Chapter I

Just a "Normal" Patrol

It was chaos. The Covenant armada single-handedly crushed the Human Space Fleet defending Earth. Fortunately, I was not on any of the ships that was slowing the Covenant attack, but on the ground trying to evacuate as many people onto the UNSC Unbroken. It was not a pretty sight. People were panicking as they were pushed onto the Frigate, watching in horror as another Dreadnaught or Frigate get destroyed by a Covenant Cruiser. Debris was crashing down into the city- I saw a marine get crushed by a piece of debris falling from space.

So many innocent souls lost in the fight.

I attempted to rush some more civilians onto a pelican which was supposed to take them to a waiting Charon-class Frigate to jump away from the combat. I watched in complete horror as that same pelican was completely obliterated by a wing of Banshees' Fuel Rod Cannons. Pushing the thoughts aside, I realized that my helmet radio in my ODST helmet was buzzing loudly.

"Cpl. Kerrigan, get your ass in gear! If you're not on the Unbroken in 5 minutes, you're being left behind!"

It was my C.O, First Lieutenant Alexis Weiss. Without her, this whole extraction would be a complete mess and many more would be dead, including myself. Shaking my head to focus on the situation, I took one look around at the destruction around me, trying to search for any survivors. Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone.

"Copy that, ma'am! Heading that way now!"

Right when I said that, I took off, taking one last look at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. as I ran. The dome on the building was damaged heavily along with the rest of the building. It was on its last legs definitely, and would be falling soon, just like Earth.

My extraction point was a little less than a mile away from my current location, meaning that if I slowed down at all, more than likely I will miss the pelican on the way out. Even if I saw an injured or trapped civilian, I had to leave them. That was something I had to do a lot. No way would I live that down… The faces of so many in distress and in pain as they watched me flee away from them was not something I was going to live down.

I managed to cross down Pennsylvania Avenue, dodging some parked and destroyed cars and debris from destroyed buildings. My lungs were burning and my legs were aching, the ODST armor really weighing me down at this point, my BR-55 not really helping me out right now, the thought of ditching it popped into my head for a fraction of a moment, but I willed myself not to do that. If I survived, my comrades would not let me live dropping the weapon down.

My train of thought was cut off as an explosion went off right behind me. Everything went dark for a moment as I was surged forward, landing on the ground a short distance away. When I came to, my faceplate was cracked down the center horizontally. The beeping in my ear indicated that my body wasn't doing too good, and the combination of 1st Lt. Weiss yelling in my ear, probably telling me to get moving or get left behind once more. Despite my best efforts, my legs weren't responding to me. They couldn't be broken at a time like this… could they? I attempted to say something to my communicator, but even when my mouth opened, nothing came out.

"Looks like this is the end…" I thought bitterly to myself, closing my eyes and praying for a quick and painless death.

Then the sensation of being dragged hit me. Groggily, I opened my eyes to see my would be savior, and I was greeted by the sight of my best friend, Corporal Bishop Stark. I recognized him almost instantly by the coloring of his ODST armor, white stripe going down the helmet and through his chest piece and white crosses on both of his shoulder guards.

"You're not dying on me today, Kerrigan," he shouted at me, before he stopped for a moment and threw me over his shoulders. Whether it was adrenaline or actual strength that enabled him to do so would remain a complete mystery to me. While Stark was carrying me through the chaos that was going on about me, he said something about owing him a drink when this was all over. A slight grunt was the only reply he would get.

Suddenly, it all grew silent, ignoring the sound of crackling fires and Stark's feet pounding against the ground. Most people thought it would be a good sign, but being a survivor from another colony, I knew it only meant one thing:

Glassing.

We reached the exfiltration pelican with a few moments, Stark setting me down in a seat and buckling me in, before taking a seat himself. In front of me was Weiss herself, still wearing her ODST Recon armor. That shouldn't have come as a surprise considering the situation. The pelican began to take off even with the rear hatch open, the thrusters on the wings creating a lot more noise than usual. Right as we started to accelerate towards the sky, the bright white light of a plasma beam starting to glass the land appeared, temporarily rendering me unable to see. For a few moments, I thought I could hear the people still on Earth screaming as their lives were terminated, but maybe that was just me losing my mind.

I hope that wasn't the case.

