CHAPTER 4

MISSION UPDATE

SIII COLIN "IRISH" G027

DATE: UNKNOWN EST. 1 DAY AFTER HAESTROM MISSION

MISSION STATUS: COMPLETED

LOCATION: NORMANDY SR2 PORT LOUNGE, ENROUTE TO CITADEL

DREAM

JUNE 14, 2544

JUST OUTSIDE CAMP CURRAHEE

HEADHUNTER TEAM HUNTER-KILLER

"This is going to be good, eh Irish?" Jamie B167 said excitement evident in her voice as we crept up on our training target. Part of our selection for the Headhunter Program was to ambush and eliminate SCPO Mendez. While the other members of Beta company had this week off to recover after a grueling 72 hour training exercise, us Headhunter pairing hopefuls had to all ambush and "kill" SCPO Mendez over the course of the week. Which meant we not only had to coordinate with our partners but the four other pairs of Spartans currently deep in the jungles of Onyx.

Jamie B167 was my partner as we had been paired for compatibility by Deep Winter when we were first selected to partake in the Headhunter Program. So far three other pairs had been eliminated leaving just five pairs for this exercise, the second to last exercise.

I simply sent back a green light over our com link. Mendez undoubtedly had Deep Winter or some DI listening in to our comms, seeing as our last three assassination attempts had been thoroughly stopped.

Right now we were sitting in a large tree right on the edge of the jungle our SPI armor camouflaging us to any type of sensor system in use at the camp. I had my standard loadout of SR, SMG, and Pistol, Jamie has a BR55 and a Pistol, she prefered to carry a lighter loadout so she could move quicker. Sometimes I had to wonder why Winter paired us together, Janey was quick to move and was impatient when it came to not having action, whereas I was slow and methodical and could wait days to take a single shot, which is what we had been doing since our last failure. We have 3 hours left to kill SCPO Mendez and we were the last pair to need to take him out. We were going to be assisted by Team Fury, whom we assisted with a distraction yesterday, and they were able to sneak up and eliminate SCPO Mendez.

I pulled out our datapad that we had isolated from the local networks so we could communicate without Deep Winter or any of the DIs being able to intercept it and typed.

2 minutes to distraction, I'll take the shot on Mendez then you can spray any DIs there are around him, sound good?

I handed her the pad and she nodded and put the pad in her pack. Right on que SCPO Mendez walked out from his quarters surrounded by DIs as they went for their daily jog. All of them had pistols on their hips and a few had SMGS as well. I put my sights on Mendez and waited. Just as they cleared a series of barracks, fire erupted from their sides, several of the SMG carrying DIs dropping from the stun rounds, I waited a second while Mendez fired back at the now hidden Team Fury, then pulled the trigger twice at his chest. CRACK CRACK rounds traveled and found their mark one hitting his chest the other hitting his stomach. I made sure my scope's recorder was working and then uploaded and submitted the footage to Deep Winter.

"Well done Headhunter teams Fireteam Hunter-Killer that was the last team needed to submit their footage, you are cleared to return to base for 3 days R&R then you are to report to LT. Ambrose for reassignment." Came Deep Winter's voice over our comms systems.

"You hear that Colin? We get to relax a bit, want to hang out like we did last time we had R&R?" Jamie said eyes looking at me hopefully as her visor depolarized. Jamie was of Asian descent, she had jet black hair and her eyes were brown with a hint of yellow

"Yeah that sounds good." I responded smiling as my visor depolarized. I didn't miss the fact that she used my real name versus my nickname. It was gossiped in the barracks that the two of us had a different bond over being just friends, and well to be honest they were right. Me and Jamie were closer than friends, with us being two of the older Spartans in the company we had already had discovered feelings, like love and lust before the Spartan Program, but we also knew that we couldn't openly show our feelings for each other around the base, so whenever we had R&R we took a short walk to a pond inside a clearing in the jungle, it had a stream flowing in and out of it keeping the water fresh, and we just enjoyed each other's company.

Suddenly everything starts going back and Jamie's voice gets far away. The blackness fades and I'm kneeling in a cluster of trees, Jamie's corpse is my arms. I feel something roll down my cheek as I look at her corpse. Half of her armor was melted away, revealing blackened skin and carbonized bone in places, blood was pooled around her and beyond that the corpses of 15 Elites and 20 Jackals. She went down fighting, at least I could find solace in that. We knew the risks of being in a relationship and being Spartans, but never did we think we'd live without one another. I looked down at my own armor, it was holed and melted to me in places and I was bleeding from where I got stabbed by a plasma dagger but I'd live, physically at least, but my hands were covered in blood, her blood. Part of me felt like I was dying as well as I primed a thermite grenade and set it on her armor. ONI was clear no equipment was allowed to fall into enemy hands, and I still had a mission to accomplish on this damn planet. I got up and stepped back as the thermite triggered and burned bright, taking Jamie's body with it. I grabbed my sniper rifle and reactivated my SPI panels, I would finish this mission for her.

As I started moving towards the Covie base my vision started blurring and suddenly I was lying in the couch in the starboard lounge. I felt something wet on my cheek, I wiped my face and realized it was tears. I haven't had that dream in years, what brought that out?

"Bad dream?" Kasumi's voice came from her bed.

Yes Im gonna end this chapter here, I feel like this is a good way to end this chapter and it will set me up for next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed and will continue along this journey with me. Until next time-C