Gray Team, chapter 1 Options

[Agent Griff]

I've studied all my options regarding a Halo story, and this seems the most unexplored and the most mysterious of all Halo stories. Even Eric Nylund, author of several Halo novels said that he considered the story of Gray Team a subject for a possible novel. Where I'm gonna be 1 step ahead of them and I'll try to express what I think happened to Gray Team. Most of this story will be fictional but I will add some things which are canon in the mix. I hope you enjoy this story.

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The year was 2525. The UNSC frigate Commonwealth was in orbit over the planet Chi Ceti IV, in the fringes of UNSC space, more than 77 Light Years from Earth. The Commonwealth had just dropped all of the Spartan IIs which had survived the byo-augmentation process to test their new armour. This armour, dubbed the Mjolnir Mk IV by its creators, was a new type of special combat suit which was designed from the ground up especially for the Spartans, and especially for fighting the Covenant.

The MJOLNIR Mark IV was a radical redesign of the suit taking advantage of many technological leaps. This advanced battle suit was the first to fully integrate with the soldier's body. The suit plugged directly into the soldier's nervous system through a standard issue Neural Interface. The suit's many functions (communications, hydro-static gel levels, environmental systems, etc.) responded to commands issued by the soldier's thoughts.

This was also the first design to successfully utilize the reactive metal liquid crystal as a means of enhancing locomotion. It flawlessly enhanced the speed and power of the wearer, a sharp contrast to previous versions which required powered motors to allow the soldiers mobility. Because of this advancement, the design more closely resembled an actual suit of armor, as opposed to a powered exoskeleton. On one level the soldier moved the suit and in return the suit moved the soldier. This allowed for an incredibly compact design when compared to the previous incarnations.

The success of this version was also dependent upon the parallel development of the Spartan-II program, which produced soldiers with the physical prowess required to drive the system. Previous attempts to wear the prototype suit by unaugmented soldiers resulted in their deaths or severe injury due to the extreme reactivity of the system.

As soon as the Spartans equiped their new suits, they found it to perfectly suit them and their needs on the battlefield. The Spartans could now be assigned into military units and be sent to battle the Covenant. Before they would be officially sent into battle however, the Spartans were forced to undergo a baptism by fire when a Covenant frigate entered the system and engaged the Commonwealth. As soon as they could load up on weapons and ammo, all of the Spartans were ferried via Pelican dropships to the Commonwealth. It was going to need all the help it could get.

As soon as the Spartans boarded the ship they received tactical information regarding the situation of the battle, information on their enemies and their role in the battle which was going from bad to worse for the UNSC. There was only one option left for captain Wallace, commander of the Commonwealth: send the Spartans to board the enemy ship. Without a flinch, the Spartans did what they were told.

After being taken by a Pelican dropship to the very hull of the Covenant starship, the Spartans infiltrated the ship through a hole in the hull made by the Commonwealth's MAC gun. The MAC gun was an advanced weapon used by the UNSC, on par with Covenant Plasma torpedos. They were in short suply however when the war started and few ships had fully functional MAC guns. When they were fully functional however, they were a weapon to be feared by the Covenant. A well placed MAC gun shot could disable a Covenant ship by destroying its engines, or destroy it completely by destroying its fuel cells. Before the hull could be destroyed however, there was always the issue of Covenant shielding. All Covenant ships had shields, and the most resilient of shields could even resist a SHIVA Nuclear Missile. In this situation however, the shields of the Covenant ship were down, and both ships were exchanging body-blows between eachother. The Spartans would turn this situation however.

Only three Spartans, John-117, Kelly-087 and Sam-034 succesfully landed on the ship and entered through it's hole. They reached the ship's reactor, tossed their warheads inside, and escaped. Unfortunately, Sam got hit by plasma from a Jackal that breached his armor making it impossible for him to follow his friends out from the ship since he would die from decompression. He was forced to stay behind . He held off the Covenant while John and Kelly escaped. The warheads went off, and the Covenant ship was destroyed, taking Sam with it.

This battle was a victory for the UNSC, yet the Spartans had paid a price in this victory. One of their finest was killed by the Covenant on his first mission. He was the first of the Spartans to be deemed "Missing in Action" by the UNSC. It was part of a startegy to keep morale up by maintaining the myth that Spartans couldn't be killed. The reality however, was painfully different from what UNSC publicity made it appear to be.

