V S M Operation: Cerberus

[SpartanB242]

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

As I woke up my head felt like it had just been split in half. My HUD was blinking in and out, in the short time I had it showed it was 0421 5th of January 2551. 12 minutes after launch. My position system was out of contact, which was normal, it would be another 19 minutes before contact would be reestablished with the UNSC Passion of Water.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*...*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

My visor was currently blocked by the ground and there was a searing pain in my right shoulder that complicated my breathing. I tried to reach up my right arm to press my selector to notify my team that I was injured. But I kept hearing the beeps in patterns of three, which meant my touch screen was out of order. I then attempted to push myself up, and I only lifted on my left side. As my sight regained I saw the 6 inch piece of debris stuck in my shoulder. My right arm was attempting to push up, but wasn’t very responsive, it explained the pain. I pushed myself up and laid myself on my back. I took in my surroundings, but not before turning off my warning system with my one good arm. At a touch of the button the beeps stopped and my HUD faded in a series of flashes

I was in the center of a sandy canyon. I was easily open to an ambush from many fronts, which was my first concern. I reached down to grab my M6S Socom only to feel it wasn’t there. My mind raced as I slid across the sand, to get my back covered, listing out all the possible outcomes.

Possibilities

1. Our intel was off about the planet, and not consistent with all available data.
2. The slipspace pod simply landed me on a wrong planet, wouldn’t be surprising.
3. My team was wiped out, I was assumed dead, thus looted. If this was the case I should hide and prepare to fight for when they return for the rest of my kit.
4. My team is in another location, I got knocked off course, reentering on the host planet to the moon. If this was the case, I would have only 7 minutes of air with my ship without the suit breach. It has been 12 minutes-ish, this is not the case.
5. My team is in another location, I got knocked off course, I am in a previously unknown region of the moon. Contact with insurrectionists possible but not likely.
6. ONI had finally set us up to die like my friends they sent to Pegasi Delta
7. I’m dead and this is hell. If this is the case find a way to reconnect with my team, find the deity and offer our services.

It was probably a mix of multiple of these possibilities as I observed my pod was cracked in half and the only one present. If it was number seven I would have to give more credit to the deities because hell actually felt like hell. With my suit systems offline, I could already start to feel the midday heat. This was even odder as our insertion was to happen while the moon was still in the night cycle. With my coolers off, this made the situation only worse because my photo-reactive panels and heat cloaking system were offline, same with my shield and motion tracker.

Around me monolithic stone structures were lined on the canyon walls, stacked rocks most likely man made. On the side that I could see I saw one of the stone sets were down the sides of the wall, the place I had made my entry. While the pods were supposed to withstand that kind of impact, clearly it didn't. I wasn't surprised. After my time with ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) they don’t always give us the best intelligence or gear. As my back hit against a canyon wall I had to make a list of my realities and not just think about what could have happened.


What I knew

1. I was currently alone. This was a good sign my team could be ok, or stuck in similar circumstances.
2. I took a bad hit against Tulips advice and my power to the suit was off.
3. Tulip was going to murder me for not following her advice
4. Rei was going to murder me for getting hurt without her nearby
5. Okie was going to murder me for getting hurt without her nearby
6. Blake was going to murder me for not thinking about how Rei, Okie, Tulip and her would feel, not to mention Yellow team for letting myself get hurt.
7. It doesn’t matter that I am breathing because I am already dead when I relocate my team
8. My right shoulder hurt… A lot. I need to find my team so they can murder me to get rid of this pain.
9. I had no weapon or gear, but my medpack on my leg is still locked in, I should probably use that.
10. I had no means of modern communication

Conclusion

I need to secure a hidden location and observe in case of rescue. I also need to secure some sort of weapon that can be used in my state. But before all of that I needed to remove the metal from my shoulder and apply biomedical foam until I could get medical attention.

I reached down with my left arm and unlatched my medical kit containing my bio-foam. As it slid into my hand I put it on my lap and then braced myself. I closed my eyes and breathed in and out preparing myself. I grabbed onto the still hot metal I pulled. I gritted my teeth as the fragment exited my shoulder. I was slightly worried as my visor was covered in my own blood as it started to squirt on every heart pump. Not a great sign, it meant a vein was cut or punctured. I quickly picked up my bio-foam canister and slid it into the wound pressing the release. My shoulder felt full as the foam penetrated deep and applied a localized anesthetic that would last for the next 12 hours. I started breathing again normally as I removed my helmet to get better awareness.

The air burned my lungs as the alien atmosphere invaded me. “Those Fuckers” I quietly said to myself slamming my helmet into the wall with my good arm. ONI had already probably jumped out of support range leaving us to die. Rage boiled inside of me as I slid up the wall to discover my left leg was done. I put some weight on it, it only could support some. I was glad it wasn't broken but this was not good by any means. I put on my helmet locking it into place and wiped off the blood the best I could. The red smeared against my visor making it blurry, not much I could do about that. I grabbed the jagged piece of metal that had been lodged in me, I had my weapon.

I limped across the canyon where the boulders had landed from my pod smashing into them As I got over there I could feel the hot imprint that my pod had left from the strong impact. I sat down behind it, hiding. Without my photo reactive panels the only thing I could do was get small and wait. I would give it two days before I would attempt to get water. I locked my suit on my left leg so that if it was sprained that it could heal properly.

This downtime gave me two possible things to do. One thing I could do is worry about my team, but they were more capable than me. If they don’t show up, I promised myself I would find them in whatever state they were in. secondly it gave me time to think, which it had been two years since I had gotten a couple days in my head. The last time was during Operation: Pirate King and despite my current circumstances this wasn’t a tenth as bad.

 

[SpartanB242]

With my leg bound it made me think of when Rei hurt her leg. It was about a year and some months after I had first met her. During our jumps to get there we had gained a fast bond, mostly over me sharing my meals with her. She was a skinny kid like me, but with an appetite to match our host Tulip. She had a warm smile and a scary serious face for when I was ten.

19th September, 2540

“Here I’m not going to eat it” I said to Rei as I passed over my pudding.

“You shouldn’t just eat it Rei” Blake protested as the skinny girl ripped open the pudding, with the first spoon full.

“Why? he gaphve it to me” Rei stated as she had a spoonful of pudding in her mouth.

“Well give it back to him, he needs the calories too.” Blake made a case looking at us.

“Its fine Blake” I stated while Rei paused to start to hand it back, before she could a spoon shot in. A spoonful was taken from Wolf, who we called Okie in private.

“Wolf” Blake stated with her brows furrowed at the tiny girl.

“He said he didn’t want it and Rei was giving it back, so I did the only logical thing” Wolf finally replied after a quick swallow of the pudding.

Blake looked like she was about to start another fist fight before I cut in. “Seriously it's fine, why don’t you two share” giving them a smile which led to the both of the nodding at the extra half of desert.

“You need to eat more” Blake stated as she opened up her pudding and slamming it on the table between us. “At Least eat half of mine.” Blake was a little less than a year younger than me, but in those days she was the chattiest. Now she is quiet, reserved and relaxed. Rei hasn’t changed one bit, and still often shares half of what I give to Okie. We had only known each other for about a year but by this point we were inseparable.

