I have to apologize for such the long wait. It has been a crazy year. Lot's of shit to do, but here is the chapter I hope you all enjoy because it is going to be a long one. I hope to update more often in the future and just remember I love all my loyal fans and readers.

As Karl and his team walked back to the platoon he saw maybe the largest amount of Phantoms he had ever laid his eyes on. He swear he counted over 100 and it could have been probably even more. After seeing the huge amount of Phantoms fly over he immediately got on comms. "LT we have a slight problem. We got over 100 phantoms flying all over the planet I just saw a whole flock of em fly over our heads." Karl said as they all got as low as possible. "Solid Copy Sergeant. I will alert the Viper immediately." He heard the Lieutenant say. Karl continued to walk his current path making sure to look at any glint or sudden movement throughout the jungle.

"Alright ladies and gentleman we have returned to our lovely platoon." Karl said as he took up position at the rear of the platoon again. "All of you go back to your spot in the formation well done." He said and nodded to them as they went back to their spots in the large formation. Taking a deep breath he turned to look at the rear and could faintly see the large smoke stack from the burning covenant vehicle. "Sergeant Kuhn, up front." He heard the Lieutenant say in comms. "Solid Copy sir on my way." He said in response and started moving through the formation to get to the front.

He saw the Lieutenant in the front of the formation with a holo map out and his distinguishable large radio backpack he carried and the large double stripe on the top of his helmet to symbolize his rank as an officer, and also the white shoulder pad he had. He quickly got to the side of the Lieutenant Stevenson. "Okay Sergeant I need you to listen to me carefully. I have hypothesized that they have more landing zones similar to the one you took out. These Phantoms will be dropping troops for miles and then return to a ship that the Viper says is most likely on the other side of the planet to avoid it's scanners. After the phantom drops it's troops I am guessing they are going to move to a rally point. Maybe on one of the large clearings in the area. I can guess they are going to start construction of a base there so they can further recon the planet." Stevenson said very clearly and seriously. Karl nodded. "God it sir, but what has this got to do with me?" Karl asked. "Well Sergeant you are my X-O if I get killed I want you to know the game plan and what the situation is." He said in response. "Right my bad sir." Karl said.

"Okay Sergeant, you can return to your spot. Make sure those two idiots that always talk shut their mouths." The Lieutenant said clearly. "Yes sir." Karl said and then immediately afterward moved low back to the back of the formation. As he approached the rear he could already hear two marines chatting. "Well, I thought that Becky girl was a real hottie." One said. "You two, shut up before I cut your tongues." Karl said harshly to them. "My apologies sergeant." One said and then he looked away from his friend and back to the sector he was supposed to cover.

Karl got to the back and took a knee back in his spot waiting for the signal to continue their advance towards their objective, which Karl guessed would be a full fledged Guerrilla war against the covenant because they in no way had the manpower to fight 100 Phantoms that on average carry 10-20 soldiers depending on the size of the soldier being carried. He had to admit, after being a pretty lucky guy to be a bad ass constantly he was worried not only for his own safety but the safety of ever man and woman in the entire platoon. Karl however had to be prepared for anything and he sure as hell was prepared to fight more covenant since he despised them completely.

"We are moving everyone on your feet, but keep cautious and low." He heard the LTs voice over the comms. Karl stood up and kept a low profile stance as the rest of the men got up in front of him and started to move, when they all got about 5 meters in front of him he started to move as well, making sure he checked behind him before he got up and left.

They walked through the jungle for another couple hours, that was when the light started to disappear and become dark. But they continued on through the dense jungle, Karl having to pull out his knife every once and a while and cut a long vine or root that gets stuck around his leg as he goes along. He admired the Jungle since he never saw it often, on all the planets he had been on in the past it has been a temperate planet or area on a planet, it was his first time in a full fledged jungle and he loved how it was so green. Despite the heat the jungle was wonderful to him as much as white snow covered tundras.

