Spartan One 002

AN: A quick amendment, each of the MC's current powers are at tier 2. The way leveling works is you get 2 power points per level, and the MC is level 3. That is all. 

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“Running low!” A Spartan shouted out. 

“Damned overgrown cockroaches are chewing through lead faster than my momma can get through a bite of cake!” Johnson added his two cents. 

On the squad HUD, Orion could see a brief overview/status of his squad, and noticed that they were running extremely low on ammo. Scavenging from corpses, and handing out what he had from his inventory had let them run out the clock, but the reality was, there were too many bugs! 

Standing on a ridgeline, the squad of Spartans formed an inverse V-shaped wing, with Orion standing at the front, and about a thousand Colonial Marines standing on the flank. Holding this formation made him feel like he was back in the musket days of the British in the 17th century. However, facts proved that forming a firing line against a charging horde of melee combatants was the intelligent thing to do. 

Directly in front of them, and down a small ridgeline, were tens of thousands of arachnid corpses. Curled up like a spider sprayed by windex, they were drenched in their own green blood. His Warp power had been specially effective against dense clusters of enemies, or those giant beetle-like fire spitting bugs. Their dense armor was weak and pliable once they became splashed by that Mass Effect field. 

By now, Orion had completed the [Slay 500 enemies], and was on part two of the quest, [Slay 1,000]. He had also completed [Slay 10 enemies with a SMG/Assault Rifle/Sniper/Shotgun, etc]. And was now on part two or three where he had to [Slay 25 or 50] enemies with one of those weapons. 

Currently, he was level 4 with 500/1,500exp needed for level 5. 

There were 10 more minutes until his main quest, [Survive the Klendauthu Drop 1HR: Reward 1,000 exp] was completed. He had two floating Power Points available at the moment, they were all almost out of ammo, and the last transport craft was enroute a five miles to their south. 

“Evac location has been confirmed, Lieutenant, we need to move!” The Sergeant shouted from the side. 

Glancing to his left, and right, Orion saw that the men & women who had stopped their retreat to fight alongside him were full of bravery, and fighting spirit, yet many of them, upon running out of ammo had started to slip away. Their thousand man last stand was beginning to shrink rapidly, either due to attrition, or a need to retreat. He didn't blame them for fleeing either, as he was about ready to turn back himself. The only one who stuck around was a war correspondent, the cameraman was practically glued to Orion's side! 

“Damned Sec-Comm, not even a tank or squadron of fighters to escort us.” Johnson spat over the squad comms. 

Orion quirked his lips in amusement, when a second later, a pair of Pelicans came flying down low, and dropped off a pair of Warthogs. The four wheeled vehicles clattered down behind them, then the ships took off. A bright blue artillery ball of plasma shot up into the sky, blowing one of the Pelicans up, whilst the other performed a barrel roll, and then hovered just above them. Unloading its forward facing M370 70mm cannon, it began to shred the oncoming horde, giving the Spartans a moment of breathing room.

“Lieutenant Orion, this is Lieutenant Hood. You destroy the three Plasma Bugs in this sector, and I'll fly your squad out.” The Pelican pilot, Lt. Hood said in a calm voice. 

“Roger. Be advised, the bugs have aerial units of their own, keep your eyes peeled.” Orion replied. 

“Acknowledged.”

A second later, coordinates were transferred over from the Pelican, and a topographical map was updated to his HUD. Blinking red were three dots, the targets of his mission. 

Orion then turned around, only to see that everyone was already mounted up. Johnson was already on one of the turrets, whilst the rest of the squad were reloading with the ammo that came with the Warthogs. 

Gesturing towards one of the troopers to move aside, he mounted the other gun. Clasping the M41 Vulcan in his grip, a boyish grin spread from ear to ear. Glancing at his floating Power Points, he had considered upgrading Warp to increase its radius/dps, or Tech Armor for more defense. However, if he upgraded Shredder Ammo to tier IV, he could choose between Improved Shredder Ammo & Squad Shredder Ammo. 

