I sat with my sister in the mess hall. It had been only minutes since I had been suited up, and I was still getting used to it at the time.
“I can't believe it.” Amy finally said after a long silence.
“What?” I said, with genuine concern.
“You're a Colonel. Not a single Spartan since Master Chief has been promoted to a rank that high in the UNSC.”
A short-lived silence fell.
I finally said “I don't think I am capable of accepting the responsibilities of a Colonel. I will need your support, Amy.”
She looked up at someone behind me, and I turned to see Matt-235, one of the best marksman in the group. He stood at stiff attention when I turned around.
“At ease, Matt. Sit down and tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Of course. Anyways, since you have yet to select a first officer, I am here to present my candidacy. If you desire, I can provide character references.”
I smiled. He was one of my closest friends in the group of Spartans.
“It would be my honor, Matt. Amy, I hope this isn't an offense to you?”
“None taken.”
Matt thrust out his hand, and I took it. As we released, Chief Petty Officer Antonio Mendez walked to us and said “Sir, a word?” I rose and told my friends: “Excuse me.” We nodded their approval as I turned and walked with Mendez out of the mess hall and into the halls of the training facility.
“ONI has requested for you to do an assignment for them. It seems that on Eradinus II someone or something has been causing unexplained ‘killings’. We want you to investigate those killings, and find the culprit, by any means necessary.”
I raised an eyebrow in astonishment.
“Something? Why is that so?”
“We have reason to believe that possibly the Covenant could be involved in these killings.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my armor at that name. We have been at war with the Covenant for quite some time. The first colony they claimed was Harvest, the outer-most colony from Earth. It wouldn’t be surprising if they attempted to claim another colony, especially Eradinus II.
“What are my assets?”
“We will send you in with a group of ODST Specialists. You can also have another Spartan with you on the mission. That is, of course if you are so inclined to accept your Assignment.”
I paused, considering the risks.
“When do we leave?”
“0800 hours. Right now it’s about 1600 hours.”
I looked to see we were back at the mess hall, with Matt was standing at the doors. Mendez arched an eyebrow.
“Have you selected a first officer yet?”
I shot a glance at his direction, indicating he was my selected first officer.
“Good, that is settled.”
I started to walk towards him when Mendez spoke.
“And Colonel?”
I looked back at him.
“Try not to lose anyone this time.”
I nodded, and walked back into the mess hall. As I walked with Matt back to the table, Amy came along side me.
“What is it?”
“ONI has requested me on assignment on Eradinus II. Something, or someone, is killing key targets on the planet, but I have reason to believe that it is the Covenant who is responsible.”
Amy and Matt looked at me with horror and astonishment.
“The Covenant? You don’t think they would dare try for Eradinus II?”
“That is what I am requested to find out.”
Amy realized there was something else about it.
“Only one of us is allowed to go?”
I nodded, then Amy and Matt looked at each other, Matt nodded as if in acknowledgment, then she looked back.
“I will go.” Amy finally said with certainty.

I walked into the armory of the UNSC frigate Savannah with Amy, to see that the ODSTs had already armed themselves. Amy grabbed a MA-5B Assault rifle and a M6 Magnum from the stores, while I grabbed a Magnum and one of our newer weapons, a Designated Marksman Rifle, or DMR. We then walked to the pelican that was waiting for us in the hanger bay, and took seats in the passenger bay.
“Pilot, we are in.”
“Copy that, Control, this is pelican Bravo-22 requesting permission to engage thrusters and head to planet-side, over.”
“Understood, you are clear to engage thrusters.”
The pelican lifted from the hanger bay floor and, after sealing us from the outside, pushed forward out of the hangar bay into space. It then turned towards the planet below. The gee forces kicked in as we entered the atmosphere of the planet. Once through the atmosphere, the pelican headed towards the planets ONI Base, Tranquility Base. As we neared the base, the pelicans back hatch opened as we grabbed our weapons. I put my magnum on my thigh and my DMR on my back. The pelican finally stopped just inside the base’s courtyard and set down. A group of marines and what appeared to be a high ranking officer stood a few meters away from the pelican as we stepped off the pelican, and after everyone was off the pelican, the pelican lifted off into the sky back to the Savannah.
“Is this your team?” The high ranking officer asked.
“Yes, sir.” I said.
“I believe we haven’t been properly introduced. I am General Alex Makarov of the Office of Naval Intelligence. And you are?”
“Spartan-116. This is Spartan-235, and ODST specialist group November-Seven-Niner. It is good to see you too, General. Feel free to do some business?”
He nodded his approval, and gestured for my team to follow as we started walking into the base.
“When I heard of your promotion, I almost thought it was too good to be true. But now that I see that it is true, I am exceptionally impressed with your record, which is flawless. But now to why you are here.”
We stopped in a computer room, and he stopped next to a huge holographic screen on the wall.
“Bring up what we got on the massacres.” He said to the techs, and they obeyed.
“The first massacre victims were a group of local militia troopers patrolling the local town stead. One night, while on patrol, the group disappears without a trace. They simply left the town and never came back. About 5 days later, the bodies were found hanging in a tree a few miles away from their last known position. There was evidence suggesting they were interrogated, and the scene was messy. The same thing kept happening to key military bases on Eradinus II, the most recent happening just a few days ago.”
While the screen was cycling through the pictures, something caught my eye in one of them; something I wished that wasn’t there.
“Stop at that picture.” I suddenly said. It stopped. I took a closer look; it was what put the nail in the coffin for the possibilities. It was a T1 Plasma Pistol, laying on the ground right next to the tree the bodies were hanging.
“Do you see what I am seeing?” I said with shock.
Everyone looked confused, but, after looking at the picture, understanding and shock showed in their faces.
“Our worst fears have been realized, then. We have to move quickly if the planets inhabitants are to survive.”
One of the ODSTs asked with confusion “I don’t get it. What does this mean?”
I rounded on the ODST and said with certainty: “The Covenant are on Eradinus II. That plasma pistol came from a Jackal, A Skirmisher, or a Grunt, nothing else. If you know anything about the Covenant and their weapons, you would know that we do not have that kind of technology, and that this is the most commonly used weapon for Covenant infantry.”
I let my words sink in.
“Finished staring, ODST?” I said in a stern voice.
“Yes sir, sorry sir!”
“No offense taken, but pay attention to minor details in an investigation, you might learn something useful.”
I turned back to the General.
“What are your orders, General?”
“The first thing they are likely to strike at first is the Relay Outpost. 235, I am sending you to the Outpost with your ODSTs, while 116 will try to find the Covenants Base of operations. Once we know where they are operating from, we will launch an all out assault on the base and make sure they don’t try to take Eradinus II again. Any questions?”
Silence.
“Okay, let’s do it.”

