farming and live stock. When he wanted to join the United Nations Space Command at the age of sixteen, he was not allowed by his parents and he gotten himself into a fierce fight with his father, ending his relationship with them. He soon left and entered the service. And look at me now…

Luke had scars upon his face, seen from his armor's view plate, but his armor also had the special symbol of a lion, a spear in its hind but a piece of meat in its jaws. This was the symbol for the Honor De Exordinaire, a French award given to men and women who fought in two battles as a Special Forces member and was wounded each time. This was one of the highest honors to receive, since in order to earn the award you must have a record of honor and valiant service, and a record of leaving no man behind. The award to Luke, however, meant nothing right now.

His mind had been shot to Hell since the last Spectre engagement, with him and Vanessa leading the then active Spectre unit into the final battle of the Covenant-Human war, with the Spectre units killing the Prophet of Justice. However, all but him, Vanessa, and Kenneth Idaho, Callsign 'Warsaw', were the only ones who survived the operation, besides their mission assistant Daniel.

In fact, Luke thought, Danny's probably the assistant attachment for this operation too. He always thought of Daniel as a little coward, with a smile and a disposition to fight. When he was on the planet, however, Daniel proved his worth by shooting and killing the rebellious Barry Charles. He then flew a Pelican into the breech and saved him and the other two Spectre 'Veterans'...

I owe him my life... He thought, and a small gasp escaped his lips. I will thank him when I get the chance… He thought to himself, before he looked around the room, trying to find things to take the mind off the mission. His eyes scanned the room, until they fell upon Jean Razak, who gave him the thumbs up. Wolf returned it, receiving the signal on their personal communications that officers had to each other within the unit.

"How's Anton holding up?" He heard Razak's voice almost immediately as he flipped the communication's switch on his arm.

"You know him. He was once a Marine, he sweeps it under a rug and moves on. I've tried to get him out of his funk, but then again, you do know Gallagher."

Soft laughter, in chuckles, came in his reply.

"Yes, I do sir."

"Come on, Razak, you've done more than me and you actually got out of the service. I should be saying 'sir' to you."

More chuckles.

"I know you should, and you should still be with another unit. Why are you back?" He asked, his tone changing right in the middle when he spoke, a drastic change in his happy tone to a serious tone with the snap of a finger.

"Gallagher asked me back, and I said I would. Just this mission or maybe I should help out with the rest of the tour. Either way, it's not long."

"Something tells me you're here for a reason undisclosed. I'll find it out, sooner or later, so let's leave the matter at that."

Wolf's spine tingled with a bit of fear, and annoyance. It's not my fault Section Eight doesn't fill out those who don't need to know.

"Good afternoon, troops. I am Daniel Jackson, mission assistance for this operation, and I will be your eye in the sky. I will be monitoring heart rates, and give comments if needed. Good luck and Godspeed." A voice in his suit said. Jean's private comlink turned off, which clicked a switch in Wolf's head that Lieutenant Razak did not want to talk further. Rico shouted orders to his men, while Vladimir did the same to the Spectre soldiers. All of the soldiers within the Arckangel hooked a circular clipper onto a wire, standing up with Wolf the first nearest the bulkhead door.

"Thirty seconds to drop, Spectre. Forty five seconds to drop, Roughnecks." Daniel's voice came into the intercoms for his suit, and the rest of the crew. The back bulkhead door to the Arckangel's cargo bay opened, rushes of wind entered the Arckangel as men hoped their device would stick to the wire.

Wolf counted down the seconds, but felt the glare that his men were giving him. They were depending on him to do his job, he was an original Spectre. Eight, seven, six, five…

"Sang the glory of the soldiers, the glory of the Soldats Vaillants!" Wolf yelled in the all unit TAC-COM, before he saw the green light next to him flash. He pushed himself out of the Arckangel, the force of the jump made him close his eyes, though he knew they were protected by the helmet he wore.

He felt strangely at peace. Feeling the wind behind him was a feeling he only felt three times in his life as a career officer, and the other two involved him getting shot at by the men on the ground. This time, however, he let the setting sun shine on his falling figure, before the altitude meter reached nine hundred feet on his helmet's HUD.

The parachute sprang out immediately, with Wolf pushing up his arms to grab onto the parachute harness, the parachute now in his immediate control. Wolf pulled to the left as the parachute caught the low winds, but the parachute complied as Wolf aimed for a stretch of dirt that had cover along its pathway.

He broke into a run as he touched the land. While he was jogging, he clicked off his main chute and pressed a button on his suit, which released a smaller cargo storage area open, dropping a small reserve chute. The cargo area closed, with Wolf already securing his weapon and flipping the gun's safety to off. He checked the scope of the BR55, and smiled in satisfaction.

