Kiran hadn't dreamed. Everything had been black since he was stuffed into suspended animation when the Pillar of Autumn had torn its way through Slip Space. Light broke through his visor and the transparent covering of his temporary crypt. His helmet caught and amplified sound coming through the containment. "Wake up procedure for all four is running smoothly, running health diagnostics." The Spartan's blurry vision cleared and revealed the inside of the Cryrobay, technicians were hurrying around, popping other crew members. He could see clearly the clean shaven man supervising his chamber. With a hiss, the lid opened on hydraulics, leading the icy white mist flow out. The taste of the air wasn't any different through the suit's filter. The man leaned over to help Kiran out, but was given a careful brush and Kiran pulled himself out of the pod.

The Spartan ignored his fuzzy mind and burning skin, he was a soldier, surrendering to such things were only going to get him killed. He flexed his body inside of the MJOLNIR armor, the hypersensitive gel layer amplifying the smallest movement. It was good to be able to move and fight. The armor was like a second skin and gave 091 comfort. The Technician moved to the unopened chambers and began to open them as well. Inside were three other phosphorescent green bodies. Three more Spartan IIs, the last of their kind Kiran thought. He stopped himself, giving way to hope that some others may have survived the decimation of Reach. His thoughts were interrupted as a waiting Marine stepped into the collection of warriors, gave a frightened salute and reported his orders, hesitantly "Umm... Captain Keyes requests that you report to the armory for calibration and outfitting before reporting to the bridge."

Susan slowly woke up from the darkness that is suspended animation and blinked as her eyes began to adjust to the cryrobay. The quick thaw left her muscles a little stiff and her mind was nothing but a fog. The bolts to the chamber were blown and in a rush of cold air and steam and door opened. A marine came by to help her out of the bay and she accepted his hand. She could have gotten out by herself but that's not how you win over troops. "Thank you marine, Back to your station." She quickly ran through the diagnostics and checked out fine. That was not what was on her mind though, only Reach and the fate of her outpost was on her mind. They had fought bravely, Spartans and marines alike, but there had been no hope. There never had been. Robertson was the first. They had forced down the blast door and he was killed holding the line with the marines. Next was Janice, She had been susan's best friend. She went down after taking off in the strike fighter and raining hell for an hour. If she had not be a Spartan there would have been tears. Only a 10th of her command had made it off Reach and onto the Pillar. She slammed her fist against her leg. She should have been able to save more. Jenkins, Mandoza, Janice, Robertson...The list went on, all had perished and she had failed to protect them, failed to protect her post or her team.

Finally she got a good look of the room. There were 3 other spartans crawling out of their tubes. How did this happen, 4 where there should have been 30. She took her helmet off. It was making her feel claustrophobic. The room lit up to her eyes. She always liked using her eyes better then the helmets visor Everything always felt more real. "009 huh" she laughed, "I was one of the first. And now I'm one of the last." She let the silence continue and flexed her joints. She looked up at the officer in the command room for the bay. "Any idea why they woke us up so early?" She brushed herself off dusting her signs and rank prints. An officer must always look their best for the soldiers.

Darkness. This was all Dante knew. It engulfed, and encompassed him. He stood very still in the inky blackness which was the insides of his eyelids. He was nowhere. Was he dead? Dante couldn't remember he rested the back of his head on the rest of which was provided for him. He opened his eyes as blinding light lanced its way through his visor. He winced as the crushing pain of reality met him once more. The painful memories of his Spartan team dead on the ground crushed him on the inside. He quickly suppressed his sadness, and composed himself as the lid of his cryogenic stasis pod opened with a distinct hiss as the cold air rushed out, and was replaced by more stale metallic air.

Dante breathed it in, while wondering how long he had been in the cramped conditions of the pod. He ignored the pain shooting throughout his joints, as he forced himself out of the pod. He looked around, and observed one Spartan making his way out of his pod, while Dante pushed himself out as well. He stretched, and flexed the feeling back into his right palm. He observed the other three in great detail. Where are the others? Dante thought bleakly. Surely more should have survived. He straightened up as his HUD allowed him to see more clearly. the Pillar of Autumn. The name struck him as the full situation met his thoughts once more.

He would kill one hindered covenant soldiers for every single spartan that died on Reach. They could count on that. However now was the time of recuperation, and not the time for revenge. He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked around the room caught up in his own thoughts. his feet clacked against the cold metal floor. He again stretched in his second skin getting the feel of his body once more.

"Umm... Captain Keyes requests that you report to the armory for calibration and outfitting before reporting to the bridge." A flustered marine said as he conveyed the orders.