I drove through the countryside in my Warthog, looking for any signs of the Covenant. So far, there was nothing. I had been searching for their Base of Operations for 5 hours. I casually checked my Tacpad when it started beeping. I immediately stopped the warthog and looked at my Tacpad and it show a large strike force was centered on a structure 560 meters northeast. Then it dawned on me; this could very much be their base. I floored it and headed for the base. When I was at a good sniper perch, I stopped the warthog in a nicely hidden spot not too far from the perch, and got into the perch. The covenant was centered in some ruins around what appeared to be kind-of a big base next to a hydro-electric plant. The Base was armed with 4 plasma turrets and the Covenant was armed to teeth with heavy weapons. After scanning the area for threats, I took out my sniper rifle to see all the action. There were not only ground troops, but Banshees patrolling and wraiths, ghosts, and revenants going about their business. I tapped into the comm. channel that I could talk to the General and said:
“General, this is Sierra, I think I found it.”
“What kind of firepower do they have right now?”
“They have heavy weapons and every Covenant vehicle available to them. They also have banshees circling over head.”
“Damn.”
“Do you want me to take ‘er out?”
“Yes, send me coordinates.”
“Coordinates are as follows: Tango Whiskey 0 5 6 6 2 8.”
“---Target confirmed, they have visual. Commencing heavy airstrike on the base. Hold on to something.”
I obeyed, and the airstrike completely destroyed the base. Then everything suddenly went into slow motion as I turned around, pulled out my pistol, and put three bullets into the Royal Zealot’s face that was behind me with a T1 Energy Sword, about to end my life. I realized my position had been compromised as I raced to my warthog, started it up and floored it, racing away from the base with them firing at me.
“General, I think we really pissed them off.”
“What happened?”
“My position has been compromised, heading towards the outpost.”
“Hurry! They have just been ambushed by a heavy strike force of Heavy Weapons Specialists. Use extreme caution.”
I knew that it was a good 5000 meters to the outpost, so I went as fast as possible. Just then, two Ghosts came side by side at full speed towards me. I already knew what to do, so I edged the warthog to go faster, and eventually my front bumper sent the ghosts flying into two trees, killing the pilots and destroying the vehicles. I let my breath go, and then heard two banshees following my warthog overhead. Quickly, while driving at the same time, I grabbed the Grenade Launcher from the passenger seat, aimed it at one of them, and fired an Over charged grenade. The EMP burst sent the Banshee into the other, destroying both. Then two Wraiths appeared and simultaneously fired. I quickly scanned the ground around me and found a steep embankment that was similar to a ramp that was right in front of the Wraiths, and I immediately shot towards it, dodging mortars as I got closer, and, as I hit the ramp, I grabbed the target locator and shot at both Wraiths. The spot was marked perfectly as I sailed neatly over the wings of both Wraiths and just as I got out of the radius, the shots destroyed both Wraiths. The Outpost came within visual range and I shot toward it. When I got to the entrance, there was a militia group fighting what remained of the strike force, some elite officers. I floored it as far as it would go, and jumped out of the top of the warthog, with the warthog still going, and it crashed into the tightly close together group of elites, and I rolled into cover just as it stopped against a wall, a wake of dead Elites behind it. The everything went into slow motion as I pulled out my sniper rifle and no-scoped the Elite Zealot that was about to assassinate what appeared to be the Militia group leader, a clean shot through the spine of the elite, and it collapsed, dead as a stone. The militia leader looked up at me in gratefulness and respect.
“State your ID number, Spartan.”
“Sierra 116.”
“You mean... you are... THE Sierra 116? The Colonel?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, all that stuff. But that does not matter right now.”
I looked at all the bodies, but there was no trace of Amy. Where was she?
“What's the situation?”
“We were protecting a communications outpost when an Elite strike force ambushed the outpost and totally surprised us. We had no choice but to flee. We were with another Spartan who was the only one who made it back to command; I think the Spartan's ID was Sierra 239…”
My heart raced, she was alive!
“That's Amy!”
“Amy? How do you know her?”
I stopped myself from explaining, because it was classified TO1.
“I rather not talk about it.”
I turned to see the falcons dropping down to pick everyone up.
“Come on, let's go.”
Everyone loaded on the falcons.
“Command, this is Sierra 116, returning with Militia Group Delta Seven Niner. We are returning to base.”
“Copy that. Welcome back Sierra 116. General Makarov wants to have a word with you upon your return to base.”
“Copy your last. S116 out.”

We walked into the base and met up with the General.
“Report, 116.” He said briskly.
“Sir, I have the militia group, the Elite Strike force is neutralized and we have wounded. We have some weapons, and we have info on a possible new mission directive.”
Makarov arched an eyebrow.
“...I am Listening...”
The leader of the Militia spoke up.
“We were at the local communications outpost when we were ambushed by a Strike Force; they came out of nowhere and totally surprised us. I won't go into specifics, but we need that outpost back, by ANY means necessary. If we don't get it back, the Covenant will continue to have the upper hand. We NEED that outpost.”
Understanding dawned in Makarov’s eyes.
“Very well. You leave tomorrow morning at 0600. Spartan, a word?”
“Yes, General.”
I walked with him up to his office as he talked.
“Sierra 239 requested your presence; I will take you to her now.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“Any specifics?”
“Negative. Although she did state she is looking forward to seeing you, but nothing special.”
We reached the office, and who would be standing there but Amy.
“Ah, Amy, it's good to see you again.”
“You may dispense with the pleasantries.”
She looked at me.
“Jake... Long time.”
“I thought I'd never see you again. When the Militia told me about what happened at…”
“The communications outpost, I know. I was lucky to get out of there in one piece. I wish the same could be said for the others that were there.”
“We all do.”
I looked at the computer on the desk.
“We all do.”
I looked back at Amy.
“I am glad you made it back alive though.”
“Thanks to General Makarov.”
Makarov waved his hand, dismissing the matter.
“Unnecessary. But we do have a new mission for both you and Sierra 235. That is of course, if you are up to it.”
Amy looked at him.
“Are you kidding? Another mission with Matt and I? Count me in. What is the mission?”
“Remember that Communications outpost you lost? You're going to take it back, by any means necessary.”
A suicide mission, of all things.
“What are our assets?”
“We are sending you 4 of our best operatives and the Leader of the militia recovered not too long ago.”
“I remember them. They were at the outpost when it was attacked. I can't believe they survived. How many were KIA?”
“6.”
“Damn. How many men do we have total?”
“Including you, 8.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“That's not much to work with, but it's what we have. What's our plan?”
I brought up a satellite image of the outpost and a 1 mile radius around it. It displayed information as I explained.
“Simple. We land a safe distance away from the outpost, take out the defenses, and punch our way into the outpost. Once there, we clean out the outpost of any threats, then we'll get it back online, hopefully unnoticed by additional Covenant forces.”
“But how will we get around to the beach without being noticed? They have multiple Shades on top of the base. Our falcons would stick out like sore thumbs.”
I said with certainty:
“Leave that to me.”

