Prologue: The Battle for Earth
Red light washed over everything in the Delta 193's pelican bay. It covered the faces of all the men and women present, making them look as if they were covered in blood. They did not seem to notice, as they kept up the conversations they had been having. As they talked, I was leaned against the bulkhead next to the door leading to the cockpit. I paid them no attention as they talked about all the ways they could drink the other under the table and other random topics. The only thing that stopped everyone from talking was the pilot coming on over the intercom speaker.
"This is your pilot speaking; we are making our final decent. Please remember to check your overhead compartments for any luggage that may have shifted during flight. Thank you for flying Air Delta 193 Airlines, and have a nice day."
The other soldiers in the bay decided it was time to get their gear that rested under the seats they were using. Next I heard the engines spin down, and all the soldiers between the rear door and me stood up. With a hiss the door slowly began to open, letting in a bright light. As the door hit the ground with a loud thud all of the other bodies in the bird filed meandered their way down the ramp and into the surrounding cargo bay of the frigate we landed in. I however stayed behind. I pounded my hand on the door to show thanks for the ride to the pilot. Then walked out of the pelican, and onto the deck.
I looked around and took in the familiar hustle and bustle of the UNSC Pony Express's starboard cargo bay. It was good to be ‘home’, but a voice from behind caught my attention.
"Corporal! Wait up!" shouted the pilot of Delta 193.
"Sir," I replied as I noticed the rank on his uniform signifying Lieutenant, "what do you need?"
"I knew your name looked familiar on the pickup roster," he said obviously bothered by something, "I’ve seen it before. You really need to stop showing up on the Hopeful. Not to sound rude or anything, but we need everyone like you out there to kick the Covenant back into the hole they came from."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is," he started, “I have seen your name three times coming out of the Hopeful. You NEED to watch your back out there, keep your head down."
"El Tee, I think the hinge heads are just getting lucky," I said "I really haven't tried to get myself killed."
"Alright Corporal, take care out there," he said as he reached his hand out.
I shook it and gave him a nod, and then he spun and walked back up the drop door and into the bay of the pelican as I walked to the exit of the bay to avoid the decompression that was needed to get the pelican back to the Hopeful. Upon entering the corridor on the other side of the door, I saw two figures standing there. I smiled and shifted my bag around my shoulder plate of my armor and walked over to them. One figure was Lieutenant Jennifer Marie Taylor, and the other was Sergeant Nicholas 'Sarge' Daniel Smith. Sarge looked happy to see me and smiled back, but Jenn looked she was mad about something.
"Hey Jenn, Sa-" I started, and then Jenn punched me in the face.
"You son of a bitch! I should kick your ass from New Jersey to New Llanelli for that stunt you pulled on Reach!" she shouted raising her right arm to punch me again.
She threw another punch at me; I brought my left arm up and blocked with my gauntlet. It hit with a smack and I saw her arm shake with the impact, forcing her to pull her hand away and baby it with her other. I instantly dropped my kit and helmet worrying she broke her hand, and I looked at Sarge. He looked at me with a worried expression, but he was as confused as I was. She then ran off to her normal spot she used when thinking about things.
"Corporal, let her go," Sarge started, "she needs to cool off before anything. Let’s get you settled in again."
I agreed with him and we began the walk to the barracks. As we went we made small talk, mostly about how everyone was doing and what happened after Reach. We picked up the pace as we neared the office of Major Toshenko, where to my dismay he was standing outside. We saluted him when he took notice of us. He looked me up and down noting the brand new set of armor I was sporting.
"Good to have you back, Corporal," the Major said with a smile.
"It is good to be back, Sir," I replied.
"Well, get settled in," he ordered, "then find Taylor and make sure she’s okay; she hasn't lost anyone under her command yet so she has a right to be bothered by what landed you on the Hopeful."
After replying with a 'Sir Yes Sir!’ Sarge and I went back to the barracks whereupon reaching the door the sensor detected us and opened silently. We crossed the threshold and I saw faces I knew and faces I didn't. Two of those faces I knew were Private Derric "Dez" Demerov, and Lance Corporal Alyssa "Vence" Vencer. They looked up from whatever they were doing when Sarge called out at them.
"Look who I found trying to climb inside the airlock!"
"I’m surprised Jenn didn't meet you as you came back," Vence said as she grabbed my kit bag from Sarge.
"She did," I said, "then she punched me in the face and yelled at me."
"I don’t get her," Dez said.
"Well I'll get her, it is kinda my fault," I said.
Changing the subject, "Hey is that new armor?" asked Vence.
"Yeah I think it is," Dez said as he sniffed the air around me, "It even has the new armor smell."
We laughed for a bit at Dez's antics, and got me settled back into my old bunk that still had my poster of the Reach skyline taped on the bulkhead. I missed my old home and I knew I was never going back, especially since the Covenant glassed the planet. But I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and worried about now. I had to find Jenn and get her to forgive me. That was easier said than done, she was more stubborn than I was when we had to leave Reach. I got out of my bunk and announced my departure to embark on the mission to find her and get her to come back. They all wished me luck that I would certainly need as I headed to the one spot I knew she would be.
