Here is the prologue to the sequel to the Rising Storm, Enjoy this small glimpse of it.
Prologue
UNSC world Frontier –Hades Gamma cluster
8th November 2568 military calendar 08.30
Mark-184 tensed as he looked out at the rolling savannah below. Behind him Cameron-242 and Brandon-197 readied their weapons and sat in the Pelicans seats.
Mark turned and looked at his team. Along with Cameron and Brandon, their was Patrick-211 and Alice-236. They had trained together ever since they joined the Spartans ten years ago.
Mark thought about those days. He had only been a toddler at the end of the war with the covenant. His parents had moved around a lot, trying to avoid the covenant patrols, during their brief occupation of Earth.
After the war, things had settled down and they stopped moving and he was brought up in Iowa, which was mostly untouched from the war. He had helped his father, as they lived of the land. The beautiful summers and the bitter winters still reminded him of home.
Things had changed though. One day a man had come to his house and said he was special, and told him he had a great future ahead of him in the Spartans. The next day he had woken up in a strange metal facility with about another 150 kids around him. That was his first day in the Spartan IV program and it certainly wasn’t the last. He be trained and augmented to make him the best of the UNSC. Now was the day of their first real mission.
One of humanity’s furthest colonies, Frontier had dropped out of contact. They have been silent for almost three months, double the amount of time they should have sent in their last report on the crops and shipping manifests. No ship had come from the planet and ONI was starting to get worried. Their mission was to find out what had happened and report on what ever they found.
He tensed as he tightened the silencer on his MA5C. Even though the fact this was their first mission excited him, he was also slightly nervous. He could see that his feelings were reflected by the rest of the team. They were all silent, but the slight tension in their body language told him they were as nervous as he was.
‘At the drop zone in 5, lock and load Spartans.’ Mark said.
They scrambled for their weapons, making last minute checks and strapping magazines into their belts.
The Pelican’s rear door opened and the Spartans filed out, taking up defensive positions. The Pelican’s engines roared as it soared off into the morning sky.
Mark motioned a finger forward and the 5 soldiers advanced, heading to the capital of Frontier, Alton. It was about the size of a UNSC frigate, with a massive 30 foot tower in the centre, which was the UNSC barracks and communications array. That was their target.
They reached the city gates undetected. Mark moved to the massive steel gates and to the tiny keypad to the right side of the door. He typed in the code given to him by ONI and the doors creaked open.
They silently crept inside, keeping their weapons raised. The city was deserted, it looked intact, but there was no people, no noise, except the howling wind. They walked cautiously through what was the centre of town.
It was then that Patrick saw it; he rushed into an alleyway to the right of street and knelt by what looked like a bundled of burnt rags. As he got closer, he realised they weren’t rags. The crumpled form was human male, in his mid thirties. His face and body was burned, blackened until he looked like he was covered in soot.
Patrick rose and said ‘Plasma burns, rules out the URF.’
The URF (or United Rebel Front) had lead a campaign of insurrection against the UNSC and her colonies before the war with the covenant, where they had been relatively quiet, seeing the larger threat of the covenant. After the war they had slowly reappeared, claiming it was the UNSC’s fault that the covenant had attacked humanity, that they had provoked them. Obviously this wasn’t true but some disillusioned survivors had joined them, and they had proved a pain to the UNSC ever since. Mark as well as his Spartans had suspected it was them as they had been spotted in this sector, as Frontier was vulnerable as it would take a while for UNSC command to respond if it was attacked.
Plasma weaponry meant only one thing, the covenant were attacking UNSC worlds once again.
Though they had been relatively quiet since the war, they had proved to still be dangerous. Only 2 months ago, they had discovered The Relay, a slipspace transmitter that could activate the remaining halo rings, which would kill all life in the galaxy. Though they had been thwarted by the actions of blue team, the Prophet of Remorse had escaped, leaving the brass at headquarters to suspect they would attack again, but they thought they would have had more time.
‘We need to let ONI know about this, we have to get to the transmitter in the centre of the city.’ Mark said
The Spartans nodded in acknowledgment and they heading towards the massive tower.
Out of nowhere a barrage of plasma slammed in Mark, his shields flared gold and flashed as they failed. Plasma hit his chest. He grimaced in pain and clutched his side as it impacted his flesh. Even though he was in immense pain, he managed to shout out.
‘Ambush!’
Brandon and Patrick took up defensive positions beside him as he fell to one knee. Blood poured from his mouth and his breathing became erratic.
Alice and Cameron fired their weapons widely, trying to hit their invisible opponents. More plasma replied hitting Cameron in the shin.
Mark watched as one by one, his teammates fell, under the concentrated fire of their attackers. The pain was too much, he collapsed unto his back and his vision dimmed. He felt an overriding sense of failure, as he had lead his teammates, his friends to their doom.
He only just saw the tall dark figure materialised as it disengaged its active camouflaged. He looked up to see the blue glow of a plasma rifle as the figure raised it at Mark’s head. He saw a blue flash, and then it all went black.
End of the Prologue
'For eons I have watched as you have misinterpreted. This is not Reclaimation, this is reclaimer'- Mendicant Bias
Vigil is watching you
Check out my second fan-fic: Operation Overwatch