I sat in one of the 3 falcons heading for the outpost. It was still very early morning as we headed for the outpost. As we approached a mountain right behind the outpost, all of the falcons stopped behind it and out of sight of the shade turrets.
“Alright, here's how we are going to do this. My falcon will take point. Amy, on my mark, fly as fast as you can past the outpost, hopefully, they won't notice.”
Once the shade was facing away, I gave the order.
“Mark!”
We flew past the outpost as quickly and silently as possible to the other side of the cliff.
“Good. Falcon 2, you’re up.”
The shade then turned away.
“Mark!”
No problem with the second one, good, I thought. If we could get the last one over, we will be set.
“Nice. Last Falcon, you’re up.”
The shade faced away.
“Mark!”
The falcon sailed neatly past, but, as it was going over the cliff, Plasma Launcher Shots hit it. My heart leapt in my mouth.
“Son of a b****! I can’t watch this…
The shot completely destroyed the falcon.
“It’s destroyed, there's nothing we can do. Proceed to the LZ.”
Amy said with a shudder: “3 of the best soldiers we had... gone, just like that.”
“That does not matter right now. Concentrate on the mission.”
We landed safely at the LZ with no trouble. As was planned, there were mongooses waiting for us at the LZ. We loaded up and shot towards the outpost. As we headed into the tunnel that went to the outpost, I held up a hand for stop and we all stopped and got behind cover, and with good reason. There was a checkpoint up in front of the outpost guarded by Elite Weapons Specialists.
“Enemy forces blocking the road ahead. Matt, Take them out.”
“Roger, engaging hostiles.”
One by one, the bodies fell.
“Hostiles eliminated.”
“Move forward.”
We moved silently forward and got behind rocks near the outpost.
“Got a bad feeling about this.” Matt said.
I sighed with exasperation.
“Matt, you’ve always got a bad feeling about something. Now stop whining and start looking through your goddamn scope!”
“But, sir---“
I quickly held up a hand for silence, as I heard something in the sky above us.
“Hold up! Covie Banshees, take cover!”
We ducked behind the rocks, out of sight of the banshees as We passed by without incident.
“Okay ,clear, let's move up on the left, we should be able to flank the enemy. Matt, find a good perch up top and keep a low profile. We will try to get as close to the outpost as we can.
“Rog'.”
He ran back into the tunnel. Amy looked at Matt with concern.
“You sure about this?”
She looked back at me.
“If they discover him up top, the mission will be toast before it’s even finished.”
“Come to think of it…”
I looked at the outpost.
“I can never be too sure about anything anymore.”
We walked to the outpost and crouched at the wall next to the entrance.
“Matt, are you in position?”
“Affirmative.”
“Somewhere inconspicuous I hope?”
“Trust me, they will never see me.”
“I hope you are right.”
“Watch out, you got a tango walking around the other side of the outpost.”
“Take 'em out.”
I heard the hiss of his sniper rifle give way to a cry of pain and a body of an Elite officer fall to the ground.
“Perfect. Is it clear?”
“It does look--wait a second... you got one standing with his back to the door, he is all yours. Do it quiet.”
I sneaked up silently and jumped on him. He franticly tried to shake me off, but it was in vain as I shoved the blade of my knife into his spinal cord. He collapsed to the ground, dead as a stone.
“Go in, I will watch the outside.”
We proceeded through the outpost, taking out enemies as needed. When we reached the control room, after I slammed the button that said ON, Matt reported from the perch.
“Colonel, we got bogeys coming in fast, and it looks like We have heavy weapons, We are entering the outpost now. Watch your six. this is going to get rough. I guess we were noticed.”
Suddenly a mortar hit the outpost.
“COLONEL! GET OUT NOW! WE GOT A WRAITH! I REPEAT WE HAVE A WRAITH, AND ARE FIRING ON THE BASE!”
“But what about the outpost?”
“WHICH DO YOU VALUE MORE, THE OUTPOST, OR YOUR LIVES?!!!???!!!”
Understanding dawned on me. If I didn’t get out of there, I would die. I started running.
“Come on, let’s go while we still can. Matt, get me evac birds to the extraction point ON THE DOUBLE.”
“GENERAL MAKAROV, THIS IS SIERRA 235 REQUESTING EVAC BIRDS TO THE FOLLOWING COORDINATES: BRAVO HOTEL FIVE SIX DELTA NINER NOVEMBER CHARLIE SEVEN. PLEASE HURRY, WE HAVE BOGEYS ALL OVER US AND WE NEED IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION ON THE DOUBLE!”
“What is the status of the outpost?”
“THE OUTPOST IS ALMOST COMPLETELY DESTROYED, THERE IS NO WAY TO BRING IT BACK ONLINE! WE CAN’T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!”
“Understood, sending evac birds to your location. ETA 30 seconds. Damn, I knew I had a feeling this was a trap!”
I, Matt, and Amy ran to the extraction point, but then 8 banshees swarmed around us, trying to gain the upper hand.
“MAKAROV, WHERE ARE MY FALCONS???!!!!!”
“They are a few seconds away.”
“WE HAVE COVENANT BANSHEES ALL OVER OUR SIX! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK AND NEED ASSISTANCE!”
I looked for any kind of cover, and spotted a Rocket Launcher, leaning against a rock.
“I got the firepower we need! Cover me!”
I ran over to the rocket launcher, and discovered there was also a large amount of ammo for the weapon. I opened fire on the banshees, and destroyed two with one rocket, and one more with the second. I reloaded and destroyed 2 with the rest of the rockets available. But there was 4 banshees left, and I had no more rockets. Time to bring the fight to them, I thought. I ran out towards one of them, pulled out my grenade launcher and fired. Using the EMP function, I EMPed the banshee and jumped on it, ripped the pilot from the cockpit, and took over the banshee. I then gave the other banshees a taste of their own medicine by firing on them with the fuel rod and plasma cannons. I succeeded in taking out two, leaving one left when the falcons finally came and landed near Amy and Matt. I jumped out while the banshee was still going, and it rammed into the other Banshee, destroying both. I landed safely and mounted up in the falcon.
“Pilot, GO NOW!”
“Copy that.”
The falcons lifted up and raced by the outpost. I had one more trick up my sleeve for the Covenant as I radioed to command.
“Watch out for the wraith! Command, this is Sierra 116 requesting heavy airstrike on the communications outpost. Authentication: One Delta November Seven Charlie Hotel Niner Six.”
“Copy that, 116, MAC rounds have been authorized, Airstrike is a-go. Marking targets on your HUD now.
Amy shouted with surprise: “MAC rounds?!?! In Atmosphere?!?!”
“Hang on your helmets!”
The shots shook the falcons, but the outpost was destroyed.
“Nice. General, this is Sierra 116, all targets neutralized, heading home.”
“Roger, we are tracking your sig…”
Suddenly I heard an explosion in the radio.
“GENERAL! GENERAL, SIT-REP!”
The report was garbled due to what appeared to be an attack of some sort.
“It seems we—zzzttt—tack by a heavy wave of Covenant forces—zzzztttt—requesting immediate assistance, we under heavy attack and we—zzzzzttttt--. Sierra 116, return to base immediately.
“General, say it again, you are breaking up.”
No answer.
“General, come in! Do you copy, over? Damn it! Something is jamming our communications with home base. Pilot, set course for home! We are going to rescue the General, or we are going to die trying.”

I sat in one of the three falcons heading home from our last mission to rescue the general. We had raced back to base due to it being under heavy attack by the Covenant. Wraiths and Banshees bombarded it with mortars and fuel rod blasts. The situation looked grim as we flew towards the base.
“Looks like the base is taking a pounding. According to protocol and the amount of time passed since the Generals distress call, the evacuation should be almost complete. We need to make this quick and swift, we punch our way through the raiding parties, grab the general, and escape to a safe haven. Amy, any places we could fall back to for the time being once we have the General?”
“There is a Halcyon class cruiser docked in a small star port not far from here, it’s about 300 clicks away from here, but we should reach it in no time if we make it there unnoticed, which there is a 50/50 chance we will. But if we make it to the cruiser before it leaves, we will be under protection until we find another safe haven.”
“When is it supposed to leave star port?”
“About 5 hours from now. I made reservations for us on the ship.”
“Alright, let’s make this as quick and swift as possible.”
We neared the landing port on top of the base.
“Alright, get ready, we have a welcoming party on the top of the base, as soon as we are in range, let‘m have it.”
As soon as we were in range, we opened up on the party and slaughtered them. We moved quickly to the elevator, and the doors closed.
“Alright let’s get this elevator moving, they are bound to find the bodies and lock down all the elevators. We have to hurry; they might reach the General’s safe room at any second.”
We all reloaded our weapons while Matt grabbed a shotgun that was in the elevator for emergencies. We burst out of the elevator guns blazing, eliminating any hostiles that got in our way. When we reached the safe room, the door was wrenched of its place. We killed the hostiles surrounding the general.
“Sierra, you made it! Thank god, I thought it was the end!”
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“We have to be careful. My Intel warned that Heavy weapon Specialists were sighted in the base somewhere, so we need to stay sharp.”
He picked up a shotgun and a magnum from the wall.
“What’s the plan?”
“We have falcons up top, we will fly to a star port where there is a halcyon class cruiser waiting for us there. It will buy us some time to find a safe place for us to go to. But we need to move fast, because it leaves not too long from now. If we don’t make it, we will have to find another ship to get on, and that will take time we don’t have.”
We raced back to the elevator, and went to the waiting falcons. We started them up and loaded up.
“Alright, what ever happens, everybody needs to protect the general at all costs. If he dies, all is lost.”
As the falcons headed towards the star port, I muttered:
“God have mercy on us all.”

