HALO WARS

The Battle of Eden

Hey there. This is my first fanfic and I'm pretty new to this sort of thing, but here's my best shot. This is just raw story, no editing has been done yet. Srry for any typos, as i kinda suck at editing my own work, and any reviews or critisism is totally welcome. Remember, this is a work in progress, and this is based on an upcoming video game, Halo Wars (kind of obvious), so, there's a lot more coming down the line. By the way, there's not much dialogue in the first part, something i need to fix, and also, just becuase this thing has the name HALO WARS and SPIRIT OF FIRE attached to it, that doesn't mean it takes place on Harvest ( NOT Harvest--EDEN!) Thanks, everyone.

August 14th, 2535

Outer Colony World Eden, Capital City Constantinople

21:08 Hours

Three heavily armed and armoured Pelican dropships, all full to bursting with loads of marines destined for the war-torn planet's surface, streaked through the lower atmosphere of Eden. Bursts of plasma flak and volleys of laser fire crisscrossed all around the trio of ships as they descended into the smoky skyline of Eden's capital city, Constantinople. Once a glorious sprawling industrial centre, the city had been reduced to nothing but a flaming rubble pile that the UNSC had fought in and around and in for four long years. Years of struggle, chaos, and battle against the never-ending wave of the alien Covenant warriors that still plagued the city. Thousands of marines had given their lives to retake the planet, and still the war dragged on.

The lead Pelican fired off a dozen rockets at the clearing between the smoking buildings in which they were supposed the land, and the courtyard erupted in several fiery explosions, scattering the few Covenant troops that were set up there. Dust flew up and blew in all directions as the Pelicans lowered into position and landed with heavy thuds, their landing gear locking into position as the doors opened and ninety marines poured out, yanking the charging levers of their weapons and scanning the area for possible hostiles. The sounds of battle filled the air and the dark sky was lit with the smoky fires of war and AA fire from hundreds of guns.

A Warthog roared past their position, followed by three more. The M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle -nicknamed 'Warthog' by the men and women who operated the - was a very powerful and well armoured combat jeep that was a staple of most UNSC ground forces. Boasting either an M41 LAAG machine gun or an M61 gauss cannon bolted to the back of the vehicle, it was a very important asset to all UNSC armies.

The last Warthog in line looked very badly damaged, covered in plasma scorches, dragging a burnt rear fender along the broken permacrete roadway and overloaded with several wounded soldiers. When the LRVs had passed, the marines spotted movement in the rubble strewn jungle of broken buildings off to the right. They spun and prepared to gun down whatever Covenant monstrosity was coming at them, but instead, several soot-covered marines clambered out of the wreckage and waved their assault rifles in greeting. Other Warthogs roared into sight to cover the newly arrived marines, M41 LAAG guns blasting away at the high level Covenant bombers and Banshee attack fighters high up in the dark sky.

The newly arrived soldiers lowered their weapons and hustled across the field of permacrete as the Pelicans lifted off again, sidestepping bodies, discarded weapons and little piles of flaming wreckage. A flight of Banshees screamed overhead above the skeletons of piping stations and ruined industrial buildings, firing off balls of white-hot plasma at two buildings to their east, and every marine in the company threw themselves flat to avoid the falling debris and plasma raining down from the sky. The marines who had greeted them hadn't even flinched, but they still turned and ran as the Warthogs revved their engines and went after the Banshees, racing after the purple war machines like dogs trying to catch flies.

The new marines scattered and scrambled for cover, assault rifles and other weapons blazing wildly at the firelit darkness above, and they dove into the cover of the crumbling industrial buildings. More Banshees dive-bombed their positions and explosions of melted permacrete, metal and plasma blasted the debris filled buildings.

Private Reese Freeman of the 21st Infantry rolled behind a broken wall just as a plasma shot detonated on the ground right where his head would have been a second before. He gingerly looked up over the wall and saw even more Banshees flying overhead, guarding a two pronged, ball turreted Spirit Dropship that was also spewing out fire at the marines below. He took careful shots at the flying machines, making sure not to attract too much attention, because those heavy defensive guns didn't look too friendly. Already, some of the new marines who had been too slow to make it to the buildings were falling to the twin lines of plasma marching around the courtyard.

Reese was an earthborn, and had had a very illustrious career in the UNSC military, especially in the war with the Covenant. He had seen a hundred skirmishes against the ferocious aliens, and had once been promoted to Major for his actions of bravery and courage in the face of impossible odds. Reese had been at Harvest, at Jericho V, and dozens of other worlds coming under attack from the ever encroaching Covenant fleets, and he had seen all there was to see of war that was tearing humanity apart. It was thanks to him and his actions as a commander that the UNSC still had control of over twenty strongholds in the outer colonies. Not bad for a man in his early thirties. But one key event in his life had changed everything.

It had been on Coral, when the UNSC was retreating after making a terrible strategic mistake that had cost them the world. Scattered marine groups were everywhere, all desperately trying to make it back to the capital city to escape the wave of Covenant warriors and ships that were sweeping the planet, and Reese's company had turned back to rescue a nearby group of marines trapped in a nearby town - in direct defiance of orders from Command. Reese's marines had taken a few losses, but that was nothing compared to the number of marines they had saved. When they had arrived at the city and taken a space elevator to a waiting transport ship, Reese had been taken into custody, court martialed and busted down to Private. And now here he was, in the middle of a chaotic battle that had raged for years, on a backwater but strategically important world called Eden.