Upon arriving on the port observation deck I saw her leaning against the railing while staring out the window towards Earth. I slowly made my way over to her, wary of the fact she might turn around and punch me again. As I approached I noticed a small piece of paper in her hand, I recognized it as a photo of her husband and two sons. I finally reached her and looked out the window with her. A few minutes later she took notice of me, and turned towards me with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Andrew," she began to say, "I am so-"
"Don't worry Jenn," I interrupted, "I deserved it. I shouldn't have run into that building in New Alexandria. The only reason I did it was because I saw a group of civvies from a window and didn't want to have them get murdered by the Covenant."
"That still didn't give me a right to do that," she stated.
"Jenn, something else is wrong, what is it?" I asked.
"So close Andrew," she began, "so close to home and I even can't visit my family."
"Well you and Sarge are on the same page," I stated, "I know for a fact he is thinking about his family in London."
"Andrew do you really think we will see the end of this war? I mean all of us not just our families." she asked.
"Jenn," I grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face me, "You and Sarge, will make it through this war I will make sure of that."
She stared at me for a few seconds, "You mean all of us are going to make it, right?"
"Yeah Jenn," I lied, "we will all make it."
She smiled and we began to walk back to the barracks. During the walk back, my mind began to wander back to the past, starting with that last day at my parent’s home, then to fighting the Insurrection, and then Sigma Octanus IV. The walk seemed to take only half the time while I was lost in my thoughts, fortunately Sarge was there to bring me back.
"Hey you two, glad you came back before we had to send a whole squad after you two."
Before we got the opportunity to respond there was a loud blaring noise from the speakers in the corner of the room, then the ships A.I. spoke.
"All hands man your battle stations, this is not a drill!"
I looked at both Jenn and Sarge; their faces were plastered with a confused look. I grabbed my helmet and waited for everyone else to get suited up. Mere moments later everyone was ready and we all hurried to the briefing room, where Toshenko would be waiting for us. When we got there, Toshenko was surprisingly absent. After a few seconds of waiting he walked in the door hands balled into tight fists.
"Everyone," he said as he turned in the center of the room, "we have a big purple loving problem. The Covenant has found Earth."
There was a dead silence in the room as he let it sink in. After two minutes of silence he began to brief us on what our mission was going to consist of. Attacking a ship was one thing, but when the Major told us we were dropping onto the hull and breaching the vessel, we thought he’d lost his mind. Then he told us it came straight from Lord Hood and that as Helljumpers we were the only ones that could pull it off. After he dismissed us we ran to our lockers near our drop pods, and started kitting up; Sarge and I grabbed our battle rifles and sidearms while Jenn grabbed her assault rifle and pistol.
"Jenn, Sarge," I said as we stood next to each other as we grabbed our ammunition,” we are not losing here today, don't worry they are okay."
They gave me a thumbs up, then turned and headed to their pods. I grabbed a few extra magazines for both my rifle and sidearm. I knew I would not let my friends suffer the pain I had already gone through. I walked over to my pod after I 'stole' munitions. I set my rifle into the slot on the side of the seat in the pod and I took a seat and strapped in.
"Corporal," I heard Jenn say over the comm, "Don’t do anything stupid just for us this time."
"Yeah," Sarge agreed, "we’re going to kick those alien bastards back past Harvest, and I want to see you there!"
I chuckled, and smiled to myself. I hoped that I could get out of this alive, but I was ready to die if need be. Before I could think about anything more our pods shot out of the hull and into the inky blackness. Upon seeing the havoc around the UNSC forces, my heart sunk. The Covenant was too far in system, and the Pony Express was towards the nose of the carrier we were tasked to take.
Then everything went sideways faster than I could blink.
Anti-air fire shot towards our pods as we were picked up on the ship's sensors. Pods nearby began taking fire. I saw Vence's pod become the center of a tiny sun. I heard a scream from her end of the comm and then static.
There was a loud bang as a pod hit mine, causing me to tumble towards the nose of the alien ship. Moments later I had a view of the pod that hit me, it was Dez's. He was shouting curses in Russian as he spun and flipped. And as soon as I saw it, it was gone and my view was a snapshot of the purple abomination. I saw a field around the nose of the ship, which I realized was a slipspace field, then I saw a flash of the pods behind me as I flipped again. I heard someone scream my name over the comm. The voice was washed over by static as I felt a creeping sensation of dread in my mind.
Upon flipping a few more times, I saw I was dangerously close to the bow of the ship.
Which meant way to close to the portal.
I yelled as loud as I could, hoping that I would miss and not die from the radiation that was bound to be pouring from the poratl. As I got closer I began to lose consciousness, from the pod's tumble or the sheer amount of pressure exerted along with it, I don't know. But a moment later I was entering the portal and flying through the slipstream then I saw the Covenant ship fly past me and send me flying in another direction. Finally I conceded to the forced rest of unconsciousness that had been held off.