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Third Marines, Harvest Campaing: Chapter One.
Date: 7 January 2005, 6:14 AM

Third Marines In Harvest

Chapter One.

38 September 2524.
United Nations Space Command
Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
Marines Head Quarters. Britannia Island Chain
Camp Peleilu, Marine Basic Training Facility

"Welcome to basic ladies and gentlemen. I have no idea why you joined here and I'm certainly not sure why the jarheads at the recruiting office let you in, but regardless, your asses now belong to me! If you survive, I'll swear you will make your mom and pops proud for the first time! You are all kids now, but you'll be leaving this place like men." Gunnery Sergeant Anders said with a happy yet angry voice; he was enjoying himself. "You are now cattle, I'm the freaking cowboy. If you meet my expectations, you will not be sent to the slaughter house."

      The Sergeant looked over the formation. "Left, Face! Double Time, March!"

      The recruits had not even met. As soon as they signed the contracts for their enlistments, they had been injected with something, taken into a cargo vessel, put in cryo-sleep, and navigated from Earth to Reach in slipspace. They woke up in a Pelican breaching the planet atmosphere, landed on a Base the size of a complete island, and were thrown out by DIs were they met Anders, a short, annoying brown-haired man. A scar markedd his right cheek, he had a "First Marines" patch on his right shoulder shortly below it a Helljumper patch.

      "Left, Left, your Left, Right, Left, your Left Right Left..." the recruits repeated the cadence after the DI.

      "Give me that old Marine Corps Spirit." The Marines repeated the cadence.

      "It was good at Iwojima."

      "It was good in the Third World War."

       "It was good in the Rain Forest Wars"

      "It was good at the Pilgrim Rebellion."

      "It was good at the Jericho Battle."

      "It was good at the Malcolm System," the Marines repeated, more tired this time. They had been going on for seven miles.

      "And it's good enough for me!" The Marines repeated for the last time after Anders.

      The Trainee's rounded the last corner and headed into a huge building. They were left in formation at Attention as Anders addressed them, the heavy breathing from the run audible to all.

      "Marines you are going to get M2A training rifles, Class Alpha Battle Gear, and then PT Gear. Two lines right here, and if anyone talks, every single one will run back and here again. Is that understood?" Said Anders.

      The reply was distorted with "Yes, Sergeant" and "Yes, Sir."

      "What did you say? It's a hoorah!" Said Anders, and the Marines responded accordingly.

      Recruit David Bradley stood in the back of the line. A rich kid from earth, coming from one the "crème de la crème" families, he had graduated high school barely, still getting into George Tow Med School. His live changed one day when he returned from a party late at night, he found his entire family dead, killed by thieves, he spent three months in mourning, hibernating in his house, with out moving a muscle. He didn't joined the Marines for money or for the adventures, he needed to move on, get away from everything, he left everyone behind, his best friends, his family, his so called future. Next to him was Recruit Albert Thomas, an outer Colony "hillbilly" as they were called. He joined the Marines for only one reason, the college bonus. Behind them was Jonathan Cruz, he joined because if not, he would have gone to prison, finally was Terry Mackal, a long standing name in the military, he joined because this is what the family wanted. The four remained stiff and silent as the DI began directing them, in their orderly fashion, to enter another room adjacent to theirs.

      When Bradley entered the second room after the short wait, a Lieutenant approached. "This is one of my M2A rifles, you will take care of it. If you graduate, it will be yours. The same here with your standard issue battle suit and helmet. Take care of it since I'll be checking it constantly, even when you are sleeping, now get of my sight."

      Bradley looked at his new battle gear; this was not the standard issue M2A rifle, it had no optics, nor the set up for the integrated battle suit of the Land Warrior technology. It had only full auto or single shot fire options, and the only thing digital was the ammo count. The suit was a standard issue BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) with green camouflage patterns, a basic helmet, and two pair of boots.

      "Lets move ladies, we have a six-month vacation planned just for you. Let's go!" Anders yelled as he finished marching them back to their barracks. The Recruits moved to their bunks and stood at attention as the DI walked down the long hallway of bunks and lockers. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow will be tough."

      Thomas jumped on the top of Bradley's bunk. He silently leaned over the side and whisper to him, careful not to attract Anders attention. "I'm Thomas, I'm from Troy, in the Peloponnesus System of the outer colonies. Let me ask you here, what exactly is this, the recuiting videos didn't show this!"


      "Earth, and I've never heard of the System. Yea, I'm sick of this and its only been half a day" Bradley replied, exhausted.

      Another recruit joined in from the bunk next to them, Mackal. "I'm from Wake, in a system not far from here. You signed a contract, you can't resign"

      Bradley and Thomas nodded and introduced themselves, but were cut off as Anders called out from the head of the room, his voice booming.

      "Lights outs, Recruits."

7 February 2525.
United Nation Space Command.
Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
Marines Headquarters, Britannia Island Chain.
Camp Pilgrim Rebellion, Advanced Infantry Training Course

      "Don't move," said Corporal Mat Perry, the Squad Leader. They were in the last test before graduation; they had to take a hill held by an enemy squad. They were in full battle gear, the MA5B rifle in hand had an ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gun sight), with a Thermal Imager System. The rifle interfaced with the SBS (Standard Battle Suite), a small backpack that had a tiny computer, which coordinated the different gadgets the Marines had; a small camera atop the barrel so they cloud aim around corners, a GPS uplink for location, and a personal computer.

      "We have two fifty-cal's on the ridge. Once they are out, we will move low, take cover behind what you can, hit the top of that hill with grenades, and then assault it." The Marines acknowledged Perry's order. With a Jackhammer rocket-launcher, Private Monique crawled forward, and the Corporal showed him both targets with his hands. The target was the top of the hill, there was a grassy field between the hill and them, and the bushes scattered about would be their cover.

      "Once he takes them out, crawl forward. Dominique will run to the right, she'll make them think she's alone here." Perry tapped the head of Emma Dominique, who nodded in return. Two training rounds exited the missile launcher, streaking towards the two machine guns, and a puff of smoke detonated a second later. Five "enemy" Marines stood with their rifles held high, they were "dead."

      Dominique then ran right, bursts of rifle fire emerged from the hills, but none hit the Marine.

      The rest began crawling through the muddy terrain. They stopped every thirty seconds as their training dictated, did a head count, and looked for enemy targets. The hill was twenty meters away by now. With hand signals, Percy ordered two of the Marines, Ford and Juliet, to get their grenades ready. Bradley and Thomas had to cover them as they primed the explosives, and Perry signaled them forward. The Marines stood, and Vera and Thomas aimed at the hill. They exposed themselves to throw the grenades, and two "enemy" Marines stood on the hill to take aim.

      Bradley and Thomas pulled the trigger and both Marines on the hill threw their rifles to the ground in anger. Someone managed to shoot Juliet, however, and he stood in place, putting his rifle up. Ford threw his grenade, detonating in a puff of smoke, and the rest of the Marines began the charge up the hill.

      The ground had been taken.

5 October 2525.
United Nation Space Command
Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
FLEET HQ, North Continent
UNSC Fleet Command C3I Station

      It was 0403 hours, and Commodore Jane Mathews sat in the watch chair of the Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence station of the USNC Fleet Headquarters. The station was to assess incoming transmissions, analyze it, and report if necessary to higher command. The fleet was divided into fifteen major sectors, each had an assigned group of ships varying in size depending on the importance of the sector. There were also Eight Major Fleets and five Marine Expeditionary Fleets, each carrying a Division of Marines.

      "Ma'am, something is wrong at sector fifteen." Lieutenant (J.g.) Coral said. "Contact with Harvest System is lost." The Lieutenant ran system checks, but everything was in normal working order.

      "Any warships in the area?" Asked the Commodore.

      "No ma'am, we lost contact with everything in that system, and there are no technical problems on our side."

      The Commodore grabbed the nearby phone. "This is Commodore Jane Mathews at FLEETCOM, get Marshall Edmonds on line. I don't care, wake him up. This is a Priority Alpha."



Feb 3 2525
United Nation Space Command
Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
Reach Military Complex. North Continent
"Marshals" Town House

      Spaceman Apprentice Steve Baker slowly opened the door of Marshall Gary Edmonds room, signaling a pad on the wall next to him that turned the lights on. The Marshall sat up, looking a little disoriented.

      "What the hell is going on Baker?"

      "Sir, we have a priority call from C-Three-I down at Fleet com. Commodore Jane Mathews is calling in an Alpha." Said Steve, with unusual confidence.

      The Admiral turned around and looked at his wife. "I'll be back in an hour."

      He picked the phone, placing it in his ear.

      "I hope you like heat, because if this isn't good you will be shipping out to Mars." said Edmonds as he rubbed his eyes.

      "Sir, as from 0407 hours today, contact with Harvest colony at sector fifteen was lost." Came the reply from the phone.

      "There are two destroyers there. Send them there."

      "Ni-a and Buenos Aires, the two destroyers on patrol are either gone or have COM failures, sir."

      The Marshal swallowed. "All right. I will be down there in ten minutes, good work, Commodore." He hung up the phone and turned to the Apprentice. "Baker, get every one up, send them to the situation room. Get me a transport ready as well; we'll leave in five minutes."


5 October 2525. 0613
United Nation Space Command
Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
Reach Military Complex. North Continent
Situation Room, unknown location under ground

      "What scenarios has ONI generated?" asked Marshal Edmonds to the head of Naval Intelligence, Doctor Marko Parlov.

      "We think there might be a rebellion out there," responded the Doctor, but uncertainty was present in the man's voice.

      "Who is in charge there?" asked Edmonds.

      "Commander Andrew Connors, excellent officer. If there is a rebellion, I vouch for him. He's one of my sons best friends, any problems must be bellow him." Interjected Admiral Samuel Oropeza, Commander of the Navy.

      "Dr. Parlov, order one of your scout ships into the sector. I'm ordering UNSC into ALSTAT ALert STAtus Fuchsia."


      "CMA has already dispatched a scout ship, CMA Argo, it will be there by today." Parlov responded.



----------



Thanks to Russel for the aid.

Third Marines, Harvest Campaing: Chapter Two.
Date: 8 January 2005, 11:34 AM

Bradley, David F.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, Company A, 1st Battalion 3rd Marines 1st Marine Division. Place and date: 14 February 2530, Lyon, Dijon Colony Epsilon Eridani System Entered service at: Marine Recruiting Station at Wash, North America. Birth: Washington, North America, Earth. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and exceptional courage in the face of grave danger during the assault on Lyon. PFC Bradley charged into the enemy lines, saving the life of Spartan Chief Petty Officer Rose 065 who was pinned down by enemy small and mediums arms, killing ten grunts, three Jackals and Two Elites. PFC Bradley showed the best of him self, the Marines and the UNSC

Two weeks before


USNC Navy, 1st Fleet.
SAV (Space Assault Vessel) Oman
1st Marine Expeditionary Fleet.
Slipspace heading for Harvest. 2520

      Admiral Cole had taken the Covenant and won round one, three planets had been glassed, only five remained. One of them had been taken by the Covenant, the Marines were going to take it back.

      Colonel Dan Harley entered the briefing room of the vessel, he was commander of 3rd Marine Regiment. This had not been his first combat operation, he had been shot three times in the line of duty, he was the only winer of both the Colonial cross and the parliment medal of Honor. The First Marine Division officers were going to be briefed, most officer didn't even knew where they were exactly.

      "Good.... Whatever the hell it is now Dan, never can figure out what time it is on space". Said General Dukakis, commander of 1st Marine division.

      "Sure sir, you know. It helps having a watch". Said Dan, the CO laughed at the comment.

      A number of Officers and Sergeants Majors sat in Chairs around a table. "Listen up!. We are going to take this rock by force, Dijon its name is. Four Covenant Carriers were here before Admiral Cole took them on, deploying hundreds of drop ships" He noticed the smiles in some of the officers and sergeants.

       "It was a tough fight, remember this was only the first contact, intel is still weak. As you know this must be only the beginning" A hologram appeared over the table, a three chinned creature appeared, wearing a golden crown, looking very, very ugly.

       "The will of the Gods is that you are to be destroyed, we are their instrument". The Officers and sergeants looked at each other, this was the weirdest thing ever. "Dam, so we have a Jihad... again?" said one of the officers, the whole room laughed.

       "They don' look so tough". Said the General.

       "If I may General -said a Navy Lt. Commander who had a ONI patch on his shoulder- these creatures do not look physically strong, still their ships showed a level of technology centuries ahead from ours. I can't tell you what to expect down there, however one thing is for sure this is the biggest threat humanity has ever feared". Said the Commander. In all the briefings Colonel Harley had been ONI always knew something, this situation made him nervous.

       "Let's get down to business. The covenant landed here, this continent called Galilee. The whole area is under their control.

      3rd Marines is leading the invasion. 1st Battalion will land first near Lyon, a 2 million soul's city. Contact was lost with the city shortly after the invasion by the covenant. Expect the worst Gentlemen".

      Without answering questions he turned around and left. The Officers started discussing the mission. He went to pray and plan the job ahead.


***

       "Alert, Alert. This is the Captain speaking; all hands man your battle stations". Alarms joined the captains voice.

      Bradley was in a coma after last night PT, the whole battalion had been in pre-deployment training during the past week, the last part of their five year training that started as soon as the covenant apeared, since basic Bradley hadn't been so tired. Sergeant Anders had gone mental against the company, pushing everyone to the envelope of both physical and psychological stamina breaking the Marines spirit, Bradley opinion was that this wasn't the way to prepare men for battle, Bradley would find out soon enough how wrong he was wrong.

      Bradley jumped out of the bunk bead, pulled the rifle out of the rack on the bed, grabbed handle on the drawer under the bed, pulled, opening showing his personal belongins, he gently suited up, once in full battle gear he looked inside the room, there was only two meters of separation between the two walls were the bunk beads were, until they eye can see. The Marines of A Company had jumped out of the bunk beads, some changed into their battle gear, others had slept in their battle gear checked it again, they moved like a well oiled machine as this drill had been practiced time and again.

      The 200 men and woman of A Company pulled their riles, submachine guns, jackhammer launchers and crew served weapons of their racks, Bradley cleaned his standard issue assault rifle MA5B.

       "Hey Bradley, how you feelin" asked Thomas, his best friend in the corps.

       "Like if an alien race wanted to go to war with us, how do you think that feels like" Bradley answered.

       "I don't know, I haven't been there before" Said Thomas.

       "All right Marines, get ready for deployment" ordered the batallion commander, Dan Harley.

      The Marines formed into squads, the squads into platoon and platoons according to number in the company, Bradley was in first squad, first platoon.

       "Marines aten hut!, foward march!". Captain Karl Muller, the A Co. commander ordered.
       "Time to go medieval on ET's ass!" Said Sergeant Bill Anders.

       "Hooo rah!". The marines shouted by reflex.

      Bradley walked behind Thomas to the exit, the door of the room opened, they walked in four rows, each row representing a squad of twelve each, four of them forming a platoon it been separated by its commander, turned right at the exit and walked through a corridor to the ships train station, wagons were waiting there for the marines, only sixty men cloud board at a time, first platoon barded the first.

      The train went through a rail over the ship, it exited the tunnel into open space, the zero gravity lifting the marines from the trains floor. Bradley grabbed a handle on the roof, it felt like if we were fish on a can, every one on top of each other.

       "This is the last real action you are gonna get Marines, I'll normaly charge for this, but this time is for free" Said Sergeant Anders.

       BRadley watched the fleet, the first contact with covenant had not gone as good as some in the UNSC thought, hundreds of ships and fighters navigated in space, dozens of wreckages of both Covenant and human vessels littered the space. The planet was to their right, it was a beautiful rock.It had three continents surrounded by clear blue oceans, too bad this visit was not a pleasure trip, it was a business. The train entered back inside the ship, the micro gravity kicked in, the Marines hit the ground in unison.

      "I sure hope that is your rifle Bradley". Said Anders.

       "C'mon sarge, you aren't that cute" answered Bradley

      "He's right sir, I sure hope the Covenant is prettier than you!" Thomas joked in the back.

      After a few minutes they reached a hangar, crews were working on both the attack pelicans and the old fashioned ones Pelicans. Skyhawk jets were taking of from the flight deck after the hangar.

      They unloaded, forming up again in platoons parallel to each other.



       "All right Marines!. Can I get an alleluia!." First Sergeant Anders asked. "Alleluia!" said the Company.