As another distinctly feminine Spartan stepped out of her pod she spoke. "Any idea why they woke us up so early?"

"Captain Keyes will know." Dante spoke calmly. As he spoke the word captain Dante wondered if his failure towards his team would've effected his rank as captain in any way shape or form. He stopped, and waited for the remaining spartan to collect himself.

Adam pulled himself out of the small pod and soon pulled his helmet off, coughing heavily while trying to get his cold lungs working right again. Adam had personally always hated cryo-sleep. Simply for the wake up ceremony. It always felt like his lungs were frozen and his muscles were stiff like stone.

Between coughs he looked up and cracked a joke to the rest of the Spartans that also occupied the room, "Are we there yet? Because I just love it in that thing." Smiling weakly as he nudged toward the pod he had emerged from with sarcasm coating his voice.

Soon regaining his stature, Adam stood up strait and held his helmet at his side, "Must be something important..." while he spoke this he looked at the timer that was on a console in the center of the room, "Still says we had plenty more time left for Cryo slumber..."

Stretching a little more he watched the others for responses. Adam knew this really wasn't time for the sugar coated comments or worst jokes, but it was the best he knew how to handle a stressed situation. Turning from the other Spartans he glanced at the rest of the pods... all empty. He was one of the few surviving Spartan II's and simply it was frighting to know that his whole family of friends that was his old squad was now dead... All because of a homicidal maniac that was controlling the entire Covenant armada.

"Damn..." lightly slamming his fist against the metal of the near by wall, "Just like that..." The full force of the recent events flashed into his mind, over shadowing everything.

Bullets sounded in his ears and cries of his fellow soldiers.. fellow Spartans dieing over his intercom. It almost seemed too much to deal with.

Kiran watched as the the other Spartans emerged. His HUD registered each one, 009, 088 and 101. Susan, Dante and Adam. He remembered them from his childhood, the training programs. Particularly Dante, he remembered the charismatic young man carrying Kiran's weight for the best part of 25 miles. Back then 091 wasn't the toughest of the Spartans but he still wasn't. However after teams were dispatched off to obscure reaches of the galaxy in order to control the uprisings of the peripheral's, he had never seen any of these survivors until that fateful day on Reach.

He watched as two Spartans removed their helmets, Kiran himself never felt comfortable removing the augmenting suit which served as an extension of himself. He could tell from the looks on their faces and the way they held their bodies that they were thinking of those last days. Of the loss of the place where their life was forged, and the massacre of their fellow Spartans. All Spartans could read each other as only family could, understanding every shift amplified by their armor. The unfortunate Marine, tagged as Private Phillip Wiltkins, stood waiting as the Spartans returned to life. Both Adam and Susan unanimously asked about what was happening and 088 answered calmly "Captain Keyes will know".

Kiran's thoughts went back to their mission before they were recalled to Reach. All the Spartans were gathered for what seemed to be a suicide mission, an attempt at some sort of counterstrike. Capture a Covenant ship and with the help of the extraordinary Cortanna and find their way into Covenant territory to find one of the unknown beings called 'The Prophets' in order to force some sort of peace. It seemed Captain Keyes was determined to finish this mission. Kiran understood why, with the fall or Reach, Earth was exposed, the last bastion had fallen leaving the heart exposed. Now it was more important that the Covenant juggernaut be stopped, or at least slowed.

A crash echoed around the now emptying bay, causing the poor Marine to jump and nearly soil himself. Kiran whipped around, body racing, ready to fight. He found Adam had slammed his fist in some sort of fury, causing a dent in the bulkhead. It was clear to the Spartans what was going through his mind. Without saying a word 091 patted his team mate's shoulder in a signal of understanding. Before turning to Captain Dante and addressing him, he was the highest ranked Spartan here and an undeniable leader since Reach all those years ago "Sir," he began "Should we move out?"

Dante's heart ached when Adam punched the wall with great force. As the metal shrieked under his attack Dante soon realized he wasn't the only one taking it very hard. Dante contemplated on whether it would be appropriate for him to comfort his fellow spartan somehow, Dante wasn't very good with emotions. He knew how to recognize his own, but dealing with other people's was a different story. The only reason he knew how to lead his last team so effectively was because he had been with them long enough to now their basic persona's. However luckily for Dante Kiran comforted Adam with quick, and sentimental gesture.

His HUD slowly flickered to life once more as he examined his new team. Susan, Adam, and Kiran. Kiran? That's a name Dante hadn't heard in a while. He felt slightly relieved that he had some sort of background with one of his team members, but ultimately he still felt awkward jumping into the squad leader position so rapidly. Dante observed his rank again checking if he hadn't been demoted. Personally Dante thought he deserved a demotion for how he had failed so horribly on Reach. The only punishment for the action that he had taken on reach was the action itself. The memories of his friends taking cover behind more dead comrades in a futile effort to hold the line.

