RP:Dwindling Flame

  "I think about more than I forget. But I don't go around fire expectin' not to sweat." Lil' Wayne  DWINDLING FLAME

Introduction
''Reach has fallen, all outer colonies have been lost or forgotten. One thing now stands in the way between the Covenant and the total annihilation of the human race. Earth. The original home to the human race, this final stronghold is under attack by the Prophet of Regret's fleet.''

While Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 pursues the Prophet of Regret onboard the In Amber Clad'', Earth is threatened by the Covenant juggernaut as more and more fleets pore into the Sol System. This attack on humanity's birthplace presses its defenders to give their very last ounce of strength, skill and determination as they are unified by the immediate need to ensure mankind's survival as a species. And so, humanity fight against its seemingly inevitable fate, defying the alleged instruments of the gods, protecting their dwindling flame from being extinguished...''

This is that desperate fight, the story of how humanity survived against the odds during the long weeks between the Master Chief's departure and his return.

Details

 * Location: Earth
 * Date: October 23rd, 2552
 * Official Name: Operation TRICERION
 * Operation HOLY FATHER
 * Operation DIVINE SON
 * Operation ETERNAL SPIRIT
 * Factions:
 * UNSC
 * Covenant Separatists
 * Covenant Loyalists
 * Forerunners
 * The Flood

Operation HOLY FATHER

 * Lead Author: Parkster
 * Specific Location: Australia, Oceania
 * Sydney, New South Wales
 * Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory
 * Overview: The Covenant have taken over Sydney and the Sydney Orbital Elevator to shuttle supplies and equipment down to the surface. While a lack of UNSC Naval support causes the orbital station to be securely under Covenant control, and with a strong Covenant ground presence any opposing Human forces will be destroyed. Stealth is their only option. Luckily, already en route to Earth - from Bauxite - after the initial invasion by Regret's fleet, Wolf Squad arrives in-system on the 20th of October and is prioritised with the task of infiltrating the Covenant ships docked to the orbital elevator station. Once on board, Medium Fusion Destructive Devices will be planted on each ship by Wolf Squad combatants. Once detonated, Bauxite's remaining fleets attack the occupying Covenant Naval forces above Sydney. Their Marine forces, enforced by Libra Team, will then attack the ground. However, Sydney isn't the Covenant's prime target. Sydney was a diversion for something far more devastating...

Operation DIVINE SON

 * Lead Author: Matt-256
 * Specific Location: Greece, Eastern Europe
 * Athens, Attica
 * Larissa, Thessaly
 * Thermopylae, Eastern Central Region
 * Overview: Greece is in flames! The defenses have been crushed, the people that valiantly held the lines battered. Scattered and few, the UNSC survivors struggle to survive in territory now belonging to the enemy. Territory the alien empire's forces is going to make use of. The city of Athens has been thoroughly destroyed and is being replaced with a massive spire - a Covenant teleporter device - which the enemy hopes to use to allow more ships to slip past Earth's orbital defenses and secure all sites of importance across the globe. To counter this, the remnants of the human presence must stand together and unite to stop the Covenant from achieving their plans. Fighting against impossible odds, the survivors - spearheaded by Spartans from teams like Winter and Brown - will do everything in their power to destroy the spire, as well as other facilities the Covenant are building in the conquered region to bolster their war machine or strengthening their hold on the region - including a massive jamming device in the ruins of Parthenon blocking all communications in to and out of the region, and factories of varying sizes churning out weapons, vehicles and other equipment in the Thessaly Periphery. For if they don't, Earth will surely fall - if not to the Covenant invaders who find themselves on the brink of infighting, then to the terrifying force that lurks beneath; a force ready to swallow organic life once unleashed...

Operation ETERNAL SPIRIT

 * Lead Author: Lordofmonsterisland
 * Specific Location: Japan, Eastern Asia
 * Tokyo, Honshu
 * Sapporo, Hokkaido


 * Overview: Around the planet, the fires of war burn the resistance, Humanity fighting back with every ounce of its collective will - the Covenant staging area of eastern Africa has little freedom fighters left, Sydney is in flames as the aliens attack HIGHCOM after the Forerunner relic below it, and countless other points drown in blood as the genocidal foe bears down upon factories, fortresses and homes. In Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, the massive stores of Chinese-made weapons and vehicles are rolling out to fight the war machine around the globe, but the Covenant has caught on and now moves to deal with this source of UNSC equipment. Digging in and forming up defenses, all available UNSC forces across Japan prepare to defend the warehouses in Sapporo and Tokyo, readying themselves for anything the Covenant can throw at them, and praying they can hold out.

Rules & Regulations
NOTE: The following rules are subject to change at any time.


 * 1) Have fun, embrace other users and their creative skills and cooperate and enjoy the RP's to their full potential.
 * 2) Please follow the NCF guidelines. Also, no God Modding.
 * 3) These RP's are not part of any specific universe. Anyone, with any amount of characters are welcome to join in, regardless of the character's biographies and their respective universes.
 * 4) LOMI, Parkster and Matt-256 are the project moderators. What they say goes, and any questions or issues should be directed to them.
 * 5) When discussing ideas and other topics related to this Project and its RP's, on anyone of these articles' talk pages, please remain civil and take other user's views and opinions into account. Report incivility to the moderators.
 * 6) The Initial Tetralogy has already been roughly planned out. Despite this, more ideas and especially plot-twists are welcome to be discussed, however this does not mean they will definitely be implemented.
 * 7) Each RP will have one or more major plot line, and although we do not wish to limit creativity and lower the success of these RP's, we strongly advise that you follow the main plot lines and do not wonder off aimlessly by yourself in the RP world's!
 * 8) Do not edit major pages, such as this, or other people's RP posts unless consulted or told to do so by the moderators. We don't want an edit war!
 * 9) Do not kill off other user's characters unless given permission to.
 * 10) Cooperation with other users is vital for successful RP's to work, however make sure both you and the cooperating user know and agree that you're working together!
 * 11) There are official invite templates that are used to publicise the project and its RP's. Please help us out and post them on user's talk pages, if they haven't been invited already (see the How You Can Help section below.

Participants
NOTE: If you have your name listed here but don't want to participate anymore, go ahead and remove it.


 * LOMI - (Head Moderator) 
 * Parkster - (Head Moderator) 
 * Matt - (Head Moderator) 
 * DREADHEAD613 - (DIVINE SON Moderator) 
 * Sona 'Demal - (ETERNAL SPIRIT Moderator)
 * Spartan 112 
 * Ahalosniper 
 * The All-knowing Sith'ari 
 * Actene 
 * Echo 1125 
 * Athena32 
 * EliteMaster117 
 * RichardRHunt 
 * Bobzombie 
 * Norman-123 
 * XsnakeX51 
 * Baracuss 
 * Sgt.T.N.Biscuits
 * The Halfblood 
 * Gruntijackal 
 * Another Poetic Spartan 
 * CarpeJugulum 
 * Spartan G-23
 * 'Rollersox'
 * Spartan 501
 * Stel 'Vadam
 * FightWithHonor
 * SPARTAN-118
 * SPARTAN-077
 * SPARTAN 119
 * Masterchief46517
 * HZ
 * Spartan-091
 * Chen-179
 * ONI recon 111
 * DeathTheKid88 
 * 039TheLost 
 * FightWithHonor 

LOMI

 * Name: Riker-012
 * Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Inferno Team, Group 3, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Various - Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT), New Zealand, Mexico City, New York, Reykjavik, London, Athens (Operation: DIVINE SON), Cairo
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Edwin Davis
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: TROJAN Team Alpha, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: James Davis
 * Rank: Lance Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: TROJAN-II Team Alpha, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Justin Davis
 * Rank: Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: 23rd Battalion, UNSC Marine Corps
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Joe Harrison
 * Rank: Lieutenant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: 12th Naval Squadron, Third Response Group, UNSC Navy
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Josiah Littleton
 * Rank: Master Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: TROJAN Team Delta, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Ameigh Broley
 * Rank: Holy Commander
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Lance of Unrelenting Reparation, Covenant Separatist Special Operations
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Jemsal 'Emvadson
 * Rank: Ultra
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Lance of Unrelenting Reparation, Covenant Separatist Special Operations
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

Matt-256

 * Laszlo-108
 * Rank: Major (O-4)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Brown Team, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active
 * Rachel-343
 * Rank: Lieutenant, Junior Grade (O-2)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Winter Team, Special Warfare Command/Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active
 * Hào-B296
 * Rank: Lieutenant (O-3)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Winter Team, Special Warfare Command/Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active
 * Valeria-107
 * Rank: Lieutenant (O-3)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Gauntlet Team, Group Three, Special Warfare Command
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active
 * Mattias-256
 * Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Sienna Team, Section Three, Office of Naval Intelligence
 * Theater: Tunguska (Invasion of Tunguska)
 * Status: Active


 * Crusar 'Taraloee
 * Rank: Field Marshall (Theater Commander)
 * Faction: Covenant Empire
 * Unit/Ship: First Army of Graceful Enticement, Covenant Army
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

Norman-123

 * Norman-G124
 * Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Dagger Team
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Janice-G198
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Dagger Team
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Gary-G222
 * Rank: Petty Officer First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Dagger Team
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Kevin-G301
 * Rank: Petty Officer First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Dagger Team
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Adam-309
 * Rank: Ensign
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship:Turquoise Team
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Lucia-349
 * Rank: Warrant Officer
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship:Turquoise Team
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Robert Stanley
 * Rank: Staff Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship:87th Orbital Drop Shocker Division
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Jara 'Karum
 * Rank: Ultra
 * Faction: Covenant Empire
 * G'nand Legion
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Hok
 * Rank: Jackal Sniper
 * Faction: Covenant EMpire
 * G'nand Legion
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

SPARTAN 119

 * Name: Ross East
 * Rank: Lt. Colonel
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: UNSCAF 3rd Squadron
 * Theater: Various: Space Combat, Canada, Africa, Ark, eventually Japan (ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Lindsey Williamson
 * Rank: Master Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: ODST
 * Theater: Various, USA, Canada, Africa, Ark, eventually Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Payton Smith
 * Rank: Lt. General
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship:
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Mikiya Ryougi
 * Rank: 1st Lieutenant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: as of yet unnamed Falcon Squadron
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Aoi Miyazaki
 * Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Same unnamed Falcon squadron as Ryougi
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

SPARTAN 501

 * Name: Roger-341
 * Rank: Petty Officer First Class
 * Faction: Covert Operations Group
 * Unit/Ship: Crimson Team
 * Theater: Various: DIVINE SON
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Mica-311
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Faction: Covert Operations Group
 * Unit/Ship: Crimson Team
 * Theater: Various: DIVINE SON
 * Status: Active

echo 1125

 * Name: Talo-A004
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Faction: Covert Operations Group
 * Unit/Ship: Arcturas Team
 * Theater: Various: DIVINE SON
 * Status: Active

ASniper

 * Name: Mitchell Hunter
 * Rank: Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Task Force Oscar
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Baxter ‘Kevlar’ Jones
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Task Force Oscar
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Benjamin Dansen
 * Rank: Private
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Task Force Oscar
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Moses Wheatley
 * Rank: Staff Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Former Crew Chief of Bravo 029
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Reo Colter
 * Faction: UEG Civilian
 * Unit/Ship: with Moses Wheatley
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Henri Anton LeFevbre
 * Faction: UEG Civilian
 * Unit/Ship: with Moses Wheatley
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Angel Yasunaka
 * Rank: Leiutenant (Junior Grade)
 * Faction: UNSC Navy
 * Unit/Ship: Pelican Bravo 029
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT; ferrying supplies to DIVINE SON and HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Kodiak G114
 * Rank: Specialist (E-5)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Ion Team
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Dyne G217
 * Rank: Specialist (E-4)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Ion Team
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Sepia G330
 * Rank: Specialist (E-4)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Ion Team
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

