1030 Hours, 14 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/

New Constantinople System, Outskirts of Illuminate City, planet New Constantinople

The pelican lurched as it accelerated around the base of a massive skyscraper, and Lance Corporal Coren Rimmons held on tight. The sun was obscured by an inky sky, struggling to cast light onto the sprawling metropolis below. Everyone in the dropship bay was staring out at it. Distant explosions criss-crossed up above - almost reminiscent of a fireworks display.

Casper was sitting next to him. "You scared, man? I don't know if I'm ready for this." He told Coren. "I think I'm gonna puke."

"They said that we had the upper-hand here in Illuminate. Nothing to worry about." Coren replied.

For months, Coren and the others in his unit had been training on Reach. It'd been a grueling process. Turning from a civilian to a marine. And after that had been Infantry School, which had made boot camp look, and feel, like a boy scouts program. And then AIT, which had made Infantry School feel like a summer camping program.

First Lieutenant John Parish came out of the cockpit, stepping into the troop-bay. Everyone's eyes focused on him immediately. "Everyone listen closely." The faintest tinges of gray were starting to touch the edges of his hair. No one knew his age, but Lieutenant Parish had been in the UNSC since 2520. The proof of his experience was etched across his face. He looked rugged and cold. It matched his personality.

"You all know what we're here for, but the situation is getting worse. Captain Lloyd and 3rd platoon are bogged down deep near the middle of Illuminate, and they can't move. We will touch down in 3 mikes, expedite to their location, and then make our way back towards the edges of the city to the Green Zone along with them." Parish told them. "Questions?"

Casper raised his hand and spoke up. "Can't an extraction team dispatch directly to their location?"

"No. Covenant SAM sites and AA turrets are packed tight towards the center of the city. As well as their ground troops. Any attempt at a fly-in would be a waste of time, and life."

Coren captured this data in his head and mulled it over. The original mission had been fairly simpler than this one. Their orders had been to link up with the rest of the company to retake the eastern part of Illuminate City. How could the situation get this bad this fast? Of course, he knew how dangerous the Covenant were. But it'd never occurred to him how much magnitude that one fact carried.

"This is what you signed up for. This is what you've been training for." Parish said, taking a long look at everyone in the troop-bay. "If you weren't ready, you wouldn't be here. Let's get this done."

Coren heard the words, but he wasn't sure if he felt them. He'd signed up to save human lives - to help kill the enemies of mankind. Not to get slaughtered 2 weeks after Advanced Infantry Training. The recruiters, and everyone else he'd talked to upon swearing in, had never really talked about what it was like firsthand to be on the receiving end of the monumental Covenant stick. New Constantinople was being torn away every single day. Every day they were being pushed back. His company hadn't arrived until 2 days ago, but they knew what direction the battle was heading towards.

The lieutenant walked back into the cockpit.

Coren's platoon, 2nd platoon, was split into 3 separate pelicans. The troop bay was too small to fit the entirety of the platoon. There was only 16 of them in this pelican's troop bay - 2nd squad. His squadleader was an Earth-born guy who'd come from a wealthy family. James Watson was his name. On the outside, James looked like a passive, scrawny Intelligence Officer. But Coren respected him. James had stood apart in the Infantry School and AIT. "When we land, it's game on. Everyone needs to be on point. Our lives depend on it." James told them. He was sitting next to the landing ramp. "We didn't go through all that bullshit in UCMB for nothing."

Coren agreed. But Casper said, "I don't see why they're sending us in. Based on what Parish just said, the Captain is probably dead anyway. The city's filled with Covenant."

"They won't get Captain Lloyd." James told him.

Coren agreed again. He'd read all about Lloyd prior to deploying to New Constantinople. The man was a legend.

He looked back out the window of the landing ramp. They passed over streets and parks and small buildings. Occasionally he would see a towering skyscraper. Behind them was the other 2 pelicans; one on the right, and one on the left. It was a triangle formation.

There was something else out there flying, too. Coming up fast.

"What the hell is that?" Casper asked.

Everyone's eyes locked on the single window. Two black dots were steadily growing larger as they gained on the pelican formation.