The hatch of the Pelican began to shut, before my own mind began to shut down on itself, meaning I was losing consciousness. Of course, I allowed that to happen… after what I've been through, I needed the rest…

That idea was almost immediately cut off as I heard the pilot yelling for some reason. Eyes snapping open, I looked in front of me, realizing that Weiss was no longer there, instead a hole on the side of the pelican. We were going down.

This is how it ends. Corporal Aaron "Ajax" Kerrigan, status KIA. Killed on the escape from Earth…

I closed my eyes and prepared for the end.

My eyes snapped open, a sharp gasp coming from me. I didn't know where I was initially; scanning the area I was in. All I could see was fabric walls coming to a point above me, a slit in the fabric, a doorway, allowing light to filter into the area. It hit me almost immediately… it was a flashback to the Fall of Earth. Sitting up in the cot I was in, I ran a single hand through my short, blonde hair, before allowing a light sigh to escape me. That nightmare was becoming recurring, and it really messed with my sleeping habits. However, I was fortunate enough to be awoken in the morning, meaning that I did not miss too much sleeping.

Glancing to the side, I realized that Stark was no longer in his cot, meaning that he was already up and about. Before Earth fell, that was really uncommon. In fact, he usually got up later than most ODSTs, thinking that the more he slept, the less he had to go through. Something told me that after the fall something in him changed. Shaking my head, I realized now wasn't the time to think about that. Instead, I decided to get up and get some breakfast—the planet we arrived on, Erebus VII, had a fair amount of wildlife and plants so that we could have some sort of sustenance. Standing up, I grabbed my black "ODST" shirt and threw it on, putting on my BDU pants as well as the combat boots. I then opened the tent, looking out at the view.

The only thing that I could possibly equate it to is a refugee camp. There were tents surrounding the landed Unbroken, holding civilians and military personnel alike. Personally, I did not know how many people were with the Unbroken when it took off from Earth, but to make a guess that the population is lower now would probably work. My brief stay in the infirmary gave me the information I needed to know – the med bay was full with injured soldiers and civvies alike. More than likely we did not have the resources to save many of them, so they died. It was the simple and harsh reality. Hopefully they were buried now, and that's all I could really ask for at this point.

Letting out a light sigh, my eyes turned to the area outside of the makeshift walls that were constructed to hold out any predators that may be lurking in the shadows of the dense jungle. Erebus VII was apparently a primarily jungle based planet. From the scans of it, I could see that there were some plains farther North of the camp, but that was it. So far, we were getting by just fine on the planet, and the fact that the Covenant have not found us was even better. Maybe we can repopulate humanity here?

Hah. While it is what I could wish for, that's all it was- a wish.

Shaking my head, I heard someone approach me from the side, calling out to me, "Cpl. Kerrigan?"

Turning my attention to the person that called out to me, I looked over him real quick. It was a boy, probably around 16 years of age. Dark brown hair and soft brown eyes, he did not seem like much. Even his general build made him seem weak. However, the fact that he was wearing a marine helmet, which was slightly big on him, along with a UNSC shirt made me realize that maybe he was filling the boots of someone. His dad maybe? I couldn't tell at this point.

"Yeah, that's me. What do you need?" I asked, raising an eyebrow slightly at him.

"U-um… Lieutenant Weiss wishes to speak with you," he stammered out, looking really nervous at this point. He wasn't made for war. Hopefully, he didn't have to deal with war.

Nodding my head slightly, I say, "Thank you. Dismissed."

The boy nodded his head, before running off. I wished him the best, praying slightly that he wouldn't have to fight any Covenant, but I already knew that it was inevitable. This is war, not play time.

I stood there for a moment in contemplation, before setting off to find Weiss. She was probably with the other company leaders on the bridge of the frigate. I started off towards the Unbroken, ignoring breakfast for now—it wasn't a priority anyways. As I walked towards the ship, I couldn't help but pick up on the depressing mood all around me. Hell, I wasn't feeling too good either considering, but at least I could attempt to hide it. Everyone had this look to them as if they were going to die tomorrow. It wasn't far off I suppose, seeing as the Covenant could appear or the Flood could infect someone, but expecting the worst isn't good. Morale this low would lead to the ultimate destruction of the population on Erebus VII. Fights will start and escalate to death. To make matters worse, we were near a military vessel and weapons, while they were usually secured, could be procured with a little subterfuge. We needed something to stop something like that from occurring.

"Corporal."

My eyes snapped to the figure in front of me: Weiss. She looked exhausted, bags appearing under her normally bright blue eyes and her blonde hair, while normally styled to keep out of her eyes, was a mess. She probably just got off from a night patrol or something. My suspicions were correct as I realized she was wearing her ODST BDU.

