Prologue:

            It was in the middle of April, and the Covenant-Human War was in full swing.  I had been asked to join the Arrowin 4^th Battalion.  Heh, no one ever called it that.  It was Fleet Admiral Lopez’s preferred and best.  The Daemon Battalion.  The drill sergeants, never ran out of voice; mealtime, had to eat in the harshest condition possible; we had to sleep in those conditions as well; the training, don’t even get me started on it.  We had to be fit to run what cyclists could do in three days, and then some.  Not even Satan himself wanted to be a part of this battalion. 

            We had the best equipment, though.  We had the best armor, capable of taking massive amounts of damage, full helmets with HUD displays and integrated comm. systems, underarmor that keeps our bodies regulated and insulated, we were issued swords and combat knives that were made of a special alloy that matches the frequency of an energy sword, and to top that off, we had combat shields mounted on our arms that covered our whole body.  When suited up, we were secluded to everything else.  We were suited in all black or all white, only with a gold stripe at our shoulder.  Nothing more, nothing less.

            The Fleet Admiral had run up such a debt that the brass at Reach threatened to discharge him dishonourably.  ONI wanted him dead.  The system he was assigned to was on the brink of rebellion due to the tremendous taxes needed to support the armies.  Now that the war came, he was the hero and envy of every system.  The one he was in control of were happy to give every scrap they had to support him.  His forces were called upon at the frontlines everywhere.  We, in particular, were called on at the extremes, or to protect something very important.

            To receive his personal invitation was the best day of my life…

Chapter I

Planet Iridanus, Polaris System

0300 21 January 2540

Outer Limits of Rubidard, Delfanus

            The pelican felt weird to me.  I’m more used to dropping in as opposed to coming en masse.  Our mission came straight from Lopez: Do not let Rubidard fall.  Rubidard was last stronghold of the Iradanus.  If the Polaris system falls, all of the surrounding systems will fall, and that would be the end of the outer colonies.  We know it’ll fall, just a matter of when.  We had to buy time for the brass.  I don’t know why, we were just told to.  And you can’t argue that.

            The admiral’s fleet is engaging from space, while we take the ground.  The 22^nd is holding off the Covenant as much as they can until we arrive.  Tough to do while a Covenant frigate is providing support over the city.

“ETA 10 minutes!”

            The pilot intercom broke my train of thought.  I looked around at all the sergeants.  We all were.  SGTs Price, Czaja, and Adams were across from me conversing about all the girls they slept with.  Gilbert, Diaz, and Gonzalez were next to me prepping up.  And then there was Brigadier General Garza, personally leading us.  He was Lopez’s right hand man, and would be in a higher position, but preferred to lead in the front.  He was having a three-way comm. with Lopez, and generals on the ground.

“Harper!” grunted Diaz “Quit lookin’ at me.  I’m married ya know!”

I had inadvertently been staring at him.

“What, you wanna go!?!”

“Bring it on!” was the reply I got.

“Save it for covies, unless you want to tangle with me, too!” Gilbert interrupted.

“I’d rather fight with a gerbil.  At least he could probably scratch me, accidentally.”

Gilbert gave me a stare.  Then we all smiled.  The intercom crackled:

“Heads up!  Banshees!”

What!?!  This close?  It’s been only three minutes. 

I could hear safeties click off.

“Listen up!” Garza barked.  “All right girls, I accidentally left my soldiers at home, but you’ll do.”

A chuckled broke out here and there.

“Close it!  Banshees are heading our way, so we’re hot dropping, HALO style.  Don’t piss you pants; Save that for when you meet the enemy.  Our escort gunships will take care of you.  We are to fight all the way to Romeo 12.  No farther!  We have to distract the covenant until Zulu Company could infiltrate the frigate.”

“Sir, yes sir!” The echo helped with the unanimous outburst.

“We are over Golf 7.  I’ll upload all the data you need into your HUD.”

The intercom crackled to life again:

“Banshees five hundred meters!”

“All right men! After the wave passes us, we’ll jump!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

The pilot came through one more time, “Banshees, one hundred meters!”

            He didn’t need to tell us.  We could already hear the chin-mounted chainguns roaring.  The missiles firing salvo after salvo.   Plasma shots were wizzing by.   I heard a tremendous blast aside from me.  A violent shake after that.  We were all knocked to the floor.  I caught a glimpse through the pilot door, and noticed that the pelican had a very rugged new airway.  Must’ve been a fuel rod shot.

“GO!GO!GO!” ordered Garza. I couldn’t see his face through the helmet, but something wasn’t right.

