KMC Forums - Halo: All in a Day's Work

Been bored lately, so I decided to write this short story which takes place within the Universe of the Halo video game series. I am quite a fan of the series, so I figured I would write some short fiction regarding the main characters and some situations. I have another piece (same, yet different as this one) starting now, that I will post if you guys like this one. Anyway, enjoy!

Criticism always appreciated.

Halo: All in a Day's Work

The four Spartans of Blue Team sat perfectly still in the underbrush, and waited. The only sounds were the soft patter of rain on the foliage around them, and the soft ping produced each time a droplet struck their ghostly green MJOLNIR armor. John paid no attention to these sounds, he paid attention only to the quick series of hand signals Fred was giving him from his position twenty meters ahead of him. Only a few seconds ago Fred�s light blinked red in John�s heads-up display, and he immediately ordered his team to get down and get quiet.

The lighting fast series of hand signals Fred gave told John all he needed to know; a few hundred meters up the road Fred had spotted a small Covenant patrol, consisting of four elites and about ten grunts.

John frowned. His team was more than capable of dealing with the threat, that was certain. The problem was that they were still some four kilometers from their objective, and the missing patrol would surely not go unnoticed.

This was a problem. The element of surprise was imperative to the success of the mission. A few days earlier, the covenant had overrun a marine firebase atop an important hill. Previous efforts to retake the hilltop had failed, resulting in wasted time, and hundreds of wasted lives.

That was when the Spartans were called in.

John and his team had inserted via Pelican dropship over six hours ago, and had been moving at a steady pace since then. The rain was a welcome addition to the plan as it provided even more cover in the dense forests leading to the base of the hill. This patrol, however, had to be dealt with. There was no way to get around them, they were already too close, so the Spartans needed to do what they did best � fight.

The covenant troops, despite the recent efforts of the UNSC to retake the hill and the constant fighting nearby, walked along the road with their weapons slung. Only the lead Elite had his plasma rifle at the ready. They walked in a loose formation, and were grouped up much more than they should have been. These were the last mistakes these covenant would ever make.

�Blue 4,� John motioned to Sam, who carried their explosives. �Set up those charges on the side of the road with remote activators. Five yards apart, all facing the road.� A green light winked in his HUD, the affirmative sign, and Sam went to work, setting up the deadly directional charges.

�Blue 3, set up your rifle and find a position with a good field of view. You�ll be starting the party. Move.� Linda�s green LED blinked. She began to expertly assemble her sniper rifle, and moved off to a position with a good view of the road. �As soon as I give you the order, open fire on the first Elite� he�s the most aware,� John added.

Her light blinked once again.

�Blue 2, blue 5� you�re with me. Load shredder rounds and find cover along the road. Once Linda fires, hose �em down. Start with the Elites.� Two green lights winked, and the Spartans changed magazines and went into the prone position, waiting for the enemy to approach. John moved twenty yards back, and crouched behind a tree, motionless and waiting for the right time.

John let the patrol approach the carefully hidden explosives. When they were right in the charges� twenty meter conical range, he gave Linda the order to open fire. The report of the rifle was barely audible above the rain and the occasional yelp of a grunt, thanks to the suppressor Linda had equipped. The 14.5mm fin-stabilized round found its mark, fired from only one hundred meters away. The round pierced the Elite�s shield at his armor�s neck joint, entered just below his lower mandible, and proceeded to turn the beast�s head into a cloud of purple mist.

The next shot was so soon after the first that John wouldn�t have known which shot was fired first, had he not ordered her to target the frontmost elite first. Two elites dropped in a fraction of a second, their heads reduced to a cloud of gore. The grunts immediately behind them yelped, and frantically grabbed for their plasma pistols, but they were far too slow. Their lack of discipline had cost them their lives.

John glanced at Sam just in time to see him press the trigger of the remote detonators. The underbrush at the sides of the road exploded, spraying hundreds of marble-sized metal projectiles into their kill zone; which was exactly where the patrol was standing. The first few grunts were blown into bloody chunks as the projectiles tore into their lightly armored bodies. The mounds of dirt and dust thrown into the air by the explosives only added to the confusion.

Fred and Kelly opened fire on the Elites, peppering them with accurate fire from their MA5B assault rifles. The first few rounds bounced off their protective shielding, but the shields gave way and the elites fell under the deadly firepower of the Spartans. John and Sam, at the same instant, opened fire on the remaining grunts, hosing them down mercilessly within seconds, spraying bright blue blood everywhere as they were peppered with hundreds of rounds of armor piercing bullets.

John blinked his LED red once, and Blue team ceased fire, their targets decimated. The silence after the slaughter was deafening. Pieces of trees and bushes were still falling to the ground from the explosion as the ambush ended. The Spartans, now standing, trained their rifles on the line of dead Covenant, watching for survivors through the smoke with their thermal vision.

Nothing moved.

�Good job Blue team,� John remarked.

�What a mess,� added Sam as they searched the corpses or anything useful.

They collected two plasma rifles, four plasma grenades, and 3 plasma pistols. These extra armaments were distributed among the team, and they ran double-time through the forest towards the base of the hill.

They covered the four kilometers in thirty minutes, slowed down by the terrain, and by a few patrols they narrowly avoided. Each of the patrols was moving quickly towards their dead comrades, and each had their weapons at the ready. John realized that the element of surprise was gone, and the patrol had been discovered missing. This made things much more difficult. Although they hid the bodies well and cleaned the blood as best they could, missing was probably a good enough reason to put the base on alert.

At the base of the hill, John could hear the steady sound of covenant firepower being unleashed from the top of the hill, most likely on marine positions all over the area. This made the situation seem much more urgent� the quicker they silenced that artillery the more marines would survive this day. Everyone seemed on edge at this time. They all wanted to charge up this hill and destroy the position quickly, but some planning was necessary. With the base probably on alert, John wasn�t taking any chances. The original plan was scrapped, and they started from scratch.

Using his advanced MJOLNIR armor, John electronically contacted a small geostationary satellite that had been put into orbit to assist them in gathering intel for this op. He tasked the satellite to overfly the hill, and take high resolution standard and thermal images of the hill and the surrounding area.

Five minutes later, John was pleased to hear an audible beep in his helmet, signifying that new intel was available. He uploaded the images to the team�s helmets. To his surprise, the base didn�t seem to be on alert at all. John thought about the lack of discipline among the Covenant ranks. It often aided the Spartans greatly in completing their missions. The Covenant were simply too arrogant and cocky for their own good.

From the images, he discerned that the Northeast side of the hill was the best place to advance. According to the images, there was only one line of fence there, and a very light force assigned to defend that side of the hill. It appeared that there were a few dozen grunts and Jackals. He assumed the Elites were busy fighting, or defending a more obvious line of approach to the hill. Two large thermal blobs caught his eye, however, a few hundred meters back from the main line of defense atop the hill. John recognized them as the Covenant�s most feared ground troops.

Only a few hundred meters back, there was a pair of Hunters waiting in reserve. John had witnessed entire fireteams of marines vaporized by the large cannons the hunters held, attached to their right �arm,� if you could call it that. Recent intel indicated that Hunters were in fact a colony of eel-like creatures which resided inside the creature�s armor, and made up the body of the creature.

They were also immensely strong, and very difficult to kill. Their armor was of an alloy unknown to humans, and it was essentially impervious to damage. Armor Piercing rounds bounced off their armor like they were jellybeans, and even the huge rounds fired from the sniper rifle harmlessly bounced off. They often used the massive shield they held as a weapon, crushing their enemies into a fine paste with one swing.