Now it's my turn to pollute the halo-verse section with a fan fiction. here goes. i owe credit for some of the background story to Spartan-013 from his thread "halo files". sorry for any problems in the spacing. when copying from word and pasting into the forums, the forums double the spacing.
Operation Hindrance Ch.1
Corporal Hanson’s snow covered warthog sped increasingly fast over the icy terrain. It amazed him how all of it could be artificial. ‘Somebody built this.’ His Platoon was part of Operation Hindrance. It was the UNSC ‘s attempt at preventing Covenant reclamation of the Halo rings. In his mind, if the UNSC were really determined to keep the rings out of enemy hands, they would’ve sent more than a company of 150 men to each known structure.
On the other hand, the UNSC had a lot to worry about at the time. With the Brute wars raging on the Sanghelli front and the constant Kig-yar threat to interstellar commerce ever present, the human race was facing its toughest days yet. To add to it all, re-building had just barely started. The UNSC hadn’teven finished sifting through the rubble of half a continent much less begun re-establishing the colonies.
What surprised him most was that the UNSC had just recently proposed the Treaty of Totality, a document that called for the immediate unity of the Human and Sanghelli races. It promised that if either were to find themselves in a conflict with an outside force, the other would come to their assistance.
In his opinion, the UNSC, for the moment, needed to stay out of foreign affairs. They couldn’t afford to be fighting aliens. They needed to focus on the direct needs of the human race. Billions were dead and millions more were left homeless. Hell, there were still refugees stuck on the asteroid belts. What actions were being taken to retrieve them?
In the end, Corporal Hanson lacked the insignia as well as the will power to make a difference. Instead he would just play it safe and follow orders. It had always worked out in the past.
He was on his way to Snow Base Alpha. Apparently, something was going on at main HQ that his group needed to check out.
Treading through the snow at 45MPH, the frosted warthog grew nearer to its destination. Corporal Hanson could just barely make out the facility through the heavy snowfall. ‘Two kilometers left’.
Hanson scanned the path ahead of him and caught a glimpse of a small vehicle moving in the opposite direction. His eyes followed the vehicle as it sped past him and proceeded to make a U-turn. The small vehicle quickly gained speed and within a few seconds was driving alongside the warthog.
The vehicle he’d been tracking was an M274 Mongoose. Although he’d heard a lot about them, Hanson had never actually seen one in action. To him, they seemed pretty impractical. They carried only two men and lacked any form of armament.The only quality they appeared to posses was speed. ‘Was that all that was necessary?’
Atop the mongoose sat two soldiers. He couldn’t recognize them through their winter gear. The man perched on the back of the 4-wheeler gave him a thumbs down signal, motioning for him to slow down. Corporal Hanson complied, slowing down to about 20mph. The mongoose, in turn, slowed to the same speed, and without notice, the man on the back leapt into the passenger seat of the moving warthog.
The mongoose quickly sped back up to full speed and headed back towards Snow Base Alpha. Meanwhile, Corporal Hanson stared questioningly at the man who now sat beside him.
“Private Jason Walker reporting for duty sir” the man said with a wavering salute.
“At ease” responded Hanson; relieved the boy had finally spoken.
“Sir,” the private continued, “I’ve been given orders to escort you to the rally point”
“What rally point” Hanson asked, “What’s going on?”
“That I can’t say sir” he replied as he typed coordinates into the dashboard GPS computer. “We’ve lost contact with Main HQ. We suspect covenant involvement, but aside from that, we’re clueless. The group left without you. Time is of the essence Sir. If we change direction now we can meet them in the middle.”
The drive continued on, uneventful, until they came within eye site of the rest of the platoon.
“There they are” said Private Jason Walker. “If we maintain speed we should be caught up to them in a few minutes.”
“Jesus!” exclaimed Hanson, referring to the advancing platoon in front of them consisting of 3 hogs, a stripped down hornet, one scorpion and another 3 mongoose. “What is this, an all out assault?”
“Standard precaution” the private replied, answering the rhetorical question. “Standard precaution my ass. There’s something going on here that they’re not telling usabout.”
“Sir, with all do respect, we’re facing the possibility of a covenant invasion. Inform me if I’m missing something, but I don’t see the preparedness of ourplatoon as evidence of foul play.” “Ofcourse not” remarked Hanson in a submissive tone. “That wouldn’t make any sense.”
CH.2
As his warthog drew in closer to the rest of the platoon, Corporal Hanson’s radio began to crackle to life. “Glad to see you could make it corporal” spoke the voice of his commander, staff sergeant Harris. “Has your escort briefed you on the mission status”
“He’s told me all there is to know sir” he responded. “Which seems to be a very small amount”
“I won’t lie to you corporal, we’re fuckin clueless out here. We don’t know what’s going on. It could be covenant, or it could be the god damned abominable snowman. Either way, I’m prepared to blow it to hell. Are you?”
“Of course sir.” he said with reluctance.