Karl heard a sound that broke him from his thoughts. It was the sound of gunfire. And a hell of a lot of it. He could hear the sound of Battle rifles firing bursts and Assault Rifles sending their large amounts of ammo into the distance. He stopped and so did the men around him. That is when he spotted the plasma flying past his head. He quickly ducked and dove into some brush. He looked up over the bush he was in to see men all along the line firing into the forest to their left. So Karl looked to the left and saw over 30 covenant forces, jackals to brutes and grunts.

Karl then quickly took cover behind a nearby tree prepping his Battle Rifle. He made sure it was chambered and he quickly clicked the safety off. He took aim at a grunt that was on the flank of their formation. He switched the BR to single fire and let a round loose, the bullet smacked the grunt in the side and he saw the blue blood shoot out both sides, signalling the bullet cleared his body. He didn't even hesitate to watch it fall as he took aim at the next target, a jackal that was firing it's plasma pistol from behind a shield. Karl aimed at it's head and fire. The bullet hitting it in the head and causing half of it's skull to explode into several different pieces. Next he aimed at a grunt that was running towards the platoon with a fuel rod cannon. He quickly shot the grunt in the side and the bullet instantly put it down.

It wasn't long before he was spotted by several grunts and they all fired at him with their weapons. Karl quickly took cover behind the tree as he heard the plasma hit the tree with a hiss. He looked to his right and saw several purple needles fly past the tree and into the distance of the dim lit jungle. After the fire halted he popped out again and his face dropped as he saw a giant furry fist hit him in the side of the head. He fell back onto the ground and quickly looked up to see the Brute Captain start to raise it's gravity hammer towards Karl. Karl quickly turned on his shield and rolled out of the way the best he could. When the hammer hit the ground Karl felt the impact and then felt him be lifted off the ground and fly a few meters before slamming into a tree.

He coughed from the impact and got up again. He took the energy sword from his side and turned it on. The Energy sword making the loud hissing noise as he turned it on. The Brute seemed surprised but charged towards Karl. This is why he loved fighting brutes, they were careless, but he wasn't. As it charged towards him he could see several soldiers who finished off their targets turn to shoot the brute. "Don't fire, you might hit me." Karl said quickly and he saw them keep their guns up but not fire.

The brute was now only a few feet away and Karl quickly rolled out of the way of the angry giant beast. He turned his head in time to see the brute slam into the tree and snap it off of it's base. The brute in obvious pain roared and tried to turn towards Karl. At this moment Karl charged forward and sliced the brute's leg. It let out a howl and kneel'd down. Karl then saw the large fist come at him, but this time he met it with a stab from the energy sword. The energy sword easily cutting through the armor and flesh, especially when the brute was adding to Karl's momentum with it's swing. Karl took the sword out of the Brute's arm and swung it down as hard as he could. He could hear the hiss and then the sound of the brute roaring as it's arm was cut clean off.

It let go of it's gravity hammer and it fell to the ground. Karl then quickly sent the energy sword into the Brute's chest and held it there with the constant sound of burning flesh and armor alike. The Brute having gone wide eyed as he was stabbed in the heart. After a few seconds the Brute began to lean and Karl pulled the sword out of it's chest. Watching as it fell to the ground with a loud thump. Karl deactivated the sword and put it back onto his utility belt.

He didn't feel it until now but he felt a large pain on his ribs. He looked at his HUD and saw that he had large bruising but nothing major. Karl let out a grunt as he turned and walked back to get his rifle. At this point all the gunfire had ceased and he walked cautiously but with some relieved tension back to where his rifle was. It was then he noticed it was gone, the gravity hammer must have sent it flying into the jungle when it hit the ground. Karl let out a sigh as he took the magnum from his side and chambered a round into it.