The two differences being: 1) Your ammo now delivers the ultimate in grievous wounds to fleshy targets. Or 2) The entire squad now gains the effects of Shredder Ammo, making short work of organic opponents. TLDR: A 80% dps increase for himself, or a 60% increase for the squad under his command. 

Of course, any man would love to be the main character, and blast everything himself, but Orion already had Warp for that. Plenty of other powers in the future would transform him into a one man army. In this situation, making those men & women who followed him more lethal made a whole lot of sense. Without further thought, he slotted both free points into Shredder Ammo, and chose the squad upgrade. 

“Drivers, follow these coordinates, our pilot wants to evac, but you saw the lethality of those plasma orbs. Our mission is as follows: eliminate the artillery bugs, then fall back!” 

“Sir!” The drivers acknowledged, then began to pump the gas. 

“Give'em hell, Spartans!” Orion shouted, then depressed the trigger on his chain-gun. 

The M41 Vulcan spat out hot death. Every round buffed by Shredder Ammo punched through the carapaces of the Warrior Bugs with ease, then exploded inside, releasing dozens, perhaps hundreds of tiny flachettes inside. 

“Oh yeah! Get some! You got claws, armor, and numbers. Shame none of that helps against a pissed-off Human with a cannon!” Johnson roared in glee as he mowed down several dozen Warriors in less than a minute. 

The rest of the squad unloaded their lead too. Some of them were slightly confused, as typically ten to fifteen well placed shots were necessary to kill a bug. Now, only three to seven were needed to do the job. 

“Lieutenant, you doing more of that psychic mumbo jumbo?” A Spartan questioned while reloading. 

“That's classified, trooper.” Orion said with a grin as he began to love tap the trigger on his big gun, conserving ammo.

Several squadmates chuckled, but their joy was short lived, as several pits began to form around them, and both Warriors and Tankers-the big beetles that shot ‘lava’ from their mouths-began to emerge from their flanks. 

“Punch it, trooper, put that foot on the pedal, I don't give a damn if we have to wipe green goo off the windshield!” Orion ordered, a sense of ‘hurry the fuck up’ was in his voice.

“Sir!” The driver acknowledged, and then stopped playing it safe. 

The Warthog's engines were whining as it accelerated to max speed. Turning the steering wheel like a pro-racer, the driver whipped the vehicle around a pit-trap, then gunned it towards what looked like a cliffside. 

“Hold on tight!” The driver shouted. 

Orion felt his throat go dry, thinking to himself there were no ordinary men who could become a Spartan. 

Pushing forward, the driver turned sharply using the emergency break, stopping just inches short from going over the edge. 

“Lieutenant, the target is dead ahead.” The Sergeant said from his Warthog, that just pulled up next to theirs. 

Down the cliff-which was actually more of a very steep slope-was a valley, where three large bugs resided. The size of a three story building, they had massive glowing blue butts, sort of resembling a stink bug. Every 10 to 30 seconds or so, the butts would enlarge, like some creature dropping a massive shit. Then, a bright blue-white orb of lethal plasma would shoot up into the sky. 

“We have one nuke left. The other two will have to be taken out the old fashioned way.” Orion said, taking a warhead out of his inventory, and handing it down to one of the passengers. He then tossed some C4 to the men on the other Warthog. 

A second later, the mini-nuke shot out, and took one of the Plasma Bugs out. The shockwave rocked their Warthogs, and even with his eyes closed, and the dampeners from his helmet's lens, he still saw stars in his eyes for a moment. Those bugs that had been chasing them were worse off. The intense light in the dark of night had them stumbling, and collapsing into one another. 

“Whoever kills theirs last owes the other a round of beer!” Johnson declared. As soon as he said that, his Warthog began to gun it down the slope towards the bug on the right. 

Orion didn't even need to say anymore as his own driver began to accelerate too. Holding on for dear life, he swiveled the gun behind him to blast at a handful of bugs that were crawling after them. Blasting one here, and one there, they began to drop dead off the ledge like a group of Bison dropping to their death. 

