PART 1: ESCAPE…

The armored Trojans went to the armory and armed themselves with frag grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols. Once they got it, the Major made two parallel lines of Trojans and walked down the aisle; he inspected the men and made a speech. ""Alright all you greenhorns listen up! My name is Major Sheppard. When you are not in my presence you can call me anything your degenerate hearts desire, assuming that your tiny brains can string together a couple of cuss words, but while I'm here you will address me as sir, yes sir! Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Alright. Men...keep your eyes downrange, fingers on your triggers, and we all go home in one piece. Once again, it is our job to finish what the flyboys started. We are leaving this ship, platoon, and engaging the Covenant on solid ground. When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spine, and toss 'em away, laughin'! Here is where we show those split-chin squid-head sons of bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race. We are going to blow the hell out of those dumb bugs until we don't have anything left to shoot 'em with! And then, we are going to strangle them with their own-living-guts! We led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But, they wanna kill us so bad, they're scramblin' over each other. Well, I don't care if we're God's own personal anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, we're not gonna let 'em have us! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in! Am I right, Trojans?"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"Uh-huh. Damn right I am. Now we just found a planet to drop into. I won't bore you with the details. The aliens will fight us on that planet and try to wipe us out. Apparently it's a good, useful planet for this goddamn war. That's why we're safe and they won't glass us there. Now I've been fighting with some of you for a long time. We've been on some tough missions together, but one way or another, we've always pulled through. Now I'd be lying if I said we'd get through this one alright, but one thing I do know, we will wipe them out; we will get the job done. We have a duty to ourselves, a duty to our fellow soldiers, a duty to the rest of humanity to get the job done. The road ahead of us isn't going to be easy. The Kanga aren't gonna let us land on that planet without a fight. They're gonna try to stop us every inch of the way; they're gonna try to kill every one of us before we get near that plane, but do you know what I say to that? I say we've beaten 'em before and it's time to finish the job. So I ask you, not as a commander, but as a brother in arms, to fight. Over the years we've lived and died together. We've shared barracks and we've shared foxholes; we've shed tears and we've shed blood together. Now I wouldn't have you remember what all of you have done, I would have you remember why we have done it. We were fighting for something more than ourselves. Something more than our personal glory. It's something that speaks to each and every one of us. It lies deep within each of our fucking hearts. Something that calls out to us urging us to fight on. It's the feeling that pushes us forward, assuring us of the righteousness of our badass doings. Today I want you to remember what we're all fighting for. Today, we fight for Earth…Those Kanga sissies are going to have to tango with us before they set one foot on Earth or any other goddamn ship. And one day, they're gonna write a letter to us. Dear Humanity... we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet! Now move it like you got a purpose! Double time! All you greenhorns who wanted to see Kanga up close… today's your lucky day. Now crazy fools, if you ever try barging through the enemy, one day you're gonna barge into something as stubborn as yourself… and I don't do bits and pieces… Am I clear, Trojans???!!!"

"Oo-Rah!"

One of the veteran Trojans jokingly said, "Dear Major, Kickin' ass in outer space. Wish you were here."

"I heard that …jackass!"

Colonel Sean was on the command deck and looking at the radar before he yelled, "Damn! How the hell did they find us in twenty minutes? We have extensive damage to our main weapons and our ship life support! Back-ups and repair systems aren't responding! We have to get off! The Trojans and Helljumpers can take care of themselves! Trust me, they can." He moved towards the access door while the crew walked near the armory panel and entered their identification codes. The gun rack on the wall released their grip on the weapons, allowing access. There was only one way out and the humans went down the corridor.

There were three Ugayos and a Shangeli just outside the corridor, waiting for the unsuspecting victims. The three Ugayos managed to take down the first few people and a Shangeli killed the rest of them except for the Colonel and a couple navigation crewmen. A few magnum shots from survivors killed the Ugayo's, but were shot and killed in an array of automatic, blue plasma fire from the harsh tall standing foe. The Colonel jumped on the ground and fired off a round. The Shangeli had a mouth split into four parts and it was easily taller than a human standing at seven feet tall. It had armor and over shield that protected it from extensive damage, which was how the Trojan over shield had been developed; the bullets were deflected by the alien's shield. Everyone that came from the Bridge was killed except the Shangeli and the Colonel.

