It was a late evening on Planet Reach with smoke covering the clouds, Noble 6, Emile, and Carter were tasked with one final mission. Their only objective: Deliver the A.I. given to them by Dr. Halsey to a UNSC ship called the "Pillar of Autumn." This A.I. was supposed to change the tide of the war with the Covenant, a theocratic hegemony race of aliens. Carter, Emile, and 6 were the only ones left, the rest of their squad being K.I.A. Disregarding Jun who was tasked with escorting Dr. Halsey to an ONI base.

On their way to escorting the A.I. the pelican or UNSC airship, they were flying started to take heavy fire from covenant banshees. Plasma rounds were hitting the engines of the Pelican and some were clipping the Commander, as he tried to avoid the fire the best he could. Meanwhile, 6 and Emile were hanging out the back of the Pelican shooting as many Banshees out of the sky as they could.

"Take that motherfuckas," Emile snarled out as he shot 1 round out his signature M45 shotgun. He hit the shield of the banshee causing it to overload and collide with another one.

While Emile is busy, 6 walks to the front of the Pelican to check on the Commander to see if he's holding up well. Banshee shots fire at 6 as he approaches the cockpit. Emile shoots the shield of the Banshee and the same thing happened again with the Banshee colliding. The Commander takes off his helmet, and 6 see's blood on the pilot window of the Pelican signifying that the Commander was wounded gravely.

"Not sure how long she's gonna stay together," Carter says informing 6 about the Pelican.

He continues with, "Skies are jammed up anyway, gotta get you off her Lieutenant!"

6 knew that this was basically Carter telling him that he wasn't going to make it. "Sir, you'll-"

Carter cuts 6 off replying with, "Don't wanna hear it, get the package to the autumn," he said firmly.

"Done," 6 said affirmatively, but deeply knowing that he was about to lose another friend to this war.

"Not yet it's not...Emile go with him! It's a ground game now!"

Already knowing that this was the last time he would see the Commander, Emile holstered his shotgun to the magnet on the back of his armor and salutes the Commander.

"It's been an honor, sir!"

With pain in Carter's voice from the plasma rounds he responded with, "Likewise, I'll do what I can to draw their fire."

Noble 6 felt a sharp pain in his chest while frowning through his tan helmet. It was getting hard to swallow but he reminded himself, 'No, I can't let this dwell, I'm a Spartan, we all know the risks. We'll complete our objective...for him.' 6 took one last look at the

Commander before started to walk back to the open hatch of the Pelican when Carter calls his name. "Six!" Noble 6 looks back to see what the Commander had to say. "That A.I. chose you...she made the right choice," Carter says.

At a loss for words, he just turns back around and proceeded to get ready to jump out the back of the Pelican with Emile, for a moment he felt his eyes begin to water but he quickly shook it off.

Carter positioned the Pelican so that 6 and Emile would have a safe way to drop out, although it would be a bumpy one, it would be the best way, their suits should protect the fall.

"On my mark," says the Commander. He counts down with his fingers '3..2..and then 1, and 6 and Emile drop out the back of the Pelican.

They both slid down a rocky, slanted terrain and landed hard but their suits protected the fall. 6 takes a look up at the teal sky and see's the Pelican flying above with one of its engines on fire, followed by 2 banshees. Both squad mates get up and Noble 6 takes a look at the A.I. remembering what Carter said about it choosing him and straps it to his back. 6 and Emile knew their objective and they'd be damned if they weren't gonna complete it, they weren't gonna let their friend's sacrifices be in vain.

6 readies his Assault Rifle and Emile cocks his shotgun as the duo proceeds through a small crevice in the dry canyon they were dropped in. They look up the sky and see the Pelican once more being chased by 2 covenant banshees leaving a trail of engine smoke in the sky.

"You still with us Commander," questioned Emile.

"You stay low, let me draw the heat. Just deliver that package," ordered Carter.

Approaching a cliff Emile and 6 looked down and seen a platoon of Covenant soldiers.

"There's our destination 6. The Pillar of Autumn...race you to her," Emile expressed jokingly.

6 ignored Emile, he wasn't in the mood for jokes, he was too focused on the mission, and the last words Carter mentioned to him to "race."