His consciousness snapped back to reality as Kiran spoke to him. "Sir," he began "Should we move out?" Kiran said. Something caught in Dante's throat when the word sir came out of his mouth. In truth it sort of stung, there were so many reminders of Reach that only involved simple words to bring about another horrid memory. But then, something strange happened. A voice, Dante's voice, A harsh cold version of his voice echoed inside of Dante's mind. Man up spartan, stop crying about what you can't change, and move the hell on. Moping is for the dead, and the maimed, and seeing as you your neither. Lead! Dante quietly agreed with his subconscious, and looked up at his fellow Spartans.

"Well, it would probably be best to follow Captain Key's earlier orders. We need to get outfitted, and our suits need calibrations. So the Armory would be an Ideal choice." Dante spoke clearly still contemplating on what the calibrations entailed. Personally he made the decision based off of the fact that he didn't feel comfortable walking around in his second skin if it wasn't working to its full extent. Plus having a gun wasn't a bad thing to carry around too.

He approached the door, and looked up at the glass observation room above him as he rapped on the door leading out of the room.

Susan slowly snapped herself out of the trance and shook her head. No, she had done what she could. 100 men had held off in a small outpost for 5 hours. They had bought the UNSC 5 hours. That was a success in her mind. As she got a clearer look at the other three spartans she could see their insignias and numbers. 091, 101, 088. She knew them from her training but had not seen or heard of them since. Dante was a Captain meaning he would probably take the lead. Among Spartans ranks were, not needed but she would allow him to lead. All of them were still trying to deal with the deaths of their comrades, she could see it on their faces.
"Well, it would probably be best to follow Captain Key's earlier orders. We need to get outfitted, and our suits need calibrations. So the Armory would be an Ideal choice."

She made her way over to the door. Her footsteps while silent, echoed loudly in her heart. She reviewed the names of the surviving marines from her command and vowed to meet up with them on the ship. "Captain" she said "Lead the way". She used her helmet to pull up his file. Spartan 091, Captain Dante. She read through a few lines quickly and got to the last entry. Like herself his command had been massacred by the covenant. They were smiler in their misery. She closed the file and followed him to the armory.

(okay guys this is my last post for awhile. Cya all later. sorry about having to go)

5 days before Halo

Oris looked over the railing as his men began loading the Phantoms for another incursion into Human held territory. This time, it would be even further with absolutely no support at all. A carrier would drop them off beyond the range of the humans " Super MAC Guns Platforms" and attempt to find the location of the Human homeworld as it had become impossible with the "Cole Protocol" the Humans had enacted making boarding a waste of time now. And also, if possible, shut down or destroy all the defense platforms to make the glassing of the planet faster and cutting the losses down for an invasion. Out of instinct, he reached for his plasma pistol as another Elite suddenly appeared behind him. Another Special-Operations officer. Rtas Vadum'ee . What was he doing here?. " Oris, the Prophets have made a decision to attach all available units to the Fleet of Truth and Reconciliation ." Oris looked at his men and back, and said, "Commanded by Thel Vadam'ee I presume?" "Yes, him. I advise you not to defy the Prophets, they handpicked him and it'd be wise to do as your told, or you may be acused of heresy or what not. That's what happened to a previous officer who tried to defy that order. Then he was executed and his Clan disgraced forever. You have 5 hours to get your men ready and change your plans." Rtas then left and Oris muttered, and went down the grav-lift to his men.


Present Day

Aboard the carrier Righteous Vengeance , Oris viewed the Halo Ring with dismay. He had secretly dismissed them as lies and stories spread by the Prophets in order to keep the Covenant under control. Now it seemed it was real, and if the stories were true, the Forerunners could still exist, along with that vague passage, the Flood, who did something or another driving the Forerunners on the Great Journey, or so the Prophets said. His second in command Inwh Cicuree approached him saying, " And the Halo's are not real still?" Oris remained silent waiting for Inwh to get to the point, and Inwh took the cue, " The men are getting restless waiting to set foot on the Holy Ring and a Unggoy Deacon is spreading more Religious propaganda. It could cloud their heads during combat and make them over zealous. Should I put a stop to it?" Oris nodded when he thought he saw a human ship. That was impossible, he had just rendezvoused with the fleet as they started burning the Human planet of Reach. It was probaly just his eye playing tricks. He disregarded it and went to the mess hall where his squad was partying over the destruction of Reach when only about 5 of them had been their actually fighting and then got transffered to Oris's unit.

