A lone lifeboat hurled into Halo's atmosphere.

"We're coming on too fast!"

"Damn! Airbrake failure. I'm losing her! Brace for impact!" the lifeboat jockey yelled back to her passengers. The lifeboat shuddered as it hit a tree, than slammed into the ground.

***

The Master Chief slowly started to regain conciseness. A throbbing ach in his head told him he was still alive, and then he heard Cortana yell, "Chief! Chief, can you hear me?!"

"You don't have to yell, I'm right here." he replied as he started to take the weapons of his fallen comrades.

"Oh, really? Sensors pick up a covenant drop ship inbound. They're looking for survivors." He stepped out of the boat and saw five bodies that broke out during the landing sequence. Cortana added, "The others, the impact. There is nothing more we can do. We should head into the hills to evade the patrols." And head into the hills they did. Across a narrow bridge without rails, and behind a tree to watch those bastards get out of their U-shaped drop ship. But what he hadn't anticipated was two banshee escorts. Flying around overhead, trying, yet failing, to notice any humans that had escaped the lifeboat's area. They left with the drop ship, leaving only the handful of covies behind. But they were in flanking position, so they had to be dealt with sooner or later. And he chose sooner. Putting his M6D to x2, he carefully counted five grunts, one elite. Perfect. He sent a round sailing into the forehead of the nearest grunt, and he fell over, not knowing what had hit him. The other four grunts led similar fates. By the time the elite even noticed, all of his squad was dead. The Chief put a fresh magazine into his pistol, and unloaded it onto the elite. Done and done. Continuing the course up the hill, he spotted more covenant. He dealt with this squad like the first. Continuing on yet again, he finally heard the familiar sounds of automatic fire and energy weapons. A firefight. Automatic weapons means marines. And marines mean Linda. As he came around a pass, multiple names came up on his friend-or-foe indicator: SGT.JOHNSON, PVT.O'BRIAN, PVT.BISENTI, PVT.JENKINS, SPARTAN-153, and the names of various crewmen. He set out to mop up the remaining covies, and when the deed was done, a marine, private O'Brian, said, "Glad you could make it, sir. Welcome to the party."

"Where's your sergeant?" the Master Chief asked

"Over there." the marine said and made a motion over his shoulder.

"It's a mess, sir. We're scattered all over this hill," the sergeant said, and in a hushed voice, continued, "Until you showed up, I thought we were cooked."

"Don't worry, we'll stay here until evac arrives." Cortana said over the chief's speakers. He saw on his motion tracker that Linda was on top of the structure, a prime place for sniping. He went up a ramp, and went right behind her without her noticing. She appeared to be examining her leg, and her shin armor was off.

"You alright?" John asked. She looked up, and seemed startled. Linda quickly grabbed her leg armor, snapped it back on in place, and said, "Alright. Never been better." She was hiding something, and he couldn't figure out why. "You can tell me."

"I'm alright." Linda said once again.

"Hmmm. . ."

"Covenant dropship inbound." a marine yelled. The chief jumped down and readied his assault rifle, just in time to see four grunts, three jackals, and an elite step out. A crack of a sniper, and the first of the jackals was down. With the combine force of John, Linda, and a the marines, the covenant quickly melted away. The next three dropships also dropped their occupants to their death under a hail of armor-piercing bullets. In no time, Foehammer said, "This is Echo-419 to any UNSC forces. Anybody readin' me?"

"We read you five-by-five, Echo-419. Is that you Foehammer? We have survivors and need immediate dust-off." Cortana said, "Foehammer will be here soon, but we still have about five minutes." The chief surveyed the valley, and something caught his attention. Up on the structure, the marines were crowded around Linda, and she had her leg armor off again. But they also seemed interested.

"Cortana, could you open a comm with them?"

"Sorry, but they're using a complex secure channel," a pause as he went up the ramp, "Got it."

It was a marines voice, "Yeah, look at the skin, its all black and charred."

"Plasma scoring. It makes sense, you were the first off the lifeboat, right? And they were already waiting for you? Man, that's got to hurt." The chief had no idea of what they were talking about until he was right behind them. Linda's leg had been hit by an overcharged plasma pistol blast.

"Linda. . ."

"What? Oh. . ." She hurried to put her armor back on.

"No, wait. Does anyone have a med pack? Right, get the self-filling biofoam." He took the bottle, and said, "This might sting."

"Agh!" She gritted her teeth as the foam filled her wound. But in a few seconds, it was over. But it felt like forever. Soon, Foehammer came over the comm "Echo 419 inbound. Clear the drop zone." A moment later, she came in. Cortana said, "Look, up there. More lifeboats. Foehammer, we need you to disengage your warthog. The Chief and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers."

"Copy that, Cortana, warthog deployed."

"Linda, do you want to go on the pelican? Want to go to Alpha base?" John asked.

