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HEADHUNTERS

JONATHAN GOFF

ONE

BLOOD, BULLETS, AND ADRENALINE

―Hey!"

The word just hung there for an instant as Jonah gave his ot one," the excitement in his hushed voice unh of false alarms

―Pretty sure," Jonah shot back

There was a split second when the world ca

―Nope--yeah, I‘ht, and Roland desperately hoped he was, then it would be the first contact with enemy forces since their insertion into the field some six days prior In that ti at a snail‘s pace as they crept ever closer to their target

―This is fun," Jonah concluded, the excite

―It‘s about to be, anyway" Roland had neveraround, the long days and hours spent h, and between enemy lines--but what came after, the blood, bullets, and adrenaline, that he enjoyed quite a bit, h probably not Jonah had the added benefit of loving every minute in the field Not just the combat, but the whole ordeal, froe report back at home base--whether he was facedown in thehis custo the bloodshed wrought by the un, Jonah loved it all--every single second of life as one of the elite, as one of the UNSC‘s top-tier Covenant killers

TO HUMANITYat large, Jonah, Roland, and their fellow Spartan-IIIs were ghosts , their hly classified--top secret Their very existence was known only by a select few, and while their brothers and sisters in the Spartan-II prograht and died against the Covenant, the IIIs fought, and nition and admiration of their fellow secret warriors as their reward--for the Spartan-IIIs, however, as with the IIs, this was h created under comparable, yet varied circumstances, the two forces shared one very similar mind-set: Duty first

Loyalty second In the Spartan ister There was no need for the galaxy-wide adulation of thein their many brutal victories over the Covenant Nor did they want the sympathies and pity of anyone outside their close-knit circle when they were confronted by defeat--by death This secrecy helped bond each Spartan-III unit like those of no other unit, and in truth it was so they appreciated--cherished, even After all, with attention coainst a collection of advanced alien races hell-bent on slaughtering the whole of huhts or clouded minds

As tools of war, the Spartan-IIIs were et weapons--just point, shoot, and wait for the fireworks ONI, or on occasion a highly placed UNSC official, passed along a key Covenant target; the IIIs were then sent in, headfirst, to elie as physically possible in the effort Success meant a handful or more made it back to base, mission complete; failure, nobody ca their damnedest to inflict the maxi sense of service before self in the face of almost certain death hardened the this collection of steadfast soldiers there were a select feith a bond deeper than the others could ever begin to iine, as these unique IIIs were a secret even to their peers

AND SOMEWHEREout aalaxy, on a nameless moon, far

beyond the outermost UNSC colony, Roland and Jonah rowth, slowly, quietlycloser to the source of the blip on Jonah‘s motion tracker

TWO

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HEADHUNTING

There had beena sufficient number of Spartans for the ainst large-scale Covenant targets and defense of key UNSC facilities being chief a to believe was unwinnable, losing even a handful to specialized operations was frowned upon This unwillingness to spread the Spartan ranks too thin across the field of battle meant the number of two-man infiltration squads, codenamed: Headhunters, culled froraht there was a ent of six squads--six teaaps when half or all of a team was lost in the field Jonah and Roland were paired as part of an initial eight-ether as a unit since

It was the Headhunters‘ task to infiltrate heavily fortified enemy encampments, ships, and

operation centers completely undetected, with minimal, mission-specific weaponry, and no radio contact or hope for backup or retrieval, and complete a set series of objectives in preparation for one of two eventualities: a larger, full-scale assault on the target, or as a decoy and distraction for UNSC

operations elsewhere

Over the course of the Human-Covenant War there had been some luck, limited but occasionally fruitful, in stealth insertions behind Covenant lines The majority of these operations ended in lost contact with the field unit and the presuraree, as the IIs had been able to slip into enemy territory on a number of occasions--not alith the best results, but with results, nonetheless Noith the IIIs and the advanceies and equipns into Covenant-held regions were deeh such operations would be attempted on a limited basis, and in direct control of a special unit from deep within Beta-5, one of ONI‘sunder the uanization known as Section Three

Spartan-III soldiers selected to participate in the Headhunter progra considered by Beta-5: only those individuals who had survived two ormissions would be evaluated for possible inclusion in its additional, grueling training regimen Once an overall list of potential candidates was compiled, each trooper‘s personal files and , their activities within the past twenty-four hours--were analyzed against a set series of parameters calculated by top ONI specialists