Lunch was hectic and dangerous. The pudding exchange took my attention, now that it was over I could keep watch. I drew my eyes to the other teams it was clear something was happening. Whispers I couldn’t make out spread as most tables were talking.

The Cadre members were in the corners watching, but on their hips they now had M6C Magnums. Behind us I turned and saw Tulip, she was completely serious at six foot ten, she towered over us. I raised my hand so she moved over to us, since we were in her assigned sector, I put my arms to my side. “This cadet would like to use the washroom” I shouted, following the requirements to use the restroom. She gave a nod and put her hand on my back. I slid my hand onto blakes shoulder I gave her two taps. She was now incharge of watch in case of assault. During that time Hare Team had been waiting to strike against Rei, due to her beating them in the last hand to hand class.

As Tulip and I exited into the empty hallways of our base heading towards the washroom I finally spoke quietly. I was hoping it wouldn’t get picked up on mics; with the time I had been around her I learned she didn’t miss a word or action ever. “Is there a new training exercise today?”

“You know I can’t tell you that” Tulip whispered in a soft gentle tone.

“But” as I looked up she looked down at me with a serious look, I went back to my stoic demeanor. I had to change my line of questioning. “The Cadre members are all armed today”

“Yes we are, it is something you cadets need to get use to on base.” She replied watching me carefully.

“On days you are armed it is often because their is some sort of field exercise” I answered my own question accidentally. I was unsure of myself in those days and always wanted to double check my assertions.

“Very astute of you cadet, we are at the washroom, do your business” as I entered I felt a hand enter into my pocket and quickly leave. As I entered into the one of the few rooms not observed by camera I lifted up the note.

It contained a set of grid coordinates. I quickly memorized them by singing a tune out of them in my head before peeing and flushing the coordinates down the drain. As I exited I looked to Tulip who patted me down as we started walking back towards the Lunch room. Tulip had a small smirk of pride for a few moments before she hid it. As entered into the room I saw Blake, Rei and Wolf being held up against the table by two Cadre members. Blakes hands were particular bloody, while Reis coveralls ankles were stained red. The table was covered in blood as another cadre member held up one of our rivals noses. Their red gore covered the cadres coveralls.

On the ground some other cadets had gathered around a bloodied student who was unconscious. The table we were eating at was a complete mess as another cadet was leaning on the table breathing hard, looking at their accomplice, restrained by a cadet. It happened while I was away, I felt awful that my curiosity and uncertainty got the better than me.

Tulip immediately grabbed my arm and pushed me up against the wall. It still felt off from the woman who hummed me to sleep every night, petting my hair. I kept in mind that the protocol called for it, as my team was in another incident. As the cuffs made its way around my wrists, I tried not to take it personally. It still hurt a little emotionally. I was then sat with the rest of my team. They gave me a silent look and nods that let me know they were all ok.

…

As we sat through processing I found out that Hare Team saw my absence as a good time to strike Rei. She kicked the first assaulter in the head, causing a bloody nose which then bled on her pants after she struck them a few more times with kicks. Blake had jumped on one of the attackers punching her repeatedly in the face. Meanwhile Rei was then getting hit multiple times in the stomach while two ganged up on her, not expecting Wolf who was four one at the time to do anything. Wolf kicked the first behind the knee, giving her enough leverage to throw her over the table. She was about to deal with the second when the cadre intercepted her.

We were allowed to participate in the next training exercise as we were not the aggressors, with Hare Team catching the punishment. We were dropped by pelican with weighted gear and stun round loaded in M7 Submachine guns along with armor. The last one to ring the bell would not receive dinner, but the only trick was, we didn’t know where the bell was. We made our ways to the coordinates Tulip had given me. It was a stash located inside a dried up river, as we jumped down Reis leg twisted.

…

“Ahhhh” Rei screamed as she held her leg after sliding down to the cache of supplies.

I slid down to the dry river bed immediately “are you ok?” I asked with concern. Rei looked up to me with tears running down her face holding her ankle.

“I don’t know” She said as she went to stand up she fell back down “Ouch.”

“Don’t do that dumby” Blake stated as she slid down with Wolf following.

“Wolf watch out for the enemy” I told her as I let blake move in next to Rei. She lifted up her pants leg examining the ankle.

“Good news, it's not broken, bad news you can’t walk on it. I think I have something in my pack” Blake started to search through her bag as I slid myself next to Rei, while I kept my weapon shouldered I reached one hand down to hold hers.

While watching for the enemy on the opposite direction “I will carry you if I have to” I told her.

“If I knew that you would carry me I would have done this a lot sooner” She gave a small quiet laugh. “I hate marches”

“I know” I gave her a smile before continuing my sentry duty as blake continued to search through her bag.

“It hurts” Rei squeezed my hand, tears welling in her eyes.

“Just walk it off” Okie said coldly as she laid down to a good firing position focusing on the tree line.

“Don’t do that” Blake said with concern in her voice “I don’t have anything for the pain” I heard her give a pat on Reis shoulder.

“I could always punch you in the arm to help the pain go away” I joked which made rei laugh again.

“Stop making me laugh” Rei stated as she squeezed my hand again, I squeezed back.

“I’m going to get you to help in no time” I told her “I promise you I won’t leave your side” I said the second part not thinking she would take that literally.

“Ever?” Rei asked.

“Ever” I said confidently.

“I won’t either, I promise you that” Blake said as I heard her start to wrap Reis ankle.

“Thanks, that helps a little” Rei replied which led to a long moment of silence where the rustling of her ankle getting wrapped was all we could hear.

After two minutes passed and the wrapping was done Okie finally spoke up “I guess I promise too”

“What?” I asked as I turned back to her nodding at Blake to take my position, as I moved Rei refused to give me my hand, which forced me to stop.

“I promise not to leave all of your sides. Everyone else promised, so I guess I promise too.” We all gave a chuckle at Okie as she looked at us red faced.

“And if we do get split up, I’ll bring us together, that's another promise” I responded “Now can I have my hand back for a moment Rei.”

As I looked at her she gave me a dead serious look “But you promised you would never leave my side”

“I meant I would be here with you, always.”

Rei still with a completely serious look. “Its our hand now, you just have to deal with that. A promise is a promise” Blake and Okie both looked at her as I was stunned silent.

“I think shes serious” Blake said as she continued to cover us.

“I am” Rei said, which made me think of how to resolve this. I put my submachine gun on the ground, I unhooked my bag as it dropped on the ground then backed up for her.

“Blake unhook Reis bag, I will put her on my back” As we made this maneuver one of our flanks was open but Blake moved swiftly, she freed Reis bag from her. Once the bag was free Rei freely climbed onto my back resting her face on my shoulder.

“Take what you need out of them” I told her as the bag was mostly filled with rocks for weight, I didn’t care about the exercise anymore. “Know what, everyone drop your packs, take the essentials ditch the rocks.” They worked like the well drilled team they were. “Blake take the one good bag, hopefully there will be something in the stash”

As I opened the box with Rei looking over my shoulder it was a MA5B with two spare mags and a smoke grenade. I put the smoke grenade on my belt. I gave a smile, these stashs were often dropped for teams to boost their power. “Okie get over here”

Okie blushed and moved over to me “I told you only call me that in private” She punched me in the arm and then looked down. “Ok you get a pass this time.” Stunned silent as she removed the clip from her submachine gun putting it in a pouch.