            Things looked so much better 2000meters in the air.  The fires in the city looked a lot like glowing charcoal during a BBQ.  I looked around.  Good.  Everyone was close. 

A banshee was quick to turn and got off 8 shots at Price.  None hit.

“Aw Hell No!” screamed Price.

            Price pulled his chute.  He went into a side patch and pulled out a proximity grenade and unsheathed his knife.  The Banshee is still coming straight at him.  Shouldn’t be long until his weapons finished recycling.  He threw the grenade just above it and cut his chute.  The grenade blew and the banshees swerved downward.  Free falling, the SGT. pounced on top of the banshee and stuck his knife into the hull.  The banshee, not knowing what hit him, flew toward the frigate.  Price kicked open the cockpit, got a firm grip of the elite’s hoof, and detached his knife from the hull.  He went flying back and dragged the elite with him.  They were fighting close quarters, free falling 2000 meters to the earth.  The destroyed pelican was keeping pace with them. 

            Explosions are still roaring above.  Flaming debris sped past by.  1000 meters to go.  The morning sun can be seen in the distance still.  All seems quiet.  The comm. crackled:

“Almost there.”

It was Gilbert.

“Harper, do you still see Price?”

“Nah, I lost track of him 500 meters ago.  Think we’ll see his reserve chute?”

“Nah, it’s pitch black out here.  Could barely see each other, nonetheless him.  Remember, we are the black angels.  We should’ve wore our brights today.”

            At that, I realized that it was snowing.  Hard.  I wonder why I didn’t notice it before…

“Harper!”

“What!?!”

“You didn’t know it was snowing, did you?”
“Yeah I did.”

“Bullshit if I ever heard it.  You’re too much in your thoughts.  That’ll get you killed out here.”

“Isn’t my fault we’re in our own world in these suits.”

“We’re apart from the world to have an unbiased approach to it.  If you were freezing your nuts off, do you think that you’ll be thinking about the mission?”

“Close it!” Garza broke in. “700 meters to go.  You ready.”

“Couldn’t be any readier,” I replied.

“That wasn’t a question, sergeant.”

700 hundred became 500.

“500 hundred more to go.” yelled Garza. “Start to slow.”

We all pulled our bodies up and slowed our decent.

“Three hundred.  Pull it.” ordered Garza.

            We all did.  The force was tremendous.  Each one of us was jerked back.

Damn, too fast.  My chute snapped from the speed.  I pulled my reserve.  This was going to suck.  We were going to land in a residential district populated by mostly three story buildings.  Some of them wooden. Shouldn’t be too hard to regroup.  Coming in too fast, I braced myself to roll onto the roof of a building.  A couple more seconds.  Damn!!! The roof caved in.  I landed on a couch and broke through that, and the floor under it, too.

*****

“Harper!  Where the hell are you!?!”

            I instinctively jerked my head to scan the area, and noticed that I was sprawled on a bed.  I looked up, and saw the holes in the ceiling. 

“Damn, I think we lost him.  I knew he was going to kill himself.”

It was Diaz.

“Ugh…”

“Harper!!  Why, when I—“

“Shut it, Diaz.”  It was Garza.  “You’re a dead man, but we’ll save that for after we leave this hellhole and before we get to the next one!”

“Sir, my back...”

“Are you on your back?”

“Yessir.”

“You landed on your shield.  Shake it off, and inject your steroids.”

“Yessir.”  I voice activated the system and my suit injected it into my blood stream.

            I stood up, looked around.  Gunshots from either side could be heard in the distance. It seemed I was only out for only a couple.  I secured my shield onto my left arm, and walked up to one of the windows.  I noticed a group of grunts strolling along the street below.  Raising my stripped MA5B, I took aim.  I place automatic fire on them and none were left standing.  Weird.  The frontline was supposed to be two miles ahead.  What are they doing here?  I only used a half a clip, so that was pretty good.  A moment later, two minor elites came.  Not wanting to attract anymore attention, I decided to break a window, climb down, and travel through the alley behind the house.

“So where are you at?” I asked.

“Oh nowhere, except for FIGHTING THE COVENANT!!” I think I pissed off Diaz.

I could hear gunshots in the back.

“I see you weren’t promoted because of the lack of the observation of the obvious.”

I had to do that.  He tries to pick a fight with me, I’ll make it worth his while.

“Czaja,” It was Garza, “could you do the honors?”

“Yes, sir.  Shut yer yappers!  Get over here Harper.”

“Well, where are you guys?”

“Every Square.  Tell us if you see Price on the way here.”

“What!?!  Where is he?”

