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Section 2: Despite What The Map Says
Chapter 6

1200 Hours, March 17, 2547 (Military Calendar) /
Derias System, Derian Prime

The Covenant elite known as 'Hulasomee led his squad through the dense rain forest at a snail's pace. He knew there was an enemy presence around here somewhere. It was, in fact, the same enemy presence he and the rest of the Covenant in this area had been tracking down for the passed week. Whoever or whatever it was, was good at playing hide and seek. The last squad that came through this way never returned, and 'Hulasomee was worried that his squad might go the same way. It wasn't one of those green soldiers he had heard of, but from the number of casualties it had left, whatever it was, was good at killing.
He nervously looked round at his squad. The six Grunts ambled along behind him, seemingly unphased by the fact that they could be dead within the next few minutes. The two Jackals, however were alert as ever, scanning the forest for any sign of motion. If there was anyone out there, they'd be the two who'd spot it. The rain was getting lighter, and it was easier for him to hear the woodland around him, but 'Hulasomee still didn't like the fact that he couldn't see a meter in front of his own face. He wasn't used to the thick greens and browns, it was too claustrophobic.
They trekked for a further ten units and then set down for a rest. The Grunts hunkered down round a tree and jabbered away in their own language, whilst the two Jackals took up guard positions around them, still sweeping their plasma pistols around menacingly.
'Hulasomee took this chance to relax for a bit. He set himself down a few metres from the Grunts, crossing his legs and thinking for a moment.
Something dropped next to him, something small, brown and rounded. Looking over to his left he saw what looked like a piece of food. He reached out and picked it up, feeling it in his hands. It was light and from the sound of it, hollow inside. It fit in his hand perfectly. He glanced up and noticed that the trees in which they sat round had hundreds of the small objects growing on them. He watched as one fell from the tree under which the Grunts sat.
It bounced off of one of their heads, causing it to squeal. The Grunt jumped up and started rubbing his head. Stupid creature. 'Hulasomee despised anything that was lower than himself, and the Grunts were the lowest.
Another brown object fell from the tree, landing in the middle of pack of Grunts. Only this time, rather than making the hollow sound the other two made, this one made a metallic 'clunk'. And before 'Hulasomee could yell at the Grunts, the grenade went off, blasting all six of the little creatures back into the forest.
'Hulasomee scrambled to his feet, clutching at his plasma rifle, searching for something to shoot. He looked over to the Jackals, and saw that they were lying face down, in a pool of their own blood, their necks sliced open. Whilst he and the Grunts had been busy looking at the objects falling from the tree, whatever they were hunting had killed the Jackals without them noticing.
Fear surrounded 'Hulasomee's thoughts as he desperately tried to find his enemy. He glanced to his left, thinking he heard something. Then something else made him look back to his right. As he turned his head, he noticed something move in the forest ahead of him. But before he had time to explore further, a loud crack rang out through the forest.
The bullet overloaded the Elite's shields, piercing his skull and killing him instantly. Before the alien's body had even started to fall to the ground, the sniper was off into the forest again, disappearing as quickly as he had come.