RRH

 * Name: Cindy R. Perry
 * Rank: Rear Admiral (O-8)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Navy)
 * Unit/Ship: UNSC Ragnarok
 * Theater: Earth (Operations HOLY FATHER, DIVINE SON, and ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Francis J. Williams
 * Rank: Major General (O-8)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: 1st Infantry Division
 * Theater: Earth (Operations HOLY FATHER, DIVINE SON, and ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Scott N. Lane
 * Rank: Lieutenant Colonel (O-5)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: 19th Special Forces Group
 * Theater: Earth (Operations HOLY FATHER, DIVINE SON and ETERNAL SPIRIT)


 * Name: Darryl M. Dodrill
 * Rank: Master Sergeant (E-8)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Marine Corps)
 * Unit/Ship: 1st Squad, 1st Platoon Alpha 1/1 Marines
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: James R. Williams Sr
 * Rank: Captain (O-3)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: Co. E 2/27th Infantry
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Leonard S. Alford
 * Rank: Sergeant (E-5)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon Co. K 3/15th Infantry
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Mathew J. Philips
 * Rank: 1st Lieutenant (O-2)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: 3rd Platoon Co. K 3/15th Infantry
 * Theater: Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Clifton J. Smith
 * Rank: Staff Sergeant (E-6)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Marine Corps)
 * Unit/Ship: 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon Bravo 1/8 Marines
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Douglas L. Crews
 * Rank: Captain (O-3)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: Co. A 2/27th Infantry
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Robert S. Baum
 * Rank: Staff Sergeant (E-6)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Marine Corps)
 * Unit/Ship: 4th Squad, 1st Platoon Echo 5/9 ODSTs
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: John T. Drown III
 * Rank: 1st Lieutenant (O-2)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: 3rd Platoon Co. F 2/26th Infantry
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Jake J. Bivona
 * Rank: Corporal (E-4)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Army)
 * Unit/Ship: Fireteam Bravo, 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon Co. I 4/16 Infantry
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Marvin A. Wall
 * Rank: Sergeant (E-5)
 * Faction: UNSCDF (Marine Corps)
 * Unit/Ship: 5th Squad, 2nd Platoon Foxtrot 6/10 Marines
 * Theater: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

Sith'ari

 * Name: John Churchill
 * Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
 * Faction: UNSC Army
 * Unit: 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (commander), 16 Air Assault Brigade
 * Theatre: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active, for now...


 * Name: The Honourable Lucy Everest, heir to the Viscountcy of Malvern
 * Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
 * Faction: UNSC Army
 * Unit: Regimental Combat Team Bravo, 17th Armoured Regiment, UNSC Army
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

Baracuss

 * Name: Baracuss Antairious
 * Rank: Ship Master
 * Faction: Covenant Empire, Later Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Fleet of Approaching Salvation, Glimmering Emerald
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

The Halfbood

 * Name: Jake Kalamiari
 * Rank: Lance Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: 105th ODST Division
 * Theatre: Greece
 * Status: Active
 * Name: Dylan Tanner
 * Rank: Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: 107th ODST Division
 * Theatre: Australia
 * Status: Active
 * Name: Samantha Brown
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: 107th ODST Division
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

Spartan 112

 * Name: Doyle Hudson
 * Rank: Colonel
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment Headquarters Company
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Ellis Wyatt
 * Rank: Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Ulysses Alford
 * Rank: Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Walker Gibson
 * Rank: Lance Corporal
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Katina Campos
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Colin Davidson
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Alicia Lambert
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Kraig Carson
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Micheal Bean
 * Rank: Private First Class
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, First Platoon, 2nd Squad
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

FightWithHonor

 * Name: Shelby F. Winslow
 * Rank: UNSC GS-17 (equivalent to O-7)
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Office of Naval Intelligence Strategic Projects (ONI STRATPROJ)
 * Theatre: Operation ETERNAL SPIRIT and Operation HOLY FATHER (Winslow's location at CLASSIFIED places him in a position to observe and participate in both operations from a distance)
 * Status: Active


 * Name:Roy Keith
 * Rank: SGTMAJ (E-9)
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: UNSC MARSPECACTGRU 4.7 (Marine Special Activities Group 4, Detachment 7)
 * Theatre: Operation HOLY FATHER
 * Status: Alive and kicking


 * Name: Rudy Garcia-Espinoza
 * Rank: CAPT (O-3)
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: 918th TFS, UNSCF
 * Theatre: Operation ETERNAL SPIRIT
 * Status: Alive but busy

Sgt.T.N.Biscuits

 * Name: Darrell Mac
 * Rank: Master Sergeant
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: 34th ODST Unit, UNSC Special Operations Command
 * Theater: Australlia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Robert-15M
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Special Warfare Group Three
 * Theater: Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

DeathTheKid88

 * Name: Trevor
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: Death Team
 * Rank:Colonel
 * Theater:Tokyo, Honshu (Operation:ETERNAL SPIRIT)


 * Name: Jada
 * Faction:UNSC
 * Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer
 * Unit:Death Team
 * Theater:Tokyo, Honshu (Operation:ETERNAL SPIRIT)


 * Name: Luna
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Death Team
 * Rank: Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
 * Theater:Tokyo, Honshu (Operation:ETERNAL SPIRIT)


 * Name: Ryan
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Death Team
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Theater:Tokyo, Honshu (Operation:ETERNAL SPIRIT)


 * Name: Jacob Travers
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Fire Team Zeta
 * Rank: Petty Officer
 * Theater:Tokyo, Honshu (Operation:ETERNAL SPIRIT)

Bobzombie

 * Name: James Perez
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Task Force Oscar
 * Rank: Colonel
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation Holy Spirit)


 * Name: Oregon Hawkins
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Task Force Oscar
 * Rank: Staff Sergeant
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)


 * Name: Wolf
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Team Tachi
 * Rank: SSGT
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)


 * Name: Jay
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Team Tachi
 * Rank: Petty Officer 1
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)


 * Name: Mikael Housten
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Joker Forward Observation Unit
 * Rank: Captain
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)


 * Name: Sean Zanovich
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit: Bravo 4 Fire Support Unit
 * Rank: Major
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)


 * Name: Fox Calo
 * Faction: Oceania
 * Unit: Oceanic News Network (ONN)
 * Rank: Reporter
 * Theater:Sydney, Oceania (Operation:HOLY SPIRIT)

EliteMaster117

 * Name: Isaac Long
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: 22nd Bullfrog Squad
 * Rank:Sergeant
 * Theater:Thermopylae, Greece (Operation: DIVINE SON)


 * Name: Steven Jensen
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: 8th Armored', 2nd Squad
 * Rank:Private First Class
 * Theater:Thermopylae (Operation: DIVINE SON)


 * Name: Jeff-B345
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: Romeo Team
 * Rank:Commander
 * Theater:Sydney, Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)


 * Name: Skye-B207
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: Romeo Team
 * Rank: Warrant Officer
 * Theater:Sydney, Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)


 * Name: Ellis-B300
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: Romeo Team
 * Rank: Warrant Officer
 * Theater:Sydney, Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)


 * Name: Ray-A148
 * Affiliation: UNSC
 * Group: Romeo Team
 * Rank: Chief WO
 * Theater:Sydney, Australia (Operation: HOLY FATHER)

Actene

 * Name: Jake-G293
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Mary-G130
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Terrence-G150
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Ralph-G299
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Simon-G294 (Reignition)
 * Faction: UNSC Defense Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Cassandra-G006 (Reignition)
 * Faction: UNSC Defence Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Jian
 * Rank: Petty Officer Third Class
 * Theatre: Japan (Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active

Spartan G-23

 * Name: James-G023
 * Faction: UNSC Defence Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Murmillo
 * Rank: Petty Officer First Class
 * Theatre: Eastern Europe (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Kate-G012
 * Faction: UNSC Defence Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Murmillo
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Theatre: Eastern Europe (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: William-G331
 * Faction: UNSC Defence Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Murmillo
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Theatre: Eastern Europe (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: George-G202
 * Faction: UNSC Defence Force
 * Unit/Ship: Team Murmillo
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Theatre: Eastern Europe (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

039TheLost

 * Name: Karzen Devandee
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Blinding Disciples
 * Rank: Zealot
 * Theatre: Sydney, Australia (HOLY FATHER)
 * Status: Active
 * Name: YarbYarb
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Blinding Disciples
 * Rank: Grunt Major
 * Theatre: Sydney, Australia (HOLY FATHER)
 * Name: Vak
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Blinding Disciples
 * Rank: Jackal Zealot
 * Theatre: Sydney, Australia (HOLY FATHER)
 * Name: Befamo Keli Dosa
 * Faction: Covenant Separatists
 * Unit/Ship: Blinding Disciples
 * Rank: Hunter
 * Theatre: Sydney, Australia (HOLY FATHER)

Carpe

 * Name: Logan-G081
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Headhunter team HH-05
 * Rank: Chief Petty Officer
 * Theater: Thessaly, Greece (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active


 * Name: Damian-G004
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Headhunter team HH-05
 * Rank: Petty Officer
 * Theater: Thessaly, Greece (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

Rollersox

 * Name: Eric-G272
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: ONI Recon 173
 * Rank: Petty Officer Second Class
 * Theater: Japan (ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active
 * Name: Codename: BANE
 * Faction: ONI
 * Unit/Ship: ONI Recon 173
 * Rank: Classified
 * Theater: Japan (ETERNAL SPIRIT)
 * Status: Active
 * Name: SPARTAN-097
 * Faction: UNSC
 * Unit/Ship: Gold Team (sole survivor)
 * Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer First Class
 * Theater: Thessaly, Greece (DIVINE SON)
 * Status: Active

Storyline
While the RP takes place over a long timeframe and in many different locations, there are three fronts - or operations - which are prominent over the others; HOLY FATHER, DIVINE SON and ETERNAL SPIRIT. If you've played an RPG like Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you know that there's so-called main quests which make up the main storyline - that is, they serve to move the plot forward. Putting it simply, this is what the aforementioned three operations are; the backbone of the RP's story. But in said games, there are also a lot of sidequests; assignments that serve to expand the world you're in and get a close look of whatever's happening to the people that don't get attention in the main quests and what their respective problems are. So just as HOLY FATHER, DIVINE SON and ETERNAL SPIRIT are the main stories, plotlines thought up and carried out by you users who don't want to be part of those three, or who just wants some additional excitement, form up a category of additional stories within the RP, adding to the overall RP experience. For example, if users A, B and C band together and roleplay about an attack on New York, that's a sidestory - which doesn't mean that it can't be enjoyable, just that it isn't the main storyline. If you have more questions about this, visit the talk page and we'll do our best to answer your queries.

Week One (October 23 - October 29)
Operation: HOLY FATHER

'"What chance has the UAR got against the Covenant, General? With all forces scattered at more important locations, what chance?"

"The best lone wolves known to man and the remnants of Group Three, madam..."

