Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Cobalt Team. Enjoy the 1600-word chapter. I down own Halo, 343 and Microsoft do.

(Miridem, 2544.)

Liam killed two Elite Minors as he ducked to avoid a blast from a group of T-26 Banshees forced him to duck down.

"Damn it, any members of Cobalt still fighting?!"

Liam asked as he saw Ralph fire his M37 Assault rifle and killed a squad of Jackals.

"Here sir, Joseph and Daisy as well!"

Ralph asked as Liam cursed, the battle for Miridem was lost, the entire UNSC fleet had been routed for the most part, most of the citizens they had been deployed to retrieve were either gone or killed.

"Doesn't mean we can't slaughter a battalion on our way out…"

Liam muttered, Cobalt, who were deployed alongside over a dozen M9 Wolverine AA Vehicles and UNSC Marine detachments.

"Lost count of how many Covenant I've killed, Captain… Just keep shooting, the Covenant will leave soon enough…."

Liam said, another group of Grunts, Liam killed them with his DMR before an Elite Ultra charged at him.

Liam ducked a swing before he unsheathed his combat knife, he scrambled up the Sangheili's back, digging a knee into the soldier's back to force him to his knees.

He slammed the knife into its throat as it crashed to the ground. Liam looked over to see a squad of Elite Majors, Minors, Grunts and Jackals charge them.

Liam drew his M6C Magnum before a hail of bullets and explosives cut off the Spartans. The Covenant platoon dropped dead.

He looked up to see Joseph, Daisy, Hayden, Sienna, and Elise above him, their guns were smoking as they dropped into the trench.

"And that makes nearly 300 of the freaks… Rest of the Covvies are retreating…. Blue Team is getting redeployed."

Joseph said as he cracked his neck, Liam turned to look at him, he looked to see T-26 Banshees fleeing with Spirts and Phantoms fleeing.

"The hell? They were just pushing our line hard as anything…. Why are they pulling out?"

Liam asked as all 8 Spartans shared a look.

"Dr. Halsey…."

All eight said as they turned back to BL-9400493, the Black Cat Prowler which was supposed to take Dr. Halsey away from the planet.

"Hoof it to the Prowler, Cobalt, let's see why the Covenant bugged out when they were burning this planet to ash."

(5 minutes later.)

They found nothing… But a body in front of them.

The body of a Spartan…. Sheila-065 to be precise.

"Dr. Halsey…. Covenant must have captured her and then bugged out… That's why Blue Team was being redeployed…"

Hayden said as Ralph picked up Sheila as a Pelican came in to pick them up.

"Sienna… See what killed her… Ralph… If she has to be buried, do it… If not, take her to the Pelican…"

Liam said, he turned to a piece of Banshee and punched it so hard his fist slammed through the Banshee like a piece of paper.

"God… Da-… Not another one…"

Joseph said as the Pelican landed, Ralph carried his fellow sister in arms aboard as the rest of Cobalt moved to board the dropship.

They had driven the Covenant off… The Colony was lost, but there were still survivors...

But the death of another Spartan? This was going to hit them harder then anything else.

(UNSC Pillar of Autumn)

Sheila had been sent to the Avalanche, the Marathon Class Heavy Cruiser Which Vice Admiral Berlin Tursk had been using as the flagship for the UNSC Fleet over Miridem.

Ralph wanted to argue but it wouldn't do him any good, Liam had recently allowed the Admiral to have his fellow Spartan II, right after the Spartans had payed her the respect all Spartans gave each other.

"13 years and we've been losing so much I'm starting to think the damn freaks will slaughter us down to the last before long…"

Joseph said as the 8 Spartans said from the Hanger Bay, Liam took off his Helmet, he barely even remembered how many colonies they had left.

He ran an armored hand through his black hair, his eyes looked around the hanger as he set his DMR besides the crate he was sitting on.

"And after Admiral Cole… Damn…"

Liam said, he and Cobalt had altered their armor majorly over all these years.

Liam wore Blue Mark V… Or what he heard was the prototype of the armor, the Commando variant, a variant he was learning to love, he now had several cuts from close fights with Covenant Elites.

It hadn't dulled his spirts, but he frowned remembering what happened to Sheila.

