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Prelude1,286 words
Chapter One: Babysitting1,564 words

Chapter One: Babysitting

I finally stepped aboard after ensuring all of our equipment was hoisted in the right place, and atleast half of the Marines were suited for transit, I was given the clearence and took my seat in the cockpit as pilot. My flight skills were limited, but I was trained to get the pelican from point A to point B without crashing too hard. Taking seat as copilot was the SPARTAN, Mel. Occasionally, I'd hear her mumble something like 'A Grunt could fly better.' which would shatter my dignity each and every time.

Sidetracked with piloting the pelican, I chose to ignore her. At first she seemed friendly, but, now I see that she's clearly a condescending bitch. Not much different from Dr. Halsey, is she? It's both a shame and a relief that she was removed of her duties as an ONI Lead-Scientist/Commander in Chief of Personal Defense Division II. While she had over nineteen vessels in her direct command, she had only deployed a fraction of the PDD-II for a minor search and destroy mission around a supposed Forerunner artifact. Even then, she quoted, "The team's arrogance and ignorance caused major disarray, therefore, PDD-II has been commissioned and expelled from usage until further notice."

50,000 Dishonorable Discharges were granted that day, and two Marathon-Class cruisers were sent to their demise at Sigma Octanus II's Shipbreaking Yards. I smell bullshit.

"Williams. 0.2 kilometers until we reach atmosphere of Unknown Planet." Mel said in an oddly monotonous voice. When she spoke, the almost haunting ring of her voice echoed in my head. Why? I don't know. I have yet to find out.

/...

We made a --fortunately-- smooth landing in a fairly wooded area, thanks mostly to Mel's training, not mine. She took control after the first reentry stage, she could very easily see the sweat coming from my brow, it even began to obscure my own view. She ran a normal cycle, and set us on a plush landing.

One thing I had paid attention to was that there were many structures scattered about the planet's hilly surface. Another thing worth noting was that the landscape possessed an odd aesthetic to it; it seemed as if it lacked certain detail. One could almost even compare it to a cartoon. Atmospheric disturbance, maybe? The probes returned with a similar structure to Earth's atmosphere - it's pressure lying just above 100.343 KpA, a safe 77.60% Nitrogen, and 21% Oxygen, matching Earths exactly, so, that's out of the question.

Bah, leave it to the whitey-tighties up on The Icarus, they'll figure that one out before you could say-

"What the hell is that thing!?" one of the marine's foolishly --and loudly-- inquired

A large beast smashed through the thicket of the forest, letting out a tremendous roar, one that could only be described as a lion, and some sort of Avian combined. It's appearance was shockingly similar --it appeared to have the head and torso of a Lion, an odd pair of wings that seemed scaly, almost reminiscent of the Asian Dragon's wings. It's tail was also uncanny in it's ways, small exo-skelotal vertebrae jointed together, with a barbed end, similar to a Scorpion's.

It took a swing at the same Marine who had notified us of it's forthcoming, knocking his mangled body up against the Pelican's Hull.

Mel snapped. She darted from the cockpit, slung an MA5B over her shoulder, and eagerly took hold on one standard issue HE-11 Fragmentation grenade, and went to work. She leaped up off the Pelican's loading bay door, over the creature, taking a grapple on the beast's mane and swinging onto it's back. She swiftly avoided it's tail as it attempted to impale her, instead, the creature's own tail stabbed into it's back, prompting a loud roar of pain and anger to erupt from the it's snout. Mel took her opportunity, cracked the tail in two, and fired her MA5B into it's back, the bright-red blood of the beast spilled onto the soil around us, causing about three of the marines to regurgitate whatever they managed to keep down from the ship's mess hall.

Finally, it fell to the ground, whimpering. Mel pried open it's maw, and primed the HE-11 Frag.

"Mel, stop, I think that's going a bit far."

"No sir-"

That's an order, Mel!" It came out louder than I wanted it to. She paused, looking up at me for a moment, then continued to throw the Grenade over her shoulder into the thicket behind her, where it exploded moments later. Was she always this fucking careless?

I stamped up before her, and without a second thought, put my face up to her faceplate. "Just what in Sam-Hell are you thinking? I don't need my men covered in possibly hazardous organic matter from an unknown alien creature, thanks!" I tried my best to cool off. I hate Spartans. I hate Spartans. I hate Spartans.

