Keth Stryker

The Title

Prologue

Keth jumped down from his perch in the tree. He carried his MA5B assault rifle and 2 M-6 pistols. He wore his black and red crossed Mjolnir version VI armor. The Mjolnir project was created by Dr. Catherine Halsey. So far the project had created 6 versions. Keth ran across a field full of grunts. Grunts are part of the alien army named the Covenant. The grunts, who were unaware of a demon running at them, they didn’t raise their guns until Keth was 5 meters from them. Keth stopped short of them. He had a little surprise planted beneath them. He pulled out a detonator and said “See you in hell.” At this Keth pushed the trigger and ran away as fast as he could. The explosion of the land mines killed all of the grunts. Keth had set and primed all of the land mines earlier in the day. Keth ran into a few brutes and slowed to shoot them with his MA5B rifle. One brute kept coming until it reached him. Keth grabbed his knife and plunged it into the brute. The brute glared at him for a moment then fell to the ground. A jackal came up to him with a plasma rifle. Keth shot at the shields but they held. Keth grabbed a grenade and tossed it at the jackal. It stuck to him and exploded. The jackal died after a few rounds Keth’s rifle. Keth checked his surroundings once more and again ran for the tree. Keth ran all the way to the tree and climbed into his perch. The perch contained a SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle, communication equipment, and ammo. He had a data crystal for his AI Spike. Spike was waiting and asked for ID and number. “Spartan-010, Keth.” Spike asked him for his password and for the retinal scan. Keth typed on the key board spartans never die. Keth pulled off his helmet, he had brown hair cut short for the military limit. The scan was completed and Keth took up his SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle and checked his area for signs of enemies. Nothing came up on the scope but he checked his infrared scanner and saw 6 tall shapes. Keth smiled, he was going to enjoy this.



The elites walked up the hill, at the top sat a tree. The elite leader, Yuzock Kowmungie told his troops to spread out and take the demon as he was flanked. His scouts went toward the left, his rearguard took the demon’s flank, and one of hid bodyguards took the right. His other bodyguard, Uvong stayed in front of Yuzock and together they silently walked toward the tree. Yuzock was surprised when they got to the tree, he had figure the demon would have shot them already. He took the luck and kept going. He was so close to the top he could taste it. Then Uvong stopped, Yuzock asked “What is wrong?” Uvong turned around and replied “it is too quiet, either our fellow Sangheili should be coming up or we should have a message why they haven’t come.” Yuzock checked his message display, the cold blue number 0 stood there staring back. He told Uvong to go and flank him as he waited for the signal he was in position. Uvong jumped down from the tree and slowly jogged to the other side. Yuzock waited for more than 15 minutes. It had been too long. Yuzock climbed over the edge and smelled blood. He held his gun aloft for fearing he was doomed to his brothers’ fate. He looked around then looked up and found himself staring into the tube of a sniper rifle. Keth had placed sensors at the bottom of the tree. None of the elites had arrived at the same time, so Keth easily took the all out with the silencer on his sniper rifle. Yuzock looked down the barrel of the gun and snorted. At least he would go down fighting.



Keth sat back in his seat on the Falcon’s Air waiting for the commander to summon him to the bridge. On the planet of Coral, Keth had beaten many covenant troops from invading for about 2 weeks. He was growing impatient. “Spartan-010 to the bridge please, Spartan-010 to the bridge” said the intercom. Keth jumped up and ran to the nearest staircase. As he walked, Keth thought about what he was having to do just to get back to his team. He thought about how killing all the covenant troops had been the easy part, now came the debriefing. Keth stopped at the top corridor and stepped inside the room. “Welcome to the bridge spartan” said a warm voice. Commander Fluff was a tall man with traces of red hair coming from his balding head. He had a rather chubby build and always had a great attitude. “Spartan-010, reporting as per your orders Sir” Keth reported. Fluff smiled he was always happy when Keth came onto the bridge. “At ease spartan.” Keth took his at ease position and listened to his debriefing. “Your new assignment is on Earth.” Fluff said. He wasn’t smiling any more so meant something bad was happening. Keth was surprised, why send him to earth? John was protecting earth and the surrounding areas. Fluff then told Keth about how the UNSC was losing and the secret spartan 3 project. Keth took it all in and smiled, he knew that the UNSC would need more spartans eventually. “Spartan 4s are the issue now. Earth is taking anyone to be spartans. We have about 10,000 troops ready to sign up and about 1,500 troops in training” said Fluff. He was all business now. Keth had a surprised look on his face; he hadn’t thought so many people would want to sign up. Fluff looked up from his roaming glance around the room. “The Falcon’s Air is at your disposal like always.” Keth went from his at ease position to attention. “With the commanders permission I would like to take the ship to earth.” The crew looked at him with a look of pride and determination. They all needed a break and going home would be the perfect time to get some r and r. “It would be our pleasure to assist a fellow officer” Fluff said with a grin on his face. Keth gave a small grin back realizing that he had left out the last part of his mission. Lieutenant Keth are you ready for your final mission before rejoining your team?” Keth took off his helmet and replied. “Lieutenant Junior grade, Spartan-010, ready for duty.”