“But you already punched me” I replied as I went back to grab my own weapon and Reis I had left on the ground. As I got over there I handed up hers that she hooked into her rig, and I did the same.

“I told you, you get a pass” Okie slightly yelled as she chambered a round into her new weapon. She still rigged up her submachine gun to hang off her side as it was time for us to move. I walked over to behind blake pulling out the map from her bag. I put it across her back as I looked across our coordinates. We were about 2 miles from the base, and about 5 from where we thought the bell was. It was normal procedure that if we left the mission area they would try to hunt us down and stun us. Since we were on the edge, I looked at the girls who were ready to move.

“We shoot any cadre member who has a weapon, or offers resistance, we are going through the restricted zones, to get her back to base.” Blake and Okie nodded as we started to move through our practice maneuvers. While we moved Rei held on for the most part, occasionally adjusting so that her weapon was in easy reach and could be used, in case of problems.

It was a short march through the restricted zone before we got back to base. Despite the injury Rei was loving every minute of it, it wasn’t very often we could do piggy back rides, or even play like we used to in the orphanages. I was kind of enjoying it myself, ever since coming here I missed having fun, though despite the serious nature it didn’t get better than this.

When we arrived we took up firing positions to find the gate had a warthog outside of it. Okie immediately took cover in the tree line as she was our pointman. She put up her hand signifying that there was 5 Cadre members. As she laid down with her small body behind some rocks at the treeline her face scrunched with intensity. She got a solid fire position to support her small stature. She had a hard time dealing with the recoil of the 7.62x51mm cartridge. Even with the round having less powder it was hard for her to control without a stable fire position, it didn’t help that she loved weapons with the most kick and the loudest bang.

To her right Blake found some cover behind a tree in a kneeling position ready to move on a moments notice. I placed Rei down as she crawled to the side of Okie, signaling me by hand to get down. Rei was going to get covered in casings, but the rocks gave superior concealment. I got the smoke grenade ready for when we had to move as I put myself between Blake and Rei behind a tree.

At the gate Tulip towered over the 4 other cadre members as they fitted the warthog with gear. I put my sights on the man next to her, center of the chest. Even though we were in a hurry I had no desire of accidentally killing someone via a faulty stun round. Slowing my breathing I got my heartbeat down as the cadre members discussed amongst themselves. It was about a football fields length away from us, so when we moved we would have to use smoke. Tulip looked out into the woods concerned, it looked like she was looking directly at us then she moved behind the truck.

The moment her body was protected by the warthogs flank I heard the first burst from Okies rifle. The four to five round burst slammed into the chest of the cadre member in the drivers seat. Not to waste my shot I let out a burst that went wide as I heard the other two girls beside me start giving small bursts. It looked like Rei or blake scored a hit on someones leg as the limped to cover. The stun rounds hurt horribly and often would cramp what ever part of the body it hit. Our armor was set to lock up if we took a stun round so that we couldn’t move. At the time we didn’t realize that or we would have just shot Reis leg to lock it up to keep her ankle from moving. Another Cadre member ducked behind the Warthog as Tulip came barreling right towards us.

“Cover me” I yelled as I grabbed the smoke grenade from my belt pulled the pin and hucked it. We were still not receiving incoming fire, but Tulip would be on us in less than a minute. As she sprinted across the field we gave her covering fire. As it landed I let my weapon hang off its strap grabbing Rei in a fireman's carry.

“Bounding fire” Blake noted as she move forward towards the smoke giving suppressing fire. The deafening bursts of Okies weapon silenced as she got up and loaded a mag into her M7. She got up leapfrogging with blake as I started running forward threw the smoke. As we did so I could hear Rei giggling at what was happening in between grunts of discomfort.

In the distance we could hear “Ceasefire” repeatedly as Tulip came closer, in the center of the cloud where we thought we were safe, Tulip came running directly for us, seeing through our concealment. I patted Blake on the back with my free hand to let her know to stop firing and as I went towards Okie she stopped as well, by now a minute and thirty seconds had passed and Tulip was only a few yards away.

I sat Rei down onto the ground as I heard some statements over Tulips radio. I grabbed on to Reis hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, she looked thankful and gave a small smile.

“Stand down, Stand down its just a cadet team” a commanding voice shouted over the radio. It sounded like Lieutenant Ambrose the man in gorgeous emerald armor that brought us here. He promised to make us like him and we all relished the thought.

“Counting Four, one looks possibly injured” a cool relaxed man replied.

“Ready a medical team” The commanding voice responded

“This is Gate-2, we got an injury over here, looks like a broken rib” A new voice came in, what I assumed was probably the gate guards.

“Get him down to medical, everyone stand down” The commanding voice responded.

As I listened to this conversation Tulip disarmed us with a serious look but no words. As she kneeled down Blake described Reis Injuries. Tulip bent down and scooped up my fellow cadet. I refused to let go of her hand at first but Rei nodded and let me know I could let go. Tulip looked over to me for a brief moment and then patted me on the shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile with hints of pride.

Current day

As I sat there in the burning sun I briefly wished Tulip was still around to scoop me up in her arms. A few hours were passed thinking back to that time and there was nothing but the wind. I had calmed down thinking of better times and readied my canteen. Darkness would soon be on me by the looks of the sky and while I wanted to stay for two days I resolved to leave sooner than that. At night I would be able to see, but most others tend to have trouble seeing in the dark. I was going to have to look after myself, something I hadn’t done in a little more than a decade, before I was selected to be a Spartan.

I took small sips from my canteen and removed my BA-55901/PLMD Battery cell. It didn’t look great but it wasn’t cracked, I didn’t know much about batteries but I figured I could probably fix it if I could get to some level of civilization.

When the sky got dark I got up and attempted to put weight on my leg, it hurt but it didn’t seem like it would take long to heal. I limped over to the split pod only to find that it was all looted. as I took to the night desert, tracks pointed south. Given I had no plane of reference, no better place to start than gutting or stealing from these would be thieves.

 

[SpartanB242]

As I limped after the thieves in the dead of the night the weight of my crippled leg left deep imprints making it easy for me to be followed. My right arm ached a little as I clenched my fists, I slowly swung it in circles to see if I had a range of motion, I did. Shadows clung to the canyon walls showing me my childhood boogiemen. The shadows kept me entertained despite my injured state, whoever stole from me would learn to fear those shadows.

I had no ability to climb, so dropping a boulder or rock formation on them when I found them was out of the question. I had ditched my sharpened piece of pod realizing that it would be easier with my hands. It was only about 3 hours before the local anesthetic would wear off when I found a fire. The camp was small and quiet. A lone man sat smoking staring into the fire, a rifle sat on the log next to him. It looked like it was of the wooden variety, possibly homemade, if this was the case he was an Innie (insurrectionist).

*Wark* The yellow heavily feathered moa squaked multiple times. I dove down into the sand as it moved around tied to a post. I suspected it might have noticed me, but it then lifted its large beak with a large carrot chomping it happily. *Wark* it cried out as it finished another one.

