Another Day at the Office:Rewind

Rewind is a part of the Another Day at the Office series and focuses' on one of Team Shoto's first missions during the.

Dramatis Persona

 * Shepard-G127
 * Jay-G090
 * Jess-G128
 * Russell-041
 * Team Sentinel
 * Yvette Kelly
 * Carella Eriksson
 * August Ford
 * Haymish McDowell
 * Kodiak-G114
 * Dyne-G217
 * Elena-G124

Plot Summery
''The Great War has been over for nearly three years but that doesn't mean that the spartans of Team Shoto are being given a break. Now aboard the UNSC's latest ship the UNSC Infinity Shoto and the rest of the spartan contingent are now embroiled in a war with the covenant splinter group, The Storm Covenant, and the new enemy, The Promethean's. The battle is still in its early stages but already the team in running into trouble. On what sent out to be a simple rescue mission Shepard and his friends soon find themselves trapped in a time loop. Forced to live the same day over and over, they'll need to bring all their heads together to work a way out of this mess. Or be trapped in the loop forever.''

Chapter 1
Bdeep-Bdeep-Bdeep-Bdeep

Shepard-G127 slowly opened his eyes as the alarm on his bedside table begun to bleat at him. The young spartan reached over to turn it off before slowly sitting up in his bed, stretching as he did. Looking at the little clock he saw that it was 7:30 am, or it would be if they were actually on a planet.

The one aspect of ship life that Shepard had found hard to get used to was the idea that there was no day or night, there was just time. This was especially prevalent on the Infinity because the city sized ship was always active which meant you just had to grab sleep whenever you could. Shepard was lucky that this time he’d been allowed to sleep through the ‘night’ such as it was.

He took a deep breath and looked around his room. Like all the other spartan rooms aboard the Infinity it was fairly bare, with the bed, a desk with a chair and a wardrobe to keep his fatigues as the only real furnishings. However here and there were bits of individuality. On his desk were was a set of spartan-II figurines, a little rock he’d taken from Onyx before he’d been deployed and a badge from the UNSC Crimson Aurora, a ship he’d been aboard a few years ago.

Above the desk there was also a note board which was covered in all manner of newspaper clippings and pictures. Some of the clippings came from newspapers on earth, celebrating the end of the Human-Covenant War, but most were about the Spartan Program, including a picture of Gamma Company. Shepard could still remember Mendez having to corral all three hundred and thirty three of them into that area in time for one of the DI’s to take a picture. That’d been three days before they had all been deployed, one of the last times that Gamma had been all together.

Shepard smiled sadly at the picture and all his friends grinned back. The picture always cheered him up. He swung his legs off his bed and walked over to the wardrobe and picked out his fatigues. Unlike most fatigues worn by the UNSC’s army Shepard’s were also part of his MJOLNIR armour, from the new GEN 2 line. When Shepard had first seen them he through they would be uncomfortable but he was used to it now, it was form fitting and over time it had become as natural as wearing his armour.

A light buzzing sound suddenly caught Shepard attention, he looked over to his bedside table to see his ear piece communicator. Shepard picked it up and placed it over his ear.

“Hey Shep, you awake?”

It was Jess-G127, Team Shoto’s technical specialist and second in command.

“Ye I’m awake Jess, thanks for asking. I guess you got up early?”

“You know me Shep, sleep is an inconvenience. Besides I had a few projects I wanted to get out of the way before we started training today”

“Anything I should know about?” asked Shepard as he headed for the door

“I’m not Dyne Shepard, it’s not like I’m going to accidentally shut down the ships artificial gravity or something”

“Just taking an interesting in your work Jess, where are you at the moment?”

“I’m in the mess with Jay and Sentinel, you may want to hurry by the way I think the Web-O’s are about to run out”

Shepard chuckled “Thanks for the heads up, see you in a sec”

The door slid open and Shepard stepped out into the corridor beyond. It was surprisingly lively, with a variety of spartan’s head to and from their rooms. Shepard nodded to those he recognised but other than that he just slid in between everyone as he made his way down the corridor.

As he walked past one door Shepard heard the very faint sound of muffled giggling. He looked to his left and saw that the door to this particular room was marked with Dyne-G217, under which the words ‘Genius at work’ had been scratched into it the metal. Shepard sighed to himself and waved his hand over the doors detector. The giggles stopped and then the door opened revealing Dyne, who was trying to do his best ‘serious face’.

“Yes, what can Infinity’s resident genius help you with?”

Before Shepard could retort with many tales of Dynes less intelligent exploits Kodiak-G114 appeared suddenly from behind Dyne.

