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1412 hours, July 14, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Australia, Victorian Otways (Forests), Earth

An entire army of at least 50,000 Marines were assembled outside the Otways Forests ready to slaughter the Covenant assholes who had taken residence there. Lead by General Dorothy Sale the army had heavily bombarded Covenant forces that had tried to invade Australia and had beaten them… at first. The Covenant was unused to Earth's weather conditions and gravity so Australia's swelteringly hot climate had been the Human forces greatest advantage. At the beginning of the invasion General Sale had feared another Reach, but the Covenant forces were few in number and surprised at the sheer force that the Humans fought with. They had managed to force them back into the Otways were the Covenant had engaged guerrilla tactics in an effort to defeat the Humans. Ecstatic with their previous victory they had charged in without General Sale's permission, this was when it turned bad for them in a major way. Firstly, the Covenant had gotten used to Earth's conditions by this time which took away their home ground advantage. Secondly, they had underestimated the Covenant's ability to engage guerrilla tactics, they did it ferociously and without mercy which took the Humans by surprise. Thirdly, the Human forces had entered the Otways without General Sales knowledge and permission, they were unorganized with little Intel so as a result there were heavy casualties. Having being slowly whittled down to about half their numbers General Sale was a lot more cautious with sending her troops back in and where she sent them. "So we believe that if we split our forces into a rough Corps, Division and Brigade then we can use the Corps to make a frontal assault via the south, the Division makes an aerial assault from the north. Finally the Brigade will be used as backup should things go south of the border." Major Martins said with enthusiasm. General Sale looked thoughtfully at Martins; he was, in truth a little ruthless and hard on his Marines or in the battlefield. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing; it prevented him from hesitating in a heavy combat situations but it also meant that he usually took the direct route, even if it wasn't the right action. What Martins didn't realize is that tactics can only be fought with more tactics. "If we make such an assault we very likely could win, but at huge cost to human life. I'm sorry Martins but I'll have to do this differently," General Sale pondered what the best move could be; this situation reminded her of another war like this, Vietnam. If they went all in, guns blazing, then there would be great cost to human life, but if they sent smaller groups in then it could be easy to be separated then picked off in small groups. What they needed was more Intel, what could be gleaned off aerial photographs was done and little, the heavy tree density made visibility impossible. Sale could strangle the conservationists that had protected the Otways from logging, they of course couldn't have possibly know this would happen but Sale still considered human life more important than a bunch of trees. Sale sighed reconsidering her options, what did she have going for her? The Covenant was cornered, that was good but it might not be like that for long, her troops were thinly spread across the borders of the Otways and all it would take to get through would be a good push. The Covenant was pinned down into a small area that made them liable to be hit by bombing. "Johnson!" General Sale barked. "Sir, yes. Sir!" Johnson replied saluting. "Do we have any napalm?"

1534 hours, July 14, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Australia, Victorian Otways (Forests), Earth
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" said First Sergeant Phillip Moore in a panicky voice as the warthogs tires spurted mud and grass into the air. First Sergeant Moore hit the gas over a hill, they caught some air then came crashing down in the mud again. Jamie "Peanuts" Parrot swiveled the 'hog's gauss cannon around to face a covie Elite then sent a single slug his way. The single shot caused a small explosion hurling more mud into the air, some of which landed on the warthog. Moore didn't know how big a round the gauss cannon could fire because he was 'sick' that prac lesson but he knew it was friggen big enough to punch a hole into anything the covies could throw at them. Patrick "Pullme" Puli raised his SMG over the warthog's front and opened up on a small contingent of Grunts stupid enough to get in their way. Pullme managed to take out three and the 'hog took care of the rest crushing their tiny bones then mincing their bodies. They went up another rise getting more air than before, finally landing on top of a red Elite. Usually at something like this Peanuts would yell something funny or at least give a 'whoop!' of happiness but they were all too busy trying to survive. Moore should have known something was up when his commanding officer said this was going to be 'a simple painless exercise', nothing about the covenant was simple or painless. He and his team were to be dropped into the Otways with some warthogs and told that soon heavy napalm bombing was about to occur reducing all cover, and hopefully, most of the covenant, to cinders. The beginnings of a plan gone wrong happened almost immediately after the drop. He had gotten a message from the dropship that put him in that they were being recalled after the bombers had encountered a COVENANT FRIGATE OVER THE OTWAYS, by the time they got back to where they had been inserted they found all that was left of the dropships could fit into a shoebox. A that moment things went from worse to even worse, the Covenant had been lying in wait and chose that moment to spring their trap. They had started with a company of 170 but now there were only six of them. Actually he wasn't sure if Master Sergeant Chambers was still alive anyway. The two warthogs had gotten separated after Covenant Specters swarmed in and opened up. In most respects the specter and the warthog are very much the same, except that the specter can hold two passengers, it has a boost power that it shares with most Covenant vehicles and, most importantly for Moore, they aren't very easily handled in tight or swampy conditions. Luckily the Otways had both conditions so it didn't take very long to lose them then continue on their merry way. Though it wasn't as merry as first suspected, in the chase Pullme had lost track of where they were and they had become very lost. Peanuts nearly killed Pullme when he told them but First Sergeant Moore had stopped the fight then they went in search of any road to lead them to safety. This too wasn't as easy as it sounded, the covie bastards were swarming everywhere like flies on shit and were firing as if their lives depended on it. Of course their lives do depend on it, thought Moore. "Contact!" Yelled Peanuts over the mike, he positioned the barrel of the gauss cannon to a tree and fired. The bullet hit the tree with a satisfying wham splintering it in all directions. Two grunts came through the debris screaming, one had lost a leg where the gauss cannon had sheered it off, the other had been hit in his methane rig with splinters from the tree. The one without a leg was brought down by a second gauss shot, the other one took fire from Pullme and his rig caught fire exploding on his back. 'Two down, about ten million left to go.' Moore thought to himself, it was a very sobering thought that he mightn't make it out alive but he had been in worse situations. A spluttering came from under the 'hog's hood as it started to slow down. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! Not now! Please not now!" Moore gasped as the warthog lost what was left of its fuel.