My falcon raced away from the banshees behind us near the star port where the cruiser was waiting for us. I then heard the two banshees collide as Matt emp’ed one that crashed into the other.
“Is that all of them?” I yelled.
“Negative, two more are closing to intercept!”
Ironically, I asked:
“Is there any place the Covenant isn’t?”
“That is a very good question!”
I heard the new attackers scream behind us.
“Here they come!”
After a brief fire fight, they were destroyed.
“I think that’s all of them!”
I let my breath go, but still had a feeling of worry in my heart.
“I hope you are right, because we are very close to the star port, and an aerial fight above a star port is never a good thing!”
When we reached the star port, the cruiser came into view, and got larger and larger as we landed in Hanger Bay 4. A marine came to us.
“Marine, tell the captain that Sierra 116’s party has successfully landed in the hanger.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
He turned to leave, but stopped and turned back to us.
“By the way, you have been requested on the bridge, so tell him yourself. I will escort you.”
We walked to the bridge, with the marines working on the vessel giving us long, amazed stares as we passed. When we reached the bridge, the marine walked up to the captain, Captain George Elsa.
“Captain, We are here.”
He turned around and shook hands with me.
“Good to see you Colonel. Waiting for your mark to leave star port.”
“Do it.”
He turned back towards the screen.
“Take us home.”
The ship lifted away from star port and lifted away from the planet, and engaged the slipspace drive. After we went into slipspace jump, the Captain turned back towards us.
“General, its good to see you again, as well as your protection. Come, we have much to talk about. Come along too, Spartans.”
We walked through the ship as we talked. The ships crew was busy making repairs on the ship as we walked.
“You see, we had our eye on General Makarov for quite some time. When Sierra 239 and her team of marines lost that outpost, it caused quite a stir among the UNSC. I hope everything is in order with your ‘family ties’” He said, looking at me with the last sentence. My heart jumped.
“What does he mean?” The leader of the militia asked.
I looked at Amy, she gestured as to say “Go ahead.” I finally said:
“She is my sister.”
“What?”
“I thought Spartans were the only child’s in their previous families.”
“You may call us “an exception”, if you will. It was purely by coincidence that both of us became Spartans. Only a select few, with the exception of all of you, know about our family heritage, because it is classified TO1.”
The leader of the militia gave a dawn of understanding in his eyes.
“That is why you wouldn’t talk about it… I understand now.”
“Enough of this, before the whole ship hears you. Now, tell me Colonel, what else do you require of me?”
“We need a safe haven to go to, where we won’t be a target.”
“You are exceptionally lucky. We are actually heading to Planet Reach, the most secure planet within 250 light years of Earth. We could get to it in a matter of hours at Maximum Slip space speed. That is, of course, if you are so inclined.”
I looked at the General.
“It is your call, General.”
“By all means. The safer, the better.”
“Very well, we should get to reach within 2 hours. Make yourselves at home.”
After a few hours of relaxing the captain brought us up to the bridge.
“Dropping out of slip space in 3, 2, 1.”
The Planet reach immediately came into view as one of the attendants said:
“Sir, we are being hailed!”
“Onscreen.”
“UNSC cruiser, this is Reach Ship Control, you are entering our scanner range. Please identify yourself.”
“this is UNSC Pillar of Justice with special passengers on special assignment, Requesting permission to land.”
“What are your special passengers?”
“Spartans 116, 235, and 239, and General Alex Makarov. We are transporting them to Reach from Eradinus II due to it being invaded by the Covenant.”
“Everything checks out, you are clear to land at star port Sierra 12, docking port 2. Reach welcomes the Spartans and General Makarov.”
“Understood, Pillar of Justice out.”
The screen cleared.
“That wasn’t too bad.”
After we landed at star port, we left the ship and went to a base similar to the one destroyed on Eradinus II. When we reached the inner part, we stopped and the General turned towards us.
“this is where we part ways. You are supposed to go to ONI: Sword Base and give a sitrep to ONI Personnel.”
I nodded my approval.
“It’s been an honor, sir.”
“Likewise. I will never forget you.”
We walked away into the business of the base and was lost in the crowd.

reactivate a relay outpost 20 clicks out of Espoz on Planet Reach. It was the year 2552, and it had brought with it war. During the outbreak, Dr. Catherine Halsey became the mastermind of the SPARTAN-II project, and I had been one of its subjects. I was brought to Planet Reach from My home planet, Earth, at the age of 6, and ever since before the outbreak, I had endured a lifetime of hard and brutal training. That all vanished in my memories as the pilots told us we were getting close to the location. I grabbed my MA-5B Assault Rifle, put my M6 Magnum on my thigh, and put on my helmet. It was a Mark V Commander’s Helmet, and it had been outfitted with a voice network tap attachment that he would interface with My neural implants. I only had to think of a person on my team, and it would snap to the radio in that person’s helmet in an instant.

The two Falcons slowed down and hovered 2 miles away from the relay outpost. Suddenly, I picked up a distress beacon about 10 feet away next to a wrecked Scorpion Battle Tank near a house like structure.
“Team, I am picking up a distress beacon. Let’s investigate that first.” I said, pointing to the direction of the beacon.
The Falcons set down near the beacon. Me and my two 2nd in commands, Anthony-100, a steel colored Spartan, but was an support solider with heavy armor, and Caleb-142, another steel colored Spartan, but a assault solider with assault armor, got off the Falcon, and went to the beacon, while the rest of the team stayed in the other Falcon. Caleb knelt down and lifted a twisted piece of wood off what appeared to be a red, plastic transmitter, and tossed it to me.
“Who does the beacon belong to, Boss?” Caleb asked.
“I don’t know, but by the looks of it, it is a military beacon.” I said.
“So where are all the marines that were with the tank?” Anthony said.
“Paul, can you confirm any ID?” I said. (Paul-068 was one of the scout-sniper Spartans on the team that stayed in the second Falcon.)
“Negative, sir.” He said.
“Well, Task Force, looks like this place is clean, lets move on. Maybe We took cover in that structure over there (I pointed to a massive house like structure about 100 feet southeast of our position), lets check it out.”