       "Company this is your first combat op, remember what you've been taught and you may live. You will be the first to see them up close. Let's show them what humanity calls a can of whop ass." Anders said, enjoying him self.

       "Ho rah" Said the Marines. Bradley looked at some of his comrades, they were petrified.

      "Captain Muller, they are all yours" reported the Sergeant as he salutedd.

      The Captain walked forward, examined the company and said "We will go in first, secure an LZ, then the rest of the battalion will follow, Orbital Drop Shock Troops are already dropping at a special target, lets try to catch up. Sergeant get them on board!". The Captain ordered.

       "Hurrah!, get on the birds marines, first platoon take the first one, second the second one and so on, move!". The Marines replied with a big hurrah as they boarded the Pelicans.

      Bradley strapped the seat belt. Thomas was seating next to him, Cruz in front, Monique two rows down, Ford and Juliet were on the exit. A Warthog was secured in the rear of the Pelican. "This is Ensign Chance, welcome to Pelican zero-three-two. Remember that UNSC has no regultaions for this flights, you can do what ever you want, but if you mess up my bird I will fuck you up!-the Marines laughed at the joke- Crew chief prepare for departure, we are moving out" The intercom made a bleep sound and went of.

      The ground crews exited the hangar as it vented the atmosphere, the door of the hangar opened the pelicans rolling to the flight deck, the door then closed again. The six Pelicans carrying the company exited the hangar, leaving the Assault Vessel behind. Through the windowBradley cloud see through the window a number of Longsword an Dagger fighters escorting the landing pelicans.

       "Get ready for entry" said the Ensign.

      As they entered the atmosphere the crafts began to shake. "We are at 70.000ft, ETA to ground is ten minutes, no AA fire coming in. Looks safe." The Ensign flying the craft told the men. After two minutes the shaky descent turned into a smooth ride. "We are at fifteen thousand feet, get ready for the gee force at five k". The marines looked at the digital altimeter on the cockpit door, ten thousand... 7... 6... "Igniting boosters now!". The boosters stopped the aircraft almost immediately, 5Gs gave the Marines a red out. Once the Marines regained concience they looked out through the windows, the LZ was a grassy field twenty feet long that had some tiny ridges surrounding it.

      The crew chief opened the door in the rear of the aircraft, he lowered the fifty cal machine gun that was folded on the roof of the pelican, at fifteen feet he pressed a button on the right side of the door, the Warthog fell free from the harness landing smoothly on the field. The belts that held the Marines in the seats released automatically. "Marines get up, let's get out". Ordered the platoon commander, lieutenant Miller.

      Ford and Juliet were the first Marines out through the rear dor. Shooting randomly at everything that looked suspicius. Bradley was out of the pelican shortly after, he hit the grassy field in a prone position, he scanned for targets with his MA5B assault rifle, looking for targets, there was none, graveyard quiet as the marines called. Once they were all of the Pelican they secured a perimeter, still no contact.

      Lieutenant Miller broke the silence "Marines, XO is in charge, first sergeant Anders and my self will go to the CP to meet Captain Muller. Bradley, Thomas and Monique come with me, lets on the Warthog" said Lieutenant John Miller, a Quantico graduate, Summa Cum Laude son of a leader in one of the top political parties, a fine combat leader.

      The Sergeant got in the driver seat, the lieutenant rode shotgun, Bradley manned the machine gun and Thomas with Monique in the rear. The Sergeant drove like if he was in race, rolling the vehicle like if it was a toy through a flat grassy terrain.

       "Alpha CP this is Miller, no contact. We'll be there in five"

       "Roger lieutenant, we are waiting for you" Capt Muller informed.

       After a five minute ride where they spotted some caddle and a farm that looked abandoned they spotted four Marines in a hill that were waving at them, they aproached them slowly. "CP is that way, Captain Muller is waiting for you there sir" a Lance Corporal said.

      The company Command Post had two .50 caliber Machine Guns on top, it was a mobile trailer. Captain Muller was there with the rest of the platoon officers.

       "Captain Muller, Lieutenant Miller and company first sergeant Anders reporting for duty". The lieutenant saluted.

      The captain showed a digital display, the company was in a square shaped perimeter, no red dots representing Covenant troops were displayed, there was something odd though, a question mark on a forest twelve clicks North West. The four platoon commander's stood around the table, discussing the mission.

       "Man, I sure hope they are still here". Said the commander of third platoon, lieutenant Frank Xavier.

       "Yes, I thought we were going to get hammered as soon as we popped out". Said the CO of second, Lieutnant Ron Potter.

       "The rest of the battalion is entering the atmosphere". Said a corporal Carl Finch, the target of many jokes in the company in the COM set.

       "What's that question mark?" lieutenant Miller asked.

       "An OSDT platoon was dropped there, their last transmission reported they were under attack, after that contact was lost. Miller you take a squad and drive to the woods, find out what happened to there"

       "I'll take these guys here in a Warthog, the XO has the platoon, I'll tell them to move to phase line Lancer".

       "Ok, move out". Muller said.

Two clicks away

      The sergeant drove to the forest through a dirt road, Bradley was cramped in the rear with Thomas and Dominique, maning the .50 cal the good thing about the warthog was its suspension, you cloud jump from fifty feet and it felt only five.

       "Two clicks away". lieutenant Miller said as he stared the screen in his data pad. Bradley locked and loaded the weapon simply by pressing a button on the digital screen just on top the trigger.

       "Crap, check that out". Said Thomas as he signaled a smoke column on the forest, a bad omen.

       "Marines, check equipment. Prepare for contact, go stealth". Ordered the liuetenant Miller.

      The Orbital Drop Shock Troops were the best of the best; they all had combat experience of one form or another. They went through the most extensive training of any unit in the UNSC, except the Spartans of course; the thought of one platoon of them being butchered simply troubled the hell out of Bradley and his buddies. It would take a regular Marine company to take on an ODST platoon. The Warthog approached the forest, once it stopped the Marines unloaded. Bradley turned the Thermal Imager on the sight of the 30mm chain gun on top of the warthog, he scanned the edge of the forest, nothing to be seen.

      The Sergeant moved his finger in a circle, indicating the group to form a perimeter around the vehicle. Thomas and Anders walked to the forest, once five feet from the forest they dropped they went into a prone position. The lieutenant pointed at me, putting two fingers in front of his eyes, with sings he was asking if Bradley saw something, Bradley shook his head as he saw nothing on the thermal imager.
The lieutenant ordered Bradley to unload, he set the safety on the chain gun. Grabbed his rifle and locked and loaded by hiting the button just over the handle, the traditional lock and loading sound followed. He walked to Monique, with his head low.

       "Dam girl, it seems these guys don't wanna fight us". Bradley said to her, attempting to show no fear.

       "Easy stud, I bet its not you they are afraid of". Ouch he thought.

       "Get a room when we take the city back Marines, right now shut up. Line formation" Said Miller.


      The fire team entered the forest keeping low, after fifty meters the point man, Sergeant Anders raised a fist, lowering his elbow. Bradley threw my self to the ground got his rifle and scanned front, the lieutenant crawled to the sergeant, they exchanged some words with he couldn't hear. then sergeant moved his palm forward in a vertical position, they resumed the movement.

      The Marines walked in a line each parallel to each other now, they were four hundred meters inside the forest now. Bradley stopped a second and scanned the forest with his rifle's ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gun sight) scope on the top, the scope had a night vision an thermal camera, he then saw the outline of a ODST drop canister.

       "We are approaching the drop zone, the beacon of one of the canisters say forward at seventy five meters" said the lieutenant.

      The sergeant signaled the group to walk forward, Thomas and Bradley stood straight up, what a mistake they made, like in they were recuits. Machine gun fire erupted ahead, the tracers heading for the squad, Bradley and Thomas dove into a prone position.

       "Them humans, right?". Asked Thomas with his head against the ground.

       "Think ET haas Machine guns too?" Bradley said.

       "Cease fire, cease fire!" Yielded the Sergeant.

      The fire just kept coming, the lieutenant screamed into his head set "Helljumpers, cease fire, you are shooting at marines!"

      No response as the machine gun fire kept coming in. Bradley tried to raise his head, as soon as he showed it the bastard that manned the machine gun opened up him, he had to roll right to avoid been killed. The Marines were pinned down, Monique got up like a rookie and ran towards the incoming fire, she was trying to be a hero, she shouted that they were humans. She got a round in the shoulder.

       "Shit!, suppressive fire". Ordered lieutenant Miller.

      Bradley moved the handle over the trigger to full auto and shoot into the incoming fire, a dozen bullets flying into the source of the fire, using the land warrior technology he simply had to raise the rifle, a little display on his right eye showed the sight, it was hard to aim this way but it was better than getting all shot up.

      After thirty seconds of fire exchange the machinegun fire ceased. Thomas looked at Bradley puzzled, Bradley placed two fingers in front of my eyes, setting his hand flat and raised it a bit signaling he was going to stand and scan. He got up on his knees, looked through the scope in the direction the fire came from and saw a black suited men manning a PAW (Platoon Automatic Weapon, a weapon carried in a back pack), he didn't stop shooting because he realized they were humans, it was because he was out of ammo.


       "Thomas aid Monique, Bradley with me, lieutenant I suggest you report this incident" Whispered the Sergeant.

       Sergeant Anders ran to the soldier, Bradley trailing him from the left, both rifles at the ready. The Helljumper was wearing the characteristic CBS (Customized Battle Suite) of the Helljumpers, a special suite designed for troops like these. His eyes were wide opened, shock in his expression, still pulling the trigger. What happened to this battle hardened men? Bradley wondered, what cloud had happened here that he had panicked in this form, he who was with the best. His name tag said Everton, he had a Corporal stripe in his shoulder, his face was painted black, a special helmet that had a goggle covered his eyes, his mouth was opened.

       "Hey you asshole we are friendly, what the hell is wrong with you" Bradley said as he punched him in the head. The trooper didn't move.

      The Sergeant stopped Brad from punching him againg.

       "Where is the rest of your outfit trooper" Said the Sergeant.


      The soldier looked up and stared at the Sergeant.

       "They are dead, we got hit by all. They were invisibles, they had swords, they killed them all and left. I hid and got out alive, but they are gone"

      None of this made sense. Invisible?


       "What the hell do you mind by invisible soldier?" The trooper didn't said a thing.

       "Elle tee, I strongly recommend that you take Thomas and the wounded marine to the warthog, take this men out with you, I'll find the DZ of the ODST, me and Pvt. Bradley will check out what's going on".

      The lieutenant noded, he took the men out, Thomas picked Dominique, she was bleeding too much, the Helljumper had to be pushed in order to walk. They walked west out of the forest.

       "Lets move". Ordered the Sergeant

Third Marines, Harvest Campaing: Chapter Three- The Woods
Date: 14 January 2005, 5:30 AM

5 August 2531, 0613
United Nation Space Command
Dijon Colony, Epsilon Eridani System
Galilee Continent.
Lyon woods


      Private David Bradley signaled the Ok to move. The woods were dense and thick, and the heavy rain landing on their helmets was the loudest sound to be heard. Sergeant Gus Anders acknowledged the order by nodding. The Marines were to investigate what happened to a platoon of Helljumpers in the woods, and had walked through one-hundred meters of dense forest, their search silent and deliberate.

      He raised his fist, lowering his elbow, ordering the party to stop and cover; he scanned the thick forest with his goggles secured to the rail on his helmet, and he saw the movement ahead. "Possible contact," he whispered into the comm. Set.

      Bradley cloud swear he saw something moving two-hundred meters away, and no matter what, he had to deem it as a threat. He turned around, placed his eyes in front of his eyes, then moved his hand gently away from his face, indicating that there was no contact anymore. Sergeant Anders looked at the Private, and turned his head slightly right, signaling for Bradley to open the formation a little. They resumed walking, covering fifty more meters, keeping low enough that they were almost crawling. The clearing came into sight, and Bradley pointed ahead for others to see.

       "Psst!" The Sergeant whispered. Bradley turned his head around again, staring at Anders. The Sergeant moved his head forward this time, ordering the Marine to walk forward to the edge of the clearing. Bradley crawled, and once at the edge of the clearing, he turned around, looking at the sergeant. He placed two of his fingers in front of his eyes, then signaled to the UNSC patch in his chest, then made a slit throat movement. There were UNSC troopers Killed In Action in that clearing.

      Anders checked for contacts, then crawled to Bradley's position. He lay next to Bradley, then looked to were the Private had signaled, he spotted the body of a Helljumper; dead on the earth, the soldier's right arm gone. The rest of the platoon was not in sight and still missing. "Go stealth Bradley. Move there." He signaled to one of the HEVs.

      Bradley crawled slowly through a grassy terrain towards the drop zone, which was a creek. He reached the first Human Entry Vehicle and knelt down, covering himself behind it. The Marine slowly leaned out and peeked around the inanimate object. "Oh God..." His stomach turned upside down.

      Bradley turned his to face his superior; staring directly into the eyes of the Sergeant "Its clear, Sarge. You may not want to see this." Said the Marine, the disgust in his voice too obvious

       The sergeant walked slowly out of the woods, running low as his training dictated. He reached Bradley's position, the entire platoon, or what remained of it, lay in that slaughter pit. Some of the Helljumpers were cut in half, some had burns as if someone had punched them with a torch. The creek carried the blood away, a horrible picture all together.
      "What the hell do you think happened here?" He asked, resisting the urge to throw up.
       "Beats me," Anders replied. The Sergeant turned around suddenly, sensing movement among the plants behind them. "I think we better bug out, we're are not alone. Bradley, grab their memory chips. ONI will want them for sure." The rifle in his hands went up to the direction of the movement.

       "Roger that, Sarge." Bradley replied solemnly. He started to check the dead troopers, removing the memory chips from their bloody helmets.

      Crack. Something stepped on a stick.

      The training took over. Bradley dropped the helmet he was checking, and moved to some cover on the side of the creek where they came from; entering the forest with Anders right beside him.

       Just as they did a volley of red and green Plasma erupted from the opposite side of the creek. They were lucky enough and jumped fast behind a tree, a huge root protruding high enough to cover them. "Whooo, wooo juh..." A high pitched voice screamed at them on the opposite side of the creek.

       The Plasma charges continued to hit the tree, tearing away and leaving deep marks. The other red and slower would stick like a needles and detonate with a light explosion, sending splinter-like objects everywhere.

       "Oh man, we're in it deep." Bradley said as he aimed his rifle over the root, using the camera on the muzzle to see the area ahead without exposing himself.

       "I sure hope you are not implying we are in deep shit." Gus said as he armed a grenade that he pulled from his harness, pressing the arming button until the grenade blipped, then pulling the trigger button; it was alive now. Bradley was feeling panic sweep over him as needles and charges pounded down on their position, but the Sergeant was keeping cool with the hell that surrounded them.

       "Make ready Bradley, suppressive fire on my mark... shoot!"

       Bradley knelt, his head now barely over the root, shooting the rifle in full auto.

       "'Nade out!" The Sergeant knelt and threw the grenade towards the incoming fire, falling a bit short, yet the effect of the blast was heavy enough that the exposed aliens were hit, the screeches of pain from the aliens proving that point.


      Bradley checked the digital screen that showed the ammo status, and he was out. "Loading!" He yelled above the incoming fire as he opened a pocket in his combat gear, grabbing a magazine, taping it in his helmet, and then slamming the magazine into the breech, the rifle locking and loading automatically. "Loaded!" reported Bradley, the processes taking just over three seconds.

       "Cover fire!" ordered Anders again. Bradley fired another magazine into the woods as Anders threw a second heavy explosive grenade.

      The Sergeant took cover again. Two blue flaming spheres came from the opposite side of the forest, they landed two feet from Bradley and he looked at them, stunned. Anders, however, knew exactly what they were. He grabbed Bradley by the shoulder and dragged him away fast enough to avoid being killed, the root being destroyed by the bright blue explosion. The Marines took cover behind a rock two meters left from the tree, Plasma chasing them down and hitting the rock, heating it until it became unbearable to handle.

       "Bradley we need to get out of here. I'll cover, you move."

       "Not yet, Sarge." He replied shakily. He threw another grenade; this was a fragmentary one, and it landed right in the center of the source of the incoming fire. More barks and growls screeched through the forest, one of the mutant dwarfs flew out of the opposite side, landing in the creek, its body being dragged away by the current; Bradley thought it looked like a ugly, small elf. He snapped those thoughts away as three grenades landed in front of the rock, and the Sergeant pressed Bradley's head into the ground, again saving his life.

