Hi guys, I have been working on this fanfic for about a month now and I just wanted to know what the community thinks of it. Enjoy! [u] Part I: Winter Storm [/u] This will be the first time that anyone outside of the military has ever heard the complete tale of operation Winter Storm. What truly happened on that small, barren world is not a tale I will enjoy telling, but it’s one that I know must be told. Although it has been just under a decade since I served in the UNSC, security protocols have forbade from releasing any information on Winter Storm to the populous. Now that the operation is public knowledge there is nothing holding me back from writing this, except my own will to not relive those terrible days. My tale begins in the year 2540, twelve years before the discovery of the artefact that later became known as instillation 04. Over the last few years the covenant had been slowly capturing systems within proximity to Earth. Military casualties were at an all time high, and the recent loss of The Honour-Bound capital ship all contributed to incredibly low moral back home. Those in the higher echelons of UNSC command feared an imminent assault from a covenant armada. For those of you that are reading this and can remember this time of dread then I need not describe it to you. Many believed that they would wake up one morning to find hundreds of covenant warships in orbit around Earth. The only thing that kept the covenant from assailing Earth was the diligent work of ODST and Spec-op forces. These crack soldiers performed some of the most essential covert operations in the entire human-covenant conflict. Looking at me now almost twenty years on you wouldn’t imagine that I would be a member of the notorious Team Bravo. Bravo performed over a hundred operations during the final thirty years of the war, dealing critical blows to the covenant. It was comprised of the most successful soldiers in the UNSC army, as well as technicians, specialists and technical support teams. I was a member of one of these tech support teams, or TST’s. I had always wanted to join the military from a young age, but had been inhibited by my weaker upper body strength. Several commanders had recognised me as being an expert in anything relating to enemy computer software. Only several years after I was permitted to join the military I was attached to Team Alpha and then Team Bravo soon after that. Despite the fact that I would not be able to beat any of my team in a fire fight, they seemed to find my computer skills invaluable when on missions. I remember it was a Monday morning when General Fullman contacted us. Fullman was the chief overseer of all special operation tasks. As well as this he was a key member on the board of UNSC commanders. When he called you on a Monday morning there were only two reasons. Either the dreaded covenant armada had finally arrived, or you were going to be sent on a very important assignment. Preying it was the latter I walked from my small bedroom (being a tech officer I was permitted separate living quarters,) and out into the hallway. Hastily I got dressed in whatever clothes I had to hand and then headed out into the corridor next to my room. When I made it to the common room / briefing area most of Bravo Team was already assembled. As I walked into the spacious beefing room several heads turned in my direction, and I also got a nod from Major Hodson, head of Bravo Team. Manoeuvring between the rows of seats in front of the small stage area I came to sit in the second row beside Dave Walter. Dave had been my friend since we were about ten years old. Dave joined the military at the same time as me and arrived in Bravo Team just a few months behind me. Unlike me, he had joined as a brilliant soldier and exceptional leader. Ironically though he seemed to always need my help with some computer or technical problem. “How are you doing Dave?” I asked. Only two weeks ago he had been involved in a raid on a covenant weapons plant that had gone bad. Two members of the squad he was accompanying had been killed and he himself had been clipped in the shoulder by a stray plasma rifle blast. “I’m doing fine. Everyone said that the suit took most of the impact and even then that blasted shot barely went into my skin. Still took me out of action for a bit though. I just wish that the op had gone better. We lost some good men in their and we still didn’t get…” Dave was cut off in mid sentence by the sound of General Fullman’s heavy boots as he entered the room and approached the stage area. From what I had been told by my comrades in Bravo Team (and what I have learned in subsequent years), Fullman had quickly risen through the ranks due to his exceptional skills as a soldier and as a commanding officer. He had apparently been appointed to his current position about eighteen months before Winter Storm. “Good morning gentlemen.” He had begun, “Undoubtedly you are all