All three of us went towards the structure, wary of our surroundings. We raced through the structure and went into the back courtyard when Paul said:
“Colonel, I am seeing movement in a structure 100 feet southeast of your position, over.”
Not good, could be rebels trying to take hostages, I thought.
“Task Force, double time. Falcon 2, Set ‘er down, we will need all the help we can get.”
The rest of the team besides Paul was dropped of at the entrance to the structure. The other team members were as follows:

•
George-101, a Sniper Spartan with green and tan armor.
•
Matt-111, a Support Spartan with red heavy armor.
•
Ethan-082, a Scout Spartan with green armor
•
Jeremy-045, a Assault Spartan with steel armor
•
Tyler-133, a Assault Spartan with steel armor

We went into the structure, and then We heard banging around in the structure.
“Th’ hell is that? Paul, see anything?” I asked.
“Negative, radar’s clean.”
We proceeded with caution, looking around to make sure nothing was there. Then Paul exclaimed:
“Boss, I see movement! Outside the structure! Covenant!”
Not here, not now, not on Reach, I thought in horror. “Contact! Contact! Falcons Assist! Task Force, engage!” I yelled. We raced outside and engaged the Covenant forces.

The battle near the relay outpost went better than expected. The only Covenant forces at first were a couple of Grunt minors and a few Skirmisher minors. We wiped them out in a matter of seconds. But Paul reported:
“Colonel, enemy drop ships inbound!” which downed our hopes that we would take the Covenant forces down with an easy fight. We headed to the field and met the drop ships (Spirits and Phantoms We were called) and their passengers, more Grunts and more Skirmishers. We annihilated them all without breaking a sweat. But as we headed toward the back of the field, 3 Elite Ultras came out, armed with Plasma Repeaters, Plasma Pistols, and Plasma Grenades, and fired on the team, along with 6 Grunt Ultras. That only delayed the inevitable, which was annihilation and defeat at the hands of us.

After the battle, I noticed a truck with a flatbed, intended to haul hay, sitting about 30 feet away. That gave me an idea.
“Tyler, Matt, lets make use of that truck. Everyone else, head to the relay outpost, we will meet you there. Caleb, Anthony, make sure they get there.” I said.
Anthony nodded and call for an air lift to the relay outpost, while Matt, Tyler, and myself went over to the truck. I and Matt got in the two front seats, while Tyler got on the flatbed and slammed his massive machine gun on the top support frame, using it like a turret. I started up the truck and went racing toward the opening in the rock. I took a turn, and started going down a long road, when two Elite Minors popped out from behind the rocks on the side of the road. I had no choice but to keep going, running them over in the process, flinging their bodies high in the air, and then hitting the ground hard, with no movement from either of them.
“Forget the noob tube, we got the noob CAR!” Tyler joked, and all of us laughed.
Then it got serious as We approached the next structure. There were Grunts, Skirmishers, and an Elite Minor, huddled around a central tree in the courtyard. I stopped and Tyler and Matt opened fire. The Covenant forces never had a chance to fire back as the bullets coursed through them and killed them all. Then we drove off, and mopped up the rest of the Covenant forces in the vicinity. We stopped at a structure and the Falcon picked us up, and then headed for the relay outpost.

We sat in the Falcon heading to the relay outpost, and I got into a secure channel with Anthony and Caleb.
“Anthony, Caleb, sitrep.” I said.
“Things are getting hairy right now. The Covenant found us and launched a frontal assault on us. We are barely holding our own.”
“Okay. We are on the way to your location right now. Expect heavy resistance from the enemy.”
I broke the connection and readied my weapons. The pilot then said
“Approaching the relay outpost. Where do you guys want me to set ‘er down?”
“In the courtyard.” I commanded.
“LZ’s hot, get ready.” The Falcon stopped in the courtyard as planned.

“Alright, pile out! Move, move, move!” I yelled, jumping out and engaging the enemy.
My teammates jumped out as the Falcon flew up and away. I jumped on a Grunt and ripped the mask breather off his face. Tyler mowed down a wave of troops with his massive machine gun. Matt jumped on and snapped the neck of an Elite Leader. All of us got our fair share of Covenant massacre. Then, Ethan hacked into the door controls for the front door of the outpost and successfully got it to start closing as drop ship after drop ship dropped off more and more Covenant troops and I yelled
“Everyone inside, go, go, go!” and all of the team got in the door in time just as the door closed and locked.

The room inside was messy. There was a dead Marine in the corner, with blood all over the place, and fragmentation grenades and shell casings scattered all over the floor. The next door in the back opened all of a sudden. We moved through it, and proceeded with caution. We came to the control panel and I said:
“Try to get a secure connection with Command, Ethan.”
“I’m on it.” Ethan said.
Suddenly, three Elites, equipped with Plasma Swords and Concussion Rifles, jumped down from the ceiling, and the leader, Zealot-classed Elite, swung his sword at Tyler, who ducked, grabbed his machine gun, and let loose a barrage of bullets. The other members engaged the Elites, and the leader pushed me aside while running towards the back, forcing me to the ground, making me fresh prey to one of the other Elites, a Zealot.

The Elite took out his Plasma Knife and attempted to stab me, but I grabbed the knife, pulled out my pistol, and put three bullets in his chest, killing the Elite. I got up, grabbed My MA-5B, and pointed it towards the Elites at the door. The Elites ran, and I said “Stay on target, Ethan, keep going, Tyler, Matt, clear the hole!”
Matt and Tyler walked forward, readying their weapons in the process, and after we went through the door, Tyler closed it behind them.

Matt and Tyler engaged the Covenant. The Covenant put up a fight, but that was an ultimately futile effort. They got to the server room of the complex. The back was heavily guarded by the Elite with the Energy Sword, Grunt Ultras with Fuel Rod Guns, and yet another Elite with a Concussion Rifle. Obviously the Covenant didn’t want the Spartans to get to whatever they were guarding, if anything. Tyler said: “Flush them out, I’ll cover you. They will come out eventually. But watch out for the Elite with the Energy Sword. He’ll stab you like there was no tomorrow.”
Matt acknowledged him and went around the wall blocking the side to the back. Then he snuck up behind a Grunt Ultra and stuck him with a Plasma Grenade. The Grunt panicked, running around the area like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to sweep off the grenade, yelling “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” but the grenade exploded, killing the Grunt. The Elite with the Energy Sword ran to the body, investigating it. Matt looked at the body with amusement, but got too close to it, and the Elite saw him.

The Elite roared with surprise, but did not have the time to react, as Matt jumped on him, took his knife, and stabbed the Elite in the back of the head, killing it. The Grunts yelled as Tyler barraged them with his machine gun. The Elite held his own with his Concussion Rifle, letting loose a storm of bursts of energy, pinning Tyler in the front of the room. Suddenly, it seemed his whole spine had snapped, and his body crumpled in a heap on the ground, with Matt standing behind it. Tyler reported “Colonel, everything is clear, all targets neutralized.”
“Good, Ethan needs you to turn on the Main Power Supply for the Relay Transmitter, turn it on, make sure the area’s secure, and then get back here ASAP.” I commanded.
Matt went to the back room of the server room, and activated the Main Power Supply, then gestured for Tyler to follow. The whole team, including I knew we were sure that the Covenant would stop at nothing to destroy Reach, the 6 billion inhabitants, and all of the military forces that also called it home. The Winter Contingency had come.