0007 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Sydney Orbital Elevator Space Sector, Australian Space Region, United Australasian Republic

Undetectable by any radar, too small and too invisible; the seven phantom soldiers drifted effortlessly towards the Covenant naval occupation: two corvettes and a battlecruiser. Radio silent, their trajectories precisely calibrated and executed to the nearest millisecond of a degree, the SPARTANS flew to their respective targets. Wolf Squad were unknown as far as the human race was aware, let alone the Covenant. Team Canis, three of the ghosts, glided past one of the corvettes and towards the battlecruiser, attached to the Orbital Elevator’s space station. Team Lupus and the Squad’s commander split into pairs as their linear flight paths started to split. Two per corvette; contact with the alien ships was nigh. Three of the metallic black supersoliders carried Anti-Shielding Ion Pulse Warheads, their key to ending the orbital occupation of the covenant. It was a complex mission but one that would require little struggle if executed accurately. Sergeant Major Jake-G239 and Staff Sergeant Randall-G178 initiated their Temporary Localised Trans-Energy Field Shields, which would allow them to sink through the Covenant’s shields for a few seconds so they can make it to the surface of the ship. They would be unharmed but the small flicker on the ship’s shielding monitors may attract attention. Upon passing through the protective threshold, their TLTEFS’s dissipated and so did their normal energy shields and cloaking fields. Within seconds both their active camouflage and energy shielding recharged and the SPARTAN’s placed the ASIP warheads on the hexagonally tessellating purple hull.

Both soldiers pulled various levers, turned them simultaneously and activated the device’s unfolding clamped, which attached to the ship’s surface. The device would have made a loud clang if it wasn’t for the lack of air surrounding the ship. The main control panel then appeared, holographically emerging to life from a small blue light on the centre of the advanced device. Randall pressed and slid certain buttons and tabs until the display turned green, came together in a cylinder and then vanished back into the centre; where the cycloptic eye of the device turned green and started flashing. It was ironic that the Covenant’s greatest defensive advantage was being reworked against them; their imitative technology being stolen and innovatively used in assisting their deaths.

Meanwhile the other teams were undergoing the same operation; arming the warhead on the hulls of the other two ships. Jake and Randall would be finished first, Canis second and then the remaining two Lupus combatants last. Despite this, by the time Jake and Randall would reach the orbital station, Canis would already be there; straight from the docked cruiser. Finished arming their warhead, the squad commander and EOD specialist looked and nodded at each other, stood up and started running to the other side of the ship. Upon reaching the other side, they jumped off of the ship, magnetic boots deactivating, trans-EF shields activating. Unlike entry onto the ship, where they merely sunk through the shield, they shot out of the ship’s defensive coat due to the slight deflective capabilities of the corvette’s protecting energy field.

Another flicker on the sensors would raise awareness, enough to initiate a small investigative unit. However it would have to wait. In the distance, in between the Earth and moon, closer to them, blips of blue light sparked open into white centred balls of distorted space. UNSC forces had arrived from Mars ready to execute phase two of the operation; two frigates and a Marathon-class cruiser. The two corvettes were the first to respond, already alerted from the dual blips on their shields but unaware of their vulnerable disposition, timed to detonate on their exoskeleton. They dispatched seraph fighters and the human forces simultaneously retaliated with the release of Longsword fighters. The UNSC ships charged towards the station, the frigates taking lead. Corvette’s weapons charged; the timers initiated perfectly. A bright blue sphere erupted, coated in an electrical charge, causing wave-like ripples across the shield’s surface. Within less than a second the blue sphere dissipated with a shock wave emanating rapidly, at the sphere’s initial point of dissolution, across the ship’s protecting layer; stripping it of existence. The corvette teams were nearly at the station, where Canis were waiting anxiously but calmly.

Without time for the corvettes to recover, bright yellow bursts flashed from the noses of the incoming frigates and instantly the Covenant ships exploded at their bows, smaller eruptions occurring all over the surface of the ship, lights diming and large fragments of shrapnel flying off. Seconds later, as the frigates turned off their collision course with the dying purple wrecks, the corvettes’ engines exploded, completely destroying the stern and rendering the front half of the ship critically impaired. At this point, the opposing side’s starfighters engaged each other, casualties on both sides. The space fight had truly begun.

Finally the battlecruiser disconnected from the station, sending back up forces to attack the frigates, which had already loaded their Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles and rail gun turrets to counterassault the Covenant’s backup. Well prepared and precisely executed, the operation was nearly complete. The final ASIP warhead exploded, obliterating the cruiser’s shields and an almost premature shot from the Marathon-class cruiser followed immediately after; gutting the cruiser, and disabling most of its abilities. The second sub-lightspeed projectile from the UNSC cruiser effortlessly pushed through to the engines of the semi-destroyed battlecruiser, annihilating it in an explosive ball of purples and blues. Rail gun and point defence turrets ripped into the Covenant seraphs.

However the station was still under Covenant control and the combatants inside it were certain that the incoming human’s would not attack. They were right but still unprepared. The frigates passed the station and carried on slightly beyond where they deployed drop pods for the first wave of counter-occupation forces into Sydney. Pelicans and Albatross dropships followed for the second wave, accompanied by fighter craft. Eventually the frigates descended too, for the third wave of heavier support. The cruiser stopped near the station however, keeping at a relatively safe distance from it.

"This is Admiral Bobson of the Marathon-class cruiser Olympus Pinnacle, thank you Wolf Squad, your efforts have been invaluable. Forces have been sent to infiltrate and regain control of the station and your D7 Prowler is inbound to collect you. Thank you SPARTAN’s, you’ve lived up to your name and reputation."

"Thank you sir, we couldn’t have done it without you either." Jake replied honourably.

"No problem sergeant, Bobson out." The com channel ceased, however they were no radio free on a squad-wide basis. Dropships and infiltration craft surrounded and engaged the station. Jake congratulated his team:

"Good one Wolf, you’ve done us proud." The rest of the team nodded in humble acknowledgement of their praise. They were all still so silent, being separated from the rest of gamma. They were, after all, lone wolves and maybe the team work was not as satisfying as they had wished. Regardless of this, their efforts were outstanding, but yet unknown throughout the galaxy by the majority of civilians and even military personnel. The prowler, decloaked with its underbelly open, halted over Wolf Squad. They jumped, almost zero gravity at their aid, and fly up into the stealth vessel’s hold. Silently and secrectly, they left the station, their next operation unknown, even by the temporarily enlightened admiral. Ghosts within the depths of clear hell...

0107 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Covenant Assualt Carrier Blissful Annihilation, Unknown Exact Location, United Australasian Republic

"Yes Supreme Commander, I acknowledge your urgency however our orbital forces have just been obliterated and..." K’sar Vadumee interrupted:

"I am careless for your sympathetic naivety towards the forces in Sydney. You are to remain where you are. I don’t wish to recall the ultimate purpose of this operation again. Let those forces cripple and eventually fall under the human’s counter attack, that ispart of the plan, however cruel it may seem. Victory does not spawn without sacrifice, and while the stupid humans are occupied and exhausting their resources, we will initiate the true threat upon them at the least expecting moment; at the point of their worthless victory." The supreme commander’s hologram vanished and the fleet master lowered is head in dismay and anger. These emotions were supressed within a second. Confidently though he barked orders to his officers to prepare for the dig. They would be here for a long time. They could be the key to the destruction of the human race.

0049 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Palm Beach, North Shore, Sydeny, Asutralia, United Australasian Republic

Six drops pods, among many others falling in other locations, impacted on Palm Beach, the most northern point of Sydney’s North Shore. The pods doors flew off and hit into the beach, sending sand into the air. The night was warm and humid, the norm for Australia’s nocturnal sub-tropic spring but the six SPARTANS of Libra Team were warmer from the thrill and heat of a rapid orbit-to-ground insertion. Stepping out of their pods, they ran up to the main car park of the Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club, where they were greeted by the small remaining local militants. UARDF’s military army soldiers, clad in grey or olive drab for urban operations, stopped and starred at the arrival of the six awe spawning giants of military genius and perfection.

"Thank god you lot have arrived, we’ve been sitting ducks with heavy casualties preparing for the next Covenant attack. And I sure as hell didn’t expect a counter-assault of this magnitude, let alone SPATANS." Sergeant First Class Lachlan Stevens welcomed gratefully.

"Glad to meet you Sergeant, your able combatants will be working alongside us to regain control of the North Shore. Firstly we’ll attend to your wounded and create attack strategies for daybreak." Simon-A001 reassured. He then turned to inform the rest of his team on their duties.

"Tony, I want you on medical straight away. Do what you do best."

"Yes sir, certainly." The brains of Libra shot inside the surf club to attend the injured.

"Jun and Jack, scout the area, see what we’re up against. I’m not familiar with the area and so I need ways in and out for us and the Covenant." Jun nodded humbly and Jack gave a hint of excitement through a muttered yesss! They ran off into the darkness.

"Kate and Zack, you need to assess the ordinance, armour, weaponry and military capabilities of the unit. Get to know names and specialities, we’re gonna need all the help we can get." "Yes sir." Kate replied with a subtle nod.

"You know what I like best!" Zack enthused in his deep slightly-philipino voice to the Commander, as he walked to the rudimentary armoury. Simon smiled at the EOD and heavy duty specialist’s charismatic nature. The army Sergeant waved the commander over to their central control table; a map and some objects to serve as ally and enemy units and bases. They really were lacking resources.

"We’re so grateful for your arrival, half our unit is down though, injured or dead. Took your time!" The Sergeant said cheekily.

"Better late than never Sergeant, better late than never..."

'''1827 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calender)/ Outskirts of Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality of the People's Republic of China'''

The sun was beginning to set on the western horizon as the purple-hulled Phantom Dropship descended from the sky, deactivating its cloaking shield and bringing itself to bear as it hovered right at the edge of the raised platform, making for easy accessibility. Within a few seconds, both of the bay doors folded out, Gunner-rank Unggoy manning the Plasma Cannons on either side while a Special Operations Sangheili walked to the edge of the troop bay; there, he grabbed a hold of the bay wall's edge and looked out across the demolished area that had once been the port of a Human city.

A dozen yards away, just now beginning to walk up the ramp to the raised platform, approached an entourage of Sangheili, Honor Guards surrounding a half a dozen warriors in a protective circle. This central group, noticeable in their distinctly crafted armor, were an imposing group of Sangheili Zealots, commanders of the invading army.

As the Sangheili boarded the dropship, the SpecOps Sangheili backed away from the edge and bowed respectfully to his superiors, not raising his head till one of them spoke to him.

“Report, 'Essonee,” stated the highest ranking Zealot. From head to toe, the Sangheili's purple armor demonstrated refined simplicity, the artistic motifs and armor pieces combined were with combat sensibility to ensure an imposing, regal look without compromising tactical functionality. Standing almost a head taller than the rest of the Zealots and with more than enough muscle mass to fill out his well-built form, it was obvious in every way that this Sangheili had seen his share of battles, and was most assuredly fit for his command position.

Few were more feared than Field Marshall Rimon 'Achachakee.

'Essonee spoke: “This Human territory – Chy-Nuh, they call it – is well on its way to defeat. The capital has fallen and our base there is already under construction, while the Humans are scurrying away like Scrub Grubs.” 'Essonee paused, unsure as to whether or not he should continue.

“And what of your mission, commander?” asked 'Achachakee, “Does the Human commander now rot in the Shadow World?”

'Essonee was silent a moment.

“Well?”

“Regrettably, our strike failed, Field Marshall. The commander escaped, killing two of my best men in the process.”

'Achachakee hung his head in digust. “This is the second time you have failed me, 'Essonee,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the commander. 'Achachakee walked over to one of the bay doors and stared out at the vast sea that separated this Human territory, Chy-Nuh, from their next target, an island state called Jaahpahn, which was reported by scouts to have gathered a large supply of war equipment and soldiers, including some escapees from the recently destroyed capitol of Chy-Nuh.

“Tell me, 'Argysee,” began 'Achachakee, turning to one of his companions, a gold-clad General, “If 'Essonee were to fail you again, what would you do?”

“I would strip him of his rank, cut off his sword hand's thumbs, and clip his mandibles,” stated the General in a husky voice.