Ch.1

MCPO Franklin Mendez ran further away from the building. If his spartans were to be the greatest warriors of all time they would have to work like warriors He stopped at the edge of the playground and gave the assignments to the spartans. He blew the whistle and watched them all take off. He then noticed a boy standing behind a tree. The boy looked fascinated by the playground; he also looked like he met some of the spartan expectations. Mendez walked over to the tree and said “Hi, I’m MCPO Franklin Mendez. What’s your name?” “I…… iii…. I’mmm…… kkkketth” said the scared boy. “Well where are your parents? This is a military facility and children aren’t really supposed to be here” Mendez said curious as to why Keth was here. “My mom was…… killed and … so I came for dad who’s in the military” said Keth, who started tearing at the thought of his mother. Mendez said “Well Keth, I don’t know who your dad is but you are welcome to be part of the kids.” “Really??!!” said Keth, all enthusiastically. He looked like he had been given the greatest gift ever. “Yeah just stand behind me while the other kids finish the exercise.” Mendez smiled, he knew Keth would catch up, but did he have what it took to be a spartan like the rest of the kids. Keth followed the other children around, doing everything they did but he didn’t flow into the crowd. One evening he lay in his bunk, when another kid came into the room. Keth knew that his name was Will. “Hi Keth, what are you doing in your bunk so early?” Will asked. Keth replied “I don’t have anything to do but check my rifle or rest, which neither of them I can get right now.” Will smiled “Come with me and my friends, we’ll all get together and I’ll introduce you to them.” Keth smiled back. “Yeah that would be nice.” So Will took Keth over to his bunk room and introduced Keth to his friends. “This is Daniel or 016” Will said. Daniel held out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Keth.” “Thanks, its nice to meet you too” Keth replied. “Next is Zack or 017” said Will. Zack stood up and shook Keth’s hand. “What’s up? Oh and by the way catchy name” he asked. Keth answered “Not much and thanks.” Will pointed to the black kid and said “This is Louis or 013.” Louis had black corn rowed hair and was obviously not shy in the least. “What’s up brother?” said Louis while shaking Keth’s hand. “Not much brother.” Keth answered back. The last person stood up and introduced herself. “I’m Kiersten, 018.” She said grasping Keth’s hand. Keth felt a slight tingle in his hand, he didn’t know if it was Kiersten or his hand from all the shaking. “A pleasure, Kiersten.” Keth replied. Keth had never met so many people but he was glad that he had them as friends.

Ch.2

Keth was in the sniping range. He had his SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle with plenty of ammo laid out next to him. CRACK. He finished the course and waited for his scores. Kiersten and Daniel came in looking like they had just come from the mess hall. “Why are you practicing Keth? Your already one of the best snipers” Daniel said. Kiersten nodded her head in agreement. “Well, I wasn’t hungry and Linda is better.” Keth replied. Daniel frowned “Yeah sure but lets see your score.” Then the score came up on the screen above their heads. It read:

Spartan-010 Keth

Shots:50 Tagets:50 Kills:50 Hits: 40 head shots, 1 arm shot Arm shot number 15

“DANG IT! Keth yelled. Daniel looked at him and said. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Linda probably couldn’t have done better.” Kiersten said quietly “Keth, its okay. This just means you’ll do better next time. I have faith in you.” She smiled and spoke again. “Come on now both of you, we can practice with knives tomorrow.” Keth looked at Daniel and then Kiersten and smiled. He couldn’t have gotten any better friends.