I treaded carefully on the thin edge of the rocks in the canyon with Paul in the night, hoping not to be spotted by Phantoms on patrol, because we were in Covenant territory. Armed with 99C-S2 Sniper Rifles, we made sure not to lean too much over the edge, which would lead to a 5000-foot-fall to our death. I and Paul then made it to a small patch of rock a meter wide. As I stepped on the rock Paul was waiting for me on, Paul handed me a box of ammo and said “You might need these, Colonel. Standard issue, supersonic, armor piercing rounds. One shot to the head, you’re history.” Paul pointed to the structures down in the valley below.

“There is our company. We should approach them through the small cliff to the side, and take them out as quietly as possible. If Phantoms show up, that will eliminate that possibility of quiet and stealth-like elimination.”
I loaded a full clip into my sniper rifle, and loaded a bullet into the chamber.
“Let’s go.” I said.
We slid down the slope leading to the small cliff to the side. As I moved as quietly as possible, I spotted an Elite Minor standing at the edge 50 feet away, not paying attention to anything except the sky.
“He is all yours. Let ‘em have it.” Paul said.
I took my sniper rifle, peered through the scope, and centered the crosshairs on the back of the Elite’s neck. I held my breath, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet took less than a millisecond to rip though the spine of the Elite, and the Elite collapsed over the edge, lifeless.
“Nice shot, Colonel. Let’s proceed.” Paul said.

We proceeded to move along the cliff, leading to a structure surrounded by artificial creeks and streams. The structure was filled with Covenant forces, some surrounding the structure. The Elite Officer had no idea that we had taken sniper positions and were training our crosshairs on his head. One moment later, his head exploded in a flower of blood, as his lifeless body crumpled over the top floor of the structure and hit the ground. This surprised the other forces, comprising of Grunt Minors, Grunt Heroes, and Elite Ultras, and they looked at the body with surprise. The 4 Elite Ultras then hunted for the assassins of the Elite Leader, but, in four shots from us , their bodies fell to the ground before they had a chance to expose the our positions.

We took out the remaining Covenant without much difficulty, and we proceeded to walk through the structure to the back, bringing them to a water plant, where some civilians were fighting Covenant forces with what appeared to be military weapons. Why would civilians have military weapons? And how did they get them without getting caught, I thought to myself. We proceeded to the nearest civilian just as we killed the last troop.
“Civilian, we here to assist you as much as needed. But, if you don’t mind my asking, how did you get your hands on UNSC weapons and equipment?” I asked.
“It is all stolen. We got them from a friend.” The civilian answered.
“Do you know the charges and prosecutions for stealing UNSC equipment and weapons?” I inquired.
“Heh, it’s not like it matters. We’ll all die anyway. Waddya going to do, arrest me?” The civilian shot back at me.
I shrugged.
“By the way, there was a lot of Covenant activity at a big electrical plant down the road.” The civilian offered.
I turned to talk to Paul in private, while raising one finger as to say “One moment.” We discussed for a little bit in whispers, and then turned back towards the civilian.
“Show us.” I commanded.

I and Paul walked with the civilians into a cave towards the electrical plant down the highway. Eventually we came up to a metal set of doors, locked with a keypad with an authorization password. I came up to it and tapped in the password I knew for opening gates like this. It opened with groaning and whirring of machinery. Then we went through it, cautiously watching every angle. The cave opened up to a large side cliff and a bridge that went across to the electrical plant. We got behind rocks and trees, just to make sure we wouldn’t get picked off by snipers. I looked at something next to the electrical plant with horror.
“Paul, are you seeing this?”

What I saw was a massive Covenant construct, armed with Plasma Turrets, and guarded by a pair of Hunters, 4 Elite Ultras, 10 Grunt Minors, 5 Skirmisher Minors, and an Elite Leader.
“Yes, it looks like a Covenant Outpost, right where we don’t want ‘em. Looks like we really want to mess with us. Let’s give our old friends a warm “welcome”, shall we?” Paul said.
I looked at the civilians. Not much of a fighting force, but this is what we got, and we are going to make use of it, I thought to himself.
“Alright boys, let’s give them a beating we won’t soon forget, everyone agreed?” I asked the civilians.
They nodded in agreement and readied their weapons. I pulled out my Sniper Rifle, slammed a fresh clip in to it, and loaded the first bullet in the chamber, then gestured for everyone else to follow.

We then moved silently along the cliff and behind the cover road blocks on the bridge. I suddenly came to a problem, go in loud, or pick them off silently? Both were good decisions, but I thought of the civilians, we would never stand a chance against those Hunters, we would be shot to pieces. I also thought about the civilians wanting to get revenge on the Covenant for trying to kill them, and decided to go in quiet and loud at the same time. I pulled out a Fragmentation Grenade. I pulled the pin and threw it at the tightly packed Covenant forces. The grenade worked better then expected. It killed all the Grunts, half the Elites, and even one Hunter. But for the rest that survived, the grenade generally pissed them off. But another grenade solved that problem, killing the rest of the forces that survived the first grenade.

We then moved quickly to the Covenant outpost structure, and we went up the gravity lift going into the structure, and manned the Plasma Cannons in the front of the structure. Suddenly, a Phantom rose from below the cliff and dropped off troops, and a threat I knew would be a problem, another pair of Hunters, right up close to the civilians.
“Incoming! Looks like we really pissed them off.” I yelled, knowing the Hunters would destroy the civilians without a second thought.
Hearing me, the civilians booked it to the gravity lift and went into the structure.
We used all the firepower we had to take out the Hunters, and finally, with a final burst from the Plasma Cannon, the last Hunter collapsed to the ground. The civilians thanked us for our help and we moved to the cliff, but came upon a horrible sight. A whole army of Covenant was on the valley below, along with a Covenant Corvette.
“Paul, are you seeing this?” I said in dismay.
“Yes, I do. Looks like an entire army is massing in the valley below. The sun will be coming up in a few hours, and it’s going to be one helluva day.”

I sat in the Troop Transport Warthog with my team, heading towards the Covenant forces in the valley with the 3rd Army. We neared a bridge leading to our drop off point.
“Alright, we are close to the drop off point, get ready to pile out!”
As if on some kind of cue, a shot from a Corvette in the valley ripped through the bridge, destroying it and upturning the edges.
“Lock your armor! Brace for a hard impact!”
No sooner did the words leave my lips then we hit the edges, And I was Catapulted into the air, and the warthog exploded. I hit the ground, tasted blood in my mouth, and blacked out.
I woke to the sound of a tone, then a door opening, then a massive headache. I opened my eyes to find a plasma barrier in front of a holding cell. I immediately realized we were in the Corvettes Brig. I looked around my cell, and noticed that only Matt, Tyler, and Paul were in the cell with me. A deep wave of grief and sorrow swept over me as I realized that they were killed when the warthog exploded. Our armor was still on, and as well as our helmets, so that gave me a sense of comfort, as a Elite Minor approached, and looked at us and, surprisingly said in English to another: “The humans are awake, Your excellency. They survived.”
A Elite General approached and studied us.
“At last, we can study these humans and adapt their technology to our own. The armor they are wearing obviously saved their worthless lives, so the armor may be useful to us. What is the status of the ship?”
“Fully mission capable.”
“Good work, Merimee, prep the ship for departure. We will bring them before the Hierarchs and extract every secret that they hold, even if it is somewhat painful.”
They walked away, and I fell into a painful but peaceful sleep.
I was woken by the tone again, and, for the first time, and unusually, a cry of pain, and snapping of bone. I immediately woke up and woke everyone else up. After I woke Matt, the barrier deactivated. I looked, and saw our hero, Spartan 118, Soul.
“Soul! What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? I am getting you out of here!”
“But there will be reinforcements here any minute! We will never make it to the hangar!”
“We’re Spartans. We’ll improvise.” He said with a grin.
“Grab the weapons; we are going to need them to get out of here in one piece!”
My team obeyed and we left the brig, and raced down the halls of the vessel. When we reached hanger bay 4, Soul radioed “This is Spartan 118 to Falcon Bravo 23, requesting exfill from hanger bay 4.”
“Heading that way now.”
I saw a heavy patrol heading our way.
“Watch your six, we got company!”
We opened fire and slaughtered them as the falcons came into the hanger bay. As we loaded up, I saw a pair of hunters headed straight for Matt.
“Matt, watch yourself, you got hunters on your six!”
He ran towards us as the falcons started to pull away. He jumped and I barely caught his hand and lifted him up onto the aircraft as we pulled away into the night.