That's better...

I then slowly and begrudingly approached the creature, snapped a capture of my HUD with my Field Documentation Software, or, FDS, and logged it as "Unknown, possibly genetically altered feline 01" before firing a single M6D round into the base of it's skull. If ONI wanted to do testing now, they're gonna have to scavenge from what's left.

/...

An hour or so later, we had set up a small camp, secured a perimeter, and attempted radio contact with any nearby civilizations to no avail. We did leave our Hails open, though, in the event that they contact us first.

Our Field Medic, Dana had tried her best to heal David, the foolish marine who yelled and was subsequently attacked by the freak-of-nature lion, giving him a few shots to ease the pain in his broken limbs and filling his deep scratch wounds with biofoam.

I nearly threw up, since I had a deathly fear over the stuff. It's smell... it's texture... I could never get over it. It bugged me unrelentlessly, causing nausea which had yet to cease.

I had decided after a few hours of boredom to put Mel in charge while I took a scout group out on the Warthog. It was risky letting an inexperienced marine at the controls of a 500 Horsepower Bull on wheels, and none so less to put one on the trigger of a 50. Cal LAAG. So, after a few modifications, I had dismounted the Hog's LAAG, and gave Nick, the team's heavy weapons specialist the task of disassembling it and reassembling it until he knew how the turret functioned --inside and out.

I'm such a great leader, aren't I?

I, and two marines, set out on a scout mission, armed with nothing more than our own fists and combat knives... Well, that, and a few BR55's. On the way, we nearly ran over a large, snarling canine, resembling a wolf of some sort. My belief was that this planet may be human inhabited, and Humanity had brought along some earth's species along with it.

My side-seat passenger, Abi begged to differ. With every new detail we noticed, she had a name or an explanation for all of it. She called the mutant lion back there a "Manticore," and nicknamed the wolves "Timberwolves," and went on to explain that they were truly made of wood, and were generally very awry and dangerous. She even called a strange illuminated plant "Poison Joke," and told that it caused effects that were only "jokes," and weren't long term or dangerous.

This Marine has an oddly childish imagination, I thought.

/...

Quite a bit of searching later, we came across what appeared to be a man-made, relatively late-1500's era ruin site. It featured two large, wooden doors at the front and stone bricks making up almost the entirety of the settlement, save for a few spots where deep, multicolored stained-glass mosaics take up space. They depicted small, pastel-colored, four-legged creatures that were roughly equine in appearance, that is, from what you could tell from the crude groupings of color that made up the mosiacs.

It was a Castle. The interior was what you would expect, with many monuments and even what was left of a throne room. We were amazed that these creatures were so strikingly similar to humanity, in that they had gone down the same passage as Humanity had. We scanned the Castle, and found nothing out of the ordinary aside from basic artifacts and a highly deteriorated tome with a metal lock.

We loaded back up, and I tried my best to ignore Abi's constant explanations for everything. I justified that letting her rest in the Med-bay of the Dropship for some mental R&R would do her some good. I spoke into the radio on my helmet.

"Mel, it's Williams. Do you read?"

"Solid copy. We've run into a few more Welcoming Party-goers. Two casualties so far."

I groaned. I knew those damn Marines wouldn't be able to defend themselves, even with a Spartan to assist...

"Uh... Understood. Get ahold of the Icarus, tell em' we need reinforcements. I'll get to the Pelican as quick as I can."

She paused. "Understoo-"

Mel didn't finish, and, hadn't it been for us crashing into a tree and being ricocheted into a small creek, I'd have asked why. I was launched through the windsheild, and hit my head on a small boulder, easing me into a not-so-peaceful state of unconsciousness.

~/...\~

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Shimmer_Spark

Shimmer_Spark #1 · Nov 24th, 2012 · · ·

rcman914

rcman914 #2 · Nov 24th, 2012 · · ·

Why? I don't know. I have yet to find out.
/...
We made a --fortunately-- smooth landing in a fairly wooded area, thanks mostly to Mel's training, not mine.

I would of started the chapter here, and had the previous paragraphs in the first chapter.
Also in most halo novels, the chapters start by stating the location.

Great cliffhanger at the end.

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With what i have seen so far in the overall story, This is what i think.
Not perfect, but not bad.

Keep up the good work.