**Note: Halo, and all of the characters, weapons, vehicles, technology, history, locations and "extended universe" content belongs to Bungie. I do not own any of it. Well, except for maybe my own characters. **

Dawn Awakening

This is a story about a man named Joe, who lost his home in Côte d'Azur

during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. He was with the group of civilians that was evacuated by the SPARTAN team designated "Red Team." This is the story of what happened after the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. This is my first fan-fiction ever written, so I hope you don't expect top-notch stuff. :-\

**Note: There may be a small spoiler in this story if you have not read "Halo: The Fall of Reach"**

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It was dark, dank, and smelly in the cargo ship. But that was a small price to pay in order to avoid getting killed by the Covenant. Joe leaned up against the wall and remembered all that had happened before. Just a few hours ago, he was watching the Galaxy News when a Covenant troop transport landed in his street. Then all hell broke loose.

He saw his friends, his family, everyone he knew from his childhood, slaughtered like some sort of common, household pest. His parents, his friends; it didn't matter. The Covenant killed them all the same. He had gotten lucky, though. He managed to escape to the city's spaceport. There, he had managed to sneak into a cargo ship with a group of others. He had been holed up in here ever since.

He looked at his reflection in the burnished wall of the cargo ship. His brown-blond hair was tousled from all the running. He was about 5'11", and he was not overly large, nor too lean. His pale skin looked even more ghostly in the poor lighting of the ships storage compartment. He looked like your every-day average person; except for his eyes. Those were the most notable feature of him. They changed according to the seasons. In the summer time, they were a hazel-like color. But during the winter season, they turned a bright, icy blue.

Joe was brought back to reality by a series of rapid gunshots. He, along with the other 19 survivors in the ship, jumped in surprise. He took a chance, and peeked out of the view port that was above him about a meter. He looked out, and saw Covenant troops firing into a doorway, that was on the other side of the hangar. Joe caught a glimpse of a cylinder, before it exploded into a cloud of smoke. The enemy troops stopped firing, and a Covenant Grunt cautiously walked up to the doorway. Suddenly, the Grunt's head snapped back, and it did a series of flips, before a shot was fired from the smoke, hitting its breather mask, causing it to explode, setting half the Covenant troops on fire. Jackals and Grunts ran around in pain, disoriented. The two commanding Elites had gotten caught in the blast, but they did not burn, as their energy shields flared silver, and dispersed the flame.

Then, stepping out of the doorway was something that made Joe freeze. It was about 2.5 meters tall, and it wore a pearlescent green armor. It opened fire on the nearest Elite. Bullets tore through it, dispersing its shields, and puncturing through its back. Then, three more of the creatures stepped through the door frame, and opened fire. Grunts and Jackals dropped as the bullets swept through the area.

Then, after the aliens were dead, the newcomers all opened fire upon the remaining Elite. Even though he was a mighty warrior, he could not possibly survive the hail of bullets that was aimed his way.

After the Elite was dead, the newcomers swept the area, making sure that the area was clear. Joe had a better look at them. They were defiantly human, that he could tell. They looked like some sort of military team, but far more effective, and more deadly than the standard unit of Marines that he had seen about on the Galaxy Wide Web – GWW for short. They moved with an odd gracefulness, despite their large size and the armor that they wore.

One of them said, "All clear." Then, they moved about the hangar, moving like robots. Joe was so riveted to the scene outside the window, that he was startled when there a loud clunk at the door, followed by a brilliant white light. Then, there was a loud crash as the door was kicked in. A light shone over the storage compartment, and the people inside it. One of the humans in the armor entered, and lowered their weapon.

"It's okay," a sharp, male voice said, putting up his palm in order to reinforce his words. "We're here to help."

The people in the cargo compartment seemed anything but reassured. He said again, "Come on. We're not going to hurt you," this time, his clipped tone was a bit softer.

Still, no one talked to him, or showed any sign that they felt safe. So, Joe walked up to the armored giant, and said, "Thanks for showing up. I thought we were going to die in here."

The rest of the people nodded, as if that was what was on their minds.

The armored soldier said, "Alright," he said, satisfied with the response. "I am SPARTAN-029… but you may call me Joshua." He added. "Now come on, we should get out of here before Covenant forces come back."

The civilians cautiously stepped out of the cargo ship. The SPARTAN named Joshua swept the area with his rifle, making sure it was all clear. "Hold on for a second," he told the group of survivors. "I am going to radio in to our Squad Leader." Then, he went silent, but his head moved as if he were talking. "There must be a communications device in his helmet," Joe thought. He looked up at the visor of the man, seeing his own reflection in the mirrored faceplate.

After about a minute or so, Joshua said to the group, "Alright. It's time to move. Stay quiet, and don't draw attention."

The four SPARTANS surrounded the group of civilians, one on each side. They moved towards the doors. Just as they were about to exit, Joe bumped something with his foot. He looked down, and saw a Covenant plasma pistol; the one that had belonged to the Grunt that had gotten hit by one of the SPARTANS. He quickly bent down, and picked it up, just incase he needed it for protection. Joshua nodded at him, thinking that it was a good idea.

The pistol was surprisingly light weight, even though it was quite large. The front of the weapon glowed a ghostly green. He soon found what he thought was the trigger, but there was no way to test it yet. He would just have to wait. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use it.

They rounded the corner of the doorway, when a group of Covenant, attracted by all the commotion, opened fire. The group of survivors screamed, and ran the other direction. Joe tripped and fell behind. He scrambled for cover, and ducked behind a cargo container. He was backing up, when he walked into something.

He turned around, face to face with a Covenant Elite. The Elite pushed him down, and laughed a deep, menacing laugh. It pointed its gun at Joe's head.

Then, it fired.