GATE: And Thus The UNSC Fought And Died There

by Obsidianjake

Escaping Reach was easy, now having to deal with a world with magical girls, elves, fire dragons and an Empire that wants them gone can the UNSC forces survive? And can a certain Spartan-III get a certain priestess to stop humping his leg due to him being "Caked in blood." (Don't worry it's a mostly serious story...maybe...possibly...don't judge me)

4. Chapter 4: Battle

First Lieutenant Yoji Itami felt the warthog's suspension bounce slightly as they hit a large rock on the path his recon team had managed to cut through the small forest that surrounded them atop this hill they landed on, behind them a gauss hog and a standard warthog drove less than a car lengths away, he held an MA37 rifle in his hands as he sat in the open passenger seat of the troop transport hog with a large cabin attached to the bed of the vehicle where the rest of the squad were busy, leaving him and the driver in the open air. "Whoever thought that an open cockpit was good for the warthog was a fucking idiot." Itami swore as they quickly moved through the forest rubbing his shoulders to keep warm as the vehicle breaking through any underbrush that was left over as they made his team and him made their way to the edge of the forest.

Beside him sat sergeant Roy Anderson his driver, the man was eccentric Itami had to give him that, he was born on Reach unlike Itami who had been born in Japan on Earth before he signed up with the military at age 19, he had been drawn in by the steady income he could use to support his anime hobby though it soon turned into a want and need to protect the civilians of Earth and her colonies from the scumbag aliens known as the covenant.

When he first saw the bastards up close he was scared half to death by a grunt which he quickly shot with his rifle, that unfortunately led to an entire pack of them and their elite commander chasing him down five street blocks before he ran into a marine squad who were more then happy to take the chance for a little payback. Gunning each and every grunt down before giving the elite a piece of their mind with a shotgun blast, that was how he met Roy the man loved his shotgun that was for sure, he took the damn thing everywhere and cleaned it whenever he could until the metal shined enough the blind you on the spot.

He always carried extra shells for the thing into battle as well so he could go the longest time possible without having to scavenge the dead for ammo, in his words. He would rather have shells he knew worked then have to scavenge one's that could hurt his baby while in battle. The two had become good friends after that mission, Roy and the squad took Itami in when he requested a transfer to them from HIGHCOM, they were as much his family now as his family waiting for him back home on Earth.

Itami chuckled, he could remember the sergeant looking down at him before giving him a mouthful about looking where he was going. Him a young lieutenant fresh out of the academy being talked down to by a sergeant it almost made him laugh when he thought back to it, that mission to evacuate Arcadia was one of the few he remembered fondly and the only reason why was because he met Roy then.

Earth.

Everytime he thought about it, he mind seemed to go blank with no thoughts daring to break the white void that filled his mind. His mother must have received the letter explaining his missing status and possible death in the field of battle and it filled him with regret that he couldn't be there to comfort her right now, to tell her that he was alive and well still fighting for humanity. His father though… he never cared for his father the man had been uninterested in Itami and his life ever since he was born, not that he could blame the man he had been pulled out of service after one mission to many drove him to the breaking point, now all he could do was sit around and complain, wishing for the so called good old days where he kicked alien ass and took names like no other person in the marine corp. He was the other reason Itami had decided to join the marines, the stories his father told him when he wasn't drinking were one's of glory holding out against a foe that had seemed so far away at the time, but after he had joined he began to witness the horrors of war and what it was really like in real life. It wasn't some news broadcast far away or some show seen on late night TV.

No.

It was a real and life threatening drive for the survival of your very way of life, were if you don't become the killing machine someone else will put a plasma burst into your gut before you can say oops, you had to learn to look away from the anguish and pain in the people you passed by on your way to your objective, you had to steel yourself for what needed to be done. 10, 000 over there die so another 30,000 could live over there, a high ranking military admiral with classified military secrets was worth a platoon of soldiers. And lastly you were never to talk to the enemy never to give them anything that could be used against humanity in its war against the aliens, the words you uttered were your rank and serial number followed by a spit in the face before they killed you on the spot.

Itami felt the warthog bounce again as they made it out of the forest, finally clear of the underbrush he let out a relaxed sigh as he felt the warm rays from the unfamiliar sun bake his body in it's warm rays. It could have been making him impotent for all he cared he would have stayed in that sun's warm rays forever and just fallen asleep on the spot if the warthog didn't bounce again, causing him to hit his head on the headrest as he heard Roy laugh at him as he rubbed the back of his head. Itami groaned as a lump began to form on the back of his head, before socking Roy in the side of the arm for laughing at his pain. "Shut the fuck up Roy, I just wanted to catch a few Z's" Itami scowled as he sat up, now fully awake as the warthog drove faster through the open fields just outside of the forest.