After the battle, the testing facility on the planet's surface was abandoned in fear of a Covenant counter-attack. This attack featured only one ship, yet Covenant fleets often employed great numbers of ships, upwards of 30 capital ships with many more support ships.

The Spartan super-soldiers were divided into platoons, called teams, which were colour-coded. The team of Spartan John-117 was Blue Team. Out of all the Spartan teams, one stood out. Gray Team. Sent into a mysterious mission to a place held secret by the UNSC, being named only "too far away to be recalled", they were one of the last remaining Spartans by the end of the year 2552, when Earth was invaded. Many kept seeing them as possible reinforcements to join the battle to come. Yet many also questioned wheter they actually existed and if they weren't dead.

The task of Gray Team, when they set out from the UNSC HQ on Reach in 2551, was to try to focus Covenant ships and troops into a far away section of Human space, while keeping attention away from Reach and, ultimately, Earth. Hoping for a diversion, Gray Team was sent along with a task-force of 7 UNSC ships to the furthest reaches of UNSC space, even further than Chi Ceti IV. The planet which was their destination, Caleston, was a rocky planet, made up of several continents with wide surfaces of undrinkable liquid between them. This, coupled with the great heat of Caleston caused by the nearby star Fury 821, made the planet lightly inhabited. It wasn't one of the greatest places to set up but it was better than other planets nearby.

The task-force, dubbed task-force Atlas after the flagship of the battlegroup the carrier UNSC Atlas, stood in orbit over the planet as Pelican and Albatross dropships ferried troops and engineers over to the surface of the planet. The whole taskforce was commanded by captain Alexander Quinn, a promising UNSC naval commander who had seen action before in the battles of Paris IV and Jericho VII. This was first mission in command of an entire task-force and he was visibly nervous.

As he stood on the bridge of his flagship, the leader of Gray Team came up to him to talk about what his Spartans would have to do in this mission. Since he was thinking heavily, he barely noticed Spartan Randall-079 coming up behind him, even if Randall was in his Mjolnir Mk V armour specially given to him and his squad-mates for this asignment.

"Sir?" Randall quietly asked from behind captain Quinn.

"What...who...oh, Spartan-079. I wanted to speak to you. Good thing you received my message quickly." Quinn said in a slightly nervous voice. It was the second time he talked with a Spartan, and he knew about their famed skills in battle.

"You can call me Randall sir, I much prefer it when people call me by my name. Regarding a message, you never sent me one sir." Randall after a slight pause in which he tried to remember any message sent to him. Captain Quinn had only thought of a message, but since he was so stressed he didn't actually send one.

"Well, it's good you came anyway. I've been receiving preliminary reports from the planet's surface. It seems it's uninhabited. A barren wasteland...thankfully." Captain Quinn said, gathering his thoughts and trying to calm down. He felt a constant beat in his heart, a constant fear which always gnawed at him from the inside, too faint to really affect someone but too powerfull to dissapear. Quinn was feeling it fully.

"I have gathered my men sir, we are all suited-up and ready to go. What are our orders sir?" Randall asked. He was not impacient yet he did not appreciate staying away from the subject.

"Very well then...Randall. Go to the hangar bays and board Pelican dropship Alpha Kilo 17. It will take you to the surface of the planet, where it is no longer my jurisdiction to give you orders. General Blake will handle everything from there. I wish you luck on the surface Randall." Quinn said in a calm and collected voice. To an outside observer, only slight flickers of his voice would show how stressed he really was. Those that knew him closely however, could clearly see that he had changed since his promotion to captain. From the confident and outgoing commander he used to be, he was now a hollow shell of his former self, always seeming to fear something which was neither close but neither far.

"Yes sir. Good luck to you as well, I hope this all goes well for you." Randall said as he politely saluted his commanding officer. Randall wished the captain luck with a slightly ironic tone. He smiled slightly as the captain's face went pale. Randall always liked making these slight jokes on his colleagues. Little gags to personally amuse himself and ease off the stress of constantly being ready for battle.

As he left the bridge, he left the captain alone, staring blankly at the large viewport which showed the planet above which his ships orbited. His task-force was well-equiped as far as UNSC standards went. The oldest ship he had was his own flagship, the Atlas, which had served in the war since its very start, in 2525. The other 6 ships, the heavy Marathon-class cruiser Acheron, the 2 frigates Ebon Falcon and Surprise and the 3 destroyers Avenger, Achilles and Galahad were all relatively new ships, all equiped with modernized MAC guns, Archer misiles and Shiva Nuclear misiles.

