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I

Explosions illuminated the darkness around the blue-green sphere that was the planet Reach. The largest Covenant fleet yet seen had gathered by Humanities' mightiest bastion.
And it was winning.

The UNSC destroyer Sparta jumped 200 feet to port to avoid an incoming plasma torpedo, which seared by to impact on the side of a marathon class cruiser, gutting the already stricken vessel. The destroyer fired its twin MACs. The two slugs shot out, impacted and punched through the weakened shields of a CCS-class Battlecruiser. Archer missiles followed and the Covenant ship reeled away, a mass of smoke and debris.

Pulse lasers had pockmarked the thick Titanium A plating but otherwise the Sparta was in good shape considering. Others were not so lucky, a nearby Frigate exploded, its fusion core detonated by a lucky plasma strike.
Longsword fighters flew by, pursuing a rabble of Seraph fighters.
Off to starboard the hulk of the Minotaur could be seen, still burning, explosions emanating from within.
The Orbital Defence Platforms fired again and more Covenant vessels were annihilated in a blaze of light.

Then suddenly it was all over, the Covenant fleet withdrew. But it left behind a surprise.
The UNSC fleet was split to deal with the covenant dropships at the two poles, except for two.
The Frigates Lucky number seven and A hero need not speak were ordered to position themselves in geosynchronous orbit over the Planetary Defence Generators and launch reinforcements.
Black HEVs hurtled away from the two ships and Pelicans quickly followed carrying Scorpions, Warthogs, Marines and even Hornets strapped to their undersides. Albatross heavy dropships followed with more supplies.
The Covenant was in for a fight.

II Surface:

The HEVs slammed home and the ODSTs burst out into a maelstrom of fire, the Covenant had arrived first and a number of the silver visored warriors fell before they could raise their rifles. ODSTs dove for the little cover the pods could offer and crouched, the horrific fire tempering their normally aggressive mentality. A black clad Lieutenant shouted at them hit them with his rifle butt and reluctantly they risked the crossfire to sprint towards a thicket of bushes and fallen trees. They renewed their vigour and open up with a vengeance on the Grunts and Jackals that had nearly finished them.
As they finished of the hostiles Pelican dropships came into view and soon hovered overhead. Four Warthogs, a Warthog APC and a Scorpion tank were dropped off as well as ten marines. The surviving ODSTs clambered on and in the vehicles, as did the marines. The Lieutenant who was responsible for saving the ODSTs removed his helmet so that his men could see the furious glare that he now gave them.
"I am ashamed of you all, cowering before mere Grunts and Jackals."
"There is no shame in taking cover, but when you stay there in the face of fire then you shame the good name of Helljumpers."
With that the officer put his helmet back on and his men hung their heads slightly. They had been given a double dishonour, not only had they been labelled cowards but they had been done so in front of groundpounders.

It was a calculated risk, for the Lieutenant was relatively new to the unit and although he had been Spec-ops any soldier who joined the Helljumpers was labelled rookie regardless of their war record.
Still he was sure that his men respected him for his bravery under fire and they would fight doubly hard to save face with the marines.
Still Airiman, for that was his name, frowned under his helmet and pondered on how good a leader he was.
Since they had landed quite a way off course he had a while in which to ponder this.

The Lieutenant halted the armoured column in an open field about 40 clicks north.
Airiman jumped from his 'hog and ordered the ODSTs to follow.

"Private Phillips. Break out the cans."
"Yessir."
Phillips rummaged in his backpack and withdrew a drawstring sack, which contained numerous green spraypaint cans and pieces of covering tape, he passed the sack to Airiman who removed his helmet and covered his visor, flash markings and ammo pouches with pieces of the tape to protect them. He then proceeded to spray the helmet until it was a khaki green colour; he then placed it on a rock and tossed cans to several other helljumpers before starting on the rest of his suit.
"Start spraying soldiers and make it a good job."

Some of the ODSTs hesitated but then all of them removed their helmets and began work.
Airiman took the opportunity to have a look at the men and women that he commanded, many of whom were not part of his unit and all of them in a way new to the rookie Lieutenant.

Replacing his helmet Airiman could gaze with impunity at the helmetless warriors around them, particularly the golden-haired female Corporal who was responsible for holding Aileana, the ONI 'smart' AI. He stood for a moment looking at her before shaking himself back to reality.

