Hello and welcome to the second volume of the Fireteam Eon series. It's been quite an interesting time developing this one as I had a bit of difficulty coming up with a good basis of what I wanted to do. Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect by feedback. I'll just have to wait and see.

I don't own Halo.

Halo Installation 02

November 9, 2557

Up in the cloudless blue of the artificial Halo ring, three bulbous purple aircraft graced the skies, passing over rocky outcroppings before spanning out over a pristine blue lake of sparkling water. The trio of T-26 banshees adjusted their approach vector heading to the left.

The T-26 GSA banshee was among the most feared aircraft in the Human-Covenant War. Letting out a high pitched scream gave it the namesake of the wailing Irish woman spirit. A mythical banshee must consume souls to survive; the Covenant embraced this feared name, adding approved modifications to enhance its fear factor on their human enemies.

Armed with twin repeating plasma guns and a fuel road heavy gun, this aircraft was a light armored vehicle built for heavy combat. When needed, booster drives would accelerate the craft to escape incoming danger.

Once the war had ended, large numbers of banshee fighters ended up in the possession of the multiple splinter units. Large numbers were waged in the sangheili civil conflict, which was still ongoing. There were three or four Covenant rogue factions that were particularly dangerous to humanity. The Storm Covenant being the largest and most dangerous of them all.

"That's the fourth group in twenty minutes."

The Spartan took the optics away from his eyes and broke gaze from the fliers. He was outfitted in a glossy distorted set of armor, thanks to the active camo generator concealing his position. When deactivated, there was an emblem of a spotted predatory cat's snarling face with teeth bared in front of a shield shaped backdrop.

Joshua Wiles was the leader of Fireteam Jaguar, one of four teams in the secretive SPARTAN 37th Special Shock Division. Consisting of Spartan-IVs, this group was handpicked by the clichéd best of the best. It was true; a mission couldn't be completed if they had failed. They weren't always used for high-risk, no return ops, but rather under the radar and counter terror operations that could steer clear from the eyes of civilian media. Many of the ever-increasing insurgencies had a 37th team involved, despite being so small.

"Tyrant, are you tracking the enemy air?"

"Affirmative Jaguar. Traffic is unaware of your presence, you're clear to proceed."

"Copy all." Wiles was underneath a large rocky outcropping and stood from his prone position.

Three other figures began to appear in a cross formation. They knelt down on a knee and did a regular inspection. It never hurt to inspect that their gear was in top working order.

"Everyone good?"

The other three members shot back a green light. This was a silent indicator that they were all ready to rock.

"Alright. On me."

Their mission was simple. After the UNSC discovered Halo Installation 02 around the gas giant Reflection, they spotted a previously unnoticed Covenant fleet based around the artificial station. The fleet was one that had been previously loyal to the Prophet of Truth and it was still under belief that it was a fleet that continued to oppose humanity.

Jaguar was there to find out why and what they were up to. One of four teams in the elite thirty-seventh special shock division, they were called in for unconventional, counter-intelligence and black recon operations that were deemed high risk for normal units to operate under. All Spartans were handpicked, going through intensive testing that most other special forces would never dream of.

Patrols were light, surprisingly around the fleet's camp. Recon showed a multitude of bases inside the Forerunner structures where the majority of the force was camped out. No elites were sighted, only brutes being the main backbone of the force here. The fact was alarming, since the overgrown gorillas were barbaric and much more dangerous than their sangheili rivals.

Jaguar had no idea if the Covenant were planning to set off the Halo, which was impossible due to the need of a human being. They were the only species able to activate Halo. However, the fleet could easily jump over to a colony, overpower UNSC or independent colony defenders and abduct more than one human to do the same task.

"This doesn't make sense." Jaguar Two said as they egressed through the forest. "The Covenant here have no motivation at all. At least for activating the Halo."

"I don't like it any more than you." Jaguar Four agreed, "Something's up that the UNSC's not telling us."

"Stay focused. We got a job to do."

"Jaguar this is Tyrant. New orders. You have a column of armored vehicles about a kilo ahead. Possible HVI involved. Investigate and engage if necessary."

"Jaguar copies." Lead switched off the comms, "Okay Spartans. We got an armor convoy ahead. We're going to snoop around and sabotage if we see fit."

"Finally some action." Jaguar Four said, patting the detonation charges on his left leg.

Jaguar Two was on point for five minutes when she halted and held up a fist. They were approaching the convoy and already heard the low rumble of wraith tanks. The sound was unmistakable.

"Hold on. Does something feel off to you?"

"I don't know. Let's keep moving up."

The team finally came up to a slope well hidden in the trees that spanned to a Forerunner floor below. The pathway led over to the outskirts of the Covenant camp where they saw several of the purple structures towering over the trees that bordered another area of the vast installation.

Jaguar Lead slit his throat and laid low to overlook the chain of vehicles. The convoy had four wraith tanks and double that of ghost scout vehicles. The presence of banshees flying overhead was nonexistent, but not unusual, as they must have assumed that they were the only ones occupying the ring.

Once again, activating Halo wasn't this Covenant group's intent. The control center was halfway around the ring and the library containing the Index was elsewhere. Sure they had the teleportation system installed around the ring, but Jaguar was unsure if they acquired the ability to tap into that yet.

The UNSC established small outposts that were mainly off the grid, so a large invasion force wouldn't give them a second glance. This allowed them to monitor the activity of the brute force for a while now. It was merely a massive camp with a handful of warships overhead. It was mostly light cruisers and frigates, so an alarm would be raised if something much more dangerous like a heavy destroyer or a CCS cruiser showed up in the fleet.

Around the convoy of vehicles were groups of unggoy, a few bird-like kig-yar and only a couple of jiralhanae. One noticeable thing about this Covenant was that their weaponry seemed newer, but the armor looked worn and outdated. Some of them wore older models, ones that were seen before the Fall of Reach. The brutes' harnesses were a mixture of their sleek power armor combined with the aesthetics of almost a tribal look.

"If we're going to engage we need to do it now." Jaguar's marksman said. The sniper rifle was propped up and scoped in right on the highest ranking Covenant member there. Slowly the rifle pivoted as the target moved. The center never left the brute's head.

"Jaguar this is Tyrant. We've detected a massive energy source zeroing on your position. Get the hell out of there now!"

"Shit." Jaguar Lead moved back and stood. "We have to go now!"

The other three Spartans already had questions of what was going on, but there was no time. The urgency in Tyrant's voice meant something bad was about to happen.

It happened so fast. An explosion tore right above them, followed by a thud that created immense shock waves. Jaguar lost their footing and fell over. Their Spartan reflexes propped them right back on their feet.

They had no time to turn around to see what had discovered them. All they heard was a mechanical sound of something activating.

Jaguar Lead felt something in his sides and realized that his shields were completely depleted. Pain began to flare into his side as he found himself lying down.

"Jaguar come in!" Tyrant said. Lead had not known that Tyrant had been attempting to raise them ever since they were attacked.

With barely enough strength, he looked over. A massive pool of blood and giant spikes were in his right side. Easily one and a half times the size of the normal brute spiker pistols, all pain that the hot metal was searing into his body made it numb. He looked over and saw three more limp forms. His team had similar fates, the only difference being was that they had already passed.

"Josh talk to me!"

"Ambush." Jaguar Lead's body went limp. The last thing that went through his mind was the fact that he had let his team, his unit and most of all, he let himself down.

I also have a multitude of other projects going on right now, but I'll continue to write whenever I can.

Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.