Dead Sands

The UNSC Haven was on a course for a debris field to investigate what happened to a squadron of civilian class transport ships escorted by two UNSC frigates. The group included: 3 Transports, 2 Scientific Exploration Shuttles, a Hospital Ship, and 2 Naval Frigates. Jay was astonished when he heard of this, as were the rest of the crew aboard the Haven.

"How can an 8 ships just go missing," asked Jay to Harvey, the Spartan team's communications and intel officer. "All we know is that they put out a distress signal near a planet called Xeric. ONI is putting us on a search and rescue mission. We are to find out what happened to those ships," Harvey answered. Jay understood this information and stepped out of their makeshift HQ inside the cargo bay of the ship, towards his Spartan comrades.

"Alright, we are going out to search for the 8 ships that went missing. We don't know the situation very much so we are going to have to look around on the planet's surface. Harvey, I'm going to leave you up here with the ship to aid the crew and give us updates in intel," explained Jay as he started to pull up a hologram of the planet they were now orbiting.

"This is Xeric, a planet covered mostly in desert. We discovered it only a year ago and tried to colonize it. Unfortunately the atmosphere couldn't sustain much life being that it is just a big desert. You may find several oases on the surface, but they are strewn far apart. I have had Harvey map out each drop zone for each team." Jay zoomed in on the planet's surface.

"Each team will be dropped here, here, and here. These are all clear of life forms at the moment, so you should have no problems that we know of. Another thing, be sure to have a man in each team with a shotgun, and another as designated sniper. Now, Spartans, grab all of the supplies you can carry and make for the hangar. You will meet up with marines there, and ODSTs on the ground. Now move out"

The Spartans went hustling and sprinting all over the cargo bay, then carrying guns, supplies, and equipment they made for the hangars. The marines assembled at the Pelicans in the hangar stared in awe at the sight of the many Spartans walking through the doors carrying tons of equipment and guns. Several of armored warriors had more than one M19 SSM Rocket Launchers on them at the same time.

Others carried commandeered weapons from past battles such as Beam Rifles, Plasma Repeaters, Spikers, and even a couple Fuel Rods. The Spartans loaded all of their gear into the Pelicans and some small gear into Falcons. Jay rode in a "modified" Falcon with a two grenade launchers, a nose gun, and a rocket pod on each wing, and was built to even be flown in vaccum and/or anti-atmospheric conditions. "RJ, thanks for adding those modifications to our Falcon, should come in handy now. Can you lead us out?"
"Sure can Jay, we are moving out, now," replied RJ, team pilot.

The group of transports and gunships, led by the modified Falcon, moved out of the hangar into the planet's atmosphere. They started getting closer to the ground when their communications with the comm team back on the ship started to go to static then fade out. Jay 023 checked his comm link and found only local signals. "Boys, something is jamming our signal. We might be going in hot. Brace yourselves."

((When does this take place?))

Zach-A103 prepared for the mission. After suiting up in his armor he grabbed his trusty shotgun and SMG. He noticed some dried blood smeared on his shotgun, instantly the memories of his last mission came to him. He was leading a squad of ODSTs through enemy territory. One of them was showing him an ultrasound of his kid, after that all Zach can remember is blood.

This mission will be different, he thought.

Alex and the rest of Bravo squad headed down in a Pelican, communications went down and the entire ship system was disabled. They hurled towards the sand, crashing into it but surviving. As they piled out into the hot sun, Alex loaded up his Sniper Rifle, wondering if the other teams had this bad luck.

((p12, still trying to figure that out. any suggestoins? PM me))

Zach dug himself out of the wreckage from the fallen Pelican. He tried radioing in to base.

"Hello Bravo Actual this is Bravo 2, we just crashed, do you copy?
I repeat,Bravo team has crashed, do you copy?"

"Dammit, EMP must have taken out our comm-tower." Zach told his team.

"I have a feeling that we are going to be out here for a while, do we have any supplies?" He asked.

"RJ, I need you to get out of here, and give us air support when we need it," Jay ordered. The Falcon then took off into the sky. He then turned to surrounding troops who landed in his vicinity. "Alright men, this is now our new fire base Alpha, everyone start salvaging equipment from the Pelicans that crashed. If any spare parts are laying around such as metal platings, windows, seats, etc. Bring them too. Another thing, be sure to fill up all vehicles with the equipment, even if you have to take out a couple passenger areas."

"Sir, should I set up a lookout position," said Chris, Spartan recon specialist. "Yeah, you take a couple of the best shots with you, go up to the top of that sand dune," replied Jay. Chris loaded a new clip into another sniper rifle and walked over to the crowd of ODSTs that were loitering about. At the same time, Jay motioned over to their leader. "What do you want, Spartan," the ODST replied. "The name's Rico, I'm the leader of this unit."