I woke to the sound of the rotor blades of the falcon and a massive headache. I took a quick look at my surroundings, which revealed a... Shipyard? Then it hit me. ONI moved their HQ here after Sword Base was invaded and fell to the Covenant war machine. I realized we were descending and i grabbed my weapons as we set down. I walked off with my team and went inside the mobile command post in front of us, and after Soul got off, the falcons flew away into the morning. As we walked in the base, the marines inside gave us long staring looks of amazement and awe. At that time, I was glad to have my helmet on for I had an embarrassed look on my face. When we reached the main office, much to our surprise, General Markarov was there. A grin reached my face as I lifted the helmet off my head and shook hands with the general.
“Good to see you again General. Long time no see, eh?” I said.
“Likewise, Colonel. I am glad to see you in one piece after the invasion of Reach started.”
He looked at what was left of my team, and a serious face spread over him.
“I am sorry for your loss. They will be missed.”
“There was nothing I could do.”
“But for your assignment, on the other hand, is very important for the survival of Reach. You are to accompany the UNSC Bismarck in protecting the UNSC Low-orbit station Anchor 7. That shipyard is the last way off Reach.”
“Understood.”

I Piloted the Longsword Fighter with the Bismarck to the Space station Anchor 7 above Planet Reach. The fighter was sluggish and hard to manuver due to the overpowered engines. When we reached Anchor 7, I started a patrol of the station with my team, as they were in the other Longswords in my Squadron. I was circling around when the sensors started going crazy. When i checked them, it showed a large Covenant fleet headed towards Anchor 7.
“UNSC Bismarck, this is Alpha Leader, scanners show a large attack fleet inbound towards Anchor 7.”
“This is UNSC Bismarck, we are seeing the same thing as you. Recommend all craft in the vicinity engage and defend the station. Alpha Leader, you’re clear to engage.”
“Understood Bismarck, Alpha Team ready to engage.”
As the words left my lips, the fleet arrived within firing range. My finger tightened on the firing trigger. All of a sudden, Seraph formations rushed towards us.
“Let them have it! Engage!”
We opened fire on the Seraph Formations. I succeeded in taking out an entre formation with Medusa Missles, and procceeded towards the Capital Ship in the middle of the fleet. I started the firing sequence of a Nuclear missle pod. As I got closer, I clipped one seraph and nearly spun out of control, but recovered with not too much damage. I looked at the firing sequence progress: 90%. Just as i reached the appropirate firing range, the progress reached 100% and the ship rocked as The Nuclear missle lauched and hit a critical part of the ship and exploded. I called to my target anaylzer.
“Target status report. Please tell me that did something!”
“It hit a key part of the ship, it knocked out the slipspace drive, severe damage to levels 1-9, but its shields are still at sufficient levels and the bridge is minimally damaged. And weapons are still at sufficient levels. What are your orders?”
“If that didn’t do something, then we are going to need a bigger missile!”
I suddenly had a idea, but it would cost many lives, but it was so crazy, but it just might have worked.
“I have an idea. Hail the Bismarck.”
“Yes sir.”
The Captain appeared on the HUD.
“Sir, I believe I know how to take out the capital ship.”
“And what is that?”
“Your ship is going to be the biggest legend in human history.”
He paused.
“Land in the hangar and come to the bridge.”
“What about my team?”
“We have not recieved any contact with them since the assault started. We think they are all lost.”
My heart sank.
“Going now, see you at the bridge. Alpha leader out.”

I Pulled into the hanger bay of the Bismarck and set down on the landing pad. I got up and walked out of the spacecraft with my crew, and a crewman walked up to me.
“Can I be of assistance, sir?”
“Yes, repair the ship and prep it for immediate departure. I will need it again soon.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
I walked to the lift out of the hanger bay onto level 4, and went to the bridge. As I walked to the bridge, the crewmen were franticly trying to repair the vessel, in case of a renewed attack. When I reached the bridge, it stopped and faced the Captain.
“Captain Silva?”
He turned around and shook my hand.
“Good to see you Colonel. Things are not going well. Deja did her best, but we didn’t fair as good as we hoped. We lost the MAC cannon shortly after we engaged, and we were crippled by the Capital Ship.”
“Is the Slip space Drive still intact?”
“Sufficiently, yes. Why?”
“If my plan is to succeed, it is imperative that it stays that way.”
“Explain yourself.”
“What we do is I head down to engineering and set the fusion reactors on a Wildcat Destabilization, while the bridge sets a collision course towards the Capital ship. If my calculations are correct, and we hit where I hit it with the nuke, the radiation should not only cripple the Capital Ship, but also cause the Slip space Drive in the Bismarck to rupture and fire, transporting the Bismarck and almost all of what’s left of the Capital ship to oblivion. It is a risky and costly plan, but I don’t have any other ideas.”
He considered it for a moment.
“What about us?”
“The passengers abandon ship and I will as well.”
He paused.
“Well, I don’t see any other way. But be quick about it, the Bismarck won’t be able to take much more, I don’t think. Our hull integrity is not very strong, especially after the beating it has taken. But I do have a small favor to ask of you.”
He walked over to the A.I. console and pulled out a memory card.
“I need you to take Deja with you. I have already briefed her on the plan. She will help you with your end of the plan.”
He showed the card to me.
“Good luck, Colonel.”
I took the card and inserted it into the back of my helmet. Deja greeted me.
“Alright Colonel, lets get to work. Accessing schematics… I am uploading a nav point to your HUD. Follow it and it will lead you to engineering.”
I followed the nav point and reached engineering, but not before stopping by the armory to pick up a rocket launcher and a pistol.
“We are here. First we need to pull back the exhaust couplings. That opening leads to the fusion reactor. Then we need to destabilize it by means of explosives. I recommend to use a grenade or rocket. If you run out, go back to the armory.”
I ran upstairs and slammed to button that read OPEN. I then jumped on the moving piece and centered my cross hairs on the opening, and fired. The rocket sailed into the opening and exploded.

