Disclaimer: If you think I own the universe in which im writing i think you need to get out from under your rock.

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The Story So Far

"Relax Sir. There was just a slight malfunction of the cryo tubes. You will feel a little disorientated due to the rapid reanimation but it will pass soon."

The man quickly pushed away the tech as he attempted to help him to his feet, and threw up the horrible concoction that had sustained him though his sleep. He then used the pod to prop himself up before examining his surroundings. To his right where four equally disorientated men, to his left, seven more where emerging from there own pods and he presumed they where going to be in as bad as shape as him.

"Explain to me please will you?" he got up with a deliberate slowness until he came level with the tech."Why are eleven of my men and I currently out of stasis ? And I'm telling you now, it better be good."

"Well Sir, ahem. There was a small malfunction with the cryo bays power supply, so in order to insure that you and the others would not suffer any injures we had to,ahem, quick defrost you."

After uttering those last two words the tech immediately wished he didn't, as the man in front of him simply stared at him, and for reasons he couldn't quite place it made him scared to the bone. The man then simply walked over to some of the other men why had went though his own fate.

"Jesus. Of all the pods to fail, it had be the Helljumpers. And the Major would have to be among them." the tech thought to himself as he approached one of the other soldiers being took out of cryo.

The man the tech identified as the Major had approached the men to his left first, as they seemed to be more alert then those on his right.

"On your feet soldiers!"

With this command the four men in front of him and those on the left, to his surprise, all came to attention almost immediately. Only those most recently defrosted took an extra second to rise.

"I want you all to co-operate with these Techies, that is of course, only if you think you need a few minute's gather yourself. Those who are feeling all right will suit up and report to the chow hall for a nice hot meal." The major then turned towards the locker room and was immediately followed by the eleven other men to the techs astonishment.

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"So Major I do trust you and your men are keeping your noses clean on board my ship." Jack asked the Major as he entered his quarters to be debriefed on the task at hand.

"Yes Sir, just been telling your boys a few bedtime stories." replied Major Joesph Quantain, veteran of the battle for Harvest and one of the few survivors of Reach.

"Nothing to give them nightmare's I hope."

"Maybe one or two."

Both men looked right at each other with a steel resolve until finally Jack smiled."I can never win these little matches of ours, can I Joe?"

With a smile now growing across his face the Major replied, "Never could Jack, never will my friend."

"Sit down, let us get to our task at hand."

Joe walked over to the chair opposite Jack and sat down.

"Now what I'm going to tell you now is only known by a few at Oni, my Bridge crew and myself." Jack gave his words a few seconds to sink in. "We are going to a planet, Odyssey, originally nothing but a small outer rim world with over two million Humans living there. But as of twenty days ago that population increased a few million, as the Covenant decided to take up residents, to the dismay of the current residents. Luckily for them a few of the Oni spooks where floating around on some sort of mission when the Covenant arrived, and relayed the information back to FleetCom. As bad as it sounds, nothing was going to be done about it, FleetCom reasoned that no ships where close enough to respond before the planet would be glassed, and they ordered the spooks to hang around and observe the attack. Then the Covenant done something no one expected, they done nothing. Then a massive ship and several escorts arrived on the third day. And the ships which had first arrived then jump out of system. Now the fact that they done nothing for three days got FleetCom on the edge of there seats, but the arrival of the ship and its escorts and the immediate departure of the other ships had them running circles trying to figure out what they where doing. Then with the Spartans return from Reach, they got there answer. Everyone knows that Reach was glassed but only a few know that some of the planet was left untouched as the Covenant began to dig deep into the ground. The Spartans who where trapped within the Oni base there, discovered ancient ruins, we believe Forerunner in origin, and a small device which affected slipspace in some way. Now the Covenant must have really wanted this devise if they didn't glass part of the planet, and with Odyssey untouched it must be real important whatever it is there looking for."

Joe slowly digested what he had heard, and could not help but wonder if his Helljumpers on Reach had escaped being glassed to give the covenant as much trouble as they could.

"I see, so where being sent to get whatever it is there looking for?"

"Exactly."

"How much of this am I to tell my men?"

"Every thing relating to the recovery of whatever it is the covenant are looking for, but nothing about FleetCom's original plan to abandon the planet or about Reach."

"Yes Sir... What is our plan of attack?"

"We are jumping in near to the outermost planet in the system where the Oni spook ship, Occult, will meet us. They assure us that the Covenant will not be able to detect us there due to several sensor jammars they've set up. We are then to assemble our forces in preparation for the fight in space and the fight on the ground. The Occult has informed us that the Marines planet side are still putting up a fight in two of the larger cities. Apparently the Covenant are refusing to use their ships cannons for fear of destroying whatever it is there looking for. Meaning that at least when where planet side we wont have to worry about orbital bombardment. Now as for getting your troops plant side we have a problem, we only have twelve Pelicans and two Albatrosses."

"Thats not nearly enough to get even half of our troops down to the planet."

"I know, and thats why this ship was chosen for this mission, where going to land in between the two cities that are putting up a fight and unload everything we got before talking off again to fly support."

"That's a bit risky isn't it?"

"Yes, but this ship had this type of deployment in mind when being built. What better way to ensure that the dropships avoid as much ground fire as possible then delivering them straight to the ground ourselves. But of course these means we have to deal with the large Covenant carrier and its escorts first."

"Any help form the Occult in doing this?"

"As a matter of fact yes. The Occult has planted twelve small nuclear mines that have been programmed to slowly drift towards the Covenant."

"And my Helljumpers?"

"You will split your troopers in half and jump in while we are engaging the ships in orbit that survive the mines, sending one group to one city and the other to the other city to assist the marines still fighting."

"Yes Sir."

"Any other questions?"

"Not at the moment."

"Then get you troops ready for the assault their being taking out of cryo as we speak."

"Yes Sir"

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Authers Notes: I'm not quite sure if my dialogue here is correct in terms of formatting and i hope it wasnt a bit long winded in parts. Anywhoo more to come as soon as i get the free time to write it. Cheers for talking the time to read this now please review.