The next day after all of the activities of training and boot camp. Keth, Daniel, and Kiersten headed down to the throwing range. Before they got there they stopped by the barracks, took showers, and got changed into new clothes. They began again but were stopped by some ODST’s. They stood and stared at them. Keth continued and found the officer on duty and got permission to use the knives and targets in one of the practice rooms. Daniel started, he got a 45 out of 55. Kiersten got all of them, a perfect score like always. Keth stood on the platform and threw his knives, he got a 51 out of 55. All of them happy with the scores, together they left for the practice range for rifle work. Again they checked in and found Zack already practicing. Not disturbing him they watched, Zack was very relaxed and calm. He finished with his pistol and slotted another clip into the empty slot. He noticed they group and beckoned them in. “Hey guys, you come to practice?” Zack immediately asked. Kiersten responded first. “Yeah Zack, do you have the room?” Zack smiled “Yeah grab you weapons and join in.” Kiersten grabbed a MA5B assault rifle, Daniel grabbed a SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle, and Keth grabbed an M-6 pistol. An hour later they finished and checked the scores.

017, Zack hits 600 out of 650 016, Daniel hits 300out of 314 018, Kiersten hits 435 out of 440 010, Keth hits 330 out of 331

“Okay Keth you win” Zack said. He was ticked, Keth had out done him again. “I’ll get you back eventually.” He laughed, and then they all laughed. “Time we head back to barracks.” Daniel said. Zack grinned ferociously. “Bet I can get back before you do.” “You’re on. Mark!” Daniel said. Together zack and Daniel took off toward barracks. Keth and Kiersten walked slowly and gave each other tips on how to improve. “So yeah, maybe you could release quicker or something.” Keth told Kiersten. She smiled and said “Keth, you won so here’s your prize.” She did something Keth would never forget in his life. She stopped and for a moment Keth was scared, but Kiersten smiled and he felt like it was all good. She leaned up and kissed him. He was so surprised he almost fell over when she did it. He thought to himself, Wow, this is awesome. I never would have thought Kiersten liked me…... Man I hope this continues forever. They broke up and Keth began smiling, he knew this would be an awesome relationship.

Ch.3

Next day again after training the four spartans practiced again but different weapons. The days turned to weeks and weeks into months. Mendez took the spartans to a remote facility because they had beaten everything at the main facility. Keth and Kiersten grew close over the time; they then became the inseparable pair. Together with Daniel and Zack they became a squad. They became Black Team because later Louis joined them and he had the humor to name the squad Black team. Black team became a special squad because each member was skilled in different areas or was well balanced in all. Louis was a great scout; he could lead the team anywhere whether it was good or better than good. Zack was skilled with missiles: he could hit targets that were out of range of his launcher. Daniel become more skilled with the sniper: Keth knew to get out of his way in the practice range because he was good. Keth and Kiersten balanced out evenly. Keth had the extremes in sniping, knife throwing, and leading. Kiersten had a talent with bombs, knives, and missiles. As years went by the group grew very close, inseparable. When John and his team went to Eridanus system, Keth ahd led his team to many victories. The day came when the spartans retrieved their MJOLNIR armor, Keth and Black team were not there because of a small mission that ONI had needed fulfilling. When the extra suits were brought to Reach, Black team was allowed to try on and explore the armor. Black team had the mobility, the skill, and the teamwork to accomplish anything.