"It's just damn funny Itami." Roy shot back with a smirk, the warthog bouncing again as it hit a very large rock.

"If you two are done fucking around out there, maybe be considerate for those who are trying to read the damn map." A voice came from the cabin on the back of the warthog, it's female but gruff tone cutting through the two men making them look back for a second before laughing.

"God damn Chris let us boys have some fun up here, all we have is a bunch of grass to look forward to with the possibility of being rained on" Itami shot back as he grinned. Sergeant Christine Ashburn as she looked through the window that separated the cabin on the back of the warthog from the driver and passenger seat, the warthog fell silent after that as Roy kept driving on across many hills as Itami lost himself in thought as he watched the blur of green grass and the occasional grey rock pass by.

But then he was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts as Roy slammed on the breaks the warthog skidding to a stop as the dirt behind it was torn up by the heavy wheels of the hog, the only thing that could be heard then was the low rumble of the engine as Roy stared forward his eyes wide as he look at something.

Tearing his eyes away from the other man, Itami followed his line of sight and his breath was taken away when he saw what Roy was looking at, the other two warthogs stopped beside them and the men were about to start complaining before they saw what the others were staring at.

It was a road.

It was a well worn, well traveled dirt road that as he looked down it seemed to lead to a bridge across a river with three trees dotting the road in a perfect line leading to the bridge. It was definitely man made anyone with half a brain could see that from a mile away. But the question in the back of the recon teams minds where, what the hell was a man made road doing on this seemingly uninhabited planet in the first place.

Stepping out of the warthog Itami held his rifle firmly in his gloved hands, the others quickly dismounted as Itami got on one knee and put his hand on the road. The ground felt harder and compacted then the dirt they had been traveling on for so long, many people had traveled along this highway and judging by the wheel marks and footprints that dotted the road Itami guessed the last person to travel on it was here about four or five days ago, give or take any elements the tracks may had been subjected to before they managed to find this road. "Lieutenant Itami." Gunnery Sergeant Frederick Taylor yelled from farther down the road. 'You better look at this."

Itami sighed as he stood up and began jogging down the road, his heavy armored boots crushing the green grass beneath him as he made his way to the gunnery sergeant. "What is it Gunny?" Itami asked as he stopped beside the larger man, his boots crushing a twig beneath their soles as Frederick held out a pair of bino's which Itami took into his hands before bringing them up to his eyes.

"Targets located in grid nineteen." Frederick said as Itami scanned the horizon before coming across what Fred was talking about.

It was a massive camp from the looks of it and as Itami zoomed in to get a closer look, he saw many things that left many questions in his mind. It was a military camp that was for sure judging by the amount of weapons and men that he saw scattered in between the tents. But the weapons he saw were ancient, same with the armor it all looked like the ancient roman legionnaires from Earth thousands of years ago. Shaking his head Itami looked through the bino's again just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, but they weren't and what was even more surprising is that he saw several smaller versions of that dragon thing they had recently fought back at base camp, flying above the unknown armies encampment letting out screeches and roars as they flew around in what seemed to be a practiced dogfight.

The recon team knew why these unknowns were here in such a massive force, it wasn't because they were on an expedition somewhere. No it was to large of a force for that and being this close to the UNSC encampment so soon without them noticing only signalled one thing in the back of Itami's mind. "Radio command and let them know we are about to get hit by the locals."

"Shit, lieutenant we've been spotted by enemy air." Roy yelled as a smaller version of the dragon creature that attacked them dove towards them.

UNSC Freelancer

Jason stood in Halsey's makeshift lab on the medical ward of the ship, the groans of the injured men from the recent battle with whatever beast they had come across still fresh throughout the UNSC camp and ship as he crossed his arms. "What the hell was that doctor Halsey." He said with a calm solid voice as he looked down at the creator of the Spartan program as she stared into a microscope. one of the scales the ONI spooks had managed to salvage from the battle under her gaze as she zoomed in and out trying to get a good look at it as she adjusted the light.

"Ahhhhhh there you are." She said with an unnervingly calm voice as she pulled her eyes away from her work long enough to look Jason in the eye with her usual cold and calculating expression, her long nails clicking on the desk for a full minute as she stared him down before finally saying something, breaking the heavy air between them like a demolition worker with a sledge hammer. "Well Noble Six you should be proud of yourself, you appear to be the first in recorded human history to discover a real live flying dragon." She clapped once and chuckled. "First aliens and now dragons….the universe never gives up on new and interesting ways to screw with us." She said as she got up, she had changed out of her heavy clothing to a simple lab coat and UNSC civilian uniform. They had managed to pull a few boxes of scales after the fight with the so called dragon, the spook seemed excited by the prospect of studying something new when they brought them in the only one who didn't look excited was Halsey like always, the woman had no emotion in her work it seemed only cold calculations.