Nate stood and watched from the observation deck as the remaining Spartans emerged from their stasis pods. He was in awe of their presence, but still gave a sincere, and seemingly unnoticed salute, to the brave soldiers. He couldn't wait to drop down onto the rings and be along side them. It is a day he has dreamed of for years now. Not that being one of the first humans on a new world wasn't exciting as well.

He watched as they all left the hangar, at which point he left the deck to continue his duty of prepping the drop pods. On his way there he stopped at the weapons depot to take stock. While in there, he went to his locker to get suited up. He opened the door to reveal his many pictures, and mementos of family, and friends. Along with them was a letter from his father saying how proud he was of his son. He peered at it as he put on all his ODST armor. He put on his helmet and made his way to the pods, with a case of weapons to stock them with.

Accepting the sign of comfort from Kiran, Adam sighed letting his eyes adjust and the computers in them begin their self booting and adjustment phases. Soon the room was outlined with greens, blues and reds all indicating different uses and the work ability of everything in the room. Drawing every know file on every small particle in the room on his eye's HUD. Dismissing all the useless files he blinked and returned to a standing and proper position.

Soon after hearing his new CO's orders he nodded and obediently followed Dante. Again the realization of everything kept on bombarding his mind... This right here these handful of Spartans were all that were left, and now they were replacing his old squad.

Shaking his head slightly as if to blow off the thoughts he placed his helmet back on his head with a small sound of air compressing and releasing. Signaling the attachment of his helmet's life support system with that of his suit's. Catching up to Dante who was leading the group he spoke on the team's newly found channel so only the Spartans could hear,

"So, Captain Dante, Sir. What the hell are we going to do..."

Dante's feet continued to clack, and clang against the metal floor was he made his way through the inter workings of the Pillar of Autumn. He took a right immediately when he left the cryo room. He stopped, and idly looked at the directions laid out before him. He took a left as the hallway met at another making a capital 'T' intersection. He continued to walk until he observed another crossroad type of hallway. This one was shaped as a lower case 'T', or ironically a cross. He sighed at the religious reference his mind set had produced, as he pulled up the basic schematics on his HUD once more. It seemed as if he had made it very close to the Armory already.

He stopped when Adam too had caught up, and spoke clearly through their channel. "So, Captain Dante, Sir. What the hell are we going to do..." Dante slowed as he contemplated on what the correct response should be. He decided it would be best if he let down the formality for now.

"We are going to do what Spartans do best Adam." Dante said with a confident tone. "We will succeed where others would fail, we wont let our fallen brothers, and sisters down." Dante finished his small statement in an attempt to instill some morale into his new team, while quickly adding. "For now we must follow orders given to us by the higher-ups, but I can promise you this. We will get another shot at the covenant. You can count on that." A fire never seen before lept into Dante's eyes. He was ready to fight, even if It might be a while before they did.

As he finished talking he took another left at the cross intersection, and saw the armory as the nearest door to his right. He boldly stepped through the door, The death of his comrades slowly lifting. Keep moving. Faster, and stronger. Dante remembered saying those words long ago to Kiran when he left him at the last leg of their journey, for now he would have to follow his own advice.

(Sorry Sky, I didn't want to cram this whole post into my older one, so I just made another one to add on to it. I hope you don't mind!)

Gavin opened his locker door and pulled on his ODST armour. He quickly put on his helmet to make sure the HUD systems and displays were still working, before tucking it in the crook of his arm and walking across the room to the range. He steped up to the shooting range and cocked his Magnum before taking aim at the elite shaped target. Gavin fired twice in quick sucession, putting one shot in the upper chest and another in the centre of the long head. For a human that would have been more than fatal, but knowing the elites he had seen on Reach, they were capable of taking twice of that before splitting someone lengthwise with their sword.

Two technitians ran down the hallway, probably to go see the Spartans who were stepping out of cryo. From Gavin's past experiences you were supposed to go into the cryotubes naked otherwise it hurts like a bitch when you step out, but Spartans are 'humanity's legendary super soldiers' so he mused that it would probably be the equivilent pins-and-needles, or quickly removing a band-aid. Gavin spun his handgun around on his index finger and put it in its holster. He had already stored the rest of his equiptment and weaponry in his drop pod.

Gavin again tucked his helmet under his arm and made his way to the mess hall. He pulled a plate of pre-made ham sandwiches towards him and started on the first. Apparently they were going to be making landfall sometime soon.