The COM channel in Coren's helmet lit up with traffic. "Banshees on our six!" He heard. "Ogre-2, you've got banshees closing in on you!" One of the pilots was shouting.

Coren's heart jumped immediately, and then his heartbeat accelerated. They'd been given information on the Covenant troops and vehicles. The banshee flier was their deadliest aerial attack craft. Extremely deadly. The troop bay was filled with chatter among the squad.

"Oh, no!"

"We're gonna die!"

Casper's mahogany face was filled with fear. "Shit, man, I knew we weren't gonna last a second!"

Plasma fire erupted from the banshees as they got within range, opening fire on 3rd Squad's pelican. The pilot dipped and then dodged to the left, narrowly escaping the side of a massive parking lot. The plasma bomb trailing them didn't miss. An engine exploded, along with the right wing, as the large plasma bolt struck the pelican. A fiery blaze leaked out from the impact, violently knocking the dropship to the side. Plumes of black smoke trailed from the craft.

"Damnit, we're hit! I don't have any control over starboard jets. We're going down." The Ogre-2 pilot said. The pelican crashed into a large apartment complex, tore clean through it, and then hit the ground - hard. There was an explosion as one of it's engines erupted in a nasty blaze.

Lieutenant Parish rushed out of the cockpit, his lips set in a grim line. "Everyone hang on tight! Stay in your seats and double-check your weapons and gear. We're going to be -"

Parish was cut off as plasma bolts began smacking the rear of their pelican. Coren forced himself to stay focused. The rounds were tearing into the pelican, ripping away it it's armor as if it were nothing. Several rounds tore through it completely, and a round hit Parish and knocked him to the floor. Some of the marines screamed as hot plasma slammed the inside of the pelican. At the same time, the pelican twisted hard and Coren lost his grip on his assault rifle. The ship was shaking erratically.

"We're going down! Everyone hang on!" James shouted over the sound of plasma fire and screaming engine.

They hit the ground.

Coren wasn't sure if he was still alive at first. Everything was black. He couldn't hear anything. The only thing he had was his thoughts. But then he started to feel. There was pain, first sharp, and then dull. There was a sense of unbalance - like he was upside down. And his hearing began to return. Next, he remembered what had happened. Right after James had shouted that they were going down, the landing ramp door had exploded. Several plasma rounds had struck the inside of the troop-bay. Luckily, Coren hadn't gotten hit. But others had. Someone had flew out the rear of the pelican. It'd been Parish - it had to have been. He was the only one who hadn't been strapped in. The lieutenant was gone.

Coren opened his eyes. He was still strapped into his seat, hanging upside down. The troop-bay was a disaster. Metal was strewn about, and so were bodies. He saw James slumped into his seat in an odd angle. He couldn't tell if James was still alive. Nobody else was moving. Equipment was scattered about. He coughed twice from the smoke that filled the pelican. This was bad.

Coren tried to unlock his harness, but it was jammed. It wouldn't budge. So he reached as far as he could to the strap wrapped around the shin of his left leg, barely managing to grip the combat knife held there. Then he began to cut away at the straps holding him in. It wasn't easy. After a minute or two, it finally gave. He fell down hard and fast, but luckily, he landed on top of someone to absorb the fall.

There was a small cry of pain as he landed on the other marine. Instinctively, he rolled to the side. The marine groaned as she came to. It was Ashley, the squad corpsman. Her face was covered in black smudges - exhaust that'd been ejected from the engines when they'd hit the ground.

"You ohkay?" Coren asked her as he shakily got to his knees.

"What happened?"

"Those banshees. They shot us down. I don't know where we're at - I just managed to get out of my seat." Coren told her. Then he added, "Oh, sorry about that."

She brushed it off with a wave of her hand as she sat up.

"We need to see if anyone else is good to go, and then get up out of here. They're going to be sending a search party to finish us off, no doubt about it." Coren said as he checked James.

No pulse. Coren closed his eyes and fought back a wave of bitter sadness. James had a family back on Earth - a younger sister and two happily married parents.

They would be getting a letter from the UNSC soon. They wouldn't be happy much longer. Damn.