“Resident genius? This stuff isn’t exactly rocket science Dyne. I think a grunt could work this out. Besides technically it’s my idea”

Dyne turned to look at his friend, an indignant look on his face “But it’s my stuff, and my room”

Shepard looked past the pair and into Dyne’s room. Unlike Shepard Dyne clearly didn’t do so well when it came to organisation and the room was strewn with all manner of half-finished creations, one such creation was currently sitting on Dyne’s bed, to Shepard it looked like a large grenade that had been half disassembled.

“We already talked about this Dyne, we are splitting the credit 50-50”

“I’ve been thinking about that actually, I think I should get more credit”

“What?”

“Well if you think about it, you just provided the idea while I have provided the tools and the smarts to make it as well as an area to make it in. So if you do the maths I should get 75% of the credit”

Before Kodiak could reply Shepard asked “What exactly are you making?”

Dyne suddenly seemed to perk up at this and opened his mouth to begin an explanation when Kodiak’s hand suddenly shot up and covered it.

“It’s probably best if we don’t tell you”

“Is it something I’d rather not know about, or something I’d rather not be linked too?”

Kodiak seemed to weigh it around in his head for a moment “A bit of both”

“Thanks Kody, well good luck guys. I’ll leave the genius’ to carry on their work”

Shepard stepped back into the corridor as the door closed, carrying on his walk to the mess hall. Shepard was good friends with Kodiak and Dyne, as well as the rest of Machete. They could be a bit wild at times but they were good mates all the same.

He carried on his walk down the corridor, slipping in between groups of spartans as he made his way toward the lifts. Suddenly through the crowds Shepard caught sight of someone, another Gamma. Elena-G124. Shepard’s heart, one that had gone through the battle of Earth, briefly fluttered in his chest.

He’d only learned that Elena was still alive a few weeks before starting his tour on the Infinity, the rest of Gamma Company had been told that her and few others had died during augmentation, seeing her again was a bigger shock that Shepard liked to admit.

Geez look at you Shepard, he thought to himself, ''you’ve faced down brute warlords and seeing her again is putting you on edge. Lance would be taking the piss right now.''

She was now only a few meters away and Shepard’s mind raced to find something to say to her. “Hey Elena” he blurted out as he walked up to her

At first Shepard thought she hadn't heard him but then she turned to look at him and gave him a smile.

“O, hello Shepard”

He smiled back and opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't think of what to say.

“Do you need me for something?”

“Um, no. I just wanted to say hi, I guess” he replied, hoping he didn't sound as timid as he thought he did.

“O, well. Hey”

“What are you up too” said Shepard, trying to get a flow of conversation before she realised he had no idea what he was doing.

“Me and the rest of Aegis just finished up a match on the training deck, I was heading off to get some sleep before I'm called away again”

“Sounds like a good idea, never know when they are going to throw one of those impromptu matches”

“Exactly”

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Elena smiled again and said “Well, I think I’ll head off to sleep”

“Yes, good call. I’ll see you around?” asked Shepard

“If not here then on the training floor” she smiled at him and then turned away

As she begun to move off Shepard heard chuckling behind him. He turned to see a large figure standing near the lifts a few meters away.

“If it’s any conciliation, you didn't sound that nervous at all” said Russell-041. Russell was technically Shepard’s uncle, something he’d only learned a few years ago. But in that time the two had bonded greatly with Shepard often looking up to his uncle as a role model. It also helped that Russell was one of the legendary spartan-II’s. Despite that he never tried to make himself seem better than the other Spartans on the Infinity.

Shepard smiled back at his uncle “Thanks Russ”

“She seems like a nice girl” said the big spartans as he turned back toward the lift again.

“She’s great, brilliant in my opinion” replied Shepard as he walked up next to his uncle.

“You want my advice?” asked Russell, looking down at his nephew, “Just be yourself, and stay calm, no sense making yourself look like a fool”

“Did it work for you?” asked Shepard, the lift opened before this and released a group of spartans. Russell and Shepard stepped aside and then walked into the vacated lift. Russell pressed the button for the mess and the lift began to gently ascend.

The older spartan shrugged “It helped”

They were silent for a bit, the lift stopped briefly to let another group of crew members into the lift before carrying on its journey to the mess.

“So, what have you been up too?” asked Shepard.

“I just helped Doug run one of those Big Team Games over on the training deck, so I figured I’d grab something to eat and take a quick kip while I’ve got the time.”

“How’d the game go?” asked Shepard

“It was alright, everyone is getting to know the new maps so I got to see some interesting plays”

“Which map was it?”

“I think it was Wreckage, the one with all the crashed ships. Good map, lots of close quarters work and some long site lines”

The lifts door gently opened to reveal the mess hall beyond. The large room was fairly vacant as the two spartans stepped inside with only a few teams sitting at the many tables that lined the area. Shepard and Russell both begun to make their way toward the food dispensers at the other end of the room.

