Soldiers // a halo story

Chapter Eight | Complete the Mission

"You don't create your mission in life, you find it."

* * *

Evan helped Minnie step onto the ship, the others followed soon after her. Their pilot told them to sit down before they took off, which Evan obeyed. It didn't take the Spartans too long to get situated in their spots, their straps holding in place in case their ship got hit by an attack, they would avoid most of the blow, if they were lucky. That was the least of their concerns, getting attacked while heading to the planet seemed severely unlikely.

Their destination was now on route, and they sat in silence, taking in their surroundings. This would be their first mission--Fireteam Primary's first mission. They had chosen codenames for any missions they had to participate in, this is a good time as any to get used to them.

"Joker," started Fox, loosening his straps slightly. He couldn't feel it physically against his body, but he still wanted it to be looser. "When we get on the planet, I want us to split up in two groups when we find the marines." He explained. "You and Mouse will guard their backside, and me and Artic will guard their front. That way, if the Covenant is sending hoards after them, we will be able to effectively take them out without leaving any blind sides."

Joker nodded, before clearing his throat slightly. "I don't want to be pessimistic, but what if we can't find the marines? We are going to assist them, and I hope we get there in time, but what if we don't?"

Fox thought about it. He definitely pondered the question earlier, but he didn't want to put that strain on himself. He could feel Joker's frown, even with his helmet shielding his face. "I suppose that plan is obvious, then. Eliminate the Covenant forces and then alert Command of what happened. From there, we can start finding bodies and uncovering dog tags." That's all Joker needed to hear, he nodded in acknowledgement.

The ship got silent after that, besides for Mouse's light foot tapping, but that wasn't distracting. She did it to stay focused on the situation, Fox didn't mind it because she's done it for years since they were in the program. He only hoped that it wouldn't get in they way once they were on the actual planet.

"Well..." Artic started, putting her hand on Fox's thigh. He raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't see it. "I guess we should start planning the mission, hm?"

* * *

The blonde haired soldier gritted her teeth as she walked with her squad, the ground uneven and rough, making her already sore feet ache more. They had been stationed her for originally planned a week before more reinforcements would come, but the delays have been getting worse and their rations are getting low. Every day, three out of the sixteen soldiers had to skip out on a meal so the others could eat. She offered to do it most of the time, but as a compromise, they have an order on who will skip a meal that day, and it switches up daily so no one will starve, but now she isn't quite so sure anymore.

Their group originally had sixty people, but then a wave of Covenant came. Their numbers dwindled faster than she could've anticipated, some died from the fighting, others died later from infections and blood loss. It was hard to have a group of sixty break down to sixteen in the matter of weeks. Command hasn't been any help either, is it far too early to give up hope now?

She gritted her teeth harder, her hands gripping her DMR. Truthfully, she lost her hope the moment their commander died out here, but she still held onto something. Her soldiers needed her and she needed them if they were going to survive until reinforcements and hopefully an escape came. War is exhausting, she thought, breathing hard. The soldier next to her glanced in concern, but stayed quiet. Good choice, let's not make a scene here. She thought to herself, pushing herself to keep up with the group.