“Shut up you stupid bird, I’m trying to sleep” I heard someone yell as a man came out of one of the tents. As I watched I reached down and undid the restraint on my left leg, it might be painful for me, but I needed my mobility.

“Why the fuck did we even steal this thing” the man yelled as the bored guy at the fire replied, I couldn’t hear him.

“Well maybe you should have fucking thought about it.” The man got heated as the bored guy just looked up.

“This thing has been a pain in MY ASS the whole day” The man shrugged and continued staring at the fire

“Know what fuck it” The angry man picked up the rifle next to the guy leveled it and he pulled the trigger. A large poof with red blood of feathers exploded out of the other side of the bird causing it to cry out dropping to the side. The bored man didn’t even react as a woman exited the tent exposing herself to the elements. She cackled and walked over to the man with the gun grabbing it from him. She put it down and pulled him back into the tent.

There were three, with two tents total. I started to crawl slowly forward, if they did fight back, I hoped my blood covered suit and face mask gave them nightmares. While I was sure they were Innies when I first saw them, I was sure they were common bandits now. I had never dealt with bandits, only heard about them from the few ODST or officers that would tell me about them. They weren’t terrorists like my normal targets, but it meant they were less disciplined.

As I grew close I could hear love making in the tent, mixed with snores I got up and crouched waiting for my opportunity. After forty minutes I got it, the angry man got up and shouted loudly and happily.

“Shut the fuck up nobody cares” I heard a new voice coming from the other tent.

The angry man who now looked pleased just waved his arm and made his way towards me. He sauntred away from the camp and leaned on the cool canyon wall. As he started to relieve himself I moved in. my silent steps in the sand as my training kicked in, missing my knife I decided I needed more information.

As he finished giving a relieved sigh I grabbed him by the back of the skull and slammed him into the wall. “Don’t you make a sound” I growled as I pushed the underdressed pleased man up against the wall.

He looked at me, his eyes were wide as I saw blood trickle down his chin from the left side of his face from hitting the wall to hard. I had been rougher than I wanted.

“How many more, hold up your fingers” I growled quietly as he lifted up his hand carefully. His hand shook as four fingers came up.

“Not including you” I asked and he gave me a nod. Normally I would have left him alive arrested him and interrogated him. But after what he did to that innocent beautiful Moa I couldn’t let him live. I wrapped my bad arm around his neck and started to apply pressure until he went red in the face. Over the next ten seconds he attempted to rip my arm away as the blood stopped flowing to his head. I couldn’t risk making a sound that could bounce off the wall, so I slowly backed up as he drifted to sleep.

I placed him quietly into the sand pressing my knee against the back of his neck. I slowly snapped his neck to try to keep it as quiet as possible. When the tension released and the snap happened it was muffled into the sand. I watched the camp to see if I had disturbed anything, but it remained silent.

I creeped towards the tent the now dead man was from I could hear breathing and light humming. I was glad their last moments were filled with some sort of happiness. As I grew closer to the entrance to the tent, behind the bored man he finally stood up. I dashed left as he moved right slowly into the tent undoing his belt.

“I think he fucked off for a bit, mind if I have a go” The man said to the tent woman.

“Sure at least I will finish this time. Derek doesn’t know how to please a woman”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that” The bored man responded I jumped and grabbed the wooden weapon. I aimed it where I assumed they would be and as I went to pull the trigger my finger caught on the fingerguard. I looked, my finger and gloves were too big. The home designed weapon kept me from being able to fire it. Since the guy was busy I removed the magazine and put the rifle on the sand. I looked around the campfire and that was where I saw it. The M6C Socom, a pistol designed for special warfare applications.

I moved over to the weapon to see its gorgeous sleek black exterior with integrated suppressor and smart linking system to my helmet. I pulled the chamber back to see a round was sleeping peacefully. I hit the mag release to find to my happiness a full 12 more rounds. The two spares I kept sat next to it, also full. I crouched down and slid them into their protective pockets with a smile across my face.

“What the fuck are you” I heard as I looked up from my joy to see a man holding an old style rifle. It had more metal than the other one, clearly factory built, reminded me of one I saw in history holos. I stared at him through my blood soaked visor as time slowed down, I heard rustling in the other tent as his rifle slowly started to aim my way. I dove to the left away from the fire to react as a round exploded the sand where I was. With pistol in my hand I lined up visually with the back up sights, since my HUD was offline, aiming center of his neck. I pressed the trigger as the round went sailing using the little recoil it had putting the reticles on his cranium. His rifle continued to go off where I was standing a moment ago as I pressed the trigger again. After a few moments gore exploded over his tent as I turned my sights towards the free tent.

The bored man with his scruffy beard stared at me with disbelief. I lined the sights up on the bandit behind him trying to figure out how a shotgun worked, I didn’t want to see if she figured it out. I pressed the trigger once as my aim went true in the center of her forehead. I looked back at the rifle man as he collapsed on the tent as I jumped up to my feet. Some rustling was still coming from the tent so I leaped onto the moving object. I heard a loud oof as I landed on whoever it was. With pistol ready I pressed it up against the sheet forcefully stabbing them with the barrel. A loud thump resounded as the guy groaned in agony, then his firearm went off. The bullet went wild. I double tapped him at where I assumed his head was, blood came pouring out of the white fabric staining it. A few moments later he stopped moving. Standing up I looked towards the shaking bearded bored man.

“Want to tell me where you got this” I asked calmly, positive all the threats were neutralized. I did a once over the camp again counting the bodies. Four, which made sense, these tents fit two people, with one sentry.

The bearded man continued to shake as I limped towards him and grabbed him buy his jaw. “Want to tell me where you got this” I punched him with the hot barrel in the stomach. Clutched his stomach, dropping to his knees.

“I…. I thought you were dead. I swear you were dead man. I woulda never stolen from ya, if I knew you were alive. I woulda helped ya.” he started to mutter in between my gloved hand. That answered one question, I looked over his blood soaked back. I felt bad for this guy, possibly didn’t even get into this for the right reasons. I let his face go and stood up straight, if he was a risk I could take him.

“Did you take anything else?” I asked, I was going to search anyways after I killed him, but at least this would set my expectations right.

“No man, I swear I didn’t take anything but that pistol and the ammo. Seriously man I can like help you or something. I’m a good look out, I mean I wasn’t right there but I can change man.” he started to ramble as I looked around the inside of the pillow and stain filled tent. As he continued to ramble I walked passed him and looked through the stuff they had underneath the dead woman. There wasn’t anything i recognized, just plenty of pipes, needles and medicine bottles.

I walked out as he continued to tell me about all of his virtues he grabbed onto my bad leg begging, causing a shock of pain to go up my leg. “Was there someone there before you?”

“Yeah long before I got there man, I mean like you were cleaned picked through.”

“I was only like that for twelve minutes”

“You’re the rocket ship man? right? I saw it come into this canyon like two days ago, nobody could move you man.”

That worried me, if I was there for two days, that would explain my unnatural thirst when I was just sitting there. My suit was offline at the time and if that's the case it would have given plenty of time. “Prove it” I crouched down so my mask was closer to his face.

