#s2BlueTeam

[doom-dreaming]

High Flakes Combat

“Blue Lead,” Linda’s whisper cuts across TEAMCOM, crisp and several degrees colder than the icy landscape. “Hostiles approaching your position.”

Fred, tucked behind the trunk of a towering pine tree, exhales a slow, measured breath. Waiting. Listening. Without his motion tracker, only the crunch of footsteps in the snow—and Linda—could tell him when their opponents were closing in.

There. Fifteen meters out. He motions to John, positioned behind an adjacent tree. On my signal.

…ten meters…

Cover me. Go high.

…five meters…

John nods. Fred tightens his grip on his weapon.

Now.

As one, they pivot, breaching cover. Fred drops to a knee, attacking swiftly, before their adversary has a chance to retaliate.

The snowball hits Ash directly in the center of his chestplate. Active camouflage flickers briefly, then recalibrates, as the young Spartan crashes dramatically to his knees before sprawling backward, motionless.

Fred doesn’t let the theatrics distract him. The other two had to be nearby and the round wasn’t over until— A snowball whizzes past his head, followed by a sharp curse—out loud, close. He catches a shimmer of white on white as Olivia leaps to find cover and “reload,” but John is faster.

The snowball hits her thigh before she can complete her maneuver and she slides to a dejected halt in a snowbank. “Dammit! Mark!” she calls out. “You’re on your own!”

Fred doesn’t hear a verbal response. He knows he won’t, Mark’s too good to give away his position— Thwap. Fred’s vision goes fuzzy and white as Mark’s snowball connects with his visor, splattering on impact. Fred groans and flashes a red status light across his team’s HUDs. He’d be out until the next round.

“He’s on the move!” Linda barks over the comms.

Fred folds himself cross-legged into the snow and wipes his visor clean just in time to see Kelly bounding over a nearby ridge, clutching a snowball in each fist.

“I’ve got him!” She goes streaking across the snow toward a barely-visible figure—also sprinting.

Mark wouldn’t be able to outrun Kelly—a fact Fred knew the S-III was well aware of—but he was certainly trying his best.

Kelly nails Mark with both snowballs, one in the shoulder, the other in the back. He stumbles just enough that Kelly’s momentum sends her into him at full force. The clack of their colliding armor echoes like a shot as both Spartans go tumbling to the ground, sending up a minor flurry in their wake.

“Aaaaaaaand match!” Roland’s voice rings out over the simulation deck, followed by a buzzer. “Blue Team takes the win!”

“Again,” Olivia grumbles, pushing to her feet and dusting snow off her armor.

“It’s three against four,” Ash reminds her, still lying on his back a few feet from Fred.

Olivia crunches her way over and offers him a hand. “Can we make Kelly sit out the next round?”

“If you’re not having fun, leave,” John quips.

“Or maybe you should switch Kelly to our team and see how it feels,” Livi bites back, helping Ash haul himself to his feet.

“Fighting over me?” Kelly rejoins the group with Mark close behind. “I’m flattered.”

Fred chuckles. It was good to see Olivia trading barbs with John. The Gammas had warmed up to him quickly—and he to them—and it wasn’t hard to understand why. Fred was sure the S-IIIs had given him some new streaks of gray hair, but at the same time, they made him feel younger. He hoped they were having the same effect on John.

“So…” drawls a familiar voice, raised just loud enough to carry, “this is the reason my fireteams can't train today? A snowball fight.”

Every Spartan in the simulated snowscape whips toward the entrance. Commander Palmer stands at the far edge of the scene, arms crossed. She looks odd and out of place, a lone figure in a techsuit against the stark white surroundings, but no less intense than usual.

“Thought we’d try something different from the typical drills, ma’am,” Fred coughs. He’s not sure why he feels guilty; they’d requested the time and blocked out the schedule and followed protocol…even if they hadn’t said precisely what they’d be doing…

Before anyone else has a chance to speak, a snowball goes sailing over Fred’s shoulder, on a collision course for Palmer. She’s too far away to hit, but the aim is dead-accurate and it lands with a wet plap several yards directly in front of her.

