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The Revelation of War, Epilogue
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 4 October 2004, 11:48 PM
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Epilogue
1700 hours, June 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Sanction Memorial
Cardinal System, planet Redemption
On Year Later
The sun shone down on the armed forces memorial that was established just miles outside of the planet's capitol city. The uniformly short grass spread out in every direction, complimented by neatly trimmed and maintained trees that added diversity to the landscape. Far off on the horizon, grassy hills rose into high mountain peaks that made the setting almost surreal.
The area was filled up with clean white headstones that were perfectly in line for as far as the eye could see. Resting in the ground among this clean and orderly Memorial were thousands of men and women of the UNSC that had laid down their lives in the face of an ever brutal and relentless enemy that had plunged Humanity into war.
Gary Rayford, Captain, UNSC, walked in silence between two other men as they walked down one of the many stone-bricked roads that ran through the acres of this burial site for the armed forces of the United Nations. The sight of so many white headstones was hard to look at, but deep inside it reminded him of what he fought for.
Of what everyone fought for.
Rayford straightened up his posture and glanced sideways at Lieutenant Colonel Jared Reinker, ONI, as the officer stared straight ahead in grim silence. Rayford then looked to his right at Major Robert Senderling, ONI, who was looking silently at the rows of headstones they passed as they walked down the elegant road leading through the cemetery.
The three officers walked in unison, the only sound being heard in the entire memorial being that of birds and the swift wind blowing the trees. The silence portrayed both a respectful but haunting feel, despite the beautiful surroundings. The three officers had all seen comrades die before them, they had all seen the casualties of this war, but it never compared to walking through the endless fields that were dedicated to those lost forever, never to return among them.
The officers, wearing their Dress Uniforms, smartly rounded the turn and headed for the center of Sanction Memorial. Ahead of them, flags rose high into the clear blue sky, and at the bottom of those flag polls was the Memorial Wall that had thousands of names etched across it. Every servicemen and women whose bodies were never recovered were put on this wall, and the wall was unfortunately longer then anyone wished. There was a certain closure to being before the deceased grave, their body buried there for eternity, but that was not always the luxury for most of the casualties in the UNSC, whose bodies were never to be found again.
So in their place, their name was etched on this wall.
Rayford and his two companions entered the open space surrounding the wall that stretched out before them in either direction, the flags of numerous military units waving above them in the wind, then the tallest of all being the UN flag. They walked forward to the single place they always visited time and time before.
"The cost of war," Reinker said softly, coming to a stop before the wall that towered about them. Names endlessly stretched across it, printed small enough for it to hold the thousands of deceased.
Senderling walked forward and put his hand on the wall, reading down the names of the men and women from his past. The ONI officer once known for his certain annoying ways was nothing in the face of the lives laid down, recorded only on this wall.
Rayford read down the names who had participating in the most secretive operation that to date still had never been acknowledged, and in reality never will.
Gallant Strife.
He remembered back to the day they had arrived at Milestone, through all the events that forever changed them afterwards. The many times they had changed the future and effected the outcome of battles in order to get that much closer to beating the Covenant.
It brought him to the final and closing act of Gallant Strife, the last effort to finish it off. The battle at Imbari V where the final artifact laid.
He remembered the Covenant there, the fighting on the surface, and also in space, the good men and women who had died unknowingly to Humanity in the efforts to keep the tides of war from overwhelming them.
Jonathon Baker, September 2552.
The men who selflessly sacrificed their own lives to ensure that Humanity's enemy didn't receive anything that would help them in their conquest. There were also the names of those who came along to hold off against the Covenant.
Samuel Scorzio, September 2552.
But Rayford knew that the greatest sacrifice had been among them who had gone to the surface in face of heavy Covenant resistance. He had seen firsthand the willingness of these men to do anything to fight against the Covenant, even if it meant destroying the one thing that could have made the difference in the war.
He remembered the briefings that even the men standing next to him had said before they left planet Westwind regarding the artifacts. He remembered hearing that these artifacts were the only thing keeping the Covenant from obliterating them all, he remembered how it was said that Humanity's only hope of surviving was to have in their possession all these artifacts.
But he knew the truth now. He knew that it wasn't these artifacts standing in the gap and keeping them alive, that it wasn't supernatural powers that kept them in the fight. But that when it came to the end, it was the lives that stood between victory and defeat, it was the selfless actions of those willing to serve that made humanity survive and persevere in wake of such an unstoppable foe.
Lt. Todd Kren must have known that, Rayford thought as he read down the names. He had foreseen the end, and had seen that Humanity didn't need an artifact to fight or to win.
All Humanity needed was faith and will. The confidence to win.
Rayford's demeanor changed inside as he remembered the sacrifice of these men. The names of the ODSTs in the platoon were etched out one after another, lost among the millions of others.
Not to him. Not to the men Rayford had fought alongside with. No matter how hard ONI tried to cover up this, they could never take that away from him.
Humanity had held off the Covenant. They had finally defeated them in the decisive battle that did in fact turn the tides of war. And now, it was the Covenant's turn to run.
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