The new day crept forward like the tide of a sea, a slow warming glow that gradually brightened the sky from black to blue. The clouds on the Halo construct seemed notably absent at this area, providing a fruitfully sunny view. A gentle breeze caused the grass to quietly hiss.
As the shadows receded from the dawn, the base was already abuzz with activity. A lone soldier stood in the middle of the training grounds, where three wooden dummies had been hastily erected. Mutilation and dismemberment of these dummies indicated vigorous labor and practice. A shotgun leaned on a large rock to the side.
Viper huffed heavily, panting as he completed the utter destruction of the rightmost dummy; a stump was all that stood where the dummy had been. In his hands was a sword, a practice blade of sharpened plastic and steel, shaped in the two-pronged manner of an energy sword, and even it was dinged, scratched and dented. His panting fogged up his visor, and he stopped to ease his labored metabolism and heart rate. As the vapors cleared, another person strode into his view.
Bertha, her helmet at her side, walked toward Viper and the carnage. The captain took off his own helmet, revealing the coagulated injury. He sat on the stump and sighed as he looked at the damage he had done.
“You okay, captain?” Bertha asked.
“Yea, I’m fine.” Viper huffed.
A sound made both soldiers look to the sky, where a squadron of banshees shrieked by. One peeled off to scout the Forerunner base, before twisting in an abrupt aerial U-turn back into formation.
Viper stood, and stretched, before picking up his shotgun and heading back into the barracks. Bertha followed him through the training grounds.
“Sir…” Bertha started, “about yesterda–“
“Won’t happen again.” Viper retorted. He put on his helmet, covering his fiery eyes. Their boots echoed a hollow resonance as they strode through the hallway.
After a silence, Bertha blurted, “This man, Kai–“
“Don’t worry about him.” Viper said bluntly. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay…” she replied. “It’s just that I–I mean, we, we’re worried about you.”
“Understood.” He said quietly, turning to face her. “Don’t worry about it.”
He walked to his room and entered, leaving Bertha to stand outside as the door hissed closed between them.
The shadows shrunk as the local star reached its relative apex. In the well-shaded garage, four fully armored soldiers met once again. Crackshot laid underneath the chassis of a military-issue chaingun warthog, removing and adding various machine parts to the undercarriage. Eagle, in contrast to the sluggish start the day before, stood quite alert as he, Bertha and Aura conversed.
“So what’s wrong with the capt?” Eagle asked.
“I don’t know.” Bertha replied uncertainly.
“I’ve never seen him so pissed before,” added Crackshot, who slid out from under the warthog. “Even when Eagle’s being a bitch, he’s never gotten this angry.”
“Do you think it has anything to do with this new guy?” Aura questioned tentatively.
“Could be.” Eagle said, shrugging. “The man’s a bit… weird, even for us.”
“What makes you say that?” Crackshot replied.
“I mean, he’s an admiral,” he explained, “but he doesn’t use a precision weapon. Not a battle rifle, not even a pistol, he uses a brute shot, a covie tech, enemy tech. He leads the troops from the front, literally, rather than from afar. And he’s an ONI agent.”
“I guess…” Bertha muttered.
“And besides, how many admirals, or any commanding officer, makes house calls to this side of Halo?” Eagle affirmed.
A murmur of uncertainty agreed with him.
“Are we talking about me?”
The team jumped, startled as Kai appeared in their midst, his active camouflage fading away. They instinctively raised their respective weapons, though lowered them when they saw that it was Kai; only Eagle failed to lower his sniper rifle. Neither Kai’s body language nor his visor betrayed any sign of insult or disdain, though he did turn to face Eagle. Kai casually pushed the rifle barrel away from his face.
“No need to be hasty this early in the morning, eh?” Kai yawned.
“It’s one in the afternoon, sir.” Eagle replied curtly.
“In what time zone?” Kai joked. His chuckles echoed awkwardly in the hangar. “Ah well, has anybody seen the captain?”
The team exchanged looks before concluding with “nopes” and shrugs.
“Well, just give this to him when you get the chance.” Kai said. He carelessly tossed a metal box to Eagle.
“What is it?” Eagle asked, who then struggled to grasp the box as a thud from within shook the container.
“The artifact we retrieved yesterday.” Kai stated. “I’ve did some preliminary research. I have already sent the reports to him.” He retrieved a sharp combat knife from his belt, and started to throw it between his hands. Eagle’s grip tightened around the trigger.
“Until we hear from Viper, how about we do a bit of training practice?” Kai suggested. He wrenched the twirling knife from the air and slung it out of the garage. It embedded itself to the haft in solid rock. “Anyone game?”
“Yes, sir!” The soldiers replied.
“No, no, no.” Kai growled. “It was a suggestion. Last I checked, Viper is still your commanding officer.”
Aura started, “But sir–“
“No ifs, ands or buts. So, anyone wanna take a few potshots?”
Aura, Eagle, Crackshot and Bertha looked at each other uncertainly, until nodding in consensus.
“Great! Meet at the training grounds in five.” Kai walked over to retrieve his discarded combat knife, and sheathed it as he strolled away.
“Told you he was weird…” Eagle muttered.
Despite the lush greenery that may appear in various spots on Halo, trees were surprisingly scarce throughout the ring. Several stood atop the cliff that housed the Forerunner base, and a few more scattered the lower field.
A pair of trees up top shook with disturbance. Two humanoid figures emerged from them. Each wore special scouting scopes as they surveyed the area below.
“Only five of them?” One asked.
“No, six now.” The other reported.
“How foolish of those humans to send such a small army…”