"I never give up without a fight," she said, "I'm coming with you." So, with his MJOLNIR enhanced strength, he gently picked Linda off the ground, careful not to disturb her fragile leg. With the same fluid-like movement, he placed her in the passenger seat of the recently dropped warthog. With her S2 in hand, she carefully scanned the horizon. He almost laughed, but checked the motion. She truly wasn't going to give up without a fight. So, with a marine, PVT. FITZGERALD, in the driver seat, he sat down at the LAAG.

"Private, I trust you know how to drive a 'hog?" the Master Chief asked.

"Yes, sir!" the marine shouted back.

"Then go!" Fitzgerald took off, putting the warthog at full speed up un- even terrain. After going up their third hill, they saw the pelican fly over their heads and up, above a cliff, and out of sight. They went down into a canyon, to the opening of a cave. The cave looked strange. "This cave is not a natural formation. Someone built it, so it must lead somewhere." They entered the cave, and it was large. Not large, huge, big enough to drive a scorpion tank. They got through with ease. Soon they were at what looked like a Covenant outpost. Fitzgerald turned the hog so that Linda was facing the covies.

"Can you get a clear shot?" John asked. Linda answered with three resounding 'crack's of her sniper rifle, and the elite and the grunt patrolling the road were killed. More came to investigate, and all of them accepted the same fate. By the time they actually realized what happened, they had lost ΒΌ of their ranks. The remaining elites forced a counter- attack quickly, and Linda had too many targets to choose from. John and Fitzgerald both helped, with Fitzgerald using the cover of the hog to fire his MA5B, and the Master Chief spraying the LAAG over them. The entire battle took about fifteen minutes, with a carpet of blue and purple blood on the road. they pulled out and went to what should be a bridge. Cortana instructed him to get out, go up a ramp (though she didn't tell him about two elites there) and to a control panel. He seemed to know what buttons to press, and he did. A light bridge came out, and he retraced his steps back to the hog.

"How did you know what buttons to press?" she asked.

"I didn't." Back at the warthog, Fitzgerald barley waited for him to get back in before he started the engine again. They went across the light bridge, through more lengths of cave, and finally, out to the surface. They went up a hill, through a river, and over a jackal. The group stopped only to battle a convoy of jackals. They went into a valley, and Cortana broke the silence.

"We should check those structures before we leave." Those structures, it seemed, were under heavy guard from covenant, who were trying to battle their way inward. With the Chief on the LAAG, Linda on the sniper, and Fitzgerald driving over anything that moves, or moved, those covies didn't stand a chance. When all the enemies were cleared, the chief went into the buildings. At the basement were some marines and crewmen, and all of them were relived to see him. Cortana went over his suit's comm again,

"Foehammer, we have additional survivors and are awaiting dust off."

"Copy that, Cortana. Echo 419 inbound." In what seemed like no time, all of the humans were on the transport, and they were off again. They were at the head of a river, when the warthog came to a stop, for a good reason. A familiar sound. Banshees. Linda sent an armor-piercing round into the nose of one of the aircraft, and it cut through a number of primary systems before entering the pilot's head. By the time the banshee hit the ground, the banshee and the pilot were dead. And anti-aircraft bullets tend to take down banshees with extreme efficiency. The dropship they were escorting left its troops before retreating. Linda and the Chief concentrated their fire on the elites, then the jackals, and then the grunts that had survived the first of the attacks. And so they went into yet another valley, this one with a large hill.

"There, the marines are up in those rocks." So they went over the rocks, a tree and a few jackals until they were at the top of the hill.

"Good to see you, Master Chief. We're stuck up in this hill, we were in a bad way," he looked at Linda, who seemed to be in a trance, looking down the hill. "Maim, are you even listen-" Crack! Crack! Crack! Linda fired what remained if her clip, before adding a fresh one. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! She continued like this until there were no remaining threats.

"Wow. Just, wow." the corporal said as he stared, awestruck, at Linda.

"Foehammer, we are ready for another ride back to base." Cortana said.

"Already? But it's only been a few minutes."

"Yes, already. Area is clear. Drop in now." They waited for about twenty minutes, Foehammer was probably still dropping off the others when they called. While they waited, Linda pocketed some clips from a dead solider, and also took his dog tag. When Foehammer came, it was time to go. Their next journey went un-opposed. The rocky region that they came to seemed to have a lifeboat.

"There. Marines are concealed in those rocks." A quick run of the area, and all enemies appeared to be dead. But looks can be deceiving. Except in this case, where the looks were correct. The marines yelled compliments at them, but playtime was over. Cortana announced that three Covenant dropships were on their way. The dropships lost more of their troops while landing then on the ground. Linda's aim was just too good. With all enemies cleared, and no more on the way, Cortana called Foehammer one last time. In the pelican, John sat opposite of Linda. Both of them took off their helmets with a hiss of compressed air. And as he looked a Linda's battle scarred face, he could only think of one thing. She was beautiful. And he felt a feeling rise up in him.

***

But Linda quickly shoved that feeling down. They had a professional relationship. . . but yet. . .

***

He had to wait till he was off duty to tell Linda his feelings, but what were these feelings?