Like always when faced with a situation like this Airiman reached inside his chestplate and removed the photo within. He gazed at it and remained so until he felt a presence by his side. He glanced to his right and saw the Corporal was looking over his shoulder.
"Nice pic. Wife and kids?"
Airiman smiled wanly
"Wife and her kids Corporal."
She looked up.
"She was a widow, like so many others these days. Fate can be cruel can it not? He was posted to one system, she to another."

"She could even be dead, even with the speed of slipspace travel it could take months for the news to reach me."
His body language betrayed that which his visor hid and the Corporal moved off to give him space.
He sighed and looked up to see that his soldiers had finished.

Eleven khaki green ODSTs faced him, the new colour blending in much better to the surroundings than the midnight black of before. The paint would chip and scratch, and near misses form plasma would bubble the paint but it was better than nothing.

Airiman nodded.
"Good, alright saddle up and we'll move on."
As the column moved off the lieutenant tucked the photo back into his armour and hefted his sniper rifle. Seeing he had not done so, he racked the charging handle of his sniper rifle, mentally berating himself as he did so.

He looked at the warriors around him and knew he had what it took, he would make them see.

And the column drove on.

III

The city of New Farsund was, for the most part, an ordinary 26th Century City, one of hundreds on Reach or Thousands across the remaining Colonies.
Tall steel and glass skyscrapers dominated the skyline, interspersed with shady parks and tree-lined avenues.

Along the main thoroughfare Airiman's convoy drove along, joined with yet more vehicles and troops, plodding along at the speed of the slowest.
Airiman looked around with interest; he found the faintly Nordic theme intriguing and paid particular interest to the double line of statues flanking the road. Proud warrior figures clad in mail armour and wielding mighty swords. Strong faces gazed impassively into the distance, crowned men, helmeted men, missing men…

That made him sit up and look.
Wreckage littered the area, Scorpions, Warthogs, Wraith, Ghosts, their husks lay strewn along side roads. Banshee wrecks and even a couple of Spirit dropships were lodged in the surrounding buildings.
Smoke clogged the air now and bodies carpeted the sidewalk. A squad of marines appeared out of the fog, jogging parallel to the convoy, they were burdened by a variety of Jackhammer launchers and spare tubes.
The Lieutenant called to them.
"Good fight?"
The marines looked up, startled and the vacant stares were replaced with grins as they recognised Helljumpers.
"Bloody tough fight, sir but we gave them 'a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in'."
Airiman laughed dutifully.
"Don't worry sir we left you some stragglers for you to pick off-just by the outskirts."
Airiman then spent several minutes trying to place the marine's quote before giving up.

This was bad.
The convoy had been ordered to establish a defensive line several clicks outside of the city's suburbs a position which, by the sound of it, had already fallen to the enemy. Therefore urban combat and yet another fighting withdrawal would be the pattern for this fight.

Gunfire was now audible somewhere in the distance and flashes of light could be seen through the smoke.
The Covenant never withdrew for long, and now they were back.

IV

"Grant, Phillips field of fire now!"
"Richardson deal with the goddamn Banshees already."

"Get those Scorpions up here now!"

Chaos….

Plasma flashes seared the air, an LRV flipped over and smashed into the ground floor of a building, a Scorpion exploded in a maelstrom of debris and fire.
Soldiers went down with horrific burns and carbine strikes, three disappeared when their 'hog was struck by a Fuel rod blast-completely vaporised.

They were nowhere near the outskirts.

A purple beam struck and punctured a chestplate; the marine was thrown back.
The crack of a rifle sounded the end of that Jackal.

Airiman tried to make sense of the situation. An armoured strike force must have punctured the defensive line and ploughed its way deep until it had struck the convoy coming the other way.

The fight grew even more intensive, rockets streaked up to meet a Spirit and tank shells impacted another, both disintegrated into balls of light.

Corpses piled high and provided cover. The enemies' command, leading from the front as usual, had been destroyed and Lotus anti-tank mines took a toll on the Covenant vehicles.

As the attack ground to a halt under aggressive crossfire both sides exchanged fire from barriers of the dead.
But without the advantage of height and pre-planned defences, the Covenant was getting the worst of it.

Hornets flew overhead and sprayed the Covenant positions with 20mm shells and jackhammer rockets from the side-seats.

Finally the Covenant forces broke and ran, Grunts leading the flight. A furious Elite Major struck out but the panicky Unggoy shot down and trampled the stricken Sangheili underfoot.

