Author's note: Well, I decided that in lieu of my previous Halo fic being a piece of junk to write one that has been sitting in the oven for a while waiting to heat up enough for me to write it. Previously I wouldn't have written an author's note but I'm trying to keep up with some of the trends. BTW eventually this story will branch out into a crossover but for now it will stay in the Haloverse for a little while. So, without further interruptions comments random music and death it is my pleasure to introduce the first chapter of the Unknown Soldier. Music to listen to while reading this is the entire halo soundtrack from Combat Evolved to Halo 4. Enjoy the revision. Update 12/19/12.

All Alone

Date: December 11, 2552…

Location: The Ark

Objective: Ensure that Intel makes its way to HighCom.

Squad Members: MIA

Medical Status: Wounded, Punctured lung, bruised Trachea, internal bleeding.

"Hiss," the sound of something pressurized being depressurized echoed throughout the small canyon as the soldier took his helmet off for a second to examine the snowy canyon with his own eyes.

The Soldier suddenly doubled over and began to cough violently as blood began to pass from his mouth onto the snow. After several minutes of coughing up blood the soldier reached into his armoured rucksack and began to look for any biofoam that might not have been used up on any other human soldiers during this battle.

Nothing; that was what the soldier found; nothing, knowing that this wasn't the worst injury that he had sustained in his thirty something odd year career he shrugged off the pain and did what he did best, ignore pain and do what is necessary.

The soldier picked up his ODST helmet from where it lay, and brushed off the snow that obscured the blackened visor. His armour was red; blood red if you were trying to be specific, with slashes of white and black thrown in. It was part of the effect, to cause your foes to cower and be afraid of you and scatter was something akin to a work of art.

"Athena," The soldier whispered; "I need you to get into the Covenant Battlenet and find out where in this canyon they are so that we can hold them off while the Chief finishes the flood."

"I'm on it," replied Athena.

"Then lets get this party started" whispered the soldier in ODST armour. "Turn on playlist Last chance and start with The Warrior song Hard Corps"

The music began to play through the soldiers external speakers as he began to lay traps and set up his firing line.

The amount of weapons and ammunition that the soldier carried on a regular basis would have weighed down anyone but a Spartan. The soldier's list of weapons wasn't long, but he did carry enough to kill a small army by himself.

Now that the preparations were finished, the soldier climbed to the top of the canyon and ran a titanium fiber rope over to the other side where he had a grappling hook attached. Now that the line was secure the soldier climbed to the middle of the line and carefully created a loop for his foot to ease into as the soldier flipped into an upside down position.

The soldier had left his MA5B assault rifle down in the canyon were the soldier would land when he fell.
Armed with only his SRS99C Sniper rifle the soldier watches as brutes began to file into the places that he had carefully placed traps in anticipation of the brutes stumbling upon them and withering their own numbers down before he had to directly engage them.

Seeing that the brutes were right on top of his carefully placed C-12 the soldier brought his Tacpad covered right arm to his line of sight and sent the encrypted detonation code to the remote charges.

The initial explosion tore at the very least a dozen brutes apart before the shrapnel even reached the rest of the brutes withering them down another dozen.

The brutes; as the soldier had expected, scattered in all directions and stumbled upon even more traps which would take them out in groups of twos and threes.

From their original seventy five the brutes were now down to thirty five which proceeded to be whittled down until there were only fifteen left alive, and most of those were wounded.

The soldier then proceeded to use his Sniper Rifle to great effect causing the numbers to be decreased to one before they even heard the source of where his shots were echoing from. Dropping from the cable, the soldier did a back flip before landing on the ground, drawing his M6D pistol and killing the last brute with a shot to the head.

After holstering the pistol the soldier reached up and caught his sniper rifle out of the air before reloading and placing it onto the magnetic plate on his back. Snatching his MA5B out of the snow where he had hidden it, the soldier proceeded to make his way towards the main pack of brutes that were there waiting for the "Red Devil" to come.