“Indeed,” returned 'Achachakee simply, watching out the bay door as the water receded and the Phantom pivoted towards the nearby carrier. “'Essonee, you have one final chance to redeem yourself: eliminate the Human commanders on Jaahpahn once the invasion begins, or you shall wish you were never born.”

“By your word, Field Marshall”

“Ship Master,” continued 'Achachakee quickly, turning to another of the Zealots, “As soon as we dock, gather this battle group and move the ships towards the island. We land our forces before sunrise; understood?”

The Ship Master acknowledged, and once he did 'Achachakee turned to the bay door once more while the Phantom entered the hangar bay. There on the horizon, defying the waves, the high Zealot saw their target, a bastion of Humanity soon to be crushed like so much dirt beneath his hoof.

They shall die like the vermin they are, thought 'Achachakee.

Then, with a mere button press, the bay door closed, plunging them into darkness.

'''2138 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calender)/ Saitama Prefecture, Japan - approaching Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture'''

The sky had already grown dark and yielded to the moon and stars for several hours, but still the convoy of UNSC forces pressed on towards Tokyo, visible only as a distant glow on the horizon. Throughout the island nation, forces were redeploying to Ryu Base, UNSC headquarters in the area with the destruction of the Echo-7 Command in Beijing roughly six hours earlier. While forces were holding positions in strategic locations throughout Japan, many serving as launch points for air strikes and naval forces, strategists predicted the Covenant sledgehammer would fall on the Tokyo region.

Lance Corporal Robert Justin Davis III of the UNSC Marine Corps lowered his helmet's scope attachment and activated the night vision function, scanning the area and checking the skies for incoming attacks, but all remained as clear and silent as it had been for the past few hours, ever since the destruction of two lone Banshee fighters. All was quiet, too quiet: Justin was nervous, to say the least, and continued to expect Covenant starships to appear over them at any minute.

Some would have blamed Justin's jitters on the fact that he was both young and not long in the military, but Justin had already been through a dozen battles against the Covenant, gaining both experience in war and a chilled outlook on the Covenant assault. Not knowing what to expect was not Justin's problem: this unease was caused by the exact opposite, the fact that Justin knew what should be happening and had not yet started.

“This is the way the world ends,” Justin whispered to himself, unheard by any others underneath the howl of the wind that rushed past the speeding Falcon. Placing the turret on safety once more, Justin thought of the dismal situation they were in: the Covenant had found Earth, blown a hole through the orbital defense grid right over the Mediterranean, and now they were spreading across the globe, blowing apart key strongholds as they tightened their choke-hold on all Humanity held dear.

But this is our home, thought Justin, We won't go down without a fight.

Staring at the stars, Justin recalled one of the last times he had spoken with his father: “When I was a kid,” he had said, ''“Thoughts about other life out there were mostly just dreams. I remember there was a big group of people that kept wanting us to try and make contact, saying aliens would bring peace and harmony. Hehe, I wonder where they are now...”''

Dead, like so many others, thought Justin, Dead like you. Mere months after that conversation, Justin's father died during the evacuation of Last Chance, a refugee world they had been moved too; Justin managed to make it to the refugee ships, but his father was not so lucky, and his poor mother died days later from internal injuries taken during the evacuation. After that, Justin had lived briefly off the grid before faking his age and joining the Marines: since then, he had fought on numerous worlds, doing his best to beat the Covenant back, but they had only succeeded in stalling the inevitable.

I'll die before I hand this planet over to you sons of...

On the ground below, Staff Sergeant Josiah “Tex” Littleton kept his hand gripped tightly onto the rollbar of his Troop Transport Warthog, with his mind holding just as firmly on to the glimmer of hope that he pictured alongside the soft glow of city lights on the horizon. It was true that the Covenant were doing their best to take Earth for their own, to break Humanity's will, but Tex knew that they all had a speck of hope; if they could just pull together long enough to fight back, this fight might be the turning point of the whole war.

“What the heck you staring at like that, Tex?” asked Sergeant Tommy “Guns” Jones from the passenger seats in the back. Tommy was Tex's right-hand man on the team, and he was not push-over in a fight. Between his hand-to-hand combat skills, efficiency with close-quarters weapons and the ability to seemingly cheat death, Tex had more than once thought that while they might all be TROJANs, Tommy should have been a SPARTAN.

Tex smirked. “I'm looking at the city, and thinking we might have a shot at this,” he yelled back.

“You're one crazy son of a gun,” said Lance Corporal Isaac “Blitz” Montoya, the heavy weapons specialist and medic of Team Delta.

“Look who's talking,” Tex retorted, “All I'm saying is if we can make it to Ryu Base, we might have a fighting chance. Not much, but just enough.”

“Why the H*** would we have a fighting chance there instead of anywhere else, huh?” asked Corporal Henry “Ratchet” Jackson, the team's engineer, information warfare specialist and pilot, “What does it have that nowhere else around here does? Personally I say we should have dug in on Mt. Fuji, had some solid ground around us instead of crumbling skyscrapers!”

“Great idea, Ratchet, 'cept for the part where they glass us all to death,” retorted Blitz, “Seriously though, Tex, what's so important about Ryu?”

“SPARTANs,” said Amos Kane from the driver's seat. He was an enigma to the rest of the team, an ONI liaison that had been assigned to them in Sendai prior to departure for Tokyo. For the majority of the trip, Amos had been silent, but now he chose to speak only to drop a bomb that none of the others had expected.

Ratchet nearly swallowed the wad of tobacco he was chewing. “SPARTAN's?” he coughed, “Why the H*** are SPARTANs here of all places?”

“Because ONI has some things they would rather not lose.”

'''2206 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calender)/ Ryu Base, Tokyo, Japan'''

“You have been reassigned, and you will like it, Sierra,” ordered the stern, old man. He was tall, dressed cleanly in uniform and carried a thick, black beard with grey streaks, likely against regulations. Then again, Codename: ISTARI was an ONI member that rarely worried about regulations, and had few who would challenge his authority: all ISTARI worried about was ethics and winning, with the latter over-riding the first when need be.

“Sir, with all due respect –” began the SPARTAN.

“Silence,” cut in ISTARI, “There will be no negotiating, CHRONO. I am not MAGPIE; you may be her favored pet agent, but I am her right-hand, and in her absence I call the shots in regards to her agents. We have SPARTAN-grade soldiers here at Ryu Base, and while they may officially be working as Inferno Team, they need a leader: you will fulfill that role.”

“I feel you are wasting a valuable aspect, sir,” retorted CHRONO.

“D***it, Riker, follow orders for once!” cried ISTARI, “This is not the time for questions! The Covenant are crossing the Sea of China as we speak: they'll invade Japan before dawn. If it weren't for the fact we need every man we can get I'd have you locked up right this minute for disobeying orders.”

ISTARI sighed and sank into his chair. “Riker, let's dismiss with formalities for a moment. I need you to understand that I need you to lead this team: you're the only agent I trust to handle it, and any other qualified agents are too far off for me to call on in the timeframe I'm working with. I know you've not been a team player the entire time you've been an agent, and I know why you have apprehensions – I've read about Brown Team, and what happened on Chaos; I sympathize. But no matter what your fears are, Riker, you must take this position.”

“I'm not afraid, sir,” replied the SPARTAN stoically, nary a sign of emotion on his face.

“Then get out there!” bellowed ISTARI, on his last leg of patience.

Riker appeared for a moment like he would hesitate, but then he nodded and saluted, walking out of the room. Before he left though, ISTARI spoke up once more: “You won't be alone in this Riker, remember that. I'll be serving as Inferno Actual on this mission; I'll be watching you.”

Riker nodded and walked out, leaving ISTARI alone in the empty office. He sighed to himself. “Margaret, why did I let you get me into this?”

Riker walked into the main atrium of Ryu Base, where Marines and soldiers set up defenses and barricades both within and without, with line after line of defenses and traps set up to protect the towering ONI structure. Of course, part of the defense was in the structure itself, as the true secrets of the ONI building where not in the skies above, but buried below.

Exiting the outer courtyard, Riker entered the streets and found his new team of super-soldiers to his right, where some were setting up machine gun nests and other forms of cover, as others helped unload ammunition and equipment from incoming Warthog supply carriers, with a few simply standing or sitting nearby. Walking up to them, some of the idle ones saluted, which Riker returned as he scanned the group: they were a motley crew, with only two clad in MJOLNIR, while another pair wore SPI and the remaining two were outfitted with THOR powered armor.

“And who might you be?” asked one of the idlers, standing up as she spoke; she was shorter than a normal SPARTAN, partially due to the SPI armor she was glad in, but her hardened face showed only disdain for this new arrival.

“Master Chief Petty Officer Riker-012,” replied Riker, “I'm your new commanding officer. And you are?”

The girl only snorted at Riker, and turned back to her seat: however, she was in for a rude shock as Riker caught her wrist and flipped her over, forcing her to the ground where he pinned her with a knee each on her left arm and throat while he held down her right arm with his own. “I believe I asked your name,” Riker stated calmly as two of the others snickered to themselves.

“Nalani,” she replied, struggling, “Private First Class Nalani Heap.” As soon as she finished speaking, Riker released her and got up, moving out of the way as she bolted off the ground. Riker smirked under his helmet as Nalani glared at him.

“And the rest of you?” he asked, turning to face them.

“Chief Petty Officer Heinz-238,” stated one of the MJOLNIR wearers, a young male with blond hair and a dark complexion. “And this is my teammate, Chief Petty Officer Bryn-175,” he continued, indicating the other MJOLNIR-clad warrior, a female with long dark hair, dyed with blue streaks in places, complimenting her blue, troubled eyes.

“I can speak for myself, Heinz,” she growled, throwing him a degrading look.

“238 and 175, you say?” asked Riker, receiving a nod from both, “Never heard numbers that high before.”

“They're Second Class SPARTAN-II's,” replied a young man in THOR armor; he was of Asian ethnic origins, though his height and broad shoulders suggested something else at work also. Unlike all but one other, he kept his helmet on, though the visor was depolarized so that his face was visible. “The project was started around the same time period as the SPARTAN-III Beta Company, but it followed the original SPARTAN-II program ideals of super-soldiers that were built to last, not 'fire and forget' assets. Their tags range from 151 to 300.”

“Thank you, resident geek,” replied Bryn, “As if we wanted pieces of our lives handed to us like we're merely facts on a datapad.”

“And you would be?” inquired Riker.

“Corporal Benji Wong,” replied the young man, “Myself and Kevin here” – he indicated one of the SPI wearers – “are both Spartan-1.1's. Nalani and Chon are Spartan-2.1's; children of your brothers and sisters, you see. I suppose they're almost your niece and nephew.” Benji attempted to laugh at his joke, but stopped himself when he realized Riker was not of the humorous sort.

Riker nodded and looked at the last member, Chon, who had remained silent. “And you?” he asked, but Chon remained silent within his THOR armor.

“He's deaf,” said Nalani, “Has been since birth.”

“Any auditory implants?”

“Yeah”

“Then why does he not speak”

“He got used to it as a kid, and decided not to change after he learned to hear. He understands you just fine, he just doesn't ever answer verbally.”

“Wireless textual transfer, then.” Nalani nodded. “How good is he at sniping?”

“Best one you'll see around these parts”

Riker merely stared at Chon, who stared back, both hidden by their visors but understanding one another perfectly. Riker then turned to the others and looked once more. “I thought there were more of you than this.”

“Oh, there are,” replied Benji, “The chief is up on the roof with the others.”

“Show me,” said Riker, and Benji moved to lead only for Kevin to stop him.

“I'll handle it from here,” said Kevin, leading Riker to a nearby elevator and activating it. Riker looked at Kevin and gave a silent nod of thanks for delivering him from Benji's overly-energetic nature.

