Chapter 1: 20 hours later
Location: Inside the UNSC Nightlight orbiting Honeywell
The UNSC Nightlight was on its way to Oynx to retrieve some equipment when a nearby colony world, Honeywell, asked for help. The planet was never fully explored but it contained vast resources. It never required terraforming, and 2 weeks before its discovery, the UNSC already sent people to gather some resources. However, a week after that, war with the Covenant broke out. The UNSC was never able to fully support the people living and working there. Now they can though.
Captain Dave knew that the planet at least had some military support, but a few men and some warthogs won’t be able to stop a Covenant ship from glassing the planet.
“The Spartans are ready sir.” he was interrupted mid thought by the ship’s A.I. He has been on the ship for at least a week now and he has been accustomed to talking to Richard. He thinks the AI is pretty interesting but he admits that Richard was also a bit annoying. He wondered if he would call Richard a he or an it, but he was interrupted once again.
“Sir, Honeywell won’t be able to stand their ground for long. On a side note, how the hell came up with that name?” Captain Dave loved humour but he didn’t want to laugh now. Not while a planet is being butchered by the Covenant. No…..he’s seen enough planets butchered by them.
“Prepare to engage the Covenant ship and send the Spartans to the planet via drop pod. It’s about time the Covenant learned some manners.”
Location: Inside the UNSC Nightlight’s Cryo room orbiting Honeywell
The nightlight was a prowler modified to contain at least 20 Spartans. These Spartans were to be kept in a Cryo tube until they are needed. Sergeant Luke felt quite small compared to how tall these Spartans were. The only things he knew about them was that they were meant for spec ops and worked in pairs. These Spartans were quite different from the ones he heard about. Nonetheless, he felt puny. Was he really going to command these Spartans?
Richard’s hologram came out of nowhere. “Hey Lukey, the Captain needs you on the bridge ASAP” The AI was acting like he has known the crew of the ship for a long time, but he wasn’t particularly bothered.
The Spartans were line up in a neat file and saluted the Sergeant. He saluted back and left for the bridge.
Location: Inside the UNSC Nightlight’s Cryo room orbiting Honeywell
The moment the Sarge left, Josh began to talk like he does all the time. “I wonder how long we were inside that freezer this time. I don’t know about you but I regret putting on my armour immediately after getting out of there because now my body itches like hell”
“We were trained to ignore the itching” Jake felt irritated but he still felt glad that Josh was his partner. He remembered back in Onyx when he was chosen to be part of the Headhunters, Oni explained why they decided to pair them up. Oni took the idea from the way the hunters behaved in combat. When paired, a hunter performs twice as well as it performs alone. Once one of the pair has fallen the other enters a frenzied state and performs 10 times better than it performs alone in combat.
This made Jake feel uneasy, but he was excited for what awaits him today.