Ch.4

“MOVE Black Team!!” Keth yelled over his com. “Chief, we have one missile left and not enough ammo to beat the gun.” Black-four said over the team frequency. Keth thought it over, they had a SPNKr missile, 2 SRS99C-S2 sniper rifles, 4 MA5B assault rifle, 2 M-6 pistols, and 15 frag and concussion grenades. This wouldn’t be easy. Black team’s mission had been to take out a super gun of the Covenant’s and then more surprises came along. A company of grunts and jackals had passed be Black team, one of the rear guards had spotted Black-four and so together Black team had taken them out. It had been a big disadvantage. Keth didn’t like it, they were pinned in a canyon and a squad of jackals had alerted security to be on guard. Keth had personally shot the jackals but it wasn’t enough. Now Black- 3, 4, and 5 were on the other side of the canyon taking enemy fire. “Black-2, you’re with me. We’re going to take out that gun” Keth said smiling. He always had a backup, so he completed each mission. This mission’s backup was C-12. They both ran up the hill side, evading fire and killing the enemies as they got in his way. Black-2 got to the top first and started securing the area. Keth came up and found Black-2 fighting elite. He brought up his MA5B and shot the elite in the head. Black-2 gave him a nod and they continued securing the area. Together they headed inside the weapon and placed the C-12 around important devices. Keth ran outside the command module with Black-2 on his heals. “Chief we have a snag” Black-3 reported. Keth didn’t like snags; it meant something was getting between him and his mission. Keth said over the com “What’s the snag?” “Sir, we have civilians, about 5. What are your orders sir?” Black-3 asked. Keth didn’t like this. Over half his team was taking fire and they had to worry about civilians. “Black-3, protect the civvies. Black-2 and I will complete the mission. You’re in charge” Keth said. “Roger Chief, over and out” Black-3 said cutting off from the frequency. Black-2 looked at him and said on the com “We’re on our own. Right?” “Yeah. Let’s get a move on. The Covenant won’t wait forever” as he said this Keth began running down the hill again. He pulled out the detonator and pushed it. Black-2 jumped down the hill in front of him. She found a tree and pulled Keth behind it. Boom. After all of the debris had fallen Keth looked out at the remains of the super weapon. Nothing but smoke and ashes were left. Keth pulled off his helmet. Black-2 pulled off hers as well. Black-2 or Kiersten, had her blond hair pulled into a ponytail. A little longer than regulations but since she always wore her armor she never got caught. “Mission accomplished?” she asked. “Mission accomplished” said Keth as he pulled her in for a kiss.



Back at the RV point Black-3 or Daniel, had pulled the civvies together with Black-4 (Zack) and Black-5 (Louis), to the RV point. Keth and Kiersten had covered the trails and taken out squads trying to find the people responsible for the destroyed weapon. Daniel saluted Keth and continued packing up. Black team walked onto the Pelican. Keth looked back. Yep, mission accomplished.

Ch.5

“Congratulations Keth, another successful mission” said Fluff. Fluff was the commander of the Falcon’s Air, which took Black team on most of their mission if it wasn’t out on assignment. “Thank you commander” said Keth. His team had just taken another Covenant vessel and together with the engineers, they would bring it to earth and continue upgrading ships and technology. “Well we should get under way. All stations report….” Fluff went on with his routine check and started the engines. “Commander, we have a transmission coming through… its from Harvest!’ said the Lieutenant from the com station. “Put it on screen, Lieutenant” Fluff ordered. On the screen came a civilian, he looked scared. “Commander of UNSC ship, please help us, we are under Covenant attack!.... Ah!!!!” screamed the civilian. In the background an Elite stepped through the doorway and pulled his energy sword out. The civilian shut down the camera and the screen went blank. “Sir we have to…” started the Lieutenant at the Com station. “I know Lieutenant but we have very valuable information and we don’t have enough time to get a company together and help them.” Replied Fluff, knowing that the Lieutenant would start an argument. ‘Sir Permission to speak?” said Keth. “Granted Master Chief” replied Fluff. “Sir, if you can get my spartans a pelican, we’ll go and help Harvest” suggested Keth. Fluff smiled “Get your team ready Master Chief. Your going down in 5.”



The pelican touched down and Black team ran out. Keth had his sniper rifle, his lucky knife, and a M-6 pistol. Black-2 had a MA5B rifle, SPNKr missile, and a knife. Black-3 had a SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle and a MA5B rifle. Black-4 had 2 SPNKr missiles and a MA5B. Black-5 had a MA5B rifle and 2 SMG’s. “Black-5 point, Black-3 rear. Let’s go” Keth said over the team frequency. This was just like a routine practice, just for a higher purpose. “Chief, do we have special assignments on this Op?” Black-4 asked over the speaker. “You and Black-2 will take out Wraiths and Banshees. Black-3, Black-5, and I will take the civvies to a protected area, until Black-2 and you get back to the zone. We then call for extraction and beat any Covenant butts that get in the way. Black-2, you’re in charge. Save the SPNKr if you can” Keth said. Black-4 returned a green acknowledgment light. Keth sighed. He didn’t like splitting his team apart. But this wasn’t an ONI mission, this was as close to being a friendly neighbor as it could get. “Okay Black-3 and 5, let’s get our plan together…..”