Without hesitation 6 leaps off the cliff followed by Emile and jumps on an Elite's neck twisting it horizontally and snapping its neck. The Grunt's and Jackal's started to open fire on the duo but Emile made quick work of them blasting a hole through two of the Grunt's faces, while 6 kicked the blue plasma shield the Jackal was using out of its hands and stabbed it through the neck. He took the blade out of the deceased Jackal's neck and turned his attention to the other Jackal who was charging up his energy pistol to overload 6's shield and raised his assault rifle in his non-dominant hand to shoot through the weak spot in the Jackal's shield. He successfully did this and while the Jackal was leaping in pain 6 walked up to him and put a few bullets through his forehead. He looked up to see Emile making progress through the former UNSC checkpoint now taken over by the Covenant and joined him. The two Spartans progressed past the rest of the Covenant forces with ease.

After they were done clearing out the checkpoint they located a mongoose and proceeded past Covenant drop pods with 6 driving and Emile on the back with his M45 shotgun. A single Grunt aimed his plasma needler at 6 as he was driving past, the plasma needle rang past 6's helmet barely missing him by a few inches and Emile dropped the grunt with one round to the face. The two Spartans arrived at another abandoned military checkpoint and refilled on ammo, before proceeding into a construction yard filled with another Covenant platoon, only this one had a Wraith tank.

'Another day at the office,' thought 6 as he and Emile proceeded to mop the floor with the Covenant ducking and dodging wraith fire.

They turned their attention to the wraith who was a pain in the ass. The wraith shot one plasma mortar out of its cannon aiming it 6 but he quickly ducked behind a tall rock to avoid.

"Emile! Draw the wraith's fire I'm gonna give this asshole a present," 6 remarked showing Emile the frag grenade in his hand.

"Got it," nodded Emile and he ducked out of cover to draw its fire.

6 proceeds to move from rock after rock until he sees the back of the wraith. The wraith was busy trying to vaporize Emile when 6 located the engine of the wraith which was placed on the back of the alien tank. Without hesitation, he sprints up to the back of the wraith and lodges the frag grenade in its engine. The wraith notices 6 but it was already too late and it exploded with the loud sound of alien metal combusting. There was now a big blue fire roaring out the top of the wraith,

"Sayonara asshole," murmured 6.

Emile caught up with 6 and praised him, "Way to give 'em hell, 6."

Six nodded and they advanced further, moving through a gap in between the rocky terrain.

They finally reach the end of the gap and see that evening sky covered with black smoke again, when the Commander suddenly reaches out to them through comms, "Noble...you've got a...situation," he says grunting.

Surprised and a little relieved that the Commander was still alive, 6 listened in closely, when a Scarab tank climbed down from the mountains ready to pick off any human stragglers.

"Mother... we can get past it sir," said Emile.

Carter replied on the radio his voice deep, "No you can't...not without help."

"Commander, you don't have the firepower," exclaimed Emile.

"I've got the mass," Carter replied, his voice lower than before now.

"Solid copy. Hit em, hard boss."

The Pelican appeared from the sky again swinging around the Scarab and there Carter said his final words, "You're on your own Noble...Carter out," and with that the Pelican smashed into the scarab raining gunfire, causing it to erupt into a fire and fall off the side of the cliff.

This was the part Noble 6 was trying to prepare himself for, he closed his eyes for a second in sorrow, before briefly pulling himself back together, he had a job to do.

"Crevice to the east. Let's go," Emile informed 6 determinately. They both knew the risks, and they also both knew their objective.

Emile and 6 dropped into a cavern filled with drones with whom they plowed through with ease. After marching past some dead UNSC soldier the duo heard a strong affirmative voice through their comms contacting them.

It was the Captain of the Pillar of Autumn radioing them, "This is Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn. We're tracking you Noble, and we've begun our launch sequence. Proceed to drydock, platform D. I'll be on it myself to receive the package."

Emile informed the Captain that he and 6 will certainly be there.

"You better be soldier, because my countdown has no abort," assuring Noble Team that they better hurry.

A group of UNSC troopers in a firefight with more Covenant call out to the Spartan's "Over here!" The duo assisted them in pushing the forces back, plowing through Elites, Grunts, Jackals, all the like from the docking site until they find themselves on the landing platform.

"Keyes to Noble team. We're running out of time here Spartans!"

