Hey, everybody! I wrote this story about two years ago, after Halo 2 came out. This takes place during the Covenant invasion of earth. This was my first fan fiction back then. Enjoy.

I do not own Halo. That would be Bungie.

The Battle of Lushoto

"Make sure that the safety is on." I don't know how many times my father had said that. Holding that gun at age seven was not fun. It was heavy. I remember him and me in the backyard, shooting 9mm bullets into a tree, for fun. "Keep your finger off the trigger…that's it." It scared me. Having so much power in my hands. My father was a marine medic, but you wouldn't have guessed it. He was built like a soldier and loved to shoot. I always knew him to be a great marksman. He was a great guy, all around. He was always joking and caring for my mother and me. That was, until the war.

The war…

The war had been going on for a while now. It was only a matter of time before my father was called…

He was away for almost a year before we found out that he was wounded. He was sent back to earth, along with countless others. He stayed in the hospital for two years. When he came home, half of his body was covered in bandages. After that, I stayed away from guns. I never wanted to be in any war.

The city of Lushoto had grown in the past year. Some wealthy governor decided to put a heap of money into building the city into a businessman's paradise. All around the world, the wealthy and the lucky decided to bring their business into this place. I was one of them. Having been educated in the art of construction, I decided to place my building company in the heart of Lushoto, Africa. My company, however, only comprised of twenty employees and a construction crew. We were a small company, but grew with each month, gaining speed towards success. We even brought in a software technician from New Mombassa, allowing us to dabble in new technologies. Everything was fine in my life.

The war was worse, though.

Every day, you would hear something on the news or rumors from the paper. The Covenant army kept getting closer. Every day, UNSC soldiers would be deployed every day from Lushoto, limiting our forces within the city. The marine headquarters in Lushoto was almost empty. When I heard about Reach, my heart bottomed out. I knew it was only a matter of time before the war would end up on Earth. Everyone thought the same way. I was thankful, though, that I was in Africa and not in one of the major cities around the world. Covenant forces would probably attack Washington D.C. first or Britain.

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

On October 20, 2552, the covenant landed on Earth soil. New Mombassa received the brunt of the attack. However, Lushoto was Mombassa's next-door neighbor.

---

"You did check it right?" Mary-Ann asked. I rubbed my eyes and asked her to repeat the question.

"The progress report. You did look over it right?"

"Um," I stalled, "maybe."

She looked at me with a glare and put her hands on her hips.

"Carl, I told you to read those yesterday."

I raised my hands up in defense. "All, right. All, right. I'll check them now. I just don't know why I am reading these on such a beautiful day."

It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky.

Mary-Ann rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, I don't know how you became my boss." She walked out of the office, letting out a long sigh. The old progress reports always bored me to tears. There was one consolation to this activity. The company had actually purchased some new A3 Underground Scanners. I had sent a team to the outskirts of Mombasa to test them out. The scanners would help find better ground for better foundations for buildings. That progress report would tell me how the testing went. After opening the file, I skipped all the boring parts and went strait to the scanner report.

"What? Metal?"

In the report, the scanning crew said they found a large hunk of metal. A very large hunk of metal. They said it was about a hundred miles long. This made me stand up out of my seat. Nothing was in that dessert. It was just a big, flat piece of land. I was about to make a call when I heard my name being called in the other room. I walked out into the cubical area, only to find my employees gathered around the television set. They all had blank looks, but in their eyes you could see…fear. I gazed at the T.V. and what I saw almost made me run out the door.

"My God."

The Covenant had just arrived.

---

I gathered my suitcase and headed out the door. Mary-Ann and the others had already left. As I walked out the door, I heard the roar of people everywhere. Mothers, Fathers and children all ran like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. I thought 'where are they going to go?' I knew that there was nowhere to run. I jogged to the nearest train station, but I knew what I was going to find. Thousands of people were packed into this small train station lobby, praying to hitch a ride. Instead of pushing my way into a train, I thought it best to find another way out. Of course, there was no way out. I knew what Covenant ships did after conquering a planet. There would be no hope for anyone. As I walked towards the airport, the first Covenant Cruisers appeared above the city. Even more panic ensued.

I do not know what it was. I must have gotten my fathers instincts, because I headed strait for the nearest pawnshop, running down dusty alleyways. I could not escape, so I would do the next best thing…fight. Better die fighting than to die standing around. After dropping my suitcase, I ran as fast as I could to get to my destination. When I arrived, I found five other men and three marines standing outside the shop. They had striped the store of all its guns. The sergeant looked at me with a face that would make a man cry.

"Do you want to help?"

I nodded.

He nodded.

"Here." He passed me a small handgun. It was a little outdated, but still shot bullets. The other civilians had sawed-off shotguns and more handguns. The marines were equipped with SMGs. As far as I could see, there was only one grenade. They handed me three clips of ammo. With a long sigh, the sergeant gave us the plan.

"Okay… The Covenant will be raining down our throats in a couple of minuets. We need to slow them down so the city can evacuate."

One of the civilians piped up.

"Uh, sir? Are there any other marines in the city?"

The sergeant paused.

"Yes. But I haven't been able to contact them. They are probably doing the same thing that we are going to do."

"Sir?" It was I talking this time.

"What?"

"I just came from the train station and it is full of people. That would be the best spot around here to defend."

The sergeant only nodded in approval.

"You lead us to the train station then."

A young man, about the age of eighteen, asked the question that was on all our minds.

"Do you think that a couple of shotguns and machine guns are going to hold off the Covenant?"

The sergeant's face went dark. He was about to answer when the scream of covenant banshees flew overhead. We all dove for cover.