The elevator slid to a stop, and the doors opened, letting Riker and Kevin off on the rooftop before quietly closing behind them. On the edge of the roof, four silent figures stood, gazing at the night sky and city lights in front of them: one turned and looked, then informed the others they had a guest.

“Who do you have with you, Kevin?” asked the shortest figure, a female clad in SPI.

“This is our new commander.”

At this, the middle figure turned around, his chipped and scraped brown GUNGNIR armor appearing not much better off than Riker's similarly beaten red Operator variant MJOLNIR. The figure was a middle-aged man, his skin a deep tan, with grey hair growing on the tip of his chin: the tip of his left ear had been badly mauled, and he lacked any hair on his head's top, not from shaving but from bad burns across the skin. In his right ear was a small, silver stud earring, while his left cheek was tattooed with a small circle made of dots. Out of respect, Riker also removed his own helmet, allowing this commander's group a view of his face whereas the ones below had been deprived; in Riker's mind, it stood as a small show of respect. The figure stuck out his hand, which Riker took and shook thoroughly.

“Master Chief Petty Officer Riker-012,” he said.

“Welcome,” said the bald man, “I'm Senior Chief Petty Officer Marak-A103. I'm glad to know I won't be the only commander of Inferno.”

“A motley crew, to be sure,” replied Riker.

“You have no idea,” answered Marak with a knowing smile, “If only you'd been with us over the past few days of the invasion.” He turned back to the building's edge and looked through a pair of binoculars once again, scanning the horizon.

“Have you had any signs of them?”

“None yet,” said Marak, “What report from ISTARI?”

Riker was somewhat stunned that Marak knew of his visit with ISTARI, and when Marak saw it, he laughed lightly despite himself. “You're not the only agent MAGPIE has, you know.”

“True enough,” said Riker, “But in any case, ISTARI only knows they could arrive anywhere within the next four hours or so.”

“I suppose we just have to hope the wet Navy takes out as many as they can,” said Marak. Turning back to Riker and the others, he said, “Introductions are needed, I suppose. This one here” – Marak indicated one of the men, clad in MP variant MJOLNIR armor – “is Avalon-X05, GENOME division. The other lad in the Hayabusa armor is Gregory-266, Class Two RONIN Group. And the lass there is Janissary James, commander of the Spartan-1.1's.”

Riker simply nodded, viewing them all. “Time for war then.”

Operation: DIVINE SON

1925 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Outskirts of Thermopylae, Periphery of Continental Greece, Hellenic Republic

The three Spartans moved swiftly along the river of Spercheios through wreckages and burned pavements, stopping every hundred feet to take cover, while the leader scanned the surroundings, sniper rifle in hand. After several seconds, he gave a barely visible hand signal, and his two female teammates gracefully leapt out of cover to take point. They moved ahead another hundred feet, took cover again, the leader once more looking around in the distance through his rifle's scope, thus repeating the procedure.

And so, the armored giants continued – continuously moving in short bursts and dropping into cover, seemingly eyeing the hundreds of Covenant Banshee fighters and three corvettes in the distance vigilantly – for half an hour, until the leader finally gave a different hand gesture – slowly waving an open hand downwards – and pointed to what appeared to be an abandoned fisherman's hut a short distance from the river bed, covered somewhat from sight by home-planted trees. The three figures snuck through the – for them – small doorway one by one until the leader was last and quietly shut the door.

A thin ray of light streamed in through a broken window on the opposite side of the one-room hut and lit up the leader's cyan-colored armor while he carefully holstered his sniper rifle onto his back. He then turned and sat down in front of the other two, removing his helmet to reveal curly, dirty blond hair and a hint of same-colored stubble adorning an angular-shaped face with blue eyes.

"Well" he said tiredly, but with a detectable hint of amusement. "Things haven't changed. At least not for the better."

The woman in blue-colored armor also removed her helmet, uncovering chin-length white-blond hair and a half sad half irritated expression, complete with almost electric blue eyes. "I don't get how you keep sounding positive about it all, Major. It's damn bad out there! Has been for a day and a half!" She had a touch of Irish accent as she spoke, but so little that it was barely noticeable, as if she had almost phased out of it by living in proximity to a different dialect for a long time.

Major Laszlo-108 shrugged and managed a weak smile. "Looking on the bright side of things helps. Lazít. Chill out, Bonnie. Though come to think of it, we might want to get back to base before doing that" he jokingly scratched his chin as though deep in thought "seeing as those who chill away from home has a short life expectancy."

Bonnie-A261 rolled her eyes but didn't reply. Laszlo knew it was a sign of defiance; once realizing that her new commanding officer was a positive optimist – as opposed to herself and her cynicism – she had been skeptical of his ability to command.

Amanda-208, sitting to Bonnie's left, neither said anything nor took off her helmet: she, like most of the second class of the SPARTAN-II Program, had the same custom as the majority of the first class to keep on their equipment at all times, a habit Laszlo and a lot of the SPARTAN-IIIs – judging from Bonnie's behavior, anyway - hadn't embraced fully. But Laszlo knew well enough what she looked like – raven black hair tied up into a knot, somewhat sharp features, golden eyes – and that she, also had her doubts about his leadership. She didn't express it like Bonnie, but Laszlo could feel it. And he chose to let their doubts be. He knew they wouldn't start respecting him properly for who he was until they were forged together in heavy combat. Battle had such a strange effect on people; through all the pain and death that occurred, the survivors almost mechanically bonded gradually through the common knowledge that one understood what the other was going through. Laszlo had made most of his friends outside the SPARTAN-II Program that way.

"Look" he said sympathetically "let's catch our breath a minute or two before heading back to base." Bonnie and Amanda nodded, Bonnie with somewhat more hesitation.

All three of them knew that they weren't stopping to 'catch their breath'; they just used the scarce time at the end of their reconnaissance patrols away from the chattering and commotion in Olympus Base, where the known remains of the UNSC forces in Greece – including Laszlo and his fellow female members of Brown Team, as well as two other Spartan teams known as Gentry and Winter, roughly two companies worth of army troopers, a platoon of paratroopers and ODSTs, a squadron of bomber craft, and a considerable amount of vehicles and aircraft – had holed up once the Covenant had successfully occupied and cut off the whole country from contact with the rest of humanity, to think in peace.

They wanted a plan, a clear goal to pursue again. They wanted to fight. It was what they did best. But that was easier said than done when the Covenant held the entire region in a tight grip, somehow preventing all communications in and out of the country, and also patrolling the skies with Banshee squadrons and corvettes. The UNSC resistance was effectively stuck for the time being, as were any possibly remaining pockets of defense force and militia combatants.

Meanwhile, the Covenant seemed intent on making use of every square meter of the country; reconnaissance confirmed that they were building large amounts of factories for various purposes – from weapons, vehicles and equipment to aircraft and starship components – primarily in the Thessaly Periphery. Anti-air plasma batteries and electromagnetic shielding generators were also constructed throughout the region, evidently to defend against external attack.

But none of that was anything compared to Athens; the core of the Covenant forces – including an assault carrier – was based in the once thriving metropolis, storing methane deposits, armories, bases and more within its boundaries. And at the center, they had busily started to construct a tall spire – a piece of Covenant technology first seen during the Fall of Reach and used to devastating effect. All evidence pointed towards the fact that the alien empire was turning the region into a beachhead for other Covenant forces, from which they would scatter around the globe, to ultimately conquer the whole planet.

So far, the brass back at Olympus base were uncertain what action to take – whether to bypass Covenant forces and get out of the country, or to launch a counterattack – so they sent the spartans and what remained of the local Section One field reconnaissance detachment as scouts to gather as much intel as possible in the meantime, hoping it would affect the final decision. And so the supersoldier teams had taken turns at monitoring the surrounding area, while the ONI recon teams handled long-range reconnaissance – mainly towards Athens and other larger cities the Covenant may have taken interest in, or where more UNSC forces may have survived and continued the fight. In the meantime, the rest of the spartans were relegated to base defense, in case it was discovered, or aiding the brass in their planning.

After a few minutes, Laszlo decided to get a move on, and signaled Amanda and Bonnie to take point. One by one, they leapt through entrance and moved into the nearest cover – a dune of sand – before taking a look around. Laszlo drew his sniper rifle and once more looked into the scope to check the distance.

At first glance, everything seemed as normal as before they took shelter in the hut, but at second glance Laszlo saw a dot in the sky – one that hadn't been there before. More than that, it seemed the Covenant corvette group had also noticed it, adjusting their course towards it.

"Don't look now" he whispered "but we've got a new contact, ten o'clock."

Bonnie retrieved a pair of binoculars from her belt and looked in the direction Laszlo had given. "I see it. Covvies too, apparently."

Amanda retrieved a pistol-sized device, a target indicator, from her left thigh and pointed it in the same direction. After a barely audible beep, she added "A freighter, one of ours. But I can't identify it; there's nothing in the registry."

"Then it's an ONI vessel" Laszlo replied, still keeping the new ship in his rifle's crosshair.

"Why would ONI send in a ship uncloaked and on a suicide charge?" Bonnie asked incredulously, still looking intently through the binoculars.

"It probably was cloaked." Laszlo told her. "But it must've passed through an átok EM shield accidentally, disabling all stealth systems."

"Will you cut out the hunagarian?" Bonnie retorted. "You keep tossing it into sentences randomly, and I'll ask Hào if I can join his team instead."

"Cut it out, you two!" Amanda whispered sharply. "Look what's happening."

In the distance, the anonymous freighter had become clearer; there was no doubt that it was charging towards the enemy ships. Conversely, the corvettes began charging their lateral pulse laser turrets, light clearly building up along their sides.

A loud boom echoed throughout the area as the mystery vessel fired a missile – which Laszlo quickly identified as a standard Navy-issue Archer – from somewhere in its fore section. What looked like two small objects fell off the missile just as it left the firing tube, but Laszlo paid no attention to it as he followed the missile with the crosshair until it impacted with the leading corvette.

The enemy ship's shields flared, shimmered, and then dissipated, but leaving the ship unscathed. Moments later, the corvette's sides flared up and fired its pulse laser beams, followed by its companions. Although gaining speed, the unregistered freighter was hit by half the beams. The hull blazed and burned away in seconds, exposing the interior.

Despite the damage, the ship continued to speed towards the enemy. Laszlo had a dawning realization – the freighter intended to ram the corvette formation in lieu of the fire power it didn't have. As it closed in, it seemed the Covenant noticed this as well, as they started to speed off – too late.

The freighter slammed into the leading corvette's mid section nose-first with a series of loud creaks and bangs. But it was nothing compared to what came a second later; a large blue-white – almost electric-looking – round light appeared, engulfing all four ships before disappearing almost as soon as it appeared – with no trace of the ships that had been there seconds before.

"Take cover!" Laszlo yelled, knowing what would follow. As he said it, a white sphere appeared where the ships had been moments before and expanded with a boom. The three spartans huddled closely together behind the sand dune, bracing for the incoming shockwave.

After roughly fifteen seconds, the white light passed over them, forcing Laszlo to shut his eyes tightly. A microsecond later, the shock reached them and threw the spartans back several meters. Laszlo impacted with the ground and lay there, not opening his eyes.

Only after a minute did the spartans open their eyes, finding the air filled with what looked like blue snowflakes, but Laszlo identified as the remaining particles of the slipspace shockwave.

"That was…unexpected." Bonnie grunted and got to her feet, offering a hand to Laszlo.

He took it and was hoisted back up to his feet. "Oh really? Myself, I've been expecting an ONI-controlled vessel to get here, charge straight into a cluster of Covenant ships and send all of them into slipspace, resulting in a violent shockwave hitting everything in a ten mile radius."