“We wouldn’t have asked you if we knew, numbnuts.”  Diaz always had a smart remark.

“So far we had no radio contact with him.” Czaja remarked.

“I’m on my way.”

“Yeah, don’t take so long.” Does Diaz ever shut up?  

            I looked on the HUD to figure out where Every Square is at.  Damn.  One point two clicks due northwest.  This is going to be a long morning.

good writing man.

The first thing i thought about when i read the title was the daemonhunters from warhammer 40k.

Chapter II

Planet Iridanus, Polaris System

0400 21 January 2540

Rubidard, Delfanus

            I had decided to take the alleyways, as a lay-low approach.  It’s odd, that with all the shots being heard all around, I haven’t seen anybody.  No UNSC forces or Covenant alike.  The battle-scarring is still there, though.  So much damage around.  Smoke has pretty much become the proxy for breathable air.  Fires can be seen in all directions.  I had passed a destroyed banshee a while back.  Most of the damage seems to be because of a rough landing, but it had absolutely no carcass in there.  I checked all around but all that could be found was a metal rod and a plasma pistol.  Still, I placed them on my belt, just in case.  I saw a courtyard up ahead so, I sprinted forward.  A grunt appeared, running around the corner. Too Late.  We collided into each other, both of us sprawling onto our backs.  I flew into the courtyard, him, to the edge of the alley.  I laid my arm down in his direction and fired a burst of shots.  That was all that was needed.  As I saw him twitch, I caught glimpse of gold on a tall figure looming over me.  That was all the reason I needed to instinctively raise my shield and empty my whole clip into it.

“Damnit, Harper.  I was going to bring it home as a trophy.”

From behind the Zealot popped out SGT. Price.

“What the hell, Price!?! They didn’t tell me you already linked up with the group yet.”

Although I couldn’t see it, he gave me a perplexed look.

“I didn’t.”

“Dude.  This ain’t no time to joke.  The rest of the squad is here.  I know that.”

“Where were they at?”

Although he should already know the answer, I told him anyway.

“Every Square.”

“Harper, you retard.  This is Everett Square.”

            I looked all around.  A partially destroyed massive statue of one of the Great Admirals stood in the middle of a fountain in the center of the courtyard.  Bodies lay everywhere around it.  They were all covered with snow, some more than others.  UNSC soldiers had their bodies blown right open.  Searing burns with muscle and flesh exposed.  Though, it had looked like they were there for several hours now.  The fresh corpses seem to be that of grunts, elites, and jackels.  Also could be seen is equipment wielded by Hunters. There seemed to be two platoons of them altogether.  Including the Commander elite Price was holding, and several of his honour guards.  A closer look around the plaza revealed the downed pelican with the improvised airway on the opposite side of the courtyard.  Though this much destruction is around, the snow kept on falling idly, without a care in the world.

“Why didn’t you contact us?”

“My comm.’s out.  Damn pilot took it out when he clocked me in the head.  That, or when we both crashed through that house after I deployed my reserve 250meters in the air.  We went all the way through to the basement.  He broke my fall all the way. Heh.”

“Cool.  Let me contact the General.  Does you radio still work close by.  If it does, you can use my feed to speak as well.”

“Let’s see.”

“Sir, are you there?”

“Damnit, Harper!!  You’ve better have a damn good reason why you’re not here or I’ll see you court-martialed and hanged.”

Gunshots could still be heard in the back.

“Sir?”  Price spoke up.

“Price, is that you!?!”

“Yessir.”

“I want to hear both of your reasons NOW!!”

“Sir,” Price took the chance, “the brawl with the pilot took me deeper than your positions.  During the fight, my comm. link was disabled.  I shot up a flare, but the wind blew it down and away.  I’m surprised Harper caught glimpse of it.  So did a command group of Covenant.  Taking cover in our downed pelican, I thought I was as screwed as Diaz’s wife.  Luckily, Harper came by and flanked them with a couple of grenades.  Now, I’m feeding off his comm. to speak to you.”

“Harper, why didn’t I hear anything out of you about a flare?”

“Sir, I thought it along the way to your position, and wanted to keep radio silence so that no transmissions would be intercepted to alert them to a possible pinned soldier.”

“Bullshit, but some damn good ones.  Get your asses over here now.  Harper where are you at?”
“Everett Square, sir.”

“Along the way my ass.”

“Sir!”

“We’re still at Every Square.  The Covenant are putting up a hell of a fight.  See if you can flank them.”

“Sir!”

“Garza out.”

“You’re dead, Price.” muttered Diaz.

