"Why are we here?" That question nagged Tom for awhile because he had no "good" answer. He thought back a few days. Command had instructed him to kill those insurrectionists but they seemed a little... Different about giving him that mission. It almost seemed as though... "Oh my G..." Tom couldn't finish the sentence as it all dawned on him.
A week before.
"Nightshade Squad please report to the debriefing deck," A voice came over the speaker.
"Alright Nightshade, double time," Tom yelled.
"You heard him Jake, wake up!" Melissa said.
"Hrmm," Jake yawned.
Tom knew that they were going to get called for a mission, but everything seemed a little off. He shook the feeling from his head. "I'm just over exaggerating." His team reached the elevator. "Alright Nightshade, lets get it done".
Pressing the elevator button to go the debriefing deck, they all sat in awkward silence until they reached the bottom.
"Nightshade, we have a mission for you." said General Anderson.
Tom sensed that something about the General was off. The normal serious but joking General wasn't there. Instead there was an all serious General standing before them. He knew something they didn't and Tom didn't like it. However, Tom does not question higher officers than himself, especially the General.
"General what's the mission sir?"
"Normal just go down and wipe out the insurrectionist's camp, however, they are a bit... different".
"Sir, we can handle it". Deep down Tom thought this was a big mistake. He knew something was off and he knew that the General wasn't acting himself. That made him feel like he was going to collapse under strain.
"Tom are you ok?" Melissa asked sounding concerned.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine I just feel like this mission is going to be... well different you know?"
"Yeah something is bothering the General, its almost like he doesn't want to send us down there."
Tom knew in his gut she was right but his mind didn't want to accept it. It didn't seem like the General to regret sending them on a mission. Maybe they were just imagining it but maybe they weren't.
"Alright Nightshade get ready for the mission, pack everything you think you will need. Try to pack the same gear besides weapons, so that we can all share equipment".
"Alright well none of you are touching my Sniper Rifle". Melissa said jokingly.
"Yeah well I'm a terrible shot with long range weapons anyway," Jake replied.
"Jake just get your energy swords, I still can't believe out of all the Covenant weaponry you picked energy swords". Tom said.
"Dude I'm called an assassin for a reason".
"Yeah man your REAL stealthy, remember last time your tried to sneak up on a grunt? You tripped over a tree stump and landed into some Elites arms. Your lucky he didn't kill you". Tom said laughing. Remembering his brother doing front flips on the ground and bumping into every possible object on the way.
Being with his squad... no his family, helped Tom forget about the mission. It had so many secrets, for an insurrectionist camp that is.
"Nightshade you drop in 15 minutes. You better be ready." came a Marines voice.
"Be ready for anything, we don't know what to expect," Tom said.
"Yeah, I know, I always try to be careful don't worry". Melissa replied.
"Well, lets go to the Pelican".
Tom and his squad walked to the Pelican. Being attached was a Mantis and another Pelican was being refitted to carry a Scorpion. He didn't understand why they would ever need that much firepower for insurrectionists. His mind went back to the General's strange behavior. "Maybe they did need this much firepower".
"Wow. I wonder if that Mantis has an R/C converter in it. We are screwed if it doesn't," Melissa said.
"Most of them do now, I would be surprised if its manual." Tom replied.
"Well I'll drive the tank. You guys can fight over the turret," Jake said.
Jake was right, he was the best driver, especially if the device was a tank. "Melissa I'll handle the turret you sit on the side with your Sniper Rifle.
"Ok," Melissa said annoyed. "Why do I always hang on the side? Never have any fun with heavy weapons" She thought to herself. She completely knew the answer to her question but she didn't want to admit it. She almost killed herself the last time she tried to use a Warthogs mini-gun, so she had no chance with firing a tanks mini-gun turret.
"Its good to have good ol' Steel Wall back," Tom said while admiring the tank. It been repainted black and had the word Nightshade painted in white on both sides of the turret. The most recent mission had left Steel Wall with a lot of dents and a hole in the front. It has seen much better days. He was glad that they had repaired it instead of letting them go with it like that.
"Nightshade board the tank get ready for a hot drop".
"Hot drop?" Tom hasn't heard that word in a very long time.
"Yeah these "people" are very violent".
The way the man used the word "people" worried Tom. Everyone on this ship had acted weird, at least to Tom that is. He couldn't help feeling that they were in grave danger.
Tom and his squad boarded their respected positions. Melissa sat beside Jake so she wouldn't fly off into space.
"Activating slipspace drive in 3...2...1...". Tom imagined his stomach tear apart, and recombine back together in a different shape. However, that was just his slipspace sickness.