“All right. Everyone knows the plan, right?” Keth asked. He got four green acknowledgement lights and so he prepped for his run. “Black-5 on my mark… MARK!” Keth ordered. Black-5 ran out into the road and attracted the attention of the Jackals. He ran back down the road, past the position of Black team. Black-3 then began his run and attracted the attention of the Brutes. Keth watched him run down the other way and took off. Plasma fire was flying everywhere, he had to go faster. He gave all his energy into the run and ran into the houses, knocking down the wall as he smashed into it. Keth got up from his fallen position and checked out the area he had smashed. No one was in this room so he moved into the next. He found the group of civvies in a corner. Two were standing holding weapons, the rest were sitting behind them. Some were injured but the seemed steady enough to be rescued. “I’m keth, from the UNSC. I’m here to assist” Keth said. At that moment Black-3 and Black-5 stepped in from the knocked down wall. “Here we are Chief” said Black-5. “All right stage 2. You copy Black-2?” Keth asked over the team frequency. “Copy that sir. Stage 2 initiated. Go Black-4!” Black-2 replied. Keth heard the sound of missiles and assault rifle firing and began evacuating the civvies. “Black-5, go cover fire. Black-3, help me with the wounded.” Keth ordered. Black-5 stepped out pulling his MA5B rifle as he went. Black-3 picked up two of the three most injured people and backed towards the wall. Keth picked up the last wounded and said over his speaker “All right everyone we will be running for a while so stay with me.” The civvies began running out the wall and across the field. Black-5 ran in front with Black-3 in the middle. The civvies stayed right beside them trying to keep up. Keth looked around; this was the part of the plan where Black-2 and Black-4 met up with them. He saw a shape of a human fall to the ground. “Black-5, come back and take this civvie, I’ve got to go help Black-2 and Black-4!” Black-5 stopped and gestured for the civvies to continue. He ran back and scooped the civvie off his back, he also handed him his MA5B. “You’ll need it more than I will.” Keth ran for the shape. He jumped dodging bullets and plasma. Came up out of a tucked roll and sprinted father. He slid the last feet to the shape. It was Black-2. her armor was smoldering hot and darkened more than the original black color. He pulled her to the side of the road and pulled off her helmet. Her face was red with exhaustion and black and blue from what looked like a grenade explosion. “Are you okay?” Keth asked. She smiled and said “better than you’d think” she then grimaced as pain came upon her. “Where is Zack?” Keth also asked. “he’s back a little farther. I couldn’t drag him any longer.” Kiersten told him. “Black-3, come pick up Black-2 at this location” Keth said activating a blue triangle NAV marker. “Copy that Chief. Everything okay?” Black-3 asked. “Yeah, we just left them out too long” Keth replied, smiling. “Copy that” Black-3 said. “All right, Kiersten stay here. Not that you’re going anywhere” Keth told Black-2. She smiled. Keth prepped himself for the run to Blac-4. He signaled Black-3 to run to the marker as soon as he ran to Black-4. Keth ran. He saw thousands of banshees and plenty of Covenant aliens. He sprinted faster. He was too close. All of a sudden Keth was flying. Apparently he had a Banshee on his tail. He looked back and saw it. He pulled his sniper rifle out and shot the pilot. The banshee headed straight for him. At the last second he jumped into the cockpit and pulled the ship up. He looked down; he really had pulled that one too close. There were scorches from where the ship had almost crashed. “Chief…. You’re over Zack… NOW.” Kiersten said. Keth braked the banshee and landed near the limp body in the grass. Black-2 had been smart in covering Black-4. Zack was also smoking and his black suit was blacker. Zack held a SPNKr missile and a knife. “Zack… you hear me?” Keth asked him. “Loud and… umm clear” he replied. “What hurts?” Keth asked. “Nothing but my chest.” Zack replied. Keth couldn’t check his chest here but he had to do something. “All right, I’m going to give you a sleep shot and you’ll wake up on the Falcon.” Keth told him. “Yes sir, see you on the other side.” Zack said. Keth gave Zack the shot and Zack was out. “All right. Black-3, do you have Black-2?” Keth asked on the team frequency. “Yes chief, we’re on the pelican. Do you need cover fire or a pick up sir?” Black-3 asked. “I’ll take both but I have a gift for the Covenant first.”