The explosion that resulted from the fusion reactor rocked the room like a 9.0 earthquake.
“That did it! The engines are at critical levels of stability! Based on the ships fusion reactors, we should have 15 minutes to evac the ship. There is a service elevator on the top of the engine room, which leads to a Class 7 corridor that runs along the spine of the ship. Hurry!”
I needed no more invitation. I sprinted to the top of the room, and the elevator was waiting for me as a ran in and slammed the button that said UP. It started slow at first, then picked up speed, then stopped at the top level, leading to a bay of Warthogs. I immediately jumped in the nearest one and gunned it out of the bay.
“Hold on a sec... Bad news, the engines took more damage than we thought. We now have 6 minutes to get out of here. Activating final countdown timer, now.”
I glanced at it: 5:58:24. I edged the warthog to go faster, and weaved in and out of columns along the corridor. At one point, I clipped a column and almost lost it, but regained control and kept going.
“Colonel, do you have a plan to get us out of here?”
“There is a Longsword in Hanger Bay 7. does this corridor lead to it?”
“Yes, why?”
“That is our means of escape, since I assume the crew has already launched all of the escape pods?”
“You are correct, all pods have left the Bismarck.”
“Good. Lets get out of here.”
I glanced at the timer again: 2:36:23. I gunned it and sailed through the corridor. I noticed a gap in the path, and I gunned it to the floor. My stomach dropped as I fell 4 floors to the ramp below. I managed to land safely on the other side. I kept going until I saw the Longsword, and leaped from the Warthog and sailed acroos the hanger bay and landed right in front of it, going into a combat roll the absorb all the energy from the fall. I raced to the cockpit and flipped the engines on and lifted the fighter off the ground. When it faced the outside, I shoved the throttle as far as it would go. Gee forces kicked in as I rocketed out of the hangar bay and into space. I reached a safe distance when the ships collided. I felt the explosion seconds after impact. I flipped the fighter around and shut down the engines. I then looked at my handiwork. The ship was almost gone, and it served a testimony to what remained of Planet Reach. It was a sad sight, as it was almost completely glassed.
“Did anyone else survive?”
“Scanning... There was one ship that escaped, The Pillar of Autumn, with what appears to be the Master Chief.”
Master Chief! He was one of the most mythic and legendary Spartans in the UNSC, I marveled.
“But the crew didn't make it, nor did the Captain. We are the only survivors. But we did what we had to do. A Entire Capital ship obliterated, and the fleet!”
She paused.
“Reach...It's finished.”
“No.” I said with certainty. “I think this is just the beginning.”

“Jake... Jake... Colonel! Wake up!”
I woke up with a start.
“What? What?”
“There is a ship coming out of slip space jump!”
I flew to the scanner screen, and I saw that she wasn’t lying. A large ship was coming. No sooner did I see it on the scanner than it came into view. But, to my surprise, it was a UNSC frigate, the Forward Unto Dawn. I was hailed immediately. Incredulously, Soul appeared on the HUD.
“Stranded are we?”
“I am fine, I just need means of transport.”
“Land in the hanger, then, what are you waiting for?” He said in a very friendly tone.
I needed no further invitation.
When I landed, Soul was waiting for me. When I exited the Longsword, we shook hands, and he thrust his arm around me.
“So, How is my favorite Spartan-III?”
“Hmm, better than I thought. By the way...”
I gave him Deja.
“Give this to the Captain for me, will ya?”
“I think I know someone on board that will need it more than the Captain...” he trailed off.
“Who?”
“He is one of your kind, and is just about as a legend as you, and then some.”
I slowly realized.
“Master Chief?!?!?!”
“Yes. He has came on this vessel to see your progress and personally meet you and Matt.
“Matt's ALIVE? THANK GOD!” I cried.
“I knew you would be happy. Go get yourself some rest. You need it.”
I needed no further invitation.

I woke with a sense of restored peace and strength. I gathered my weapons and walked out of my quarters and into the hallways. I was constantly getting stares from the marines, which I was glad I had my helmet on. An idea hit me, and I went to the medical bay. When I went into the medical bay, a medical officer ran up to me.
“Are you Sierra 116?”
“Yes.”
“Good, Matt wanted to make sure you survived as well. He is dying to see you.”
“What is his condition?”
“He is stable, but in no shape to walk for a good 10 hours.”
“Let me in there.”
“Yes sir.”
I walked into his room. He was on the table, with all armor still on except his helmet. I walked over to the table.
“Hey pal. How are you doing?”
“Been better.” He said with humor.
“What happened out there?”
“I blacked out when I was shot by the capital ship. Then I woke up here.”
“Damn.”
The doctor ran to me.
“Sir, you are requested on the bridge.”
“I will be right there.”
I walked out of the room, glancing at Matt. I walked through the halls to the bridge. When I reached the bridge, I was rewarded with the presence of one of the most fabled and legendary heroes of the Human-Covenant war, Master Chief. I stiffened at attention when he turned to me.
“At ease, Spartan.”
I relaxed and shook his hand.
“It is an honor to meet you.” I said with gratitude.
He nodded.
“I know you have brought great honor to the UNSC, and had great sacrifice, but it eventually paid off in the end. According to the Covenant, and the whole of the UNSC, you seem to have the luck of the devil.”
I chuckled slightly.
“It’s also said that Spartan 116 single handedly took out a Covenant Capital ship. But it would not have worked without the Captain.”
He chuckled slightly.
“Well, we will show ourselves at your home planet, and meet Dr Halsey at ONI Alpha Base.”
“Looking forward to it.”
I turned at the sound of the door opening. Incredulously, It was Matt, walking as normal. He walked up to us and shook Master Chief’s hand.
“What is the situation?” He asked me.
“We are going home.”

I braced myself as we came to a slow pace around Planet Earth. It was so much more populated since I last saw it. But, then again, it was good to be home. Master Chief turned to the captain.
“Is our pelican ready?
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. We are going to the surface. Come, let’s go.”
We needed no further invitation.
When the doors were shut on the pelican, we lifted off the floor and rushed towards the planet below. It seemed like only a moment had gone by when the doors were opened while we neared Alpha Base in New Mombasa. We slowed down and we grabbed our weapons as it set down. We stepped out and met, for the first time in a long time, General Alex Makarov. We shook hands.
“Good to see you again, Colonel. You too, Chief. Come, Dr. Halsey awaits us.”
We followed Makarov through the base to a dead end, but we knew better. We waited, and a section of the wall opened, and lead us to Halsey’s lab. She turned to face us.
“116, 235, and 117. It is good to see you again. What is the sit rep on Reach?”
I answered.
“It is obliterated, it’s surface is almost nothing but glass. But with sufficient terraforming and planet restoration, we could rebuild it within a couple decades. As for survivors, there was almost total catastrophic numbers of civilian and military casualties. Only one major ship made it of Reach from the ship breaking Yards in Azod, the Pillar of Autumn, with the Master Chief on board.”
“That’s bad news, which means they are on Earths doorstep.”
“I think there is more to it.” Master Chief spoke up. “There is a new threat to all of the species of this galaxy. We discovered it after we escaped. The Covenant refer to it as “Halo”. It was a ring world in orbit around a gas giant called Threshold. It was also a weapon with unthinkable power. It has the power to wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. It was built by what the Covenant call “the Forerunners” to counteract an alien parasitic life form simply referred to as “The Flood”, which infects living or dead specimens to survive. We fought the Flood, and was forced to destroy the ring to prevent the Flood from spreading off Halo.”


I was taken aback. A parasitic life form that infects anything in sight, and a ring world that could wipe out life as we knew it? I was shocked.



*


*


*
After our discussion with Halsey, we walked out of the base, and I noticed two pelicans instead of one.
“You aren’t coming with us, are you Chief?” I said, realizing.
“No, I have to meet with Lord Hood on Cairo Station. You are going to reestablish a colony on Reach with an armada of ships.”
He stepped on the Pelican as it started up.
“Good luck. You will need it.”
The pelican lifted off and raced away into the evening sky. I sighed with contempt. This was going to be no easy task, bar none.