Into the Unknown (GATE: Thus the UNSC Fought There)

Chapter 1

"Alright Spartans, you know the drill. This is a quick and dirty recon op. I know you've all got this down but I'll go over the plan one last time. At approximately 1746 ship time we picked up old analog radio transmissions coming from the surface of HORIZON, in which the audio was old Earth Japanese. Your task is to investigate the transmissions. As you know, the Winter and the UNSC is stretched thin with the war against Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction. So you are on your own."

Looking around me, there were three other Spartans in the Pelican with me. My fireteam leader and friend Akira McKenzie, or as she preferred Saber, stood next to the center holo-projector where our Mission Handler from the Ashes of Winter was projected. Her distinctive olive and black Noble class Mjolnir armor reflecting the blue light. "Understood ma'am. Fireteam Valkyrie, out" was all she needed to say in response, then the hologram turned off. Saber and I were usually on the same page, both preparing for the very worst, but hoping for slightly better. Though she tended to speak more than I did during missions.

As I assembled my SRS99-S5 Sniper rifle, I noticed Valkyrie 4, our newest Spartan named Tarian Pratt, loading his MA5D. He was an odd one. He was the oldest of us, simultaneously being the quietest and loudest of our team. I'm pretty sure he's a pyromaniac with how much he loves explosives, I guess that's why he chose to be a grenadier. Like Saber, his armor was painted olive with a gold visor, but he had brown accents on his EVA helmet and Scout armor.

Across from him, and to my right was our second newest Spartan. Rebecca "Becca" Tan, our close quarters specialist, securing her dual M20 SMGs to her magnetic holding plates. Becca filled the third spot on the team. Her armor was a set of copperhead armor with a recon helmet but had opted for the black accents like our team leader. She never talked about her past, regardless of who brought it up. I wouldn't be surprised if she told Lord Hood no if he asked. Which only made me more curious.

"Raf, heads up" I glanced up to see my modified ARGUS helmet flying at me, which I quickly caught. Saber had thrown it. I had changed the dual eye holes out for a full-width gold visor and shrunk the size of its cameras, otherwise, it was stock. Thanks was the first word I said the entire flight, I quickly finished assembling my rifle then put on my helmet. I watched the mountain of text for the BIOS initialization scroll past. Due to my improved reaction and perception from the augmentations, and my year and a half of using this helmet, I knew what most of it said and meant. Once that was done, the heads up display winked in with its sharp tan lines.

Out of nowhere, Tarian spoke up "Hey Raf, you ever get used to the feeling of plugging Yang in?"

"I'll let you know when I do." That was when Yang finally spoke up, it was unusual for her to be quiet for this long, "Yank me when ready." I shook my head, sometimes she is extremely annoying. But for some reason, she doesn't want to be carried by the other Spartans unless necessary. I got up and put my rifle on my back. Quickly grabbing the AI chip from the holotank, hesitating for a moment. I sighed, then put the chip in the back of my helmet. It felt like a cool liquid was pouring into my head, and it always made me twitch. The movement was unfortunately multiplied by my armor and was easily noticeable to anyone. Augmented or not. Becca shot a glance at me before looking back down at her shotgun and racking the firearm.

[-]--|--[-]

The pelican touched down on the surface of the planet. At first glance, there wasn't anything abnormal or special about this planet. The trees were soaking wet from all the rain and the dirt was more akin to mud. The sounds of water drops hitting my armor were calming. There didn't appear to be any immediate signs of colonization or sentient life. Isn't this an exciting place. I grinned at Yang's sarcasm then got back to the task at hand. The source of the unknown signal was two kilometers to the north. Looking towards Saber, she signaled for us to move forward.