The suddenness of the victory stunned the marines and for several moments they stayed rooted and simply watched the rout.
Then under the direction of the surviving NCOs they reordered themselves-there was work to be done after all-they set about bagging and tagging the substantial amount of UNSC dead and heaping enemy corpses into makeshift barriers. More General Purpose Machine Guns were brought up and new anti-tank mines were placed. C-12 charges were concealed amongst the wrecked vehicles and a Scorpion was concealed beneath rubble

The ODSTs cracked open cases attached to the back of their APC and distributed the contents. Soon every Helljumper possessed an SRS-99C sniper rifle and Airiman split them between several buildings amongst the defence.

From above the UNSC's defensive line resembled a semicircular shape, with Airiman at the centre.
As per his new orders his job was to hold the centre at all costs. Once enough Covenant were drawn in two Mechanised companies would smash the flanks and encircle a large portion of the Covenant forces and restore the original defensive line.

It was risky but the best plan they had. Attacking the Covenant now would be suicide; they had to be caught of guard.

V

The Covenant reappeared just as the defences were completed.
Advancing in a tight ordered column the mass of infantry and vehicles plunged forward holding their fire, waiting for the opportune moment.
The marines waited too.
"Fire, fire, fire!"
"Wort, wort wort!"

Sound and light once more erupted within the confined spaces.
Wraith exploded, Banshees spiralled out of control and the front lines of Grunts and Ghosts disintegrated. Then the Covenant fire struck. Marines were vaporised, Hornets exploded and vehicles detonated under the deluge.
Marines braved fire to hurl grenades at the horde, C-12 charges exploded in blazes of smoke and light, Lotus mines added to the carnage

The UNSC warriors fired full auto; torrents of 7.62mm rounds impacted the advancing foe. Shields overloaded, Grunts disintegrated and Hunters toppled.

Marines rolled to avoid grenades, a marine struggled with his glowing helmet, and another threw away a stuck rifle. Mortar blasts destroyed whole squads.

Airiman's Helljumpers were overjoyed at the sheer ease and number of kills.
Each Crack of the long rifles was accompanied with a whoop of joy and a phrase or quote.
They concentrated on the Zealots, their golden armour easily visible amongst the enemy, the rifles co-ordinating to strip them of their overshielding.

"Goldie beside streetlamp, right side."
"We see him." Crack "Goodbye."
Crack "BOOM, headshot."
"Hey that was my kill."
"Yeah? Prove it."

"Sniper right building, second floor."
Crack
"You call that a sniper? Jackals can't snipe for bloody toffee."
"Mmmm toffee."

At street level the battle was anything but one-sided.
Grunts were bullied into charging only to form a new barrier of dead a metre or so further forward.
Now was the time to turn the tide.
The ambush was sprung.
The camouflaged scorpion burst forth from the pile of rubble and plunged into the flank of the enemy. Grunts went flying and Elites were crushed underfoot, Jackals were blown apart, their shields unable to face two fronts.
As the enemy was thrown into disarray by this action Warthogs drove into their front and the Marines charged with a bloodcurdling scream.

VI

A Longsword flew overhead, flying out towards the heart of the Covenant force, a missile detached from the underbelly and hurtled groundwards with exaggerated slowness and exploded just before impact. It flashed bright as a star and even at this extreme distance the marines felt the very edge of the shockwave.
Stunned soldiers ceased moving and several fell to their knees as the significance struck home.

The Generators had fallen.
Reach was lost.
The glassing would begin.

VII

Scouts reported numerous mushroom clouds and no sign of any living UNSC.
Airiman's heart sank.

How do we get out of here?
The covenant will need to evac their soldiers first, that should buy us time.
But how do we escape?

These thoughts and more went through his mind as he sat pondering.

He opened a general comm.

"This is Lieutenant Alex Airiman of the 105th Shock Division calling any UNSC forces in the area of New Farsund, please respond."

Utter silence greeted the broadcast. Airiman's heart sank further. They must be the last living marines in the city.

"This is Pelican dropship Mike 112, detail number and location of survivors, over."
That task took a depressing short amount of time. One Warthog APC remained, along with twenty-eight soldiers total, eight of those being the ODST snipers. The casualty figure merely increased the feeling of gloom. Several thousand marines had been part of this defence and it was reasonable to assume that these twenty-eight were the only survivors.

Covenant forces would be closing on three sides very soon

"Lieutenant Airiman calling Pelican Mike 112, we will soon be surrounded on three sides by hostiles. How far out are you? Over."

"Mike 112 to Airiman, chill, Pelicans are on route ETA 5 minutes over and out."

