Halo: The Rise of the Spartans

Early Attack Halo

CHAPTER ONE, JERICHO VII

'I watch as grenades explode around me. Explosions shaking the ground, the teeth in my mouth. I have to move.' These were the thoughts going through 1st Sgt. Frank Ross. They had come to early. It was a fine day, the first day he was in the field after the promotion. 'They said they wouldn't come for another month.' He was of course talking about the Covenant. They had first been sighted 11 years ago at Harvest. And they attacked. It was clear they were not here to help. Sgt. Ross hadn't seen any planets glassed himself, but he saw videos recorded from the God-like Spartans.

The best the UNSC had to offer. He had heard stories of them, just a squad of 4 taking out entire battalions of Grunts. No one had ever done that. Maybe they were gods. Maybe they were then UNSC's only hope. No, not if he could help it. The Corps would have their part in it all.

He got up, and started running to the Warthog, a Covenant dropship heading north. Back to Firebase Phoenix. The Covenant launched on all out offensive today, that was expected to happen next week. Jericho VII was a hotspot. In the outer colonies, it didn't present much of a target, exept for the new Warthog prototype that came in a week ago. The new model was supposed to have a cannon much like the ones on UNSC ships, shooting a huge slug at high-velocity to rip through metal, but now with the Covenant, shields.

He was testing one such model, off base on the test course. His gunner was killed in a Banshee attack that damn-near killed him, too. They were still following him, and he standing orders to get the prototype to safety. The spooks at ONI thought that Jericho VII would be the perfect place to test it. Only it was one of the few Outer Colony planets left. The Covenant made frequent visits. Entering in low-orbit for 2 minutes, then immediately leaving. Now half the fleet was told to mass here, because of the attack. Only the Covenant came early. Only 22 ships, and a refitting station were there. 56 Covenant frigates had massed, not counting the cruisers. 'The only real win, Frank thought, was hardly a win.'

Admiral Cole had taken the fleet to Harvest to take it back, and beat the Covenant. But he outnumbered the Covenant 3 to 1. And even then, he was left with only a handful of ships still operational. They had taken it, yes, but a very high price.

But there was no reason for the Covenant to be here, not yet, at least. The Covenant never cared about any of the UNSC's projects. Not even the new stealth ships. But few in ONI even new about those. There had to be some reason for them to be here. But what? Frank was not going to stay and find out. He had to get to the emergency pick up zone. One UNSC destroyer was sent back to evac as much equipment as possible. It also sent down reinforcements. A new squad popped onto the laptop built in the new 'Hog. It showed four ID codes, rank, and a squad name. Blue Team.