1200 Hours, March 17, 2547 (Military Calendar) /
151st Street, Downtown New York
Earth

"Who's that?" Manny exclaimed at the sound of the door chime. He had laid with Sarah for over an hour, chatting together about their lives before they joined the UNSC. Sarah spoke about her family, how her younger brother was at school still, and her sister was a reporter on the war. They talked about childhoods, holidays to other worlds, old friends, both alive and dead. And the more they talked, the more Manny fell in love with her.
The chime sounded again. He got out of bed and slung a pair of fatigues over his underpants and went to the door. Punching the access button the door slid open. Grace and Tanya occupied the space on the other side, smiles on both their faces. Realising he was topless, Manny took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh come on," Grace said "We've seen you topless before, boy!" they both stepped into the apartment, eyeing up the place as they did so. "Nice place you got here, never had you pinned for a rich kid." She shot him an impressed look. "Now, what have you done with our girl?"
"She's in my room." The two women gave him an admiring glance, then went back to surveying the flat.
"This is a nice place, you got Jon." Tanya piped up. She was standing by the plasma screen at the end of the sitting room, running her hands over the bottom of it. Grace walked into the kitchen area and started fiddling with a knife that was out on the side. Sarah must have used for the cooking. The door to his room slid open and Sarah walked out, the robe wrapped tightly around her small waist. She smiled at them as she walked in.
"Good morning, Grace. Hey Tanya." The two girls looked over to her and smiled warmly at her. Manny noticed that Tanya obviously wasn't as hung up on him as Sarah thought. She walked over to the kitchen and stood by Grace. Sarah came and put an arm round Manny's side, leaning on him. "So what brings you two here?" she looked over into the kitchen.
"We're here for you to show us what the shopping is like round here!" Grace looked up at them. "I need some clothes for tonight and I'll be dammed if I'm wearing that stupid dress again!"
"Hey, what's wrong with my dresses?" exclaimed Tanya. She lightly hit Grace on the shoulder. Grace shot her a glance of mock-anger and then broke into a smile.
"I don't do dresses." They laughed together. "Come on Sarah, go get dressed and lets hit the town." The two women walked over to Sarah and Manny, grabbed Sarah and yanked her into his room. Before he could say anything about them all going in there, the door shut and locked behind them. He laughed to himself and turned back to the rest of his flat. He walked over to one of the plush sofas he had by the Plasma screen, picked up a packet of smokes, took one out and lit it. Settling down into the soft cushions, he motioned for the screen to come on. It sparked into life, displaying five different channels in out-boxes. One had a music video of some sort playing, two others were sports channels.
"News." He said loudly. The box-outs went black, then moulded into one as the image of a man behind a desk came on, the letters GW embossed behind his head. Galaxy Wire was the most up to date news channel around and especially focused on the war against the Covenant. Though the war was getting closer and closer to Earth, it was still a fair bit away. But even still, that wasn't grounds to relax; millions were dying with each passing month.
"...awarded the medal for outstanding bravery, with total disregard to his own safety." The news reporter had faded into the background and a picture of a green-suited biped took up the screen. The visor of the being was gold, and the suit it wore shone an iridescent green. It looked menacing, holding a rocket launcher that didn't quite point at the viewer.
Had he not been following the news the passed few years, he would have thought that the thing on screen was an alien warrior of some sort. The Spartans had been both a legend and a myth since the start of the war. They had emerged from nowhere, and their exploits had gone from rumours to facts. It had started with just a passing mention, and now they were the only thing that people were interested in when it came to the war. Manny didn't know the full story, but his dad had seen them in action numerous times and said he'd never seen anything like it.
No-one really knew what they were beneath that armour. Were they aliens? Were they cyborgs? Genetically-enhanced humans was the general consensus, but still, no-one really knew. And there never seemed to be a short supply of them either. More and more news coverage had been dedicated to their exploits around the Galaxy, and even though the stories were full of holes where ONI had restricted their access, it was still exciting stuff.
If it weren't for the Spartans, the human race would probably be long gone.
He turned away from the screen to Sarah and the other two emerge from his bedroom. Sarah had showered and dressed and wandered over to him as Grace and Tanya went and stood by the front door.
"You alright?" Sarah gazed into Manny's eyes. He looked down at her, kissed her forehead then nodded.
"I'm fine. Just catching up on current events." He turned back to the screen and motioned for it to switch off. "Where you off to?"
"We're heading out into town." Sarah replied. She smiled up at him then lightly kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be back for dinner," she started to walk to the door "That is, if you want me here for dinner?"
Manny chuckled loudly. "I'd like that very much." She beamed back at him, then motioned for the girls to leave. As the front door slid shut, Manny found himself alone in his flat. He looked around for something to do, and for the first time in 36 hours that he just wanted to be back at boot camp.




Greggs awoke for the second time in a few hours, the sick feeling having subsided a little. He pulled himself up and managed to stumble into the kitchen. At the breakfast bar sat Harris. He wore a blue shirt and pants to match. They exchanged glances, neither man showing emotion.
The big man pulled himself up onto the bar, resting his elbows down, and hunching his shoulders over. His stomach churned once, then settled. Thankfully his headache had gone, and he began to feel a whole lot better. Tapping a few keys on the bar, a plasma screen came down from the ceiling. He hit the 'on' button and the screen buzzed into life. A young lady dancing provocatively to a dance tune exploded into view.
He watched for a few minutes before turning over to the sports channel. A football match was half way through the last quarter. He didn't recognise the names of either team, but then again that was hardly surprising. There were tens of thousands of teams, all playing in different leagues, for different cities, or states, or planets. Each planet had several different leagues, and then each planet also had its own 'World' team. Of course, since the start of the war, matches had been rare due to the destruction of so many colonies and death of so many people. The war was getting ever closer to Earth. So far, the Inner Colonies were still intact, but all the outer colonies, bar a handful had been destroyed. Would it come to the complete extinction of man? Greggs tried not to think about it, and concentrated on the screen in front of him.
As far as he could make out, Greggs was watching a match between two cities. Neither came from Earth. It was a pretty one-sided match as well, with the home team leading by over fifty points. Being from Denver, the only team he was interested in were the Broncos, one of the only teams to have been around for the passed six hundred years and still be just as good as they were to start with.
"Hey," Harris piped up. "I'm sorry about earlier." Greggs looked over at the muscular male, trying not to show any emotion. He nodded. "I didn't mean to create a rift between us. You know you are one of my closest friends."
Greggs grinned back at him. "I can't believe you are apologising to me, this is a first." He pushed the TV screen up. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, but you deserved it." Harris laughed aloud. He got up and walked round to Greggs, clapping him on the back.
"Yeah, I guess so. I've learnt a lesson not to think I can take on the world just because I'm a soldier." He leaned against the bar.
"You still pissed at Manny?" Harris shot him a glance. "Come on, what have you got against him?"
"He's too arrogant."
Greggs smirked "That's rich coming from you." He stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "I know for a fact the only reason he doesn't like you is because he knows you don't like him and because of the way you act towards him." As he brought his arms down, he slapped Harris on the stomach. "Jealously, that's all it is."
For a split second, Greggs saw anger spark behind the bigger man's eyes, then vanish. "It's not jealousy, is competitiveness. Many see him as the best at boot. I, personally do not."
"Yeah, but where he takes the compliments and puts them aside, you take them and shove them up your ass." Harris struck him on the arm, causing the man to off balance a little. "So he's a good soldier, what's wrong with that? Just accept it."
"I will accept he is a good soldier, but not the best soldier." Harris strolled over to his bedroom door. "For your sake I'll tolerate him, but that's all."
"That's all I can really ask, isn't it?"
"Well it had better, because that's all your getting." Harris walked into his room and the door shut behind him. Greggs pulled the TV screen down and finished watching his match.

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