“Pelican incoming Chief.” Black-3 reported. “Okay, let’s do this.” Keth replied. He saw the pelican and got Zack on his shoulder. The pelican landed and Keth lifted Zack onto it. Keth turned around and jumped into the captured banshee. He took off toward the army of Covenant with a NOVA bombs. The pelican flew right beside him shooting its heavy machinegun towards the army. Keth smiled, here was the fun part. He turned to the bombs and armed them. Taking the autopilot off, he dropped the banshee straight into a spiral dive. 500 meters from the ground going at the maximum speed he jumped from the banshee and grabbed the outside hull of the pelican. Black-3 must have seen him grab on because the pelican swerved around and began flying faster and away. Keth was pulled inside the pelican. He then heard and extremely satisfying boom in the background. The civvies were strapped into the seats. Kiersten and Zack were in the medical bay. One of the civvies must have been a doctor because he was busy trying to heal them. Keth climbed into the cockpit, Black-5 stood up and allowed Keth to sit in the co-pilots chair. Black-3 turned and said “Mission accomplished.” Over the com unit Keth heard Fluff shouting stuff at the spartans. Keth smiled. Objective acquired and mission accomplished.

Ch.6

“Spartans 010, 018, and 016. To the briefing room please” said the intercom. Keth, Kiersten, and Daniel walked to the briefing room. “Spartans 010, 018, and 016 reporting as ordered, sir” Admiral Luke La-Band was standing near the window gazing at the stars. “At ease spartans” he said. The spartans sat as one. “Spartans, your next assignment it to take over the Covenant’s Eagle. It is one of the few flagships” he said. Keth thought it over; he had taken over plenty of covenant vessels but not a flagship. “Sir what is our rendezvous point?” Keth asked. “Your rv is a Halo. This is classified as Zulu Halo. You will land and act as the covenant until you reach the core. When your reach the core you will extract as much information as 3 AI, who will be specifically assigned to the information. You will have another AI to help your mission” said the Admiral. “Sir we’re ready to tale the mission” said Keth. “Good Master Chief Petty Officer” replied La-Bang. Keth smiled, he had a new rank and a new mission, this would be interesting.



