Alnus Hill UNSC Airfield.

Seven UNSC Falcons, the twin VTOL Propeller/Turbine engine aircraft of the UNSC were lined up across the concrete. The blades spun up, lifting clouds of dust around each aerial vehicle. Preparing for liftoff, manning the guns and flying the birds was under rule of Spartan Fireteam NORMANDY, lead by the Shepard twins. Jane and John Shepard stood aboard the leading Falcon, manning the two main guns. Jane waved the pilot and showed them to take off. The birds lifted off from the ground and moved in a staggered line to their requested RV point, each carrying about 6 Spartans on board.

"What's our target here?!" Jane asked her brother, checking her DMR. John nodded, then waved forward "RECON 3 Requested backup and aerial defense in the evacuation of Civilians from a village named Coda, due east of here! We located the 'Hogs and saw via SPY-SAT that they are moving with a large convoy of horse-drawn carts toward the base! High-Com has also spotted something odd, a flier about 30 clicks from them, moving fast!"

"And we're, what, supposed to intercept that thing?!" Demanded Jane. John shook his head, then answered calmly "We're there to provide aerial cover for the people on the ground as they make headway into getting to Alnus!" to which Jane nodded and answered "Aye, aye, big bro! Let's rack'em and stack'em!" And the Spartans loaded their weapons in quick succession, preparing for a premature deployment, as with any good Spartan mission.

/\/\/\/\

Making headway into the retreat, the UNSC Warthogs and JSDF Trucks escorted almost a hundred or more carts that moved down the beaten path they had taken a few hours ago to meet with the villages. Kat turned the turret of the gun and looked at the Humvee beside them, to see Kurata flooring it and Itami with his rifle out. The man cocked the weapon's bolt back and fed a round into the chamber. Clutching his Assault Rifle and looking at the girl aboard their truck, Six cocked his Assault Rifle, then stood up and walked to the front of the vehicle.

Seven, on the other hand, was driving one of the 'Hogs, keeping her eyes on the damn road as the slow-as-a-snail advance continued. They heard the rattle of helicopter blades and looked up, to see the dozen UNSC Falcons. Kat looked up and nodded to the Spartans that were peeking down at them and the people from the carts looked up as well. Seeing metallic flying beasts was apparently an oddity for them.

"This is Jane Shepard of NORMANDY squad to the Jietai Humvee. We'll be your Eye in the Sky for today." A young woman said through radio. Itami looked up and smiled, then picked up the radio and answered "Copy your last, Shepard. Thanks for the backup." And the woman answered "Have a safe journey. NORMANDY out." And the vehicles kept rolling, well past the hills and into an open field, which they'd encountered when heading for Coda.

The vehicles halted, the moment both Six and Itami saw someone coming from up ahead. With a flight of crows orbiting around her, the young girl was what both Itamis would've classified as a 'Gothic Lolita', carrying some massive halberd. She started walking toward them and spoke the language of the local people, then looked up at the sky, to see the Falcons holding position, guns spinning and troopers aiming toward her from aboard. She grinned, upon seeing a group of people from the carts moving ahead to meet her, mostly kids who were aboard the Humvee.

From what little Six could tell, same for the JSDF, they were praying to the girl. The Spartan exited the vehicle, then waved to Kat and she nodded. What shocked Six the most is, after a convo with a kid, the girl took a seat in Itami's lap. Just what in Sam Hill was going on here? Nevermind... They had bigger fish to fry, like getting these people out of the place. The Spartan, alongside the kids, climbed back aboard the Humvee after hearing Itami struggle with the kid on his lap and, advancing further down the road, all seemed normal up to the point of...

Hearing a fucking roar coming from the sky...