“Does that mean your going to keep me around. I knew you were cool man, I knew you just had that vibe about you. ” he jumped into the tent and started scrounging and pulled out a screened device. He showed me logs dating back the past two days showing my unconscious body. I looked at the screen determined to remember the man who stole my rifles face. His face was distinct, wouldn’t be too hard to find. Jim Soren was his name and it appeared from the logs he was a traveling merchant. He had my rifle and other stuff, I would hunt this man down and acquire my stuff back. As I read through the logs the bored manic man started putting on clothes and getting his stuff together muttering the whole time. Once I had enough information I threw the device down.

“What are those guns” I pointed to the wooden rifle, the stamped metal rifle and the shotgun.

“You like those man, there all yours, anything here is yours rocket ship man.”

“What are they called?” I asked moving my pistol in a circle trying to get him to hurry up. I could feel the anesthetic starting to wear off, it would be another hour or two and it would start to ache.

“That rifle there, thats Bessy, its an SKS she's my pride and joy man.” he then kicked the shotgun at his feet “That's was derricks it's a Remington 870 custom made for him, or was his. Yours now man.” he said jauntily. I stared at him before he found his way to the last one “That other one is an AK its super cool”

I thought like I heard that last rifle mentioned once in the past, I watched the bearded man get ready. When he turned around and wasn’t paying attention I placed the barrel against where his heart would be and took him out quietly. It was quick, he deserved that at the very least. Where ever I was they didn’t know who or better, what I was. The less people I met, talked to or was seen by was better. In the future I hoped to not do things so messily, not leave as many bodies.

I sat down on the log and holstered my weapon. I decided against locking my armor I stared at the bodies, poor bastards. I didn’t have time to bury them, but I moved the bodies and covered each one in a sheet. I found some paper and some string noting each of who the bodies were, using the device he had given me. “Rest Well, I hope you find peace” I said to them five of them, something Tulip and Rei always said to the dead. I also covered the strange looking Moa and ensured its eyes were closed, the gorgeous bird didn't deserve an end like that. After searching the tents I found he was telling the truth. Next was to start hunting this Jim Soren guy, luckily I had logs to follow.

 

[SpartanB242]

My shoulder ached as I made my walk down the canyon. The pain in every step of my leg assisted as the puncture wound I had received started to throb. Biofoam was not supposed to last this long, it didn’t help that outside of the last campsite, the canyon was filled with nothing. As I walked near the dawn I spotted something near the canyon walls. It was a staircase carved out of the stone.

I had learned a lot from that log when sitting by the fire. Soren was a former mercenary serving the locals of Karim, wherever that was. He had amassed a small fortune collecting firearms and reselling them after retiring from fighting. He had a large group of “Guardians” who would often resell their “Findings.” Derrick was incharge of the group I massacred last night, a small crew who was attempting to sell crates of stolen firearms. Apparently they had buried them at a specific location, Soren wasn't interested.

Soren noted he would be returning to this sector in 6 months time, I didn’t have that time. I weighed my options and figured it would be faster for me to hunt him down to Karim. He had at least two days on me in travel, and in my state I couldn’t give chase. From what I could tell he kept pretty heavy security with him, and that he was wanted by a lot of people. I needed to get myself back up in working order, then I would chase him down. As I walked up the steps my HUD flickered to life reaching the top.

The helmet rebooted started and my HUD flashed to life. 0422 5th of January 2551 was in the top corner. It was a weird bug, I would have to report it, since at least two days had passed since landing, despite saying only thirteen minutes had passed. My vitals were in the red, but for the first time since waking up I had confirmation, my team was alive and doing well. I sat down on the final staircase once I reached the top.

When I was young Tulip use to tell me, “Matsu, its only pain, you can do this, remember Spartans don’t cry.” I believed her. Always pushed through it, even on the coldest and loneliest of nights. I also remember when we sat aboard the Passion of Water, motionless as we watched vid after vid. Hare team fighting for their lives surrounded by Kig Yar sniper teams. Hare 3 leaping forward firing an experimental laser cannon evaporating a hunter pair moving towards there team. Than the pink mist exploding across the camera after it flashed white, as a super combined needles blew open her armor and ribcage. Then the camera moving to Hare 2 with a stolen hammer from an ape. She fought for three hours to protect her body before she suffered a similar fate. My shoulder still felt wet from the tears that night, that was the last time I remembered crying.

But when I heard “Tortoise One, this is Tortoise Actual” crack over the radio, I was glad my helmet didn’t record when it defogged.

“Tortoise Actual, This is Tortoise one I hear you, but your signal is weak.” I said over the comms as I leaned back. I didn’t know what caused it, but I was glad the battery started working again, I hoped it lasted.

“Blake wake up” I heard Okie say over her open line.

“What…. I had 15 left” Blake responded groggily.

“Tortoise One, I can’t get a read on your position, no contact with The Passion.” Rei started to follow procedure, she wasn’t use to leading the squad on missions. She oversaw our day to day, but as for actual combat command she struggled.

“Tortoise Actual, you catching his life span” Tulip interrupting Rei.

“What the fuck, why didn’t you wake me up sooner. Matsu thank god you're alive” Blake cut in to the conversation.

“We just found out, don’t push me.” Okie responded as the commotion started to get out of control.

“Stick to our mission, no real names… Fuck it. They don’t know we exist, so I doubt they can break the encryption. I'm glad you girls are alright” I whispered into the mic as I looked around making sure that everything was clear. The one good thing about the desert, if anything was coming I would be able to spot it way ahead of time.

“You’re hurt” I heard Tulip state over the radio which, if what I said didn’t cause silence, she sure did.

“Yeah, I got a little banged up, it’s nothing to worry about, I don’t got medical supplies.” I responded as I stood up and used my zoom feature for a 360 degree take. I was glad I did, to the south there was smoke, which meant there was someone there. I started to limp that way as things started to go under way.

“Like hell its nothing to worry about, you get back here this instance” Rei yelled into the mic.

“I’d love to, but I don’t know where I am or where you are. Rei… I missed you” I responded as I kept moving, I could get to the smoke by midday and if that was the case, maybe there might be something to help.

“What is around you. Your lifesigns keep cutting in and out for the past couple days... you were unresponsive” Tulip asked as I could she was falling into her primary caretaker duties.

“Sand” I responded which didn’t really help much. “Well rocks, cliffs stuff like that. No wildlife, no trees, no water.”

“Are you bleeding” Tulip asked.

“Not currently, used my biofoam to stop it.” I could start to hear writing and motion from the open lines.

“How long ago was that” Tulip asked, she wasn’t going to like my answer.

“My timers been out but like 16 to 18 hours ago”

“That's not good” Tulip finally responded after a few moments of silence.

“You’re way too far away” Blake interrupted Tulips interrogation of my current health.

“Yeah, my tracker is out, how far away?” I asked.

“Like maybe a month of travel. Our radios shouldn’t be reaching you.” Blake noted. Before I could worry about the distance between us, I started to get concerned about Rei. As much as I didn’t sleep or eat, Rei was worse than me when one of us were endanger.

“Are you in a safe secure location” I asked as I kept limping towards the smoke.

“We are in an apartment, We have it locked down like back when observing that settlement” Okie finally spoke up since the rest didn’t want to say anything.