The Pelicans reappeared over a planet. Seemed like any other planet, on the outside. When they descended the atmosphere began to change. Dark storm clouds covered the sky.
"Get ready for some rain!" Tom yelled over the Pelicans engines. It started to rain as they passed through the clouds. Tom saw the ground. There was a small camp of... Purple metallic buildings. The pelicans let them off behind the cover of the trees southwest of the forest. The clamps released the tank and the Mantis.
"The Mantis needs to be turned on manually but we gave it an A.I. no need to get in and shoot manually." An engineer said over the COM as they flew away.
Tom was glad that the Mantis had an R/C converter. That would help a lot in battle. He flipped the switch to turn the Mantis on.
"Loading A.I. information. Rocket Launcher/Mini-Gun test. Move away from test site." The Mantis said with a deep voice. Soon after the rockets fired. Blackening the ground and sending a shockwave through the ground. Tom and his squad backed up so they did not die in the process. Tom was worried now that the "insurrectionist's" now knew where they were.
"Stealth just flew out the window," The Mantis fired it's mini-gun. "Yeah now its on a different planet". Tom said disgusted. "At least we don't have to worry about the Mantis not working".
"Everyone get in the tank," Tom said as the Mantis was done test firing.
Tom admired the tank when it started up, the tank had been custom fitted with a 3,000 HP engine. Stealth was no longer an issue now they were crushing trees with their massive engine tank. Then the worst possible thing happened. The tank stopped dead.
"What now!" Tom yelled at Jake over the COM.
"I don't know sir, it seems to have run out of gas".
"Turn on the R/C converter prototype on".
"Yes, sir".
The tank started up its R/C converter. "Prototype-X: Code: Scorpion," said a female voice.
"Running on nuclear power".
"Hopefully she doesn't go up like a firecracker when she gets hit," Jake said.
"Nuclear power doesn't work that way anymore, besides its forerunner technology the computer just refers to it as nuclear." Tom replied.
"Oh, that's still confusing".
"No kidding Sherlock,".
They continued to a hill that overlooked the camp. Tom got a closer look at the buildings. They seemed strangely similar but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Where have a I seen that metal before?". He pondered that question for awhile until he saw movement.
"Pay attention there is a figure coming out of one of the camps,". It was roughly 3 feet tall. "Where have I seen this before?" Tom asked himself. "No it can't be...".
"Mantis, scan the figure coming out,".
"Figure appears to be a grunt. Lowest in the covenant military".
"Tom? Are you ok?" Melissa asked.
"We... I... Aww crap..." Tom struggled to say. He was to busy trying to find an answer to why there was still covenant. All thoughts drew up to a blank.
"Well, looks like the UNSC has some major explaining to do," Jake said obviously angry.
"Jake it may not be their fault. Sometimes things live and people just don't know about it".
Tom was angry as well. If the UNSC had known wouldn't they have told everyone? Tom knew that their is a good chance that they didn't know either.
"We still need to worry about killing all of them," Jake interrupted Tom's thoughts.
"How do you suppose we do that? Just because their weapons are inaccurate doesn't mean they don't do damage. Looks like the grunts are carrying needlers as well".
"Great, needlers..." Melissa trailed off.
The Mantis suddenly fired at the trees behind them. An elite fell over and uncloaked.
"Great they know we are here and they have active camo".
"Enemy neutralized 104 enemies remaining".
"Well, this sucks already and I haven't shot anything yet," Tom said.
"Well lets get to it considering they will come out in hordes now," Jake replied.
Tom and the rest of Nightshade followed him. Melissa, however, stayed on the ridge to put her skills to good use. "Steel Wall shoot at the buildings to see if they are shielded," to Tom's dismay they were. So that means they will have to use the aliens own weapons against them. Jake go to active camo and be stealthy. When Tom rounded the cliff he almost ran right into 3 Jackals that were waiting at the bottom.
"Engaging targets," The Mantis said as it fired a rocket killing the Jackals before they had time to turn their shields on. "101 enemies remaining"
Tom hid behind the first metallic enemy building. When he got close he felt the liquid glossy shield. "There has got to be a way around this shield. Then he realized that the entrance would not be shielded. He just needed the tank to shoot inside each building and they should go up like firecrackers.
Suddenly a plasma pistol bolt came out of nowhere and hit Tom in the arm. His shield flared and he felt it burn on his armor. Sizzling the skin underneath. Being that Spartan II shields were very expensive and he wasn't equipped with their kind of shields, Tom knew his could not put up with a blast like that. Slowly his shields recharged. He took out his SAW and made sure his night vision was on. He looked in the direction of where the blast had come and saw a grunt peeking its head around a corner. "Typical grunts," Tom thought as he shot in its direction only hitting it once. "I hate how inaccurate this thing is". He pulled out his pistol and finished it off.