"Are you serious?" Jason asked as he shook his head, his military instincts kicking in from years of training as a child taken into the Spartan program, warning him of the unknown and calculating how they could best fight the beasts that might lurk here, if there were mythical beasts like dragons here then they would have to devise a strategy on defending against them more effectively.

"Dead serious Noble, from what I saw these scales are as strong as tungsten it will take a large amount of concentrated fire to take it down and even then without a reading on whatever is underneath all this armor you might not be able to kill it without heavy weapons." She said as she held up the red scale in front of his face, Jason quickly took it from her as he inspected it closely the ruby red scale shining in the light of the lab as he held it in the scarred palm of his hand, before handing it back to Halsey's out stretched smaller hand.

"Make sure to tell the pilots and marines to use heavy weapons against these dragons I want a kill on sight order for these beasts." Jason said before walking out.

before he could leave though he heard Halsey call to him. "You armor is ready Noble if you wish for it back." Jason cracked a bit of a smile as he heard the news before leaving a grinning Halsey as she sat back down on her chair and put the scale back down under the microscope continuing her work in peace.

Jason walked out of the lab and through the infirmary, the sounds of people working echoing throughout the ship hangar bay doors closed and opened to let the ships coming and going in and out. He made his way towards the maintenance portion of the ship, he only ran into a few patrols making their rounds as they made sure no one was in an a place they shouldn't be, nodding at him as he walked by them. The ship had been mostly quiet since they had given most of their crew leave, since there were no cities nearby most decided to spend their time outside laying in the sun or having the first decent meal they have had in a while since Reach was attacked.

Moral was at an all time high even with this dragon attack that happened recently with people focusing more on setting up defenses and housing in their camp, as well as performing recon on the surrounding area which appeared to mostly be lush forests and rich, fertile soil that could provide excellent farming opportunities once the lab boys finished analyzing the the local plants the recon teams had picked up on their travels and test if it was safe for their personnel.

Jason rubbed the back of his head, two days now and they had not seen a trace of covenant forces trying to follow them to this unknown planet, the Grafton was constantly scanning the area but it was difficult with the large electromagnetic field that surrounded the planet and jammed their sensors to hell, so they had to rely on their longsword and saber squadrons on the Grafton to patrol the surrounding space of the system they were currently in. But that was a dangerous method that could get them killed if a covenant ship decided to slip into the system and began wreaking havoc on their small force.

For now they needed to keep as low a profile as possible in this system and not cause too much noise that could attract unwanted attention from the covenant forces that were no doubt looking for them right this very moment, so only the Grafton was allowed the leave the planet at this point in time. while the Freelancer and Spirit Of Dusk were serving as staging areas and hospitals to treat the sick and injured from Reach as well as provide air cover with their longsword and saber flights, which they were only now beginning to use. Luckily they were currently overstocked on just about everything due to the supplies that had been on the ship and in the secret ONI base in the first place and due to the supplies they had scavenge for sword base and the marine teams that they had rescued.

Jason had assigned colonel Miller the task of regulating their supplies and coordinating the ground forces to set up an effective defenses in case they ran into any more hostile wildlife on this planet. They had begun using the tree's to set up barricades with sandbags along with the standard issue barricades aboard all UNSC ships to help defenders maintain proper cover in a ship when defending against boarding parties. He had Jun scouting out sniper positions they could use from the mountains behind them, luckily according to the other Spartan-III there were plenty of places in the hills that they could set up a sniper team or two and have them provide cover fire.

Jason rounded a corner and approached the technicians workshop for the second time in a day, smiling as he couldn't wait to finally get his armor back on and feel the systems augmenting his abilities to an even greater degree, than when he was out of his armor. Since he was practically reborn in the thing when he became a Spartan-III the suit became a part of his life and a Spartan should never be without their armor, they should always be combat ready for any situation they may arise.

Entering his UNSC ID code into the keypad on the door as he arrived the marine guard nodding and giving him a quick salute before returning to his duties, he was happy to see the red light that indicated a lock on the door turn green as it accepted the code, allowing him access to the technicians area. Walking through the rather loud maintenance area he approached the armor tech section of the techs lab, which just so happened to be situated just above the small cryo bay inside of the ship. In the center of the armor room sat his armor, the matte black paint now fully covering the red the used to coat the exterior, the officer's bars were painted onto the shoulders of the armor, marking him as an admiral even when he wore the armor.