            I had to check on my HUD again.  Every Square.  Damn, I was off.  From here, it would be three point two clicks southeast.

“A long way, eh, Harper?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Pick up any supplies you need from the pelican.  Scrounge up anything you need from these Covies, too.”

            I tested out the shields from the jackels and the swords from the elites.  Whatever worked I attached to my belt.  So far, I have five energy blades, two plasma rifles, a plasma pistol, and two jackel shields.  I walked over to the pelican and picked up extra clips and found a DOG tags of one of the pilots.  I decided to take that along with me.

“Damn Harper, starting a souvenir shop?”

“C’mon, let’s hump over there.”

            Somehow, traveling through the alleys once again, the minutes felt like hours.  I wondered constantly if we were going the right way, or when are we going to encounter more Covenant.  I couldn’t bear to hear my own thoughts, so I decided to talk to Price.

“So, how did you kill all of them?”

“Who?”

“The Covenant at Everett Square.”

“Heh.  I landed several blocks before the square, and when I looked around, I noticed a fire very close by, so I checked it out.  Lo and behold, I found our downed pelican.  I checked it out, and picked up some ammo.  Moments later, this big-ass group of freaks show up at the far corner of the courtyard.  I decided to rig the chin turret on the pelican to fire in a line from left to right.  I only had one chance at this, so I got a piece of string to wire around the electronic cable.  I couldn’t afford a remote detonation going off to soon or not at all, ya know?”

I nodded in agreement.

“So I took cover in the 2^nd story of the building next to it.  The group came directly behind the pelican so I pulled the wire.  The roar of the fire took out most of the grunts, a couple of unwary elites, one them Honour Guard, and half the jackels.  During the fire, I lobbed three grenades all around the area.  That took care of most rest of them, all I could see was the zealot, two Honour Guards, one minor elite, and the hunter.  I put up my shield, raised my rifle, and sprayed the area they were in.  Pop! Pop! An Honour Guardsman and the elite fell.  I had to use a whole clip for that.  The hunter shot his gun so I dived back.  The fuel rod went through the wind and the corner of the room.  My shield took the brunt of the splash damage, hence the missing part.”

At this, I took another look at him.  Not only was his shield mess-up, some of his helmet and side armor had melted.  Though, he had shrapnel in him as well.

“The house started to give way, so I ran to the side room and busted through the wall and into the alleyway.  The house behind me crumbled and turned to dust.  I could hear the footsteps of elites coming to check the wreckage, so I circled around to the edge of the courtyard, where the Covenant, or at least what was left of them, were at.  I reloaded and, looking over the corner, the big-ass hunter standing guard at the corner, away from me.  Snuck up behind, and personally shoved my last regular grenade into his back.  Took me a while to get my hand out, and the big guy was turning into me, so as soon as I got out, I had to dive again into the bushes behind and put my shield up.  The grenade blew and worms flew everywhere.  By then, the Elites were on to me.  They charged straight at me, guns ablazing and their energy swords drawn.  I knelt down to make a smaller target and to fit myself behind my shield.  I threw my phosphorous grenade to stop their charge and distract them.  They jumped away in opposite directions and I expended another clip on the Honour Guard.  He still didn’t want to die.  He came at me again, but the zealot was providing cover fire.  I changed clips and started to resume fire.  When he came close, I lunged out of the bushes and took out his legs.  I put him between me and the firing zealot.  Took out the shields and put searing holes in the ***.  He was useful as a meat shield.  I used the guard and the shield to make a personal defense barrier while the commander used the fountain in the courtyard.  Decided he had enough of this, he came at me again.  I pulled plasmanade from the guard and tossed it at his chest.  You don’t become a pitcher in baseball without knowing how to throw.  Hit him dead on.  It blew and he flew back, I swear, 10 meters.  His weapons flew every which way.  I could see his shield flicker and die out.  With that, I threw the corpse of the guardsman aside and charged the zealot, slinging my gun and pulling out my knife. He came at me all the same.  He lunged forward, I raised my shield.  His fists nearly shattered the shield, but it held.  I took a swipe at his head with my right hand, he jerked back.  My fist may have missed him, but the knife didn’t.  He’s got the slit in his throat the size of most of the girls I know.  That son of *** actually thought he stood a chance.”

((writer’s note to the reader, Price held his knife like Snake did in MGS3:  Snake Eater))

“So where do I come in?”

“Sat down for a smoke.  A while later, I saw a grunt hiding in the bushes.  He knew he was found out, too.  He scurried toward the alley, so I shoved my helmet back on, and was going to go after him, until I heard a thud and saw you popping out, firing.  I decided to show you my prize kill, but you put him full of holes.”