Even at this distance, Fred sees her eyes narrow. The vague guilt solidifying in his gut crystallizes into ice. He knows who threw that and he’s already, reflexively, preparing for the necessary damage control—and for Linda, no less. Kelly he was used to, but Linda?

Palmer shifts her weight and fixes the seven of them with a hard stare that lasts long past the point of being uncomfortable. “Don’t go anywhere,” she eventually orders, leveling a finger in their direction. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Without leaving any opportunity for rebuttal, she turns on her heel and swiftly disappears from the deck.

Immediately, Linda’s status light starts blinking rapid-fire green across Blue Team’s HUDs. Kelly follows suit.

“Really?” Fred grumps over TEAMCOM.

“Can you blame her if it worked?” Kelly retorts.

“Yes! You’re making an assumption and setting a bad example.” He switches to his helmet’s speakers. “Gammas, don’t throw things at your commanding officers.”

“Unless you’re sleeping with them,” Kelly adds, with enough tact to keep the comment on Blue Team’s private channel.

Another green light from Linda.

Fred willfully ignores both of them.

“...we’re not in trouble, are we?” Ash removes his helmet and shakes out his hair. “To be honest…I don’t know what just happened.”

Kelly seats herself on a tree stump, legs akimbo, smugness oozing from every seam of her armor. “Palmer’s getting suited up to come play with us.”

Ash seems unconvinced but Mark shrugs. “She’ll balance the numbers. We might even start winning.”

Only Blue Team can see—and appreciate—the red light John flashes in silent response.

**********

As threatened, Palmer returns exactly ten minutes later, fully armored aside from the helmet tucked into the crook of her arm. “Okay, here’s the official story.” She strides up to the group. “We’re running an unorthodox but fully sanctioned training exercise all day.”

“I’ve cleared the schedule and put out an open invitation,” Roland chimes in. “As requested.”

Palmer nods her approval. “Figured I’d let you have your fun on the condition that the rest of us could get in on it too.” She raises an eyebrow. “Sound fair?”

“Fair enough,” Fred answers, echoing the array of green lights on his HUD. “Alright. Ground rules—we’re running blind for this, Commander. No motion trackers.”

She looks pleased. “I like a challenge.”

“If you get hit, you’re out for the round,” he continues. “Once you’re out, you can’t help anyone still standing. Round ends when a whole team goes down.” Fred nods toward the ceiling. “Roland’s keeping score.”

“Huh,” Palmer hums. “So you knew about this, too, Roland?”

“I…was informed the exercise would require a scorekeeper instead of a handler,” the AI answers, somehow managing to achieve the verbal equivalent of tip-toeing. “And I volunteered a mere fraction of my copious attention to the task.”

Palmer just rolls her eyes.

Ash clears his throat and steps forward. “If you wouldn’t mind, ma’am, we’d greatly appreciate it if you joined our team.”

“They’ve been wiping the floor with us,” Olivia adds, somewhat ruefully.

Palmer looks back and forth between Blue Team and the Gammas with a hint of a smirk. “Well.” She slips her helmet on. “Allow me to level the playing field.”

**********

And indeed, the tide began to turn. Quickly. It wasn’t that the Gammas couldn’t hold their own, but Palmer was a different flavor of ruthless and even numbers did make a difference.

Kelly, as Blue Team’s sole survivor, was in the midst of a valiant stand, but she was up against Palmer and Olivia and they were going in for the kill. Up to this point, Kelly had been relying on her speed to evade them, but Fred doubted that would be able to carry her any further.

Palmer and Livi split around the back of the snowbank Kelly had hidden behind, falling into synchronized step with each other, timing their paces perfectly. Palmer’s boots fall heavier and louder, covering Olivia’s near-silent glide around the other side.