Daisy now wore the Crimson colored Mark V version of CQC, her blonde hair had grown and was now kept in a ponytail… It did still frame her eyes, she wore her key chain in a pouch holster.

Liam had also grown closer to the Lieutenant Commander, he liked that, she was still quiet but preferred to work with Daisy due to missions...

Ralph wore Emerald Operator Armor, Liam had seen Ralph become more aggressive and bitter as the war had gone on, he couldn't tell if the slaughter of Covenant soldiers Ralph carried out was a result of Mankind losing the war or to get more kills.

He kept his eye on him, he didn't want him to turn into rose.

Elise wore Violet Air Assault armor, Liam had raised an eyebrow at that, but the medic for the team hadn't told him why.

She had patched them up more times then he cared to remember over those 13 years…. But Elise had hardened over the years… She wasn't the girl Liam remembered.

Rose wore Silver Grenadier armor, Rose had slaughtered every Covenant soldier he saw, he was surprised that she hadn't cracked, she had been on half a dozen psych evaluations due to how aggressive she was on the field.

Sienna wore Black Air Assault armor, she had become more adaptive of using heavy weapons and used the newest UNSC heavy ordinance in the field.

He hadn't learned what Hayden liked to wear as MJOLNIR went but his was brown. He had become more solemn as the war went on.

Considering what they had seen below, he couldn't blame him.

Joseph used Scout MJOLNIR which had been colored a bright shade of green, Liam had seen him try and figure out if Recon or Scout was more worth it.

"So…. Guess OPERATION: White Flag is going to be executed now…. 13 years since Harvest and we still haven't won this war yet…. Damn it…"

Joseph said as Daisy sat next to Liam, he turned to look as her as she pulled her helmet off and put it next to her side.

"We haven't found a carrier or cruiser which we can use…. I wish we've been sent on the op with Blue Team, at least it would get our mind off this crap…. We've been pushed back, seen mankind burned to ash over and over…."

Liam stated, he hated seeing Spartans die, Sheila was just another loss to add to the growing pile of bodies for Mankind.

"Longer this war goes on…. This is what happens when we lose heroes…."

Ralph said as Daisy put a hand on Liam's shoulders, he turned to look at her.

"We can't blame ourselves…. Cole wasn't something we could stop, we've fought every battle and won all we could…. We can't beat the Covenant in space…. But we can defeat them on the ground."

Daisy said softly as Rose pounded the crate in anger.

"Yeah, well the longer this damn war goes on, the longer I wonder if anything we do makes a damn difference at all! We killed hundreds of soldiers here alone and yet they still kill a Spartan and run off with their damned tails between their legs!"

Rose hissed as Liam frowned, that was becoming common with him it seemed.

"Rose, we aren't space soldiers, we can't just board every Covenant Warship, sabotage the reactor and then bug out…. Daisy is right, we've been doing everything we can do…. It just hasn't been enough… Now we are needed on the bridge, we are going to return to Reach soon… Long as we have Reach, we haven't lost the damn war yet…. Make sure to update me if we have another mission on the way."

Liam said before he picked up his rifle and helmet and slipped it back on, he walked towards the door at the other end and vanished.

"He took what happened at Kholo badly…."

Daisy said as Joseph nodded, they had also found out about a new Generation of Spartans named as the Spartan IIIs.

Cobalt was apparently going to have a few of the more better ones join Cobalt's ranks…. Liam still hadn't decided on how he felt about those Spartans.

"You can't blame him, over 150 ops since the Harvest battle…. The longer and longer we fight, the more colonies we lose… The longer this damn long war goes on… And we can't keep sustaining loses… I'm going to the bridge… Meet me and the commander when you can."

It wouldn't be long before the war ended.

Author Notes

Phew, another chapter done! Yes, I know I skipped far into the war and all that…. I wasn't going to do the war year by year up till Reach and then Earth… As for why the Spartan IIIs and MJOLNIR V exists so early? I will explain it next chapter. Next chapter will take place next, next week and will have Cobalt be going on another mission.

PS: As for the guy asking to make a stop motion of Cobalt? You can, I just hopes its cool and I don't see your channel…