There was a crash behind Coren that caused him to jump up violently, sending his heartbeat into overdrive again. Casper had cut himself down from his seat. He coughed twice and managed to stand up. The first thing he asked was, "James, is he...?"

Coren shook his head. James and Casper had been close in boot camp, and even closer in Infantry School.

Nobody said anything as they searched the rest of the pelican. Half of the squad was dead, and so were the 2 pilots. Parish had been sent flying out the back of the pelican when they were crashing. On top of that, he'd been hit with a banshee round. It was safe to assume that he was dead. And James was, too. So they were on their own. The Hall brothers were both still alive. They'd joined up together through the buddy system. Griff was older than his younger brother, Coor, who'd just graduated secondary school. The heavy-weapons specialist, Henry, didn't have so much as a scratch. He was big. Johnathon and Cassandra survived the crash as well.

Half of the squad. Eight of them in total. It wasn't much.

Coren stood at the demolished exit-ramp of the pelican. "Alright. Grab as much ammo as you can, and medical supplies." He told everyone. "Just leave everything else - it'll slow us down. James is dead, and the LT might as well be, but we still need to get to the Captain."

"No way, man. There's no way in hell we're going to make it to him. We're better off staying put until someone comes to rescue us." Casper said, taking a step forward.

"We can't do that. It's only a matter of time before the Covenant send out a Search and Destroy team to finish us off. We can't stay here. We need to try and link up with the rest of the platoon first, and then make our way to the Captain's position." Coren replied. "If he's anything close to what they say about him, he's still alive."

A small fire just outside the crumpled pelican was kicking up flames. Coren could feel the heat of it at his back. They were running out of time.

"Alright." Casper said, resigned.

They all exited the remains of the crushed pelican. Coren knew that he'd gotten lucky to have survived the crash. Half of the people that he'd trained with were now gone, forever. And even the tough-as-nails lieutenant, the fearsome John Parish, was gone. And the mission hadn't even truly began. Coren could only hope that the other squads fared better. But he was far from certain. Third squad had blown up, literally. The chances of anyone making it out of that were next to impossible. He'd seen the explosion with his own eyes. Seen the lives of many be extinguished in an instance. So fresh out of training, he'd already experienced the horrors of war. First squad most likely got downed as well. Coren refused to assume that they made it away from the banshees.

Everyone formed up on Coren. They all knelt down under the cover of a canopy of trees just outside the entrance of an abandoned library. He tried to raise 1st squad on the COM channel. "Grayson, come in. This is Lance Corporal Rimmons, 2nd squad." He waited briefly, but there was no response. He tried one more time.

He had the same result.

"Someone probably made it from 3rd squad." Griff said. His black eyes revealed that he didn't truly believe it.

"Maybe. We know where they went down. If someones still alive from there, then we need to hook up with them. They might have wounded." Ashley said. She looked at Coren. They all did.

They were waiting for his orders. Coren had messed up his chance at squadleader back when they were in AIT. He'd gotten the whole team killed in a field-training op. He wasn't sure why they expected him to take lead. He had to come up with something. "Ohkay. Let's check out 3rd squad's crash site. Worst case scenario," Coren told them, "we gather up as much ammo and supplies as we can. We'll have to backtrack to that apartment building, and we'll have to hurry. The Covenant have to be on their way to make sure we're dead. We need to get there before they do."

Johnathon, tall and lanky, stood up. "Then let's go."

They fanned out, hugging the sides of the streets, staying out of the clear. According to Cassandra's map, the apartments were several blocks ahead. Not too far, but not close either. Coren, big Henry, and Coor were sweeping the left side of the streets. Everyone else was on the right. They moved carefully and as fast as they could. Occasionally, they would pause to scan the area, and then bunnyhop their way forward. Everything was clear-

-until Coren saw movement up ahead. Instantly, he held up his fist. Coor and big Henry came up behind him, covering his rear. Casper signaled for everyone on the right of the street to pause. They were at a 4-way intersection. And then Coren held up two fingers, pointed to a small post-office building up ahead on the right, and made a sweeping motion. On the other side of the street, Griff and Johnathon moved forward slowly. Johnathon crouched down behind a car and trained his weapon on the post-office. Griff sprinted forward, crossed the street, and slid into position on the right side of the double-door entrance. Johnathon did the same and got into position in front of the left door.