“How long have you girls been up and attem”

“59 hours” Okie continued to respond to me.

“Has Rei slept?” I asked.

“Yes” Rei responded immediately to the question, but simultaneously the other three girls said “No.”

“Even though I am injured I am assuming command of the squad.” I put on my commanders voice even though it was hard.

“Were not in the field” Rei responding trying to postpone what I was about to do.

“We still have one in the field still” Tulip answered her before I had to.

“Tulip, put Rei down for a rest, then I am going to need someone to tell me what happened.”

“I love you” Rei whispered on her radio before I saw her helmet go offline.

“Come on, its time to take a nap… I don’t care you aren’t tired, you heard the order, your going to sleep, then when you wake up your going to eat… Rei you could barely throw a kitten. Sit Your Ass Down Young Lady… There you go, do you want some warm milk” Tulip talked sternly but gently. I overheard everything going on. I wish I could hear Rei’s response. “Let me heat up som...”

“I already got some” Blake came in as they got Rei resting. As I limped across the sand I couldn’t help but to think I was going to be alright.

“Alright Reis to bed, want to hear what happened” Okie came over the radio, I nodded then realized I had to give her the affirmative.

 

[SpartanB242]

59 hours ago. Okies Feed.

As we came in for impact, everything felt wrong as all of our readouts went dark. My helmet flickered as we made landfall next to a river. The pod door exploded out landing in the marshy soil as I leveled my M90 Shotgun jumping out from my pod. The extra room in the pod had been comfortable, if we had been shot at I was glad to have all that empty headspace. My VISR activated to show no contact as I turned on my radio.

“Tortoise Team Report” I heard Reis voice over the radio and could see her 200 feet off to my right.

“Tortoise Four safe” I stated as I took a Knee as my HUD updated in real time. Everyone looked healthy, except Tortoise One, who was in yellow.

“Tortoise Two present” Tulip stated on the radio who was 58 feet behind me.

“I’m safe but I don’t see Tortoise Ones tracker” I heard blake state with a worried panic voice, She was fast moving to my position from my left. After a few moments as I kept my gun level felt her hand brace on my shoulder to leap over me. Her jets activated giving her an extra boost to get to Rei because she was clearly worried.

“Tortoise One, come in. Tortoise one are you there?” I heard Rei ask over the radio to no response.

I quickly looked behind my pod and gave a hand wave to Tulip who gave me a thumbs up as I started to wade across the river. It reached up to most of my helmet being short compared to the other spartans. Unlike the others I had to keep my main weapons far above my head so they didn’t get waterlogged. I saw Tulip move into position to cover me as I waded across, as I did so Blake and Rei raised hell over the radio to no avail. 0419 5th of January on my HUD when his helmet went offline with an out of contact signal.

“Shit, he just went offline” I heard Tulip call as I finally made my way to the other side of the bank. I got myself into a fire position covering Tulip as she crossed.

“No” Rei whispered, we all pretended we didn’t hear her. We all felt the same way but talking about it would make it worse.

“Doesn’t mean he is dead, T-3 did say he was out of contact range” Tulip reasoned with the group as she was up to her shoulders in water.

“I didn’t even get a range or indicator on his position” Blake responded.

“Did anyone see him burn up” I asked. A frog jumped in my throat after I said that but I pushed the sadness back where it belonged.

“No, I watched his pod go wide once we entered atmosphere” Rei responded

Before anyone could respond his helmet came back online, now with a blue indicator and a slow heartbeat. Tulip stopped in the middle of the river and was probably doing something in her helmet. After 15 seconds his indicator shut off again.

“I did something” Tulip responded once she started moving again.

“What?” Rei asked before the rest of us could be bothered. As the suction sounds from tulips boots exited the mud she patted me on the shoulder to let me know it was time to move. We booked it towards Rei and Blake.

“I captured his tracking position and checked his battery health” She replied as we quickly came up on Reis position as she had found cover in a tree line. “I may have put a backdoor in his suit when I did repairs. He is hurt, but we can’t get to him, he is too far away. His suit will do a quick pulse of location and health every few hours to preserve his battery. If his suit seems to be active at that time, it will turn on again for him.”

“Do you have this in all of our suits” I asked as I got comfortable on the forest floor getting a little concealment behind a tree stump. The concealment didn’t matter much due to my photoreactive plates that made me nearly invisible, but it gave me comfort. The silence was real as tulip stayed silent for the next few minutes as we covered 360 degrees.

“How hurt is he?” Rei asked finally breaking the silence.

“Survivable from the report. I locked his tech suit for now, if he was bleeding or is bleeding it should stop it.” Tulip responded, she sounded confident but there was a clear worry in her voice. Out of everyone she had the most complex relationship with him, and us. Sure we had all been ‘romantic’ with him in the past few years, so had she, but she had also trained us at one point. She had the same bonds with everyone, I didn’t envy the position, caused extra combat stress.

“Well let's get moving, I am not going to let him break his promise by having him die on me.” Rei stated as we all started moving the direction Tulip pointed us to.

After a little movement Blake finally asked what we all had been thinking. “Does this planet seem completely off from the reports we read.”

“Fuck the reports” Rei responded immediately, agitated.

“Fuck the mission” I followed her up with as we started to get more aggressive in our movement. The lights blinked green with an affirmative from everyone as we all agreed. ONI can find someone else to fight this war if we have to choose between our best friend, teammate, leader and occasional lover or some stupid mission.

We started to move towards him through the dense jungle quietly with our photoreactive plates on, We talked amongst ourselves. Tulip related to us that she lied about his bad battery, just wanted to make sure he was more careful than to tackle a gator or even worse a hunter. Things got strange when we found a clearing, Tulip was upfront and my indicator blinked to stop. Two green light blinks and I moved to the edge of the clearing slowly and carefully.

As I stood at the edge of the woods a giant ziggurat like the classified reports we use to read as kids. If we ever got contact from Passion of Water, we would have to be lying about some old structure. What it did mean is we could have possible covie, we laid on the forest edge slowly moving when something caught my eye. Fast in front of me my VISR activated a red outline as something swished passed. I reported it with blinking as I slowly got my shotgun in position. I got the go ahead if something like that happened again I would be cleared to shoot.

After a few minutes of waiting, blinks kept coming across my motion detector and another Matsu check in. It was clear something was wrong as the target came across my view again. Boom my shotgun exploded sending the creature and rider flying. *WAAAAARRK* the bipedal mechanical bird went flying. The panels were smooth and purple like a covenant cruiser, the thing that looked off is it looked partially pieced together. Its masks had a smooth outer edge that looked like a gators helmet. I gave a quick smooth pump of my shotgun, which was about to activate hell. The riders shields had been lowered, I shot a second time before the gator could activate anything. His purple blood oozed out of its armor on the beast he was riding, still sideways. I had never seen one of them riding anything bipedal, which made me nervous. Sangheili were old and stuck in there ways, they were smart but predictable, doing something new was out of there wheelhouse.

