DEPLOYMENT +00: HOURS:24 MINUTES:47 SECONDS (SPARTAN B-949 MISSION CLOCK)/ON SURFACE OF HALO
Spartan B-949, better known to her teammates by her nickname "Bear", aimed her sniper rifle carefully, targeting the red Grunt that was leading the small squad down below in the canyon.
"Any more information on what they're doing?" she asked her teammate, Spartan B-544, known to the squad by her nickname, Shy.
"The orange Grunt behind the leader just said that the search was pointless, that no survivors had landed here", Shy answered.
Once again blessing whatever enabled Shy to translate alien languages with ease, Bear centered her targeting reticule on the lead Grunt, aiming at the soft spot in his skull.
"We could let them live, you know", Shy suggested to Bear.
Bear shook her head. "They're getting too close to where we concealed the HEVs." She re-aimed at the leader's head, her breathing slowing down.
And fired.
The leader collapsed, dead before he hit the canyon floor. Before the following Grunts could react, a frag grenade bounced off the ground, then exploded.
Bear looked at the crater on the canyon floor with satisfaction. "We'd better get a move-on. The Covenant will investigate when their team doesn't report back."
Bear and Shy moved out, running towards the parked Ghosts that the Grunts had arrived on. Bear set two of her remaining frag grenades on two of the Ghosts, smiling in satisfaction as they detonated, rendering the vehicles into twisted hunks of scrap metal. She swung herself onto one of the remaining Ghosts, Shy already mounted on the other. They accelerated away from the canyon, traveling towards the nearby hills.
DEPLOYMENT +00: HOURS:27 MINUTES:28 SECONDS (SPARTAN B-473 MISSION CLOCK)/ON SURFACE OF HALO
Spartan B-473, known as "Jack", looked out over the landscape. She hissed at the sight of a squadron of Elites deploying from a Covenant dropship. The dropship lifted off, heading back over the mountains from whence it came. She ducked back down under cover, and slapped Rain across the face.
Rain, whose helmet had been removed by Jack, emitted a slight groan, then turned her head with its normal human features but strange cyan-colored skin and rainbow-colored hair to the side, her magenta eyes closed as she mumbled something about ponies.
"Come on, Rain! I need you!! There's a squadron of Elites heading towards our position!!" Jack begged.
But Rain remained unconscious - as she had been ever since Jack had opened the cyro pod.
Jack groaned in frustration. She resealed Rain's helmet onto her face, then peered cautiously over the parapet of the strange structure that she had set up position in.
The group of Elites was headed towards her position, but fortunately appeared to be unaware of her presence. Jack squatted back down, and looked at the weaponry she had: a quartet of frag grenades, a MA5B assault rifle, and a M6D pistol.
It wasn't anywhere close to the worst situation she'd ever been in - but it was her first actual combat outside of her extensive Spartan training.
Jack waited until the Elites had gotten within ten meters. Then she hurled two frag grenades, catching the Elites off guard.
The grenades detonated, and the Elites transcended the physical realm.
Jack scowled, as she knew that when the Elites didn't report in, the Covenant would send a large force to investigate. She silently cursed whatever had caused Rain to pass out when they needed to have mobility.
Then she heard a voice crackle over her comm.
"This is Echo-419. Does anyone else read me? Over."
Jack replied. "Echo-419, this is Spartan B-473."
"Spartan B-473, what is your situation? Over."
"I and Spartan B-045 are currently 1.45 kilometers from your position. We skirmished with a squad of Elites. Spartan B-045 is currently unconscious. Request immediate extraction. Over."
"Roger that, Spartan B-473. Echo-419 en route. Over and out."
Just a few moments later, Echo-419 was hovering over the ground next to the steep cliff. A number of rescued Marines and Spartan-117 were already on board as Jack heaved Rain's unconscious body into the Pelican before climbing inside.
Jack then took her seat and turned her helmet towards Spartan-117 as the Pelican lifted off. "Where are we going?" she asked over a private comm link.
"Apparently Major Shiva's ODSTs took a tall butte away from the Covenant. It's been designated Alpha Base."