"Wolf, got an enemy patrol coming up your way. Reading…One Brute, two Jackals, and a squad of Drones flying air cover. Wait…scratch that, the Drones are heading towards Rico and Gossard's position, they got automatic weapons so they should be able to contain them if they're discovered." Daniel's voice came into his helmet, to which Wolf jumped into the nearby trench that ran alongside the road.

He held his breath, but then relaxed slightly as he breathed slowly. He forgot about the suit! It could take a lot of punishment before it perished, which is why he loved the idea so much. He waited in the trench, his suit muddy with natural camouflage as the Brute came around the corner of his eye, looking up from the trench. He reached for his BR55, but he noticed it had its ammo cartage missing. It must of fell out during his descent into the ditch. He cursed himself silently as he saw it on the side of the dirt path.

"This is Wolf, my ammo is out of reach. Reading hot on enemies. I need help, ASAP."

"This is Holtz. I read you, coming in."

The Brute heard the noise of the Arckangel's engine, as it turned his head to face it. The massive engines blew air into the faces of the Jackals and Brute, but they each just looked at it. However, something odd happened. The massive Brute stood still with a blank look on its face, before it fell to the ground, clutching his head as the two Jackals looked in fear, cowering a bit. Suddenly, the Brute's head swelled to the size of a medium sized pumpkin, before it exploded with an odd 'Pop! sound. The Arckangel then ascended back into the air, and turned towards the south before it zoomed off.

The two Jackals turned around and sprinted away, but then they dropped to the ground almost immediately as they did so, loud sounding cracks heard in the air.

"All clvear, sir. I got them good." The voice was Lukas', the deep Germanic accent imbedded in his English almost clashing greatly with his tone. Wolf smiled, before he clicked in a clip of ammo.

"Lukas, Arr Eee O your position and hook up with me."

"Rvoger, Wolf. I'm coming in onto your six."

The complex's doors slowly opened slightly, and soon a pair of fingers on each side of the door, one of the pair was human and the other was alien. Soon, in a matter of seconds, the doors were half-way opened, and the alien figure was that of Nova and the human was Rico, only by his rank and name on his suit was he identified. With effort, finally, the doors were fully opened and the rest of the Spectre Team filed in.

The main reception room was a mess, as so to speak. Filled with over-climbing vines and such, it appeared to be overtaken by rust and the jungle in absence of a cleaning and maintenance crew. In the middle of the floor were bodies, all of them Covenant by nature, and one human.

Rico and Henderson were the first to enter, both being point-men for their team, and such as they made a clean sweep of the room. Luke pressed his com once, and Johnny did the same for him. The teams filed in, with Henderson and Rico looking at the bodies in silence.

"Jesus Christ…" Bruno said, shaking his head as he saw the pile of bodies in the middle of the floor. Gossard turned his helmeted head away from the assemblage.

"Look at the human and that one Brute by the corner. They have rather large insertions into their heads." Nova comments, bringing her Plasma Carbine down. Ensign Davis, perhaps the lowest ranking man in the group second to Nova in terms of United Nations Space Command Regulations but perhaps one of the more important men on either team because of his profession as a Medic, bent down to his knees and inserted his index and middle finger into the hole in the head of the human. An odd facial feature appears on his face, before he walks to the other one and repeats the process.

"Absence of brains. Only partial matter left. Whatever hit these guys was either hungry, or trying to absorb matter itself."

"Excuse me?" Lancaster asks, in his deep and crass voice.

"An alien bug species was discovered on Centauri VI with some of the traits I'm seeing here. Each bug had a long incisor, using to make a hole into the victim and suck out all of the matter from a small hole within the incisor itself. Before, when we caught some, they acted like any other stupid bug species. But, when conditions are set upon it after it had newly acuired brain matter, it acted differently than it did before. It expected the normal things to happen as would via regulations inside the training session. As if it learned how to adapt to the enviroment."

"How do you know this?" Gossard asks, quietly and in a calm voice.

"I was a member of ONI's Section Six, Medical Research. They produced an enzyme that you find in one of the vitamins you eat on a daily basis, I believe it was a nuclear element, and it broke down after awhile, but it helped with your digestion system."

"Beside the point, Doctor, what happened here is somewhat the same?"

"Nearly. The incision here is larger, and it seems that whatever did this was a hell of a lot bigger than the two foot aliens on Centauri Six. I would bet my reputation on it...if I still had it to begin with."

The team exchanges glances between each other, which was then Henderson and Nova knew that the team was getting lanky.

"We need to cover the base. Me and Nova will head down the first corridor, Lancaster and Heilienburg will take the second, Holtz and Zander can take the third. Lieutenant Razak, take your men and Davis, make sure you divide them up. I need them to cover our six while we handle this."

"Excuse me, sir, but why do you guys get to find action?" Rico asked, holding his MA5B in a tight position around his hands. Henderson smiled, shouldering his BR55 onto his shoulder with the self-made strap.

"We're Spectres. We always hide in the shadows."

TO BE CONTINUED
TO BE CONTINUED

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