The massive Dragon they saw on the earlier night appeared. Orange shell and white, counter-shading belly, it moved ahead at incredible top speeds. Jane looked back and barked something loudly through her mic in swedish, then turned and said it in English "FLY! WE'VE GOT INCOMING HOT! BIRD ON OUR SEVEN O'CLOCK!" And the pilots turned and descended, letting the Spartans drop into the fight. The squadron loaded weapons and moved ahead, then John signaled the heavy-weapon carriers, soldiers who carried Sparrowhawk SAM/SSM Rocket Launchers, to move ahead of the line. The soldiers, armed with the infamous double-tube UNSC SPnKr Rocket Launcher, took off ahead, knelt and shouldered the lock-on weapons, then aimed at the dragon.

Kat, manning the chaingun, turned the turret and waved the driver over to the side to aid the Spartans. She grinned, cocked the gun, feeding a round into the chamber and barked "COME AT ME!" Then squeezed the trigger, gunning at the dragon's thick metallic skin. The bullets pinged off it like they were ping-pong balls. She saw three rockets fly off from the Spartans in front of her, leaving contrails of white pluming smoke in the air, but the Dragon, somehow, managed to dodge each.

"Fuck..." Murmured Kat, then she tapped her mic "HELIOS 3-1! What the hell are you and your boys doing up there? You gonna gun this sucker with 30-mils or are you?"

Almost immediately, she heard the roars of the Falcons' Guns and saw bullets striking the enemy's armor. Two rockets flew off from one of the vehicles, that had missile pods attached beside the gun, and struck the monster. It roared in anger as explosions enveloped its body and roared, then sent a stream of fire down range, making the Spartans and JSDF Dodge almost immediately. Tracers left the guns' barrels and struck the creature, as did multiple bullets and hundreds of other small munitions. The Spartans saw the newly-recovered girl, Rory Mercury, dodge through a Dragon's strike and attack it, lunging herself up at it.

The young Elven girl had woken up aboard the truck and looked to Six and Itami, then started pointing at her eye as she pounced out of her covers. Now stark-naked, she kept pointing at her eye, until everyone finally understood the word. Six nodded to Itami, cocked his DMR and fired accurate shots toward the creature's eyes, making it roar a bellowing roar of rage and hatred.

Opening fire with every weapon the UNSC Had in their arsenal did little to slow the gigantic fucker down, as he just kept coming. Sweeping low, the UNSC Falcons gunned at it, shell after shell striking its thick hide. Shepard roared as she steadied her Spartan Laser onto her shoulder and aimed it. She could hear the hiss as the weapon charged up and saw the targeting beam pinned on the creature. It looked toward her too, noticing the target laser painting its red hide. Jane gasped, then rolled to the side as the Dragon breathed fire toward her, then she enhanced her shield to OVERSHIELD Mode, soaking up most of the heat damage and charring part of her armor. She stood up and steadied the Laser Weapon again, squeezed the trigger and it fired. The Lance of energy arched and struck a wall past the creature, melting it as she painted diagonally onto it, trying to hit the fire-breathing lizard.

"FUCK!" She barked, then took a knee and slid the weapon on her back. She looked toward the carts, which were getting burned. She remembered seeing her home on the colony of Arcadia under siege by smaller bastards like these guys, while she was nowhere near the place to help... She clutched her Assault Rifle tightly in her hands, dived out of cover and aimed the weapon from a prone position, then squeezed the trigger, roaring. The 32 bullets left the gun incredibly quickly, hitting the enemy Dragon's heavily armored back. She groaned as she slammed a fresh clip into her rifle, then she saw a contrail of smoke leave the moving Humvee aboard which Itami was and Rory pushing the Dragon in its direction.

The round struck and detonated, tearing the monster's arm off. It bellowed in pain and rage, then flapped its wings and took off into the distance. Shepard pumped her fist up into the sky, then sighed in relief and looked toward the Humvee and gave a thumbs up and rushed toward the carts that had been burned, to try and help. The Falcons landed beside them and the pilots left the cockpits, with medical gear to boot, followed by the JSDF and the military.

The road back to Alnus was a quiet one. The squad chose to leave some citizens behind, as not even with the Troop Hog they could carry them. The Aircraft were chock-full of of Spartans and Six, alongside John and Jane, was hanging on to the outside of the Humvee, cradling his Assault Rifle in his arms. He looked to Itami, then asked "Lieutenant, you mentioned something about 'books', when talking about us and our fellow Spartans."