"Whoever was behind the wheels" Amanda said, getting up slowly as though she was still disoriented "he or she had to have been a pretty quick – and unconventional – thinker. Shame we'll never get to meet; I'd have liked to congratulate on the success of destroying three Covenant ships."

Laszlo returned his thoughts to the two objects from the missile, and it dawned on him who it might be. "Actually, I think you will get the chance, Amanda."

Both Amanda and Bonnie cast him puzzled glances, but he cut in before they could ask. "Let's get over there. We have three very special people to meet, and they might need medical attention."

***

Almost ten minutes later, they entered the broken forest beneath where the shockwave had originated. They stepped over broken branches and, to their delight, several banshee, spirit and phantom wreckages; it seemed most of the fighter craft had crashed due to the shockwave. With neither fighters, dropships nor corvettes in the air, it seemed the Covenant had lost their hold in the vicinity. Laszlo hoped that everyone back at Olympus was mobilizing already to make use of this sudden advantage.

Finally, Laszlo reached the peak of a slope and spotted two parachute packs on the ground, but no sign of any people. He smirked to himself as he took off the helmet; it had been as he suspected after all.

"All right, time to come out gyerekek!" he yelled in the direction of the chutes. "Your shabby old tanár wants to get a good look at you again."

Bonnie and Amanda, who had also appeared on the top of the slope, didn't have time to look puzzled before two more spartans appeared; the first – a male – leapt down from a tree fifty feet away and limped towards them, hinting at damaged legs; the second one, a woman, appeared from behind a large rock, clutching her sides and right arm with the other, suggesting broken ribs and arm.

The spartan from the tree approached Laszlo at a slow pace while removing his helmet, revealing a young, yet lightly bearded face with a coy grin. "It's been too long, old man."

"Roger!" Laszlo exclaimed fatherly, positively beaming as he walked up to his former trainee and grabbed him in a headlock while ruffling his rows of black hair with the other hand.

"Let me go, you're embarrassing me!" Roger said indignantly, but Laszlo had already let go of him to do the same to his teammate, who appeared to be too wounded to stop him from doing so.

"Is anybody going to tell us what's going on?" Bonnie asked annoyingly; both she and Amanda had merely looked on in surprise until then.

"Oh, sorry" Laszlo said, letting go of the woman – who hurried to fix her hair where the older spartan had ruffled it. "I trained a group of spartans years back, and these two are among those. Among the best of them, in fact. Roger" he clapped the dark-skinned spartan with the row haircut on the shoulder, "and Mica" he gestured at the woman. "Kids, these fine women are Bonnie and Amanda." None of the two said anything, apparently not believing the two women worthy of talking to.

"As for what's going on" Laszlo cut in before Bonnie could ask again "I believe my two ex-trainees here were given a ship by ONI – or 'acquired' it on their own – to investigate the situation in Greece-"

"You mean they may have stolen an entire ship!?" Amanda said in disbelief.

Laszlo ignored the interruption. "…as scans and other electronics proved incapable of this due to the Covenant's deployment of electromagnetic shielding. But during their insertion, they passed through an EM field, thus deactivating the ship's cloaking systems and exposing them to the Covenant corvettes. In an attempt to get away – or at least take as many Covenant as possible with them – they charged towards the corvette cluster while setting a timer on their own ship's slipspace drive. Then, they put on parachutes and grabbed onto the archer missile, jumping off just after it was out of the firing tube. Then of course, the FTL drive activated and created a rift engulfing both the freighter and the corvettes, which then immediately collapsed on itself, sending all four ships into who-knows-where and causing a shockwave. Judging by their injuries" – he cast glances at James and Mica – "I guess that they were only halfway down when the shockwave occurred, which then sent them tumbling down. Is that just about correct?" he finished, turning to Roger.

"Yeah" Roger said "just about."

"Good. Does that satisfy you, Bonnie?"

Bonnie nodded absently, taking in everything she had heard. Laszlo turned back towards Roger, Mica and James. "Now, seeing as your ride's gone, you should come with us back to base."

"You still have a base in this Covenant-infested hell-hole?" Roger asked with a tone of surprise.

"Sure do. We believe there are other surviving UNSC enclaves too somewhere. Thanks to you, we might be able to start looking."

"Then what're we waiting for?" Mica said excitedly. "Let's go-ouch!" she clutched her ribs again, shaking in pain.

"You take it slow" Laszlo told her sternly. "We don't want you to end up like James. All right; Amanda, you take point. Roger; you're lookout" he gave his sniper rifle to Roger, who took it instinctively, " and you'll be riding piggyback on Bonnie" – Roger jerked in surprise and started to protest against the order, using a wide array of vulgar words for emphasis – "Finally, I carry Mica."

Mica jerked away as though shocked by an electrical current. "No. Fucking. Way." She spoke with venom in every word.

"Oh, don't be such a baby; it'll be faster this way" Laszlo said heartily as he grabbed and slung her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. She readied to protest more, but Laszlo's shoulder armor pushed against her ribs, causing her to yowl in pain instead.

Looking around, Laszlo found Amanda already moving back towards the base and Roger finally giving in to jumping up to let Bonnie carry him, albeit he tossed many rude terms her way whilst doing so. The two then trotted after Amanda, while Laszlo looked on, a wide smile on his face; it was always good to see old acquaintances.

"Will you get a move on already, dammit!? It's bad enough that I'm being carried like this without being last back to base!"

***

1958 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Olympus Base, Periphery of Continental Greece, Hellenic Republic

"Seriously, where in the ever-loving hell are they?"

Rachel-343 took another look through the opening into the mountain in which Olympus Base had been built, not far from the infamous "Hot Gates" where three hundred spartan warriors had once held the line against a massive Persian army, still not seeing Laszlo or the others of Brown Team.

"Relax" Varghese-A405 – also known as Winter Two, and the second-in-command and heavy weapons specialist of the team of the same name – said in a reassuring, deep voice from his corner farther into the cave, just beside the entrance into the actual base. "They probably just went to check the area again, with that shockwave affecting the terrain."

"Maybe they want to hog all survivors to themselves." Balduin-324 – or Winter Four – chuckled while loitering against the east wall, slotting shells into his M45 Tactical Shotgun, true to his occupation as team close quarters combat specialist.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Sure, Bal, there's usually loads of survivors left behind after slipspace ruptures. How could I forget?"

"I meant from the crashed fighters" Balduin said with a coyly cheerful tone, as though explaining to a stubborn child what one plus one was. "They weren't sucked into god-knows-where, now were they?"

"Give me a break" Rachel countered mockingly. "Only Spartans survive freefalls from such altitudes."

"Aha! That's what the major and his female friends are doing!" Balduin exclaimed triumphantly.

"What, freefalling?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"No, searching for spartans freefalling out of that freighter!"

There was a second's pause before Rachel burst out laughing. "Yeah right" she said, struggling to hold back another wave of laughter. "Maybe they're trying to save the UEG Secretary-General too. Maybe the Security Committee while they're at it. Don't be ridiculous." She finished, returning to her serious self.

"I'm totally serious" Balduin said indignantly.

Rachel curled her lips into a smug grin. "Enough to wanna bet?"

Balduin smiled too. "You bet – no pun intended."

"All right" Rachel mused. "Twenty shotgun shells. No less."

"Deal" Balduin said, but Rachel had already turned away from him.

Varghese sat himself down beside Balduin, several components of a grenade launcher in his massive hands and with an expression of mixed amusement and confusion. "You do know that it doesn't make any difference whether you win or lose, right? I mean, the loser will just go get extra shells from the armory."

"It just feels more appropriate to bet something" Balduin told the tall and broad-shouldered spartan cheerfully.

"You ARES types are mighty curious, you know that?" Varghese said bemusedly.

"We had a curious mentor" Balduin chuckled.

Rachel paid no attention to Balduin's and Varghese's conversation, as she had turned towards Alexander-B057 – Winter Three, designated marksman in the team – who stood to her right, watching the area through his sniper rifle.

"Have you seen them yet?" she asked him.

Alexander's face wrinkled into an annoyed expression as he set down the rifle on the nearest rock, but Rachel didn't take note of this as she instead focused on his now free hands, which were quickly flexing into various gestures.



Alexander was incapable of speech, after a complication with one of the augmentation procedures that ended up crushing his vocal chords. But that wasn't his only handicap; the occipital capillary reversal enhancement had also rendered his eyes permanently blinded. To be allowed into service, he had his eyes replaced with THERMOPYLAE-grade optical device replacements and equipped a Neural Interface-linked instant text message module in his helmet. With recent upgrades to the THERMOPYLAE optics, his replacement eyes were actually even more potent than those of other spartans – even offering an inbuilt scope function – and with some practice the message module made communication in battle situations almost as effective as normal speech – assuming the recipient had a heads-up display – and provided its own set of benefits organic speech wasn't capable of. Despite this, Alexander resented the fact that he had to rely on technology for things others had for granted.

"Well duh" Rachel uttered coldly. Handicap or not, she would always be as rude to Alexander as to anyone else. "A lot of things can change in five minutes. Wouldn't a marksman know that? Or maybe you missed that class to polish your eye?"

Alexander's face reddened almost instantly, but he continued to make the hand signs with laser precision. 

"You didn't say anything!" Rachel said with contempt, losing her patience. "You signed – about the only method of communication you-"

"Rachel!" a sleepy Chinese-toned voice bellowed from the now open door into the base, belonging to Winter One – Hào-B296, leader of the team. He held his helmet clutched in his left hand, the other holding back a yawn. He had unruly – but still within the bounds of military hair-length regulations – black hair, and his brown eyes were ringed with fatigue. "Quit it, now!"

The two spartans cast each other a last, contemptuous look, before Rachel slowly stepped away and sat down against the west wall, opposite to Balduin and Varghese. Hào looked at both of them warily for a few seconds before looking contented. Alexander picked up his sniper again and continued his watch.

Only a minute or so later, however, he put down the rifle again and signed: 

"Hah!" Balduin shouted, cut off in the middle of a new conversation with Varghese to check what Alexander had to relay. "I win! Now, hand over, Pyro Girl!"

"He didn't say they were spartans!" Rachel sputtered defensively, but somehow aware of what Alexander would sign next.

 The sniper had a mocking grin on his face when he signed it.

Resisting the urge to tell the men where to shove the shells, she picked up an ammunition box, made a quick check to make sure there were exactly twenty cartridges inside, and then lobbed it to Balduin, who caught it with one hand.

Sure enough, Laszlo, Bonnie and Amanda trotted into the cave one by one shortly after, and indeed they had two other spartans with them – one slung over Laszlo's shoulder, another riding piggyback on Bonnie and holding Laszlo's sniper rifle. All of them were almost instantly recognizable to Rachel; she had trained with them for years way back. But she didn't like what she recognized – those two individuals had always annoyed her.

"Crap!" she yelled a little louder than she had intended. "Not you ugly fucks again."

The one wielding the sniper rifle leaped off of Bonnie and removed his helmet, revealing a stubbly face – Roger, as she had correctly assumed. "Well, if it isn't Pyro Girl." he said, his lips curled into a mocking grin. "What're you doing here? Trying to set a record by burning down a mountain?"

Rachel got up and approached Roger, looking back into his eyes defiantly. "Unfortunately, no. But what about you? Taking piggyback lessons? Or did you settle for killing James, seeing as he's not with you?"

Roger's grin turned to an angry expression. "Don't talk about him like that, bitch! Unless, of course, you want to be reminded that we have actually done something, while you sat in this cozy cave on your butt doing-"

"Oh, that's it, you little runt! You asked for it-"

"Rachel, Roger! Lock it down, both of you!" Laszlo bellowed to them sternly. Both of them turned to look at him. "You're comrades! Act like it."