“I think we played a match there the other day” replied Shepard as he looked around for his teammates, “The ship in the middle is a good place to hold out”

“Ye, saw some of that. Also the open area to the west saw some vehicle combat”

“How’d that go? I didn’t think many people used vehicles outside the specific sims” The pair reached the dispensers and begun to pick their food. Shepard picked up what looked like the last box of Web-O’s and begun to pour them into a bowl.

Russell chuckled next to him as put down two slices of bread on his plate “It was interesting actually. Both warthogs went off the cliff.”

“Accident or design?”

“Stray rocket shot, miscommunication I think” replied the larger spartan as he placed some ham on his bread to make a sandwich. “Funny to watch though”

“I can imagine” Shepard turned away from the food and looked out across the hall, trying to find him team. Movement to his left caught his attention, looking over he saw Jay waving him over. Next to him was Jess and opposite them were the four members of Team Sentinel. Shepard begun to make his way across the room.

As he got closer he begun to pick up on the current conversation.

“So there we were; Ford, myself and the rest of the squad. Wraith fire coming down like rain and Banshee’s zooming all around. Got the civvies hiding down in the one of those subway entrances”

“Ye, and the sarge is just yelling at me ‘Ford, get a link to those sods over at ordinance before we all become French toast’ while all this mayhem’s going on”

Shepard and Russell sat down opposite Team Sentinel as the story carried on, nodding to Jay and Jess as he did. Over from Shepard was Haymish McDowell and August Ford, both of whom had massive grins on their faces as they carried on the story.

“I’ll tell you lot, that man could belt his voice out no matter where he was. I could hear him over the sound of me SAW going full-auto on those covy bastards” Next to him Ford chuckled “You remember that op on Beta Taurus? I thought he was going to shout those jackals to death”

The two men laughed together while next to them Yvette Kelly, Sentinel’s leader, rolled her eyes.

“You two are getting off track, again”

“Sorry ma’am, getting caught up in the good times”

Over next to Yvette was Carmela Eriksson, the team sniper.

“Haven’t you two told this story like three times now?”

“No” replied Ford “Just a lot of our stories are very similar. Our unit wasn’t known for being lucky”

“You know what” said Kelly “I actually want to know how you two pulled your asses out of the fire this time”

“You’ll never believe us lass” replied Haymish excitedly “So, there we was. A team of pinned ODST’s protecting some trapped civvies against an unstoppable march. And who does Ford find on the radio? Only a bloody Vulture gunship!”

“I can’t believe my luck” chipped in Ford

“None of us could mate, one minute I thought I was kissin’ my ass goodbye and the next there’s a Vulture over my head blastin’ those covy’s back to their foxholes”

“I thought you said you guys weren’t lucky?” asked Jay from the other end of the table.

“I said we we’re known for being lucky” replied Ford “Doesn’t mean good things never came to us”

“And boy did they on that day, if you guys have ever seen a Vulture in action then you’ll know how awesome they can be”

“If I remember correctly” said Shepard “We saw three Vultures when we were on earth” “O ye” Jess looked over at him “It was when we were helping the charge at the covenant command post in England”

“That must’ve been something to see, Vulture gunships were really rare that late in the war” commented Ford “Most of them were lost on Reach, I think there were only a few dozen left after she fell”

“You know, you kids need to start tellin’ us some of your war stories, I bet you lot got some good ones hu?” said Haymish with a smile

Shepard looked over at Jay and Jess and then back at Haymish “You could say we’ve got some tales to tell”

“But we’d have to kill you once we told you” said Jess in a flat tone.

Ford and Haymish briefly shared a sideway glance at one another “And I’d look forward to it lass, you three are some mean fighters”

All three of Shoto smiled and nodded at the complement.

Shepard looked up from his seating to see the screens that surrounded the mess hall suddenly switch on. These often displayed the ship wide news broadcast, the various training matches scheduled for the day or the helmet camera of a current player if there was a good match on that day. Today they activated to show the days training schedule, nothing for Shoto.

“No training today guys, looks like we got a free one” said Shepard, looking over at his friends

“Or it means we’re on standby” replied Jay “Stuffs heating up down there on Requiem”

“Tell me about it” said Jess “You lot hear what happened to Ivy? Those Promethean’s are serious business from what I hear”

Before Shepard could inquire Yvette’s earpiece suddenly buzzed into life, she pressed her finger to her ear and listened. “I hear you Roland, we’ll be there in five”

“We got a match?” asked Carmella, sitting up from her slouched position.

“Yep, guess who our first opponents is”

Next her Ford groaned “I just looked, its Paladin isn’t it”

“Sure is, 15 minute Team Slayer match, not sure which map” replied Sentinel’s leader, her voice didn’t betray a hint of what she felt

“I think Commander Palmer likes settin us against that lot, we are matched up with them once every bloody month” said Haymish, standing up and stretching. “That, or they are all still sour about that win last time” replied Carmella, also rising from the table.

