The scene was grim, already there were fires that stretched for miles; the tell-tale sign of an unstoppable alien force sweeping across a once lush, and vibrant colony planet; Hakkan Prime. They had received the distress call three days ago, all available ships were to respond immediately, no matter their status. FLEETCOM had emphasized that the UNSC needed a win against the Covenant badly, morale was spiraling out of control and volunteers for the UNSC Marine Corps and ODST programs were dwindling just as fast. The UNSC Arthedain had been one of the first in the system, long range scanners confirmed a moderate fleet of Covenant carriers and cruisers. Immediately the UNSC ships were engaged , corvettes were targeted first and melted away; whole ships crushed under the might of the Plasma turrets equipped on each hostile cruiser. Finally, the fight had become fair when the ships who had responded arrived, Admiral Taka and the 4th Fleet. Taking the helm, the Admiral had launched a successful counter-volley of accurate fire, rupturing the hulls of many of the light attack craft fielded by the covenant.
Captain Hullmund of the Arthedain sat in his chair, watched the displays as they rotated from the fight in space, and the fight on the ground. He had decided it best to order all his available troops to begin the landings early, whilst the UNSC still had the upper hand in space. Only now he was coming to regret it.
"Sir it's only been fifty-four minutes since our troops received hostile contact. We shouldn't already be worrying ourselves with the evacuation plans. We have sent down the Spartans along with the ODSTs, I think we will be fine for the time being. Let it play out a little longer." said Wyla, the ships A.I.
The Captain just shook his head, eyes now fixated upon the center display. It was an overlook of a raging battle. The Marines had dug into the outskirts of Hayden, the planet's capital city. They had orders to stop any and all covenant from moving forth into the city limits until the extraction teams had evaced with the remaining civilians. So far it was going well, but now it didn't seem so. Watching the display he could see the slow, but evident proof that his Marines were losing ground; too much ground.
"Come on Spartans, where are you?" he muttered to himself, anxiety saturating his tone.
The light slowly broke through the field of black. A pounding began to follow as Linda opened her eyes fully, taking in the scene in front of her. She was leaning against a tattered concrete wall for support; her vision was just as fuzzy as her memory. She need to stand up, she needed to get her bearings; she could hear the sounds of gunfire fading into her ears. She braced her hand on the wall, and began to lift herself up slowly; but to no avail as she was brought back to the ground. She reached over, and noticed there she had restricted movement on her right side; where all the pain was coming from.
"Keep firing! Don't stop until you're out of ammo!' shouted a familiar voice.
Linda blinked her eyes, wiping out the last of the blur. She looked around rapidly at the people lying around her, she could see Marines and ODST's alike laying in small pools of their own blood. She saw a small corpsman slinking from body to body administering aid if they were conscious and breathing. She was focused on the scene of the small woman wrapping up a man with a plasma burned face, when suddenly her concentration was broken. A titanium knee slammed into the ground right in front of her, a hand slowly followed as it braced the weight of the body from falling into the dirt.
Linda slowly rolled her eyes over the dirty and defeated figure. She remembered immediately that it was one of her fellow Spartans; John. She looked down at her Heads up Display on the inside of her Helmet, for his vitals. She saw that his vitals were getting dangerously low, and were blinking on borderline cardiac arrest. Trying to move Linda still couldn't reach out to him, but she still completed her visual inspection of him and his armor. His visor was caked in mud, his visibility gone. She could hear the labored breathing echoing from within his helmet. John was still on his knee, but he had to place one hand over a sharp pain around his ribs, that was sapping the strength from his resolve to fight. Blood and gel were oozing through his clamped fingers, running down his dirt splattered gauntlets. He flexed his shoulders and attempted to get onto his feet but the pain must have been to great; he sat unmoved.
Finally able to find the strength she reached out her hand, a line of support. Inching closer to his right gauntlet, she called to him. "John, come here. You're hurt."
John's visor was caked with mud but under it all there had to be a crack; and breach in his armor's seal, he knew it had to be there. The covenant were slowly surrounding them; he was the only one that had the will to return fire at them. But some lucky Elite had struck him with a few lances of white hot plasma; he could feel the warm blood through his gloves. He glanced over one last time at Linda to see that she had stretched her hand out for him, he armored finger tips on his right forearm. He could hear her calling something to him, but he shrugged it off knowing that if she was awake, then she was fine; he hastily looked around for a weapon, anything would work. He found what he was looking for; next the mangled body of an ODST was an MA5B assault rifle, which had obviously seen better days. He reloaded the rifle with a metallic clunk as the magazine was seated, and checked his side, the bleeding had started to coagulate after the wound had been exposed to the layer of gel under his plating. It had wounded him so badly that it had knocked the wind out of him, spinning him like a top and dropping him down to the ground.
He looked over at Linda, studying her visor. He wished he could see her face again, that beautiful fiery red hair, that seemed to effortlessly cascade over her shoulders, or her piercing green eyes, her slender; yet muscularly toned body. He had sudden flashbacks to when he was younger and would often find himself staring at her from a distance. The feelings that had festered within him, that at first bothered him; soon turned into something far greater and exhilarating than he had ever imagined. He knew what the feeling was, but it was something that didn't need to be said aloud; for fear that it might change things for the worse.
He propped himself upon one knee, feeling the pain reverberate throughout his body. His heart was pumping faster than usual, he could hear it in his ears. He needed to get up, to fight and do the job that he was tasked with. He could hear Linda calling to him again, finally breaking through his despair and panic.