"I have no comrades left." Rachel said matter-of-factly. As the words escaped her lips, images of an armored person with a large piece of metal shrapnel lodged into her visor and blood oozing out of the cracks, then a bright explosive light engulfing another armored figure only a few feet behind her flashed in her mind.

"And my only comrades are Mica and James" Roger said while gesturing at Mica – who was still trying to get out of Laszlo's fireman's carry.

"I've had just about enough of this inter-team rivalry duma" Laszlo mumbled calmly, but for once Rachel thought he looked scary, almost mad with anger. "It was well enough in-training while you were pushing each other to the max, but now it's just an obstacle."

"You can't change the way nature works!" Rachel objected. "Fire and water don't mix."

"Wrong!" Laszlo exclaimed. "When lava and water mix, they turn into land. Just as those two elements unite to create something better, so too must different spartans band together to counter their weaknesses and compliment their strengths for maximum success."

"Lava isn't fire, so that point is-" Roger started to interject, interrupted by Laszlo whose face was now getting as red as Rachel's.

"The Covenant are on Earth! They come closer to seizing the planet with every passing minute, while you stand here, bickering like idiots! I don't know about you, but I want to stop them, before every last one of us is annihilated! I want to save the human race. How about you? No, don't answer, it's obvious! From now on, you will get along, and you will like it! Have I made myself perfectly clear this time around?"

Rachel slowly calmed while looking with disgust at Roger, who did the same. After several seconds, they controlled their expressions into a more neutral stance and replied "Yessir!" Then, with much effort, they raised their right hands and shook. Laszlo eased back into his normal cheery, smiling expression when he saw this.

"Well spoken, sir" Balduin said, walking up to Laszlo and patting what he assumed to be the older spartan's shoulder, but in reality Mica's bottom. Realizing his mistake, he jumped out of range of her legs just in time.

Rachel watched as Laszlo faked a cough and turned to Hào, sounding slightly embarrassed. "Sorry, Lieutenant. I didn't mean to start ranting on your subordinate. I just haven't managed to let go of these kids yet – you know, old dogs never learn to sit, right?"

"Considering the rank ladder" Hào said, still tiredly but with a hint of amusement "you're superior to me, so you had every right to do what you just did. But to be honest, it was also a pleasant surprise to see a wildcat like Rachel put in her place."

Rachel wanted to feel annoyed, but found herself unable to and even joined the others in soft chuckling at the remark. Laszlo had a point; they were fighting for Earth this time. It was humanity's final stand. They would have to do everything in their power to have any hope of success. She mentally decided to do whatever it took to ensure that victory – even if it meant cooperating with people like Roger and Mica.

"Anyway" Hào continued "we'd better hurry, major, or we'll be late to the last-minute strategy meeting. Alex and Rachel, head down to the pelican bay; Jelly and Malin might be just about done upgrading the new bird. Varg!" – Varghese stood a little straighter – "you and Bal take the two newcomers to the medbay. They might need an hour or so in the surgery suite."

"That's bullshit!" cried Mica. "We're ready n-ouch!"

"No you're not, missy." Laszlo whistled heartily while he tossed Mica over onto Varghese's shoulders. Meanwhile, Balduin walked over to Roger, who reluctantly let himself loiter against him. The group then went through the entrance, followed by Hào and Laszlo and then Rachel and Alexander. While Hào and Laszlo went straight ahead and Varghese and company to the left, Rachel and Alexander took to the right, the nearest route to the pelicans.

They walked in silence, until Rachel finally decided to swallow her pride and act halfway there. She turned to face the cyborg sniper, but instead of talking she flexed her fingers and hands to form hand signs.



Alexander looked on in surprise for a fraction of a second before managing a pleased expression. 

***

2007 Hours, October 23, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ 

Olympus Base, Periphery of Continental Greece, Hellenic Republic

Hào and Laszlo walked briskly along the snaking corridors until stopping before a door guarded by two stern-looking MPs, pistols at the ready. The oldest of the quartet gave the spartans a slow nod, but his expression didn't change. Hào replied with a curt nod of his own, then opened the door with the tap of a button.

Shortly followed by Laszlo, he entered a spacey, but by now packed, room, filled with charts, hologram projectors and field notes. A round oak table occupied the center, with a collection of men and women standing around it – those few remaining high-ranking officers picked to lead the country's remaining forces.

Directly opposite to Hào and the entrance sat Brigadier General Ulucan Barak, a shaggy-haired and unshaven man sporting numerous scars and burn injuries across his face and hands – the left hand also missing its pinky. Under other circumstances, such rugged appearance might have been considered a flaw, but in the field he gave the impression of being a man who understood exactly what those under his command had to go through, which was always a plus. Despite his ruggedness and apparent old age, he was actually on the younger side of the average age for general-grade personnel – supposedly, he had been promoted to one-star general little more than a month back out of necessity after the crippling loss of high-ranking brass during the fall of Reach.

The general looked up from a data pad and glanced at the two spartans. Hào and Laszlo snapped off simultaneous salutes, which Barak returned tiredly. "We have waited for you" he added after the spartans had lowered their hands. "Join us."

Hào and Laszlo did as asked, walking up to the table to the right of another huge armored figure – Aksel-113, leader of Gentry Team. The thick-necked, blond-haired spartan gave Hào a nod, which Laszlo enthusiastically returned in his place.

"Now" Barak continued "we're all here. Most of you already know the plan, but for those who were absent" – he glanced at Laszlo – "I'll repeat it." He tapped a button in front of him, and a hologram emitted from the center of the table, showing Greece.

"Thanks to the destruction of the Covenant air assets in this area, we're finally able to properly mobilize our forces and dispatch them without risking one hundred percent casualties. The top priority target has been determined to be Athens; it currently functions as the local Covenant headquarters, and houses – as evidenced by intercepted communiqués – a Prophet. Said communiqués also reference to two high-ranking leaders; a Brute 'Army Commander' – a rank not referenced since the Harvest Campaign, as far as we're aware – and an Elite 'Field Marshall' – the top-tier ground force commander rank within the Covenant military. The presence of such high-ranking officials suggests that Greece is very important to the Covenant, and we believe we know why."

The general tapped another button, and the holographic map zoomed out to the rest of Mediterranean Europe and North Africa, with red arrows pointing out from Greece in all directions. "Greece lies relatively close to the African continent, which has been determined as a very important target for the Covenant – in fact the majority of their resources seem to be poured into that theater, around Mombasa and Voi, Kenya in particular. Additionally, it's easier to reach than many other locations on Earth due to the hole in the orbital defense grid that was dealt there by the first Covenant task force – both Athens and Malta stations were successfully destroyed by Covenant bombs. This fact would make it an ideal beachhead for Covenant forces to launch more invasions against east Africa. But that's not all."

He pressed a third button, and a second holographic image showing a spire towering over the easily recognizable skyscrapers of Athens appeared to the left of the main projection. "The Covenant haven't stopped at making it a beachhead and glorified outpost; they've built an impressive amount of various structures throughout the whole region. Factories in Thessaly, airborne refit stations in Thessaloniki, methane storage depots in Patras, even what appears to be Grunt breeding grounds and Drone hives in the Peloponnese Region, and perhaps the most troubling of all, a spire in Athens and a massively powerful jamming device built over Parthenon. The spire – although evidently not finished – is of particular note, as it matches the descriptions of a spire-like structure witnessed during the fall of Reach, one which turned out to be a teleporter – or, more accurately, a teleportation 'receiver node'. Said construction allowed the Covenant to transport a supercarrier right under the UNSC's noses directly to Reach's surface. However, the spire in Athens is also much larger, and appears to have additional structures connected to it."

"The Lieutenant here" – he gestured at Hào – "has come to the conclusion that this means the Athens spire has – or will have, once it's finished – additional functions; more specifically, it won't be limited to acting as a receiver node – a way for Covenant ships in orbit to slip past the orbital defense grid – but also function as a 'sender' node – allowing it to 'send' ships to other receivers. If this is true – which I think we all believe – then that means Greece is indeed a beachhead – a massive one – but not only that; it's also an R&R zone. Through the spire, ships in orbit will be able to slip past the defense grid, receive repairs as needed at the refit stations, rearm its ground complement with fresh weapons out of the factories, and receive drone and grunt reinforcements, then they can once more be sent to where they're needed – provided there's a receiver spire – fresh and ready to go all-out once more. Obviously, this would make the Covenant siege a hundred times more difficult to lift."

"We've determined that the spire is the most important component of the Covenant's plans, so that's our primary target. But to even have a chance of achieving that goal, we need a larger force than the one we have now. Thus, our immediate objective is to search the country to track down and save any remaining UNSC forces we can find; hopefully, it'll be enough to let us assault Athens before the spire is completed. Our secondary ulterior goal is to destroy the jamming device; with it gone, we can call for reinforcements or orbital bombardment, which would make our job much easier. But, should we get the chance to take out any of the other high-priority targets, or even smaller Covenant operations in the area whilst collecting survivors, we'll take it; anything that puts a wrench in their plans is beneficial for us."

Hào had already heard all this once, but he was still surprised at how clever the plan the Covenant had conceived was; the alien juggernaut's strategy had been little more than simple swarm or attrition tactics throughout the whole war. To see something so well thought-out and complicated was a very unpleasant surprise, especially since it was humanity's last stronghold at stake this time.

Laszlo broke the short silence. "So, what're the deployment orders?"

Barak turned off the holograms and stood up. "We're splitting our current forces into two groups to cover more ground in our search. Group One – to which you, your team, the newcomers and Hào's team belong to – will head north. With luck, there's some marines left from the task force sent to reinforce the country before the Covenant seized full control. If Lieutenant Hào's analysis of the last few days' COM traffic is accurate, there may also be some spartans there. If given an opening, Group One may also disable some of Thessaly's factories and Thessaloniki's refit stations, if any possible local survivors have not done so already. This group will be led by Colonel Kristi Johansen." He nodded to the woman sitting on his left. Colonel Johansen was the commanding officer of Special Warfare Group Five – what remained of it, anyway, to which Brown Team counted. Her hair was brown, though graying, with equally brown eyes.

"Group Two" Barak continued. "– with Gentry Team as the spearhead – will cut west, in the direction of Patras and the Peloponnese Region. If possible, they will also strike a blow to the Covenant in those respective areas. This group will be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Dimitrios Alevras". The man to the general's right straightened somewhat upon hearing his name.

"Your team, major" Johansen added, "will drive ahead of the rest of the group in mongooses, providing forward reconnaissance – pinpointing targets of note and locating survivors on the ground – and disabling anti-air assets to allow a smooth transition for the rest of us. Meanwhile, Winter Team will remain airborne alongside the majority of the group, bar two members who have been chosen to link up with our deep recon teams outside of Athens – just in case we're not fast enough – and another member who will stay at the base for a little longer and team up with the two newcomers."

"Have those three been chosen?" Laszlo asked curiously.

"Bal and Malin will go deep recon" Hào told him. "But we haven't decided who will team up with your two 'apprentices'. Personally, I'd recommend Var-"

"I recommend Winter Five, Rachel-343, for that, sir." Laszlo said importantly, not at Hào, but Barak. Hào raised his eyebrow skeptically; Rachel had just gotten into a fight with Roger. What was Laszlo thinking? Did he want to see if his lecturing them had paid off?

"Very well." Barak said, stroking his stubble with his pinky-less hand. "Unless Winter One had someone else in mind…"

Laszlo eyed Hào hopingly. Hào sighed, deciding to play along. "No, sir. Winter Five will do."