The tech who had been finishing the upgrades to his armor, came in and grinned at Jason as he rubbed the back of his head. "Admiral welcome, I'm guessing you're here for your armor now, I heard Spartans felt naked without it but I never guessed it was that bad." He said before giving a short salute before approaching the armor and grabbing the body suit on the table next to it. "Here is your new body suit, it should provide better reaction timing for the armor and it will be able to handle the new armor abilities we have installed in your armor system." He explained before handing the bodysuit to Jason and grinning. "Courtesy of doctor Halsey, guess her team was working on it before Reach was attacked it took some tailoring but I think I got it to fit you."

Jason nodded as the man left for him to get changed into the body suit, peeling off the current one he had been wearing under his officer's uniform. The skin tight suit slowly peeled from his body as he took it off, revealing every firm muscle and scar he had received since he was first brought into active duty as a Spartan, they were memories of all the missions he had completed whether they were against innies or covenant forces, the scars proved that he had done his job and held up while in the line of duty all the while following his officer's commands to the letter. He saw the scar from the plasma sword stab he had received from an elite zealot while on Reach, the thought of which reminded him of Emile. The Spartan had gone down with a fight, like a true soldier he died in the line of duty fighting for something more and while Jason did not approve of the man's attitude he did admire how he was willing to fight to the bitter end like that and still go down swinging.

Jason sighed as he put on the new body suit, the firm almost rubber like suit fitting him like a glove as he felt it conform to his body structure, he walked over to the door and knocked on it letting the tech know he could come in now as the door unlocked, allowing the tech to step back inside before the door closed behind him.

"Alright sir, I just need you to step on the pad and we will get started." The tech explained as he approached a laptop sitting on a grey metal table near the pad as the armor began to move forwards towards it, an assortment of arms extending from the ceiling as they carefully grabbed each piece of the expensive armor system. Jason stepped forward onto the pad, the tech nodding in approval as he activated the arms.

Each of the mechanical arms began to slowly move towards Jason with laser accuracy as they began to put the armor on him, first came the chest piece which fit very nicely on his body suit, he felt the weight of the armor begin to increase as more was added on. Then came the legs, the magnetic seals of the four pieces sealing as they integrated with the codpiece and chest. Next came the arms which attached to the rest of his armor quite nicely before sealing. Lastly came the helmet which was sitting on the table next to the technician, Jason walked over the heavy metal boots of the armor thumping against the titanium floor, picking it up as he placed it over his head the helmet sealing with the rest of the suit as the visor flashed for a half a second before displaying his HUD.

"Alright sir." The tech said as he stepped in front of Jason tacpad in hand as he pressed a few buttons, soon enough there was the telltale low whine of his shields coming up, the tech continued talking. "Your new suit we are designating the mark seven, you will want to take it easy until you get used to the upgrades."

"Now let's test your targeting first." The tech said as he held up the tacpad a red light appearing on the tablet. "please look at the light." Jason did just that, adjusting his vision upwards as he looked at the red dot on the tacpad, the light turning green as he did.

"Alright, now look at this light." The tech continued as he lowered the dot.

Jason looked down slowly moving his head as he got used to the increased response time of the new armor, the tech smiling as the light turned green. "Alright that just about does it, now there are a few new abilities that Halsey has worked into this new unit using some salvaged covenant tech and help from yours truly." He said with a laugh. "Now first I want you to look at the new icon on your HUD and blink twice."

Jason did just that and was surprised when a beam of energy extended from his right forearm, the energy blade was colored a purple hue that stood out amongst the black paint on the armor. "That is the new plasma blade ability we have worked into the armor, the blade should be able to last a while in a fight up close but don't rely on it, it's not infinite." The tech explained as Jason nodded, holding the plasma blade close to his helmet as he examined the blade of energy, before blinking twice again the blade dissipating as the energy flowing through it was cut off. The tech nodded as he looked down at his tacpad. "We have also upgraded your shields, they should be more resistant to any enemy fire you take while in battle but if they go down, you now have a bubble shield built into your suit, just slam your fist on the ground and it should come up no problem." Jason nodded, clenching his fists as the tech continued. "Other then that there are a few more under the hood upgrades and technical stuff I won't go into now." the man said as he placed his tacpad on the table. "Alright that about does it sir, come back if you have any problems."