"John, come over here. You need to get into cover." her voice breaking through torrent of hate that was searing over his head. A reminder that in a matter of minutes he might be face first in his final resting place.
Linda was reaching for John, her Commander. She had known for the longest time that she had a strong attraction to him. He was an excellent leader, an amazing shot, and he was uncommonly lucky; but she found that there was this yearning inside of her to be with him. She needed him to be okay, to be safe and sound for her; her rock in the endless ocean of war.
The gap was closed between John, and Linda. John rested his head on her shoulder, waiting for his death and hers. His life began to flash rapidly before his eyes, he saw receiving day; when all the Spartan boys and girls were lined up for primary inspection. He remembered seeing her fiery red hair, and those green eyes looking right at him. His life was hard, no doubt about that; however Linda was there at every turn. She had been there for graduation, when Sam had been killed. She had always been there, waiting at his side.
"Linda, I..." he trailed off reaching his hand for her face, only contacting her helmet gently.
The soft humming of ghosts began to grow louder as they slowly encircled them. This is it, thought John and closed his eyes. Thinking of Linda, staring into her visor suddenly sparked within him the strength he needed. Mustering it all he stood, and hurled himself over the low wall that Linda and him had been using to support themselves. He launched himself into the fray, staring into the maw of the horde of raging aliens.
"John, no!" yelled out Linda in a pained voice, blood dribbling out of the corners of her mouth as she coughed.
He landed, and stood up; taking in the size of the force in front of him. He clicked the safety off on his rifle and began to lay down fire upon the encroaching enemy force. He was struck by a purple crystal in the knee, and another to his shoulder. He dropped to his knees once again and slaughtered an approaching group of grunts charging him, they thudded to the ground in a dead heap. His vision became blurry as another wave of needles nearly hit him, he didn't feel anything; the pain was gone. He reloaded his rifle just in time, as he dispatched two elites that rushed him.
A bright light blinded him, but only for a moment. He looked to the sky, as a squadron of Pelicans swooped in armed with rocket pods. They targeted the amassed force of covenant and opened fire; spilling destruction to the small patch of land that the enemy resided on. Reducing the ground to a smoldering crater, coated in soot from the explosives dropped upon it. John let out a sigh, followed by a cough which left the taste of copper in his mouth. He sat back on his haunches, knees on the dirt, and hands bracing themselves on his knees. He hung his head low, breathing deeply trying to steady his heart rate.
"John, John!" he heard someone screaming, footsteps thundering behind him; dirt crunching beneath boots unseen. A swirl of dirt encircled him as the wind picked up slightly, the scent of charred skin wafting through his air scrubbers.
He felt someone run over, and wrap their arms around him. He felt his helmet being removed, but was focused too much on his pain to notice it. A cool breeze swept across his sweat smattered face, playing with the trails of fresh blood flowing lazily down his face.
Linda had seen John, bravely and stupidly jump over the wall to confront the covenant assault. Hearing the sickening splatter of needles impacting him as they tore through the soft under layer of his armor. She had seen the Pelicans sweep in out of nowhere and lay waste to the snarling beasts in front of their position. Getting up and hobbling over to his side, Linda wrapped her arms around him the best she could, and breathed a sigh of relief. She depressurized his armor, and removed his helmet slowly; secretly enraptured upon casting her gaze upon his face once again, she missed seeing it.
Once she had gingerly lifted the helmet off his bowed head, she had to hold back a gasp. Once always knowing John for having scars, and bruises; but this however was different. She looked at him, seeing a small amount of blood lazily drip from his mouth into the dirt. He had a busted nose, and dried blood all over his chin; he had two gashes on his left cheek, and a massive black right eye. She leaned in, removing her helmet as well.
"I thought I was going to lose you," she whispered to herself, in an attempt to console herself. Resting her forehead against his, and sighing in discontent for his current condition.
"You won't, Linda. You never will" he replied flatly.
She leaned back and looked him in the face, a shocked expression across her lips. She hadn't known that it came out aloud, but unbeknownst to her; it was due to John's overly attuned ears. They both stood up; however it was shaky for both of them. For the first time, she felt the wind sweep across her face, flailing loose strands of her red hair in front of her eyes.
John was satisfied that he could once again see her face, that beautiful porcelain sculpture; framed by fire and studded with two shining emeralds. He looked over to see a Pelican landing slowly nearby, waiting for them. He felt Linda rest her weight on his shoulder as they began to amble towards the rear bay of the Pelican.
"John, I…I…" stammered Linda, choking back what she really wanted to say. Thinking it best to leave for another time, at least until they were both an one hundred percent capacity.
He just smiled, and nodded resting his head against her head. Letting his fantasies run rampant through his mind; only to have the figure of self doubt and pain drag him away from the bliss. The pain of his melted skin, and shattered rib cage had brought him into the throes of darkness once more. His vision blurring as they stepped upon the bay door.
"She doesn't love me," he spoke to himself silently, reassuring himself that the feelings were ludicrous, and unfounded. He needed to focus on his job, but what if they weren't? He tried to push it from his mind as they sat down in the two empty seats; her laying her head upon his armored pauldron.
"You're going to be okay sir." spoke the female medic that had attended the ODSTs on the ground before hand.
"Take care of her first" he commanded, nodding his head at Linda.
Linda had been leaning on him the entire time they were flown into Hayden, gently landing at the Forward Operating Base for the UNSC. She kept thinking to herself the entire ride, she loved him; and she wanted him to know badly, but there was just no easy way to say that to him. She hoped that he loved her just as much, but she just wished it wasn't all because of her high hopes, and her ever eluding dreams.