"Long night?" I asked following my salute.

Sighing lightly, she nodded her head, before saying, "You're going on patrol, taking my spot for now. Grab Fireteam Sword and get ready to move out in… 40. Once ready, Overlord will transmit your route to you. Dismissed."

I watched her for a moment as she walked away. Weiss has also changed since the destruction of Earth. I'm not saying that she didn't work that much before the fall of Earth… but it seems like she's almost doubled the amount of work she does. While it's not a bad thing inherently, she is slowly working herself to the ground, and once she does… it's not going to be pretty.

However, I had to push those thoughts away for now as I decided to go find my Fireteam. If my suspicions were correct, they were probably getting breakfast in the cooking area. With that, I started off to the center of the camp.

As I arrived, I looked about the cooking area. About twenty people were continually cycling around, cooking the food we had. There were many more people eating, some not too happy with the food, others silently eating away by themselves. My eyes fell upon a group of four men, sitting in a semicircle and talking among themselves. Fireteam Sword… my team.

To the left was our Demolition Expert, Specialist Lea Jaeger, aka: Dynamite. She didn't seem like much when I met her originally, and I severely underestimated her based on her looks. Part of me thought she was too beautiful for this war, seeing as she had dark blue eyes and black hair, and she was smaller than most ODSTs. However, on our first operation together, she earned the nickname dynamite after using said explosive to destroy a rebel command center and its leader. Quite a surprise considering.

Next to her was the newest member to Sword, Private Felix Zimmerman, nicknamed Whisky after an incident while on shore leave when he was in basic. The bald-headed, green eyed ODST doesn't like to take about that incident, and to this day it remains unknown to me. Part of me doesn't want to know, seeing as he is a strange individual. Despite all of his mysterious and weird self, I know he's a reliable person. Our last operation before Earth he saved my life and his own squad mates by destroying a flanking Wraith. For that, I decide not to bother him about the callsign.

Following Felix was Private First Class Kai Lancaster, also known as Ozone. Ozone is one of those people who is happy every day of his life, and is hard to keep down. Hailing of New Mombasa, the Kenyan has black hair kept in short cornrows and brown eyes that match his skin color. He is consistently able to keep morale high wherever he goes, as he is usually making some joke or making a situation better at all times. Even in all the operations I've been in, he's smiling. Ever the bright light in the camp, people who are not feeling happy or are feeling down go to him seeking to be… happier? I guess that's the word.

And last, but certainly not least, our resident lone wolf, Private First Class Soren Wulf, also known by his callsign… Wolf. Personally, I do not know much about him. He uses a sniper rifle, wears ODST Sharpshooter armor, has crosshairs on his shoulder guards, wears his armor almost all the time, and is very quiet… and that's about it. I attempted accessing his dossier one time, but most of it was redacted or blocked. While under normal circumstances I would not like him on our team, he's managed to take out Brutes with his sniper outside of the effective range of the sniper. Mysterious or not, he's an invaluable asset for the team.

That was Fireteam Sword. This version of the Squad has been together since a little before the fall of Earth. Before that, we've had our fair share of fallen comrades or ODSTs who go to another squad or promoted to something else. Being a Corporal and the Fireteam leader, I've been on Sword the longest. I wasn't always the leader, but for the time I've been a Helljumper, I've been on Sword. The previous leader was killed by taking a blast from a hunter's fuel rod blast. All that was left of him was the boot prints where he was standing before being vaporized.

As I arrived at the team, Lancaster looked up at me, before saying, "Hey, hey, hey! It's the Corporal himself!"

Just being around Ozone made me smirk, it could not be helped.

"Good morning to you too, Kai," I shot back at him, before turning to the rest of them, who were busy eating their food. I wish we could wait for them to finish, but being late under the command of Lt. Weiss was not a good thing.

"Listen up guys, we got orders," I started, taking a seat on a stump that was in the center of the semi-circle. I appreciated that they pushed their food away and gave me their undivided attention.

"We're going on a routine patrol. I personally expect nothing aside from plants and some wildlife."

"Why are we doing this, sir? Seems really unnecessary…" asked Zimmerman, a light frown on his face.

Shrugging my shoulders slightly, I replied to him, "Well, my best guess is to make sure nothing else is on this planet—Covenant or otherwise."