Jason nodded again, the technician saluting before leaving the room leaving Jason alone as he looked down at his armor. He was happy with the upgrades to the armor, they would help increase his combat efficiency, but it still felt slightly wrong to him his last armor system was customized by him personally, he knew the armor inside and out. He knew how to care for it, what it liked and disliked as well as the different faults he had to compensate for in battle. Now it felt like it a shell of an old friend, a ghost in a shell with different bits he didn't recognize.

He shrugged with a soft sigh that thankfully couldn't be heard outside of his helmet, he would just have to get used to the new system. He needed every advantage he could get on this hostile alien world but that didn't mean he had to like it. Walking out of the tech area, Jason made his way slowly towards the bridge of the ship so he could begin reading the daily reports from the officer's on the different ships.

"Admiral, a recon team has an urgent report for you." A voice came loud and clear over the comm as Jason stopped walking, recognizing the voice as Rose's.

"What is it Rose?" Jason asked, he knew it must have been important if she was contacting him and not waiting for him to get to the bridge like usual.

The A.I.'s avatar appeared on a screen on Jason's HUD as he finished speaking, the red avatar of a woman in ODST scout armor smirking at him as she continued speaking. "Recon team three is reporting signs of life on the planet." she explained as a few pictures flashed up on Jason's HUD. "And apparently the locals are aware of our presence and they aren't taking too kindly to us being camped out on this hill, an army has massed a few kilometers away from us and appear to be preparing an attack."

Rose laughed, a huge grin on his face as she continued. "But they shouldn't be too much of a threat according to the report their weapons are much like those used by ancient romans in centuries passed, no modern day weapons to speak of."

"And they're human?" Jason inquired as he looked through the photo's of the camp.

"As far as we can tell, yes they are and our pelican recon teams have begun to discover what looked to be cities and towns as well as other settlements, as far as we can tell this civilization we have landed on has not progressed enough to even discover basic space travel."

Jason nodded to himself, that would make things much easier on them if it turned into a full on battle, this time they atleast had the superior tech and ground to push back those who wished to harm them. "Alert the men and have them prepare for battle, I want to dig in and wait to see what this enemy human force does." Jason replied to the A.I. as an alarm began to go off throughout the ship, signalling every marine inside and outside to prepare for a combat situation. Then suddenly Rose's voice came over the loudspeaker, echoing throughout the ship as it began to bustle with activity as marines began to arm up, those who had been in their bunks rose like the dead on steroids as they jumped up out of their beds and donned their armor, before heading to the armory to grab their weapons. "All hands we are engaging an enemy, standby to repel attackers." Rose said over the intercom as Jason watched marines run by him all of them decked out in full combat gear as they made their way to their assigned fire teams.

"Fire teams alpha through gamma report to hangar bay five."

Jason broke into a light jog as he made his way towards the ship's armory, though it seemed like more of a run to any normal human as he passed by marines and naval officer's alike all fully armed with either rifles and sidearms, with some marines lugging around heavy weapons on their backs, Jason activated his comm as he approached the armory. "Rose have the Grafton standby to provide orbital cover fire, tell them to fire a warning shot when the enemy get's too close to our perimeter."

"Copy that Noble, be advised recon reports enemy movement, they are marching right towards us."

Jason nodded before cutting the comm line as he ducked through the door into the armory, grabbing a standard issue M37A rifle and a BR55 service rifle as well as some spare ammo plus grenades, before making his way out clipping the BR55 onto the magnetic holster on his back as he clutched the M37A in his hands, his HUD integrating with the weapon as he ran towards the loading ramp.

As he stepped outside he could hear the marching of approaching men with his augmented hearing, even as pelicans and longswords launched from their hangar bays and the men set up mortar emplacements and tank positions, he spotted Jun amongst the crowd of marines the other Spartan-III directing the defenses with Colonel Miller, he had a sniper rifle clutched in his hands as he spoke with the colonel, nodding at Jason as he walked up to the two men.

"What's the situation?" Jason asked as he hefted his M37A in one hand as he spoke.

Jun saluted as Jason nodded at him, Colonel Miller shaking his head as he looked over at the makeshift defenses the marines were setting up, a few scorpion tanks passed by them with an escort of warthogs as they began to make their way into the forest that separated them from the enemy via the paths they had managed to clear out from the forest, marine squads also filtered into the forest their green armor blending in with the underbrush as they took cover under the thick bushes and between the tree's where the enemy could not see them.

Colonel Miller brought up a tacpad with a map on it as he grimaced. "As far as we can tell the enemy is holding just a few clicks outside of the perimeter and they appear to be preparing to try to charge our position." Miller explained as he fiddled with the tacpad, the map showing a group of small red dots that represented the enemy forces, while some white dots appeared representing the UNSC forces. "From what we can see their forces seem to be comprised mostly of humans, with a few ugly looking beast like creatures supporting them." Miller explained as a few lines of dots flashed.