After listening to all the words that Dante had said, Adam nodded his head lightly. Now taking a deep breath he decided to be more formal than most Spartans were and introduced him to his new squad leader,

"Name's Adam Henson, our squad's sniper and tactician, Sir." Giving a half salute as if to be on a more friendly basis with Dante. Honestly he was hoping this guy wasn't what he came off as, one of those stiff necked squad leaders. Unlike his last leader who was one of the kindest men in the universe, but he was stricken down while trying to hold off forces from reaching his squad's pelican as it was loaded.

Turning to follow him finally into the somewhat large room that was the armory, "So this is it. Please say they have my Rifle in here..." Adam now wondering off while taking off his helmet looking for his weapon. Disregarding anyone else in his endeavor.

"Where are you..." he said still not thinking to ask to Arms-man where they may have kept his rifle.

Nate checked and double-checked the drop pods and pelicans for safety and weaponry before heading to the mess hall. After exiting the pelicans hull he removed his helmet and tucked it under his arm comfortably, and proudly. Along the way to the mess hall he stopped and greeted some of the marines. He was able to hold a small conversation, but all he could really think about were the Spartans. Why are there so few? What are they like? How will the treat the rest of us? The questions just kept pouring in.

Finally he had made it to the mess hall, grabbed a tray, and headed over to sit with Gavin. "Hey Gav" he said sitting down, "seen the Spartans yet?" As he asked this he took a bit of his sandwich and a swig of the always nasty protein and nutrient drink that he made for lunch everyday.

"Not yet, Nate. I'm sure they've got better things to do than get bugged by a pair of ruddy helljumpers like us, eh." replied Gavin, tossing the remains of a badly mangled slice of bread into a nearby bin. "Still, I bet they don't have to eat soggy-ass sandwiches. Being cyborgs and all." Gavin wasn't entirely acquainted with Nate yet, but from what he could tell, the guy was a pretty solid fellow. "Well after that last one, I think I need to drown my self in tasteless and watery coffee."

Gavin stood up and walked over to the coffee machine mounted on a wall nearby. He punched in the buttons in the familiar sequence that he had repeated countless times since he started drinking coffee. He pulled the cup out of its slot and took a few sips. 'Yep, still tastes like silt.' Gavin went back and sat down next to Nate. Doing his best to imagine that UNSC Roast had some fringe benefits other than burning his tounge.

"Heh, yeah I suppose you're right." Nate continued to eat while Gavin went to get his coffee. By the time Gavin sat back down, he had stomached the last gulp of his drink, in just enough time to finish his sentence. "I tell ya though, I was watching them from the observation deck in the cryo chamber, and I don't know what it was, but even just watching them was an awesome experience. I mean, I don't mean to drool all over them, especially if they turn out to be a bunch of jerks, but if they can mean an end to the war, and get me some time on earth, then I'll gladly follow them into battle. Know what I mean?" He tossed his scraps into the bin. "I think I'll grab a quick cup of watery coffee myself to wash that all down."

He stood and walked over to grab a cup of coffee. As he turned back to head to the table, he looked out at all the crew, and marines, and just stared thinking for a second. Let's end this thing already. Let's go home. He then went to sit back at the table, sipping on the hot liquid posing as coffee.

As the Pillar of Autumn slided silent towards the ominous ring siding it its comfortable orbit of Threshold as tagged by Cortana, merely stating that it was the only planet in that system, which was marked as Threshold and unexplored on her star charts. As the gas giant's moon shifted, a scattering of luminescent objects emerged from its shadow. The star's light reflected bright pink and purple.
"What are They doing here?" Captain Keyes said with no inflection, "Could the Covenant from Reach gotten here before us?"
Cortana's hologram flicker to light on a nearby podium. "They can't have, our jump was completely random, besides they would have already engaged us if that was the case." She replied.
"Cut engine and reactor 75%, emergency lighting only, prep the Longswords." Keyes ordered several crew members before turning to look out into the alien fleet "We gonna have to run quiet."
"Not suggested Sir" Cortanna responded, the AI blocked the signals of several stations whose officers were already responding. "They've already seen us."
Indeed they had, half a dozen ships had already detached from the fleet and moved to intercept the Pillar of Autumn, while the others shifted into what seemed to be a defensive formation around the ring.
"Belay those orders" Captain Keyes shouted "Give her all shes got. Cortanna, set us on a slingshot route around the moon and towards that structure."
Immediately Cortanna set too, responding confused until she understood the situation "Sir?... Yes sir."

