Steele's POV

The view of the green planet from the inner atmosphere changed abruptly as it was obscured by an inbound Banshee, it's main cannon charging with a dull green glow. Without a millisecond to spare, I ran faster than I knew I could to the cockpit. "Banshee! Hold on!" I yelled to Silas in the back and grabbed the controls in the empty right seat, shutting off the engines. The pelican dropped and at the same time the Banshee fired, the green blob of plasma scraping the top of the pelican with a sizzling screech but not burning through. That small push was enough to knock the pelican off-level as it left the atmosphere though and it quickly tumbled into a fast barrel roll. Our airspeed increased significantly and I found myself flung into the back ramp door, my shields flickering wildly and pain shooting through my back. I tumbled to the ceiling as we rolled and before I could grab on I was flung into the seats on the side. This time I was able to grab onto a strap hanging there and stop bouncing around like a pinball.

Silas was still strapped in, covering his head and body with his arms from the pieces of loose equipment flying around. The Pilot struggled to regain control of the aircraft, using the thrusters to slow the pelican's spin while shouting warnings and a may-day over the coms. I engaged my grav-boots and crouched on the wall, waiting for the roll to stop. A spare gun glanced off my shields. We were still spinning and the Pilot engaged opposite flaps and turned the Pelican as hard as he could, finally stopping our flat spin just a few thousand feet above tree level. The pilot steadied it and shot off towards our coordinates.

I dropped to the floor with a thud, bending my knees and doing a quick checkup of myself and my systems. Nothing broken, just a few bruises, shields drained a quarter, but recharging now. Only a few guns had shaken loose but everything seemed to be fine. I looked towards Silas who was nursing a bruised arm, most likely hit by one of the guns, but it would be usable.

I heard multiple distress calls and orders coming through the coms now, presumably from other Pilots in combat. The Pilot yelled back, "Landing hot! Be ready to hop out!" I winked my acknowledgment light and turned to my rack to grab my weapons. Silas was doing the same. I hooked both of my primary weapons on my back. Silas walked to the hatch, his pistol ready. "I didn't expect them to attack so soon, but apparently they were tipped off about about our reinforcements and tried to get the jump on us. Luckily, I was just informed that the reinforcements arrived just after we left the station. How we didn't hear about either sooner is a mystery. " he said, lowering the hatch as the pelican came to about a few meters off the ground outside the entrance to Fort Cause.

"Well find out everything soon enough." I said through my com as the sound of gunfire overwhelmed any other communication the moment the hatch opened. I jumped out, rolling as I hit the ground. Silas followed suit and we ran inside the base as the Pelican made a quick get-away back into the atmosphere. A few plasma bolts got close as we entered but they seemed to be strays and not aiming specifically at us. A soldier at the door hit the button for it to close as we entered the side-door, it closing just as my foot left the threshold with a bang! I nodded respectfully to him and he just kind of stopped there, a stunned look on his face. I looked away, I guess this is more treatment thanks to the public opinion of Spartans being these figures of awe and mystery. However we were simply soldiers doing our job an deserved no more recognition than other soldiers. There were a lot of enlisted and officer jobs that I would have hated to do if I wasn't a Spartan.

Silas quickly walked down a hallway, likely needing to converse with the other Commanders, and I was left standing there without a word. Considering the fighting outside, I should probably see what I could do to help.

I walked quickly towards the Sargent Major's main room, contacting Selina, Scott, and Kade. "Team, report." I said. I heard Selina through the com. "Things aren't going well. The Covenant managed to launch a surprise attack on us and take out a few AA guns and a defense outpost before reinforcements helped. However, there aren't enough reinforcements who have been able to make it through the atmosphere to Atrius because of the Banshees. Apparently despite that, we are supposed to be receiving a squad of their best in a few minutes. I'm here with the Sargent Major and so is the rest of the team." She said. "Hey Steele, glad to have you back." I heard Scott reply. Kade joined in "Thought you were never coming back." I smiled in my helmet briefly. "I'll be there in a minute." I said and they winked their acknowledgement lights. I reached a door and it opened automatically.