The long trials and tribulations of Gray Team had just begun...
~~~
I hope you liked this first part of "Gray Team". Feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by Agent Griff: May 11 2007, 07:12 PM

[Agent Griff]

I'm glad you liked this first part of "Gray Team". Don't worry Jack, Captain Quinn will be returning. He is a pretty important character for my story. His current personality is somewhat based on my own current state of mind. Let's hope that this state of mind will pass for both of us.

~~~
As task-force Atlas was setting up a mobile command post on the surface of Caleston, somewhere on the fringes of Covenant space, a fleet of Covenant warships was hunting UNSC ships which strayed too close to Covenant space.

This fleet, made up of 21 ships, was one of the many Covenant hunting fleets. Nicknamed Wolf-packs by the UNSC commanders, these fleets stalked the confines of UNSC space, destroying any UNSC ships and glassing any worlds which were lightly protected.

From the bridge of his flagship, the Reverence-class cruiser Sacred Promise, the Covenant Fleet Master Kusovai Nar 'Mortumee surveyed his fleet in all its glory. His many ships ranged from CPV Destroyers to CCS Battlecruisers. As he stood, monitoring the position of his ships on a tactical hologram, an officer came to him.

"Sir?" the Elite asked.

"Yes, what is it?" Kusovai asked, curious yet slightly annoyed that he had been interrupted.

"We have detected a presence nearby, on the planet of Unyielding Penance. It is a small human fleet. Shall I give the orders to pursue them?" the Elite asked. Kusovai stood and thought for a moment.

"Yes of course. Relay an order to all the ships and tell them to proceed to their battle positions and prepare for jump to slipspace." Kusovai said. He, unlike the other Elites, held a deep respect for the humans. Even though they had been badly outnumbered and outgunned in the war with the Covenant, they had fought bravely and had slain countless Covenant warriors. Their so called "Demons", the Spartans, had also killed a great number of Elites in combat. This fact alone garnered great respect from Kusovai.

"Acknowledged sir." the Elite said.

As his subordinate left, Kusovai summoned Field Master Voro 'Umamee to tell him of the human presence on Unyielding Penance, the Covenant name for Caleston. Voro 'Umamee, a seasoned Elite veteran, didn't share Kusovai's respect for the humans, despising them for killing so many of his Elites. He did however admit that they had admirable fighting skills.

"Yes Kusovai, what is it you wish?" Voro asked.

"We have discovered humans on Unyielding Penance. The humans have defiled one of our worlds, I have thus decided to take action against them." Kusovai said.

"Very well then, I will prepare my Elites for battle against the humans. They will not escape the fire of our plasma and the fury of our blades this time." Voro said, reffering to the last time Kusovai's fleet engaged a UNSC taskforce which escaped in slipspace after a short but fierce battle in which they damaged some of the Covenant ships.

"Excellent. I was meaning to ask you something however Voro. Why do you think the humans haven't been offered absolution of the Covenant? From the beginning of this war, the Prophets have made no attempt to absorb them or even offer the option of honorable submission. Why?" Kusovai asked. He always liked discussing with one who was ready to rationally counter his oppinions, instead of being intimidated by Kusovai's rank.

"Perhaps they fear them? We do not know where their homeworld is. Their pattern of retreat is either hopelessly random, or brilliantly conceived. What if the Humans have more power, more numbers than we suspect? What if they lead us to a trap?" Voro said, trying to explain the Prophet's refusal to allow the humans to join the Covenant.

"No. I do not think that is the reasoning. They continue to lose territory, and pattern or no pattern, these defenses must be part of a perimeter. I suspect we are forcing them into a tighter arena than they care to fight in. And their victories, however few, always rely on the same thing-strategy, brute force, or luck. No. The only secret they hold is the location of their homeworld." Kusovai said.

"But what about the Demons? Every time the humans win a battle on the surface of a planet, these Demons spearhead human attacks. The Demons are a mystery. They have outwitted and outfought entire legions before. What if the humans hold more of them in secret, preparing a trap for us?" Voro asked, remembering his encounters with Spartans. Had he actually fought one, he probably wouldn't have been standing here.