And so the battle of Halo began. Still outside of the Covenant range the Pillar of Autumn accelerated towards the moon. ducking behind its safe dusty shadow as the first shots were fired. Accelerating as the cruiser used the rocky sphere's gravity to dive towards the ring. "Cortanna," Keyes ordered "prep the MAC for firing, target one of the middle blockade ships."
"Aye sir, Capacitors charging." the AI responded.
The Autumn rounded the moon and emerged in the midst of the fleet. Obviously, seeing the human's strategy, the alien vessels had reorientated and shifted towards the moon.
"Cortanna! fire!" Keyes shouted desperately as motes of light gathered at the prows of the waiting battle fleet.
"but sir..." Cortanna was cut off as Keyes shouted "Fire when ready"
The covenant weapons fired, searing beams of light burned along the sides of the Halcyon class crusier. The Covenant must have mis-calculated the Autumn's speed. With a shuddering of the hull the MAC fired twice. Two smaller round ripped towards the ship directly in the cruisers way. One round impacted on its shield, causing it to flicker and dissipate. The second followed close behind, piercing the florescent purple hull and driving its way straight through the ship. The shot was fatal as the round must have hit some reactor and flame blossomed from the smooth ship, splinting it in half.
The Autumn sailed over the floating wreckage and towards the silent rotating ring.
"Sir," Cortanna exclaimed, displaying the rear cameras. which showed multiple small ships being disgorged from the bellies of the beasts. "They appear to be boarding craft, along with fighter craft."
Keyes nodded, "Launch the Longswords, order them to engage boarding craft." He patched himself through to the public announcement system "Covenant forces engaged, Covenant forces engaged. All crew to battle stations. Standby to repel boarders." But that was when the first wave struck blowing their way inside.

Kiran strode after Dante, the newly assured leader of their rat tag team. He kept quiet throughout the journey, he had said his piece setting up 088 as leader at and now left the the talking to those who are more comfortable with it. He had memorised most of the Pillar of Autumn's passages , like most Spartans would have. As he followed in the formation he watched the reactions of those crew members that they passed some stood and stared in shock and wonder at the god-like figures. Others changed direction, in a fear bordering on terror, to avoid the squad. A few, more grizzly looking men stood straighter and saluted, the appearance of these figures of legend giving those few encouragement. Kiran guessed that these men must have served along side Spartans before, possibly on Reach even. Those would be the ones he would want at his side when the battles came.

Eventually the four came to the armory. Dante leading the way in. He didn't set out immediately to find weapons, instead he watched Adam sifting through weapons in order to find something specific. A tech who had noticed their entrance came up to him. This man didn't seem as timid as the private Wiltkins had been. He was more then used to the Spartans frequenting the armory and although he didn't know them personally Andrem had developed a fondness for the armored warriors.
"Excuse me, you're going to need give you suit some fixing" the man said in a well enunciated voice. "If you'll kindly follow me." With that he lead Kiran to the back of the armory where a few strange contraptions stood along with few overall wearing men.

Andrem and the men replaced a few components of Kiran's suit as some had been damaged on Reach. The power pack was a big one as the constant strain from the armor's shields had caused the power source to rupture. One of the machines charged the suit's shields after the maintenance had been completed. With a slight sparkle in the air there was a pop and Kiran could feel the loss of grip as the shields applied a layer between his MJOLNIR armor and anything he touched. He nodded his thanks to the men as they set off to attempt to corral another of the Spartans.

Kiran noticed a rank of weapons sitting next to the machines. He inspected them. They all appeared to be modified in someway or another. 091 picked up a assualt rifle and shouldered it, testing it. He like the weight and feel of it. The weapon connected to his HUD and declared itself as belonging to Spartan 132, Mark. He locked the rifle onto the holding clasps on his back. He looked back at the other weapons, all of them belonged to one of the Spartans who had perished on the planet Reach. For a moment the memory returned like a hammer blow, he would never see them again, never fight alongside them again. But quickly he banished this thought and made a silent promise. He went through the weapons available, trying to find some suited to his liking. He found a Magnum belonging to Spartan 167, Marie. Marie was in his squad, she was one of the sharpest eyes they had, able to pinpoint a Jackal's head behind its shield a mile off. He clipped the sidearm to his hip, Marie's weapon would still kill its fair share of Covenant. Leaving the belongings of the dead he picked out a shotgun out of the standard issue supplies. He was testing the pump of the 8 gauge as Captain Keye's voice echoed over the ship: "Covenant forces engaged, Covenant forces engaged. All crew to battle stations." Kiran's head shot up, eager. If only he could face the Covenant now, instead of waiting. Shakes vibrated through the ship as boarding craft cut through the armored hull of the ship. Maybe he'll get to get his revenge sooner rather then later.

Joseph Haven awoke to the sounds of men yelling and the intercom. He shot out of his bed and heard many people shouting but he listened to the intercom above anyone else. "All to Battlestations" was all he wanted to hear so that is what he focused on. He grabbed his ODST armor and quickly slipped it on.