My team was lounging on the guest seats when they heard the door open and looked up, quickly standing to salute. Kade fell off the chair as he scrambled to get to attention and I had to stifle a laugh. "At ease. Glad to see you guys, you've grown a lot." I said. They were all wearing standard Mark VII armor with different modifications and strips of a darker white to symbolize White team. They had also had augmentations done, but since they were older than me it didn't require the zero-G recovery and had less effect as well as very much less pain involved. "We could say the same to you." Selina replied, eyes wide at my appearance as she tilted her head back to look up at my helmet. I reached up and took off my helmet, tucking it under my arm. "Glad to see you haven't changed too much to be unrecognizable. Oh, the Sergeant Major will be here right about... Now." Scott said and I turned to the sound of the automatic doors opening and closing. The Sergeant Major walked in, dismissing our salutes, and gestured for us to come over to the holographic table.

We walked over and he began, "We are in the middle of what is essentially a full-scale Covenant invasion. We have received reports of attacks all over Atrius within the last hour at almost all of our outposts and several civilian centers. In a perfect world it would be nice to have our best team of Spartans reach all of them, but for now our efforts are going to be focused on the area around Fort Cause. I apologize that you have all just reunited, but this is an emergency of unprecedented scale. The other Spartan squads are at other outposts so you will be defending it on your own, along with the marines of course. I am giving complete tactical command to you Petty Officer Steele. Should anything happen to our defenses that risks the loss of your lives, you are to fall back immediately. Without you, our chances of success decrease drastically. This command also applies to disabling injuries and to critical losses to our ranks. There is a battalion of men waiting at the defense posts and in the vehicle bay for your command. Good luck Spartans. Dismissed." He saluted and we returned it. I ran with my team close behind to the vehicle bay, the sound of explosions and gunfire more audible by the second.

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Kade's POV

I waited for Selina to file out and started after them. "Wait a moment Petty Officer Kade. I need to talk to you." The Sargent Major said. I stopped and turned around. "Yes, Sir?" He ran his hand through his hair and said, "You may be aware of this, but Petty Officer Steele is a high value target for the Covenant and a priority 1 asset for the UNSC. The Master Chief cannot be relied on as he once was and Steele is the replacement for him. In other words, we can't afford to lose him. He is still young and will become more valuable as he gains combat experience. Protect him with your life and do not speak of this to anyone. This is classified information of the highest level. Don't let me down Spartan."

"I won't." I said, saluting and quickly hurrying after the team towards the bay.

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Kyle's POV

1 year later

Flickers of dreams, me as a kid playing in a sand box, watching my best friend move out of the orphanage with his new parents, signing up to become a Spartan. Sometimes I dreamt of impossible things, other times of memories. Then it ended. I came slowly out of my haze, sounds of air releasing and clicks, muffled, slowly getting clearer. I opened my eyes, feeling my body wake up from the trip. The hatch popped open and I stumbled out of my cryo-tube, ripping off my helmet, desperate for non filtered air. I took a few deep breaths and stepped away from the pod. I carefully put my helmet back on. I looked behind me and saw that thankfully the others were just getting out. I made a mental note to not let that happen again. I don't know why, maybe because I haven't been in cryo that long or had a suit that gave the air inside a metallic taste? I guess I just needed to get used to it. I looked around and waited for the others to get out. I noticed a few Spartans heading out the door so I followed, others trailing behind me into the hallway, the ones ahead turning a left into a large room with a holographic table attached to the floor in the middle. We filed in, spreading out and waiting for the others to arrive. I stepped around the left side of the table and hung back a little. I guess this is where we are going to be briefed then. The rest of the Spartans filed in and I shuffled my boots a bit, who is briefing us?