"I do not believe that. We have seen their kind before and destroyed them. Their numbers have dwindled and there have been no reported sightings since our victory at Jericho VII." Kusovai said. He had never seen a Spartan before, hence his apparent bravery at the mention of their names.

"As you say Kusovai, you might be right. We have not laid our eyes on a Demon for a long time now, but you never know when one might appear. Until then however, we will be prepared. I will go to my troops now. This has been an enjoyable conversation, Kusovai." Voro said as he left with a Covenant salute. Kusovai silently nodded as his comrade left the room. He would learn to fear the Spartans and their power.

Meanwhile, on Caleston, Randall had succesfully landed on the surface of the planet together with his 2 comrades, Spartan Michael-038 and Spartan Thomas-121. They were the closest thing eachother had to a family and they all considered themselves brothers. Since Spartan training, they had always been grouped in the same team, and they worked well together. Over time, each had found his own role within the team. Randall was the leader, the one who knew all about squad tactics and the one who knew what their orders and objectives were. Michael was the quiet one who didn't talk too much with outsiders, he was also the one who handled weapons the best and knew the most about them, be they human or Covenant. Thomas was the fastest of the 3, his moves were so fast that he could be standing normally one moment, then have 2 handguns drawn in both his hands and pointing at the nearest threat. Thomas also had a quick trigger-finger although he always knew when to shoot and when not to.

As soon as the 3 were all deployed on the surface, they went to General Blake, who was overviewing the construction of a temporary command post from which he could survey the situation and coordinate his marines. General Blake was a man in his early 50s. He was also a very gifted commander who could see everything with a level head, and not panic. He had been through several battles with the Covenant, and knew their general tactics. He welcomed the 3 Spartans as they came to the site of the outpost.

"Ah, my 3 "Demons"! Now I know that all those Covenant uglies will have a name to fear. Spartan Randall I believe? A pleasure to meet you!" General Blake said with obvious enthusiasm. He had been aboard the cruiser UNSC Acheron during the voyage, hence his joy to finally meet the Spartans.

"Hello sir. I see you already know me so I'll introduce you to my "brothers". This is Spartan Michael-038 and this is Spartan Thomas-121. We will earn our name as "Demons" when the Covenant come here sir, rest assured." Randall said confidently, although he did not believe in the success of this mission fully. He said this to see if the General would play along or if he would get down to bussiness.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. Propaganda aside though, the command post is almost up. Your quarters will be ready in a few minutes. Meanwhile, I want you to reconnoiter the surroundings of our camp. We have to know the layout of the area if we are going to defend it from the Covenant. Take a Warthog and explore what lies South of the base. I have already sent several scouting parties to the North and to the East. Be careful out there. Although this place seems empty, you never know when hostiles could pop up, and I want to be on the safe side." General Blake said with an authoritative voice. He had just proven to Randall that he was a serious man who did not want to take any chances with this operation.

"Sir, yes sir. Proceeding now." Randall said with a brisk military salute as he left together with his squad mates.

"So what do you think of him?" Mike asked as they were going to get a Warthog.

"He seems like a good man, serious enough, like is expected of a man in his position. I have yet to see how he handles things under stress however. Captain Quinn back on the Atlas generally told me good things about him." Randall said.

"I don't like him. Who does he think he is to give us a run-of-the-mill scout asignment? We're Spartans, not scouts. We should be blasting the hell out of any hostile foolish enough to show its ugly head near us, not driving around in the middle of nowhere with a Warthog. And who does he think he is calling us "Demons"?" Tom said with a very annoyed voice. He never liked missions which made him do things which were associated with lesser ranks.

"You know that what you're saying could be seen as insubordination don't you?" Mike said, trying to calm Tom down.

"So what will they do to me? Smack me with a rifle stock over the back of the head? Like I'll feel anything." Tom said, slightly calming down.

"Enough of the backtalk Tom. We might be super-soldiers, but we're soldiers nonetheless and a soldier's gotta do what a soldier's gotta do. Now get in that Warthog. I'll drive. Tom, get on that turret. Mike, you ride shotgun. Let's move out." Randall said.

Thus, Gray Team's first assignment began, as humiliating as it was for the Spartans to participate in a scouting mission...
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I hope you liked this second part of "Gray Team". As a bonus question, tell me if you noticed the "HALO: Fallout" refference.