Airiman glanced upwards and then activated local comm.
"We're going up marines, pile into the tower and head for the roof."
Obediently the twenty marines filed in shouldering arms as they went. The ODSTs were already heading up in the lift.
Irritating music still flowed from a speaker in the ceiling. Airiman was pondering how to shut it off when a Bang resounded within the enclosed space. The music stopped. Plaster settled on the shoulders of the Helljumpers and they turned as one to look at the source. The young Corporal holstered the sidearm shrugged, dislodging a cloud of dust, and giggled.

Airiman removed his helmet, signalled for the others to do the same and ran a hand through his dark hair.
"We have done a good job this day and I am proud to see that you have regained your pride and honour, unfortunately we have been let down by the navy and the corps is on its own."

He paused to let this sink in and he saw from their looks that he was completely accepted, they were his Helljumpers

"However there are Pelicans inbound to extract us and then we can plan our escape. ETA is… one minute."

The doors pinged open and they trooped out to see Pelicans incoming. One of the ODSTs fired off the green flare and the Pelicans adjusted their trajectory. The lead Pelican-G056-aligned itself over the rooftop and the Helljumpers clambered aboard. The pelican lifted away and hovered as the other marines were loaded onto the other two.

Airiman tucked his helmet under his arm and headed to the cockpit.

VIII

Airiman sat down in the vacant co-pilot chair and strapped in. Then he put on the Mic that had lain on the seat. The pilot glanced over her shoulder and activated the Comm

"Let me get you up to speed sir."
"I'd like that."
"We have twenty-one Pelicans and close to two hundred marines hidden in a secure location to the north. Thirty Longswords and fifty Hornets comprise the air defence. We have little armour, four Scorpions, three Warthogs and a Mongoose."

It was a pitiful list and the lack of spaceworthy units was a blow. It wouldn't matter how many Hornets or Scorpions they had when they were squaring off against a Covenant cruiser, only how many Longswords they could field.

IX

The Pelicans touched down in the middle of a vast clearing and as the Helljumpers jumped out the scale of this operation hit home.
Thirty Longswords were parked on a makeshift runway in the middle of the clearing.
A Scorpion was stationed at each point of the compass and the Warthogs could be seen patrolling in the distance. Marines sat in their squads smoking, eating or talking quietly amongst themselves. The mood was grim and nobody looked up as Airiman passed by. The lone Mongoose rolled up with a grizzled Sergeant on board. He saluted and the Lieutenant clambered onto the back.
As they drove off Airiman began questioning the Sergeant.
"Once the first generator fell we knew that it was over, so the Pelicans began rounding up all the soldiers they could. We broadcast on all channels trying to bring in the survivors. What you see is all that answered.

Jesus.
Reach had been defended by a hell of a lot of marines.
And two hundred survivors is all we can show for it.

The Mongoose pulled up beside an Elephant, which had been converted, into the hub for these forces.
Screens showing radar topography covered one wall while technicians directed the dwindling number of Hornets against the hordes of Banshees from mobile computers positioned on nearby rocks.
Airiman saw from another screen that the other eighteen pelicans were inbound, and empty.

"That's it then. We can proceed to phase two. Lieutenant Airiman?
"Yessir." Airiman turned to face a grizzled Colonel who had been studying one of the viewing screens
"As the highest ranking survivor of the UNSC military based on Reach I hereby promote you to the rank of Major and to the post of my second in command.
Murmuring erupted and several other officers looked round, their faces dark.

Airiman had just been promoted in front of six people who had outranked him seconds earlier and evidently had coveted his new job for themselves.

The Colonel whipped round and looked at the dissenters and they fell silent.

"I trust no-one here has an issue with Major Airiman."
They looked away. And the Colonel turned back.
"Right now I need experienced officers who can think outside the box otherwise this plan will never be pulled off. I think an ODST should do nicely."
He grinned at the new Major and Airiman grinned back.
"Now one of our Pelican pilots has thought up quite a good plan, I like it and I hope you will to. It's a desperate and crazy plan but now that you are here we have a chance."
In response to the Major's confused look the Colonel turned to the viewscreen he had been observing earlier.
"The Covenant has defeated our orbital defences and they are now moving into their standard grid pattern orbit. They have already glassed about a third of the planet, split between the two poles. Soon they will be at our position. We are the confirmed last survivors. The Spartans…are MIA. Contact with them was lost along with the generators." These last words were spoken in a flat tone, which reflected the mood of the whole room at these words.
"Yet the methods that the Covenant uses to glass a planet is also the opportunity we need. The fleet will be scattered in orbit and their guns will be preoccupied." He paused and looked at the new Major again.
"ODST drop units are issued with a smart AI, correct?"
"That is correct sir, and I am in possession of an AI."
Airiman brought forth the chip.
"I suspected that it might be beneficial to you."
"Beneficial? Huh. More like vital."
A glowing blue-green avatar had appeared on the projector. The slender figure stuck out her holographic tongue at Airiman and turned, arms crossed, to face the Colonel
"Major Atherton was a far nicer man. I do not like this rookie." She used the word scathingly but Airiman merely laughed.
"Atherton was nice to you because your avatar wears nought but a smile."
"I wear clothes." She said defensively
"A grass skirt and a garland of flowers do not count as clothes."
"I am nothing but light and algorithms, surely my attire is of no importance."
"You may be a smart AI but you have a lot to learn about us Aileana,"