“Whatever the reason is they are our opponents today” said Yvette with a hint of finality “So, let’s stop the complaining and just go kick their asses a second time”

Shepard smiled at Yvette, he had always respected her ability to control what could be an unruly squad. “Good luck you guys, make sure you give them one from us”

“Can do lads, and lass” replied Haymish with a smile “You can bet we’re not gonna let them boot lickers take our position from us”

And with that Team Sentinel headed off to the lift and their ensuing match. Shepard watched them go and then turned back to his own team. As he did he saw that Jay and Jess how switched places and were now sitting opposite him and Russell.

“So, what happened to fireteam Ivy Jess?” asked Jay as he sat down.

“I didn’t get the full story, I just heard it from Dolton while I was helping him fix his transponders. Apparently Ivy got jumped by a bunch of Promethean’s, came out of nowhere. I’m not sure what happened but I know that at least three ended up in the med bay”

Russell nodded “I heard something similar happened to Majestic a few days ago, one minute its quiet the next crawlers and knights are appearing out of thin air”

“How do you counter an enemy that teleport into and out of anywhere, we’re hard pressed dealing with the covenant at the moment without these Promethean’s making it harder” mused Jay, scratching his head

“I don’t know Jay” said Shepard “But I think we’ll need to find a way around them soon, or the Requiem campaign might be over sooner than we think”

Chapter 2
The Pelican dropship rattled its way down through the forunner shield world’s atmosphere. Requiem was its name, a giant ball of Foreunner metal floating in space which houses a similarly enormous artificial planet within. It still boggled Shepard’s mind when he thought about it, how much effort the Foreunners must have put into the world just to build it let alone sustain it. It was science on a scale few could comprehend or imagine.

Most recently Requiem had been Shoto’s most recent battle ground as they and the rest of UNSC Infinity worked to find out as much as they could about the world and stop the Storm Covenant from gaining access to any of its technology. The conflict was only into its first weeks and the way Shepard saw it, the battle could become a protracted campaign or it’d be over soon. “So how’d the game go?” asked Jess as the dropship banked to the left.

Opposite Shoto was Sentinel, pulled from their day’s exercise for a skirmish with Shoto down on the Forerunner world below.

“Paladin won” replied Haymish bitterly “That team’s got no idea how to win well”

“Tell me about it, it’s not like it wasn’t a close game or anything” said Ford as he checked his suits shoulder plate “They just got lucky catching us out in the open”

“Luck or not, it does show we need to improve our awareness” stated Kelly, she looked over at Haymish “And not to get carried away when we get a kill”

“I wasn’t getting carried away lass, I was just trying to keep the momentum going” replied the large spartan defensively

“Be that as it many, I’d rather my heavy weapons specialist stay with the team. I need someone to anchor the middle”

Haymish just smiled and said “Yes ma’am”

Next to Kelly Carmella looked up at the rest of them “I’m getting a link from the UNSC Infinity guys, Commander Palmers sit rep”

Kelly gestured for Carmella to form the link while she placed a holo-emitter on the floor. A few seconds later a blue tinged Commander Palmer, the head of the Infinity’s Spartan contingent, appeared in the pelican flanked by one of mission handlers, Jared Miller.

“Afternoon spartan’s, who’s up from a rescue mission?” said Palmer in her usual authoritarian tone.

“I’m assuming us commander” replied Kelly, not a hint of emotion colouring her voice. She had entered mission mode now and, like the rest of the spartans in the dropship, were all focused on the briefing.

“Quite right you are spartan Kelly, Jared will fill you all in on the details” said the commander as she stepped back to let Jared take front place.

“Ok spartan’s today your heading down after Infinity science, looks like one of their teams got into a disagreement with the local covenant forces while exploring a structure in this sector” Next to Jared a screen appeared displaying a map of the sector, in the middle there was a large gate shaped structure jutting from the ground “From the few radio signal’s we’ve been able to receive it sounds like the team managed to head down into the structure and barricade themselves in but it’s still only going to be a matter of time before the covenant breakthrough”

“So, simple mission team. Get the eggheads out in one piece and we’ll get more teams down there to secure the area. Remember the mission is to protect the scientists not any toys they’ve dug up while they were down there. But equally don’t let those alien’s grab any either. Any questions?” asked Palmer looking around, no one replied.

“Perfect, just what I like to hear. For this op Fireteam Shoto will be accompanying you for support, Spartan Kelly you have over all command of this mission. Understood?” said Palmer, giving I sideways look to the three younger spartan’s.