The Colonel knew he had just survived a major ambush and he brushed past the Shangeli trying to get to the back of it. He grabbed an assault rifle from a Marine that had his leg ripped off his body who was obviously trying to protect the Bridge. His pistol was in his hand, trying to aim while retreating. The dead Marine was laying on his side with one hand over the other. His assault rifle was at the door when the Shangeli had knocked it out of the Marine's hand. The Colonel emptied the clip out in short, controlled bursts on the Shangeli. The Shangeli's shield over loaded and the enemy's primitive armor was too weak to deflect ballistics. The enemy had apparently spent more time researching weapons and energy based warfare items than personal body armor. It looked at the Colonel, grabbed its chest, which was spilling blue-purple blood from clogged holes and finally collapsed. It let out a cry pleading for help, however, it was very faint, and it wailed. You could see it struggling to live, the sad look on its face, and the hopelessness in its eyes. The Colonel just stood there, eyes beaming hate at the enemy.

"Ha-ha! That's right! Fuck you!" He spat on the alien and kicked its head. "Not so tough now are ya? Stupid ugly fat fucking piece of shit! Heh-heh… bitch." He turned around and started walking away.

He hit the clip release trigger and when the magazine hit the floor, he slammed a fresh magazine into the bullet feed. A voice on the speaker came on. "Combat teams on decks five through nine, fall back to secondary defensive positions. Ops personnel on decks nine through twelve, report to evac stations now." The Colonel moved to the next room and teamed up with a couple of Marines as they made their way to a life pod, miraculously only meeting a few Shangeli's along the way which they punctured them with metal pellets and shared the butt of the weapon with the Shangeli's head and chest. Then a more urgent message came on. "All hands. Prepare to abandon ship. Combat teams; repel boarders until Ops personnel are away. Good luck."

The Colonel's team found a pod and got in. A marine yelled, "Are we going to die, sir?" The Colonel had no answer and put his hand on the young man's shoulder. As their life pod launched, a laser beam scored a direct hit on the starboard side of the life pod and melted it. The armor on the pod was meant to block small arms fire, not intense heat. The Colonel and the other members of the ship ceased to exist, as they became a gray cloud of debris. The Marine's question was unfortunately answered so fast, he didn't have time to realize his question was just confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Trojans traveled not too closely, navigating the ship, so that a grenade wouldn't kill all of them; they traveled into a corridor and a Shangeli ambushed the Trojans with a melee hit to the point scout. The Trojan's shield took the brunt of the force and seeing no reason in doing melee, shot the split-faced monster with a shotgun, leaving a huge hole in the back of the monster's mouth. They trampled the Shangeli and continued on. The voice they had just heard a few minutes ago came back on. "Combat teams Alpha through November, pull out to nearest evac station."

The Trojans heard gunfire and it turned out to be a team of Devilkillers battling an incoming force of Ugayos. It took no time at all wiping the Ugayos out and finding evacuation for the troops. The Devilkillers went in the ODVs (Orbit Drop Vehicle). Each one holds one DT (Devil Trooper) and it gets shot into a targeted area, and in this case, a three-mile radius on a planet.

The DT's have many physical differences between the regular Marines and they are always ready to "Come out of hell with the Devil's head" as their motto goes (and thus gaining the nickname 'Devilkiller'), and dive into fights they may not return from, which shows an outstanding level of Courage, Honor and Valor; the Devil Troopers are the elite Marines who make orbital insertions through planetary atmospheres. Delivered to their targets via ODVs, these soldiers are always in the most danger of being killed on a mission. They are the toughest soldiers the UNAF has to fight the Kanga with other than the Trojan-III's. The DTs have just recently received a shipment of Trojan-III armor for their troops. This armor was modified to fit normal DT humans, and is not as permanently attached to the trooper as Trojan soldiers are, but the variant of the armor for DT's have no energy shields and no neural interface.

DTs were operating as early as 2525. Barring the personnel of the Trojan programs, DTs are one of the most effective forms of troops available to the UNAF, and the expectations on DT units made them all-volunteer outfits, with some outsiders regarding such volunteers as 'crazy'. By 2552 their strength had swelled to a number of divisions in an attempt to fill the demands of the Human-Kanga War. While they are human, they are, overall, different from marines in the sense that they take the most dangerous, crazy, and suicidal missions.

They also drop into areas that are under heavy assault, or are heavily guarded by enemy troops. This is because these areas are too dangerous for Eagle drop ships to land or drop reinforcements. They are also assigned to tasks such as landing and clearing a landing zone for reinforcements. Due to the huge risk of their job and the superiority of their training, the DTs are proud and have a very "gung-ho" attitude, usually welcoming combat and general danger. DTs are also known for being extremely brutal, even to fellow Marines. The reasons may be many, but they may believe that other Marines are inferior for not signing up for their exclusive elite unit.

