0614 hours, August 12, 2552 (Military Calender)\ UNSC vessel Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani system, near Reach station Gamma, Planet Reach.

The alarm bellowed out and Master Chief sprang to his feet. Cortana announced that they were leaving slipspace. He stood tall, his metallic armour chipped in places from the deadly accuracy of the Elites. He knew that he was about to face far worse on Reach.

He shuddered.

Quickly, he composed himself. There wasn't time to second-think himself in this situation. That's not how a Spartan works. He looked around at his fellow Spartans before picking the teams, alpha being his own. Kelly would definitely come with him, her sniper skills are yet to be rivalled. Joshua's fast pace would help too.

"We're stabilized" said Cortana over the ship's intercom. It was time to fight, they had landed. He issued the order to leave. Several lights blinked on his heads-up display to confirm acknowledgement.

"Bring her down" shouted Captain Keyes, he needed the ship down on Reach ASAP. He knew that the Spartans were up to the job. Hell, they lived for this crap. They were made for it.

"We're stabilized" said Cortana over the ship's intercom. She had nestled the UNSC ship into a deep valley, a bit sloppy for the AI but it would do.

Master Chief stepped off the platform onto the dusty ground in the valley. His team had to maintain formation on this one. Losing another Spartan was unquestionable. He had one MIA too many, even if keeping up the illusion of Spartans only going missing and not dying was quite a farce. Admiral Whitcomb wasn't up for questioning on that one though.

Kelly and Joshua followed his lead, hostile territory lay ahead. About half a click ahead Master Chief saw a jackal leaning onto its plasma shield. These stupid creatures got lazy, it had cost them a lot in numbers. He snook through the bushes and landed a neat, precise blow onto the jackal's thick skull. It went down silently, they still had the element of surprise. He didn't like how these alien bastards felt so at home on the human-colonized planet. John led the way to the bridge with Kelly watching his six. The idea was to get into ONI HQ and clean the LZ on the roof.

It was going to be heavily guarded but this was orders, they had overcome more complex missions. The only thing bothering him was why put a regiment here if they were going to glass the planet? He had a feeling that he would find out soon enough.

He had to move on now, pausing only a second to look back and make sure they weren't being flanked. There was grunts, jackals and Elites spread thick in their path to the HQ. They just had to kill enough to get inside and get to the roof. Air support and marine backup could take care of the rest.

The Spartans lined up and squeezed their triggers on Master Chief's order, so much for being subtle. They had to get through though. Kelly dropped Elite after Elite as plasma started hurtling toward them. Master Chief rolled to the left but took one to the side. His shield rippled and took most of it. They moved forwards and the grunts charged. In close quarters they went down fast enough, the Spartans covered each other.

Master Chief picked up some plasma grenades from a dead grunt, activated them and threw them at the packs of grunts. They glowed magnesium-brilliant as they stuck fast to the alien's thick armour. Blue explosions filled the battlefield as grunts were annihilated. The Spartans ran towards the doors.

Only five hundred metres to go.

Some Elites had dodged Kelly's aim and now stood their ground. Some well placed battle rifle clips put their shields down and floored most of them. John ran ahead, his team could easily mop up the few left.

He was nearly at the doors when an Elite started heading for him. It had no weapon though, John could easily take a single Elite. Then its hand flashed as a plasma sword was activated. He shot the Elite's midriff until the shield depleted. Then he charged in and kicked the Elite in the chest before grabbing its sword hand to drop the weapon to the floor. He quickly drew his side arm as there wasn't time to reload his rifle. He shot the Elite through its mandibles and purple blood splashed against the floor.

As he got closer to the doors, two Hunters came out of them and their cannons started to glow a sickly green. The brothers weren't ready to give up the ONI HQ.

The Spartans caught up with John and left the marines to deal with the remaining grunts and jackals. They looked on at the Hunters before diving aside to avoid the thick green plasma headed their way. They would have to use their superb speed to outwit and take down these ferocious beasts.

A/N:

This was my assignment for a university project: copying an author's style. I chose Eric Nylund as I love his Halo novels. I got a top mark for this assignment and people have enjoyed reading it so I thought I would post it up on here to see what people think. Also, please let me know if you would like me to write a conclusion for it, or at least continue it episodically. I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks for reading :)

Stephen Mark Percival