Shepard nodded and all three replied with a “Yes Commander”

“Excellent, see you all on the other side” with a curt nod to the assembled spartan’s she disappeared.

Haymish grunted as she vanished “She’s really got something against you guy’s hu?”

“Not just us” replied Shepard “She’s that way around all the three’s and two’s”

“She probably just feels like she’s trying to assert herself over the other generations” said Jay “Perhaps she just feels uncomfortable”

“Whatever she feels she should keep it to herself” said Carmella “Just makes it difficult otherwise”

“Doesn’t help that Dyne and Kody can’t stop pulling their pranks for more than a day” said Jess. “Can you blame them, they’re not called out on missions much” replied Shepard.

“Neither are we” noted Jay.

Before anyone could add their thoughts to the mix the pelican’s pilot called over the radio “2 mikes to drop, get yours ready spartans I think we might be going in hot”

As soon as he finished all seven spartans rose up and begun pulling out their weapons. Shepard unclipped his assault rifle from the magnetic strips on his back, checking the sight and made sure he had a full clip inserted in. He then flicked the safety off.

“How do you want to play this Kelly?” asked Shepard, looking over at the other squad leader. “Spear tip formation, if we’re going in hot I want to push through the block quick as we can. Haymish and Ford you guys are going to be the anchor, push forward and keep the pressure on the big guys, me, Shepard and Jess will cover the flanks. Carmella and Jay I want you two to hang back, call out priority targets and take them down. Any questions?”

No one replied, they were all ready. Weapons up and trained at the door. They all felt the pelican decelerate as it flew in over the drop zone. A few seconds later there were a series of light patters against the hull. Plasma fire against the metal hull.

“Popping the hatch in 5, have a nice day spartans” called the pilot. In the back of the pelican all seven spartans tensed and prepared to dive directly into combat. 5 seconds crawled its way past then there was a crack of light through the pelican’s bay doors as they opened.

Beyond the pelican’s bay was a lush jungle setting, a common biome in this sector of the shield world. Directly in front of them was the structure, a sort of large gate that sloped down into the ground. It was flanked on two sides by giant trees while smaller foliage grew in front of the structure. In another time it might have been quite beautiful but what Shepard was more focused on right now was the covenant.

There were at least three dozen of them in front of the structure. Many of them were grunts, some were already running to and from cover and the closest were either running or firing at the descending dropship. Scattered around were jackals, one team of the avian creatures were crouched to the left, hiding behind their energy shields, while other singular jackals readied their long beam rifles. Shepard also saw plenty of elites, the bulky warriors stood amongst their smaller kin, ordering them toward the humans or readying weapons of their own. Each spartan took in this information as the pelican doors slowly opened and then, as one they leapt out of the dropship and opened fire. Weapons blazing before they hit the ground. Shepard immediately took aim a trio of grunts to the teams left, precision burst fire from his assault rifle taking them down before they had a chance to fire back. Next to him Jess opened fire with her carbine, pinning the jackal team on the left as they raised their shields against the incoming bullets. In front Haymish and Ford pushed up, the formers SAW scything through the lightly armoured aliens with the latter’s shotgun blasted back an elite before it could bring its own weapon to bear. As they moved ahead Jay and Carmella moved either side of the formation, sniper rifles already picking away at the enemy.

“Jackal squad on the left” said Carmella as she calmly put a bullet through the head of one of the bird like aliens as it poked it head over the shield “Could do with a grenade in their Ford”

“On it sharpshot” replied Ford as he unpinned a frag grenade and hurled it at the huddling jackals. The grenade exploded and sent the mangled jackals flying in all directions.

“Move up and find some cover” ordered Kelly as her DMR claimed a jackal sniper “Shepard and Jess, move up on the left and pin down the elites in the centre”

Shepard loosed another few bursts at an elite, stripping its shields before sending another burst to cut through its armour plating. The alien creature fell back with a dull gurgle. He ducked down and ejected his spent magazine and placed in another, pulling back the firing handle to ready another bullet.

“Got it Kelly, Jay we got your cover?”

“You got it Shep, move on your go” He replied as his sniper let out another crack, taking out another enemy sniper.

In his head Shepard mentally counted to three and then said “Go” rising up and moving from cover and running to the left. He could see on his motion tracker that Jess was right behind him. As he ran past Jay let off another sniper round, smacking into the head of an elite and sending it to the floor.

Shepard and Jess both made it to cover on the left side, he peeked around to see two elites and a group of grunts hiding behind the cover of a large fallen tree trunk. One of the grunts lite a plasma grenade and hurled it toward the entrenched spartans.

“Guys, you’ve got a plasma ‘nade coming your way!” called Shepard over the comm link. He looked over his cover to see Haymish and Ford leap out of the way as the glowing projectile landed where they’d just been standing and vaporised the area.