"They also appear to have a primitive form of air support, using a smaller species of that dragon creature that attacked us." As Miller said this an image of a human warrior riding a dragon came up on the screen.

"Hopefully they aren't as strong as their bigger brother." Jun remarked as he looked over the image. "I'll be setting up my sniper teams in the brush and along the hillsides flanking the enemy force, we will also be able to spot targets for the Grafton if we need her to soften them up." Jun said as he pressed several buttons on the tacpad, the image changing back to the map as as several more white dots appeared spread out in the forest and in the hills overlooking the battlefield.

"Good thinking, as long as we keep the enemy at a distance we can wreak havoc on the enemy forces without incurring any casualties ourselves." Miller said as he closed the tacpad. "Air support should start softening the enemy up any minute now." As Miller said this a squadron of longswords flew over the camp, the air around them letting off a huge explosion of sound as they went supersonic, the cheers of the marines could be heard just barely over the sound as they watched the longswords fly towards the enemy forces, their bomb bay doors opening as they began to drop their payload onto the offending enemy forces.

Explosions could be heard echoing throughout the land as the bombs hit their targets, the large metal canisters filled with explosives hit the open ground the enemy army had been marching across, the triggers inside of the bombs detonated the explosives inside, the ground seemed to erupt under the more primitive enemy soldiers as the explosives went off the ground shaking clumps of dirt and rock were sent into the air along with the limbs and bodies of the enemy soldiers as they let out pain filled screams that echoed across the land towards the UNSC forces. But the men did not flinch as they watched human men get decimated by the bombs as the longswords passed over.

The men flying the dragons attempted to fight the longswords as they passed by at unpredictable high speeds, but they missed the fighters as the they passed by the dragon mounts letting out hisses as their prey escaped their grasps. The riders on their backs yelling as they slashed at the air with giant lances letting out yells of frustration as they watched the longswords disappear across the horizon. As the smoke cleared from the battlefield one could see several more enemy lines that had managed to survive the strafing and they continued to march forward even as they marched over the broken bodies of their fallen comrades in arms as they looked around at the complete devastation that seemed to just appear around them.

Jason left Miller and Jun as he walked towards the front lines of the UNSC forces, his rifle clutched in his hands as he spotted Jun almost floating between the tree's like a ghost in the night, his sniper rifle in hand as he radioed targets to the rest of his sniper team. This was a Spartan in his element, causing hell for his enemy as he defended his allies from harm. Jun's sniper rifle letting off several cracks as him and his team began picking off what they assumed were the more high ranking officers in the enemy military in order to demoralize the lower ranking soldiers as they marched forward.

As this was happening the mortar teams and scorpion tanks began firing, the low whines of mortar shells could be heard over the sound of sniper fire as more explosions rocked a land that had never seen destruction on such a scale so quickly, the men on the other side began to let out screams and cries of anguish again. Pelicans and falcons flew overhead as they fired their twenty millimeter and fifty millimeter rounds cut through the dragon creatures as they attempted to attack the UNSC forces in hiding amongst the tree's, the massive caliber bullets cutting through the thinner scales of the small dragons as they let out screeches of pain as the hot led cut through their insides.

"Yeah get some." Jason heard a marine yell as they began firing at the stragglers that managed to make it past the scorpion tank and mortar fire, their bullets cutting through the thin metal armor of the enemy soldiers as they tried to attempt one final charge towards the enemy lines only to be cut down by the UNSC marines small arms and heavy machine gun fire. A few of the soldiers tried to bolt from the combat and run for the hills, but they were soon shot in the back by the marines.

Jason heard his rifle crack as it kicked back in his hands, the MA37 rifle firing its magazine of 7.62x51 millimeter rounds, the ammo counter slowly counting down as it fired its thirtytwo round clip of ammo. The weapon cut down the enemy soldiers like knife through butter as Jason directed his fire to a group of soldiers attempting to flank the UNSC forces. Realizing they had been spotted the soldiers attempted to flee but were soon cut down by Jason rifle as it let out several barks, firing one bullet each into the enemy soldiers backs to save ammo as they began to push the enemy force back from the UNSC's lines.

A falcon flew over as the two door gunners picked off the enemy forces from above, their machine guns muzzles were bright red as they let out a continues stream of fire as the bullets embedded themselves into the bodies of the enemy force, the pilot banked to the left to avoid a strike from a dragon as he moved his head to the side the machine gun moving with his head as he pulled the trigger. Letting loose a hail of twenty millimeter rounds that cut through the dragon as its rider attempted to line up another shot but couldn't as the pilot banked to the left and right.