Making his way over the snowy white cliff, the soldier crept up on an unsuspecting brute before drawing his heavy 12' Titanium laser sharpened knife and stabbing it right behind his ear. Without a sound the brute sank into the snow, his purplish blood staining the snow as the soldier made his way to one of the two Scarabs parked in the middle of the snow white valley.

Knowing that he only had at least ten minutes before the brutes discovered that one of their own was dead the Soldier carefully climbed his way up the Covenant Purple Scarab. Just before he reached the top, the soldier unholstered his M6D and peered over the platform using the scope. The soldier saw many sleeping grunts and one chieftain who strode down into the bowels of the Scarab. Easing his way up onto the platform, the soldier made his way over to the core of the Scarab. Prepping his last charge of C-5 the Soldier set a thirty second timer, after flicking the switch that activated the timer. The soldier then sprinted out of the core room and dove off of the Scarab.

The soldier hit the ground and rolled, almost dislocating his shoulder in the process. Coming out of the roll, he brought his MA5B up and began to mow down Grunts and Jackals that were sleeping or shieldless.

Replacing his extended clip with a fresh one the Soldier took cover behind one of the old Forerunner walls that dotted the landscape. As he took cover the Scarab exploded with a blinding flash, causing the other Scarab to react and face the wreckage that now helped to cover the Soldier as he carefully made his way underneath the Scarab. Ducking beneath one of the pieces of leg the soldier peered around the wreckage, counting multiple brutes dropping to the ground beneath the Scarab.

The soldier snatched his SRS off of his back and peered through the scope. Lining up the best shot possible the soldier eased his finger into the trigger. The rifle jerked back into the soldier's shoulder as the round sped at supersonic speeds into the head of the brute, continuing on to ricochet off of the Scarab's leg and hitting another brute in the spine.

The SRS spat out three more shots before ceasing its fire and allowing the confusion sown to come to fruition. The soldier, after reloading his SRS, traded out for his MA5B. The soldier sprinted towards the brutes, spraying those closest with short controlled bursts and bringing them down with the most minimal effort. Firing his Assault rifle with one hand the soldier reached for his M7S SMG strapped to his left thigh and began to unload 5 x 23mm FMJ rounds at the brutes on his left. Shooting down a brute that was carrying a Fuel Rod gun on his back the soldier rolled, grabbing the Fuel Rod gun and as he came up he fired all five rounds into one of the legs of the Scarab, temporarily crippling it. Dropping the now spent heavy weapon the Soldier in blood red ODST armour ran towards the open troop bay of the Scarab and swung up while firing several rounds into the grunt manning the plasma turret stationed there. Carefully taking the time to ensure that the area was clear for a moment, the soldier paused for a moment and took the time to reload both his Assault Rifle and his SMG before placing his MA5B on his back and extending the stock on his M7S. Crouching slightly the soldier made his way up the ramp of the Scarab to the main platform.

The soldier heard a roar as soon as he entered the open expanse of the platform before being charged by a behemoth of a brute. This chieftain had no power armour on and instead seemed to have an overshield and gravity hammer similar to the Fist of Rukt.

The brute charged the soldier at a staggering speed as the soldier emptied his entire 48 round clip into the brute with no noticeable affects whatsoever. The Soldier backpedaled and reached for his sidearm, which he snapped up with an efficiency born of scenarios just like this. Firing his entire 12 round clip into the head of the enraged chieftain finally caused it to stumble as the powerful 12.7 x 40mm HE rounds struck with great force. The soldier dropped his sidearm and finally reached for his ultimate backup weapon, an energy sword that had been a gift from a now dead Elite Major. Squeezing down on the handle the superheated plasma blade activated and the soldier drove it deep into the brain of the chieftain as it began its charge again.

Deactivating the energy blade the soldier gathered his weapons and reloaded them, now using his MA5B with its 7.62mm rounds instead of the M7S and its smaller stopping power.