The AI turned and, before they could look away, saw that the junior officers in the area were all looking at her. She crossed her arms again this time defensively and tinged pink, the AI equivalent to blushing.
"Sometimes I am disgusted by the way humans think, why do you not look at a real woman?"
The Colonel and Major Airiman were in fits of laughter at the discomfort of the command crew and the haughty bright pink AI that now proceeded to vanish from the projector.

The Colonel straightened and coughed loudly.

"Best laugh I've had in weeks I must say, now as I was saying. Ahem, the Covenant fleet will be scattered and we will use this."
The screen he gestured at zoomed and showed two Covenant warships, a CCS-class battlecruiser and Destroyer.
"From what we have calculated these are the two vessels that will position themselves directly over us.
Now this is the plan."

X

Twenty-one Pelicans rose from the clearing and began the ascent. The Longswords were already flying, performing wide spirals to remain at a similar level to the slower Pelicans scanners performing checks every minute. The danger now was from Banshees finding them, the Hornets having been left behind with all the dead weight possible.

Plasma fire was burning the forest.
Airiman squeezed into the now fully occupied cockpit of Pelican G056 and watched as the entire formation split to avoid a burst of plasma fire that flashed by, too close.

They were nearing the edge of the atmosphere now and entering the connection zone.
Airiman took the large data chip from his pocket and passed it to the co-pilot who slotted it into a data port.
A miniature avatar of Aileana appeared on the projector and looked up at the Major.
"Two minutes to minimum distance."
"Remember target the Battlecruiser."
"I don't need reminding."
She was obviously still grumpy. Still she would do her job.

The wireless signal infiltrated the Battlecruiser's network and began overwriting the primary systems. Within a minute the Battlecruiser was disabled, the furious Sangheili powerless to stop the intrusion. Many were baffled by the warnings of core overloads while looking at the perfectly good core. Chaos reigned aboard the mighty vessel.

The tightly packed mass of Pelicans hurtled towards the gap between the two vessels as the Longswords prepared to attack. Oblivious to the event that were unfolding the Destroyer continued its glassing and, under Aileana's direction so did the Battlecruiser.
The Pelicans unleashed a torrent of Anvil missiles and the Longswords fired off their ASGM missiles. Hundreds of missiles flew towards the Covenant Destroyer. Finally realising that things were amiss the Destroyer ceased its deluge of plasma and realigned to fire at the oncoming vessels.
But the Battlecruiser was moving. Lacking time to overwrite the weapons of the ship Aileana had set the ship on a collision course. The Destroyer became aware and instead fired at the looming warship Plasma fired impacted on the shields, which flared but did not fall. Bolt after bolt hit but to no avail. The Battlecruiser struck the Destroyer amidships as it futilely tried to avoid the juggernaut.
Shields flared and then failed, explosions erupted along the impact lines and the two vessels careened away.
Aileana's avatar returned to the screen, a smug look on her face.
"Not bad huh?"
"You did good."

The main Covenant fleet appeared to have not noticed the happenings, engrossed in the act of glassing. The rush of Pelicans flew by the stricken enemy vessels and headed towards the debris field that lay further out in orbit.

XI

The UNSC Lucky number seven still lived.
The vessel had completely powered down and hidden amongst the burnt out wreckage of numerous ships from both sides. Cameras that had watched the burning of a world suddenly focused on the events unfolding in low orbit. Emergency thrusters gently moved the ship out of the debris and hailed the Pelicans. The AI met and answered the customary handshakes. IFF was confirmed. The Pelicans and Longswords flew into the landing bays and the warship prepared for Slipspace while the Covenant remained oblivious.

They slipped away and began the journey.
Home.

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