Coren had seen something move inside of it. There'd been a disturbance in the shadows. He wasn't sure if it was anything, but they had to be careful. Dealing with the Covenant demanded it.

With his back facing it, Griff kicked the right door in and moved out of the way immediately. At the same time, Johnathon rushed inside with his MA5B held up, ready to fire. Griff followed him in. Coren saw shadows move around on the inside. There weren't any gunshots. A minute later, they came out.

Griff signaled that it was clear, and then he and Johnathon fell back into formation. They proceeded.

After a while, they got to where they could see the smoke from the crash site. They didn't need Cassandra's navigation anymore, for the time being. And the smoke was black.

So they all regrouped on Coren's position. "We need to slow down and take this by-the-book. The Covenant could be in the area. They're probably at the crash site now. If they are, then we're going to have to let those supplies go." He told them. They all nodded. Casper looked relieved. "I wanna get some payback in, kill me a few of them myself, but we can't risk it. We might get dragged into a prolonged gunfight, and chances are good that that's what's gonna happen. If it does, then we're as good as dead. On top of that, we'll never make it to the Captain. If he dies, then this whole battle is over. So if we get in there and see Covenant, then we get the hell out."

Big Henry held up his M739. "What if they're here, but we can take 'em?"

Coren wasn't entirely sure about Henry's question, so he gave it some thought. In the codex, he'd read about 2 of the mainline Covenant battle troops - the ones that the UNSC had the most data on. In small groups, they could be handled. They weren't big, and they were a bit sloppy. But they were still dangerous. If a small team was scouting out the crash site, then they might be able to take them if they had the element of surprise.

"If we can take them, then we do it. If there's too many, then it's a no-go." He told Henry. "If it's all clear, then we check for survivors first before we load up on supplies."

The pelican had hit the ground just on the outside of a large hospital. There was a lot of open ground leading up to it. It was at the center of a ring of buildings. Coren split the squad up, the same set-up as before, and silently entered the backdoor of a small cafe. Quickly they checked the inside of the cafe. There wasn't anything left - anything he could eat, anyways. Damn. And then they trained their weapons on the smoking pelican. A fire raged on the port side of it. Coren didn't see any movement. "Coor, you see anything?" He whispered.

"Looks good." Coor said.

He picked up Casper on the COM link. They were far off on the right flank. "You got anything?"

"Nothing moving - Covenant nor UNSC. I think they're all dead. Are we moving in?"

"Hold your position and cover us. Coor, big Henry, and me are gonna check it out. Oh, and tell Ashley to come out here - we might need her."

"If the Covenant come while you're out there, and you get killed, can I take over the squad and leave the city?"

"Shut up." Coren told him.

Coren checked the cafe one more time, making sure there wasn't any food left, and then signaled for Coor and Henry to follow him. They crossed a small street, a large plain of grass, and then entered the parking grounds of the hospital. They spread out through the parked cars, keeping their heads low and moving fast. Despite the cover that the cars provided, Coren still felt exposed. A random memory entered his mind of when he was in school - hiding from the administrators in the parking lot. Stupid.

There was a large flight of stairs leading up to the hospital where the pelican was resting on it's side. Closer, Coren could tell just how much damage it'd suffered. Half of the pelican was caked in black exhaust, mangled and destroyed. The fire was lapping at the side of it. He could smell fuel.

They made it to the top of the stairs at the same time as Ashley. She was carrying a large bag on her back that was filled with biofoam and other medical supplies. It had to be heavy. She was tough.

There were bodies strewn about, and blood. The entire cockpit was gone, and so were the pilots. The explosion must have incinerated them. Far from the pelican lay the body of LCPl. Locard, the squad leader. It was a messy sight.

Coren entered the troop bay and took a look around. Damn. The explosion had charred half of them. It smelled bad. They hadn't stood a chance. Ashley stepped in next to him, and he heard her gasp. Henry and Coor came in as well. Blood covered the walls of the troop bay. And Coren felt a chill creep up his spine. This could have been his squad.