“All spartans assemble!” Keth yelled. Black team ran into the hangar bay and made a line. They all wore the traditional Black team MJOLNIR suit. The suit color was black with a red cross on the left shoulder. “Ready for duty Chief” Black-2 said. “Okay Black-2 what is your assignment when we get over to the Eagle?” Keth asked. “Sir, I give a head count to you” Black-2 responded. “Good, and Black-3, 4, and 5?” Keth asked. Black-3 responded “Sir, we take cover and kill and covenant in the way, except for engineers.” “Good we’re ready. Everyone onto the pelican.” Black team boarded the pelican. The pelican, now named Striking Time, was loaded with weapons, biofoam, and comm. Equipment. Keth made sure everyone was in before he himself climbed aboard. Inside were the weapons locker, health station, and seats. The cockpit held all the control plus a power station for an AI. Spike, Keth’s AI, came up. Spike was an interesting AI, he was a “smart” AI but he preferred to be alone to himself. “Are you ready Keth?” he asked. “Let’s get this show on the road” Keth replied. “All hands off-deck, start engines” Keth ordered. Striking Time lifted odd the hangar bay floor and headed out of Falcon’s Air. “Striking Time, this is Falcon’s Air, you are clear for take off and good luck.” Fluff said over the comm. “Here we go spartans, prepare for boarding” Keth said. “Falcon’s Air, How close is the Eagle?” Keth asked. “Striking Time, we have ten minutes until Eagle comes out of slipspace” Fluff replied. “Okay, spartans prep yourselves; we’re going in hot and fast. Black-3 take engines to 10%” Keth ordered. “Yes sir, engines at 10 percent” Black-3 responded. “Striking Time, this is Admiral La-Bang, we will hit the engines and shields so that you can get into their hull” said the Admiral. “Copy that Admiral” Keth responded. “Sir, do we use SPNKr’s on this rapid entry?” asked Black-4. “That’s a negative we use shredder rounds and frags” Keth told him. Keth sat back, eight minutes but being battle ready was never something you could get rid of. “Sir, urgent. We miscalculated their slipspace transition. Their here!” yelled Black-3. Keth looked out the view screen and saw a covenant flagship. “Falcon’s Air, Eagle is here. Continue as planned. Take Power from your engines to power the MAC gun” Keth said. “Copy that, taking fire, shields now!” Keth heard Fluff yell. “Olay Black-3, engines to 120 percent. I want us in that hangar bay 10 seconds ago” Keth ordered. “Yes sir, we can hold 120% for 3 minutes with power from shields” said Black-3. “Let’s do it” Keth said. The ship went fast and pulled into the open hangar away from flying plasma. “Out now! Shredder rounds.” Keth ordered. Black-5 and Black-4 went out into the bay taking out a bunch of jackals. Black-2 and Black-3 went right as Black-4 and Black-5 went right. Keth ran out and continued straight through the hangar. “Chief, we’re done here” Black-2 reported. “Chief we’re done too” Black-4 reported. “Okay we have com?” Keth asked. “Yes sir, we have active com” said Black-3. “Okay, get me a signal and contact Falcon’s Air. We need to move silently.” Keth ordered. “This is Spartan-010, Falcon’s Air, if you are receiving, ceasefire. Also move away from the battle. We are in.” Keth said. The flagship stopped all noise. “Okay, Black-3, Black-4, and Black-5, find the hull crack. Black-2 and I will patch it up” Keth ordered. Black-3 nodded and said “Sir it’s this way.” The team followed Daniel to the open hole. “Okay Black-2, you’re out first” Keth said. Black-2 jumped out into space with keth right behind her. “Sir, there aren’t any handholds. What do you want?” Black-2 asked. “Increase magnetic polarity inside your suit. You’ll be able to move better with it increased” Keth told her. “Black-3, make sure we don’t become targets” Keth said. His reply was a bunch of battle rifle fire. “Black-2, plug it up then get inside” Keth ordered. Black-2 brought out the sealers and started pulling the hole back together. When it was almost done she turned to Keth. “Okay all set to finish it inside” She turned back and slid her body through. Keth was about to put his feet through when an explosion near him sent him flying downward. “What happened?” keth asked over the TEAMCOM. He got nothing. He grabbed the edge of the hangar bay. “Team, what happened?” he asked again. Keth looked upwards and saw the bridge, turning his head he saw the engines and a small plasma canon pointed at him. That was what had happened, unfortunately, it was already warming up for another round. Keth had to move fast. He tried to swing toward another position but it was useless. The plasma canon fired and keth was shot into space without any help.



Keth woke up. He was inside a cryotube. He sorted himself out after opening the tube. In a second he remembered. He moved to a window. He saw space. “Their not there.” Fluff said. Keth turned around to see the man looking at the floor. “Where is my team?” Keth asked. “The flagship had a couple Brutes onboard. When your team blew in, the Brutes went silent. Black-2 and you went out and they attacked. The canon blew you away and the flagship opened a slipspace portal and went” Fluff told him. ‘We lost com signal and came closer. We saw you floating in space.” Fluff looked down even more. “Have you heard anything?” Keth asked him. His hope dying. “Actually we got a response. They were captured but they managed to escape and eventually take over the ship. By that time though they were at the Zulu Halo. The engines were destroyed in the process of taking over so they can’t come back.” Fluff looked even more downhearted. “What’s wrong?” Keth asked, wanting to know the whole truth. “UNSC can’t spare any ships to take you to the halo. They have plenty of available people but they can’t be spared. There is no way of getting to your team.” Keth almost fell. He had no way to get to his team, no way of knowing what was happening, nor even communicate with them. “Well then. What does the UNSC have planned for me to do? I’m sure they can use a spartan somewhere in this war. I imagine that they need me somewhere am I correct?” Keth asked trying to hold himself up. “They have issued orders for you to go to planets that have seen covenant activity. These orders will last for about 2-3 months. I have a list of planets that have seen if not have been overwhelmed by covenant. After this series of missions they will be able to spare a ship if not make another ship for you to go. We have been ordered to take you to those planets.” Keth had hope again. He would be able to protect lives and live his job. “Let’s get going then. My team needs me.”