            I was about to make a smart remark, but we could start hearing massive amounts of shots in the distance.  It was showtime.

Chapter III

Planet Iridanus, Polaris System

0600 21 January 2540

Downtown Rubidard, Delfanus

            The sound was coming half a click away, but it seemed so much closer.  We moved toward the sounds like shadows stalking in the night.  We could see grunts scurrying from street to street, guns waving in the air.  The elites were just as busy.  Tanks can be seen moving about.  There must be battles taking place all over this sector.

“Do we want to break radio silence?” I asked.

“No, not yet.  Let’s do some recon.”

            From the alley, we made a new door into someone’s house.  All clear.  Clearing the house, we made our way up to the roof.  Holy…  The sight was incredible.  Never in all my missions have I seen something to such a scale as this.  Everett Square was a massive sea of marble and stone a hundred acres in area.  The area was increased by part of collapsing building unfortunate enough to be hit with a stray shell.  This was a large scale engagement at their finest.  Tanks from both sides were lighting the battlefield from the flashes of their nozzles.  There were Banshees and SparrowHawks dueling above the soldiers’ heads.  Seraphs and Longswords were dogfighting to gain air control and the upperhand.  Bodies littered the battlefield marking the countless charges and counter-charges.  Heavily pockmarked areas revealed the consensus No Man’s Land.  The screaming of high velocity artillery was constant from both sides.  Streaking rockets and flares lit up the pre-dawn sky.  Soldiers took cover wherever they could.  The snow hid the ugliness man usually sees in war.

            The Covenant kept to their conventional colors of rank.  On the human side, there was the Delfan 22^nd Division, wearing dull white snow camouflage; their number are dwindle, though.  Taking the brunt of the combat was the Antimon 441^st Airborne Division, suited up in urban camo.  Making up about twenty percent of the force was the Daemon Battalion, dressed in our renowned blacks.

“Damn, we leave for one minute and everything goes to hell in a hand basket.”

“Price, think that they noticed we forgot to bring the knives and forks?”

He broke a chuckle.

“Well, Harper, time to get to work.  I see that the Covies like to use that road over there to run about, I say we stop the traffic.”

“Still have the sniper on you?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Let’s see if we could find a high priority target.”

            Price unslung his the snipe and peered into the scope.  After a long silence, he finally spoke up.

“All right, I can see a Commander about three-quarters of a kilometer down.  He’s in the brick house with a SpecOps elite and three grunts.”

He handed me the rifle.

            I can see him as clear as day.  The night vision lit up everything perfectly.  He was pounding his fists on a table that had a map and a radio on the table.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Harper, I would bring you along to help set explosives, but that’ll make us stick out like a sore thumb.  So I’ll go set up the explosives.  You stay up here with Beut’ and keep me covered.  As soon as the bombs blow, take out the Commander.”
“Wilco.” He named the sniper Beut’?

“Not sooner, not later.  We take him out, and we have a chance of winning this battle.  Keep radio silence.  We don’t want them to know we’re here, or ever existed.”

            SGT. Price departed, treading lightly.  I kept track of his movements as he flew through the Covenant infested area.  No one so much as twitched in his direction.  I turned my attention back to the CP.  This time, the SpecOps Elite and Grunts weren’t there anymore.  I casually searched around for them while Price was setting up about two-thirds a kilometer northwest from my viewpoint.  He was going to blow one of the widest streets I’ve ever seen.  Tanks were traveling down that road three wide.  Not being able to locate Specs, I looked back at the Commander.  Nothing new.  I looked to see if Price was ready.  My eyes grew wide open.  The SpecOps were sneaking up on him.  I concentrated my barrel on the elite’s head.  My head profusely sweating, my finger twitched toward the trigger.  Realizing priorities, I swung my rifle and placed the sight on the Commander.  I placed four shots in the chest in quick succession.  The first armor piercing shell hit his shield, but went so far as to dent his armor.  The second went farther and put a hole in the *** plate.  The third AP round completely bypassed his shielding and went straight though.  The last struck him as he started to crumple to the ground.  His armor was but mere butter to my round.  As he went down, he crashed onto the table, destroying it, and the radio crashed to the floor.  I knew the commander was still alive, but he was going to be out for a commission.  He won’t be able to think with a brilliant mind until he regained his health and out of his pain, and that would be a long time from now.  That surely disrupted ground command.  While turning to look back at the SGT, I heard the fireworks going off.  Buildings from both sides of the street collapsed and the floor beneath the street blew.  Leaving behind a seven meter mountain of rubble, concrete, and marble to litter the street.  After the smoke cleared, I could see the SpecOps Elite and Grunts hang lifeless among the wreckage.  No sign of Price.
“There, it came from over there!”