*GRAAAAAAAAH* behind me came as time started to slow down. “Silent Shadow” Tulip cried out as I heard the sputtering of Blakes guns. She had briefed us on this unit, it was a special operations branch of the sangheili. These gators were smarter than most, operating like us, often hunting us as prizes. I turned my helmet to see rounds bounce off the invisible creature, with a familiar swoosh of his energy sword activating. It was too late as his massive hand started to crush my neck to pick me up with energy sword active in hand. I started to turn as I went sailing to my left. I crashed into the ground rolling to minimize my impact.

“Not today mother fucker” Tulip cried out loudly as she had caused the three of us to go tumbling in a running tackle. She held one of its mandibles forcing the side of his head to the ground. The Covie bastard was screaming it's gibberish as she man handled it. Its energy sword cut into the her shoulder armor as she brought up a loose rock nearby. She slammed it down repeatedly as it attempted to struggle from the hits. It couldn’t get the leverage for the sword to do any damage. “Just fucking die already” She yelled loudly as its helmet started to crack then crumpling in from repeated hits. A crack appeared where skull matter and purple blood burst all over her. She continued to beat the now dead covenant.

I heard above me the patter of fast moving steps as I looked up I watched as one of the mechanical birds came stepping towards Tulip. I glanced at my active radar, there were at least 8 more surrounding us, most far away. As the initial panic wore off from my near death experience I activated my custom hidden Katars. The UNSC didn’t know I had them, they were smaller than I liked but, I preferred stabbing or crushing the Covie scum to death with my hands. As the birds foot landed next to my head I moved my head to avoid the loose energy blade as I stabbed my katar as hard as I could into the birds knees. It screamed like the first one as it tumbled sending the rider flying forward over Tulip.

Blakes submachine gun was a constant only stopping for reloads as she covered us. The comms were silent as I climbed up the possibly aggressive bird it looked like it was in a panic from its eye behind the protection. I saw an opening in its armor as I punched quickly to end its life. It gave a quiet gurgle as I removed both of my blades standing up activating my shield removing my invisibility.

I looked behind me to see Tulip being mounted by the now weaponless Sangheili. It was still semi cloaked as it started to try to bash her helmet open, holding her down by her neck with his massive hands.

I ran over and gave it a left hook underneath its armpit where the armor was weak. It screamed out as I retracted the dagger turning its attention to me. “Come on lets go” I motioned my hands backing up. The Sangheili loved their honor and a duel was something I could rely on to get them to fight me. It gave a scream ripping off his mask revealing his ugly gator face.

“You do not scare me Tiny Demon” It hissed as it also activated his energy punch daggers, popular among their special operations units. I always felt I would get along with them if they all weren’t genociding bastards to us humans. As we squared up I moved right as his first punch went wide as his hook came in nearing my face. I pulled back in time as the energy dagger ran passed killing my shields. The beeping started as I gave a kick to his over extended backwards knee.

“Like all the others” I stammered as I then punched into his face severing his lower mandible, but no real damage.

“Not so bad Tiny Demon” He replied at my feet was his unactivated sword, I kicked it his way.

“Go ahead, I want you with your best weapon” I told him with my unseeable wicked grin as he leaned down I watched his head explode as I heard a burst from Reis rifle.

“Too many, get your gun and get back at it.” Rei finally said over the comms as I was disappointed I didn’t get to show him a good final duel. The red dots all died soon after that death as I ran over and grabbed my shotgun. As I grabbed my gun the shooting was over so I moved close to my team as everyone reloaded. I didn’t know where they were, they had stopped moving and my VISR wasn’t picking anything up.

“You alright Tulip” Blake asked as she gave an green light which meant affirmative. she quickly loaded HE rounds into her grenade launcher.

“Demons come out from hiding” A voice called out. I looked towards the temple grounds showing a giant Sangheili riding a golden bird. It had an armored body but its neck and head were visible. *Wark* *Wark* *Wark* it cried out. By my estimation he didn’t have time to fully armor it.

“Kills, I got 2” Rei whispered over comms

“One” I replied quickly.

“One” Tulip responded she sounded angry.

“Three” Blake finally gave her count.

“So seven overall, the one on the golden moa would be the last I saw on the motion detector” Rei told us.

“I grow tired Demons, come face me.” My blood was hot from Rei stealing my duel and I jumped out of the brush putting my shotgun across my back.

“If were going to do this, no ranged weapons” I yelled.

“Get back here, I’m not losing you to some idiotic respect for their honor culture” Rei gave orders that fell on deaf ears.

“I got her covered” Tulip called out as I heard rustling as they moved fast

“He is in my sights” Blake gave a call as the giant gator hopped off of his bird.

“Leave here Humans, this is not a holy site. The Great Journey was a Lie. You may have killed my great warriors but we do not seek violence against your kind.” The Sangheili told me as I stood there partially covered in the blood of his kin.

“How do I know it's not a trap” I asked as I thought about grabbing my pistol to make this fight unfair.

The Sangheili held up its hands and on the edges of the Ziggurat a few cloaked jackals stood up with their rifles. They slowly put them on the ground as he jumped off his golden moa and threw his unactivated energy swords to the side.

“This planet is strange and not what you would expect human. We offer you no threat, Leave us be.”

“You think you can just kill off planets ASSHOLE and not expect some retribution.” I marched forward towards the large gator unafraid. No one stopped me as I was within a few feet I heard a thump then an explosion. Guns started going off as I kicked his knee.

“I’m glad you know that the great journey was bullshit. Glad you killed all those humans just for fun” He reached down to grab his sword but was too late as my blade found its way in between his two mandibles. As his limp body hit the ground I pulled out my pistol and put 13 rounds into him to make sure he was dead. After a few moments, I took cover at the wall of the ziggurat. After the firestorm stopped and everyone called all clear we left like ghosts.

After a few miles out we found a river and cleaned the blood and char off of our photoreactive plate. Tulips shoulder guard was still good, her suit just required a reboot to get it to work again.

“So what do you think he meant by this planet is what we wouldn’t expect” Blake finally asked as we started to move again.

“I don’t care, I just want to find Matsu and call this mission a wash” Rei said slightly tired.

“We should rest soon” Tulip noted but all of us gave her a red light to tell her no, as we kept moving south often following the river.

Then we saw it, the giant city from a cliff side. Semi-modern with great aqueducts, gorgeous perfect architecture that we had only seen in movies. There weren’t recognizable combat positions, blown out buildings, sniper nests, nothing it was pristine. We all stopped for a moment with an audible gasp from Tulip.

“New plan, lets get in the city, find a pelican or something, steal it and go save Matsu” Rei stated.

“They even gave us an easy entry point” Point of interest pinged the aqueduct that led directly into the city undefended. This would be the easiest stealth insertion we would ever do. As we moved through the knee deep water our plates kept ups from being seen by the citizen. All the humans wore strange clothes, which reminded us of peace time. It didn’t seem possible with the covies so close by.

When we made our way to the surface, there was a large domed building well dressed people were entering and exiting. We quickly entered and found an abandoned room, to setup our observation post.

Current day

“And we have been here for a little bit, no pelican found” Okie said over the radio as I grew close to the settlement.

“You got into the city that easy” I asked as I had listened to Okies tale.

“Well…” Blake said over the radio “There is more, but were still in the city. I’d rather not divulge information to get us caught.”