"Everyone okay?" He heard the Lieutenant's voice over the comms. "Sir, Peacock is hit sir." He heard a panicked female voice over the comms. "Where on the line?" Karl asked. "Center." The voice said. Karl double timed it to the front of the line and soon reached there. He saw several of the soldiers gathered around a figure on the ground. He moved towards the group. "Everyone who isn't a medic! Watch your Fuckin' sectors!" Karl shouted to them. He saw everyone but the female soldier that was probably on the radio go back and take cover behind trees or logs.

Karl kneel'd next to the soldier and he saw the corpsman covering up the wound on the soldier's chest. "What's the wound?" Karl asked as he took out some bio foam from her backpack. "A plasma rifle hit him in the chest, most likely internal bleeding and third degree burns." She said quickly and held open the wound so he could put the bio foam in. The wounded soldier breathing heavily and seemed to be crying, as he could hear the whimpers and sniffs. "This will hurt, suck it up bud." Karl said as he positioned it over the wound and pressed the trigger the bio foam entering the wound and filling it up. The soldier screamed in pain as the bio foam filled the wound. "Alright it's good patch him up doc." Karl said as he put the foam back into her backpack. She nodded and started to bandage up the wound as Karl got back up and ran to the front of the line to talk to the Lieutenant.

When he got there he saw him with bandages around his shoulder. "Sir you alright?" Karl asked as he crouched down next to him. "Fine and dandy. Needle hit me in the upper arm." He said. "So what the fuck happened?" Karl asked. "Well you see sergeant, we were just strolling through the jungle and assholes ran right into us, we guessed another platoon doing the same fucking thing we were. What the hell is the likely hood of that happening?" The Lieutenant questioned himself. "I dunno sir but it's totally fucked. We only had one badly wounded, you also. So technically we did really fucking good." Karl said. "Yeah I guess you are right Kuhn. But we need to find a place to set up camp for a while." He said. "Of course sir, we could probably go a few clicks away from here." He said as he got back up to his feet. "Good Idea, stay here with me please you obviously have better eyesight and I don't want to run into more." He said as he put a hand on Karl's shoulder. "Of course sir." Karl said in response.

The LT soon got on the comms, "We are moving everyone on your feet." He said seriously. Soon he was walking in a random direction and Karl followed close behind.

After walking for about an hour in the pitch dark they finally found a small clearing to make camp in, with a few logs and trees nearby so they could take cover if need be. Karl made his rounds making sure everyone was comfortable and ready for anything, he heard a few soldiers talking about his fight with the brute and how he apparently 'kicked it's ass'. He didn't mind the men talking about him, if anything it kept their morale up that he beat the shit out of a brute.

Karl made his way to an isolated spot under a tree and took his helmet off. He put it down near the tree and used it as a make shift pillow as he looked up at the sky. His mind drifted.

He couldn't fathom how much he missed all of his friends, and especially his alien lover. He started thinking of how him and Soya met and how their relationship advanced from a business style partnership to a friendship and to an actual relationship. He thought of Brandy and how they were once in a relationship but remained best friends. Then the spartan he had befriended. He had seriously missed Leo, because he could relate to him often, both of them being soldiers. The one he missed the most however was Soya. He wanted to see her again to make sure she was safe and sound, he had put his trust in Brandy and Leo to protect her. A task he was very hopeful they would accomplish. But he wanted to be there personally, to be able to hug her or kiss her again. To feel her rough but smooth skin. He didn't know what kind of future they had together, or how human tradition would match Sangheili. But he knew he would want to advance his relationship with her, one day. But now he had to focus on staying alive in this peaceful jungle planet turned warzone.

After he was able to clear his mind his eyes slowly closed and he fell into a deep sleep that no one could wake him from until morning when they had to move out again.

That was the next Chapter. I expect this story to go on for a while. However updates may be slow. I am so sorry for that, but I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope all of you have a good day/night. And I really do hope I never forget about this awesome series that I have written for about 8 months now. Wow can't believe it's been that long since I started haha.

Love,

Stevie