He saw an elite sniper in the distance pointing its beam rifle directly at him. He heard a sniper rifle crack and the elite went down. "Nice headshot Melissa," Tom said over the COM.
"I'm counting how many times I'm going to save your butt today".
Tom chuckled at her last remark and moved up to the next building. He saw the Mantis take out a platoon of grunts coming its way.
"72 enemies remaining sir".
Tom knew that it was only going to get harder. He rounded the corner and he walked straight into the middle of the camp telling the tank to come with him. "Steel Wall, shoot inside each building".
"Yes sir". The tank replied.
The tank shot and it blew up on something, it wasn't on the building. He saw a Hunter fall over from the blast. Slowly it got back up and readied it's shield. It's partner came out behind it. Slowly raising its massive gun at the tank.
The tank continued to fire at the Hunter in front and finally it went down but the Hunter behind it discharged it's gun. It hit the side of the tank melting the tracks and the armor in that spot. The tank could still move its turret and shot the other Hunter until it fell over dead.
"Nightshade, Steel Wall is immobile," Tom yelled over the COM.
"Crap," Melissa said.
"Steel Wall continue to shoot at the inside of the buildings. Mantis get over here and guard Steel Wall".
"Yes sir, 56 enemies remaining".
The Mantis made its way over to the tank. The tank began to shoot inside the buildings each one exploding.
Tom saw a plasma grenade sail across and it stuck on the tank.
"BACK UP!!!" Tom yelled to everyone.
"Reactor failure in 15 seconds, moving towards enemies. Everyone clear vicinity for nuclear explosion."
Tom watched in sorrow as the tank slowly went towards a building full of grunts. 3...2...1... The tank exploded leaving a crater where it once stood. Wiping out the three buildings next to it.
"Sir, 21 enemies remaining."
Suddenly out of the last three buildings he saw 21 elites come out. They all cloaked.
"Melissa we have a problem get over here. Jake get over here as well".
"Aw I was having fun chopping up grunts," Jake replied.
Tom knew how much Jake loved his swords. It was a little on the creepy side though.
"The three Spartans and the Mantis waited for the first target to show its self. Tom saw a distortion in the air. He shot in the direction hitting and killing the elite that had stood there.
"Look for any distortions in the air," Tom said over the COM. He wondered why the elites were not shooting that them. Then the worst thought crossed his mind. These elites were the assassins. Deadly and stealthy. Suddenly he saw an elite uncloak and lay there dead. Its head had been severed off. Tom was glad to see Jake was doing his job.
"19 enemies remaining".
Tom and Melissa slowly backed up towards a wall. The wall seemed strange and had symbols that did not seem to be from any known language. Melissa stepped on a plate and it pressed down. A blue shape appeared behind him. "What's that," Tom asked.
"I don't know," Melissa replied.
Tom saw 2 more elites go down. He shot at a distortion he saw and another one went down. He knew they were slowly closing in on them. An elite uncloaked and swung his sword at Tom. Tom sidestepped and tried to pull his gun up to shoot it. The elite kicked the gun out of his hand. Tom didn't have time to pull his pistol out. He punched the elite in the face and its shield shimmered.
"Melissa when you get a clear shot take it!"
Tom ducked as the deadly arc of energy sizzled the air above his head. He kicked the elites shin trying to get its shields down. The shield shimmered again. It was almost depleted. The elite bellowed in rage as it rushed Tom. Tom moved and the elite ran past him almost smacking into the wall. Tom kicked it in the back of the head. That's all the more it needed. The shield glowed brightly then died.
"Melissa take the shot!" Tom heard a crack and the elite fell. He would not have survived against this elite if it was not for Melissa.
"Saved you twice, I'm still counting." Melissa said.
Tom noticed Melissa stuck her hand in the portal.
"Don't touch that!" he ordered.
"With all due respect I'm going in for a closer look," Melissa replied.
Tom looked at her for a second then told her to go ahead. "We may need it for escape later". "Jake get back here and help me set C4 around this portal. Tom saw a distortion run towards him and uncloak.
"15 elites still left," Jake said.
"I know".
Tom told the Mantis to retreat back up to the hill and to come back down after he blew the C4.
"Sir I can't come back through the portal," Melissa said with static.
Tom knew he had to take the chance of going in.
"Jake come on let's go!" Tom yelled.
Tom and Jake went through the portal and the C4 exploded. The portal shimmered but didn't go out, however, the elites who were close got vaporized.