AN: So I finally finished the first chapter...don't expect too much from this in terms of that hard hitting Halo feeling, if you want that you'll need to play one of the games or read one of the books. But for those of you who like lax-ish Halo then come aboard...or dive in deep like Buck and his squad...

Don't mind the repost, just fixing a few errors.


The war has ended. Humanity still holds onto life. But the remnants of the Prophets' armies still skulk the outskirts of our once great empire. Section V survived the brunt of the losses and still has more than a few ships left. That is why Lord Hood sent us out here, to reclaim any planets that weren't glassed and to save any populations that survived the war...there aren't many, but we aren't going to let them fall.

On one of these planets, Antox, I find myself in a pitched battle with Jiralhanae led forces.

"Sam, how many years have we been doing this?" I look over to the giant Spartan wearing olive drab Sec-V custom Mark VI MJOLNIR armor accented with bright purple.

He's in the middle of unloading two separate rocket launchers on a Wraith but takes the time to indulge my question, "25." His answer is brief as he begins to reload the tubes. It was somewhat hard to believe that it had already been two and a half decades since I pulled him off that Covenant frigate, just narrowly escaping the shields in time before the core went critical.

I smile as more than a bit of nostalgia graces my voice, "Twenty-five years of wiping the floor with Covenant filth...No offense, Captain." I quickly look over to the shangheili Captain Far' Jolug as he disembowels an enemy unggoy with his energy sword.

As the small soldier falls to his knees clutching his stomach the captain looks over to meet my gaze, "None taken, Admiral. I much prefer to think of myself as Shangheili, not Covenant." He discharges several pink crystals from his needler into a very unfortunate mask-breather as he finishes speaking.

"Then Covenant filth it is." At my answer he nods and heads off to assist a squad of marines.

"I still can't believe you convinced Covenant forces to join us." Sam shakes his un-helmeted head as he reloads.

I try not to think back to all of the various enemy combatants I turned over the years, as I remark, "You and me both." I watch the officer leap upon a jiralhanae and drive his energy sword through his chest several times as the marines rally around him and charge further into the fray, wiping out another enemy squad without losing stride.

Sam had also been watching, "Useful bastards, though." And laughs a little as Far takes point using his shield to soak up a little extra damage for his new unit.

I nod, "Indeed…now back to the mongrels' mutts." As I turn my attention to the seeming unending supply of enemy combatants.

Sam looks down at me inquisitively, "What about them?"

I grin as I look up at an enemy flyer, "I'm thinking Banshee Boogie." Which is basically just hijacking a Banshee when it flies low for a strafing pass, then using it to attack the enemy.

"They have a lot of anti-air, you sure that's a good idea?" He motions to the distant anti-air wraiths moving about behind the front.

"When have I ever had a good idea?" I smirk as I reload my battle rifle. The other Section V Spartan II to bare an officer's rank signs to Sam as I pickoff a few more who wandered to close to this sector.

"Randal's right, that whole Sunrise Surprise incident a few years back worked out pretty well." Randall's vocal cords were severely damaged a couple of years ago, but since the Spartan usually used hand-signs anyway, not much changed.

"All my plans workout in the end, it's the beginning and middle that gets a bit…tricky." I grin at the thought of all my interesting tactical choices over the years.

He looks at me deadpan, "You mean crazy?"

"If you see it that way." I wave him off as I notice that Far has lead his little squad into a thicket of enemy forces, but didn't seem to require any real assistance. The enemy had let him get too close...which was always a mistake for the Commander of Section V's Stealth Operations Division.

I catch Randal nodding at something Sam had just said, the speaking Spartan turns to me and nods, "We do, Shade."

"Ghost." I nod to the enemy scout maneuvering from the right over a small hill.

"On it." Sam carefully leads the unfortunate bastard with one of his rocket launchers, for he was never one to waste ammunition. He sent the shaft of steel right into the nose of the purple vessel distributing smoking scrap a hundred yards in front of our position.

"Mgalekgolo." It seems the Ghost was clearing the way for the lumbering behemoths, for out of the smoking wreckage the duo charged with shields leveled.

"Are you going to kill them or recruit 'em?" He smirks with a couple teeth showing.

"We'll see." I raise my rifle and study them, I was actually considering recruiting them…but given that they were Loyalist it would be a near impossible task to turn them, so begrudgingly I give Sam the order to fire.

"Speaking of which, where are the Triple Duce?" As he's taking aim he inquiries to the location of my personal security force, three pairs of bond-mates.

After all four projectiles are away I answer, "Reinforcing the left flank." I rarely used them outside of scaring the hell out of new recruits, so they were given free range to destroy the enemy at their leisure.

"You need a tube?" He begins reloading the twin tubes again as he asks. He always had a knack for when I was about to move off.

"No, I think I'll fall back for once and use a sniper rifle." I point back to a high hill with a good vantage of most of this sector's fighting. I took the advice of my battle brother and decided against the banshee hijacking...for now.

"Finally missing your armor?" The giant smiles as he rises resting each tube on their respective shoulders. His reference was to the fact that I had switched from my old SV variant of the MJOLNIR armor in favor of a modified ODST model, it had a little flare with twin forearm shields and a limited cloak…plus was significantly lighter when it came to vehicles. Trust me when I say it's a shit load easier for a mongoose to take a hill or for a hornet to maneuver if one of the occupants doesn't weigh an extra half-ton.

"Finally realizing that an admiral shouldn't be on the front line." I return the smile.