We waited about a minute in silence before the door opened again and there was the sound of armor clinking and shuffling as we all turned to see who it was. It was a Commander and an assistant. Someone who seemed to be the lead Spartan of our group stepped up. He had the standard bulky Spartan armor that looked roughly like two plates of connected metal covering the chest, and connected to his thrusters and another long strip of curved armor just in front of the bottom of the rib cage underneath, and assorted smaller pieces and cuts for other purposes. He also had the standard motorcyclist looking helmet with a short visor. He straightened and saluted, saying, "All Spartans accounted for Sir." He replied, "At ease Spartan Henderson, thank you for the update." He turned to the rest of us and said, "As you all already know, this planet is under imminent attack. We received their distress call and are assisting, but were asked to do so in secret. What you were not told though, is your individual assignments for this mission. We need 5 teams. Henderson will lead team 1 in the protection, or if need be, escorting of the main target back to this ship. We received the identification of the target and the info will be sent to the selected team members' HUDs." There was a pause before a few Spartans tilted their heads slightly to view the information.

Beep. My HUD blinked with a red dot and I was surprised to see that I had received the information as well. I read the information on my screen and made a small gasp. It was him! The boy from the file leaked during my cryo-sleep and search! I quickly read the information. It was different than what I had researched before. First, the height was now 6ft 4. Dang! His eye color had also been affected, somehow it was light blue rimmed, with some of the original green surrounding the pupils. The information said that he was off-planet for a bit and right about now was scheduled to arrive in a base called Fort Cause to join up with a team of other Spartans. They were only a priority two but almost as important. We would rendezvous with an Officer named Silas and defend the base along with the subject. Should it be overrun, our primary objective would be to escort the subject off the planet.

I moved the notification to the side of my hud and re-focused my attention on the conversation. He was saying, "...and team 4 will go to the other side of the planet to the coordinates being sent to your HUDs now." He pause to let the selected Spartans view the information. "Lastly, team five will go to the main command center and assist as needed, which may include data recovery. You have your missions. The Pelicans leave in 30. Move out Spartans." He said, closing the hologram. "Sir, yes Sir." We said in unison, and filed out.

I was last in leaving and stepped out, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned to look at the Commander. I was surprised to see him smile at me with sad eyes. "Good luck Spartan." he said. I nodded. "Spartans make their own luck." He sighed a bit and said, "Yes they do." and let go. I watched him walk off for a moment before hurrying after the others. What was that about? I caught up and hurried to my assigned pelican. "Come on Spartan. We have a schedule to keep." Henderson said, waving me in. I rushed inside and sat down, strapping in and putting up my assault rifle in the side of the seat. "All clear!" Henderson called to the Pilot and the Pelican started rising. The hatch shut and Henderson sat down as well, strapping in. I felt the Pelican move forward and quickly looked around to see who was on my team. Next to me on my left and right were two guys, one had his head in his hands with a plasma launcher that fired four guided bolts quickly that had massive destruction and could go long distances. He also had an energy sword and was mumbling something about strategy, a name print on his chest saying Grey, and the other had a personally modified helmet of the standard Spartans', who's armor said Strang. He was leaning his head back and had his hand resting on a form of the battle rifle, possibly sleeping, but his head snapped up when I stared too long. His secondary was an AMG. I looked away quickly and saw that we had a girl on the other side, she was cleaning a shotgun and I could see multiple knife-holders. There was a grenade launcher on her back. Her name was Roberts. Henderson was talking in a low voice next to the girl with another guy who had a sniper rifle across his lap, a Covenant needle sniper across his back, and was absentmindedly fiddling with some high-tech gadget that looked kind of like binoculars. His name was Smith.

I held onto the seat as we hit the atmosphere and the pelican shook. The pilot called back, "I have to set you down a ways away from the coordinates, things have been heating up since we arrived and they don't want me landing you too hot." Henderson replied, "Acknowledged."

More turbulence hit and even Henderson had to hold on. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to relax, I looked around and it seemed like everyone was nervous today. Most of them were sitting rigid in their seats. The descent slowed and our angle leveled out, the Pelican flying more smoothly. "ETA two minutes." The Pilot yelled back. Finally, my first mission! I thought. Let's just hope it's not my last.