       "We're getting out, scaled retreat. You go first, move!" Ordered Sergeant Anders. Scaled retreat consisted in one member shooting a magazine, the second member retreating five meters and holding ground, and once the first member emptied his magazine, he then retreats and taps the second member on the shoulder, and the second empties his magazine and repeats the process.

       The sergeant showed the barrel of his rifle over the rock, pulling the trigger, releasing sixty rounds in ten seconds. Bradley retreated behind a tree seven-meter away. "I'm here!" he said to the Sergeant, and Anders began moving back towards him. "Loading!" he said has he tapped Bradley in the shoulder, falling back ten meters in a hole. Bradley squeezed the trigger, emptying his magazine, retreating and repeating the process. It seemed like dozens of Grunts were chasing them.

       "Loading!" Bradley said again as he continued the process, passing the Sergeant's position. Bradley opened fire into the Grunts that were under thirty-meters away, the bullets hit the line formation, ripping apart the first Grunts in his line of sight. They were now in the middle of the creek, shooting randomly into the general direction of the Marines. "I'm falling back!" Bradley ran into the Sergeant's position; he didn't know that three Grunts had a clear sight on him.

       The sergeant noticed the plasma bolts that were heading for the Marine, he tackled him with his foot.

       "This is no times for joke, Sarge!" he turned his head, staring at the man who was holding his right arm, just over the elbow. "Sergeant, you took one in the arm!" Bradley screamed as he rolled into cover, noticing the burn from the wound.

       Anders turned around and fired on the Grunts, which were now closing to twenty meters away. "Don't worry, Marine! Retreat for God's sake!"

       Bradley ran the best part of a dozen meters to the rear; he knelt down and set the butt of the rifle on his shoulder, aiming into the front. He saw the Sergeant fire his rifle in full auto, stopping some of the Covenant cold dead, and the remaining Covenant responded in kind, firing their weapons in a suppressive style while throwing two Plasma grenades to the Sergeant's position. He ran back, passing Bradley and gently touching his shoulder. Bradley pulled the trigger to cover Anders, but the explosions of the two grenades threw him out of place, landing disoriented on the earth.

       "Wake up, Marine!" The Sergeant opened fire, attempting to give time for Bradley to recover. Bradley stood shakily, completely dizzy, and ran past Anders, punching him in the shoulder.

       "You better hope I die here Marine." The Sergeant was reloading at the time.

       "Don't worry, Sarge, I have your six." Bradley was now covered behind a tree, and the Sergeant retreated. "Loading!" He said as he passed Bradley, who opened fire on the Grunts. He turned around, and began to run. "Loading!" He said yet again, as he grabbed a magazine from his belt, tapped it on his helmet and slamming it into the breech, the action loading the bullet into the chamber. Although the bullets had the same concept, they were far more advanced from the rounds used in the "old" days, the smoothbore barrel was specially designed for the APFS; they were not stabilized by rifling in the barrel, but rather by folding-out fins at the end of the bullet. He passed the Sergeant and missing his shoulder, but the Sergeant opened fire anyways. "Loaded!" Bradley informed.

       Bradley knelt seven meters behind the Anders, aiming forward. He scanned the enemy formation through his scope, he spotted a new type of creature, this one looking like a bird. This thing is ugly. Bradley didn't wait for the Sergeant to move, and centered the reticule of the ACOG on the chest of the bird and he pulled the trigger, the bullet leaving the muzzle at fifteen thousand feet per second. He was hoping for a kill, but before the round hit the bird opened a medieval style energy shield, preventing his kill.

       "Sarge, move!" He said almost with authority.

       The Sergeant ran towards Bradley, the bipedal lowering it shield and shooting its weapons. One plasma bolt hit Sarge on the back, partly being absorbed by the body armor, and kept running, passing Bradley and taking cover behind a tree. Bradley fired the whole magazine into the creature, its shields deflecting the bullets. He turned around immediately and ran to Anders, loading another clip. As he ran the ten meters from his retreating point to the Sergeant, one Plasma charge hit him in the shoulder.

       Bradley screamed in pain and fell into cover behind the tree. The Sergeant opened fire on the Covenant forces, keeping them form advancing too quickly.

       "You know, Sarge, when the Plasma hit me I screamed, and you took one up your ass and didn't say a thing. I guess you are used to getting burned by the rear!" The joke helped Bradley get his mind of the searing pain in his shoulder.

       The Sergeant laughed with Bradley, then looked over at him, taking a serious face. "Joking time is over, let's die like men." He finished off another magazine into the Covenant.

       He made the signal to throw a grenade, and Bradley grabbed one strapped to the harness and pressed the arming button, throwing it blindly around the cover of the tree. "Good shot, Marine!" The Sergeant reported with satisfaction.

      "It's all talent, Sergeant." Bradley said, almost with pride, wincing at the pain coursing through his body. The throw was pure luck, but the screeches of death from the Covenant squad didn't distinguish between luck or skill. The Covenant screams of panic gave the two injured Marines some satisfaction as Plasma continued to rain down upon them.

       "If you want to live, go. I can't keep going." The Sergeant placed his rifle over his chest. "I can only slow you down now."

       "Nah, Sarge, you'll get out of here." Bradley said, trying to sound convincing despite the empty feeling in his gut.

       Bradley placed the rifle of one of the roots, using the camera on the sight to aim at the beasts; five of the creatures fell in surprise to the sudden fire.

       There were at least thirty of them now, some were moving to flank, the rest of the creatures keeping them pinned down, there was no way out.

      The Lieutenant had heard the entire racket. He, Thomas and a Helljumper ran to assist the Marines inside the woods, leaving Monique in the warthog. They ran in a close line formation, crisscrossing through the vegetation to get to the fight while the two Marines were still alive. They knew they had reached the Marines position when bolts of plasma skimmed around them, not necessarily aimed at them.

      The Lieutenant screamed into his head set. "Sergeant, where are you?"

       The voice of the El-Tee reached both pinned down Marines, creating a feeling of hope in the hopeless Marines. "Pinned down behind a tree, a little over one-hundred meters from the drop zone of the Helljumpers. We are both hit, we have at least thirty echo tangos right on top of us, and some of them are on a flanking run. We need some cover fire."

       The fight had been going for ten minutes already. The Lieutenant signaled his men to halt as he located the Marines pinned down. He moved his fingers to his eyes, then raised his thumb, that means he spotted friendly. He scanned again, spotting a mixed squad of Jackals and Grunts moving to the right flank of the Marines, he analyzed the situation just as he been taught, two Marines pinned down by a superior force, a group moving to flank, with apparently superior fire power. He turned around looking at his men, he then signaled the Marine and the Helljumper to suppress the enemy, one magazine, then advance three meters simply fire by moving his fist forward, then signaled forward and opened his hand. The Helljumper had his MG-7A1, a variable bore diameter submachine gun, specially designed for the Helljumpers, it had a custom designated marksman sight, a M-243 grenade launcher and a especial drum magazine that cloud carry any kind of ammo and that was the main feature of the gun, you cloud fit any kind of ammo just by selecting the caliber size in a digital screen on the receiver, he had a .40 cal ammunition. The three Marines opened up on the covenant squad flanking, the hail of fire make them take three casualties, all of them grunts, the Jackals faced the incoming fire with their shields, deflecting the bullets of the Marines. Everton, the Helljumper fired his forty millimeter grenade launcher into the Jackals, his sight laser range finder and fire control system gave him the proper elevation, he elevated the grenade launcher pulling the trigger, the HEDP round struck the shield of one of the Jackals, exploding, the Jackal immediately disappeared from view, the explosion killing it and two more of the Jackals, the covenant squad screamed a combination of panic and anger. Once the Marines depleted the magazine they slowly advanced forward, reloading and shooting again.

       "Bradley, Anders. Get over here, we are pulling out!" The Lieutenant walked forward enough for distract the Covenant from targeting the Marines.

       "Hurrah sir!" said the sergeant as he stood with the help of Bradley, they walked away, limping slowly as covenant fire trained on them.

       "Hey mother fuckers! You failed to get me!" Said Corporal Everton, of the ODST as he walked forward, shooting his machine gun, standing fearlessly in the open.

       Bradley and Anders started their retreat; passing Thomas and the Lieutenant, then turning around, aiming their weapons at the covenant's direction, preparing to provide cover, the lieutenant and Thomas started the retreat, the Helljumper however stood his ground and shoot, a wrong thing to do in this kind of situation.

       Bradley wondered if it was vengeance or something tactical that made him stands suicidal like that, the trooper ceased fire, took a lotus mine and set it aiming to the plasma fire, it had a motion tracker on the tip, it was a sound tactical move from the Helljumper. He then ran, the Marines were about twenty meters ahead of he when he started to run, yet he out ran them all after only seven seconds.

       "You want to die this far from home? Run Marines!" He said, standing his ground, shooting at the Covenant, buying the Marines more time as the Covenant ducked avoiding the incoming fire. They kept running, the helljumper joining them after a few seconds, they continued their rather disorganized reatreat, eventually ducking for cover, replenishing energy, they had run over two hundred meters at full speed, and they were tired, mainly from the nervousness from the fire fight, they cloud not stay at their cover spots place for more than a few seconds, since the plasma fire would heat their hiding places.

       "Marines, suppressive fire one magazine then pull out" ordered the Lieutenant.

       The Marines killed over five grunts with the suppresive fire, the Covenant however didn't stop in their quest to kill the Marines, even with the high losses.

       One of the little bastards in the rear of the Covenant advance activated the lotus mine; an explosive charge was propelled out of the canister, exploding over the creatures, sending shrapnel all over the area, killing twenty of them, wounding twice that number.

       "Move!" Ordered Miller. Bradley was the slowest one, the sergeant even with his injured but cloud run faster. The Covenant was getting closer, the Jackals had left the grunts behind, using their high speed to gain ground on the Marines. Bradley cloud sees the edge of the forest was forty-meters away. They cloud or cloud not makes it, the helljumper stood again.

       "Helljumpers all the way!" The fanatical tone in his voice was disturbing, even for the faith full in the corps, the Marines. The fanatical devotion of the Helljumper maked a difference, the Jackals had to open their shields and hide behind them to avoid the turrent of bullets, the time this action bought gave the Marines the time they needed, exiting the forest.

       "All of you get down". A familiar female voice called over the comm. channel.

       They all threw them selves to the ground as hundreds of 30mm bullets hazed over them, heading for the Covenant, the Echo Tangos were ripped to pieces by the powerful shells, detonating everything they hit, the corpses of the covenant creatures starting to pile. "Get over here! We have to blow out!" Dominique demanded. The Marines boarded the vehicle. The Lieutenant however stopped, turned around and headed again for the forest crossing the Helljumper as he exited the woods, the exchange of plasma and led still happening.

       "He's gone mental!" Said Thomas as he fired his rifle.

       "Covering fire." Ordered the sergeant calmly, as he pulled his side arm from the holster in his thigh.

       All the Marines shot, the taboo zone been the lieutenant. The lieutenant grabbed one of the dead jackals in the pile, and dragged the thing out of the woods and into the vehicle. As soon as he got in the rear of the vehicle with the bird the sergeant floored the pedal.

       "Alpha CP this is lieutenant Miller. We are bugging out, we have a specimen. We are headed to the south via North West." Reported the lieutenant as he relaxed on his chair, pulling a cigar out of his jacket pocked, lighting it and smoking it

       Bradley looked at the dead Jackal. Is this the threat we are facing? This couldn't be it, this is too easy.

       "I think we are done here". Said Dominique.

       "Not quite, six o'clock". Said Thomas.

       Two vehicles hovering three feet from the ground were chasing them fast. Dominique needed no orders, he pressed the buttons on the chain gun shoot at the incoming vehicles, the tracers found one of them, they bounced on the chassis. A part of the chassis was torn apart.

       The vehicles fired both of their plasma weapons, four rows of blue beams headed for the warthog. The vehicle got hit in the rear, the plasma melted the rear bumper, and it slowly started to burn through the metal plates.

       "Hang on to your seats". Said sergeant Anders.

       He rolled the vehicle right, it slided over the muddy terrain, he wheeled left , the plasma splashing through the grassy terrain, overshooting the trayectory of the beams.

       "This is Miller, we are been chased by Covenant vehicles, we need help ASAP!"

       "Roger lieutenant, you have two warthogs inbound and friendly air coming in, keep in touch."

       The warthog climbed a hill; they jumped 15 feet in the air. The vehicle suspension made it feel like 5 feet. Bradley grabbed his assault rifle and shoots the enemy vehicles, to no effect, the vehicle was moving to fast for a good aimed shot. The warthog took a hit on the axis holding the wheel, it crumbled and the vehicle rolled in the ground.

       Bradley awoke with his head against the ground, he looked around, and Thomas was lying there with a trail of blood on his head, slowly advancing to his face, he was still alive as he was breathing. Bradley stood disoriented shaking his head trying to shake of the dizziness. He spotted the sergeant standing in the open firing his pistol at the incoming vehicles as they passed next to him. The sergeant moved and took cover right next him behind the wreckage of the Warthog.

       "Marine, lets try to bug out. We'll bring reinforcements and get our buddies out."

       They stood up and ran through the field hopelessly trying to avoid a certain dead, expecting the hot plasma to kill them, the vehicles however didn't try to shoot, they instead attempted to roll over them, the creatures driving enyoing them selves. One of them headed right into Bradley, if it hadn't been because of sergeant Anders he would have died in that field, he pushed him away, saving his life again, the vehicle however slammed into the sergeant. He was dead before he hit the ground five meters away. Bradley ran towards him, hugging his dead body crying not worrying about his life anymore, the battle stress and the dead of a friend, brother of his drill instructor, this was too much. The second vehicle headed straight for him, it aimed and fired right in his direction, he miraculously overshoots the Marine. Bradley grabbed a grenade from the sergeant body, pressing the arming button, keeping it pressed until a blip confirmed that the contact fuse was engaged, pressed the trigger and waited for one of the vehicles to attempt to slam him, the two covenant vehicles turned around, and headed straight into him, he threw the grenade into the vehicle nearest vehicle, throwing him self to the right, running into the warthog for cover. The grenade exploded in its chassis, the vehicle lost its hovering capability and hit the ground.
The driver got out walking a little shaky, he then looked straight into Bradley, it was nothing like enemy in the woods, it was taller than him, looking like a human, he growled in a voice that resembled one of the monsters in the movies. He grabbed a weird looking weapon, he aimed at him with a smile on his face. He grabbed my assault rifle and aimed right into his chest, he then pulled the trigger at the same time as the beast, one plasma blot hit him in the arm He threw my self into the ground, a burst of his rifle hitting the creature in the chest. Its shields deflecting the punch, he lay in the ground holding his arm, the creature walked slowly to him, straight to him. No fear, no regrets, he knew that's were he will die, not fearing the enemy. The second covenant vehicle stopped next to the human like creature, the driver getting out of it, talking in the deep voice to his pal. They then aimed their boomerang like weapons into the Marines.

       Bradley heard something familiar, a roar of an engine. A Pelican! It appeared behind the covenant, its 50mm chain gun ripping apart both of the covenant creatures.

       The craft hovered around looking for new threats, as there were none it landed next to the Warthog. Five marines unloaded assisted the Marines, one of them stood next to Bradley as he cryied with the body of his dear friend in his hands. "FUBAR." Said the Marine, placing his hand on Private First Class David Bradley, he stood and carried the body of the sergeant him self to the Pelican. He would never forget him.

Third Marines in Harvest: Chapter four- The woods again
Date: 18 January 2005, 9:54 AM

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
Forward Operations Base Juliet.
1st Battalion, 3rd Marines Command Control Post.


Colonel Dan Harley had to hand it for the engineers; the Marines teased them every time they cloud, even if they were part of the Corps. The regular combat Marines or Eleven Bravos (Infantry) called them "geeks" or "Chickens" or simply "Sea Bitches". They sure knew how to build their bases, out of scratch they constructed a large fort, witch cloud house over ten thousand troops and cloud support operations for a full regiment. The lights of the briefing room are out, its show time.

