A/N:

Why hello there! I'm Carbon839, and while I'm not a known name in the Halo fandom, I thought that I should have a go at making a Halo story. This fic is based on an AU that will be explained in the prologue (here!) I don't see myself as a professional writer, nor do I think I will ever become the best out there, but that doesn't mean I should stop!

Anyways, please read and review! This goes for any fic you may end up reading. "Why?" you may ask? Simple! It gives writers like me and so many others inspiration to keep up with their fics, and continue to update them, no matter what! For the fans and all of that stuff!

While the reviews do not need to be an in depth analysis of my characters or how I portray them, constructive critisicm is always welcome!

On with the fic!

Disclaimer:

I do not own anything in this fic aside from my OCs and the original characters I've thought of for this fic. Anything else belongs to 343 Studios/Bungie.

Prologue:

It has been almost a year since the Battle of Installation - 04. To be specific, it was reaching the end of the year 2552 CE. However, following Humanity's victory there and the destruction of the Halo Ring, everything just went wrong. Master Chief went Missing in Action after detonating the Pillar of Autumn's engines, and many people assumed he was dead. UNSC denies that he is dead, but with Humanity's current situation, people lost hope in him.

Following the destruction of the Installation - 04, Humanity could not even slow down the Covenant ferocity, as colony after colony was either glassed or lost altogether. At the same time, the Covenant searched for the Ark, for reasons beyond Human understanding. They did not find the Ark... Instead they found Earth, which was slowly becoming the last bastion of hope for humanity. The Prophet of Regret did not hide the information from the rest of the Covenant, quickly telling the leaders of the Covenant. It did not take them long to reach a consensus-

Attack Earth.

For a long time, nothing happened as the Covenant slowly amassed an Armada to lay seige to Earth. Humanity took this time to prepare for their last stand. Mid way through 2552 CE, Thel 'Vadamee - formerly the Elite tasked with the defense of Installation-04 - was tried for the failure to protect the holy Installation and was declared guilty for his crimes. He was sentenced to death, and was hung by his entrails and paraded through the cities. Any Elite uprising was crushed quickly by the rise of the Brutes. Little did the Elites know of their fate to come.

Once Thel 'Vadamee was executed, a few galactic days passed... then the Covenant Armada crashed upon Earth. Humanity's fleets were quickly crushed under the sheer amount of Covenant ships, and were easily outclassed by them. The space combat lasted for a total of 7 hours. The remaining ships fled Earth. By the time the fleets fled, only a fourth of the citizens were saved from the inevitable glassing of Earth. The ships that did escape from the glassing either managed to escape by jumping to several planets, losing their tails... or were destroyed by Covenant forces pursuing them. Following the events, a rough estimate of the surviving Earthlings was given;

500,000.

Even then, the groups of humans were scattered in the galactic winds. The leaders of the surviving ships decided not to communicate with each other, fearing that this could allow the Covenant to track them down and cut down Humanity's dwindling numbers. This meant that a rebellion was not going to happen. Humans were now in random pockets on unknown planets, potentially dangerous or soon to expire. Humanity's existence was in jeopardy more than ever.

Turning back to the Elites, the fate of theirs ended up being similar to the humans. Following the Covenant's victory at Earth, they turned inward and focused upon the elites who were slowly moving towards rebellion. Almost three days following the fall of Earth, all of the Elites were declared heretics and were forced to flee away from the Covenant forces. Those who did not escape were either killed on the spot, or executed in a similar fashion to Thel 'Vadamee. Sanghelios was the next target of the Covenant armada. Ignoring any colonies that the Elites had settled, the Covenant used a similar tactic as they did on Earth. The mighty armada crashed upon the space around Sanghelios and quickly began to fight any space faring vessels that the Elites had. In one day, the space around the Elite Homeworld was cleared of the Sangheili fleet, surviving ships fleeing from the homeplanet.

Ground combat was guaranteed due to the Anti-Ship Cannons located all across Sanghelios, and the Covenant obliged this. They sent in elite units whose sole purpose was to locate and destroy these cannons and kill the High Council. These units slowly completed their objectives, Anti-Ship batteries slowly going down over the week of the battle and High Council being assassinated without much issue. Eventually, Sanghelios was left virtually defenseless against bombardments from the skies and potentially glassing.

…Covenant High Command chose glassing.

Billions of Elites were vaporized from the armada, and Sanghelios was a glassed wasteland by the end of the next week. After that, the Covenant turned to face off against the growing threat of the Flood.

All of these actions occurred within the span of one year. Beginning in 2553 CE, the remaining humans and elites are being hunted by both the Gravemind and the Covenant, who were fighting each other simultaneously. Whenever a planet was discovered to be holding either humans or elites, it was glassed by the Covenant or infected with the Flood, guaranteeing the death of anyone or anything on the planet.

One planet managed to stay hidden from either force- Erebus VII. The planet was discovered by a fleeing Charon-Class Frigate Unbroken. The ship quickly and quietly managed to land upon the surface of the planet. Within a day, all of the soldiers left upon the ship began to scout out the planet, using the dropships and other vehicles surviving the combat at Earth at their disposal. A small settlement was created around Frigate, the survivors hoping to never be found again by the Covenant.

But as the old saying goes, "Anything that can go wrong, will."