He took his helmet from beside his bed and Held it under his arm. He noticed his wife run in through the doorway and kissed him on the lips. "What ever you do," She said with fear in her eyes. "Stay alive," He watched her run from the room and down the hall. He held his helmet out in front of his body and looked at his reflection in the lens.

He turned the helmet around and slid it on his head as another man rushed into the room. The man seemed scared but he held his weapon to fight. "Stay strong marine," Joseph said as he realized that this man was new and this would be his first fight against the covenant. He reached into his closet and pulled out his Sniper Rifle and his assault rifle which he had stashed there to make sure it was safe. He reached into his sidetable and pulled out his scoped magnum. He slid the magnum into his leg strap and led the marine out of the room. He put his hand on the marine's shoulder and smiled. "Be careful and do not get shot." With that said, the marine ran in one direction and Joseph in the other. He rushed to his drop pod and stashed the sniper in there, unsure if he will find one where they were going, if they were going anywhere. He shut the door to his drop pod and sighed as he looked to see marines walking down the hall. He followed the marines and slowly entered the Armory. He heard many people yelling and knew that the covenant would try to board the Pillar of Autumn. He ran through the armory and into what he thought was a wall. He fell back from the impact and hit the ground. His looked up at the wall and noticed that it was one of the Spartans. He apologized frantically and stood up. He saluted to the Spartan which he assumed to be one of the four survivors from reach. He had seen them before but this one semmed to looked different then the ones he saw on reach but his mind was clouded by thoughts of an upcoming battle. "I'm sorry sir," He said quietly hoping to get a response. He wasn't sure which Spartan it was so he backed away and headed to his drop pod to make sure his sniper was still there. People liked his sniper for some reason.

Dante sifted through the various weapons on the wall until his eyes rested upon a worn out assault rifle with tape all over the stock. He grinned and hefted his old assault rifle, for he had used it many many times in battle. He looked fondly at it for a moment, and proceeded to slip a magnum onto his thigh. After he got his suit into check he felt releived that he now had something keeping the plasma bolts away from him, other than his combat skill of course. He attached his assault rifle to his back, and tossed Susan her Assault rifle, and pistol. Both of which were caught, and stored rather skillfully. He opened a fresh box of grenades, and stored a few of them in various compartments on his suit.

He was just about to do an ammo check on everything just as the alarms went off. His battle instincts kicked in, and he ran to the exit to the armory with his assault rifle ready. He did a quick scan of the hallway in a primal crouching maneuver as he began to speak to his team. He calmly paced around the room waiting for his fellow Spartans to calibrate their suits in the mean time. He crossed his arms, and observed the various armaments on the wall, clearly thinking about various battle strategies in great detail. This was all interrupted by warning alarms going off. keys announced that they had been engaged, and everyone had to report to their respective battle stations. He rubbed the back of his neck, and turned to his team remembering he had to bark out a few instructions first. Right when he was about to do so, and ODST solider ran into Dante making his armor resonate with a low thump. He quickly apologized before running off to his pod.

"We are going to clear a path to the bridge. Are you with me Spartans!" Dante called clearly unfazed by the attack on their ship. He stood there, and slid a clip into his Assault rifle until he heard a snug click. "On me Spartans. Lets show these covenant bastards a few muzzle flashes." Dante said as he turned to the exit to the armory, and began to walk out with his rifle up, and ready to fire.

Joseph removed his helmet, glad that the spartan was unable to tell who he was. He slowed his pace to a walk and made his way through the halls to his drop pod. He looked around, knowing that this was his battlestation to see nobody around. The ODSTs who were supposed to be there were not. He looked around after checking on his sniper to see the group of ODSTs around the corner. He looked into the crowd and knew that he was in the right place. He check his assault rifle to make sure that the clip was fresh, which it was. He attached the assault rifle back to his back strap and pulled out his pistol to check it as well. Both weapons were freshly reloaded and he placed the pistol back in his leg strap. He reached around in his suit to find no extra ammo. Swearing under his breath, Joseph walked back into the armory and grabbed three extra clips of ammo for each gun to make sure he had enough. Before he left, he reached over and grabbed a sniper clip just in case he needed it. He ran back to his drop pod to see many marines looking at his sniper. He could never figure out why people were always crowed around it but he walked into the group and snatched the gun from one of them. "Get to your battlestations," He yelled as the marines ran. He hid his sniper and sighed as he placed the clip next to it. He moved around the corner once more to meet up with the other ODSTs.