“Good call lad, think you can deal with that gang?” replied Haymish as he moved to fresh cover.

Shepard looked over at Jess who pulled out a frag grenade and motioned her head at the covenant below.

“We’ve got a solution, move up on my go”

Shepard received pings of acknowledgement from the rest of the team and he nodded to Jess. Once again he counted to three in his head and then yelled “Now!”

As he did he rose from his cover and pulled the trigger of his rifle, firing full auto into the aliens below and pinning them in their cover. Beside him Jess rose up and tossed the grenade down, it landed right in the middle and tore the group apart. Shepard looked up and scanned the battlefield for any more enemies.

“Clear” called Carmella which was answered with acknowledgements from the rest of the team. “Good work everyone but it’s not done yet, reload and form up on that door” ordered Kelly, stepping out from her cover and moving toward the structure, weapon raised in case more hidden covenant showed themselves. Shepard did one last sweep of the area and then made his way down after her, Jess moving in unison behind him. They converged on the door as the other spartans begun to take up positions either side, Shepard and Jess formed up behind Haymish.

“It’s gonna close quarters in their teams but we run this like before. Haymish and Ford up front. Me, Shepard and Jess moving close behind and Carmella and Jay providing back up fire. See anything hostile, shot it. Understood?” ordered Kelly, keeping her eye on the door. A chorus of confirmations followed.

“Jess, get the door”

Jess nodded and moved forward, crouching down in front of the holopanel next to the door. She swiped her hands across its surface, causing the hieroglyphic like symbols on its surface to shift. After a few seconds they settled into their new form and Jess placed her hand on it, a second later the doors silently slide open.

Without a word Haymish and Ford moved in, weapons sweeping around as they took into their new surroundings. Behind them Shepard and the rest of the group moved in after them. The room was large and circular. In the centre there was a raised platform but other than that the room was smooth. On the walls there were multiple doors each of which could lead to multiple corridors and side routes. Anyone of which the science team could have fled down. Next to Shepard Kelly activated her comm link.

“Infinity Science 4-3 this is Spartan Kelly, we are here to rescue you. Do you copy?” For a second the link was silent. Then the voice broke over the radio.

“This is Doctor Gwyn, it’s so good to hear your voice spartan” The relief in the doctor’s voice was almost palpable. “We took cover in this facilities central chamber, I’ll begin unlocking the door”

“Understood doctor, how do we get to the central chamber” “O, my apologies squad leader. Just head down the middle door, we shall activate our IFF’s to make it easier”

A few seconds later the door at the back of the chamber slid open to reveal the corridor beyond. As the door finished opening over half a dozen IFF tags appeared on the spartan teams HUD’s. Shepard examined them, noting both the scientists and their marine escorts.

“They must have taken quite a hit before they got underground. There’s less than half a squad in there” said Ford.

“My monies on Promethean’s, slippery bastards can teleport in anywhere” replied Haymish, looking back at the gate they had entered through.

“Probably means they’re watching us right now, Kelly I think we should place Haymish and Ford at the door in case the covenant comes back. I don’t think we want to be stuck here fighting the elites all the way to the pickup point” said Shepard, looking over at the other squad leader.

Kelly looked over at him and nodded “Good thinking Shepard. Ford, Haymish I want you two on that door. Discourage the curious”

The two spartans turned and moved back towards the door “You got it lass, we’ll let ya know if they come sniffing around”

“Everyone else, let’s go get our scientists”

The remainder of the squad moved forward through the open door, weapons scanning around as they moved. They met no resistance as they travelled up the empty grey corridor, no sound by the strikes of their armoured boots and their weapons tracking forward and back.

“The forerunners really didn’t care for ascetics did they?” said Jess, examining the walls “Just endless grey”

“Who knows” replied Carmella “Maybe this was the height of fashion for them”

Shepard looked at the walks as he strode past “It’s odd that all forerunner structures are like this, no differentiation. This place could be anything from a bunker to a food silo” “What was the science team looking for anyway?” asked Jess as they rounded a corner.

Kelly didn’t look back as she replied “Something about energy fluctuations coming from this site, could mean anything”

Before anyone could speculate they arrived at another door, beyond lay the IFF tags. Shepard picked out Gwyn’s tag and saw it hover lower for a second as if its owner was crouching over something. Suddenly the dull grey metal door gently slid open and revealed the room beyond. Two assault rifle gun barrels were immediately levelled at the spartan team and Shepard heard other weapons click off their safeties in the room. The spartan team kept their weapons ready but held down and a few seconds later the marines lowered their guns as well.

“Sorry for the hostile welcome spartans.”

A beleaguered looking marine walked up to them, sending just by the two marines at the door. His shoulder plate displayed a sergeant’s badge and his IFF read Sargent Alek Hwan.