"Excellent" Barak mumbled, managing to sound satisfied. "Dismissed." Everyone saluted and then made their way to the exit. Hào and Laszlo were first, speeding towards the hangar bay.

Hào glanced at Laszlo, who once again had a hearty grin. "You planned that even before the meeting, didn't you?"

"What?" Laszlo replied innocently. "I had to know whether my teachings ever meant anything to them."

"I understand that" Hào said tiredly, holding back a yawn. "But is this really a good time for your field tests? We can't afford disunity at a time like this."

"And thus it's the perfect way to test them. But don't worry; I'm quite certain I made at least a minor impression this time – you can see it in their eyes."

Hào didn't reply, busy thinking whether he should take cover once Rachel realized what had been decided about her or not.

***

Laszlo entered the hangar bay, followed by Hào, to find both their respective teams not far away around a Pelican – one which Laszlo instantly realized had been modified; additional plates were welded onto the craft, with what appeared like jackal shield gauntlets on top around the engines and prow; the machine gun at the back had been replaced with a gauss cannon; two more chainguns had been added on each side of the standard issue one, and the missile pods appeared somewhat larger than normal – no doubt additional missiles were added.

"I think you've outdone yourself this time, Jelly." Hào said, studying the craft up close.

Yelizaveta-G141, called 'Jelly' or Winter Seven, rose out of the cockpit and leapt down just beside Hào, her brown hair flailing around wildly whilst doing so. "Why thank you, boss." She replied with childish cheerfulness; it was obvious she was the youngest member of the team, not just in body, but also in spirit.

"Are those really jackal shield gauntlets?" Laszlo asked curiously, having walked up to the two Spartan-IIIs.

"You betcha" Yelizaveta exclaimed. "Placed them at strategic points ‘round the craft to provide maximum defensive capability to otherwise vulnerable areas. I'm not losing this bird like the two previous ones – may they rest in peace."

Yelizaveta had an almost unhealthy attachment to machines and vehicles – or at least those she built or modified herself. But it was something Hào had told Laszlo that the team overlooked, because of her sheer brilliance – what Laszlo wondered was how they overlooked the fact that she even managed to acquire the technology she incorporated into her inventions; jackal defense gauntlets were one thing – Spartan-IIIs always collected those from the battlefield on instinct, as they hadn't always fought in protective MJOLNIR armor, even though it was a breach of the Cole Protocol – but extra weaponry and plating like on this pelican would have to be taken from other UNSC vehicles – meaning that she likely took apart other vehicles to improve her own. Somehow, he doubted she had permission to do so.

"Of course" she continued excitedly, "it's not just the defensive capabilities I've improved; the weapons are also upgraded, and I took the liberty of adding some too; this is a true merge of a dropship and a gunship. And just in case all this isn't enough" – she paused briefly to take a breath and wipe some grease from her face – "I added another trick."

She knocked on the side of the craft, and to Laszlo's surprise it opened up and a long missile zoomed out. "Ares missiles" she explained. "Used to be standard issue on UNSC warships before the Archer was made. These babies would've rotten in storage hadn't I acquired them. And if we find ourselves in a pinch, we have a little extra punch. I couldn't add more than two, though, so we have to use them sparingly."

Laszlo didn't know what to say; he continued to marvel at how resourceful the young spartan were. Instead, he left Hào and Yelizaveta to seek out Bonnie and Amanda.

He found them sitting a few paces away near the pelican alongside Varghese and Rachel, the former tweaking with a rocket launcher, the latter turning a lighter on and off. They stood up once they saw him.

"You know what we're to do now, sir?" Amanda asked stoically.

"We'll take mongooses and speed ahead of the main force, providing forward reconnaissance." He replied, putting on his helmet. Rachel looked up for a moment, and then returned to turning her lighter on and off. Laszlo could've sworn he had seen a hint of jealousy in her expression.

Laszlo and his teammates mounted a mongoose each waiting further into the bay. He started it, enjoying the sound of the vehicle's engines. He turned to make sure Amanda and Bonnie were also ready, and cast a fleeting glance in Rachel's direction, where he saw her looking rebellious and talking to Hào – apparently he had told her she would have to wait behind while everyone else moved out. Cracking a smile underneath the visor, he drove out of the bay and out onto the snaking mountain path outside. The sun had almost set; they would be covered by the darkness.

And so Operation: DIVINE SON had begun.

1
First Lieutenant Joseph Forenson looked out the Falcon's open passenger bay, his helmet tucked under his arm. He could plainly see the damage and destruction to Thermopylae, but remained impassive as the aircraft continued its predesignated flight. More countless victims of the war, he thought. It never gets better.

Ever since humanity made first contact with the Covenant in 2525, the war became something everyone lived with, and constantly feared. Over the stretch of the entire conflict, which reached almost three decades, the deadly aliens destroyed planet after planet, starting with the Outer Colonies, and working their way in. Half the Inner Colonies were gone now too, and the fight had finally reached Earth. By now, the population had gone from 23 billion to a dwindling 200 million, and dozens of planets had been lost.

The war wasn't likely to go on for much longer either. Reach had been destroyed barely two months ago, and when even ONI Section Two couldn't keep it quiet, there had been mass hysteria among the civilians. Forenson knew that the war was about to come to an end, if the UNSC couldn't find some way to overcome the odds, Earth would be lost. No doubt the extinction of humanity would follow.

''Which is why every victory counts so much now. Even the small ones.'' The Lieutenant glanced the other way. Apart from the four other Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) riding with him, there was a Pelican dropship with ten more Marines inside, as well as a second Falcon escorting it and carrying five additional troops. His Commanding Officer (CO), Lieutenant Colonel Max Gauthier, had advised Company Commanders not to ride in the most conspicuous vehicle during insertions, as they made the biggest (and more often than not, the most obvious) targets to hostile anti-air weaponry. There were three other flight groups like theirs, with a platoon of soldiers in each group. They made up his Company, one of over a hundred that made up the 36/8 ODST Division under the command of Brigadier General Francisco Cortez.

''Impressive numbers, no doubt. But the Covenant have wiped out more than that before. We've shown them what we're made of, but we're only human. And we still die like humans.''

"Team, we've received reconnaissance of Covenant activity up ahead," the Pelican copilot's voice was heard on the COM units of everyone in the platoon. "We're coming in for a landing. You're to proceed through this district and meet up with Spartan Winter Team. There'll be another Company coming in to retake this area later."

Here we go. "Lock and load, boys!" he shouted to the ODSTs in his Falcon. "Let's take these bastards feet first into hell!" He put on his helmet, and polarized the visor, reflecting everything he looked at in silver. The two Marines stationed to the aircraft's turrets took their weapons off their backs and braced for landing. Shifting his BR55 Battle Rifle to his right hand, the Lieutenant grabbed the handle and leaned back casually until the Falcon lowered itself onto the ground.

Forenson waited until the vehicle were hovering a foot above the charred asphalt, and jumped out. The ODSTs on the other Falcon did the same, while the Pelican made a wide turn as it too settled in for a landing.

"Helljumpers, let's move!" he said. "We're going to pay a visit to Winter Team. Saldivar, you're on point!"

As the platoon dashed down the street in formation, Forenson shut out all thought of the ruins around him that was once a city, and concentrated on the mission ahead. Any daydreaming now could be fatal if there were enemy snipers hiding around. Or worse, a Covenant ambush. Emotion would have to come later.

We may be only human, he thought. ''But these Spartans are so much more than that. They're the key to our victory.''

''We're going to win this war. No matter what.''

 There is no glory without honour 21:24, October 14, 2010 (UTC)

<!--====2==== Battle of Boston (Sgt. Maj. Lindsey Williamson subplot)

0500 Hours, October 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)/

Behind Covenant Lines, Financial District, Boston, USA

Sergeant Lindsey Williamson and the rest of her ODST squad crept through the hallways of a skyscraper in the Financial District. Lindsey turned a corner first, her image clouded by her active camouflage. Williamson, unlike the rest of her ODST squad was clad in SPI armor intended for use by SPARTAN IIIs. The story of how she got a hold of the armor, not to mention the augmentation drugs necessary to use it was a long story a quest for vengeance and a number of techically illegal acts.

Lindsey was only six-years old when her homeworld was glassed of Jericho IV by the Covenant, and her parents killed in the attack. She later found out death of her parents was the work a Sangheilli, Idno 'Apassee. From then on, she swore she'd kill as many Covenant as she could, and preferably, 'Apassee himself.

Towards these ends, Lindsey tried to join the SPARTAN III program, but was too young for the first batch of IIIs and too old for the second. So, Lindsey began researching genetic augmentations, and saw no reason why she could not use the drugs if she could just get her hands on them. Like all illegal goods, there has to be a black market for these things somewhere.

At age 18, Lindsey found the drugs she needed. Of course, she did not have the money to buy them off the scientist. But, there were other ways an attractive 18-year-old blonde could get what she wanted out of middle-aged man.... So, that was how an 18-year old UNSC Marine recruit managed to make it through the worst that first basic and then ODST training could throw at her. And when the UNSC found out she had stolen both augmentation drugs and suit of SPI armor meant for some Sierra III, rather than throw her in prison, the UNSC brass thought it would be a better idea to give her an ODST squad to command on some of the most dangerous missions of the war.

That is why Lindsey was where she was now, preparing to steal a Scarab by jumping on board from a destroyed skybridge with the help of a jump pack.

"Troopers, follow me, we've got two Scarabs parked below us", Lindsey said, "Ramirez, Dunn, MacTavish, and I will take the one of the right. "Roycewicz, Sanderson, Mui, Jacobs, and Johansson", you take the one of the left".

A few seconds later, Lindsey yelled, "All right, everyone, take out those troops on the top deck". On Lindsey's commands a hail of bullets, grenades, and 102mm rockets rained down on the Scarabs, blasting apart Elites, throwing the broken bodies of Jackals off the top deck, and cutting down Grunts, who tried to flee, but found they had nowhere to run on the elevated Scarab deck.

At Lindsey's signal, all ten ODSTs activated their jet packs and flew towards the deck as an energy sword-wielding Elite exited the door to the lower decks, presumably to investigate what was going on. Lindsey unsheathed her combat knife and adjusted her course so that she flew straight towards the Sangheili's back. Lindsey kicked the Elite with both feet as she landed, knocking the alien to the ground. She then jumped on top of the downed Elite and stuck the knife straight through it's neck, killing it in one swift movement.

Lindsey heard movement from behind her. Not having time to draw her submachine gun, she seized the Elite's energy sword and thrust the blade through the chest of a second Elite. Lindsey drew her M7S silenced SMG with one hand and stepped forward down the ramp to the lower deck of the Scarab, still holding the dead Elite impaled on her Energy sword, using it as a shield.

Dunn tossed a grenade around the corner, into the cockpit of the Scarab. As soon as the grenade exploded, Lindsey and the others rushed in. The ODST's weapons blazed, cutting down any Covenant that survived the grenade blast. Lindsey herself mowed down an Elite and several Grunts, still using the dead Elite and a "meatshield". In seconds, all the Covenant were dead, save for a lone Unggoy, who had fled up the ramp and jumped off the body of the Scarab. "CLEAR", Lindsey yelled as she deactivated her captured energy sword and placed the captured weapon at her belt.

Seconds later, Lindsey's radio crackled to life. "Sergeant Williamson, Roycewicz here, we have successfully eliminated the second Scarab's crew, no ODST casualties."

"Excellent", Lindsey said as she entered the Scarab's driver seat, "Take command of the Scarab and follow us to the ambush point on India Sierra 90."

(to be continued, Mods, if you need this moved or removed, tell me first, I'll put it in my storage.) -->