Emile conversed with a UNSC Trooper about the situation, the Trooper telling him that they've rigged a MAC gun that would shoot down Covenant airships and that if they lost that, the Autumn would have no cover which would lead to it getting shot down before it could reach orbit. Notified of the situation Emile reached out to Captain Keyes informing them that they've arrived at the platform.

"Copy Noble my Pelican's ready. Clear an LZ. I'll meet you there," he ordered.

"Will do sir," Emile said before radioing out. "All right 6...this is it. I'll man the big gun. You just get to the platform and deliver that package." They both knew that they might die on the planet just like their fellow squadmates, but they were ready.

"I'm in position! I'm gonna take out as many dropships as I can" yelled Emile.

'Emile's right this is it, one final mission. Time to put up or shut up,' 6 thought to himself. Just then 3 Covenant drops ships started dropping off troops to wipe out the Troopers.

The Covenant dropped the muscle of their forces, the Brute. 2 charged toward 6 with their Type-25 Carbines. 6 quickly ducked behind the watchtower he was now in when another brute came up behind him. This was no ordinary Brute, he had a Gravity Hammer, something only the Brute Chieftains carry. The Brute took a swing at 6 growling but he ducked under while pulling out a knife from his sheath. He stabbed the Brute in the side and it let out a painful howl. It tried to take another swing but 6 ducked again swinging to the back of the Brute and kicking the back of its knees causing it to kneel.

He hopped on its back and stuck his blade through its throat, while it struggled to throw 6 off. 6 could feel it getting weaker and it finally dropped dead with one last howl. 3 other Brutes come following the Chieftain and without hesitation 6 picks up his DMR rifle and picks up the Gravity Hammer with one hand. He let out a few shots piercing through one of Brute's heads killing him instantly. The other 2 come out of cover thinking they have 6 cornered and he threw the Gravity Hammer at both of them front first causing them to fly off the platform.

'Hmph, I thought these guys were supposed to be tough. I'm disappointed.' He steps out of the watchtower only to see Emile shooting drop ships and Banshees out the sky while some other ships slipped past Emile dropping more Brute's and troops off. 6 cracked his neck and got back to work killing off every Covenant soldier that dropped from their ships.

After holding off the Covenant for some time, Emile radioed out again to the Captain, "Noble to Keyes, the pad is clear."

"On the way," replied Captain Keyes.

Emile radioed 6, "Time for you to leave. Get the package to the pad, and get your ass off this planet... I've got your back."

He was a little surprised and saddened by this knowing that Emile's time was coming soon just like the others. 6 could see the Captain's Pelican followed by another Pelican, flying into visible sight and waited for him to land.

"This is Keyes, on hot approach to Platform Delta." As the Pelican starts to descend and land on the platform a man in a UNSC ship battle uniform steps out. It was Captain Keyes. "Good to see you, Spartan. Halsey assured me I could count on you."

"Not just me sir," 6 included as he gave the A.I. package to Keyes making sure the Captain knows about his former friends and squadmates' sacrifices for the Planet.

The Captain touches 6's arm and reassures him that they will be remembered. 6 put his head down for a moment, then back up. Captain Keyes radios, "Cruiser, adjusting heading for the Autumn! Noble Four, I need fire on that cruiser or we're not getting out of here! Do you copy?"

Emile responds, "You'll have your window, sir," while still on the MAC gun. Turning around and heading back into the Pelican Keyes informs the bridge of his ship that they have the package.

Just then a Covenant dropship rings out fire from its turret knocking the other Pelican out of the sky, "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM," the sound of the turret made as it hit the Pelican. 6 leaped out the way so the Pelican wouldn't crush him, picking himself back up he sees a Covenant dropship hover over Emile's position.

As 6 readies his DMR rifle, the plasma turret on the sides of the dropship fired at 6 just missing him while a single elite dropped out of the ship on the MAC cannon which Emile was in.

"ARGH," Emile snarled shooting the elite off the door of the cannon with his shotgun.

The elite was hanging off the side of the cannon and Emile climbed out and puts 1 round in the Elite's head. He shouts out, "WHO'S NEXT," when another elite appears from behind him stabbing an energy sword through his chest lifting him up. "UGH," yelped Emile. The elite swung Emile around wanting to look his enemy in the face as he finishes him off when Emile pulls out the Kukri from his sheath on his shoulder.