“Didn’t know if we were expecting less savoury company”

“That’s alright Sargent” said Kelly, leading the rest of the team into the chamber beyond. Shepard gazed around the open space as he walked in. It was much larger than the corridor suggested, you could have fitted three scorpions and still had room to spare. Along the walls there were all kinds of what passed for work stations for the forerunners with glowing hieroglyphics floating serenely above the grey metal. The only other object in the chamber was at the very end.

It looked like a collection of huge metal rods arranged around a central dais, there was nothing to suggest its function or of it did anything at all. Before Shepard could examine it closer Kelly’s voice brought him back to the immediate.

“Get ready to move marines, time to get you all home”

Around him the marines begun to gather their gear and make ready to leave, the few remaining scientists stood at the back with unsure looks on their faces. Shepard felt sorry for them, they were thinkers not fighters. Shepard realised how alien it would feel, to not know how to fight. But he’d been trained his whole life to fight, just as they had probably spend much of their lives doing the opposite.

“Shepard” said Kelly, Shepard turned to look at her “I want you and Shoto to keep the science team safe, stay with them and make sure they get to the dropship. Understood”

All three spartans nodded and walked over to the scientists. Gywn turned to look at them as they approached. He smiled at them with a smile of genuine gratitude.

“You don’t know how good it is to see you spartans”

Shepard nodded back and tried to create some comforting words to say. It was always so hard to talk to non-spartans and non-combatants. Put the two together and conversations became even harder.

“Well, you know us. Always ready to leap to the rescue”

This seemed to work, eliciting weak smiles from the four scientists. Before they could engage Shepard in conversation he looked over at Kelly. Carmella was watching the door with the marines but Kelly had her finger to her ear. She looked agitated.

“Haymish, Ford come in. Answer, damn it”

Shepard turned to Jess “Jess, check the comm lines. I think we’re being jammed”

Jess nodded her head but before she could reply Jay raised his sniper and pointed it at the door. A second later he pulled the trigger and a round shot out of the barrel. Flying across the room it tore through the armour of the Sangheili that had been stalking forward toward the unaware humans.

“Stealth elites!”

Having lost the element of surprise the other 5 cloaked aliens deactivated their camouflage and opened fire down the corridor. A hail of plasma and needle shards quickly closed the distance and smashed into the marines covering the door, one fell back clutching his chest were a needle shard had hit him before being hit by three more in the back.

Shepard didn’t see what happened afterwards, a lifetime of training took over his mind and body. He quickly stepped between the scientists and the line of fire, a few plasma rounds splashing against his shields, he raised his assault rifle and begun sending burst back down the corridor.

“Get behind cover now!” shouted Shepard over the battle at the scientists, his helmet amplifying his voice.

But they just stood there, shell shocked looks on their faces. Groaning under his breath Shepard turned away from the battle and grabbed Gywn by the arm.

“Head to the back of the room, you’ll be safe there. Stay there until we come to get you, understand”

For a second Shepard thought he’d have to drag them over their but Gywn was able to tear his gaze away from the encroaching aliens and nodded. The four of them quickly took off, sprinting as best they could for the cover of a work station toward the back of the room. With his charges protected for now Shepard turned his attention back to the battle, the elites hadn’t yet breached the doors but they were making progress, and behind them Shepard could seem reinforcements making their way down the corridor. Shoto moved forward, Jay hanging back to provide long range fire while Shepard and Jess moved up next to Kelly, Carmella and the remaining marines.

Shepard crouched down the reload and looked over at Kelly as she sent DMR rounds crashing into something down the corridor.

“Anything from Haymish and Ford?”

Kelly didn’t look at him as she answered “Nothing, but if this is coming down from the corridor then I have to assume they were overrun”

A cold feeling settled in Shepard’s stomach as he sat up to fire again. He’d seen plenty of people die before, many friends. But he’d only ever been responsible for one, and he remember how he felt afterward. He’d only known Haymish and Ford for a few weeks, but the though that’d he’d been responsible for their deaths still hit him hard.

“We don’t know they’re dead Shepard, we just know they aren’t talking” said Kelly, like she could read his mind. She primed a grenade and tossed it down range “Don’t let that kind of thinking start now”

Shepard didn’t answer, keeping up his fire in support of the rest of the group. By now the others down the corridor had entered the fray, a wave of grunts was bearing down on the UNSC position.

“Boys, get some explosives out there!” yelled Sargent Hwan. Three of the marines unpinned their grenades and threw them. A few seconds later there were three claps of thunder, tearing into the grunt ranks. Some still kept coming and made it within weapons range.

The plasma barrage increased and Shepard was forced to duck behind cover as his shields collapsed.