            I forgot that the shots could’ve been heard everywhere.  I had to get of here before Covenant were swarming all over me.  I jumped onto the rooftops until I was a kilometer closer to allied forces.  I decided to bust into the house under at the time, but I unfortunately ended up in a brick housing area.  I decided to radio in first.

“Sir, do you copy?”

“Aye”

“Sir, the main supply route has been severely damaged.”

“Good, I was wondering what that blast was.”

“The commander has been killed.”

“I guess having a newbie on the team wasn’t too bad of an omen.”

“Price is MIA, presumed dead.”

“…”

“Sir?”

A silent pause had shadowed the conversation.  Then orders were given to me:

“All right, Harper, rendezvous at Romeo 9.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Over.”

            I checked on the HUD.  That’s about a half a click away.  I slung Beut’ and  humped over a couple more houses and climbed down to the alley there.  I went to the edge and peered out.  All clear.  I started to move back when shots that lead me barely sizzled by save a couple of inches.  I dodged back to the cover of the corner.  I peered out again.  Six grunts, two jackels.  Where’s the elite?  More shots flew by.  I set my MA5B to burst and popped out of the corner.  I got off three bursts.  Popped back into cover.  Three grunts hit with a thud.  Silence… I popped back out, not too shabby… the grunts were actually smart enough to take cover.  Bad thing is, they grouped in a corner.  I pulled a grenade and lobbed it to them.  Ugh. A pistol shot sizzled away at my shoulder pad.  They set a flank from across the street.  An explosion bursted out and three more thuds hit the floor.  I was still able to use the corner as cover.  I looked down the alley, but no sign of an elite.  I peeked out of the corner and took careful aim to hit the jackel, but a thud came from and inch aside me.  Before I could see it, I was thrown into the street with a massive blow to the head.  Jackel shots were blocked by the fortunate position of my shield.  I had fallen done prone on the street so my left arm was facing the jackels.  I pulled a smoke grenade and set my rifle to automatic.  Hard steps could be heard approaching me.  I started to run toward a garden behind a meter high concrete wall.  Two plasma rifle shots sent a burning sensation into my back.  I fell forward, tripped over the wall, and flipped into a garden.  Looking back, all I could see was smoke.  I threw a proximity grenade behind me a barged into the house in front of me.  The ‘nade blew, but all I could hear is the sizzle of the energy shields.  I stumble upstairs to get a bird’s eye view of the situation.  I didn’t see anything.  I took a quick look back, and the elite was looming over me.  I raised my shield.  Too slow. The minor threw a fist and clocked me right in the kisser.  I realize flew through the window, because I heard the glass shatter, or was that my jaw? Next thing I remember is lying on the garden, looking up at the second story.  My vision became hazy.  The elite watched me with contempt.  Huh?  I could hear fully automatic fire in the distance.  I heard jackels screaming.  I blacked out, but I could’ve still heard my surroundings.  There was a long exchange of plasma fire and rifle rounds.  More plasma fire came, and so did the rifle fire.  I felt a lot of little things enter me, but there was no pain.  Something heavy then fell upon my chest, but I didn’t have the consciousness to figure out what it was.  I blacked-out completely after that…

Chapter IV

Planet Iridanus, Polaris System

1200 21 January 2540

???

            Ugh!  Aahh!!  Damnit!!!  Okay, so standing straight up won’t work.  I had happened to regain consciousness again.  I looked around, and I saw Ugly crumpled dead on top of me.  The elite was riddled with holes.  Took the same two story drop I did.  I seemed unable to move, for the current moment anyway.  I stopped to listen.  Footsteps.   Lot’s of them.  I tried to decipher whose they were.  *thump**thump**thump* They were heavy, but yet they were light.  Not anxious to be taken prisoner by the Covenant, I waited for a telltale sign, and it didn’t take long to come.  I could distinctly hear tank treads coming down the road.
“HEY!!”

No response.

“CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME!?!”

Nothing yet…

“HEY DIPSHITS!!!  I’M TALKING TO YOU!!!”

“With an attitude like that, I should probably let you lie there.”

I exhaled a sigh of relief.  I didn’t recognize the voice, though.  I gave him the birdie.

“You heard me.  I would love to chat and have some tea, but ugly here can’t get enough of me.” I retorted.

“If only you could say that about a woman.”

I flicked him off again. “He wants a threesome with you.”