"Alright Rico," Jay said "We have to set up an HQ right now, are any of your troopers good with tech?"
"Yeah, Chip over there. He's the one with the operator's helmet on."
"Good, we have lost contact with the ship and all other off-planet communications."
"I kind of figured that when my radio went dead, your tech support was annoying me with tons of spam when all I wanted was a link to the Captain."
"Oh, by tech support, you mean Harvey. Yeah, he does that sometimes."
"Spartan, I have business to attend to, so can we get back to the matter at hand."
"Yes, I had Chris borrow some of your guys for some Recon."
"What, if anything happens to them, you're the one to blame, Spartan."

All of the troops were scurrying around, digging trenches, attempting to build shelters out of scraps of Pelicans, organizing weapons and equipment and trying to organize personnel. Suddenly, a flash came across the sky. It seemed to be a very intense laser beam, but not of Covenant origin. Nor did it look like it had come from the ship.

All of a sudden, a large burst of flame came from space. "Oh no, THE SHIP!!!" cried some of the marines. After that moment, everyone could see the Haven falling from the sky. "Sir," cried a Marine, "We have communications back up!" Jay 023 patched himself in with Harvey who was still in the ship as it was entering orbit. "Jay, the ship's going down, some kind of magnetic pull or something. I think I can see the other ships on the surfa...................................." the signal went static.

"Okay people, we know what we have to do. The ship has crashed in that direction," said the Spartan as he pointed, "According to Harvey's transmission, the other ships are there too. We need to head out that way. Get all of our vehicles assembled here ASAP. We need to load up and head out."

A streak of fire filled up the sky, the light blinded everything else from view. It hurdled into the ground with the sound of thunder.

"That's our ship..." somone said in disbelief.

"What do we do now?" Zach asked the team leader, Alex.

"Alex, get ready to mobilize," said Jay over the radio. "We need to go assess the damage from that crash. I also have a feeling the other ships are in that direction. So is Harvey."

Jay loaded a crate onto his Warthog and jumped into the passenger seat, the vehicle lurched to the front of the assembly. "All units, meet at checkpoint bravo," he said over the comm to everyone. The convoy moved forward.

Alex sighed. His team was counting on him to get out... but they had no transport. "Well might as well follow orders then..." He told Zach. "Let's get going then Bravo Squad..." He said to his team. He started walking out towards the direction of the crash, clutching his sniper rifle close to him and having it raised. "Zach... we're at a very heavy disadvantage..." He sighed. "Attention all units Bravo Actual reporting in. We are about 10 clicks away from Checkpoint Bravo. ETA 10 minutes." He announced over the radio. "Let's move Spartans!" He cried as he sprinted off into the desert.

Jay's Warthog rolled into a slow stop. "Let's wait for the rest to catch up. Bravo Squad said they got ten minutes. Fan out and watch your backs, who knows what's on this planet," said Jay. Suddenly, Chris came in on the radio. "Uh, Jay? I have spotted a lot of movement out here. My motion tracker is going haywire. So are the ODSTs'."
"Roger that Chris, head to Bravo."
"Holy crap, there is like 30 Elites over there."
"Chris, you need to get back."
"Wait, they seem to be running away from some of those ruins over there. What the hell are they....Oh no whatever it was has found us."
"Chris, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS!?!?!!"
"GET OUT OF THERE!"
"AAAAHHHHH"
"CHRIS!!!"
Jay then directed his attention to RJ who was doing flight patrols. "RJ, go see what the hell is going on." But Jay got no response. "RJ?" Nothing. "Shit, we are up a creek without a paddle. I need everyone to make sure you have a full clip. Bravo and all other squads, double time it back to Checkpoint Bravo ASAP!! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!" A marine by the name of Davis turned to the Spartan. "Sir, what is going on," he asked. Then 023 replied, "I'm not sure. The shit has hit the fan."

Zach and the rest of Bravo team were heading to the rally point.

"Alex, my motion tracker is going off," a soldier stated.

From the corner of his eye Zach saw an Elite crouching behind a boulder. there eyes met, and then hell broke lose.

Zach rushed to the boulder and put a shotgun blast through the alien's face. More Elites came pouring across the hill as plasma blanketed Bravo team. Jumping behind the rock for cover, Zach called for backup.

((Forgot to add this to the thread. To all members: The theme of this story is like zombies or something. Walking dead.))

((I don't get it, are there Elites or not? Are the zombies in the ruins? Are the Elites causing the zombies(nanobots, etc)? Are there more Covenant?))

