~Chapter 4: A Base Of Operations~

"Spartan! Wake Up!" Noble Six opened his eyes. Everything was fuzzy. After a couple minutes he could figure out who was standing above him. It was the commanding officer of the ODST. "Sleeping isn't going to win this war, we need to move before the Covenant are all over us."

Noble Six picked himself up off the ground and looked across the landscape. About 100 feet away was his drop pod, which means Noble Six was launched out as soon as it hit the ground. "Did you find anything in my pod?"

"You're in luck, we managed to get your Assault Rifle out in one piece." The officer handed Noble Six the Assault Rifle he had with him. "By the way spartan, I don't exactly like your kind but I can make an exception with you. You saved my men on The Pillar Of Autumn. Without you we'd be dead and I know it. I'm officer O' Reilly, it's an honor to work with someone with your bravery." O' Reilly held his hand out to Noble Six and Noble Six took it.

"I'm Noble Six, I do what I can, when I can." Noble Six let go of the officer's hand and placed the Assault Rifle on his back.

"Yeah, well if we had more men with the bravery you got then we ODST would have another match." O' Reilly looked back at the other ODST who were gathering supplies. "Spartans are the only ones who can contend with the bravery of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Anyways, I guess you already knew this, but I'm the commanding officer of this ODST squad. We we're the only ones who were aboard The Pillar Of Autumn. Not enough to make a difference."

"All it takes is one man to make a difference officer." Noble Six looked into the sky of the ring world. "Sometimes we make a big difference by changing something as small as living."

"Well isn't that about right." Officer O' Reilly looked into the sky with Noble Six. Static came over Noble Six's head set until it formed words.

"This is Echo-419, did anyone else make it off The Autumn alive? If so please respond." Echo-419 was the squad of aviators on board The Pillar Of Autumn.

"Foehammer, is that you?" O' Reilly spoke into his headset.

"ODST Commanding Officer O' Reilly! So you made it off as well." Foehammer sounded happy about hearing the voice of one of her shipmates.

"Yeah it's me and my squad. We also have a spartan on the ground with us." The officer was happy to here from Foehammer.

"A spartan, well that's great news! If you want, there's a structure to your North that's lightly defended. Your squad should be enough to take it, but with a spartan you'll have no problem or casualties. The place looks good for a base of operations." Foehammer brought her Pelican down to where the squad of ODST were gathering supplies. "I would help out but I have people on here and I've got to rendevous with the other Pelicans."

"Alright Foehammer, you make sure you stay alive and we'll take that base for you."

"That sounds like a deal." Foehammer brought her Pelican back into the sky. "Alright then, Foehammer out."

"So how does it sound spartan?" O' Reilly looked at Noble Six.

"Well, if we can make an effective base out of it and it's lightly guarded, I say let's go for it." Noble Six walked over to the squad and picked up one of the seven bags that lay on the ground.

"Alright men, grab a bag and let's move out." O' Reilly grabbed his own bag and carried it behind Noble Six.

They seemed to have been walking for hours in silence. The only sounds came from their feet hitting the ground. Everyone was thinking, it'd be nice to have a couple Warthogs, but no one was saying anything. Then the building came into view. It was lightly guarded. Two sniper Jackels standing on the roof. Ten Grunts standing around the entrance. Two additional Grunts in Plasma Turrets. No Elites outside which meant they must be inside.

"Take out the two snipers on the roof and the rest should be easy, well until we get inside." Noble Six notified O' Reilly of the situation.

"Alright." O' Reilly tapped two of the ODST on their shoulders. "You each take one of the snipers on the rooftop, everyone else aim for the plasma turrets before the Grunts on the ground. On my mark." O' Reilly held his hand up.

Noble Six brought out his Assault Rifle and took aim. The rest of the ODST got into position. O' Reilly clentched his fist and pulled down. The two ODST fired first taking out both snipers simutaneously. The rest split their fire between the two turrets. Neither turret could fire their weapons. Noble Six and O' Reilly began to fire upon the Grunts who were running around. Within a matter of minutes the grunts were down.

"Well, that was two easy, where's the real threat." O' Reilly lead his men up to the entrance of the building. It was then that two Hunters came from the doorway. "Oh hell, not the fight I was looking for. Everyone get behind cover!"

The ODST scattered behind various cover and began to fire on the Hunters. Noble Six was firing his gun as well. With everyone firing one of the Hunters fell to the ground dead. The other Hunter let off one of it's Plasma Cannon shots hitting right next to an ODST. Noble six knew the ODST was no longer alive. He continued to fire until his clip was empty, then he reached down to his waist for another but there was none. Noble Six dropped the Assault Rifle and ran from behind cover. The Hunter focused it's next shot on Noble Six. Noble Six dove over the shot barely out of blast range then ran towards the Hunter. It put it's shield up but Noble Six jumped off it and flipped around to it's back. He pulled his knife and cut the Hunter's back wide open. The Hunter looked up to the sky and gave out a roar of pain but Noble Six grabbed his head and ran the knife into it's orange squishy throat. The Hunter was dead.

The ODST gathered around their fallen comrade. "Noble Six, call in Foehammer, tell her he bas is secure." O' Reilly's face was solemn. Noble Six knew to well the feeling of losing a comrade.

"Echo-419 this is Noble Six, we have secured the base and provided a place to land." Noble Six looked at the building they just captured.

"Alright Noble Six, Echo-419 in bound with the calvary." Noble Six watched as a near dozen Pelicans appeared on the horizon.

"This war may have actually just been tipped into our favor." Noble Six walked over to his Assault Rifle. "If not, then this ring is definantly worth something."

A Note From Your Author:

Hey guys, once again I your author have some words. Remember back in the last chapter when I said I kind of figured out the direction I was taking the story, well I've finally found it out. This series is going to go through Halo 1, 2, and 3, but only if I continue to get at minimum one review per chapter or someone sends me a message saying that I should continue. Now it has two possible endings, one where Noble Six lives and one where Noble Six dies. If I get at least 100 reviews total by the end of the series then I'll let him live or if I get at least 500 hits on several occasions. That is the challenge I give to you who read this, Noble Six's ultimate fate is dependent upon you. Thanks again for your support.