As soon as the dropship and its escorts had passed, Reese jumped up and followed his marines into the destroyed complex. He had been ordered to meet up with a Captain Charlie Allan, who was in command of the mess in this part of the city. His position was anybody's guess, but it was Reese's job to find him and relieve him and his company. He had no idea where his squad was. North, Piper, Scorch and Cookie were probably all lost too in this maze of a complex. No matter. His mission was to find Allan, and his squad would have to wait until Allan was back behind friendly lines.

A twisting permacrete tunnel lined with long, dented piping and cracked wall plating stretched out before him. Many other marines were making their way down the hallway, some of the new soldiers already injured. Explosions rocked the narrow passage, shaking debris and from the crumbling ceiling. The few lights that had been erected to give off some light for the marines flickered and fizzed as they were jostled around by the forceful blasts, and the marines stumbled against the walls in their confusion. Reese moved carefully down the hall, listening to the sounds of battle outside and staying away from the walls, if something happened to come crashing through and kill him.

Ahead, there seemed to be some sort of hold up, but as he got closer, Reese saw that part of the hallway had collapsed to reveal a fierce firefight outside. A low, narrow wall was all that remained of the right side of the twisting hall, and a line of marines was crouched behind it, trading fire with the Covenant outside in the street to cover the marines moving through behind them.

Reese moved forwards again, and hearing someone yell, "Go, GO, GO!!" he charged through the opening. Marines poured out behind him and plasma streaked past him from every direction. Somebody was hit and the poor man was sent spinning to the ground, clawing at the small section of his face that was untouched by plasma. Others were blown backwards against the walls as more direct hits were scored, and marines fell to the concrete floor everywhere as the lack of good cover began to take its toll.

Reese charged into the fray and added his firepower to the other marines', throwing himself down behind the ruined wall and emptying his clip into the nearest Elite. The alien's personal energy shield sputtered and disappeared, and the last few bullets tore into the thing's body, sending gouts of purple blood out onto the road.

The tall, regal-looking Elite collapsed in a bloody heap, but five more aliens charged forwards to take its place. Small, chattering Grunts hurled bright blue grenades and peppered the marines with fire and the Elites stalked forwards, hosing the marines down further with even more plasma. Their cover was getting blown away fast, and there were too many aliens approaching to gun down fast enough. Just as the first Elite was powering up its energy sword for some close-combat work, a Warthog roared past the opening, swerving right over the group of Covenant and spewing out bloody chunks on the other side. The Covenant that had been lucky enough to avoid the rolling war machine were quickly gunned down with a single sweep of the M41 LAAG, and the Warthog sped off into the distance to deal with the next group of Covenant, power-sliding past wreckage and swerving under broken pedestrian skyways. Just as he got up and scrambled forwards back into the tunnel, Reese saw a Hunter ahead – an incredibly strong, twelve foot tall chunk of armour held together by millions of individual worm things – smash the hood of the Warthog inwards with its giant shield, causing the LRV to detonate in a massive explosion and fly high into the air to smash against the overhead piping. Seconds later, a rocket streaked out of nowhere and blasted the Hunter to bloody chunks of orange meat.

Reese raced back into the tunnel, skittering past several badly injured marines lying against the wall and reloading his MA5B assault rifle. Plasma impacted against the walls and small sections fell in, bubbling and melting against the floor like eggs frying on the sidewalk. Explosion after explosion rocked the streets and threw the marines around inside. Beside Reese, one marine was shot in the back of the head by another, who had stumbled and fell on his rifle, and he was subsequently shot as well as the rifle discharged again and blew his entire skullcap off, spraying the wall with his blood. The lights went on and off, dust streamed down from the cracked and pockmarked ceiling, and marines moved forward.

Light could be seen at the end of the hall, and the marines drove towards it. Reese barely missed being hit by a sudden burst of plasma that speared right through the tunnel and disappeared through the other side, though three other marines weren't so lucky. Their smoking corpses dropped like rocks, but the other marines didn't even give them a second glance.

Reese and the other marines emerged into a massive courtyard lined with machinery and industrial buildings where the largest firefight Reese had ever seen was being fought. An incredible display of tracer rounds, rockets and plasma balls crisscrossed the huge open space, making it difficult to lift a finger here without being prepared to lose it. Covenant filled the buildings across the courtyard from the UNSC, and a terrific amount of plasma was fired out through the windows and openings. The top of the giant clearing was cut into sections by piping that stretched between the buildings, and a large pedestrian bridge extended across the vast open space, also filled with alien warriors. Marines were everywhere, barking orders, firing endlessly, but the screams from the terrible wounds cut through the noise most of all. There had to be at least four hundred marines entrenched in this area; behind walls, machinery, fallen pipes and lowered areas, and at least a third of those soldiers were injured.

Several M808B Heavy Scorpion tanks rested at the UNSC end of the courtyard, and they were busy turning the Covenant lines into a moonscape. Machine gun nests had been set up everywhere and they were pouring fire into the alien occupied buildings and lowered sections of permacrete that also acted as good trenches for the aliens. This firefight looked like it had been dragging on for quite a while, with the body and casualty count rising quickly on both sides, and many of the buildings here didn't look like they were going to last long with this sustained barrage of bullets and explosions. Several burnt out vehicles and crumpled corpses littered the center of the heavily pockmarked and cratered middle of the courtyard, evidence of at least a few failed frontal charges on the enemy.

Reese took cover behind a civilian car beside a smoldering Elite corpse, not even bothering to move the stinking body away from him. They were going to be here for a long time if it continued to play out as a stalemate, there was still his squad to look for, and already he was down to only four magazines. But he also needed to find Allan, and after, he could worry about his own problems. More of his own marines were coming out of the rubble behind him, spreading out and giving the battle weary soldiers that had been here for hours a break. It was time to get to work.

End of Part 1