However, these easy kills weren't to last long as a Warrior jumped off the ledge, and was flying right at them! Although it was slain midair by a bullet, gravity was still carrying it downward, its mass was about to slam into the back of the Warthog. If they became unbalanced now whilst going down this steep cliff, they'd tilt over. 

Breathing heavily, Orion had seconds to react. Psyching himself up, he waited for the corpse to draw near…and then lunged at it with a flying kick! As an enhanced ‘Super Soldier’ he was no lesser than Captain America in strength. That said, this thing was heavy. 

“Lieutenant!” One of the men cried out. 

Just as it appeared that he was going to fall and be left behind, Tech Armor triggered, and exploded outward. Using this force, he kicked backwards, and backflipped right into his spot at the gun. All this took place in about ten seconds from beginning to end. Slamming back into place, he continued to unload into the oncoming horde as that one corpse now flew harmlessly to the side. 

Breathing heavily, and feeling his adrenaline spiking, he turned to get a look at the Plasma Bug. It had repositioned itself, and was shooting right at them! The driver was on point, and the tires screeched as he took them beneath a ridgeline. Seconds later, a huge explosion shook the ground where they were going to be, and a wave of blue-white plasma scorched the night sky. 

Nearly falling out of his spot, he jolted all over the place. If he was ever questioned by the nerds at R&D for inspiration, he'd tell those lucky pizza eaters that he wanted some goddamn MAGNETIZED BOOTS. 

Almost falling out of the Warthog several more times, and dodging blast after blast, the driver took them closer and closer. As they drew near, cover became less & less. However, this also meant Orion had a clear shot for Warp. The Plasma Bug caught this fist-sized ball of white on its big-ass butt. As it was going through the motion for another plasma release, it suddenly contracted irregularly due to the pain, and screeched so loudly, the air vibrated. Then, a second later, something wrong must've taken place in the chamber, as it self-destructed. A mass of purple gore exploded outward, and warm hot chunks of bug flesh rained down upon the sky. 

Seconds later, Johnson's bug also met its demise. 

Flying low over head, the Pelican was in a dogfight with three other insects. Looking like giant dragonflies, their wings were tough enough to slice through metal, and they shot out spines that were lethal like bullets. Trailing smoke, and not looking so hot, Hood maneuvered the bulky Pelican like a champion. Doing a flip-turn, he blasted one bug down with his cannons, whilst the other one was taken out by a missile. The last one…Orion unloaded upon with his M41 Vulcan, shredding it full of holes. 

As the last dragonfly collapsed, the Pelican came down for a rough landing. 

“The fuel line is heavily damaged. Get on, or stay down there forever.” Hood said over the comms, lowering the ramp. 

“Spartans! With me.” Orion abandoned the Warthog, and ran up the ramp. 

Eleven Super Soldiers + one cameraman quickly followed him in short order. 

Looking over the ruined rocky terrain, the dawn's sun began to creep over the horizon, and Orion took in the carnage. 

Squeezing his fists, he took a deep breath. 

This was only the beginning. 

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AN: Again, there's no schedule for this, and release is entirely on vibes. I intend for the MC to eventually be able to learn some stuff via exp + his own training, and probably prestige into other classes learning their unique abilities down the line. The timeline is several decades before Halo 1, but the Arachnids & the Skinnies will be good enemies for now. I'll be doing some minor crossovers to include some diversity in the upcoming conflicts. Weyland-Yutani for example, should be familiar to most sci-fi loving nerds, I imagine. This will NOT be a Star Wars or WH40k crossover, but I am considering including the races from Star Trek. Humans & Klingons going on to become bros kicking Covenant ass seems like a cool idea to me. I also think the Borg vs Flood could be a really interesting concept. Idk. For now, expect Humans kicking xenos ass, and surviving by the skin of their teeth. Spartans never die, they just go missing in action.