Authors Note: Hey guys. Thank you for taking the time to read this novel. I appreciate it. If you think it's any good or if you have any suggestions of improvement, or just really need to tell me that it sucks, please review. Any feedback will help.

I'll get more in to characters in the next chapter. I just wanted you to get a feel for the story. I promise that the plot will pick up as well. Just felt like starting with something we're all familiar too (at least for those who have played Reach).

Dubious Intelligence

Planet Reach, 24th of July, 2552, Visegrad Relay Outpost (UNSC Communications Facility), 0700 Hours

When the ODSTs walked through the blackened hallway it was in silence. Dead silence. They rounded corners, checking every inch of the facility, following their orders to the letter. Walking in pairs and sweeping their sectors and constantly moving forward because something didn't quite add up.

"I heard that facilities like this have been dropping off the grid all over Reach." Delta-Two said.

"You're kidding me?" Delta-Five responded.

"No, man. Echo is up north checking out some ammo caches and Alpha has been deployed somewhere near New Alexandria. Something's going on."

"Fucking Innies, always here fuck shit up. Can't they see that we're already losing a war?"

"Stay frosty," Delta-One said. "We don't know anything. We're just here to do our job. Don't worry about anything else."

"You heard the man." Delta-Three said. "Let's get it done."

Pushing through the maze of hallways however, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No marks of combat or ambush could be seen. All was swell save for the dead silence.

Delta continued through another set of corridors until they finally reach the control centre. Upon entering the room they were welcomed by a foul stench of gunpowder and burned flesh. The room wore all the marks of battle and the walls and floor were stained with blood. A firefight had taken place here, one that by the looks of it seemed rather one-sided. No bodies were to be found.

"Delta-Actual, this is Delta-One, over." Winters tried to reach command. "Delta-Actual, do you read me?"

Static.

"Check your radio, see if you can raise command." He ordered the team.

Nothing.

"Something must be jamming us, Sir. Looks like we're in a dead zone." Dutch replied.

"Shifty, can you reach command?"

"Negative, Sir. Only static."

"Keep us posted. We might be here for a while."

Winters walked around the control room and inspected the damage. Most of the electronics had been melted onto one big pot and he didn't know if he could salvage what was left. Video surveillance was down and so was thermal and motion trackers. They were completely exposed here save for Shifty who was on guard outside.

"Well, I think we can establish why the station didn't respond." Romeo stated in his usual wiseass-tone. He dragged out a marine from a closet which he had just opened. "They're all dead."

"That's plasma burns." Mack said after inspecting the body.

"Pack your gear, boys. We're leaving Reach."

"We don't know what it means yet, but we need to get in contact with Command ASAP." Winters said.

"All the cords and electronics are fried, making this facility useless." Mack said and threw away a data pad. "Nothing I can do about it."

"Three-Charlie-Six , we've got a lot of casualties over here. By the looks of it, they were overwhelmed. No survivors. "

"Roger that, Delta-One. We've got a similar situation. A lot of dead bodies." 3 Charlie 6 responded.

"Try to reach command. We've got zero luck—" Winters was interrupted by the main entrance opening, but there nothing was there. Winters squinted; was he delusional or was he just seeing badly, but his vision got slightly blurry.

"I got movement." Dutch called out. "Cloaked Elite."

Delta opened fire in all directions. It was hard to tell where the movement came from. The Elite moved fast, but here and there bullets ricocheted off something mid-air, throwing it off it's trajectory.

"Contact left." Winters heard Mack call out. They all turned and adjusted their fire to the newly acquainted target. Bullets were fired and missed but more and more ricocheted and they got a more precise target until the Elite's cloaking failed and it fell victim before Delta's ruthless power.

The recent victory didn't last for long as Winters spotted in his periphery vision another Elite approaching Romeo from behind. The Elite decloaked and reach out for his energy sword. He leaped forward and barely managed to push Romeo out of the way. The Elite hit Winters and his shoulder plate was cut off clean, but he managed to get away without a scratch.

Mack tackled the Elite mid-torso and sent him down on his back. Dutch jumped the energy sword and ran his knife threw the wrist. The Elite let out a scream in agony and assembled morbid strength. With his left hand he grabbed Dutch by the neck and threw him across the room. He kicked Mack who propelled against the wall and fell unconscious to the ground. The Elite dug out the knife from his wrist, but before he got a chance to get on his feet Winters fired a pellet round point blank in his face. The Elite fell to the ground, stone dead.

"Sit-Rep." Winters called out.

"Mack is down for the count, but other than that." Romeo responded.

"I'm good to go." Dutch said and shook off his dizziness.

Dutch and Romeo each got one of Mack's arms and together they carried him. Winters lead the way out of the room, rifled leveled and ready. "Shifty, we've got Covenant inside the building. Get airborne and standby for Evac."

"Interrogative—The Covenant?" It was Corporal Travis, call sign 3 Charlie 6, who broke in on the Com channel.

"Affirmative. Assemble your team, Corporal, and get ready for pickup. Delta-Four is en route to your position."

They continued to push through the same hallways they had entered the facility. This time however, Winters noticed several things that were out of order. Weapon racks were empty, ammo caches were clean and bunks that were unmade; all visible symptoms that this facility and it's personnel had prepared for an engagement.