"Check the ones who haven't been fried. Then load up what weapons you can get. Take their rocket launcher, Henry. If we get strafed by banshees, then we're gonna need it." Coren said as he turned to sit on the edge of what was left of the exit ramp.

For the first time in his life, Coren felt as if he wouldn't make it through the rest of the day. All throughout his life, all of those hard things he'd been through, he'd always expected to make it. He'd never doubted his instincts to survive. He'd told his sister that he would be alright - that they would get rid of the Covenant on New Constantinople. But now, he didn't think that he would live to see tomorrow. The Covenant were beyond powerful. So fast and deadly. Those banshees had swooped in, dropped their entire platoon, and left - just like that. Even the legendary Captain Lloyd was probably gone, along with all of third platoon. And as far as Coren knew, he and the rest of his squad were the only ones left in 2nd platoon. First squad's pelican had probably exploded in the air. Probably got it the worst.

Maybe Casper was right. Casper was Coren's best friend. It wasn't often that Casper was right. But this time, he probably was. Maybe they should scrap the mission - save their asses while they still can. If the Captain was still bogged down and not dead, then oh well. Not everyone can make it. But Coren's instincts were telling him that he wasn't going to make it if he tried to lead his squad into the heart of the damned city.

It wasn't even his squad. He'd failed his chance to make squadleader - failed it badly. He didn't have the right to dictate where they should go. Maybe he should let Cassandra take lead. Her navigational skills, and her survival ability, was way above Coren's. She was extremely smart. Or maybe Griff should take charge. Griff and his brother were one hell of a pair. They'd been fighting ever since they were kids. If anyone could make it out of this city, it would be those two. And James was dead.

"Hey, someone's alive!" Coor shouted.

Coren jumped up immediately. They'd found a survivor. Ashley rushed over to where Coor was, practically knocked him out of the way, hard, and pulled off her medical bag. Coren got closer and saw who survived. It was Anthony, the youngest person in the platoon - a few months younger than Coor. His head was bleeding. Coren hadn't done too well in Field Medics, but he knew that a bleeding head was bad. And there was a deep cut on his cheek.

Ashley pulled out a canister of biofoam and applied it to Anthony's head and his cheek. He made a groan of pain. Coren knew firsthand what it felt like to get a wound sprayed by biofoam. It hurt. Ashley finished with the biofoam and then wrapped a bandage around his head. The entire top of his skull was covered in the bandage - Ashley was thorough. Then she put a small bandage on his cheek.

"He'll be alright after while." Ashley said, pulling out a canteen of water. She gave him some and he coughed it up at first, but then he managed to swallow some.

"Anthony? Can you walk?" Coor asked him.

Anthony struggled to sit up in his seat at first. He looked a bit woozy, which made sense.

"Can you shoot?" Henry asked.

"Can you keep up?" Coren asked him.

Ashley twisted around. "Stop asking him so many questions! Give him some time. You all are so hardheaded." She fussed. She was dedicated to her job, 100%. Back in boot camp, when Coren had first met her, she'd told him that her mother and grandmother had both been nurses. She'd wanted to be one too, but she also wanted to be in the military. So she became a combat medic, or corpsman. Whichever term fitted.

Anthony unbuckled from his straps and wobbly stood up on his feet. "What the hell happened? Where's..." His voice trailed off as he took a look around the pelican. A thousand emotions crept across his face. "My God... I remember now. We got shot down... And Locard. Locard - he got tossed out... No..."

Coren understood what Anthony was feeling, but time was of the essence. He handed Anthony a scavenged assault rifle. "I know what you're feeling - we all do. But as we speak, the Covenant are probably sending in a team to come and make sure -" Coren was cut off by Casper's voice in his ear.

"There's something coming from the west. I think it's one of those phantom dropships. Shit, it is. Coren, you need to get out of there. We'll cover you."

They all heard it. The Covenant were here. "No. We'll get the drop on them. Hold your fire and keep down until I say otherwise." He told Casper. And then he said to the others in the pelican, "They're coming from the west. We'll crawl out of the cockpit and hide behind the pillars at the hospital entrance. Go!"