“Good to hear marine. Over and out”
Hanson clicked off his comm. Unit and turned to the marine by his side. “It looks as if the sergeant is just as oblivious to what’s going on as you and I”
“Good thing” said private walker, “I was starting to get tired of your conspiracy theories”
Corporal Hanson smiled at the statement, but said nothing. It wasn’t for another twenty minutes of silence that they finally arrived at their destination.
The platoon slowed as it approached Main HQ. Each soldier’s face went white as they viewed the scene ahead. The snow around the entrance of Main HQ was draped in red. Blood decorated the doorway and surrounding walls. Limbs and bits of flesh were scattered about the perimeter of the building and a stench of decaying flesh filled the air. ‘The Covenant are here’ thought the sergeant, ‘and they’ve already made their first strike.’
CH 3.
The group of vehicles now sat parked a few meters from the Main HQ facility. The marines sat inside of them, shocked and horrified by the reality of their situation. It was actually happening. The covenant were really there, and they’d already produced casualties.
Corporal Henderson turned to the man beside him. The marine’s face was pale as the snow around them, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Henderson leaned across the seat and slapped him hard across the face. “pull yourself together marine” he said “This is nothing”
It was true, Corporal Henderson had seen worse in his career. He’d seen men burned by the alien’s plasma. He’d seen them impaled by energy swords. He’d witnessed entire worlds transformed into spinning balls of glass. Indeed, this was nothing.
Private walker came to and shook his head as he removed himself from the warthog. He said nothing, but followed corporal Henderson to the sergeant’s vehicle. “Sir” said the corporal to Sergeant Harris, “we’ve got a lot of demoralized soldiers out here. You need to act fast, act confident”
“I know it marine” he said back. “But I too am shocked. I’d expected to get here in time to help them repel borders, not clean up their bodies.”
The Sergeant got out of the warthog, wavering as he stood. “Marines” he said aloud to the crew, “out of the cars! I want you in formation in front of the door on the double. Go go go!”
With little hesitation, each marine filed out of their vehicle and made their way to the building entrance. The blood was beginning to come back to their faces.
“Alright marines” spoke the sergeant again, “get ready to blow open this door, and shoot everything that moves” the marines checked their ammo and readied their weapons. The majority of them held MA5B assault rifles, standard issue UNSC weaponry. The rest carried BR55 battle rifles. Both weapons were somewhat outdated, but they did the job.
“On my go” said the sergeant, “3….. 2….. 1”
The marines in front threw themselves into the door and the rest braced themselves for the onslaught. The door didn’t budge. “It’s locked sir” said one of the marines. “Well what are you doing standing there boy?” asked the sergeant. “Blow it open!” The marine removed from his side pack a small explosive. He primed and attached it to the door. “Fire in the hole!” he yelled aloud. Each marine turned his upperbody away from the door. The explosive detonated in a surprisingly quiet, anticlimactic moment and the marines charged in through the door.
The hall was empty. Aside from the occasional pool of blood and dispatched limb, the place seemed, almost, normal. The group of marines parted to each side, creating a pathway in the middle. The sergeant walked through to the front ofthe group with Corporal Henderson following behind him.
Suddenly,a shot rang out, and a hole appeared in the Sergeant’s abdomen. He cursed as he fell to the floor below him. “Covenant, around the corner!” screamed one of the marines. The soldiers quickly got into position, surrounding the Sergeant to keep him from further harm.
“Not covenant” Stated Corporal Henderson. “This is a bullet hole, not a plasma burn”
The marines continued to advance, ignoring his words. Henderson kneeled down next to the Sergeant. He removed a needle from his pocket and filled it with Biofoam. He stabbed the needle sharply into his wound and filled it in. the foam quickly expanded, causing the sergeant to scream out in pain. He knew the feeling. Henderson had had many Biofoam injections, and it was no walk in the park. The feeling of the tissue inside your fresh wounds expanding outward brought horrible pain. It hurt like hell.
The marines readied their weapons as they neared the corner of the hallway. Each of them clicked off their safeties and held their breath. They turned the corner. This time, no shots were fired. The soldiers were confused. They had expected to see covenant. Instead,they saw a fellow man, wearing a blue jumpsuit and curled up in the fetal position. An M6D pistol lay by his side. One marine, a man named Jones, stepped forward and grabbed the man by the collar. The man uncurled and Jones forced his back into the wall. Jones examined the man. The stitching on his jumpsuit’s *** pocket read “Ronald Clark” below it was the acronym “ONI”. Quickly, the marine stepped back. He’d just acted forcefully to a higher ranking officer.
The man mumbled something and Jones stepped closer to hear what he said. “What’s that sir?” he asked.
“Stay close.” whispered the man “They’re all around us.” The marine backed up and smirked. The man was crazy. No wonder he’d shot the sergeant.
Corporal Henderson was still staring at the Sergeants wound when he felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder. He spun his head around to meet the eyes of Private Walker. “We found a survivor Sir.” He said. “I think you’re gonna want to see him”
Maes Hughes, i will miss