0334 hours, December 10, 2525 (Military Calendar) (Before the fall of Reach) / Location Classified

Lieutenant Carter maneuvered the stealth ship so that it was next to the Covenant ship's hanger door. The door was still locked but Carter knew how to fix that. While he was moving the ship to the hanger and dodging plasma blasts from the Covenant seraph his ships A.I was busy targeting the firing seraph. Carter gave the A.I control of the ships missiles and twin jets of smoke trailed from the spaceship towards the enemy craft. Two small explosions rippled from the seraphs shield, the shield flashed, and then went out. The explosion however sent shockwaves crashing through the ship and apparently something vital was hit because the ship mushroomed. Carter heard Tyler yell next to him "BOOM!" and smiled to himself. Carter turned the ship around as he watched another seraph leave the hanger 'Brilliant' Carter thought to himself 'not too bright are they?' Carter hit the ships emergency thrusters and the ship jerked sending them into the hanger, and crashing into the hangers back wall. A huge commotion came from the hanger as the engineers, grunts and elites in the bay tried to get their bearings or destroy their ship. "Ok boys and girls, its show time!" Lieutenant Carter said over the intercom. "Yea haw!" someone yelled in reply as some of Carter's finest jumped out of the ship and engaged the Covenant in combat. In the first couple of minutes the entire hanger was under UNSC control at the cost of two lives. Two verses twenty, Carter thought was it worth it? Who else had to die as well? Were they worth peace? Would they ever have peace? Carter pushed these thought aside, they wouldn't win the engagement, firepower would win this engagement. "Ok maggots! Let's move!" The group was spilt into two teams, red and blue, red team took up position at a likely door, blue team covered them. The door opened with a low hissing sound and an empty corridor met them. "Sir, something doesn't feel right. This is obviously a major passage but there's no one here."
Red team leader said over the intercom. "Giving up isn't an option…" Was all Carter was able to say before plasma slashed at them from seemingly nothing. "Fire! Open fire!" Carter screamed over the intercom. In unison red and blue teams open up into the empty corridor and they were surprised when they heard a warbled yell and alien blood spurred out of nowhere. Carter took a long look at the anomaly and noticed the air in the area of the blood was distorted, he fired at the apparition and suddenly a creature at least two meters tall appeared. The thing had whitish armor, held a plasma rifle; its face looked like it had been through a blender, four mandibles with teeth protruded from where a mouth should have been on its elongated head. "What the hell is that ugly son of bitch?" Red team leader managed to say before more entered the hall, these ones were very visible which made it easier to point them out. "Fire at the split-chin assholes!" Carter screamed through the microphone and an amazing response meet his eyes as his soldiers fired at the sea of blues, reds, purples and blacks. Carter made a startling realization here, that the Covenant could incorporate energy shields into even such small areas as their troops. Things were going bad, three more of his soldiers had died Corporal Bagen had assumed command of red team and said over the com "Sir, were being overrun, suggest that we retreat." Carter considered this; the stealth ship was too damaged to let them escape but maybe they could retreat to a point on the ship were they could re-group and continue the mission or escape back to Reach. "Noted, teams red and blue… fall back!" Carter yelled the last words as loud as he could retreating with the rest of the team to the hanger. The Covenant fired back on them instantly killing two men, damn it, thought Carter, which left him with Bagen, Tyler and a critically wounded private. Dragging the private between them they made their way to the far end of the hanger behind what Carter could only assume were storage crates. Plasma fire and small needle like rounds tore through the crates, there wasn't much time left before… Carter tried to think of something else rather than what would happen if they were caught. The wounded private stood up and fired yelling something incomprehensible a small explosion shook Carter to his teeth and the yelling stopped abruptly. The private fell to the floor of the hanger with a sickening thump, without anything above his waist. Carter looked at the sickening sight, so did Tyler apparently because he then said "I've never told you this but… I…don't wanna die here sir!" Carter looked into the frightened soldier eyes and barked back "Your not gonna die marine, now" A huge explosion picked Carter up and deposited him five meters from where he was. "Tyler! TYLER!" Lieutenant Carter screamed but no answer came. Carter scanned the hanger for Bagen and found him going toe to toe with one of the bastards, the covie had some sort of glowing triangle in his hand. He slashed and whatever it was it sliced through Bagen's ballistic armor effectively bisecting him at the waist. Carter screamed and stood up, firing as he went. He charged the ugly bastards yelling at the top of his lungs.