"IM READY! HOW 'BOUT YOU," he shouts at the elite while stabbing it through the neck taking it down him.

Emile let out his final breath before his radio went silent. Emile was dead, with nobody left but 6 as he watched as his friend died.

'Somebody has to man the MAC cannon to buy the Pillar of Autumn enough time to escape, I'll be damned if it's not me,' he thought determinately.

A UNSC Marine yells out to 6 breaking his train of thought, "Lieutenant! Get aboard! We gotta get the hell outta here!"

"Negative. I have the gun. Good luck sir." 6 said to Captain Keyes before turning around heading for the MAC gun.

"Good luck to you, Spartan," Keyes says in a low tone knowing that the Spartan was now giving himself up for the Planet. The Captain's ship flew off heading back to the UNSC cruiser or Pillar of Autumn, leaving 6 the only soldier left.

6 proceeds to the cannon cutting through the few Covenant soldiers still left. He finally reached the cannon where Emile died and see's his friend's corpse.

6 lightly chuckles, "You cocky bastard, you finally went out the way you've dreamed. Sticking it to these Covenant bastards." He leaned down at Emile's corpse looking through the skull carved on Emile's helmet, and said in a deep tone, "Don't worry. I won't go out so quietly either."

He took one last look at Emile's corpse feeling remorse and regret for his fallen teammate and hopped into the MAC cannon to provide cover for the Captain.

"Cruiser moving into position I need it dead," the captain tells 6.

"Don't worry sir I'll give these bastards hell on Reach," he murmured to himself.

He started to blow every Covenant drop ship out of the sky in range while the Covenant supercarrier was slowly creeping up.

As the supercarrier approached charging its devastating laser beam from the belly of the ship the Captain instructs Noble 6 to, "Fire! Now, Lieutenant! Hit her in the gut!"

6 wastes no time and sends a cannon round through the gut of the ship causing it to erupt into plasma fire while crashing down.

"Good guns, Spartan. All stations: brace for cast-off." "This is the Pillar of Autumn. We're away. And the Package is with us."

6 watched proudly as the Pillar of Autumn ascended off the planet, he'd done it, he'd gotten the ship off of Reach safely with the package honoring his commander and the objective. However, the job was not done yet...not to 6. He was going to die for this Planet just as his fallen comrades have, by taking out as many Covenant troops as he could.

He wandered out on the rocky terrain, dust hitting his helmet, his determination growing every step he took. He followed some nearby gunfire and came across what he assumed was a destroyed storage facility where he saw many fellow dead Spartans and Troopers. He knew this was his time, he most likely wouldn't make it out of there alive. Carter, Kat, Jun, Emile, and Jun were all gone. It was only him left. The lone wolf. He was used to this, he was used to being alone from working on previous missions as a ghost for ONI. He climbed on a platform, stared up at the sky looking at the now carnage and alien dropships in the smoking evening sky. Taking a deep breath he thought to himself, 'If I'm going to die, I'll die here with the rest of my fallen brothers and sisters.'

He unholstered his DMR rifle from the magnet and says to himself, 'Where are you scum hiding, I'm right here. Come and get me' he thought menacingly.

He noticed a machine gun turret on the platform he was on and ripped off the turret from the standing. He dropped down off the platform and noticed some Covenant troops looking for Human stragglers. Without hesitation, he emptied fire on the Grunts and switched to the elites cutting them down. Hearing gunfire, more Covenant arrived trying to kill 6. He emptied the clip in the machine gun turret before noticing a panicking Grunt quivering at the sight of the 6ft 9 Spartan. He grabs the Grunt by the neck and snaps its neck, "CRNGH," the sound the Grunt's bone made while more Grunts and Jackal's try to storm him. 6 uses the dead grunt as a body shield while firing out his DMR killing the small group precisely.

The Elite, who was the leader of the small platoon charged Six with his energy sword because he ran out of ammo for his needler. Six swiftly oblique kicked the sword out of the Elite's hands as he approached and grabbed his Magnum pistol and put it up to its 4 pronged mouth. He pulled the trigger and the Elite dropped instantly. A Covenant Phantom or drop ship started dropping off another platoon this one was 4 Elites with what the Humans called, "Hunters." Breathing heavily 6 cracked his neck while simply saying, "Let's do this." He noticed he was out of ammo for his DMR rifle but he spied a sniper rifle on a dead marine and rolled over to hit while receiving fire from the Covenant squad. He quickly set his sights on one Elite behind cover and waited for him to pop out for a clean shot when plasma shots started clipping his armor and damaged his helmet. Six quickly ducked behind cover, noticing that his helmet visor was cracked, and blurted out a slight, "Shit!"