The strategy is obvious, at least from Fred’s position of passive observation—Palmer would draw Kelly’s attention, Olivia would come up on her flank and take her out. And it would work, too…on anyone less observant than Kelly. Fred has a feeling she’ll see right through it. But one of them was going to hit her either way, so it didn’t really matter as far as the outcome was concerned.

Surprisingly, a third option presents itself. Fred realizes after a few seconds that he’s been holding his breath, expecting Kelly to explode out of the snow and make a run for it, but…she doesn’t.

Palmer reaches the other side of the snowdrift and slows, confusion evident in her body language. She paces around the area, making sure not to stay still for too long, obviously reluctant to let her guard down completely. Fred can see the hazy mirage of Olivia’s SPI suit still moving in with careful deliberation.

There was no way Kelly could have moved. She hadn’t had enough time. More importantly, she would’ve been spotted if she’d tried to flee, so why couldn’t—

Palmer disappears. One second, she’s standing on the other side of the snowbank, visible from the waist up, and the next second she’s gone. Fred can’t see much of anything, but there are sounds of a scuffle and the blur of camouflaged armor as Livi sweeps in to assist with whatever the hell had just happened.

Barely a breath later, Roland announces the end of the match. “And Gammas-Plus-Palmer emerge victorious! …or should I say Olivia, specifically, seeing as she is the last Spartan standing. You know, you really oughta come up with a better name for your team—”

There’s a burst of indignant exclamations and flustered cursing from Palmer. She reappears only to rip her helmet off and kick some snow back in the direction from which she’d escaped.

Olivia removes her own helmet; Fred is surprised to see her laughing. “She got you good!” There’s a giddiness in her voice that Fred’s never heard before, but she seems to remember who she's talking to a moment later. “...ma’am.”

Kelly pops up beyond the ridge. She remains helmeted but Fred knows there’s a shit-eating grin on her face just from her posture alone.

“What happened?” He shouts the question out loud.

“She buried herself in the fucking snow and pulled my legs out from under me,” Palmer growls as she trudges over.

“And then I hit Kelly point-blank in the face!”

Olivia’s gleeful comment is backed by Kelly’s laughter over TEAMCOM. “Worth it.”

“Hey!” A different voice cuts into the conversation, once again pulling everyone’s attention toward the entrance. “Heard there was some kinda free-for-all goin’ on in here?” Gabriel Thorne stands flanked by the rest of Fireteam Majestic, all in full Mjolnir. “Got room for another team?”

Palmer waves them in. “Come on up, Majestic. We’ll get you briefed on the rules.” She sighs and fits her helmet back on. “Hope you’re ready to get your asses kicked.”

**********

An hour later, after Majestic had carved out a few victories of their own, Crimson shows up. Rules are recounted, home bases are realigned, play resumes. Within another two hours, there are four more Spartan fireteams on the field. Alliances are formed, both openly and secretly. Several hours are devoted to building snow forts. Play evolves. Forts are defended and captured, sabotaged and reinforced.

And then Lasky arrives.

“Captain on deck!” Roland bellows.

The silence that blankets the simulation deck is instantaneous and absolute. Nobody moves. If the snowballs already in flight could have frozen in midair, they probably would’ve. Instead, they land in a chorus of muffled thwumps.

Lasky stands there for a few seconds, small and unimposing by the distant doors, sporting his trademark expression of beleaguered amusement—presumably at being called out. “Don’t stop on my account,” he eventually says. “I just wanted to watch. …unless there’s a team looking for a liability,” he jokes with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Everyone on the field exchanges glances and shrugs. A sea of status lights blink across Fred’s HUD—most amber, some green. Finally, someone from Crimson waves Lasky over. “We’ll take you, Captain!”

He seems genuinely surprised by the invitation, but begins the trek across the snow. “Try not to kill me, alright?”

That draws laughs from most of the Spartans, but it’s John who actually banters back. “No promises, sir.”