"Delta One, LZ is hot. Covenant is approaching your exit. The roof top is your best vector, how copy?" Shifty called over the radio.

"Solid Copy, Delta Four. We're en route."

Winters brought up the blueprint over the building on his HUD and made out the best way he could. They turned right on the next corner and push through a mess. They encountered a smell scouting party consistent of four Grunts. They exchange fire for a brief second until the Grunts retreated with heavy casualty. It wouldn't be long before they would give away Delta's position.

"Permission to pursuit." Romeo requested.

"Negative, we'll head for the roof and get out of here ASAP."

Pushing through the mess' doors they reached an elevator. Delta entered the lift and started climbing towards the top floor. During this short break, Winters removed his helmet and wiped his face from all the sweat.

"Gunny, how the hell didn't we know about this?" Romeo asked. "I mean, how could Covenant troops slip through all of our security undetected?"

Winters didn't have an answer. In fact, he had some questions himself. This was way too sloppy, even for the UNSC. He put on his helmet again and unpolarized the visor as he scrutinized his team. Slightly crippled, he was sure that he would manage to get them out of this mess.

"Shifty, get ready for pick-up. We're heading for the top floor fast. ETA for Evac, sixty seconds." He radioed.

"Solid copy, Delta-One. 3 Charlie is onboard and we're heading your way."

The doors slid apart and Delta was out. They turned a quick right and ran up a flight of stairs. Winters kicked the door and sunlight broke through the interior gloom. His visor polarized slightly to adjust to the brightness as he stepped out on the roof. To the west were only a long stretch of mountains and to the east lay an abyss; easily a two click fall to the ground. From this chasm rose a Pelican into view. It immediately drew fire from the Covenant on the ground, but took little damage.

"Delta-Two, you've got one bogy coming in from east." Winters alerted Shifty on the radio as a Banshee banked over the ridge. "Mike, take evasive action. Now!" He yelled in panic, but it was too late. Shifty pushed the throttle and climbed to the skies, but the Banshee hit his aft engine and he lost control.

"Mayday, mayday. Delta-Two is going down. I repeat, Delta-Two is down." That was the last Winters ever heard from him. The Pelican lost altitude and crashed somewhere in to the north.

"Delta-Two, do you copy?" Winters tried to raise him on the radio. "Delta-Two? 3 Charlie, do you copy? 3 Charlie, please respond."

"Great, there goes our way out of this mess." Romeo said.

The door, from which they had entered the roof, was once again violently opened and a pair of jackals emerged. Delta quickly suppressed them but they hid behind their energy shields. The bullets simply bounced off of them. Dutch brought up his grenade launcher and fire a salvo. The explosion didn't kill the pair instantly, but it sent one of them over the edge, down the abyss. The other one fell unconscious to the ground.

"Gunny, what's our plan?" Dutch asked calmly as he reloaded his grenade launcher.

Winters, still in combat-mode, was caught off guard. He didn't really know what to do. "Uhm, we should probably—" His voice faded to nothing. He tried to think, but it was hard with all the adrenalin pumping through his body. All he really wanted to do was to shoot something.

"Sir, I suggest we try to find a way out of here quietly, considering our current status, and then search for the crash site." Dutch continued. Winters nodded.

"Romeo, you get to carry Mack. Dutch, you're our six." He ordered his team. Things were getting clearer now. "On me, Delta."

They retraced their way back to the elevator, carefully checking every corner for the enemy. When they got to the elevator, Winters entered and pushed the 'Bottom Floor' and quickly stepped out.

"Sir, we're not going down with it?" Dutch asked.

"No, we'll take the service elevator. This is just a decoy." Dutch and Romeo looked at each other. "Like you said, Dutch, I like it quite."

Mack's vision slowly came into focus. It took a while to shake off the blurriness. He looked around and found himself sitting at the entrance of a service tunnel. Winters sat opposite to him, mending what looked like a communications array.

When Winters noticed him he crouched over to his side to help him up. "How are you?"

Mack got up on his feet. He tested his body, his legs and his arms, to see of there were any malfunctioning. "A little sore, but I'm fit for duty."

"Good, we've got some work a head of us."

He picked up the Com equipment and stepped out. Mack followed and noticed that they weren't far from the Com Facility. Dutch and Romeo rounded a building just up ahead. Mack and Winters jogged to meet them.

"Sir, we've scouted the area. There was light resistance." Romeo patted his sniper. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

"Gunny, I think we found a road to the next valley." Dutch squeezed in, disrupting Romeo from his bragging.

"Then we'll take it."

"Hey, can someone fill me in?" Mack asked. "What happened?"

"Well, we were just about to—" Winters began but never got to finish.

"Long story short; Shifty got shot down in the air and we're heading to the crash site." Dutch finished.

"At least we didn't have to fight Innies, right Delta-Five?" Romeo said condescendingly. "You know, 'cause Elites are so much easier to kill." As he walked past Mack he deliberately struck him with his shoulder. He lost his footing and fell to the ground.

"Stand down." Winter ordered. Mack got up to challenge Romeo, but didn't take any further actions. "Fall out. Romeo, you're on point."

One after another, the team followed Delta-Two as he led the way to where they thought the Pelican had gone down. As they moved down the valley more Covenant aircrafts could be seen entering the area. This battle was about to escalate.

There you have it! Please review!