       He walked to the podium, every officer of Third Marines, from battalion commanders to platoon leaders were sitting in chairs in the large room. "All right people, we've made our first contact in these woods. They are only ten clicks from the target, the city of Lion designated Objective Foxtrot. Today we are going to launch operation phase one or OPI. In these woods is where the Marines from A Company have engaged the Covenant, I regret to inform you that we suffered our first casualty, Gunnery Sergeant Gus Anders, first Sergeant of Alpha Coy. Once we take the woods we can take this highway here -he signaled a normal sized forest on the digital screen, the forest however was not even near the highway in tactical terms- we can bring Two-Seven Cavalry and assault the city."

       "We have divided the area of operations surrounding Lyon in four sectors surrounding the city. First Battalion has the South western one, Second the North western one and so on. 3rd Marines has to take the city, while the rest of the division secures the rest of the continent, it's not a large one, only ten thousand kilometers in diameter. The rest of the Marine Expeditionary Unit will take the other continents, named Golan and Eurasia. The largest covenant presence on the planet is here as far as Office of Naval Intelligence knows. The Fleet has given us a frigate for support, if you need to blow something to hell simply call them, it's the UNSC Ripper. So look sharp." Dan Harley sat in his chair as a member of ONI took the stand.

       "ONI has something to show you- said Lieutenant junior grade Alan Smith as he pressed a button in a remote control in his hand; the officers immediately recognized what was showing, a helmet camera displaying a recent operation- this Video was recovered from the helmet of the Commanding Officer of one-four-three Drop Jet Platoon, First Special Forces Group (Space Entry Capable), From first Marine Expeditionary Unit." He hit "play" in the remote control, the video in motion now.

       UNSC Marine Captain Steve P. Burns III, serial number 158762345-Oscar Delta Sierra Tango

       The video started as soon as the door of the Human Entry Vehicle popped. The captain walked out, his Thermal Imager System, dust filling the air from the impact of the HEVs, thirty Helljumpers clearing the area. Every squad clearing a part of the perimeter around the thirty canisters, once every squad leader gave thumbs up a sergeant approached.

       "Sir, area secured." Said a Senior Chief Petty Officer whose name tag said Nakata.

       "Thanks chief, place motion sensors in a circular perimeter, one hundred mikes radius." Ordered the Captain as he opened his personal computer unit.

       The video fast forwarded seven minutes, changing camera users.

       UNSC Navy Ensign Hans Stran Svelonks, serial number 1632147845-Oscar Delta Sierra Tango

       The video showed what a squad leader was looking at, eight Helljumpers placing motion trackers under rocks, under leaves and sticking them into trees.

       "Corporal Everton, lotus mine, aiming to 256." ordered the Ensign.

       "Roger that sir." replied the corporal.

       The Corporal grabbed one lotus mine from his back pack setting it gently on the ground, pulling the pin from the mine.

       "Sir, motion trackers show movement, ten o' clock." said a private standing next to him.

       The ensign then moved his arm aiming into the bearing of the movement, then rising his fist and lowering his elbow, then circling his finger in a circle, the squad set up in an Z ambush formation into the source of the movement.

       "Twenty meters sir." informed the private.

       "Men, don't engage, only if I order it so." informed the Ensign.

       "Fifteen mikes"

       "Ten"

       "Worgh, hahahaha" Said a deep voice. Like a monster.

       "Sir, no visual contact, we should see it by now." The Private with the motion tracker sensor whispered at the Ensign the stress on his voice noticeable for everyone in the Squad and the briefing room, private tightened the grip on his rifle.

       The Ensign scanned the front, where the movement apparently came form, nothing to be seen, grave yard quiet. He turned on his thermal imager. Spotting anything except a tiny dot hovering in the air. "Lets pull-" an energy blade appeared only ten meters from the squad, just by the green dot, it then moved with super natural speed heading into a Marine in perimeter guard the blow of the sword making the Marine fly away, the body landing over the ensign.

       The Marines opened up on the sword, an energy shield appeared, sparkles of electricity showing. Then a bolts of blue plasma appeared from the right flank.

       "Suppressive fire, retreat!" The Camera of the ensign turned black.


       The camera then turned back to the CO of the Helljumpers.

       It showed a Helljumper retreating to the drop zone, filled with blood dragging the body of the Ensign of the squad that had just been brutalized, the captain recognized him immediately.

       "Everton, what the hell happened?" The corporal the collapsed from the battle stress. The last thing the video showed were streaks of blue plasma heading into the drop zone.

       The screen then turned into the map. Whispers of shock audible in the room from every officer.

       A captain stood in the room.

       "Captain Muller, CO, Alpha Company. Sir this woods has no tactical value, why are we attacking it. And what the hell is that?"

       "This came straight from ONI. General Dukakis already approved it, that's all you need now, expect a milk run, estimated guesses from ONI says that this ghosts are in limited number since none of them attacked the squad that retrieved the memory chips."

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
FOB Juliet.
Marine Temple

"Ten hut!" The Marines snapped into attention, all staring at the rifle with the helmet in its butt stock. The dog tags of sergeant Gus Anders hung from the trigger, bent and showered in blood for the shock of the Covenant vehicle.

       "Lord we hereby release the body of Gunnery Sergeant Gustav Homer Anders, United Nations Space Command Marine Corps." Said the Chaplain as he read from the Marine Field Manual of Mortuary Procedures, he closed the book, now speaking his mind. "His soul remains with the Marines, oh, dear lord, for that he will live forever".

       "Present!" ordered Sergeant First Class Daniel Brown.

       "Present!" the Platoon commanders repeated the command.

       "Arms!" Sergeant First Class Daniel Brown, the new company first sergeant commanded as he saluted him self. The Company saluted, taps followed, tears in some of the Marines eyes. In the last place of the line of 1-1 (First Squad-First Platoon) stood Private First Class David F. Bradley, he who had carried the body of the sergeant to the morgue.

       "Order!" The platoon commanders repeated the commands.

       "Arms!" The company stood now at attention.

       "Parade!" the platoon commanders repeated.

       "Rest!" The company placed their hands in their backs.

       "At ease!" Brown said as he relaxed.

       Lieutenant Colonel Peyton West, commander of First Battalion, moved in front of the monument, saluted then turned around, staring at the Company. "Marines, you'll be the first to face the Echo Tangos head on, you will lead first battalion into battle. First Battalion will move into the ridge overlooking the forest designated Objective Reach. The forest it self designated Objective Peach and the opposite side of the forest designated Objective Block. Task Force Sport consisting of Alpha, Bravo, Foxtrot, Mike, Lima and Sierra companies together with A Troop, First Light Armored Recon Battalion will be responsible for the ground assault, Helljumpers will hit the opposite side of the forest in blocking party. Alpha Company will move in the emfevs (MFV or Marine Fighting Vehicle) with the support of eight tanks and will secure the edge of the forest. The rest of Task Force Sport will deploy there and press into the forest and secure it."


       "Marine, lets make Echo Tango ass burn for this!" Said Private Albert Thomas, the Officers didn't reprehend him for that action, they just nodded. A casualty may be acceptable for the brass, but not for the Marines in the field. "Marines, pay your last respects, briefing in five minutes in Motor Pool Dismissed."

       The Marines walked to the monument, paid their respects and retreated, Bradley stood with out moving, hatred burning inside him. He will make the Covenant pay for this.

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
FOB Juliet.
Motor Pool of First Light Armored Recon.


       The platoon had gathered in the motor pool with the rest of the company. Bradley rallied gathered with the rest of his squad, corporal Perry leading, de Fort assistant squad leader, Juliet, Ford, Cruz, Thomas, Monique, Hans, Smith, Lin, Sidney and Bradley, they were around a MFV (Marine Fighting Vehicle), a heavily armed APC, it had a 40mm chain gun a Jackhammer launcher a .50 cal and a AGL-25, a 60mm automatic grenade launcher.

       "All right guys. We are going inside the woods where we made contact. We estimate that a ton of shit is there. We are goanna blow it up" Said Lieutenant Miller.

       It was weird that he talked like this, like an average Marine, he was after all a Quantico Military Academy graduated from Earth, a full gentleman in every situation. The last fire fight must have relaxed him a bit.

       "We will move supporting second platoon, the Tanks will march ahead. Second platoon will move in the emfevs behind the tanks and secure the edge of the forest, we will the link up, unload from the MFV and Warthogs and press inside the woods."

       "Sir, can I go with second?" asked Cruz, eager to fight. The Lieutenant didn't even pay attention.

       "First and second squads will go in the emfevs, third and fourth will go in our own warthogs. They told us to expect a milk run; I will get you through this. If I get killed you follow Lieutenant Walsh, he will protect you."

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
Task Force Sport.
Heading for Objective Peaches.

       The sixty six ton M-888B Scorpion Main Battle tank rode through the fields of a not yet battle, marching in a tight formation with seven more tanks. Corporal Jason Rains eased on his chair, his two hands on the joysticks to the sides of his large chair. His right joystick manned the turret; the other the tracks of the tanks, three digital screens showed what surrounded him, the five cameras aiming at each side, including the sky. Jason came from a military family; he was born on a Space Assault Vessel, living there for most of his childhood, joining the Marines just as he family had done for fifteen generations, serving proudly every minute of his career.

       "Objective in front of us, no contact." Reported the third in command of the Regiment, leader of the task force sports armored component. "Roger A-3, A-8 has no contact. Over" reported Rains as he lowered the Gunner Primary Sight over his head. "A-3 to colt, no contact. Report"

       "HQ this is Colt - the codename for A Company- objective Reach secured, no contact made, moving to objective Peach." Marines cloud hear Captain Karl Muller through the comm. Network.

       A Troop tanks marched ahead of them. First Platoon was in second echelon of the Task Force, they were ferried to the target by one MFVs and five trucks. Bradley sitting just by the door in the rear of the vehicle, when the Marines will exit when the fight begins. They were inside cramped in a tin can, behind them were six trucks and ten Warthogs carrying the rest of the company. After twenty minutes they crossed the wreckage of the Warthog were sergeant Anders had died. The remnants of the covenant vehicles however were missing, ONI must have grabbed them.

       Objective Peach was the forest witch was only three clicks away now.

       "Lock and load A Company, we are going in hot." The captain informed over the radio.

       "You now, we are making history here." said a random Marine on the front the vehicle.

       "Yea today is the day Albert Thomas will release his rage on the Aliens! Mark my words Marines, this day will go through history!" Said Thomas.

       "Shut up!" Said almost every man in the company.

       "Let's hope we live to tell it." Bradley said.

       "You are wrong Marine! -said Sergeant Brown- its not that we may live to tell it, it's that they don't live to tell it to their little shits at home!"

       "Hurrah!" said the Marines at unison, the nervousness and excitement of the Marines cloud be sensed in the whole troop compartment. Most of them had their faces painted in randomized green and black colors, their rifles written with offensive comments to the covenant.

       "A-3 -that's the leader of the tanks escorting the Marines- to Colt, no contact on the ridge. Forest is two clicks away". That's good Bradley thought, Dominique, Thomas and him were the only ones with combat experience, they were a little relaxed, the rest of the Marines were all tense as almost every one of them with their eyes closed, whispering words in prayer or simply remembering their loved ones. Bradley remembered the moment when his friend Sergeant Anders had died, how the covenant tried to ram their vehicles into them, how the sergeant had saved his life; he felt a cold hand grab him by the neck, shaking him from side to side.

       "Wake up you pussy, its almost go time!" Thomas was looking at him, with his always funny face, every Marine in the large two row compartment looked at them, the twenty four Marines watched through a screen inside the MFV how the things were going outside, the woods seemed quiet enough, at least from this distance.

       "You like this don't you Thomas?" Asked Corporal Henry Walt from second squad.

       "How can you not? Good rifles, good friends -he said as he hugged Bradley- and the chance to get revenge for the millions dead at Harvest, I love this chance to serve the UNSC and Humanity. This what I've trained for and I'm loving every minute of it." Thomas was full of pride as he said these words. "Hurrah." Said softly the Marines around him.

       "Crap Albert, the shit hasn't even started." Bradley said to him, looking directly at his eyes.

       "Yes it did, a few million are already gone. That's enough shit for me." Bradley looked away from him, staring at the screen.

       The woods seemed peace full, one and a half kilometer away. It all changed real fast.

       A green ball of plasma appeared in the edge of the forest, then three, then six, then nine. The plasma balls slowly increased dimensions, eventually turning into green bolts, they streaked into the marine vehicles, faster than a jackhammer missile, in a heart bit two tanks got directs hits.

       "A-3 to A Troop, sound off!" Rains pressed the button on his right Joystick the tank fired its 90mm cannon into the woods.
HEIC (Heavy Explosive Incendiary Core), the 90mm incendiary rounds from the tanks were perfect for this kind of situation, napalm was contained in a synthetic rubber capsule in the center of the shell, once it impacts the ground the shell penetrates little the earth, the explosion of the HE warhead propelled the capsule out, detonating and sending napalm in every direction. The green plasma even though it did not penetrate right then it slowly burned through the armor, it passed through the hull entering the turret basket.

       "A-7 to A-3 temperature rising, its going to blow. Bailing out!" Rains looked at his buddy's tank, the green plasma even though it did not penetrate right then it slowly burned through the armor, it passed through the hull entering the turret basket. The Private in the tank jumped out, he collapsed from the heat.

       "A-9 to A-3 we are igniting the sprinklers. Well try to save it." Reported the crew of the second damaged tank.

       In response for the Tank fire, all kind of enemy fire erupted, needles, blue and green plasma including this heavy kind that hit the tanks.

       Rains selected HE from the panel in front of his chair. Once the green light appeared he pressed the button again. The Heavy Explosive shell detonated in the woods, sending a Jackal out of the forest.

       "Marines, deploy." Ordered the MFV vehicle commander.

       Bradley was right next to the exit, as soon door opened on the rear of the vehicle Bradley jumped out of the vehicle then ran three meters next to the MFV dropping to the ground. The crew of the vehicle unleashed its fire power on the woods to cover the Marines, the 60mm grenades and its 50mm chain gun. Juliet followed shortly after, deploying next to him, she got his AR5B, (Automatic Rifle 5) a support weapon for the squad and opened up on the woods, aiming through his ARAG (Automatic Rifle Advanced Gun sight), shooting a wall of led randomly into the woods. Bradley joined him setting the butt of the rifle on his shoulder, placing the ACOG slightly in front of his right eye, then removing the safety button by the trigger, he scanned the edge of the woods, the fumes of the spent propellant clouded the battle field, he switched to thermal imager, gray and white from the Marines and vehicle figures appeared on his scope. He spotted a tiny dot three hundred meters away by the tree line, he clicked on the sight magnification button, the glasses inside the sight rotated automatically generating a x4 image, he saw the outline of a little grunt holding what looked like a bazooka exposing it's upper half over a rock, he pulled the trigger three bullets leaving the muzzle, traveling at fifteen thousand feet, slamming into the creatures head, it lost its balance and dropped. Bradley swung his head around, looking into the MFVs direction; the platoon was already deployed, the vehicle was advancing slowly forward, all its fire power ahead. He scanned ahead, second platoon was busy maneuvering behind the advancing tanks, they all took cover behind something, and when they couldn't they zigzagged, of the Marines was distracted for a second by the spectacle surrounding him, in return he got 30 needles in his body, he exploded filling the ground with blood and guts.

       "Thomas, were are you?" Bradley asked as he ceased fire to look for Thomas.

       "Almost kissing your ass."

       He turned around; Thomas was behind him in a prone position, covering his head as Bradley should be doing. "Do you see any covenant?"

       "Nay."

       "Why do you always kiss his ass? Some times I can't make the difference between you and him, you go so deep sometimes." Said Perry as he fired his rifle with his head turned, a dangerous thing to do.

       "Second platoon, forward fifty. First right behind, move now." Ordered Captain Muller over the comm. Network.

       The Marines knelt, walking forward slowly. The plasma fire kept coming in as if the Marines were landing on Omaha Beach. Bradley scanned the surroundings; at least twenty marines were gone already, their bodies lying on the ground, forty were wounded at some extent or another, the medics franticly running around trying to assist them. The tanks were trying to suppress the incoming fire; they couldn't do anything to diminish the fire even when shooting thirty rounds a minute each. The Marines of second platoon advanced in the open field, attempting to keep up with the tanks for cover, plasma raining over them, slowly dismissing their number by ten. The Tanks stopped cold, still shooting giving the chance for the Marines to catch up. Once the Marines reached the tanks position the plasma fire stopped. First platoon held its position, twenty meters behind the tanks and second platoon, who now stood behind the tanks. The Marines of second platoon were looking at each other, behind the cover of the tanks, expecting an ambush in a few seconds.

