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Troy Sectman sat in an uncomfortable seat on a pelican transport dropship. He was dressed in full battle armor with a pistol in his holster and an assault rifle resting on his lap. Many of his teammates had referred to him as more of a downgraded version of a Spartan than a marine. Indeed, he was tall and muscular, resembling more of an ODST. In his gloved hands, he held a picture of him standing next to a middle aged girl. Her red hair was fluttering in the light breeze and she wore a charming smile on her face.
Troy's mind flashed back a few weeks. He was sitting on a bed next to the girl. He remembered the faint smell of fresh shampoo in her hair. She was beautiful in her snow white pajamas and her soft emerald eyes. The only thing out of place was the tears on her cheeks.
"Please don't go, I can't lose you too." She sobbed. Her tears dripped onto the mattress they were sitting on.
"Don't worry Shelby, I'll be fine. The UNSC's going to need every soldier on the front lines. I'll come back. I promise." Troy assured.
"What if you don't? Please stay, you don't have to go!" She cried, more tears spilling from her eyes.
"I have to go," Troy muttered solemnly.
"But why?"
"It's my duty, I have to do this."
Shelby wiped her eyes on her sleeves and spoke in a soft voice, "I don't want you to die."
For a moment, there was silence. Then Troy lifted her chin so that their eyes met, "Do you remember that priest that said the words 'Till death do you part?'"
The girl nodded sadly, "Yes."
"Well he was wrong. I'll always love you, till death… and beyond." He gently pulled her close and they shared a passionate kiss. After the moment passed, Shelby broke the silence.
"Troy… I have something to tell you…"
His eyes turned curious, "What is it?"
The girl took a deep breath before she spoke, "Troy… I'm pregnant."
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Troy's mind jumped back to the present as he stuffed the picture into one of his pockets and readied his rifle as the dropship prepared to land he gritted his teeth and clutched his rifle until his knuckles turned white. Just as the pelican's door opened, the smell of burning and rotting flesh assaulted his nostrils and a few bolts of searing plasma flew in, striking a few of his teammates. Immediately his combat instincts kicked in, he flew from the dropship's carriage and returned fire, downing a grunt before he had to take cover again. Soon, his squad followed suit and the pelican took off.
Troy ignored the piles of dead marines next to him and fired blindly over his head. He flinched as another volley of plasma sailed over him. He took a peek and saw the hundreds of Covenant troops converging from two sides. What an incredibly stupid place to drop us off,Troy thought to himself as he emptied another clip into the battlefield. Things were going badly, the skirmishers had joined the fight and man, those things were fast.
The strange bird-like creatures activated their wrist mounted energy blades and charged. The marines were being massacred as the skirmishers sliced through their lines while the elites behind them provided cover fire. Troy grunted in dismay as his assault rifle emitted a clack as he pulled the trigger. Then one of the skirmishers jumped over his cover and activated its energy blade. Troy pulled out his pistol, but the alien slapped it out of his hands and lunged.
With inhuman agility, Troy caught the feathered arm with the blade before it could reach his chest. The feathered creature screeched in surprise as the marine used his other hand to grasp the skirmisher's neck. Troy spun and slammed the creature against a wall. Quickly, he let go of its neck and pulled out his combat knife and stabbed it through the head.
Out of the corner of his eye, Troy saw another skirmisher behind him with a plasma pistol. He spun around again, holding the alien's dead corpse in front of him as a shield. He grunted as he felt the bolts of bright green plasma impact against his shield, making a sickening squish every time. Troy saw his pistol lying next to him, without letting go of his carcass protection, he used his feet to kick the pistol into the air.
He caught it as it came down and unloaded a single bullet into the Skirmisher's head, killing it instantly. With renewed vigor, he gripped his blade and leapt out of cover right in front of an elite with an energy sword. With a savage yell, he charged and fired his pistol.
Surprised at Troy's attack, the elite faltered. That gave the marine enough time to weaken its shields and stab it in its eye.
Another elite saw this and roared in anger and charged at Troy with its energy sword drawn. He eagerly responded to the challenge with a battle cry of his own. He discarded his pistol in favor of the energy sword of the elite he just killed and rushed towards the angry alien head-on.
The sangheili tried to stab him first, but Troy sidestepped the swing and hurled himself onto its back, stabbing it in the neck. Before the alien could fall to the ground, Troy launched off of its back and onto the torso of an elite ultra. They both fell to the ground as the marine sent his energy sword through it's chest.
Then suddenly, searing pain lanced through Troy's body as a flash of light exploded next to him. He felt the wind rushing past him as he flew from the force of the explosion. As he landed on his back, Troy saw the banshee swoop upward as it prepared for another strike.
Troy grunted in pain as a four fingered hand wrapped around his neck and heaved him off the ground to face the four-mandibles and blazing red eyes of an elite zealot. The sangheili roared in his face as it readied its energy sword to impale him.
Troy gathered his strength and yelled in defiance as he sent his combat knife through the zealot's tough shields and into the muscles of its neck. The elite's eyes bulged as if to say "impossible."It loosened its grip on Troy's neck and fell to the ground, dead.
He picked up the zealot's sword to face another wave of elites. Just as he was about to charge, Troy felt a plasma bolt strike his left arm. Then another struck his chest. As he went down, he elites surrounded him. Troy reached for a stray plasma pistol, but one of them kicked it away, laughing. One of them lunged with an energy sword, but Troy kicked him away. Then the other elites converged. Troy couldn't possible hold them all off as his wounds drained his energy. He didn't feel it, but he saw an elite smile sadistically as its energy sword entered Troy's gut.
Still alive, Troy thought back to his promise. Till death and beyond Shelby,he thought as his vision faded away and the life slipped from his body.
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Trivia:
Troy killed seven aliens before he died, this is a sevenreference for Bungie.