"So… we're going on a patrol… see nothing… then back before lunch, right?" Ozone asked, a light grin plastered on his face. The remark was enough to cause a light chuckle to come from the fireteam. I couldn't help but smirk a little. Comments like these always bring a little light to situations like the one we're in.

"That's right, Lancaster. Meet me at the exit of camp in 30, full drop gear," I said, before standing up and giving a nod at the team. "Remember; just another normal patrol," I finished, before departing the area. I needed to grab a quick meal, and then gear up. Deep down, something told me… this was going to go wrong. That sinking feeling that usually happens when something bad just happened… I felt it.

"That can't be good…"

"God, I really hate this place," grumbled Whiskey as he struggled through a small patch of mud. "If it's not mud, it's the thick grass. If it's not that, it's the low hanging branches. Not that? Then it's the wildlife," complained the ODST, using his combat knife to cut through some brush.

"Ah, can it Felix! Would you rather be constantly pursued by Covvies? Didn't think so," shot back Lea as she stopped for a moment to check her surroundings with her M7S Caseless SMG. The silencer wasn't exactly needed, but there was no point complaining about it to her.

There was another brief silence between the squad as me continued the patrol, the only noises coming from the sounds of our boots against the forest floor, wildlife, and movement of the wind against the trees. I appreciated it, due to the fact that the camp was constantly making noises- people talking or arguing, babies crying, and combat training. Night was a little quieter, but not much. Didn't help that some nights I struggled to get the sleep.

Suddenly, the silence was completely broken by the camp radioing in to my Comms.

"Sword Actual, this is Overlord. We've detected several heat signatures about one klick north of your position. Check it out," the thick Russian voice said over the comms. Never knew who this person was, but he seemed to always be assigned to watching our communications.

"Copy that Overlord, moving that way," I replied, before pointing the squad in the direction of the mysterious signatures. Personally, I believed it was some sort of large animal that inhabited the planet… at least that's what I hoped.

The team eventually arrived at a small cliff overlooking a valley that was a dense forest. From our current position we could barely see the floor, so anything that might be underneath the trees was easily hidden. I did however see on my radar thick yellow dots appear, meaning there was something there.

"Wolf, you see anything?" I asked, looking over at the ODST who was looking through the scope of his sniper. The response I got was a light shake of the head "No." I didn't like this at all, considering that we probably have to walk down there and check it out manually. Letting out a light sigh, I look at the sniper and said, "Wolf, provide overwatch. Lea, stay with him and make sure he doesn't fall off. Whiskey and Ozone, you're both with me. See anything and report to us."

With that, Whiskey and I started down a steep hill that was near the cliff. As we pushed into the forest, a sudden rain storm collapsed upon us, causing a rather audible sigh come from Whiskey.

"Goddamn rain…" he grumbled once more, shaking his head slightly. My radio came to life once more.

"Ajax, we can't see shit up here. Rain is blocking out pretty much any vision we have," Dynamite said over the radio, the rain creating some light interference, "Do you want us to come down and meet up?"

"Negative. Stay up there with Wolf."

Another audible sigh, this time from Lea. "Copy."

Whiskey and I continued to move through the forest, staying roughly 15 yards away from each other. The sudden rustling of leaves caused me to get behind a tree and raise my BR-55. I turned my head to face Felix, before pointing in front of me, causing a light nod of the head in response. Whiskey moved up, before going prone and crawling underneath some brush to get a better look.

"Sir… we got a cluster of grunts and two brutes…" he whispered into his comms, causing my heart to sink.

"Shit… we need to tell HQ…"

"Copy that, backing off," replied Felix, who crawled back out of his position and started to fall back out of the forest. I attempted to get into contact with the camp, asking several times into the mic, "Overlord, this is Sword Actual, do you read?"

No response.

"Lea, can you get anything through the camp?"

"Negative. Rain must be causing interference."

"Dammit…" I growled, before saying to the squad, "We got to head back now and warn the group. We'll link up back at HQ. Dynamite and Wolf, both of you head on. Ozone, Whiskey, and I will link up with you guys there. Move out!"

"Copy that, moving out."

As we began to move back up the mounting, a sudden plasma explosion went off right in front of me, causing me to stumble forward. Glancing back, to my horror, I saw a bright blue vehicle on the other side of the valley- a Wraith. It had spotted us and was bombarding our location.

"Ozone! Whiskey! Let's get going!" I shouted out, before charging up the hill, plasma mortar fire pounding all around us at this point.

And this was supposed to be a normal patrol…