       Lieutenant Miller moved his arm forward, signaling his Marines to advance, Bradley now stood, walking forward, keeping low until they reached the tanks and second platoon, taking cover behind the sixty six ton vehicles.

       "Dear god, we are sitting ducks here." Said a random Marine from Second platoon.

       "What now?" Asked Corporal Perry.

       "You know, the Covenant may not be bad, they just need love." Said Daniel, a private from second platoon with a peace sing on his helmet. "Lets give them love!" He said out loud, almost the whole company looking at him. "I'll take the whole Covenant in my bed right fucking now!" He screamed as he stood in the open. Poor sucker thought Bradley. A streak of blue beams that came out of the forest hit him in the stomach, he collapsed to the ground.

       "No buddy move!" Ordered the Officers. Both platoons stood cold, Daniel holding his opened stomach. "We have orders not to engage, don't move." Said coldly Lieutenant John Miller as he watched the Marine grab his stomach, crying for help.

       A warthog appeared between the MFVs that were now twenty meters behind, then joined the tanks position, Captain Muller was onboard, a corporal who was the target of most of the jokes in the company unloaded with him, he had thick glasses, short blond hair, his name was Lance Corporal Carl Finch. The Captain crawled behind the tank leader, calling both platoon commanders. The woods were only two hundred meters away now.

       "Dam, not bad for an hours work. Lets get ready to move. Second platoon stand fast. First platoon move forward." Ordered captain Muller over the comm.

       Lieutenant Miller and Potter crawled to where the CO was, kneeling next to him. "Potter, we need to get to the edge of the woods, out in the open we are sitting ducks, makes me wonder why they ceased to engage. Move your platoon till you reach the edge, create a line, I'll send first and third right behind your men. Once we enter the woods I'll call for Bravo company to move. Fourth platoon is ready for backup, if you need them call them."

       "Second platoon get ready to advance, set the goggles on." Lieutenant Miller said gently over the comm.

       Bradley reached into his combat bag that hung by his harness, he grabbed the MFG-3 (Multi Function Goggles) and set it on the rail on the front of the helmet, he lowered it until they were in front of his eyes, switching to thermal imager.

       "First squad, move forward, scouts formation. Second platoon, get ready to follow." Lieutenant Potter ordered as he ran to his lead element.

       Captain Muller turned around and opened a little hatch in the rear of the tank, revealing an intercom, pressing the button enabling him to talk with the tank leader. "Major, roll your tanks forward with second platoon. I need you to cover them, I'll have every thing I can with you." he told the CO of the tanks, Major Steve Calloway.

       First squad of second platoon walked forward with the tanks moving shortly after them, after the squad walked ten meters the rest of second platoon followed walking right behind the cover of the tanks. After they were twenty meters ahead of Captain Muller ordered. "First platoon, move."

       First platoon marched slowly right behind the tanks and second, Bradley was in the first line, his rifle at the ready, right behind second platoon.

       "Wort, Wort, Wort!" Bradley turned his face to Thomas, they both looked at each other, each face showing a glimpse of fear as they both recognized that voice, it was that of the human like covenant. After the screams of the beasts all kind of enemy fire appeared from the woods, together with the incoming fire two hundred grunts charged out of the woods, a bad mistake, they walked right into the kill zone of A Company. First squad of second platoon was gone in a matter of seconds by the enemy fire, only one survivor that took a charge of plasma in the shoulder crawled to the tanks, as a reflex Bradley was on the ground right after the first shots.

       "Suppressive fire!" Ordered Captain Muller over the radio. The Marines opened fire in full auto mode, with no natural cover A Company was exposed in the open, the covenant taking advantage of it, killing twenty more Marines, including Sidney from Bradley's squad, yet the Marines stood fearlessly in the open shooting a the horde of grunts, killing over one hundred of them with the help of the tanks yet two hundred more appeared.

Lyon Woods
Unknown Human system, Unknown Planet
Pride Legion, Covenant Courage Army assigned to the Solemn fleet.
Command Post of First Echelon

Hunser Goldhareds, Commander of the Legion of Pride ordered to protect the shuttle of his Holiness Anger his holiness him self, one the Ranking Shanglei in the Covenant. He watched the hologram displaying his forces. The tenacity of the Humans surprised his fleet; his battleship was attacked and destroyed, his holiness dragged into this infested planet. He would make the human filth pay for this sacrilege.

       "Hons Rowdash, my dear brother, how are the grunts faring in this battle?" He asked his second in command, an elite in scarlet armor.

       "My grateful leader, the grunts are charging hopelessly into a wall of fire, we need more to break it, pardon my insolence your greatness." Even though they were both wearing golden armor the distinctive marks of leadership in Hunser Goldharedds body, printed by the Prophets them selves were a sing of leadership and most of all honor.

       "It's not your fault my old friend. I can't understand why we can't beat them. If I'm correctly Humaed Shieldesrt is in charge of that Horde of Grunts?" Asked Hunser as he thought as he thoroughly watched the battle in the hologram.

       "Indeed my brother in arms. A young brave Elite, his rank is Gold-1, fresh out of the Training Convent. I botch for him." Said Hons as he bowed in front of his superior.

       "You tell that fool that if he doesn't charge the humans I will fill the chamber of his Holiness rage with his insides. Get the Hunters ready, I will lead them my self."

       Of the original two hundred creatures that charged out of the woods, only twenty remained, yet reinforced by three hundred more they charged like a Mongol horde, fearlessly in spite the wall of led that lay in front of them. Now that cloud be a good picture Bradley thought as he fired into the carpeted ground, one hundred more grunts poured out, screaming and screeching.

       The tanks turned their turrets slowly down, training them into the center of the covenant. The rounds hit the center of the onslaught of grunts, releasing their deadly fire, the napalm of the incendiary rounds setting fire on some of the grunts, the creatures running in panic attempting to extinguish the fire or rolling into the ground, witch cloud not be done. In spite this awful shelling from the tanks, the horde kept getting closer.

       Lieutenant Colonel West was in his command trailer, as reports came from the battle. His forward element, A Company, was at seventy percent nominal strength, being charged by a deadly enemy who apparently is willing to die for this cause. His two support companies, Bravo and Fox were still stranded behind the Marines. The plan called for Bravo Company to support Alpha company in the assault, this plan was failing.

       "HQ, Colt here, incoming enemy fire -the captain paused as the plasma fire hit next him- I already have fifty men down, requesting fire mission, over". Screamed the Captain Muller into the radio.


       West looked into the map. Alpha company getting attacked by superior numbers, they had to be reinforced; he grabbed the radio set in the table where the map was displayed. "Trojan to Bull, roll forward and assist Colt." Right next to the command post were the self propelled howitzers of First Field Artillery Battery of 230mm. "Colt, Trojan here. Contact fire team London, I already dispatched Bravo Coy for support." In the display the blue dots representing Bravo Company started to move forward-

       "A-3 to Colt! Enemy danger close, we can't depress our turrets more! Call in for AT or they are going to do us!" Reported Major Calloway as the grunts over ran their formation, passing the tanks in a number of twenty.

       Captain Karl Muller stood in the open, fearlessly staring at his battlefield; he was running out of options. His HHC section was entirely engaged, his company was spread thin, and there were two options. First tactical or best said frantic retreat or the bad option, he had to drop AT in the green zone. He grabbed Finch who was in the ground shooting his weapon fanatically into the covenant. "Son, you call AT in the taboo zone, and do it fast!" Finch got to it right away, calculating the right range on his battle field computer. "London this is Colt, requesting fire mission. Five rounds ICM, one-niner-four-three-six-seven, taboo zone! Fire for effect. Over"


       "Oh my go- all right Marines, One-niner-four-three-six-seven fire for effect, I repeat fire for effect on taboo zone. London out." Said a sergeant over the radio.

       "Colt here, net call. Every one brace for Alpha Tango on the taboo zone. Out."

       "Eat shit you covenant puke!" Bradley emptied a whole magazine on the nearby grunt, only five meters away. The twenty grunts that had passed the tanks were now all gone. David Bradley moved to a dead Marine and pulled a magazine from his belt, reloading the rifle, instantly shooting again.

       The main thrust of the enemy was less now a bare dive meters in front of the armor. The Canon and .50 cal fire from the tanks had little effect on the onslaught, who passed them like they were not even their, charging for the Marines. The grunts were used as meat for the grinder, there was the best part of three hundred dead in front of the Marines. At long range they were easy an easy kill, at close range they were showing their tenacity. A tank got at least twenty plasma grenades stuck on him on every side.

       Corporal Jason Rains watched hopelessly as his wingmen blew up, the armor slowly diminished by the plasma grenades. There were no options, they were to die in this ground. Every moment on his life flashed in front of him as he pressed the trigger and the firing button for the coax and the cannon, he remembered when his dad, his grandpa and he watched the old Cavalry movies from the third world war, as the tanks fought each other, firing their guns in a hopeless fight that would end this fifty one flags nation. He remembered how they changed the battle by going to the offense- Got it he thought. He yanked the drivers joystick forward, accelerating into the grunts. Stepping over them like glass with thick shoes. "A-8 to A-3, I'm rolling forward, hurrah!" Every tank that cloud move followed him.

Bradley watched as the remaining four tanks advanced over the grunts.
       "I've seen this in the movies, we are the Yankee cavalry wasting the Indians" said Ford as he uncontrollably fired his M-13A6 6.8mm designated marksman rifle, the odd thing was that he fire it like it was a sub machine gun.

       "Them I'm freaking John Wayne!" Said squad leader Perry as he pulled the pin out of a grenade.

       Bradley reloaded another clip, immediately putting the butt stock on his shoulder, pulling the trigger firing sixty rounds in four seconds. Killing a grunt and wounding other a bare five feet from him. "Marines hold position, let the tanks roll over them!" Sad Finch over the radio.

       "By the edge of the woods, ten mean looking creatures." Called second Lieutenant Brandon Walsh, the Officer Candidate Course graduate, a former corporal, executive officer of the platoon.

       The human looking creatures stood in the edge of the forest, challenging the Marines with their bravery, seven of them wearing scarlet armor, two of them black and one of them was wearing a shiny golden armor, they were in Bradley's opinion the elite of the covenant. The golden one opened an energy sword, screamed something that even with the hell of explosion sounded loud, then signaled to the Marines formation and yielded what to the ears of the Marines seemed like a pain scream, too loud and raw to be an order, the Elites however charged formation, the tanks swung their turrets away from the grunts aiming into the elites who were hard to kill, they moved from side to side, faster than any human.

       "I call blondy." Said Corporal Perry referring to the golden one.

       The tanks killed three of the scarlet elites, yet the speed of the others was too much, they reached the pile of the dead grunts, something they did in a fraction of a minute, the scarlet and the blacks jumped over the hill of carcasses twenty meters away from the Marines, landed in front of the tanks, the Gold one landed right in the middle of the formation. Bradley turned around and aimed into it, shooting three rounds, the shields deflecting them. The Marines now opened fire on it, hundreds of bullets gazing in every direction, the elite however was hard aim at, and in the cross fire some Marines shoot their buddies raising the body count for A Company.

       "Watch the cross fire! Take it out!" Ordered Captain Muller as he fired his own rifle at the beast.

       The elite raced to a couple of Marines firing their weapons rifles at him, with a single move he cut them both, he then grabbed a blue ball pressed a button in it turning into a blue flaming sphere, he threw it into a medic that was assisting a wounded marine, the grenade stuck on the medic, the medic turned around to look what was burning him moving his hands to his back, he saw nothing as the grenade was in a blind spot in his back, the sticker exploded in his back, killing him and the Marine he was aiding, wounding some of the Marines next to him leaving them in a critical state. Fury filled every inch of David Bradley's body, him and every Marine in the area shot irregardless of the cross fire, shooting in full auto at the beast, the Marines managed to train on the target after a thousand bullets. The kinetic energy from the Marine fire coming in from all directions made it impossible for it to move, it was like it was taking a beating from all sides, its shields eventually disappeared, electricity rays appeared around the Elite, subsequently the best part of one hundred bullets hit its body. It was dead before its knees hit the ground.

       Bradley immediately turned around to see four more elites coming in, at close range, they opened up.

       "Loading." He knelt grabbing a magazine from his belt. A nearby grunt that somehow escaped his eyes aimed its plasma pistol at him, a green ball forming in the muzzle, he had only two options, try to reload his rifle fast enough and try to shoot the beast, or charge into it. He threw the clip into the beast, the magazine hitting the head of the Grunt, making the shoot of plasma go into the sky, he then grabbed the rifle by the barrel, ran towards the panicked little beast, making a golf swing, breaking the scull of the Grunt. He grabbed another magazine, reloaded and scanned for targets, two hundred grunts coming in, he didn't pay attention to them, he was looking for elites, found one, shooting at Marines from fourth platoon who were running in the open to reinforce the battered Marines, he aimed like he was trained to do, both eyes open, one centered on the sight, he aimed to the scarlet elite that has it's mouth opened, laughing as he killed Marines, automatic fire left the muzzle of Bradley's rifle, hitting the shield, this shields although were weaker than the golden ones were hard to diminish, his fire together with three more of the Marines killed the monster on the spot, the dead Marines from fourth platoon were avenged. After the cheers from the Marines who killed the incoming elite a distinctive sound was audible for all to hear, incoming artillery, and the grunts kept coming in, beautiful.

       "Incoming, drop to the ground!" Shouted nearly all Marines.

       The ICM (improved conventional munitions) has a proximity fuse, laser determines the range with was set to discharge the bomblets, the hundred bomblets discharging from the shell, detonating over or in the ground it self. The hundreds grunts that were climbing the dead carcasses of their comrades had no chance. One hundred of them were dead in a matter of seconds, the waves of covenant being decimated by the bomblets. Bradley was on the ground blocking his ears as the fire rocked the ground. The Marines slowly stood up, the discharges of artillery having a stunning effect on them.

       The fire ceased as there were no targets, some of the Marines then aided the wounded comrades and some kept perimeter security.

       "You now, it's weird that the birds weren't here, right Thomas." Bradley said.

       "You are right, you now its official hunting season for birds here!" Said Thomas attempting to relax the Marines.

       I don't know why I said that Bradley thought, as the bipeds arrived shortly after, with their energy shields held up front, like an ancient Greek hoplite. Behind them grunts with their "bazookas" appeared, shooting twenty rounds into the Marines. Before the Marines cloud react twenty plasma shells streaked into them. Bradley went prone, placing his hands over his head, the plasma shells hit the formation, only the Marines that ducked fast enough survived. One landed right next to Bradley shocking him, blisters filling all his body, the pain being to heavy to bear, he turned around looking at the sky, the temperature slowly diminishing.

       He thought he was dead, he couldn't hear anything, just the beautiful ski, He realized he was alive when he saw... SkyHawks! There dozens of them appeared overhead, the attack jets fired their Blade rockets into the woods, together with the 56mm fire from their guns ripping apart the Jackals and the Grunts. The Covenant that survived panicked and fled; only a few brave jackals remained, Marine snipers, tank fire and support fire from the SkyHawks finished the Covenant of.

       The Pelicans that were supposed to drop the other companies on the other side of the woods to block the covenant appeared, at least twenty of them. Large red plasma started to fly through the woods targeting the Pelicans, one of them took a hit in the forward fan, losing control and crashing in the woods. Bradley stood, dizzy by the shock wave, he stared at the woods as the Blades and Jackhammers from the jets and pelicans hit the forest, he lost it out of his sight once that crossed over the tree line, he wondered what will happened-

       "Snap out of it Marine, lets get this fucks, charge into the woods!" Said captain Muller as he passed him by the side. The remaining two Scorpion tanks were already charging forward, opening holes in the mountains of dead.

       The Marines advanced through the field of wreckage and dead, the medics attended the Marines that were wounded, if one cloud not survive the medics would pop morphine into their veins, in the lack of it they would put a little tube in their nose releasing a deadly gas, giving them a painless dead. Bradley remembered the woods, once it was thick and beautiful; it was now a bunch of dead covenant and burnt or burning trees. The Marines charged the woods, once inside they scanned for targets, they spotted the retreating Covenant. The grunts ran with no tactical form of retreat, throwing their rifles away, some of the Jackals had their shields covering their backs. They Marines opened up on them, the grunts were slow easy targets, the Jackals leaving them behind, the grunts stood no chance.

       "Clear the edge of the forest, check the enemy to see if there are survivors. Don't kill them if they are alive, we need some Intel on this folk. Sergeant Brown, report." Captain Muller said, he hung his rifle.