A few warthogs burst out of the brush as their drivers began to swerve through the remains of the breaking enemy forces, their gunners keeping their fingers pressed firmly on the triggers as they fired their heavy machine guns and gauss cannons respectively as they began to route the enemy force, encircling them as they cut them down.

Jason tossed a grenade into a group of them, the frag exploding seconds later as the explosive inside cut down those who were too close to the grenade. Their limbs being ripped off as those farther away had bits of shrapnel embedded in their limbs, causing them to scream and collapse as they writhed in pain.

One man who managed to avoid the grenade let out a shriek and began rambling in a language Jason did not recognize, dropping his weapon as he collapsed to the ground, begging for his life as Jason walked up to him, contemplating on what to do with the man. Judging by his armor he appeared to be an officer, whom Jason guessed could have valuable information on why his military was trying to attack the UNSC newcomers without so much as a "How do you do." Letting out a grunt Jason took the butt of his rifle and slammed it into the man's face, hard enough to knock him out for more than a few hours but not hard enough to kill him, the man fell over twitching slightly in the blood soaked grass before being picked up by Jason and slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he began to run back towards the UNSC front lines.

The marines who spotted him running towards them gave him cover fire as the primitive soldiers attempted to strike at him with their swords, his shields blocking their strikes and mitigating all of the kinetic energy as he continued to run, bounding across the open battlefield as soldiers continue to fall like flies as Jason stopped as soon as he got to the UNSC lines in their heavily defended forest on the high ground, dropping the man on his shoulder near a squad of marines as he nodded at them. "Make sure he doesn't die." He ordered as he headed back into the fray.

"Marines, finish these fucks off keep any who surrender alive, kill the rest." Jason yelled over the comm as he jumped back into the heat of battle, his rifle barking every time he took another soldier's life as he charged at the larger spartan, Jason quickly pulled out his BR55 service rifle as he turned slightly to the right to face the charging warrior as the man let out a loud war cry his arm raised up to strike as Jason looked through the scope of the battle rifle, aiming for the center of his chest before pulling the trigger, half a second passed before the rifle let out a three round burst from its barrel, the rounds embedding themselves in the man's chest and cutting through his heart as he continued to run at Jason for a full four seconds before his body registered his heart had stopped beating and his brain finally shut down, the gaping wound from the three round burst gushing blood as he collapsed like the rest.

Then Jason heard a massive growl come from behind him turning around as he spotted a massive ogre looking creature came at him with a rather large wooden hammer, He tried to fire his weapon at the creature but was caught in mid pull of the trigger by the larger creatures hammer slamming into the side of his body sending his weapon flying from his grip and making him stumble a bit, his shields flaring as the strength behind the enemies blow was enough to knock a quarter off its strength. Dropping his rifle Jason delivered a swift kick to the beasts groin, causing the creature to let out a whimper and growl at him as it tried to grab the spartan with its free hand but was stimied by the weight of Jason's armor as the Spartan three could not help but grin as the creature attempted to pull him from the ground again slowly getting more and more frustrated as it let out another might yell, spittle from it's mouth coating Jason's golden visor as the Spartan clenched his fist, using the weight of his armor to his advantage he pulled his fist back as far as it would go before slamming it into the creature's face.

Jason let out a yell as he felt bone crunch, skin break apart and muscle fibers tear under the heavy force of his fist as he crushed the monsters skull under his clenched fist, he felt the beast grow limp under his fist as it's body registered its brain being destroyed. Delivering another heavy punch Jason finally felt the creature's large hands release him from it's grip as the ogre creature fell to the ground, it's head reduced to a bloody pulp as Jason walked over picking up his BR55.

Then he heard the crack of a heavily modified SRS99 anti material rifle and the sound of a bullet passing by his head as the bullet embedded itself into the skull of a primitive soldier attempting to sneak up behind Jason as he looked for his weapon, he couldn't help but grin as he heard a familiar voice come in over the comm. "Still saving your ass from the sneaky one's Six, these bullets ain't cheap you know gotta make every shot count even when I'm not watching our admirals ass as he fumbles around for his gun."

"Think of it as a way of increasing your kill count Noble three." Jason shot back at the other Spartan as he spotted his BR55 laying in the grass under a tree, running up to the tree Jason quickly grabbed the burst fire rifle as he heard several more cracks echo near him as Jun continued to pick off enemy soldiers that were attempting to move near him.

