A New End
Chapter 1
It Never Ended
"Wraiths on the left! Move those Scorpion tanks up and blast em!" I said over my coms. "Aye, Thomas. Transmitting orders to UNSC ground forces now." The AI 'Cortana.' replied. I'd never much liked these computer programmed entities much, too many variables. The giant metal monsters with there massive gun tubes rolled past me as they began their forward assault on the alien vehicles.
This constant onslaught of kill or be killed on Pandora had been going on for months. Lieutenant Michaelson had taken out the first wave of these ugly alien fucks, in a revenge filled rage after the covenant had killed John-117 and his lover, Mia. His sister Lilith had continued to fight valiantly through the following waves however, becoming my second in command on the ground and commanding the respect not only of the indigenous forces of the previous 'Handsome Jack' but also of the UNSC Personnel now under her command.
"Lilith, that's enough for the day. Let's pull everybody back behind the security wall for the night." I said to her. "Did you catch that Cortana?" I asked the AI. "Attention all UNSC Personnel, full retreat order, I repeat, full retreat order to the rendezvous point behind the security wall." The computer generated voice came over my coms as well as the other hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the face of the planet.
UNSC engineers had sucessfully enlarged the security wall once built by Handsome Jack and the Hyperion Corporation, to keep out bandits as well as Roland and his forces of Crimson raiders, it was now the only thing that kept covenant forces away from friendly troops at night.
I lit a cigarette and walked over to one of the campfires that had been built for warmth and to cook on. "Why don't they just glass the planet? Like they did with Reach." I over heard a UNSC Marine whisper to one of his comrades. Some had theorized it was because they wanted the honor of defeating the great forces of Pandora face to face. Most of us knew it was because if they did that there would be no way to get to the 'Great Warrior of Pandora' that had been locked away in the vault. "Cortana?" I radioed the AI. "Aye, Sir. I'm here." She replied sounding almost depressed as she appeared in my view screen. "Keep an eye on the surface. Wake me when you need me." I ordered her. "Yes, John." She answered, what appeared to be a single tear stream down her face and it became stricken with embarrassment and sadness a split second before she disappeared completely. "That was strange." I thought to myself. "She seemed almost human..."