       The sergeant walked to him and whispered to his ear so that the Marines couldn't hear. "Fifty six are dead, sixty five are wounded. That leave us with seventy nine able bodies, some of the wounded might come and fight."

       The Marines started the post battle drills, checking the dead Covenant for weapons and equipment, after ten minutes of post battle drills they regrouped. Bradley rallied with what remained of the squad in a shell hole. Thomas was still here, Dominique wasn't anywhere to be seen, de Fort, Perry, Ford and Cruz, Juliet and Ford were by the medic, getting patched up. Bradley wondered where Emma Dominique was, she might be wounded, he cleared his mind, and then focused.

       "Dam, I didn't get blondy. What did you guys get?" Perry asked as he sat, removing his helmet.

       "Don't know, too many variables." Said Ford as he returned with a patch on his shoulder. Sitting down in a rock.

       "Variables my ass! I killed about one hundred of them." Said de Fort.

       "And what happened when you fell from your bed you poor ass wet dreamer" said Cruz, cleaning his rifle.

       "Shut up! I'm getting a Medal." de Fort replied.

       "Yea? well I'm getting bored of your cockfight" said a gentle female voice.

       Emma Dominique stood there with one of her eyes patched, she was holding her rifle with her right hand. She sat on a dead grunt next to Thomas.

       "So, is this it?" Asked Perry. Looking around, seeing seventy men and woman regroup and refit, finding holes to sit on.

       "Why are we here any way, this forest has no tactical value." Asked Thomas, attempting to look smart, he of course failed.

       Bradley thought that this forest was just attacked because the Covenant was seen here, they were really making a stand here, this fight was more than tactical, it was an strategic one if things remained as they were.

       "Net Call, Net Call, all Colt units we are moving out." Said the voice of Finch on the radio. A company had lost more than half of its men so far, and they haven't even begin the attack on the center of the woods.

       "Roger that geek!" said Perry over the comm. set on his shoulder, grabbing his helmet and placing it over his head.

       "You guys 1-1 from A Company." Said a thick voice, a black men, large and muscular with a plasma burn on his face.

       "Yea who are you?" Asked Perry as he stood up.

       "I'm Corporal Arthur Woods, from 1-2 -first squad, second platoon- I'm the only survivor, I'm going to stick in with you guys." Said as he sat down on the ground, placing his rifle over his crossed legs.

       "Fine, but I'm still in charge" said Perry

       "Cough, Cough, pissing contest, cough." Thomas said.

       Bradley heard the common sound of truck engines, he turned around and saw six five ton trucks rolled into the edge of the forest, seventy two Marines unloaded, they were all clean and neat, their uniforms with out a bit of sand on them. Their Captain unloaded, his radio operator behind, talking into the head set. Bravo Company was finally showing up, at least half its men. The Marines formed in parade formation, standing at attention as the Sergeant reported, suddenly the Marines were alarmed by something, and they ran for cover some of them signaling to the sky. Bradley looked up, something was in the sky, he cloud only see a tiny spot, then it grew larger as it dived on the Marines, it wasn't human, it was a Covenant craft, a Banshee. It dove right for them, opening fire from its two plasma cannons and one large ball of green plasma.

       "Incoming!" The Marines screamed as they ran for cover.

       He took cover behind the body of a tree, or what remained of it, shooting his rifle at the flying crafts, for no result, fourteen more Banshees appeared.

       "Colt to almighty, we have enemy air on top of us, requesting priority air support." Said Captain Muller into the radio as he looked up, irregardless of his safety.



12th Tactical Squadron, 1st fighter group.
Dijon Colony, Epsilon Eridani, System.
Marines Head Quarters. Britannia Island Chain.
Galilee Continent

       Lt. Pearce led the four Longsword fighter bombers heading east. He watched in the digital screen the picture of his wife and two kids, back at Britain in earth, he had a perfect life as an attorney on earth until a phone call to his office ruined this. He had been drafted into service. He then graduated in Lakenleath USNC Air Base on Earth, he was a veteran against the rebels, a instructor for the Longsword when the news of Harvest came in, a perfect CSV. He volunteered on the spot, he was eager to take the covenant on, to save his family's future.

       "Command this is Maverick lead, heading for target area." Said Pierce, they were to bomb a suspected Covenant held building in Lyon.

       "Negative, you are turn right heading 187. Head for Air Combat Station Five Mike, once on station contact Almighty for control" Called UNSC Carrier Germany, the mother of this flight.

       "Roger Command, swinging right. Still at angels sixty."

       Pierce turned his fighter right, heading into the station for air support, accelerating into mach 3.4. After eight minutes they reached the air station.

       "Sir, I have 15 contacts on top of the Marines. I have no IFF returns, radar also shows twenty eight pelicans on the opposite side of the forest. Fence in by the way." Said his co pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel del Horno, "fence in" means that they just entered hostile territory. "Almighty this is Maverick, we have entered station Five Mike. On station." He reported as he turned on the data link.

       "Maverick, we have Marines under air strike. Turn right heading 17-niner, splash enemy air, check for IFF tags. We have your data link and are sending info, out." Reported the fleet liaisons officer with the Marines.

       "Roger, turning to engage." Said Pearce.

       "Flight switch to cold." This command ordered his flight to switch of all equipment that might leave an electronic trace for the enemy to find. He had one LRAAM (Long Range Air to Air missile) called Tomcats, four AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air missiles) called Slammers and five SRAAM (Short Range Air to Air Missile) called Spikes, plus on the bomb bay were two SDAGM (Small Diameter Air to Ground Missiles) ideal for a heavy blast and precision.

       "Get us a target." Ordered Pearce to his weapons officer. Using the data link they uploaded data from the radars on the ground. Keeping their electronic emissions to a minimum

       "Roger I have a passive lock on five enemy crafts, no ECM or TEWS spikes detected. I suggest we engage fast, they are blasting at the forest." Del Horno said, as he coldly hit buttons in the panel.

       The targeting data appeared on Pearce's Head Mounted Display, each target in a square with a dot on the middle, still seventy miles ahead, the radar will give the missiles the information of the target, heading, speed, altitude and position. The missiles will self guide into the enemy crafts once at close range.

       "Flight, go hot".

       The four planes selected different targets.

       "Two"

       "Three"

       "Four"

       His flight acknowledged the order.

       "Three, take four to the right. Let's do a pincer." Ordered Pierce.

       The pincer is an old tactic; the flight was to flank from two different sides, the crossfire on them like a pincer.

       "Thirty miles." Almighty checked in.

       "Flight make ready." Ordered Pierce. Once the second section confirmed the order he armed the missiles.

       "Press." Ordered Pierce.

       Fifteen slammers dropped from the rails inside the bomb bay, igniting at five feet from the aircraft, streaking away at Mach 7. The radar display showed the five missiles, together with fifteen more missiles from the rest of the flight.

       "Three seconds sir." The timer on his HMD reaching zero in seconds.

       "Splash!"

       The fifteen Banshees dropped from the sky.

       "Enemy incoming." Whispered Lieutenant Miller at the Marines as seven hundred grunts formed into attack formation in front of them.

Third Marines in Harvest: Chapter Five- counter attack
Date: 26 January 2005, 4:42 PM

       "Don't move buggy, they are right on top of us." Whispered Lance Corporal Tommy Malone to his wounded friend as he pressed the wound on his chest, a needle from a unseen enemy struck him during the previous battle. Is this how my life is going to end, though Tommy to him self. He had left his perfect life behind, to come to fight this alien threat far from home, in a planet that no one in his social circle new. He was on college studding medicine when he got drafted, leaving his fiancé back home, god is she going to miss me. He had been rejected from Officer Candidate School only because he had no connections in the Corps, forced to serve as a mere grunt.

       "Relax Buggy I'll get you out of here," Private Frank "Buggy" Scholarly took three beams to the chest, the only survivors from the sniper section of first platoon Fox Company, the Covenant had deciphered their battle tactics perfectly and attacked right in the Marines Achilles heel, the overconfidence. The Marines didn't expect to be attacked by Ghost, invisible creatures infiltrated their lines and engaged the Marines in the rear, the results were obvious for Covenant and human, the battle flied was now a grave yard.
Fox Company was charged by over a thousand Covenants, from every flank, it was a miracle that they held, or not. For the sounds the two Marines cloud hear the battle was still raging somewhere to their flanks, it was a decoration to the woods, the roar of jets overhead indicated a major air battle was taking place. The terrifying part of the carnage was the artillery shells, both human projectiles and covenant plasma randomly hit the woods. People back home will not believe this crap, Tommy couldn't tell Buggy who was on the ground what was going to happen shortly after, a Covenant patrol approached them, five grunts, two Jackals and a scarlet Elite on burial detail, checking the carcasses of both human and alien, they found none alive.

       "Five meters away buggy, we are screwed." Tommy whispered as he grabbed his M-6C .51 pistol, his arm shaking for his battle stress. The nearest Grunt headed his way, to the foxhole were the platoon lay dead, he tightened the grip on the pistol.

       Spartan 007 Todd scanned the battlefield with his helmet magnification. Bunch of amateurs , thought the Spartan of the Covenant and the Marines, the art of war had turned into attrition, not what the Spartans have been taught.

       "Athena this is Zeus come in." Called the Squad leader, Spartan John 117.

       "Athena one to Zeus." Called Todd to John.

       "Hector Queen called for a sweep for survivors, you have Foxtrot Charlie area of Operation."

       So HQ wants to check the graveyard for survivors. Yes, lets see if there are Marines Ok. Todd grabbed his shoot gun from the ground, gently swinging it on his back. "Athena team prepares to move out, go invisible." Todd pulled the silenced pistol from the holster in his tight; the four Spartans in Athena team followed his leader moves.

       The team advanced crouched, checking the dead Marines in their paths, finding none alive, Spartans grabbed the equipment of the Covenant dead they found intact, an order from ONI. "Contact, 01-niner 76," called Denton, Spartan 032. There was Covenant bearing 019 at 76 meters. As there was contact the whole team froze, not moving a muscle.

       "I count five Grunts, two Jackals and one Elite. Classify formation as a squad size element; I see neither trailers nor pointers. Easy target," reported Todd to the team. "Graveyard detail," reported Spartan 051 Grace.

       "Ready to engage," reported the Team Sniper, Spartan 002 Carlos, ready to fire his 30mm breech loader sniper rifle. He had two rifles, the S-89T breach loader and the M-79D .64 sniper rifle, he had learned that the 30mm round for the Elites worked quite efficiently, he set the bipod on the ground, going into prone position, setting the muzzle break.

       "Negative Athena five, let's do them silent." Todd analyzed the situation, eight contacts, looking for survivors, not expecting a fight, he couldn't place it easier if he cloud. "Ambush, U shaped. Athena Five, cover fire. Two with me, right flank. Three and Four, left flank," the Spartans broke formation and followed orders.

       "Buggy can you shoot?" The wounded Marine grabbed an assault rifle, placing it on his chest. Looking into the eyes of Tommy showing not a trace of fear in his face.

       "Good bud, we will go to heaven together. Ten meters now," the nearest Grunt advanced with his needler on his right arm, kicking the bodies of the Marines in its path, no reaction from any of the carcasses. The Marine removed the safety from the pistol.

       Three shots in the right flank, Todd turned his head, the Grunt fell. Snag, he thought, there were Marines alive, they were to be protected, he would do so. "Athena Five, engage. Athena team prepares to charge!"

       The muzzle blast of the 30mm rifle was noticeable for all, Covenant and Human. The massive round reached instantly into the head of the Elite, the shields didn't spark as they cloud not take the APFSDS, the head immediately disappeared from the body, and the remaining Covenant had no chance.

       The four Spartans in the flanking teams moved to the Covenant squad in a pincer movement, Todd watched through the Thermal Imager System in the helmet of his armor how the Jackals moved into the hoplite formation unaware of the four Spartans at their left and right flank, ironically this formation was how the original Spartans in ancient Greece fought.

       He picked as his target the leader of the formation, a Jackal with a yellow energy shield. He pulled the trigger, the three rounds flying through the air, hitting the Chicken in the head. The rest of the Spartans joined him with their MA5T rifles, the .308 rounds slamming into the unaware aliens; they were all dead the half of a second. The Marines unaware that the Spartans were friendly trained their weapons into the Spartans; the Marines confused them as Elites.

       "Cherry, Cherry!" Todd screamed the Identification of Friend or Foe tag to the Marines as he covered behind a tree.

       "Pie," said a weak voice, the Marine raised his head to see the two Spartans approach him.

       "ELITES!" Tommy screamed as he aimed at the Spartans, believing they were Covenant. A Spartan kicked him on the hand, and made him throw the gun away.

       "Take it easy Marine," said Spartan Grace as she surrounded him with both her arms, securing him for any further hostile action.

       "You fucking Covenant! I will kill you all!" Tommy screamed as he tried to release from the grip of the unnaturally strong female.

       "Marine, my name is Petty Officer Todd of SPARTAN II. You are ok buddy, you are ok, and where is your unit?" Asked Todd, looking straight at the Marine eyes through his helmet.

       "Are you blind, look around they are fucking dead!" Said Tommy, irregardless that the Spartan outranked him.

       Todd turned around, pressed a button on the right side of the helmet enabling the comm. System. "Zeus this is Athena, copy? Over."

       "Talk to me Todd," said the deep voice of Master Chief Petty Officer John 117.

       "Two survivors, one mentally broken a one Whiskey India Alpha. Over."

       "Roger that 007. Pull out to friendly lines Six Marine Regiment just arrived," ordered the Commander.

       "Roger that sir." The two Marines were ready to move, they were out of here.

Two hours before


       "Enemy incoming." Whispered Lieutenant Miller at the Marines as seven hundred grunts formed into attack formation in front of them.

       Bradley stared at the spectacle, showing his head over the shell hole where the squad was hiding, the rest of the 62 men and woman of the Company holding a line of two hundred meters, hiding in the same way they where, on shell holes. Bravo and Fox companies were holding the line on the flanks, two more companies were heading here from forward operations base Bravo but they would not reach in time for the battle. All news were not bad tough, the CO from Bravo Company had gently attached a platoon to A Company; witch Captain Muller placed on the right next to first "platoon" of twelve men strength, HQ had deployed a FASCAM (Family of Scatter Able Mines) with artillery, over two hundred mines lay between the Covenant and the Marines. Three ILGM (Indirect Laser Guide Missile) pods were set up on the flanks; no Grunt was going to survive this.

       There was a depression in front of the lines of the marines, then turned into a small ridge, where seven hundred grunts formed into attack formation half a click away nearly on the top of the hill, in four columns parallel to each other, one column behind the other. The Grunt that looked like the leader, a black armored little puke, cheered them on, screeching and laughing, the grunts responded yielding in their own annoying voices, behind them Jackals formed into a Hoplite, ready to attack as well. The grunt leader turned to face the direction of the Marines. It fired a single shot of plasma into the Marines lines, a bad mistake.

       Tommy Malone a designated marksman from Fox Company watched how the green dot hit a tree in the Marines on the lines; the Marines did not return fire as they were ordered, maintaining the discipline that characterize them.

       "Designate Marksman, take the shooter down." Ordered the CO of the Company. "Roger that Captain Moore." Reported Tommy, he released the safety of the .30 cal M-39A1 rifle, centered the DM-21 sight on the head of the beast, pulled the trigger, the bullet left the muzzle at thirty thousand feet, the bullet killed it on the spot. The grunts shut up, then charged down hill.

       "Get ready Marines, shoot on my mark." Ordered Captain Karl Muller over the radio as he ran through the lines, positioning him self with the Squad, the grunts charged down hill, the captain waited until they were three hundred meters away from the Marine positions, starting to climb the depression. "Let's get them!"

       The blasts of five hundred rifles toured into the waves of covenant, ripping their first lines apart. Two streaks of smoke headed for the formation of Covenant, Jackhammer missiles from Fox Company though Bradley. David Bradley didn't need aim; he simply swung his rifle left to right spraying bullets into the Covenant formation. The Grunts, as usual started to pile, over two hundred of them pilled on the center, the remaining six hundred rolled to the flanks like a wave that met an obstacle. The grunts opened fire on the Marines once they left the pile of dead Covenant behind, thousand of plasma beams hitting the shell holes and trees were the Marines hid.

       "Delta, Iowa, Mike!" called Lance Corporal Finch over the radio. The lotus mines were going to blow up.