"That's three more you owe me Six." Jun laughed as Jason let out a slight sigh before reloading his weapon, taking a clip out of the storage area on the side of his leg, nodding as he slide the clip of ammo into the rifle, the magazine clicking into place as the BR55 registered the increase in ammo the ammo counter refilling to the max as Jason began firing once again.

"We're pushing them back Marine's remember to capture some alive and tell the Grafton to begin hammering their reserves, coordinates as follows grid 33x20 point Deca-Charlie authorization code Papa-Lima four niner niner, hammer them into the dirt." Jason heard Miller yell over the comm as he spotted the man with an M6G in his hand, several marines covering him as he directed their ground forces, Jason felt glad that he had the man under his command as the stories said he was a master on the ground and could pick up the slack were Jason fell short when it came to commanding troops. More gunshots and screams echoed throughout the forest as the marines beat back the far larger force, their weapons slowly growing hot in their hands as they beat back the seemingly endless amount of troops.

Another burst of fire from Jason's rifle hit what looked like an anthropomorphic pig creature wielding what looked to be a small dagger that had yet to be covered in blood as the marines armor was to thick to be pierced by such a small weapon, an explosion rocking the ground as he heard the Grafton begin shelling the enemy armies reserve troops, using their fifty millimeter defense guns to hammer the last of the enemy reserves.

"Good job Captain Buck." Jason thought as he looked up to the sky, watching the small flashes of light coming from the Grafton as she hammered the enemy forces.

"Their falling back sir!" Jason heard a sniper report over the comm as the enemy forces morale dropped and broke under the pressure of such heavy losses, many of the soldiers breaking rank and fleeing the battle as the UNSC forces chased them out of their perimeter, while others threw down their arms and surrendered to the superior force, begging for mercy in their language as the marines slapped bindings on their wrists and began to group them up into camps.

The few soldiers who refused to stop fighting for their lives were quickly cut down by air support from the sky, or their marine fire teams as they began to secure the perimeter of their hill. The Grafton stopped raining hell on the enemy forces, the last shell kicking up a shit don of dirt as the high explosive shell hit the ground, deforming the landscape to something that one could not even recognize.

"These people must think we are gods." Jason heard Jun say over Noble team's private channel as the other Spartan walked up beside him, the sound of twigs and grass crunching underneath his boots as Jason's augmented ears picked up the light sounds.

"Makes you think huh." Jun said as he hefted his SRS99 rifle and activated the magnetic holster on his back, the large rifle attach itself to his armor as Jason looked over at the third and second last man of noble team. "Let's just hope we don't become the covenant."

Jason shook his helmeted head. "We are not going to war with them Jun." He said firmly as looked around, watching several marines yell and push several prisoners towards their camp with the butt of their rifles under heavy guard with two warthogs driving along slowly beside them as the enemy soldiers now POW's watch in awe as the marines on the turrets kept their weapons trained of the prisoners in case they tried something.

"Just saying Six, judging by their willingness to attack us with this large of a force they may not want to take any peace offerings from us." Jun explained. "And then what will we do?"

"We will do what was necessary." Jason said solemnly as he looked at the broken and battered bodies that now littered the forest, the scavenger birds of this world circling above as their meal time began to approach. "We need to clean this mess up first thought." Jason muttered to himself as he kicked a large rock, the stone clanging against his armor as it went flying the forest smelling of death and gunpowder as they continued to round up the survivors.

Jason had a feeling that the marines shore leave would have to be postponed indefinitely now and they would need to prepare for any surprise attacks this new enemy they had made may plan to launch against their forces. They would need to dig in more, maybe even use some of the scorpion tanks as heavy gun emplacements until they managed to erect their own. He also wanted to begin to recon any nearby settlements near their little camp and see if any of the other locals that might live here gave a warmer welcome than military force against them.

He didn't want to kill the locals but he would give the marine recon teams a kill order if they were hostile and could not be subdued by regular means and if whatever government they had here decided to try to wipe them out, they would have another thing coming to them because Jason would not let the men and woman who survived Reach fall without a fight.

"Come on Jun, we have something to do." Jason said as he began walking back to the UNSC camp, rifle attached to his back as he walked over corpse after corpse, listening as he heard two marines talking.

"Come on man, if they have these ogre things here then they would have to have cat girls as well." One said.

"God damn Roy you pervert." The other said with a sigh.

"Hey, I'm offended I am not a pervert more a cat girl conussier." The other said with mock pain in his voice. "Plus you're the one who introduced me to anime."

"Yeah, yeah and I've been regretting it ever since." The other marine sighed as he sat down and began eating an energy bar.