Both Roland and Jonah not only fell under the ―two missions" banner of acceptance, they were perfect matches for each of Beta-5‘s requirements, and more importantly, when offered the

opportunity to participate--though presented with only the vaguest of program overviews--they each leapt at the chance to hit back at the Covenant in new and unexpected ways

Once selected, candidates were separated fro facility on the far side of Onyx, the ONI-controlled world that served as the IIIs‘ base of operations After three months, the soldiers were broken into four two-person squads, chosen through a series of detailed evaluations and an intense interview process s betweenhit on 9736 percent of the desired her

Now,seven months of supervised field exercises, followed by six months‘ real-world wartiotiation of twelve battlefield insertions under their belts, Roland and Jonah found thealaxy, two hu with Covenant Their current task was straightforward enough--slip onto the Covenant-held moon, believed to be the site of one of the pious alien collective‘s sacred religious digs, and remove six of the ten identified base caer central compound A second tea camps in preparation for as to follow The confusion and re-shuffling of troops and supplies by the Covenant contingent following each base ca salvo in a full-scale assault by a dozen Spartan-III fireteams and associated orbital backup

THREE

APES OR ALLIGATORS?

The indicator on Roland‘s individual radar showed that whatever their contact--Grunt or Elite, Jackal or Brute--they were less than ten ive away their position as they crept closer, they had yet to establish visual confiret In the post-dusk hour it was possible the Covenant sentry was using the shadows of the forest to conceal its perch as it stood guard over the base camp‘s perimeter It was just as likely, however, that the bastard was hidden beneath the light-bending cloak of active ca-Yar sniper posted sole of branches that , option heili Elite, the Covenant‘sthis sector of the periht with it its own set of coh the encounter scenarios as they worked to develop a proper plan of attack: Shooting a sniper from its roost could draanted attention They couldthe creature to their presence and giving it the opportunity to signal an alarm Or, even with a clean kill, the force of the i fro any nuround with a thud that was sure to carry in the still night air Taking out a ca with the coth An Elite patrol usually carried one standard-issue Covenant plasma rifle, if not two, possibly a plasrenades, and if Roland and Jonah were particularly unlucky, an energy sword

To top it all off, they‘d have to find the da before it found them

Rolanduntil they could confirm the identity of the obstacle and ascertain the best approach to re it from their path

―Think it‘s av-cam," Jonah whispered

Roland didn‘t respond

The earaway their position, though in most cases, once they entered the combat zone, their instincts would take control and they would begin functioning solely on physical cues and intuition

The UNSC had spent years sanctioning research and development into, and thrown an unspecified ae, or av-cam, replication The ability to essentially disappear into your surroundings was a e for the Covenant--in addition to their already terrifyingly superior weaponry and shielding and their uncanny ation

Officially, all UNSC efforts to prototype a working av-cam unit had been met with failure

Unofficially, as was the nor a e since the inception of the Spartan-III progra with advanced vision modes that would allow for easier detection of stealthed enemy combatants

While the field operable av-cam-enhanced armor variants were yet to be placed in UNSC-normal rotation, and were in fact quite limited even within the ranks of the Spartan-IIIs, the research into visor-based vision enhancerade known as Visual

Intelligence Systems, reconnaissance, or VISR, ell underith the hope it could be made available UNSC-wide in the near future

As with most research and development efforts with battlefield i field-tested by most Headhunter teams

As it stood, Roland‘s power armor was equipped with one of ONI‘s experi with a dedicated power supply When it was activated he would achieve a state close to invisibility for a period of three and a half to fourthe unit would need anywhere froe, and put an additional strain on his suit‘s other power functions Shielding Bios Targeting

Tracking All of it would run at less than optimum efficiency while the av-cam system rebooted

Less than four e for lih--duration, directly following As such, Roland had to be judicious with its use

―I think it‘s av-cam," Jonah continued, undeterred by Roland‘s lack of response ―Could be a sniper" He paused ―But I got twenty credits on it being caside Roland

―Wanna take that bet, Rolle? Twenty cred? I‘ll take cah when he first signaled the contact, but the fact that he was getting chatty told Roland that his partner was beco exponentially by the ot?"

―Don‘t know," Roland responded, after spending a couple seconds exa the blip on his

tracker--it hadn‘t moved since their first contact ―Stayin‘ pretty still for a Slip-Lip," Roland concluded, using a coed anatoht hand up along the side of his hel the small nub that activated his VISR mode enhanced vision Roland followed suit They each swept the forest floor with their gaze--the nightti with various hues as the VISR flickered into focus