“Wouldn’t be the first.” Damn, he’s good at this.

“Jackson!!  Why the hell are you dawdling about talking to the holy split-chin over there.”

“Oh, when hears me, you’re gonna get in trouble.” I taunted.
He bent to whisper:

“You win this time, ***.”

“Dicks like me *** you up whenever we want.”  I let out a chuckle and felt searing pain go through my chest.

“Jackson!!’

“Sir, I am aiding an injured soldier.”

I could hear heavy boots move closer.

“Goddamnit.  Radio HQ, we found a missing Daemon.”

            Jackson, presumably a Pvt., took his time to help me.  He casually kicked the corpse off me and helped me up.  I put my arm around him and I was able to take a good look around.  There were corpses everywhere.  Much more covies than UNSC forces, though.

“You SGT Harper?”

“Yeah.”

“Goddamn.”

            He seemed awfully thrilled.  Jackson just stared intensely.  The Sgt. then gave me a salute.  I returned it with whatever energy I had left.  Jackson just stared with amazement.

“Sir, why are you saluting to HIM!?!  He’s only a SGT.  You are a Master Gunnery Sergeant.  And what’s with the shield, and the get-up?  It’s snowin’ out here, and he’s wearing BLACK.”

“Boy, if you weren’t holding him up, I’d make you do a hundred push-ups on the spot.  This man not only kept you filthy hide alive, he probably saved this world from falling within days.”

“What did he do, sir?”

“It’ll be classified by ONI when they hear of it, but he took out the commander that was brilliantly and systematically defeating us and blew up their main supply route.”

“So what?  Any of our special ops guys could’ve done that.”

“It would’ve taken our whole division to try and do that.  Even then, we’d probably fail.”

“So that’s *cough* I’m coughing up blood now?  Not good. why there are so many Covenant dead.”

“That’s right sir.  They were so disorganized they couldn’t set up a viable defense.  We marched all over them.”
“I still don’t see why he’s so special.” remarked Jackson.

“He is part of the Arrowin 4^th Battalion,” Jackson cocked an eyebrow at this remark. “more commonly known as the Daemon Battalion.  You wouldn’t survive a day in their training program, Pvt., much less an hour.  They are the finest the UNSC has to offer.  The best equipped, too.  They are under direct command of Fleet Admiral Lopez.”

            A whooshing sound started to approach rapidly.  A quick glance up revealed a pelican rushing straight to my location.  It leveled off and hovered above us a couple until it started to descend.

“Harper you retard.”  God, why must I hear Diaz’s voice again?

“Geez, Harper, you’re messed up like a ***.”  Adams let out.

“What’d you do, trip over a rock?”  Gilbert added.

“Nah, he probably encountered an ant.”  Czaja put in.

Damn, this feels cheesy.  What is this, a family reunion?

Gonzales was the only one who didn’t feel like putting his two cents in.

“Where’s the General?” I inquired.

“We sent us to get you and to tell you that he’ll stick his foot so far up your ass that you’ll be crapping leather for the rest of your diarrhetic filled life.” answered Gilbert.

Geez, sounds like fun…

“Thank you sergeant.” I said.

“No problem.  Anything for a Daemon.  PVT!! Head out.  This no time to lollygag or I’ll tell the general to put you on his list of asses to kick.”

“Aye, sir.”

            The Sgt. and Pvt. went on their way, and I was forced to walk to the pelican with excruciating pain while my team taunted me.  We all had our helmets off.  It was a nice winter midday and was a time to rejoice, for the moment.  The scent of battle was on the horizon, but we were safe in the green zone secured in the sweep this morning.  Most of the ground achieved in the wake of the ‘death’ of the Commander. 

            On the way to the Forward CP, they regaled me about their full-blown combat experience.  I didn’t really pay attention.  My attention were to my thoughts.  I finally asked what was going through my mind.

“Any word from Price.”

Everybody stopped joking around and all of their smiles faded away.  Not the best approach to saying there was good news.  But who was I kidding.  Nobody ever said good news with a frown.

“Anything.”

Gilbert spoke up. “The last we heard about him was your last transmission with us.  Hell, we thought you were dead, too.  It was a miracle to find you.  A miracle to find you, breathing.”

Czaja was next to speak up. “So what did happen?”

            I told them about everything that happened, and I could see smiles crack when telling of how I ran into Price; the story Price told me in the Every Square, and our way over to the enemy CP.  I told them about each excruciating hit the commander took at what happened instantly afterwards.  Then I informed them of the ensuing battle after the covies chased me down and flanked me.