Ship Master 'Hynue stared in amazement at the humans, they were the ugliest things he had ever seen, but they fought valiantly. Though he wouldn't admit it to the other elites lest he lose his ranking, the humans were worthy adversaries. Two in particular stood out, one who had come at him with all his strength and nearly won if it hadn't been for his plasma blade slashing through him. The other one leapt up just after he killed him, he came at him all the while yelling things in his harsh tongue. "Take him alive! The prophets may want someone to interrogate!" 'Hynue yelled to the troops. This one had seemed to be the one in charge from what he had seen all the other humans listened to him and followed his orders, 'Hynue had kept him alive for that specific purpose.

The yellow creature with the glowing triangle bellowed something which sounded a lot like an order but what it was Carter couldn't tell. Then two of the bastards tackled him and removed his assault rifle from his fingers. Carter struggled with all his strength but they were stronger than him and one getting annoyed with their struggling captive hit him in the back of the head knocking Carter out.

1557 hours, July 14, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Aboard a Covenant troopship in Athens wreckage, in orbit around Earth
Once they had all organized that Longatano would be flying the troopship, being the one with the most experience in piloting Covenant vessels. Though this was only once in a piloting simulator. Longatano grabbed the controls, steeling himself for what he was about to do, Swinb walked up behind him and whispered in his ear "Just don't stuff up." Longatano slowly pushed the controls forward and the troopship moved forward… into a piece of rubble. The vibrations and shockwave went through the entire ship knocking Swinb onto his backside and causing Sampson to bump her head. After all the swearing from Swinb and Sampson had died down and after the vibrations had stopped causing everyone headaches Longatano tried again, this time he was able to properly maneuver the troopship through the debris field towards the nearest MAC pillar. It took them at least two hours for them to make it there but in the end they were able to enter the Cairo Space platform after they had confirmed their identity. They were safely inside the hanger when the Cairo took a direct hit from external anti-matter charges from enemy cruisers, the shots rocked the Cairo to its core sending Sampson flying again. When some engineers had offered to help her up, an offer which she refused, she made her way with what was left of her team to mission control. On the way they looked at the devastation that had been left in the wake of the Covenant assault, a blood splattered hallway testified to the surprise the Covenant had given human defenses, there not being a single drop of Covenant blood. They walked on to find the next corridor was so badly damaged from wild fire that the corridor was breached and slowly leaking air in some places, engineers were hurriedly fixing these places and Sampson could see why. If these spots were left breached then Covenant could easily infiltrate these areas and gain access to the MAC platform again. They moved on again to the next corridor where marines were moving the dead to the air locks so they could be flushed into space, it wasn't a proper burial but the best they could do in such situations. The Covenant was still pushing into the platform and they had to put stopping more bodies piling up as the main concern. Sampson, Longatano and Swinb moved into mission control and Swinb with the air outranking anyone in the room walked right up to Admiral Hood and addressing him directly. Hood looked darkly at Swinb as they discussed what had taken place on the Athens and what steps were necessary to stop this from happening to the Cairo. After several hours of long talk Swinb walked back to Sampson and Longatano and said to them in a sorry voice "I have to stay here with the Admiral, you'll be sent to another part of the station to hold off the Covenant invasion on decks B through to E." Longatano gave him a disbelieving look and Sampson could understand what was going through his head, they were going into the thick of things and their sergeant was off playing officer with the admiral. Swinb cut them off before they could say anything "You'll be doing it with other marines and you'll be working with Sergeant Major Brown on this one." Sampson and Longatano shut their mouths immediately. Brown was near legendary status in the military, he had been in many heavy engagements and though his tactics had been described as 'unnecessary' or 'suicidal' he was an inspirational leader. Minutes later Longatano and Sampson were heading to E deck in an elevator to meet Brown and help with the effort in E deck. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the final moments of a Covenant engagement. A brown haired, man strode up to them, he had a hairless crown showing the signs of male pattern baldness and was nearly covered head to foot in blood, some Covenant, some human. "Nice of you to join us, we tried to keep the part going so you could have some fun to but we were too busy having fun." They smiled at Brown and Longatano replied "Just like you to ignore others for your own entertainment." It was Brown's turn to smile and he did so while putting his helmet back on "Well, let's get going shall we?" "Show the way." Replied Sampson. They made their way through the level until they reached an area directly below the reactor room. "The Covenant are tunneling their way through the floor as we speak, if they make it to the reactor room then the MAC gun goes offline, if the MAC gun goes offline…" Brown didn't finish his sentence but looked at them sadly. They had all seen the vids on what happened at Reach and Sampson would be damned if she let the Covenant assholes do it again.

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