[inaccurate-halo-quotes]

Spartan II Early missions

*Blue Team looking for Intel on an enemy in an airport* airline worker: I'm sorry, we're not supposed to give out passagers' itineraries. Fred-104: I understand. (turns) Hey, what's that crazy girl doing? Linda-058: I'm going into the Gold Medalion club, (holds up card) with SILVER LEVEL MEMBERSHIP! (Laughs maniacally as she opens the door) airline worker: The hell you are! (Draws shotgun and pumps it before going after her, leaving Fred to access the computer)

[117--087]

"The Covenant Scarabs were nasty. But those hulking, scrappy looking Brute Scarabs? Terrifying. For the II's though....it was like exercise for them. Best show of my life."

Halo Infinite Chief & Kelly [Halo Fan Art] by William Cameron

[eternally-second-one]

Sammy 'w'

[communistkenobi-archive]

NEW POST-HALO 5 BLUE TEAM BOOK!!!!!!

[mrlazric]

Ok so it goes like this:

Ferrets = Children

Veta = Mom

Fred = Dad

John = Tired Uncle currently in the throes of a midlife crisis but doing his best

Kelly = Rad Biker Aunt who sports leather blazers and shades even when in doors, encourages kids to say 'fuck'

Linda = Super Chill Aunt that kids can always vent to and entrust their secrets with, it's ok she won't tell Mom

[thelvadams]

You’re to return to Infinity immediately. Negative Infinity. I don’t like it. 

[all-the-halo]

And Palmer tried her best for him not to become a Spartan because as a child under her care, he exhibited attributes to children who would become Spartan II's. Halsey kind of sees it as a sick joke by the universe that he became one though.

All I can imagine now is Palmer and Halsey in a room together, drinking alcohol, and talking about the nephew and how they never wanted him to be a spartan. Blue Team or one of the spartan IV teams watching in horror as it happens.

[jackalopingintothevoid]

@sledposting has previously had some very good, very angsty meta and fic about Spartans having very spotty memories as a result of, y’know, literal lifetimes of horrific trauma.

And I’ve just thought, with the amount of time they all spent in-armour... can Blue Team remember their lost siblings’ faces?

[dragonwarrior24]

So yesterday started #BlueTeamWeek

I was gonna save this for next week when I went to Halo Outpost at Philadelphia but now seems like a good time. To honor my fav members John-117 and Kelly-087. Awesome backpack hangers

[corey-067]

I feel like I need some of these, given Corey’s preference for tight quarters, or melee combat. From Halo: Collateral Damage #2  Credit to: Alex Irvine (Script), David Crossland (Art), Len O’Grady (Colors), Simon Bowland (Letters).

[doom-dreaming]

I think blue team playing uno or Mario kart would be funny

I like to think that Fred and Linda gave up a long time ago on trying to beat John in anything (especially low-stakes games), but Kelly still thinks she has a chance to win (and likes to rile up her brother), so competitions between them get DANGEROUS.

[inaccurate-halo-quotes]

Spartan II Game Night II

John-117: and that gives me longest road, which is enough victory points to win...Settlers of Catan.

Kelly-087: I hate this game.

John-117: Why? it's so much fun.

Kelly-087: Fred never trades with me. I need sheep and he has brick. I need the brick.

Fred-104: I don't need any sheep.

Kelly-087: Well-He doesn't need-(sighs) Can we just play something else? Like Life...or Sorry?

Linda-058: I wanna plan Monopoly.

Fred-104: NOBODY WANTS TO PLAY MONOPOLY, LINDA!

[117--087]

"Hold this for me, will ya? Gotta stretch."

"..................Kelly?"

"Yeah?"

"Happy Valentine's Day."

(via @pixelflaregfx on Twitter)

#LuckyRabbit’sFoot

💚 🦅 🐰 💙

[firerwolf]

Halo Infinit trailer analysis

So I saw the trailer yesterday and I figured I’d write up my reaction and analysis of what’s in it and what it might mean for Halo Infinit.