Easing his way around the side of the Scarab the soldier policed the grunt that was manning the Plasma Turret. The soldier, spying two Plasma grenades on the body of the grunt snatched them up and made his way to the core room. Placing the first Plasma grenade carefully to dispose of the shield, the soldier activated it and ducked out of the core room while the Core's shield was down. Running back into the room the soldier threw the final Plasma grenade into the core room while he made his way off of the Scarab.

The Scarab exploded with the blue flash of Plasma as the soldier hunkered down in the snow. Standing up the soldier drew his MA5B and looked around, now noticing the horde of angry brutes surrounding him.

"Athena," the soldier whispered. "How many are there?"

"Ninety Eight by my count" Athena replied in a worried tone.

Athena then paused and said the thing that made the soldier worry the most. "I'm worried that you may not make it out alive in this one."
"You're not the only one." The soldier whispered back. "I'm probably going to die during this one."

"I'll com for help," Athena told the Soldier.

"No, I'll do it". The soldier whispered and then cleared his throat.

"This is Sierra Zero One Zero requesting immediate reinforcements."

There was nothing but static on the com for a few seconds while the entire horde was waiting for the soldier in ODST armour to make his move. Then; all of a sudden, a voice burst through the com "This is the Shadow of Intent we read you loud and clear we are withdrawing from the Ark we cannot send reinforcements, we are with you in heart brother."

The soldier nodded, expecting as much he then drew two weapons that he had been saving for a little while out of his rucksack; a grenade launcher and a set of specialized napalm rounds for it. Loading the round into the launcher the soldier fired into the horde that was now charging him at reckless speeds. Using the launcher until he ran out of rounds the soldier dropped it and drew his MA5B firing in short controlled bursts, the soldier brought down another dozen brutes with three clips before the brutes were too close for him to use his standard weaponry. The soldier reached for the weapons that he rarely used because they were gifts from now long dead heroes. Drawing his customized energy swords the soldier began to cut into the masses of brutes that were coming at him. Slicing one brute in half the soldier pivoted on one foot using his momentum to launch into a back handspring slicing another two brutes to pieces.

The soldier continued to demolish the horde but even those who seem unstoppable must wear out eventually. The soldier having taken some hits during his rampage had suffered more internal organ failure. His punctured lung was threatening to collapse and his kidneys were now suffering from severe contusions.

Extinguishing his energy swords the soldier began to collapse onto his knees. Looking around the soldier saw the smoldering battlefield that was lying around him. Bodies and craters were everywhere, spent shell casings littered the ground and weapons were scattered all over the battlefield. There were still some brutes left alive and that included their chieftain so the soldier began to stand up again.

Drawing one of his combat knives the soldier shuffled slowly into a combat stance. Two of the remaining brutes charged at him while the soldier braced for the impact and readied his response. Sliding underneath the brute in the lead the soldier swept the brutes legs out from underneath him and brought his knife down in a stabbing motion into the brutes head. Leaving his knife there the soldier quickly rolled over to the remaining brute and fired his sidearm into the crotch where there was a bundle of nerves. When the brute doubled over the soldier finished him off.

Turning to face the remaining chieftains the solder barely had time to react, rolling out of the way to avoid the gravity hammer that impacted the space where he had just been. The shockwave sent him flying despite his efforts to avoid it. Causing the soldier to impact on one of the pieces of wreckage that littered the area.

The soldier grunted and examined his body before noticing the dislocated shoulder. Grabbing the shoulder with his hand the soldier quickly popped it back into place before his body could recognize the pain that it was going to feel. Grunting, the soldier quickly reached for his weapons that were on his back only to discover that they were twenty meters away laying on a rock. Sprinting to his weapons the soldier examined them for damage and seeing nothing, the soldier placed them back into their normal places while drawing his M7S.

Ducking underneath a hail of radioactive green bullets the soldier returned fire, taking down another brute before turning and running to another piece of cover.

"Athena," the soldier whispered. "How many are left?" as the soldier removed his helmet and coughed up another slew of blood onto the snow. Replacing his helmet on his head the soldier listened to what his partner had to say.

"There are ten brutes left," Athena said. "Two majors, six brute captains and two chieftains; one of the chieftains is wounded and should take only minimal effort to take down."