((Alright, I just thought of this. The elites are heretics, the zombies MIGHT be in the ruins, who knows. And as of the cause of it, no one knows yet. We are building up to it. The story must be unraveled.))

Alex and the rest of Bravo squad fought bravely. They managed to fight their way past the Elites, but Alex still had something nagging him. He turned around and yelled, "INCOMING!" The elites, riddled with bullets, began to walk. "MOVE SPARTANS DOUBLE TIME!" He cried as he started to run. Now he knew something was wrong. "Jay come in do you read!?" He said frantically over the radio as he sprinted towards the rally point. "ETA 2 minutes!" he turned around to check on his squad, most of them were following, but the rest were nowhere to be seen. He sighed. They were Spartans. If they couldn't keep up they had to be left behind. It was a sick mindset, but it was one that progressed the mission. He hadn't had time to check on who was following him, but he prayed Zach was with them. That was one Spartan they couldn't afford to lose...

Jay glanced over at the sight of Bravo Team, something was definitely wrong. Scans of the surface showed that there were no signs of life on the surface they were at. These scans were taken even before they dropped.

Survive

Shoot

These two thoughts consumed Zach's mind during the fight. They were his existance, his purpose, his life. All of his past training, every drill, every fight, came down to these two words. And then they were gone.

The plasma buned him, ripping his gun from his scorched hands. Blackness replaced the burning sun as his vision faded. Only the sound of exploding grendades accompanied him in those last seconds. Then, nothing.

"All units; direct your attention to Bravo Team. Let's move in that direction," Jay ordered. Right as the convoy started to head in that vasinity, a great rumble in the sands below started to take place. Right below Jay's Warthog. Then, the ODST by the name of McKibben yelled from the one adjacent to his own. "The sand is giving way, we are sinking!"

"Everyone get the hell out!!!" Jay screamed over his mic. But it was too late, about 3 of the trucks went sinking into the sand. What seemed like a sort of buried whole opened. After a short fall, the survivors hit a very hard surface, a floor to be precise. "Where the hell are we," said one of the marines who survived the fall. "I don't know, must be some kind of structure below the sands. Didn't they say that they have found odd structures in these deserts," asked Jay. "Hey look, it is man made," said a marine while he was touching one of the walls. "They did try and colonize this region a long time ago," 023 replied.

"What is this," asked the marine, "some kind of ancient rifle?" The marine picked an AR15. "What the hell?"
"That my dear boy would be an AR15 from back when we had wars on Earth, against each other. They stopped using those about 200 years ago. The equivalent to that gun in your hand is the same if you mix a Battle Rifle, DMR, and an Assault Rifle together into one gun. You see those little switches by the trigger guard, those change the burst rate."
"Spartan, how the hell do you know all of this?"
"We are trained on the history of war, and all of the instruments used to deal it. Now that training should come in use being that there are few modern weapons here, and a lot of these ancient ones. Amazing how we still use the same knives now, though, that were used in the 1900s and even before then."

The survivors looked around for weapons, unfortunately half of them were eaten up by the sands. "We have no idea what the hell is around here. We have already met the Covenant, and god knows what else. Everybody grab a gun from these glass cases if you need one. I will as well," said the Spartan. He handed all of his arsenal (except his magnum) to the needy marines and broke a glass case with his fist. If the group knew more about ancient history, they would know that this was definatelly a museum at some point in time.

Jay grabbed an old pump action shotgun and grabbed all the shells in the case. The ODSTs wanted to show themselves better than the Spartans so the went for the rifle display and took several of those. With the group finally being fortified, they decided to venture forth and find a way out. Comm links were tested and could not reach the areas above. They were stranded, underneath a desert.

Nothing

That was Zach. Nothing. No thoughts, no imput, no sensation. Nothing

But then something came. An idea?
Maybe, Zach didn't know.

Am I alive?
or is this the afterlife?


Where am I?

As a spartan, it was common knowledge that failure was not an option. They weren't trained to deal with it. And Alex felt... like he failed, but he didn't know what that truly felt like. Half his squad was dead, and the rest MIA. He was alone in a desert, with a sniper that had 24 rounds, and a pistol that had 30. He didn't try to stop the sand from overwhelming him, it just happened. What was the point? He was as good as dead. No rescue would be coming, and he was trapped in the heat. He fell through the sand, falling into the same structure that Jay had. He sent one final message over his comm before he sat down to die. "Alex reporting in on all broadcast channels. I've failed." He leaned against a wall and took off his helmet. He wouldn't die by suicide, he would wait for starvation and dehydration to take its course. He would rot there. He cocked his pistol, and aimed it up. If anything tried to kill him, it was dead. "Nothing more to wait for..." he sighed. "I just hope Jay doesn't fail..." And he smiled to himself as he remembered the good times... Jay would make it out.