The SHIPCOM immediately barked out orders for certain units to begin boarding the Human Ship, chiefly the special operations unit Oris commanded to get the Captain. Soldiers raced around him racing to their boarding crafts or grabbing extra weapons. Inwh marched up to him and said," The men are ready commander. We're just waiting for you."
Oris nodded and prepared to get up when a drop of blood landed on his armor. " Now of all times?" he cursed, rubbing at his eyes.
Inwh noted this and whispered, " It doesn't matter commander, I think we're enough. Your eyes may get you killed at the moment. I'll leave some of the unit with you." The he sprinted off to the Phantom and it lifted off towards the Human vessel. The Righteous Vengeance continued its course towards the ring along with the rest of the fleet as Oris watched half a dozen ships peel of and began their attack sequence. Then he remembered a promise he had made long ago, and ran off in pursuit of a Phantom. Luckily he found one ready to take off, gathered the remaining people in his unit, and they sped through the dog-fights to the Human ship hoping they wouldn't get killed on the way.

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The moment Oris stepped foot on the ship, he smelled the stench of blood in the air. The advance units had already fought their way through, judging the trail of bodies leading away from the boarding area. He drew his plasma rifle and turned it to its lowest setting and commanded his soldiers to follow suit as they all cloaked and advanced through the blood stained corridors and found the fight raging between the boarders and the humans. The humans were rather fierce fighters when they had something worth fighting for, namely their friends, worlds, family, and so on. He bumped into a object and it turned around to reveal a startled and stranded marine. Acting on impulse, Oris pulled the trigger and let the plasma boil away the head of the unfortunate victim. Luckily with all the gunfire going around, no one seemed to notice and his squad continued sticking to the walls and avoiding humans scrambling around firing here and then. Suddnly one of his grunt's head explodd in a cloud of blue blood and brain and Oris found himself under fire. Luckily there was ample cover and he dove behind some boxes and started shooting back hoping today wasn't his fated day to die.

Adam sighed as he finally was cleared from calibrations. All that time wasted on fixing his armor that wasn't even broken when he could have been looking for his rifle. Pulling away from the engineers that surrounded him, Adam looked down on a unopened weapons cache, "There you are!"

Ripping the synthetic metal off the top with ease, Adam looked inside to see his baby. The elongated rifle with all his extra and specialized ammunition stored underneath. Soon after discovery, Adam had assembled the sniper rifle to it's full shooting capability, along with a single Thermite round attached to the side awaiting to be loaded into the chamber directly. Looking beneath all the straw that had been placed inside the crate to cushion the rifle he found his SMG with a small silencer beside it.

Turning he strapped the rifle to his back and held his SMG in his hands, sighing slightly in satisfaction, "I'm definitely better now." Adam pulled a slight chuckle just before the alarms sounded off loudly, and the intercom blaring orders. Looking to Dante who was already turning to the door, armed and ready for a fight. Soon he heard Dante bark some orders. After that he readied his SMG and sent his acknowledgment light signal to Dante's HUD, signaling he was ready.

Following close behind he had his finger on the trigger. Absolute... Trained... Alert, The motto of his old squad. Zeta Team was no more...

...Marine Combat Teams Alpha through Echo take secondary defensive stations...

Marine Combat Team Charlie was bunked down three hallways and four junctions from the remnants of Bravo. They waited in a half moon around a three intersection. When the outliers came, they put up an incredible fight. The Covenant, expecting a lightening operation and purely small arms, were mowed down by the very first waves of machine gun firepower.

The next Covies' to come were more cautious. James noticed they took cover and played the game of fire and counter-fire. Still the Elites pushed them to move, to move into the killing.

A zealous Major Domo jumped his into MCT's path as the rest of his squad fell. It charged ahead with characteristic ferocity, firing dozens of plasma bolts into the iron barricades and the marines. Two struck a marine, burning away his face and shoulder.

A first RPG smashed into its shields. They flickered and sputtered, finally failing as Jason opened up on it. A second RPG arced from Jame's under-slung launcher. The elite's intestines flew every which way. It screamed and fell to its need, spurting a sea of blood from its shredded midsection. That was the last of it. Revenge, James thought as he replaced the clip on his grenade launcher.

They would hold their position for as long as necessary. They were ten men in all. Ten of the bravest motherfuckers outside of the ODST.

James rolled a frag grenade towards the "Jackals" that had rounded the corner. It passed unnoticed in the storm of firepower. Two machine guns methodically pounded the creature's shields. Each hit would be like a hammer hit to their wrist, eventually breaking bone or tearing ligaments. He rose from his crouch as one faltered and popped off two three-round bursts. They barely hit. Only one made contact, lodging in the Jackal's arm. He flinched in pain, dropping his plasma pistol, and dived away behind a structural column.