He knew the Elites and the Hunter were slowly approaching him to pick him off from behind the rock he was at. He examined the battlefield and seen a nearby frag grenade conveniently sitting beside him. 'Well, that's one way to get out of a jam,' he thought. He picked up the grenade pulled the pin and threw it causing his enemies to run out of danger. He then leaped up, timing his shots perfectly dropping 2 Elites before the other 2 ran for cover and the grenade exploded. 'Bullseye.' The Hunter started to get riled up and fired its green fuel rod cannon at 6 causing the rock he was behind to crumble. 6 scurried away just in time before realizing he was now in the open, vulnerable. Using quick thinking he deployed his drop shield armor ability. This created an impenetrable force field around him as he recovered. The Hunter and the 2 Elites continued to fire on 6 waiting for the drop shield to fail. It eventually powered down due to it needed to charge but 6 had already calculated his best position of cover. He hurried behind a nearby destroyed truck and continued to fire at his enemies.

6 spun around knocking another Elite down with his Sniper before noticing something was wrong. The Hunter was nowhere to be found and they were huge so you usually never missed the sight of them. Suddenly, 6 hears a vicious growl behind him, he turned around and it was the Hunter! The massive creature swung its blade/shield at 6 but he threw the sniper rifle at it and began to run. While he was running the Hunter wasn't letting up shooting green fuel rod beams at 6. 'Dammit, I need to find an elevated position and catch them by surprise.'

Looking around 6 couldn't see anything that would give him an advantage and he thought to himself, 'This might be it.' The Hunter followed by more Elites that the dropships deployed were catching up 6 and there was nothing he could do about it...except not going down without a fight. He picked up an Assault Rifle off a dead Trooper and checked the mag, '70 rounds. Perfect.' The Hunter was of course the first to arrive.

6 pops out of cover spraying the Hunter with half of the clip. The Elites started firing on 6 but his armor shields protected him. He swung behind the back of the Hunter and as it turned around to take a swing 6 backflipped into the air pulling out his Magnum pistol and shooting it 7 times in the neck. To his avail, the Hunter dropped dead, "Holy shit, that worked," 6 quickly said before returning fire at the Elites.

He retreated some until there was no more cover and without any cover, he presumed that this time he was actually done. He dropped the Assault rifle and dropped to his knees, took off his damaged helmet revealing a man with, caramel skin, dark brown eyes, and a short messy comb over fade. He looked around feeling the cold Autumn wind and dust hit his cheeks. He was starting to get surrounded by wraith's and covenant artillery in the distance. This was it, Reach was truly lost and he still had his dues to pay. Having some more fight in him, he stood up, picking the Assault Rifle back up, and shot an oncoming Elite down.

He quickly saw another Elite coming from behind him and shouldered him overloading the Elite's shield. While the Elite is down 6 pulls out the Magnum from his side and shoots the Elite point-blank in the forehead. He looks up and see's multiple hostiles converging on his position and he started to fire rapidly with an Assault Rifle in one hand and the Magnum in the other. Whilst doing this he took a couple of plasma shots to the shoulder but continued to fire relentlessly, killing 2 more Elites in the process. A 3rd one came knocking 6 down and pounced on him but 6 pushed him off with his leg buying himself more time.

That's when one more Elite showed up with an energy sword ready to completely put an end to 6, but he still resisted knocking the sword out of the Elite's hand while on the ground. It wasn't looking good for 6 when the other Elite he pushed off started sprinting back towards him. Six somehow dodged the stabbing attempt the Elite made and elbowed him, but that's when the second Elite with the red armor readied his energy dagger and plunged it into Six. 6 let out a howl of pain but then stopped resisting... It was then, nothing but darkness.

END OF CHAPTER 1

This served as an introduction to Noble Six's story. I covered the last 2 missions that were in the game Halo Reach. I did this to provide a subtle backstory on Six for people who might not have played the game. Hopefully this didn't bore the people who actually played the game :( trust me it gets better so please stick with me ;)