"Roger that," the soldier replied as he began to spray the majors with 5 x 23mm FMJ rounds. Using their confusion to his advantage the soldier threw his last grenade at the brutes. The resulting explosion left him with eight brutes to kill. Turning and drawing his M6D at the same time the soldier emptied his twelve round clip into the head of a brute captain causing its power armour to fail and the HE rounds to sink into its head before causing it to explode. Reloading, the soldier reaching into his rucksack and drew out a weapon that many would call outdated, holding twenty laser sharpened shuriken out before throwing them at the one captain that was left out in the open. The first five struck the power armour with enough force to cause its shields to start to fail; the remaining fifteen tore the brute to pieces. Knowing that the remaining six brutes would be enrage the soldier snuck behind the wounded chieftain and ended it with a knife to the neck.

Five brutes remained. The soldier was in pain and was unable to move fluidly. His movements were jerky and he was having trouble breathing. Using all of his stealth skills the soldier assassinated the remaining four captains and collapsed onto his knees in the middle of the broken battlefield. Coughing up blood inside of his visor the soldier felt a hand grab his neck and hoist him up in the air. The chieftain was holding him up above him and was about to choke him to death. The soldier felt the grip on his neck tighten and everything in front of him started to go black but before it did the soldier reached for the one thing that he had left in reserve. Drawing a plasma grenade from its hidden place in the small of his back the soldier jerked his arm forward and let the activated explosive fall to the feet of the brute. The chieftain panicked and threw the soldier into the air as the explosive detonated, taking down the brutes power armour and leaving him with minimal protection.

The soldier, activating one of his energy swords threw it at the brute as it jerkily stood to its feet. The bluish white superheated blade went all of the way through the chieftain, coming to rest against a lone rock standing in the middle of the field.

The soldier hobbled over to the sword, picking it up and placing it in its rightful place on his hip. Taking off his helmet the soldier gazed upwards at the exploding ring above him. When he used the scope on his SRS the soldier spotted one last thing. The ship that was his last hope, The Forward Unto Dawn was leaving through the portal.

Sighing; the soldier sat down on the rock, turning his helmet over in his hands. Allowing his hands to wander over his helmet he felt something that he hadn't felt in a long time. Four characters that while placed on his helmet would never be shown to the world. Those characters were the characters. S010.

Looking around him at the devastation that he had caused, the soldier took Athena's chip out of his helmet and reached into his rucksack for a holographic projector. Upon seeing her red headed figure in ODST armour the soldier relaxed slightly.

Turning to her the soldier whispered." Is this all that I am meant for? Useless destruction and violence that leads to nowhere."

Athena just gazed up sadly at her soldier who had fought so valiantly. Knowing that there was nothing she could say or do.

The soldier then gazed up into the explosion that was soon to reach them and said to his faithful AI companion. "I guess this is it." The soldier whispered to Athena, "Our final op before being forgotten and becoming both dust and echoes."

"Thirty years of service and we have done much for our race," Athena replied as the soldier inserted her chip back into his helmet. Turning and grabbing his SRS off of his back the soldier looked at the one thing that tethered him to his life. The two names carved into the sides of his rifle. Alice and Linda, those names held significance beyond what most people would attach. For one held the title of Daughter, the other Friend.

Deciding to face his final and greatest Journey with a resolute and hardened face the soldier turned and looked at the explosions making their way towards him.

Feeling a pull on him, the soldier reacted with a speed that few had seen. Turning and being pulled into the inky blackness that awaited him.

Author's Note: Well, I hope that you guys don't think my character is overpowered, he is extremely skilled but will face many adversaries to get to the stage that he is at now. And the truth of the matter is that this is both the ending and the beginning of the fanfiction. We will be working backwards from here starting with the beginning. This is the story of the Unknown. Will you continue to read it? This story isn't for the faint of heart. The soldier will undergo many many difficulties before he reaches this area in life. Also, this is going to end up becoming a massive crossover fiction after the main Halo Backstory is finished.