So I’ll start with the fact that it seems like little more than a tech demo showing the art style. An odd choice really as we already knew from last years E3 that they were using the old art style. It does show that their visual engine is pretty but it’s yet to be seen if the story they’re going to tell is going to match the beauty of the aesthetics. I may be in the minority but I didn’t like how John’s armor looked. It looked like Mark V armor, not Mark IV. It looks bulky and lower tech to me even though it’s clearly meant to be Mark VII. But that’s a minor comment really.

Now let’s cover what story was released...by which I mean there was none. The trailer strikes me as basically anything from Halo 5’s promotional material, full of crap. Maybe there will be a broken Halo, but that’s about it. The trailer strikes me as more like the poncho trailer, just a technical show of power. Just for a moment let me point out the things that make me think the events are not going to happen in the game.

1.) The odd focus on a random person. The pelican pilot seemed to be there more to show off how good they’ve gotten at animating humans. Which they have, but at what point do the main games ever focus on some random dude? Never.

2.) John just randomly floating in space. It was more a theatric thing for his visual reveal than something that makes a lick of sense.

3.) How did he get John into the Pelican. Completely skipped over because it’s not actually a story being told. It’s all just a way to show him in his armor in the redesign. Which at this point isn’t a big reveal.

4.) The end of the trailer is John opening the back of a pelican into the vacuum of space to fight...something. You can still see the halo from a distance when the pelican is hit with something so it’s clear they’re still in the vacuum. So then they open the rear hatch. It’s all just a set up for a weak line about fighting instead of running. Hell John even readies his weapon and then a second later holsters it. The entire ending was so dumb but cemented that the scene is just filler and has no real baring on anything.

Now I’m going to address the two things that I think are most important: the Cortana voice over at the end and scene attached to it, and what was missing from the trailer. I’ll start with the voice over.

The Cortana voice over is absolute shit. Unless they’re going to play up a crazed Cortana’s obsession with John and how unhealthy it is and how abusive she is it really just smacks of trying to paint over her mass killings. And that’s a deal breaker. Cortana is a monster, they made that choice for her character and trying to pretend she didn’t murder millions of innocents and declare herself dictator is morally repugnant. As for the scene the voice over is played with, I home it’s a misdirect. That if you’re going to a Halo it’s for a monitor or particularly Guilty Spark. Talk about a character that deserves a chance at redemption. I don’t hold much hope for this as the last time I hoped 343 was going for an interesting plot idea we got Cortana sitting on a throne of bodies rather than the Didact’s return.

Now on to what is missing. There was a lot missing really. The Guardians. Infinity. Palmer or Lasky. But what was most important, and the exclusion of would guarantee my opting out of the game: Blue team. WHERE IS BLUE TEAM? If they’ve been kicked out of the main series it would be the biggest injustice 343 has done to them yet, and there’s a long list. No Blue Team, no interest, simple as that.

So in general the trailer did nothing for me. Yeah the game is pretty, bu I expected that. But no amount of pretty graphics or good gameplay can make up for shit story or lack of Blue Team. Assure me you have those and maybe I’ll care. Until I get either of those I’m just gonna be excited about Shadowkeep.

[communistkenobi-archive]

You know, I wonder what sort of strange, nifty, and useless skills the Spartans have picked up over the years. Like does Fred cut his fruit in very fancy shapes? Does Kelly talk really fast to mess with people? Does Linda read things backward and upside for snooping purposes?

I have this incredibly specific headcanon that the Spartans, who’ve had to contend with living on ships their entire lives, have figured out the best way to heat up pre-packaged food by just not following the instructions (similar to opening a bag of popcorn BEFORE putting it in the microwave) and everyone around them can SEE that they’re doing it the wrong way but they don’t want to correct THE MASTER CHIEF on how to heat up his chicken teriyaki so they just awkwardly monitor what he’s doing to make sure he doesn’t blow up the kitchen