wandering why you have been summoned here so early in the morning.” As Fullman continued on his normal introductory spiel I began to wonder, superior officers always treated us in Bravo Team as equals, whilst other soldiers in the UNSC were looked down upon by their superiors. It was then for the first time that I realised the true weight of the reputation of Bravo Team on my shoulders. I had rarely doubted if joining the military had been the right decision but that morning I came to realise just how important my being in the squad was. If I failed, then humanity might possibly be doomed. As Fullman ended his pleasantries I was shaken from my thoughts and returned to reality. “Now lets get down to business. Over the last few months we had sent out teams to gather intelligence on a particular moon orbiting the Nexan system. On this moon is a particular covenant POW camp known as Fortain. The intel indicates that the name means ‘Cold’. This is an adequate name as the camp is located in a tundra wasteland that covers about 60% of the Moon’s surface. As I am sure many of you may have already guessed, we are planning a raid on the Fortain camp.” At this point Fullman paused, allowing his words to sink in. I had been on assault missions before, but never to a POW camp or any other enemy held facility. Beside me Dave was nodding his head slowly in approval; he wanted to hit the covenant on their own turf as much as anyone in the room. “The facility,” Fullman had continued “Covers an area of about a square kilometre. Most of the area is taken up by work areas and labour stations. There also appears to be moderate security systems in place, so you will have to watch your backs when you get there. From the size and type of covenant ships that visit the moon we have assumed that Fortain should hold about 300 – 500 prisoners at any one time, with maybe 50 – 75 security staff. Unfortunately we have no intel on the names of prisoners being taken to the camp; nor do we know how they are treated. From other covenant POW camps we know that the elites don’t look too fondly on human prisoners.” At this point Major Hodson stood up from a row behind me. “Do we have any visual intel on the facility sir, or was this all gathered from written files?” “Well no.” Fullman had continued “We don’t have any direct visual intelligence because the majority of the camp is underground. It lies about twenty to thirty metres beneath the moons’ surface. I know this may come as a surprise to some of you but I have full confidence that Bravo can pull this off.” “And what exactly are we going to do sir, free the prisoners?” This question had come from a younger member of our squad, Curt Gord. Other members of the squad murmured their agreement. How could we get 300 odd prisoners out if we were a squad of 20 soldiers and 3 support techs? Fullman though didn’t appear effected in any way by the question. “Gentlemen, your job is to neutralize as much of the guard as possible. We have several transport ships standing by in nearby systems to transport the prisoners to safety once we have the facility. In the event you can’t neutralise the guards completely then another tactical team is waiting to finish the job. At the moment the covenant army is spread quite thin throughout the galaxy. The last thing they are expecting is an attack at a remote prison camp. I know Bravo Team can do this.” With that Fullman began fielding several questions regarding security, squad tactics and so forth. Although I always find it hard to remember exactly what he said in closing, I believe it was something like this. “This operation, which we are calling Winter Storm, is essential to our war efforts. If the covenant loose the Fortain camp then we will prove to them that nowhere is safe anymore. You have all been chosen for this mission because you are the best humanity has. The UNSC is proud to have Bravo Team and we are proud to have you fighting for humanities survival against the blasted covenant. We will win eventually, but for now we must be content with small victories. Good luck to you all.” And as quickly as he had arrived, Fullman walked off the stage and out of the room. I remember Major Hodson addressing us and saying that more in-depth briefings would be given en route to the Nexan system. While I was leaving Dave tapped me on the shoulder. “Ben, I don’t like the sound of this, things just don’t add up. Why are they brining you, a tech guy, on a purely military operation? And also why do they need a spec ops team when a normal assault team would probably be better suited to this type of work?” “You know Dave,” I had said “I’ve been thinking the exact same thing.” With those few words we left the briefing room and headed off to get changed and suited up for our immediate departure to the Nexan system and the Fortain camp. If only I’d known what was awaiting me upon my arrival at Fortain. [Edited on 01.20.2009 2:30 PM PST]