Abandoning the rockets after expending his last rounds into a few clusters of unggoy, he favors the battle rifle Randal hands him as he asks, "Beam or…?"

I shake my head as I keep up with the mid-range sniping, "Actually, I think I'd prefer something human."

Sam chuckles, "Amusing considering all the Covenant tech you use." He was right, for years I had always preferred Covenant weapons for their effectiveness, but when it came to ranged offense the UNSC gave me pure gold with the SRS99D-S2 AM, a personal favorite.

He cleans out a squad of unggoy with two bursts, then looks over at me, "Well, don't shoot us."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Captain, Commander." I nod to both of them before moving toward a warthog that was approaching the battlefield just to my left. I waved them over.

As the hog pulls up beside me I point to the ridge, "Corporal, I need a lift to that ridge."

"Well then hop in, sir." A sergeant dismounts the passenger seat and hops in back with the gunner.

"Thanks, Kale." As I leap in I nod to the fellow veteran, despite only knowing a little about him...we had still been through more than a few of the same engagements…38 and counting.

He grins as he barks at the driver, "You heard the admiral, Corporal, let's get this heap up that hill." Then slams the side with his fist.

"Yes, sir." Before the 'heap' could climb the hill several drop pods pounded the ground a few hundred yards into Covenant held territory.

I grit my teeth, "Corporal, change course. We're going to give those ODSTs a little support."

I hear the sergeant preparing for our charge as the corporal answers, "Yes, sir." And turns the hog toward no-man's-land, or at least what was no-mans-land about two hours ago.

Not twenty seconds after changing course I motion for the corporal to pull up to a very familiar duo.

"Need some backup?" Sam smirks as he looks over toward the drop-zone.

"Always, Sam." The Spartan duo leap into the back, choking the chain-gun as they fill out the available space. The hog roars across the plain toward the drop zone, before long we are joined by four other warthogs and five ghost escorts, as well as a pilfered brute chopper manned by an unggoy of all things.

Sam, Randal, and I disembark at the nearest pod as the hogs roar past and provide cover while the ODSTs regroup. The unggoy rolls over a few unfortunate bastards that weren't quite quick enough, I hear his maniacal laughter over the comm. I couldn't help but grin for the little SoB as he released years of oppression on the poor sods.

Sam rips off the door. The inhabitant obviously tried to open the door with force at the same time Sam ripped it off, for consequently he carried his momentum and fell forward. I helped him to his feet as Sam began sniping the approaching enemy.

"Thanks for the assist…Sir!" His voice bares the standard reverence for my rank, once his eyes meet the two stars.

I hand him my battle rifle as I notice his ID, "No problem…Buck, I was in the area... Actually this is my battlefield, so why are you here?" I retrieve his SMG and begin using it as my own as we move around the drop-pod.

"Lord Hood sent us as reinforcements." We hunker down behind the next pod as sever pink crystals lodge in the front. Most of the surviving ODST had also taken up position behind their pods.

I look over to Buck, "Seeing as I just saved your asses I don't think I need the help."

"Sorry, sir. Where do you need us?"

He's eager to fight and that I can use, but I have to fuck with him, "You're assuming I won't dismiss you from the field for this little distraction."

Before he can say anything a delightful female voice fills the comm, "Shade, we've got two scarabs incoming." Unmistakably Vanguard, the AI for Colonel Roland, the marine commander.

"What was that about the Banshee Boogie?" I look over at Sam.

"…God must really want you dead." He shakes his head as we begin to fall back from this death trap of an open field. The surviving hogs and ghosts pick a few troops up as they go…we aren't amongst them, we hoof it. But I can still hear an unggoy screaming as it seems to continue avoiding enemy fire and rolling over ground infantry in its chopper. I wished him luck...in this life and the next.

"Like how he wanted our brothers and sisters." I suppose it's time to tell you that I'm the Shadow Spartan, the one and only ever produced by Section V. But I share all my DNA with a Spartan II, I am his flash-clone. So when a Spartan, regardless of generation or variation, falls...that's my family falling, and I don't take kindly to that shit. I'm a freak to the core, which explains why I'm a seven-foot tall admiral with a rather nice tan and a suit of custom MJOLNIR armor aboard my flagship, Love of Death. I am the product of Fate's fickle intervention, for whatever reason I don't know...what I do know is that I have a duty to serve until I can't breathe anymore, because in truth I'm supposed to be dead anyway.

I refocus my mind, "Must be a Spartan thing." Sam has considered me a brother and a true Spartan ever since I saved his ass all them years ago.

"We do seem to attract death…" I turn to the ODSTs, "Speaking of Spartans, you guys don't have a problem…Let me rephrase that; You guys aren't going to have a problem working with Spartans, are you?" I stare at Buck deadeye, I know the history with Spartans and ODST and I frankly don't give a shit for their attitude toward the hardest working soldiers to ever grace the battlefield.

"Didn't know there were any left." Buck smirks…but I see that he'll do what is necessary to win.

"You'd be surprised how many we've…acquired." I motion to Sam and Randal.

"That's a strange way of saying 'busted your ass saving us'." Sam slams me in the shoulder with his free hand as he laughs. I smile as rub the impact spot…I'm a Spartan, but I'm not wearing MJOLNIR armor, just my modified ODST combat after-all...


AN: So that wasn't too bad, was it?

I may continue regarless of reviews unless there is an overwhelming desire for me to stop all together. I'll probably re-post again if I notice a grievous error or just want to improve it.

-May Dread watch over you-