       "Drop!" said a random Marine, as the Marines dropped the mines detonated, a combination of fragmentation and heavy explosive charges propelled out of the ground, detonating over the unsuspecting Grunts.

       "The are all gone pal!" said Perry as he raised his head over the foxhole. "We got more coming in!"

       Bradley stood up, watching over five hundred Grunts charged over the remnants of the previous formation of Grunts, getting closer by the minute, the number diminishing to two hundred when they were "danger close" to the Marine lines.

       "Marines! Get ready to frag 'em!" said First Sergeant Brown as he pulled a grenade from his harness.

      Bradley ripped the grenade from his harness, pressing the arming button until it blipped, enabling the impact fuse, he did the same again until he had a grenade on each hand.

       "Dude, don't do any heroics!" said Albert Thomas as he reloaded his rifle.

       "Nah pal, don't worry. Just cover me!" The grunts were a mere fifty meters now.

       "I have your ass!"

       "Again with the ass kissing!" said Squad leader Perry.

       "Throw them Marines!" ordered Sergeant First Class Brown, Bradley aimed his first grenade at the closest Grunt, threw it directly in its path, the grenade detonating on it. He took the grenade on his left arm with his right hand, throwing it again. The grenades they hit them in the center, every Marine threw at least a grenade. Only fifty grunts remained, they mingled with the Marine lines. Bradley grabbed his assault rifle immediately shooting it into the Grunts; one was only five feet from the shell hole holding a blue ball on his hand. He placed fifteen bullets on the creature, the grenade landing three feet from the shell hole.

       "Get down!" He told to the squad. The grenade detonated, killing the nearby Grunts. Two plasma grenades landed on the shell hole, Thomas stared at the blue spheres, freezing, Bradley had to tackle him away from the grenades.

       Bradley was stunned by the shock of the grenades, he slowly recovered, he checked Thomas to see if he was alive, placing his finger on the neck of Albert, his heart was beating, the pulse however was weak. He grabbed a grenade of Thomas belt, his and Bradley's last one, he pressed the button until it blipped enabling the contact fuse threw it into the grunts that were slowly approaching the hole, the Grunts looked at the Grenade, puzzled by it, once they realized what was happening they threw their own grenades, the grenades felled short of the retreating Marines. Bradley turned around and ran, dragging Thomas. The blast nock him over, he stood, looked for his brother in arms, Albert Thomas, not finding him. He turned around, limping away for fifty meters until some one tackled him.

       "Calm down Marine," said the voice of a female, a Medic.

       He looked around, there were at least fifty Marines aiming the first lines where he had pulled out.

       "Who are you guys?"

       "1st Field hospital, 3rd Marines. Shut up. Help us," she gave him an M-5C, .50 cal side arm.

       The only one from the company he cloud see was Thomas who was retreating now, besides him no one was retreating from the front lines, just dozens of incoming covenant grunts, with Jackals not that far away.

       Fifty meters away, Bradley waited for the Marine to reach the friendly lines. The Marines locked and loaded, "Open up on them!" ordered who looked like the commanding officer.

       There were five .50 cal machineguns, and two jackhammer launchers. Bradley grabbed the hand gun, with his right arm squeezing the trigger, the fifty cal cartridge heading into the Covenant creatures. The Echo Tangos responded with all the fire power they have, together with their massed numbers, there was no stopping them. The only hope was that the Jackhammer gunners cloud reloads fast enough, but they were medics not combat marines. Ten meters away now, Bradley emptied another magazine having little effect on the vast horde. The Grunts as now a standard procedure in the ground fights started to pile up, in the rear tried to climb through the mountain of their dead comrades.

       "Loading!" informed the loader of one of the .50 cal.

       A dozen plasma grenades appeared over the mountain of corpses.

       "Take cover!" ordered a Navy medic wearing a Lieutenant patch on his shoulder as he ran away from the position. One of the .50 cal gunners took one grenade on the helmet, he was right in front of Bradley, and he ran towards him ripping the belts that strapped his helmet to his head, throwing it over the mountain of carcasses. The grenades went of, all around them, throwing Bradley away landing on top one dead Marine. He was simply lost, he couldn't make out where or how he was.

       "Wooort!" the voice of one the Elites made his spine tingle. They jumped over the pile of dead grunts , Bradley felt as the weight from the beasts shocked the ground. He cloud hear the laughs from the beasts as they broke through the defending Marines, he cloud hear also the distinctive sound of plasma rifles going of, he moved his head around, spotting two rows of plasma appearing out of no where. All the hope for the Marines were gone, they had lost.

       "We need any kind of support here, our lines are broken, send help..." whispered the lieutenant into a head set that hung from a radio in a dead Marine back, before one of the cloakers kicked his head, killing him or simply making him lose consciousness.

       Bradley tried to crawl away but some one stepped on him, he slowly turned his head halfway around and saw nothing, the thing on his back pressed him to the mud. He could see three foot prints stamped into the ground, one of them released the pressure on the ground as they stared kicking him. He felt as two of his ribs cracked like cookies by the strength of the blows, this much pain regularly would make him scream, and he couldn't do it, he had no breath.

       There is no way out of this one, an earthquake shook the ground uncontrollably; the odd thing however was that it only lasted five seconds, the beasts that were kicking him stopped by the quake and the confusion. Bradley slowly regained his breath and turned around; fifteen Human Entry Vehicles had landed in this position. The doors popped, revealing the soldiers inside. They were not Helljumpers, they stood taller than any men he had ever seen, their shiny green armor having SPARTAN II sign in the chest. Oh my god, they are for real , thought David Bradley. One of them had an assault rifle on one hand and a submachine gun in the other, he aimed one at each side, shooting to nothing apparently in the eyes of Bradley, however two energy shields appeared from nowhere, hovering over the earth, sparkling electricity rays, the elites behind them appeared gradually as the shields faltered, the bullets hitting the beasts.

       Both of them crumbling to the ground next to Bradley, his two attackers laying dead on the ground. Bradley turned his head around, watching the Spartans kill the other cloakers the same way. Dear god, we can win this , Bradley was now filled with a new feeling, hope. An energy sword appeared behind one of the Spartans, the Spartan somehow realizing this and turning to face the threat, the sword flying straight for him, he aimed his shoot gun to the sword and pulled the trigger, the hundred shots revealing the elite. The now visible elite swung his sword in a cutting movement, the Spartan ducked, the sword cutting the air over him, he then flipped the shot gun in the air, catching it by the barrel, slamming it by the butt stock in the elites stomach, its shields disappearing, he then hit it five times in fast movements. The beast crumbled into the ground, the Spartan moved his arm up and then lowering his elbow down, celebrating the astonishing kill.

       With a single head movement from the Squad leader the fifteen Spartans jumped over the mountain of dead grunts. Bradley tried to stand; the pain on his chest was too much. He collapsed on the ground, hearing hundreds of shots from the Spartans and surviving Marines, it lasted for five minutes. The Spartans returned to their drop zone, checking their vaults for the rest of their gear, once secured they checked the bodies of the Marines.

       "Any Marines alive," said a Female Spartan.

       Bradley looked at the Spartan. "Fuck!" he shouted. The Spartan knelt right next to him. "It's ok Private, we will protect you now," said with a soft, lady like voice. She grabbed a device that looked like a nose drops container; she gently placed it inside one of the nostrils of Bradley, squeezing it, releasing an anesthetic gas. She grabbed the Marine like a baby, walking to an aid station on the edge of the forest, the marine slowly fainting by the effects of the gas.

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
FOB Juliet.
1st Battalion, 3rd Marines Command Control Post.

       Colonel Daniel Harley stood in the C2 stations. Reports of the battle came in, it was an orgy of disasters, and they have underestimated the Covenant. The Marines had been stopped cold, in every front; the Covenant forces were tougher than we had expected. Dam for those ONI assheads, thought the Colonel. This continent was the flashpoint of the campaign, in the other two continents the fight had not been this heavy, not because they were wining, and it was because there was not much of the Covenant.

       1st Battalion had lost the half of its men, 3rd Marines one quarter. Even though his men had killed allot of covenant the casualty ratio was simply unacceptable. TF Helen had reached its LZ; they only had one surviving company sized element.

       He looked at the map, red dots every where blue dots decreasing by the second. These woods had no tactical objective, there was a highway on the opposite side of it that headed into the city, the Marines cloud take it with out even looking at the forest but the orders from ONI were clear, secure the forest hold it and await further instructions. The S-4, the intelligence officer of the regiment, had come up with some hypothesis, the first was that if their were that religious the woods might be a symbol for them, the second one was that their tactics might dictated the use of woods type terrain, the third was that they maybe are stupid in a ground fight. No, they've underestimated the covenant before, if he had to bet, they were protecting something.

       "Attention on deck!" reported the military police sergeant guarding the room.

       Two colonels entered the room wearing their dress blues, ONI ribbons in their chests, one of them had a briefcase hand cuffed to his right hand. They were escorting a Civilian, Dr. Parlov head of naval intelligence; he was wearing a black suit.

       "Nice to see you Colonel," Said Parlov.

       "This is Colonel Ruddock and Ryan, they have something to show you," hand shakes followed the doctor words, Colonel Ryan pulled a chain from his neck, the chain had a key, Colonel Ruddock placed the briefcase on the table, Ryan entered the key on a lock on the briefcase, opening the briefcase.

       "This is for your eyes only," said Colonel Ryan.

       "Every one except the ONI spooks out of here," ordered Dan Harley. A holographic image appeared over the briefcase. It showed a UNSC Cruiser and four destroyers chasing a damaged covenant vessel, twice the size of the largest human vessel, it headed to the Dijon Colony. Once near the planet, too near thought Dan, hundreds of drop ships abandoned the ship, heading for the planet. They all looked the same, except one larger than the others. The colonel noticed the different kind of ship, it looked like a giant tear drop and the other ships formed a perimeter around it. The human ships opened fire on the Covenant vessels, shooting at least two hundred archer missiles, all the ships tightened the perimeter around the teardrop shaped shuttle taking the hits for it.

       "I can see you noticed the ship, we estimate the ship crashed or landed in the woods," Doctor Parlov pressed a button in the briefcase, showing now a satellite reconnaissance picture. It showed a crash site, the ship looking almost intact but its bow was pinned to the ground, it had opened a huge hole in the woods.

       "This was taken ten minutes later," it showed the Covenant vessel now flat on the ground, its bow out of the ground.

       "This was taken thirty seconds later," the ship was not there.

       "Where did it go?" Dan asked.

       "Its still there, don't ask us how we now, buts it still there. They are using some kind of camouflage -he pressed the button again, this time it showed all kinds of Covenant creatures putting a screen over the crash site, simulating the forest- as you can see. They are hiding something or some one."

       "That's why we send the ODST to secure the woods. That's why they are defending it so hard. Sorry we didn't tell you earlier," said Colonel Ryan.

       He had send de Marines into battle expecting a milk run. It turned out to be something worst, he looked at them closing his fists and crossing his arms.

       "So, you want this ship."

       "Indeed my dear Colonel, we think they are protecting something, or some one inside the ship. You need to secure that ship, I'm giving you the men of the SPARTAN II project, use them wisely, they are already on the field."

       "Ok," the Colonel was puzzled wit all this.

       "There is one more thing" the Dr. Said. "I shouldn't be telling you this. We now one thing that there is on that ship, you will now what is when you get to it, I'll tell you, you will be surprised".

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
Forward Operation Base Bravo
Field Hospital



       A slap in the face awoke private David Bradley. He slowly opened his eyes, he saw the face of a civilian medic in a green surgeon dress. "How are you feeling David" he said, his face almost on top of Bradley's one.

       "I'm not the sleeping beauty so don't you dare kiss me," said Bradley as he stood, the pain on his ribs now gone.

       "Don't worry David, get up. I need the bed, we have more wounded coming" he said, John Dorian stamped on the surgeon dress. He turned around and gave Bradley an ice cream. "Get out, your company is on barracks twelve. Hope I never see you again, at least here" said the doc as he helped him put of the bed. "Exit is that way, the pain killers will wear of in two hours, then your ribs will hurt a little, take these -he placed a capsule carrying twelve shots- as long as you take it, your ribs will be Ok" he didn't new it, but he had been operated, his chess had been opened, his ribs placed together again, covering with a special gel that hardened, lasting until the ribs heal.

       David walked out of the field hospital. He looked around; there was a row of five ton trucks extending from the entrance to the exit, heading to the woods. An MP stood by the entrance to the hospital. "Were are the barracks twelve?" he asked the MP.

       "Hold on a second, I'll get a transport for you," he turned around, opened a box next to the entrance of the hospital and grabbed a phone "Hey Hall, I have a pick up for you at the Hospital... roger... Ok, I wait for you here," he hung up the phone and looked at Bradley. "He will be here in a minute".

       The pickup arrived, an unarmed warthog stopped next to hospital. Bradley saluted at the kind sergeant, and then jumped into the passenger seat of the vehicle. A private was in the driver seat, he was in the dress uniform, the elegant brown uniform used out of the field.

       "Man, I imagine the carnage you just been through. Wounded had arrived all morning. The good news is that six Marines just arrived in planet; they are already in the fight. Third has been pulled out, I regret to inform you that two thirds of the regiment are casualties, only four MIAs"

       "How is the fight going in the woods?" asked Bradley as the vehicle hit a cross road, stopping there as the MP directing the traffic ordered them to.

       "Well, I'm not sure. An hour ago over a hundred pelicans headed there, I only counted twenty when they returned. I don't know if they shoot down eighty of them or they are still there, I think its going well. Half of six Marines is still here, if they were needed they would have been dispatched," the vehicle turned right at the cross road, passing the base armory, taking another right.

       "How about elsewhere?" asked Bradley.

       "Supposedly it's lighter than here, it seems ET is concentrated here," said the Private, they arrived at the barracks. Bradley shook hands with the Marine, and then unloaded. The barracks were actually a large metal box built for field housing, Bradley had to recognize, and even if they picked on the engineers they sure made the great field housing. He entered the barrack; he counted sixteen on a barrack designed for two hundred.

       "I'm back baby!" Bradley shouted as every Marine in the barrack awoke.

       "Shut up, asshat!" said Perry as he sat on his bed.

       "Nice to see you too pal" said Bradley. He walked to Perry's bed, sitting next to him. "Is this everyone?" he asked, feeling sleepy as well.

       "No, we have fifty WIA. Some are fixable, others are critical" he said, exhaling deeply as he finished the sentence.

       "Thomas?" asked David, expecting the worst.

       "He's ok, at field hospital. He has several plasma burns, he should be here by tomorrow" he said, Bradley expression of relief was too obvious, and he didn't care, his bro was ok. "Our platoon is the lucky one. Lieutenant Miller and Walsh are Ok, at the officer quarters. Monique, Cruz, Thomas, you and me from our squad. Corporal Woods from 2-1, the only survivor from second platoon. Watson, elle tee Potter, Fox and Commons from third and some guys from fourth, I only now Dawson. Captain Muller is also ok; first sergeant Brown is alive, on the field Hospital. Those Spartans really saved us... man I have to sleep, you too, we will talk tomorrow" David didn't question, he walked to the next bed, collapsing there.

       Bradley and Perry entered the barracks after the afternoon jug; they were in their PT gear. The average men in the company had slept thirteen hours, after that they would go to the mess hall for chow. Bradley and Perry visited their buddies at the hospital; all of them were deeply sedated. They left the hospital and ran five miles, draining some of the pain from their minds. Lance Corporal Carl Finch sat on his trunk, his radio on his bed, receiving the incoming transmissions from the battle in the woods.

       "... they have to move, they are going to get pinned down!"

       "negative lieutenant, echo tangos have them flanked, I'll try to suppress them, other wise they need to remain in cover... static... watch the right flank"

       "Overrun attack on our perimeter, requesting a heavy squad" reported the first voice they have heard

       "Cloakers in the lines!" reported the second voice.

       "Three Elites, by the tree line, get some one to take them out!"

       "They are rolling over us! We are gone!"

       The radio turned off; the battery pack had run out of power. Bradley looked at Perry, obviously six Marines was not doing ok as he had been informed by the MP. He placed his hand on Finch's shoulder, squeezing it, in a way congratulating him for the job well done. "So, what now?" asked Bradley.

       "First Battalion personal report in full gear at the motor pool," reported the loudspeakers.