            There was a long silence after that.  We were flying over Every Square.  Smoke and rubble  There was not much else to see.  The heavy snow stopped, but it covered the land still.  The hulls of tanks, banshees, sparrowhawks were strewn across the battlefield.  Occasionally there was a downed seraph or longsword here or there.  But no UNSC forces were posted anywhere near as far as the battle told.  They were all the way back at the farthest side of the square, again.
            The pelican touched down soon after that, and the General was there to personally greet me.

“Harper,” There was a long pause. “Welcome back soldier.”

            The medics rushed me and came with a stretcher.  I waved it off.  I put my arm around Gilbert and we went toward the medical tent.  The doc was ready to give me a checkup.
“Damn, I wonder how you’re still alive.”

“Too tough to die, doc.”

“God saved you this time.  You have a fractured skull and suffered severe trauma.  Shrapnel is embedded in every inch of your right side.  You sprained both your ankles and suffered severe damage to both arms.  Your shoulder has a severe burn and your back…”

He stared intently.
“Your spinal cord should have been burnt to a crisp, severed, or at least left you paralyzed.  Not only does you spine have severe splintering, it obviously melted partially at the fifth through seventh vertebrates, and it has been rammed several millimeters further into your body.”

“So I’ll be fighting by tomorrow.”

“SGT, you do not seem to understand the extent of your injuries.  I don’t think you’ll be able to fighting in this war anymore.  Sorry SGT, but I’m going to have to—“

“Allow him to be fighting by tonight.”  Brigadier General Garza entered through the tent flap.

“But sir, I don’t know how—“

“You will find a way.”

“Aye, sir.”

The doc left the tent to gather supplies.

“So what’s the G2, sir?”

“Harper, you fucked up big.  But you saved the world, for now.  We pushed them back as far as Romeo13.  They pulled back, but we didn’t follow.  We came back here to set up the next phase in our plan.”

Right, now I remember.

“We’ll let the Covenant go back to their defensive positions, and tonight, we’re going to attack them full force.  We didn’t let go of the flanks, though, so we should be in a better tactical position.  Hopefully, the battle will distract the frigate enough for Zulu Company to infiltrate it.”

“Did you investigate the street rubble, sir?”

“We couldn’t.  I was too far into the area and we had to give the covies some breathing room.  You have to understand, the fate of the world means more than the fate of one man.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get some rest.  We’re attacking at the stroke of midnight.”

“Aye, sir.”

            The doctor came back in with so many needles that I thought he was a covenant testing out new ways the needlers could work.  Quick tests were run on me and needles injected into every part of me.  I was let out around four in the afternoon.

The area around me was a meadow with rolling fields.  To the right was a chow station.  I walked over there where a group of boisterous marines were fighting each other in no holds bar fist fights. At the current moment a big guy was fighting against a relatively small opponent.  I grabbed a plate and started to serve myself some meat chowder.  Cheering erupted beside me.  Somebody had won the fight.  I was getting myself some water in a deep voice spoke from behind me.

“You wanna fight, kid?”

“You sneak up behind people and you’ll get yourself killed.”  was my smart remark.

‘What’d you say, punk?”

I turned around and saw a man almost the size of an elite.

“Did I st- st- studder?” I mocked him.

“That mouth is going to get you beaten.”

“That attitude will get you killed.”

Furious, he smacked down my plate of food and cup of water.
“What now.”

“You better get me another plate or you’re going to wish you’d never laid eyes on me.”

“Try me, fucktard.”

            He kneed me straight in the gut.  I flinched for a split second and returned the favor with a Roundhouse Kick to the temple.  He crumpled straight to the ground.

“So, who’s going to get me my food bowl?”

The group of marines cringed toward the chow station.

“All right, that’s what I like.  Just leave it be and call the medic.  He might need it.”

            It was enough to know that they feared me, so I grabbed my food and drink once again and started to find a spot to lie on.  Some marines ran for the medic, but I didn’t stay to find out if the guy was alive or not.  I found a place and took a seat.  This will be that last warm meal for a while, so I thoroughly savoured the taste.

            For about half an hour, I lied there, thinking.  I was wondering how the space battle above was going.  Flashes of light could be seen throughout the whole day.  My question was partially answered when debris from a Covenant Capitol Cruiser was streaking toward the earth in balls of flame.  Its course was toward a continent on the far side of the planet.  Around the time of its impact, a slight tremor could be felt in the ground beneath us.  I guess they didn’t have time to eject their fuel cells. 

            I decided to rest and take a nap until I had to get ready.  My eyes were heavy anyway.

Love the stuff man,keep it comin