HALO: TRUST FALL

HALO: TRUST FALL (full story)

'Happy Birthday!' My AI, Alexis, said through my helmet's intercom. 'Thanks,' I muttered in reply. So much for happy, I thought, as I scanned the rocky terrain below, stippled with greyish grass and pine trees. For my present, I got to engage in battle with Covenant forces on Netherop. Yippee.

'So,' Alexis continued. 'You'll be...'

'Sixteen,' I answered. I was the youngest of Bravo Team, the squad of Spartan IIs I commanded. The last ten years, I'd been training at a Spartan academy. Give or take. Now, I was officially engaging in my and my team's first battle mission.

I could practically feel Jess's excitement.

Bravo team had four members. Drew-071, Jess-091 and Unknown-111, a strange spartan in glowing-yellow and inky black armour, wielding twin energy swords, both in yellow. Drew was officially a battlefield medic, having been trained as a paramedic, but his UNSC - issue Hydra was a force to be reckoned with. Jess brandished a Brute Shot cannon that she'd traded for from another Spartan.

Then there was me. Rook-194, loaded out with an Answer and BR99 rifle. Our team would've been merely formidable if another group of Spartans wasn't here to 'assist' us. Thanks, UNSC officials.

Blue Team and Bravo, eight Spartans in all, dressed in sixty - three millimetres of titanium alloy armour, kitted out with full battle weapons, grenades, and deadly skills.

Some might call it overkill.

I was shaken out of this train of thought by Drew, who sidled up beside me and whispered through his voicemitter, 'So. What do you think of him being here?'

Of course, I knew who he meant. UNSC's superwarrior, the Master Chief. He was leading Blue Team into battle alongside Bravo. I almost resented him for accompanying us, like we couldn't kill aliens, but he was a valuable asset. 'He's a good leader,' I supplied. 'Strong. But-' I stopped myself.

'But...' Drew prodded me on.

'Nothing - it's nothing.'

He shrugged, and followed my gaze out the slash - g's window. Jess joined us, vibrating the entire Pelican with her excitement. The UNSC vehicle had the main door open, allowing us to see out the windshield. The pilot expertly guided us through a cloud bank, and then the vastness of the field we were dropping onto hit me. I could see Covenant forces assembling in the trees, but barely.

As soon as she had nudged her way in between me and Drew, Jess started rambling on about the weapons and spoils she was going to try to collect. I flicked the tip of her helmet, which I knew (from experience) caused a few seconds of dizziness and disorientation. While Jess's equilibrium tilted, I turned and stood up, just in time to hear the pilot say through SQUADCOM, 'Get ready to jump, Spartans. Good luck.'

. . .

The Covenant forces spilled out of the pine forests faster than I could draw my weapon. Plasma shots sent concussion waves through our ranks. Spartan fire answered, the popping of battle rifles and grenade devastation sending the army reeling. I spun and kicked an Elite in his bony knees, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Two Jackals followed, energy shields not holding up long under fire from my Answer.

Then suddenly, an Elite came out of nowhere and raked his energy sword into my breastplate. Thankfully, it didn't pierce my armour, but left a dark gash in the spot just under my registration number. I stumbled back into Jess's shoulder, and she righted me, then put a clip though my attacker. Then-

Suddenly Jess stumbled, under a plasma pistol blast from a Jackal nearby. 'PREY!' It shrieked. While it was running in for the kill, I released a round from my BR99 into it's spine-crowned head. The alien fell, dead. Jess stumbled to her feet and thanked me as I clapped her shoulder with a 'No problem.'