The ODVs heat up immensely due to atmospheric friction just after deployment, sometimes fatally so. Even if the DT survives the heat, there's always the chance that his ODV won't. The pod's outer layers sometimes get stripped away, leaving the DT to face the elements of danger with nothing but his combat armor. The third and by far worst fate for a falling ODST is chute failure. The ODVs achieve such high velocities in descent that the ever-present threat of a parachute failure would almost certainly end in a fatal crash. The ODVs are armored, but not enough to protect a DT from an impact of over 400 kilometers per hour.

The Devil Troopers are an elite special operations unit within the UNAF Marines and their role on the battlefield is usually described as that of an aggressive shock infantry raid force. DTs are dropped from low-orbital positions onto the surface of planets often directly into combat situations. Once at their destination, the ODSTs have to move quickly in order to regroup, secure a perimeter, and treat the less fortunate of their ranks. Their drop pods are uncontrolled after release, and it's not uncommon for them to miss their target and/or land into unfortunate places, like against rocks, crushing the pod and the soldier inside or landing in a lake, drowning the soldier. Despite the risks, the DT always seem to land either on target or very close by if not launched under emergency situations.

The DTs wear a special uniform to distinguish them from other Marines. Instead of the normal armor, they are clad in black urban camouflage, with a helmet that includes a face shield (reminiscent of the Trojan armor). Most DT's carry a standard combat knife in a sheath located on the back of the waistline. Their chest armor includes pouches and they have additional leg armor compared to the standard Marine armor. This makes them instantly recognizable as elite troops. In addition, their dress uniforms feature a distinctive silver comet insignia, further marking them as elite troops.

As the incoming pods entered the atmosphere, two Devil Troopers burned up into a black casket and one crashed from a malfunctioning parachute. There were only about 50 Devil Killers left, the size of one platoon.

The informal voice again came back on. "Combat teams Sierra through Victor, prepare for evac. All other combat personnel fall back to tertiary defensive positions."

The Trojan's fought for every corridor, earned in blood. The enemy was too many in number and wiped Trojan's shields out with plasma rifles. The armor protected the wearer effectively but couldn't hold up forever and they suffered their first Trojan casualty. The Trojan was most definitely dead as there was a huge gaping hole in his chest. The armor and body had been blown away after several shots. They all fought together depending on one another to stay alive. A company consists of 100-200 soldiers, which are made up of three or four platoons. They were called Easy Company of the 506th Trojan Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division; corridor after corridor, door after door, room after room, there were always Ugayos and Shangelis there to cause more casualties on both sides. They finally reached a life pod, fully occupied… with dead soldiers. It seemed that just before takeoff, a grenade had killed everyone. The inside of the pod was scorched and damaged. The speaker boomed once more. "Combat teams, fall back to secondary defensive positions."

A Trojan turned to Sheppard. "We should start going, sir." The Major nodded and the Trojans took out the bodies and piled them up. They got in and a Trojan piloted it.

"It's damaged, sir. Expect this ride to be a bit bumpy."

The Trojan armor allowed them to pilot the ship with ease and all the bodies were piled outside the pod. The Trojans filed in and the pod launched once the hatch closed.

They dodged laser beams attempting to destroy them and braced for impact as they entered the atmosphere. The pilot had his teeth clattering as he tried to talk. "Shit! I don't know why we have to go through this just to have a fucking bad landing! Fuck this!"

The ride turned harsh and bumpy as the brakes burned up in the atmosphere and they came in so fast that the pilot was killed upon impact; the front of the ship was caved in, which smashed the pilot's face and crushed his head; his whole body was like a pancake and a few bones protruded from his armor. There was bone sticking out near his elbow, the side of his chest and his legs. His augmentations he had gotten as being a Trojan included virtually unbreakable bones, unnaturally good eyesight, super strength and other abilities. However, the ship had crash-landed at a speed even augmentations couldn't help and the tibia dislocated from then kneecap then stuck through the weakened armor. His inside-out face lacked a mouth, nose, and eyes. The control stick stabbed through him while he lay motionless, not moving at all. Although they had suffered many casualties before in the war, they had never thought they would lose someone they had known for years. From the time they were 6 years old, they trained in the army for the Trojan Program.