Halo: Operation X

Installation 02

I looked through the sniper scope and focused in on some weird looking rocks, they were a tan color and stuck out on the brown and green hills. Mountains in the distance were covered in snow, fields of yellow were in valleys and rivers and lakes could be heard in the distance over the roaring of the Warthogs.

"See anything out of the ordinary?" Kevin asked from the passenger seat, I shook my head as I put the long weapon on the floor of the bed.

"No, just rocks. I haven't seen any form of life other than bugs and some sheep in the hills."

He nodded as he looked back to the convoy in front of us, David was leaning on the turret as he had been standing for nearly 2 hours now. "I think we should call the Infinity, we've been here for hours and nothing proves this is a Halo ring, besides the shape."

"No way man, if we call them back and we've only been here for a couple of hours they're gonna make us do drills for weeks!" Andrew complained as he continued to drive, one hand on the wheel and the other on the gear shifter.

I rolled my eyes as I continued to look around idly, "There's a lake 2 miles to the West, it's about sundown we should set up camp. If we drive around at night and there are enemies here, we'll get spotted like a deer in headlights."

"Sierra's right, we should. Let me call the others." Kevin stated as he pulled out a radio, he switched it to channel 3 I noticed. "Attention MT1,2,3,4, and 5. MT6 is enroute to a possible campsite. Over."

The radio crackled for a moment before a voice came through, "This is MT1, we're going to keep going, keep a look out. We can broadcast coordinates at 0600."

"Same."

"Righto."

"Yep."

"We found another campsite, MT5 is going to retreat for the night as well. Godspeed, teams."

Kevin turned off the radio as Andrew turned to the left and I saw another Warthog pull off in the same direction, but further towards the valley than the forest we were driving into. I felt a chill run up my spine as we drove past the tall trees, "I've got a bad feeling." I said. The others seemed to look towards me briefly, "I don't like everyone splitting up this much."

"We're the best of the best, UNSC wouldn't have sent us if we couldn't handle it." Kevin said as he looked forwards, we drove out to a small dirt clearing near the lake and Andrew stopped the vehicle.

We all hopped out and began to set up camp, David began to dig a hole, Andrew began to set up tents and Kevin and I went into the tree line to get sticks and twigs. I began to pick up sticks as I heard a noise, I looked up and glanced around. I squinted my eyes slightly before pulling out my combat knife, I ran around a tree and stabbed the source of the noise.

I walked back to the camp and David smiled at me, "Nice catch, thought we were going to have to eat MRE's." I pulled the small deer towards the pit and laid it next to it.

OoO

Night was now upon us, the air was cold and the sound of the lake was relaxing along with the winds. The rest of the team was asleep, but I had always been an insomniac, so I stood watch by the fire. The embers were keeping me warm and allowing me to see without having to use my visor, I was twirling my knife in my hands to pass the time.

The handle had black wrapping on it for grip, there was a small guard before it turned into a long blade. It was almost a foot long, the tip was bent to give it an angle and part of the blade was surated. There was a holster for it on my chest, all I had to do was rip the blade out and do some damage.

I was a precision kind of guy, that's why I was a sniper, the marksman of the team. But when it came to close range fighting, I had a pistol on my thigh. And when I didn't use that I loved my knife, I could dance around and silently take out rooms of unsuspecting enemies.

I sighed before jumping at a sudden boom, I jumped off of the ground and saw smoke and flames in the forest. I ran to the Warthog and grabbed my DMR, I placed my knife back on my chest and ran to the small muddy beach. I perched up on a rock and used my scope to see further, I could see the fire and the outline of a tent.

I knew then that it was another marine team, I went to turn around and saw a small group of Covenant walking through the trees. I took aim and pressed the trigger, a loud bang resounded the camp and my team jumped to attention. Blue and purple plasma weapons began to be shot at me, I ducked down behind the rock and yelled.

"There bombing us!"

I heard more gunshots, and poked over the rock. I shot a grunt in the head before popping another, I saw an elite holding a plasma cannon and aiming it towards the Warthog. I shot him in the back of the knee bringing him down before shooting him multiple times to break his shields, before finally killing him.

Andrew quickly began to shoot multiple enemies with his assault rifle causing them to duck behind the trees, I looked and saw the Warthog out of danger. "David! Turret!" David got on the turret and began spraying into the forest, trees began to fall and I smirked. I ran into the tree line and jumped over the falling trees, I pulled out my knife as I let the DMR fall and let the strap catch on my neck.

I jumped on an elites back and slit his throat, I jumped off and landed on a grunt. I ripped the knife out of the grunts chest before dodging an elites punch, he went for another strike but was quickly shot down by David.

"GIVE 'EM HELL BOYS!" Kevin shouted as he too moved up into the trees, David stopped shooting to let the gun cool down as Andrew and Kevin used their guns to suppress the Covenant.

I used my DMR to shoot the ones in the far back, and soon the small firing force was gone. I smiled as I released my mag, as I pulled out another ammo clip I was pushed to the side. "WATCH OUT!" Andrew shouted as a plasma grenade blew up right where I was standing, replaced by his now dead and bloody body.

I hit the ground and slid down a hill, I screamed in pain as I hit the bottom. I heard more explosions coming from atop the hill, the blue fire could only come from a Wraith. I looked down and saw that my right knee was dislocated, pain shot up my leg as I cracked it back into place. I pulled the strap off of my mud covered DMR and wrapped my leg up to keep my knee from moving, I knew it would only be temporary.

"Dav-ARGH" I heard as a body flew off of the hill, it hit the ground and tumbled down to me. I saw David panting and holding his now broken arm, he turned to me and looked at me with wide, scared eyes.

I'm sure my own face was a ghostly white.

I grabbed the radio from my pocket and called the Pelican pilot for backup, I then grabbed a bunch of leaves and mud and threw them over David and I. "Lay down, and don't move." I whispered, he did as I told him and we watched as the Covenant looked down the hill, and assumed we were dead before moving away.