Third Marines, chapter seven- the ship.
Date: 1 February 2005, 3:16 PM

UNSC Colony Dijon.
Galilee Continent.
Forward Operations Base Juliet.
Staging Area X-Ray

The two hundred troops that had recently arrived on the planet prepared their gear for the upcoming battle. First Marine Force Recon (Space Entry Capable) gently and professionally formed into parade formation as soon as the alarm sounded.

       "Attention I-M-F-R. Prepare for briefing," Colonel Dan Harley, the commander of the task force assigned to seize the Lyon woods arrived in the Warthog. He unloaded the vehicle, the Marines stood at attention, snapping their ankles. The Colonel saluted, the formation saluting back. "At ease," he said with a gentle voice.

       "Marines, as for today by directive of Vice Admiral Preston Cole, General Dukakis and John Edmonds him self the focus of the ground operation have switched objectives. Your mission has switched from probing force for the assault on Lyon to a... well... different assignment, as for now you are part of Operation Fox Hole, you will be reinforced with the remnants of first battalion third Marines, you will need them for this operation," the Recon Marines looked at each other in disbelief, "they might be regular soldiers, but they are the most experienced unit in the theatre. They will advice and assist the unit. That is all for now, good luck," Dan Harley watched as the six five ton trucks arrived in the staging area, carrying the Marines from first Battalion.

       "They sure look mean," said Private First Class Albert Thomas referring to the Force Recon troopers.
       "Nah, they only have some really cool gear," answered the newly promoted Lance Corporal David F. Bradley.
       "You now, it's not the bow what makes the Indian," said Corporal Perry as he dropped from the open transport vehicle.
       "Don't get philosophical with me you jarhead," said Bradley in a calm tone.
       "I outrank you meat head, if you want to pull your new rank it's your call," answered Perry with a not uncommon trace of joke in his voice.
       "Hurrah jarhead," responded Bradley. The trio of Marines simply stood by the truck until a large intimidating Recon Sergeant joined the three Marines at the end of the truck.
       "Hello Marines, my name is staff sergeant Frank Diaz, you three will follow me now," he said with a very commanding tone.

       The four Marines arrived to a squad of Marines that stood in a circle, chatting and sharing their rations, not worrying that they would be in battle shortly after.
       "Listen up you bunch, this are the attaches from first battalion, they are assigned to us as for now. I would love to chitchat with you ladies, but we are moving out, get in truck three," the Marines walked together to the truck where they just arrived.
       "He couldn't bring them to us, he had to make us walk to them and back," protested Thomas as he walked, one of the force recon troopers walked with the trio of men from first battalion.
       "That's like him; he is one of the best out there though. My name is PFC Burt O' Marley," said the trooper, the four marines exchanged names.
       "So, what is like out there?" said the Marines to the group.
       The three Marines thought for a couple of seconds as they walked, only one of them answered. "Unforgiving," said Bradley.

The column of trucks passed the wreckage stamped in the memory of Bradley, there, his friend, sergeant Gus Anders died saving his life.
       "It's ok pal, you avenged his dead so far. It was not a waste," said Thomas as he placed his hand on his shoulder. Bradley didn't answered.

       Battle sounds and smoke from the woods were now noticeable, the Marines responded to this with a characteristic professionalism, not showing any form of fear.
       "About time we got here," said Perry. They arrived at what once was the edge of the woods, a forward aid and command post lay before the burned path of trees and dead.        The trucks slowly stopped in front of the area, the Marines unloaded and formed into parade formation. Shortly after a Colt motorcycle arrived to the area where the Marines were formed, a dirty Captain unloaded, Bradley recognized him immediately, and he was Captain Karl Muller, commander of A Company. He walked to the major commanding of force recon, talked for a few seconds and then returned to the front lines in the motorcycle.
       "Marines, prepare for immediate deployment, we are going in, now ," Major Foster informed.
       "Marching column, first platoon has point, move!" Gunnery Sergeant Diaz informed. The company marched forward, through a built in metal road that engineers had built for casualties evacuation, they reached the "front", a large trench formed by explosions holes and broken threes. The forest ahead was in a way intact, a beautiful green carpet formed no mans land, soon to be blasted away. Bradley scanned the territory; hundreds of human bodies lay between the aid and control station and the front. The covenant carcasses were missing; Intelligence had gathered them and shipped them out of the planet.
       "Hey Brad, isn't that Captain Muller by that hole?" asked Thomas.
       "Yes, let's go greet him," said Bradley, the trio of men walked to the shell hole where the Captain sat, his face showing no emotion, he just watched the ground in grief and sorrow.
       "Hey Capi," said Perry in a joy full voice that characterize him.
       "Oh, my boys, you are alive!" he said, jumping of the ground and hugging the men.
       "Right Captain, you too," said Perry.
       "Sir, what happened here?" asked Bradley as he sat on his helmet.
       The Captain sat again, looked into the Marines. "They asked me to help and plan and attack, straight for the Covenant lines. We had two battalions to do it. We launched a massive bombardment on the Covenant lines, that's why you see no forest between and here, then, charged into the center, they were waiting for us. We took the ground but suffered 90% casualties, we have a different approach now, you will found out tonight though," the rest of conversation switched to tactical to private.

       Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 watched through the camera what the data link of the recon sniper relayed. "I count one Elite on guard, easy kill. Major I want you to follow me right behind, everyone on stealth, before the main thrust to squads on a recon patrol, then charge right in. My party will be waiting for you," informed respectfully the Spartan to the CO of first force recon. "When I call over the radio "Tango, Tango, Tango" you open suppressive fire, no silencers, I want to scare them to dead," the Spartan saluted the captain, who responded with the deserved respect.

       The Spartan rallied with the rest of his squad twenty meters in front of the front lines. "Right, we are going to infiltrate their lines. Zeus will go right in front of the group. Athena, will wheel right, Poseidon will wheel left, and Apollo is on over watch. Aye-Ef-Ef (IFF) warning, Marines on the flank on recon party, watch out," the Master Chief looked at his team leaders into the eyes, "deploy Spartans," ordered John, the four teams disappeared into the woods.

       The fourteen Marines crawled through the muddy terrain; the target was a creek bed, a perfect place for an infiltration in the suspected covenant lines. Lieutenant Ed Glover led his recon team through the forest, finding nothing, two Marines from first battalion were attached, Bradley and Thomas.
       "Contact, eleven O' clock," called the point men. Elite drank water in the creek, their target; they were to recon and asses, not engage.
       "Lets take it out, silent kill," ordered the lieutenant.
       "Are you out of your fucking mind!" whispered loud one of the attached Marines, Thomas.
       The Lieutenant turned his head around, his eyes showing indescribable anger. "Excuse me private."
       "Hey Bradley you tell him that's not a good thing to do," Thomas said, ignoring the Lieutenant.
       "Shut up Thomas, you are going to get article six on your ass," He cracked Bradley thought, battle stress had depleted Thomas ability to maintain discipline.
       "El-Tee, I would advise against that... you now sir... for the experience," said Bradley respectfully.
       "Your friend here is going to the can, we are engaging, you two, stay here," said the lieutenant.

       The four Spartans ran silently though the forest, their rifles scanning the front. "Contact," the team froze. "Spartans stop," the four teams froze.
       "041 86, twenty Golf, seven Juliet and two Echoes," called Spartan Kelly, twenty grunts, seven Jackals and two Elites, the Covenant observation unit. Easy target thought John.
       "Lets do them, Zeus five, no heavy rounds, we are going in silent," he ordered, "Three teams. Scaled order" called John.
       "Two I'm with one," answered Kelly.
       "Three and four," answered Linda and Fred.
       "Five, single, over watch," said the team sniper, Daniel.
       "Roger that, team. Right to left net. We will take the Grunts out first. Maneuver formation, sixty meters, and then infiltration ten meters, ready to move".

       The team maneuvered through the forest silently, until they were only twenty six meters from the spotted Covenant. The Grunts were in a ditch, the Jackals sat around fire in a circle. The three Elites stood in front of a pod displaying a hologram, two plasma automatic weapons were on the ditch were the Grunts slept, they were to be taken out first.
       "Team, five minutes to go time. On schedule for now, prepare to engage, left to right, count of," he ordered the team to select the targets from left to right, each had a specific target starting from team leader to number five. Twenty Grunts, four targets each. "Mount Olympus, thirty seconds to go time," said John over the comm. Network, talking every Spartan.
       "Go, go, go!" even though they were neither visible nor audible the muzzle blasts released the hypersonic led to the unaware Grunts, in les than a second twenty were dead, none of the Covenant creatures spotted the five Spartans.
       "First batch of Echo Tangos down, target the Juliets now," ordered John.
       "Ready," responded at unison the team.
       "Hit them," the seven Jackals got fifty bullets into them, none missing their targets.
       "Juliets are down," said John.
       "Zeus five, check for targets," the sniper acknowledged the order the moving his powerful infrared sight around the forest, finding no targets.
       "Two, three on me, rest of the team, cover, ready to suppress if spotted," John walked out of the cover of the woods, Kelly and Fred following him, striding to the trio of unaware Elites. The surrounded them, each taking the back of each creature.
       John prepared to shoot.

       "They are nuts you now that Brad," said Thomas to Bradley as both watched the Marines surround the Elite in the creek.
       "Yea, lets hope that thing lowers its shields when drinking water," Bradley watched through the ACOG sight how the lieutenant crawled behind the beast with the knife at the ready. "He's FUBAring the whole thing," said Bradley.
       "Got that right mate," said Thomas.

       The lieutenant crawled until he was right behind the beast, standing, puncturing his knife into the head of the feast. The combination of thick skin and bone made it impossible for it to penetrate.
       "Wooooooort" screamed the beast in anger, turning around, pushing the lieutenant away.
       "I told that sucker!" said Thomas as he stood, shooting his rifle at the beast.
       "Well, they got to learn somehow!" screamed Bradley as he joined Thomas, the remaining members of the squad fired again.

       "Small arms in the flank," reported calmly Rose to Todd, the two Spartans ducked an covered.
       "Dam amateurs blew it," said Todd. The Spartan with a mysterious past had little respect, in the form of military art, for the regular UNSC ground troops. On the other hand he would lay his life for any soldier of UNSC, his brothers in arms, who he respected as humans.
       "Athena three, check the comm. See who is deep on it," ordered Todd.
       "Seems a probing team two hundred meters at 051, your instructions boss," asked Spartan 102 Niles.
       "Check with Hector Queen, hold position until otherwise advised."
       "They ordered us to hold, its up to them."

       "Jackals on the right flank," said Bradley to Thomas, both Marines lost contact with the recon Marines, they knew they were alive by the blasts from their weapons. Still, unable to coordinate with them.
       "Frag out!" said Thomas.
       The grenade landed on the hoplite of five Jackals that marched straight for them. "Dam dude, this birds can fly!" said Bradley.
       "I'm hit!" said a voice of a random Marine, just in front of them.
       "You thinking what I think I'm thinking?" asked Thomas.
       "Dam Albert, that doesn't make any sense, and yes," this drill needed no orders, Bradley advanced while Thomas fired cyclic into the woods. Bradley walked fifteen meters, until something grabbed his ankle.
       "I need help..." said with a weak voice a Marine.
       "Found him, pulling out," said Bradley, Thomas imminently ran towards him, standing in front of him and the Marines. He fired a full magazine as Bradley pulled the Marine back.

fifteen meters later

       Bradley, Thomas and the Marine lay behind the body of a tree, doing nothing but checking their ammo and gear, hiding, the battle of the recon troopers and the Covenant continued.
       "Think we should pull out?" asked Bradley.
       "There are still Marines back there," said Thomas. Both Marines kept quiet, until a weird event took place. The body of a Marine landed in a near 90º angle in front of them. The three Marines turned around, showing their faces over the thick stick.
       "What the..." they felt the ground shake, lightly yet noticeable.
       "On three..." said Bradley, "one, two..." the three Marines stood. They saw the scariest thing they have seen so far, and given their combat record that was saying something. The behemoth stood over three meters, it was as thick as half a scorpion tank, it was fully armored, its left arm was a large weapon. It smiled directly at the Marines, razing its weapon at the Marines.
       "Oh my go..." a huge ball of plasma formed in the weapon. "Well, its been a fun ride," said Thomas as the Marines prepared for the blow, whoosh, two streaks of white smoke raised over the Marines, stroking the beast in the center.
       "You three get down, now!" the three Marines dropped as over fifty rifles and machineguns erupted in their rear.
       "First platoon right flank!" ordered the familiar voice of Major Simpson.
       "Charge!" the Marines ran over the trio of Marines lying in the ground. "What are you waiting for jarheads, charge!" said the Major as he passed past them.
       "Let's go pal!" said Bradley.

       The Covenant had formed into defensive positions ahead of the Spartans; the sounds of the battle at the flank had revealed the Marines intentions. "Tango, Tango, Tango!" said John over the comm. The Marines fired over the head of the five Spartans, hitting the mixed formation of Covenant defenders.

       "Now!" the five Spartans knelt, each holding a two tube Jackhammer launcher, each fired two Fragmentary missiles into the Covenant lines. "Lets go!" John jumped, the five Spartans charged into the covenant lines, John fired his assault rifle in one hand and a sub machinegun in the other, blasting into the Covenant lines. The Covenant defenders were unaware of the Spartans until they were right on top of them, being that their guns were silenced. The Grunts panicked as the large humans appeared in front of them, they charged their plasma pistols until large balls formed in their muzzles.

       "Grenades!" ordered John; the Spartans stopped cold, each throwing four grenades in less than a second. "A Team, right flank!" the Fred and Kelly turned around and charged the right flank, where two elites where who stood no chance. The twenty fragmentary grenades detonated in the center, opening a hole in the already corrupted lines of the Covenant, the local Commander of the Covenant forces, a Golden Elite followed by ten more of them and a large number of Jackals attacked the three Spartans in the center, appeared out of nowhere.

       "A Team, large group, front of main group, flank and destroy," ordered John. "Zeus five, cleared hot," ordered John to his sniper. The golden Elite took a 30mm round to the chest, its powerful shields deflecting the shot, but fainting. The sniper threw the breach loader and grabbed his point fifty caliber rifle, shooting it like a semi automatic rifle, still deadly accurate. The golden Elite was dead with the first rounds, it was now time for the real work.
       "Team, suppress, then flank, I'm moving now!" said John as he ran through a rain of plasma fire to the right flank, throwing his sub machinegun and grabbing a grenade from his battle harness. The Elites were kneeling in the open, blasting their high velocity plasma rifles at the Spartans, the Jackals moved to form a defensive shield in front of the elites, John cloud not let that happen, if that happened his Spartans would be deep on it. He ran in a circle, dodging plasma fire from the Elites, when he was on the right flank, the threw his grenade at the Jackals who were running to cover the Elites, not defending them selves with their shields.
       "This is A Team, we are engaging now!" John threw his grenade just in front of the path of the fast Jackals. The fragmentary round killing three of them, he stopped running, shooting his assault rifle into the Jackals, killing two more, however the remaining five Jackals now stopped and turned into John, not a good thing, since they formed a defensive shield that he with his rifle cloud not break. He cloud not stand in the open, he had to retreat and cover. He ran in the direction where he came from, meeting the Spartans of his team in the way to the flank. "Frag them, and then retreat, the Marines will handle this! Our job is done, live to fight another day," the Spartans obeyed the order, they had broken the Covenant lines, it was now up for the Marines to finish the Covenant of.

Seven hours later

       "Hey Brad, we did it again," say Thomas as he took cover behind the large tree where the survivors from the squad rested. "Perry is Ok too, two clicks away down the road, it seems the whole bunch rallied there."
       "Yea, we won," said Bradley. This time it was a real victory, the Marines had broken the Covenant first defensive lines, the rest had been moping up, and the scattered resistance they met was easily destroyed. Humanity had switched tactics at the Covenant, instead of a massive show of force and fire power they sneaked, infiltrated and destroyed. The target was now only two hundred meters away, the center of the forest finally .
       "Get ready to move out," said a random officer over the radio.
       "Showtime again," said Thomas.
       Bradley used the butt of the rifle to stand, the seventy marines walked through the woods with not a trace of fear, walking fully exposed, tired from the battle and the sleepless night. They walked one hundred more meters, there they met something interesting.
       "Is that a..." said Thomas, fucking starship thought Bradley. The massive ship twenty meters tall and fifty meters long, tear drop shaped.
       "Marines, suit up, boarding action," said Gunnery Sergeant Diaz.

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