Itami smiled weakly as he looked at Six and said "Y-Ya need to see to believe, Six..." And left it at that. The Spartan was suddenly intrigued. What the hell could've the Japanese known about them prior to coming into contact with them. There were many questions the Spartan would need an answer too and he was going to get them one way or another... He knew that much.

Rolling across a hilltop, the sight of the UNSC/JSDF Camp appeared ahead of them. It had developed relatively quickly in the days they were there. It turned into what seemed to be a star-like fortress, with a dozen guns placed around its outer walls and hundreds of guards around the place. Aside from the usual UNSC Warthogs and dozens of other vics patrolling the perimeter, set up at the gate the squad was heading to, there was an oddity of a battle vehicle. Bipedal in nature, with bent, heavily armored legs, what seemed to be energy flickering around it, gunmetal-green painted like anything UNSC Marines have and with two arms, both carrying weapons. One had a 30mm Chaingun and the other had a 4-pod rocket launcher.

The UNSC HRUNTING/YGGDRASSIL Mark IX Armor Defense System, colloquially named the Mantis by the UNSC Jarheads, was a young Marine Armored Corps soldier's best friend. Manned only by him and with easy controls, the damn thing had a Hardlight shield all across its hull and, with the latest one-ups in the UNSC Arsenal, the shields had tripled strength, matching that of the newest UNSC Battleships in terms of armor and defense.

"Wow..." Murmured Rory, looking at the armored vehicle with awe as it walked, under control by one UNSC Soldier. "That's a big weapon..." She looked to Jackson and Dubbo, then asked in English, enough for them to understand "What's that thing?" And both of them stared in awe. Jackson nodded, took her helmet off and grinned, flipping it upward and placing it to her side "That beauty there," She pointed at the Walker Tank "Is the UNSC HRUNTING/YGGDRASSIL MARK Nine Armor Defense System. We call her the Mantis and she, with her over a million sisters are the most beautiful thing to happen to the UNSC Since the Spartans."

"You have a million of those things, Jackson?" Itami asked, looking back at the girl. She kept her grin, sending a thumbs up Itami's way, then gleefully answered "Aye! UNSC Standard-Issue nowadays! No Covie scum can mess with us anymore since the Prophets fell and they're fuckin' scattering!" She looked to Dubbo "Ain't that right, Chips?"

The man grinned too, then nodded "Aye. We've been kicking their asses around the Halo Rings and back for well over 6 years now... God bless, we recovered the Chief too. Was there, on Requiem with the First Infinity Battlegroup when it happened. Still remember getting ourselves pulled into that fuckin' vortex that was the mouth of that Shield World."

"We're clear to go in." Six said toward the group, then nodded "Just talked to HighCom. Admiral Lasky and Lieutenant Palmer are currently having a meeting with Lieutenant-General Hamaza, to discuss the possibility of Extra Troop Deployments and enlarging the base for several Mining Companies from our world."

"Sounds important. Be sure to tell us what it was about." Itami said nonchalantly, then waved everyone forward. The vehicles entered the gates and people started disembarking almost immediately within the Motorpool. Scanning their surroundings, Rory, as she identified herself, could see well over a dozen Mantises and hundreds of other UNSC and JSDF Vehicles, lined up per type, from the lightly armored 'Hogs and Humvees, to the big and deadly Scorpions and Type-74 MBTs. Among the Scorpions, there were also a pair of Heavy-Battle Grizzly MBTs. Faster and with twin guns, these damn things were usually at the spearhead of the UNSC Armored Corps.

Three things were forming up in Rory's mind by now, as she grinned heavily.

#1. The UNSC and JSDF Are here in force. That's awesome.

#2. If the Empire messed with them, they'd be screwed beyond comprehension.

#3. She and whoever else came from the village would help them kick ass in a hundred new ways.

She heard music playing in English, through the speakers set up around both light posts and everything else, then grinned. She started walking with the others toward what would soon be their homes, she hoped...