“We can’t hold this sir, they’re gonna break through” said one marine in front of Shepard as he tried to fit a new magazine of ammo into his assault rifle.

“Ye, its game over man. Game over!” cried another marine

“Damn it Alenko, what did I tell you about quoting movies in a combat situation. We’re holding this room, no questions”

“Agreed sergeant” said Kelly “But a withdrawal wouldn’t be out of the question. Move back into the chamber we’ll cover you”

The marine sergeant gave Kelly a thumbs up and then tapped the marine nearest to him. Soon all five marines were ready to move. A quick movement from Hwan and they took off, sprinting through the fire as the four spartans kept the approaching aliens pinned back. The marines made it unscathed to the other side and Shepard dropped back to reload.

“Jess, get another grenade down there and we’ll move back too. Make it a flash”

He saw Jess nod and tensed to run. Out of the corner of his eye Jess readied a grenade and hurled it “Flash out!”

A second later there was a burst of light and sounds and the deluge lessened. Immediately Shepard and Jess ran to the side, away from the door, followed by Kelly and Carmella. Skidding to a stop next to Jay Shepard spun around and opened fire again, noting his lack of ammo and cursing himself for not keeping tighter bursts.

The Covenant had pushed into the room now, the grunts poured out of the door as the Sangheili behind them begun to take cover.

Shepard ducked down behind the wall he was using as cover and reloaded again. One more magazine, damn it. Suddenly Shepard saw a burst of blue light in front of him and his breath nearly caught in his throat. A Promethean knight uncurled itself as it finished its teleportation and looked right at him.

Immediately Shepard shouldered his rifle and yelled “Knights!” as he fired a hard burst of assault rifle rounds right into its torso. The shielding around it, stronger than Shepard’s own, flared blue as the bullets bounced off. It raised it’s gun arm, a glowing orange bar of forerunner metal was levelled at Shepard.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and a hole opened up in the knight’s head. The hole kept expanding, consuming the construct as it turned to glowing orange flacks. Next to him Jay reloading his sniper rifle. Shepard nodded at him and then looked back up see two more knights appear out of nothingness.

Cursing under his breath Shepard raised his rifle to fire again, the weapon clicked and the ammo counter flashed at him. No ammo. As he watched the knights turned their attention to the scientists hiding to their right.

No way, thought Shepard, I’m not going to get them kill too.

With no time to reload his rifle Shepard let it drop to the floor and ran at the knights. Crossing the few meter distance in a few seconds he collided with the first mechanical creature, knocking it off balance as it raised it’s arm blade and knocking it into the second.

The three of them rolled to the side, the first knight managed to right itself and came at Shepard as he rose from the ground. The spartan rolled to the side as the alien creation brought the sword down where his head had just been. Moving quick Shepard kicked out, his boot cracking into the knight’s leg and sending it sideways before a hail of bullets cuts through the shields and then the armour.

Shepard pulled himself up as it evaporated. Suddenly the second knight charged through the dying promethean and slammed into Shepard. It pushed him back into the control console in front of the huge metal rods and Shepard felt his hands slip over the controls, catching himself on the edge to stop himself from falling over.

The knight raised his gun arm but Shepard stepped forward, batting the gun away and then pulling out his knife. He stabbed upward, going for what looked like a seam between the armour plating of its head and neck.

He was rewarded with a snapping sound as the blade broke on the forerunner metal. Mentally groaning Shepard’s mind raced for a solution. He saw the gun arm, clearly a promethean suppressor, aiming back at him.

Now acting in desperation Shepard ducked under the creature and as it spun around to follow him he punched it in the face. The strength of the blow, augmented by his suit, sent the creature reeling and gave Shepard time to pull out his two magnums. The young spartan opened fire with both M9D’s. The twin pistols cut through the last of the shields and then into the armour. The creature dissipated and Shepard fell back, crunched down behind another forerunner console.

As he reloaded his pistols Shepard looked up. The metal rods at the back of the room had begun to move, floating upwards on currents of energy, while in the central dais the air seemed to shimmer like a heat haze. Shepard tried to banish it from his mind and return to shooting when suddenly the movement stopped and the heat haze seemed to converge.

Before he could move a stream of lighting shot out of the machine and struck him in the chest. It didn’t hurt as much as he through it would, or at least it didn’t seem to. He was partially aware that he was screaming and the world around him was turning blurry. All he could hear was a loud rushing sound. Looking over to his left he saw Jess and Jay, they were running toward him when another bolt jumped from Shepard’s outstretched arm into them.

The world seemed to grow faint and all Shepard could hear was that rushing sound. Somewhere there was an explosion and perhaps someone calling his name and-

Bdeep-Bdeep-Bdeep-Bdeep

Shepard shot up in his bed.