Jay heard the message over the comm channel. "Alex? Alex, you haven't failed. We are Spartans, we don't fail. I believe that you are in the same structure as us. The only signals that work are the local ones. Can you find anything to give a hint of where you are in this building. We are in some kind of museum wing or something. I will try to send out a search party once we get some kind of hint," said Jay. "It seems a little creepy in this place, like musty or something. Keep your pistol at hand. Anything comes, aim for the head."

Alex sighed as he heard Jay talking over the radio. He would try to get everyone out alive, and because of that they would die. He made no response to the messages, he just sat in the darkness, waiting. He was just another Spartan, and he was expendable in the long run. There were others, and those others would win the war. He waited, and part of him hoped the rescue party found him... just a small part of him.

---Search Party---

Rico led the team of ODSTs sent to search for survivors, they had no clue where to go, but knew they would find something. They found a stairways not far from the area they had fallen into. It seemed that they were on a top level of the structure. An ODST said a little remark. "Well, the only way to go is down."
"Nice observation, Bradley," replied Rico in a sarcastic manner. "Alright, everyone switch to night vision.

They all switched to their night vision HUD. It seemed that the stairway lasted forever. Eventually they met a hallway. "Alright, we need to split up," said Rico. "Brad, you take a couple people with you up through this way and I will take the rest down to the lower levels." Bradley stepped up onto the hallway entrance and slipped. He was hurled back. Bradley then fell down to the depths of the stairs.

"What the fuck just happened," said another ODST. "BRADLEY!!!" screamed another. The group shortly mourned the loss of another comrade. "It is blood sir," said a trooper who happened to take a minor sample of the substance all over the walls and floor. "He slipped on blood." Then Rico said, "Well now we know that someone has been here recently."
"Or something," said another trooper as he looked at a dark figure moving slowly up the stairs.

"STATE YOUR NAME!" cried Rico. The figure just made a loud moan as it came up the stairs, no one could make out a clear image even with night vision. Then it got closer and quickly lashed out at the closest trooper. "Bradley?" said the ODST right before being taken down by the body of Bradley. "AAAAHHH!" he screamed as his suit was punctured by a fierce strike; From the hands that were now used like claws.

Zach was alone in his world, his mind.

Then, he wasn't.

He could hear, see, and feel again.

There was water dripping somewhere nearby.

Drip Drip Drip

Zach couldn't see much, there wasn't enough light. But he could feel that he was on a stone table.

The SPARTAN tried to get up, but found that he couldn't move. Not because he was tied down, but because it wasn't him in control.

----Back To Jay----

Jay was alone now, walking down a hallway just adjacent to the original room they had fallen into. His motion tracker showed movement all around, but there was nothing there. Damn thing must be on the fritz, or something cloaked nearby. Elite mother fuckers. He thought to himself. Unfortunately, there was something cloaked, but it wasn't an Elite. "Come out to see me you slimy bastard!" he cried out into the shadows. From behind a pillar with it's hands held in the air was a Spartan. Well, what looked like a Spartan. "What's your callsign Spartan," Jay asked.

"Forty-Two," was all they replied. "Forty Two?" asked Jay. "Which program?"
"That is classified ONI information," the man replied.
"Who are you," asked Jay. "Are you a Spartan?"
"Spartan, what is a Spartan?"
"An elite UNSC Program to build Super Soldiers."
"I didn't know the UNSC even had such a program."
"You are wearing the Mark III Mojlnir Armor."
"This was in the labs of the facility."
"Hmmm, labs?"
"Yeah, you didn't know this?"
"No, what is this place?"
"This is, or was, a testing facility of the UNSC's first experiments in building the strongest soldiers and weapons ever."
"What happened, what is going on?"
"A test subject broke loose, infected everyone."
"When the hell did this start?"
"Many many years ago," said the man, "I froze myself in cryogenics after I found this armor."
"So everyone is dead now?"
"Not exactly, some of us survived the infection by locking ourselves in the cryo lab and freezing ourselves. We have created a little safehouse inside the security wing. All we need to do is reactivate the power. I sent a couple of scientists out to fix it, but they haven't returned. I think the night walkers got to them."
"Night Walkers?"
"The walking dead."
"Are you saying that we have a zombie problem."
"Yes, and some kind of other creatures have seemed to been exiled to the surface of the planet."
"Oh, you mean the Heretics."
"You know, this place used to be on the surface, but as the infection killed off people the security sank the place right as hell broke loose."
"So that was the colony."
"Yes"
The sound of growls started to enter the room. "They're here," said the man. "Follow me, I will take you up to our compound. HURRY!"