“I see some tents up ahead” I looked through my visor to quickly find the entire encampment was dead, the black smoke was there chard bodies still smoking. “I am going to need to get a pause, might see some action, then I need to be walked through on how to sew up my shoulder”

“Understandable” Tulip responded as everything grew quiet so I could focus.

 

[SpartanB242]

I drew my pistol with my one good hand as I moved past the first tent. I heard slobbering and disgusting crunching noises as I approached the dead pile. I checked left and right inside the tents to see old blood stains. It was clear that this was a massacre by someone, and I doubt I would find out who. I just hoped they wouldn’t be around at all. Moving quietly I crouched using the tent to conceal my position.

As I looked around the corner I found the source of slobbering and it wasn’t just Rei snoring I could hear faintly over my radio. The beast was the size of a large dog with slick skin and large lower fangs. Looking like a giant lizard it had a small bluefin and back with white legs and belly. After getting my sights on the beast it sniffed the air as I pulled the trigger. My round went sailing slamming right behind the front legs. It yipped and bolted a few feet before dropping on the ground sliding. They had normal anatomy but I had never seen a creature such as that. As I moved closed it stank of the dead with a scaly body that resemble the worst combinations of a lizard and a dog. “I hope it was just a single designer pet” I said out-loud over mic.

“What, did something happen? Are you ok?” Okie ended radio silent to worry about me.

“Its fine Okie, just some beast, I made it into the village going to do a quick search.” I did a quick clearing of the entire village to find it clear. During that time I heard whispers that I couldn’t make out, I assumed it was Tulip telling Okie and Blake to be quiet for a little while.

I searched through the first tent as it did so my radio started to chatter. “So what kind of injury is it?” Tulip started to ask.

“Well my left leg hurts, more like aches. I haven’t been able to take off my tech suit, but I am pretty sure its just a sprain.”

“Try to lock up your suit and find a place to hang tight. If you have a leg injury, walking on it could exacerbate the problem”

“Tulip, we have metal or well ceramic bones my weight isn’t going to make it any worse. Is it metal or ceramic? I never quite understood what they did to us.”

“Both” Tulip gave me a well deserved lecture, “It's like a weird mix of the two. And you could make it worse, and I don’t see a way to to get back to the UNSC Hopeful”

“No…. I don’t see a way either. Ok, so more injuries”

“Yes” Tulip, Blake and Okie said in unison, Blake and okie both seemed irritated. Tulips voice calmed me as I searched over blankets hoping not for another one of those dog things. This tent was turned over and all I found was some possible bandages. This was a sleeping tent so lots of blankets and pillows, but that's about it.

“Looking for something stranger” an unknown threatening voice came from my left. I looked over it was a man in a duster, with a full chest wrapped in cloth. He had a bulbous rifle with two barrels leveled at me. He had hatred in his eyes.

“Medical Supplies” I said as I turned to face him with my pistol at the ready, I didn’t want to kill him. Civilians had a tendency to be hasty as I watched his fingers carefully.

“You won't find any of that here stranger. I watched you take down that Varren, you just like killing others pets?”

“I thought it was a Scavenger” I said in my defense as I stood still watching him carefully.

“Krogan don’t appreciate that too much” He said as he looked around.

“So your Krogan?” I asked as I stared at him

“Keep yourself safe, I don’t like the sound of this guy” Okie chimed in.

“Okie let him concentrate” Blake replied

The man gave a small laugh “No, I’m hunting them, that was one of their favorite Varren, they let them eat the dead so they don’t have to feed them. Fuck now that I got the good look of you, you sure you haven’t fought a Krogan before?”

“I don’t know who this Krogan is but no, I crashed landed. Would you mind lowering that weapon of yours, the UNSC doesn’t appreciate Innies, like you, holding me hostage” I said as I readied my weapon, I wasn’t going to be held at gunpoint like this.

“I don’t know what the UNSC is or what an Innie is, but sure thing. Just holster that pistol of yours” I slowly holstered it as he collapsed his rifle and attached it to his back with the familiar click of a magnet.

I looked the man up and down, and despite the rags underneath him he was wearing some slick armor. ONI possibly, I’d rather not ask they don’t appreciate that. He may be feigning ignorance but if he is, I figured my best bet is to play along before I can confirm it.

He walked forward extending a hand “I’m”

“No names” I replied and pointed to the number on my armor. “Just call me B-242.” I didn’t accept his hand shake. “So why are you here?” I inquired.

“As I said I was hunting them krogan, that Varren was my lead. They have been hunting folks around here for sport…. I’m kind of the reason why they are here so I’m just trying to clean up my mess”

“Know where I can get meds” I figured he wasn’t lying and since I didn’t know who krogan was, it was best that I would start heading out on my way.

“Yeah the other tent, so that blood yours?” He was casual with me now as he led me over to the right tent, throwing open a chest and handing me an old style medkit. The kit itself reminded me of the kits scraped together by the innies in the less fortunate bases.

“Some of it, These folks yours?”

“Nah, these nomads tend to organize things this way. Just another lost lead. Want me to help look over any of your wounds?” He asked as I ripped the medkit from his hands.

“We should get out of here, before more of these Varren things or Krogan shows backup.” I replied, he gave a shrug.

“You sure, I was an Alliance medic before I started doing merc work” he stated. It was a tempting offer but I wasn’t going to let some innie bastard lay his hands on me, medic or not. He probably just wanted to find out about what I was then report it back to some ally, even if he was a merc.

“He seems friendly, normally I’d say leave no witnesses, but what I need you to do, you might want some cover” Tulips voice entered into my head.

“He isn’t trustworthy, he could kill him while he is in the middle of sowing himself up.” Okie piped up.

“If he was going to kill him, he would have done it by now” Blake noted.

“We don’t know that, maybe he just wants him weaker. I don’t know if you have noticed but we’re hard to kill.” Okie replied to blake with her paranoid voice.

It was an odd side effect Lt. Ambrose warned us about. Due to the selection process most of the cadets given their backgrounds had some psychological problems. All of Tortoise Team including myself had them, though Okies shined through more than others. From her file she spent some time on the streets, since her parents, low level members of a crime family, were executed by the insurrections in front of her. I was frustrated I had to read it from a file since she refused to tell me. She is often paranoid especially of strangers and takes a long time to trust anyone. She only trusted us because we looked after her, even when she refused early on. One of the final straws was when Okie got in a fist fight with a Member of Fox team after she antagonized them. We all jumped in and helped her, even though we knew she was in the wrong. After that she was a lot more trusting of us.

“Okie, he doesn’t really have any other options, what do you want him to get an infection?” Blake replied angrily as I started to hear a scuffle.

“Alright, alright ill do it” I whispered into the mic, as I did so the man looked at me weirdly.

“What was that” He asked, “I thought you said something”

“In contact with my team, needed to run something by them” I replied, he looked at me slightly astonished.

“I thought you were alone” He asked as he looked around the horizon nervously.

“I am. Can we head someplace safe, I want to sow myself up and I need some help watching my six” I stated.

“Please stay safe, we don’t know him. Keep your gun reachable.” Okie pleaded with me over the radio.

“Yeah, lets head to my mobile base, we will be safer there” The man motioned as we started walking towards a rock formation a ways away. Today was about to get a lot more interesting.