Into the Howling Dark

by TheHaloArrae

The radical alien empire known as the Covenant have declared war on Humanity. Caught up in the war is Sophra Cortez, a young Marine who enlisted less than a year prior to the arrival of the Covenant. Her and the rest of the 209th heavy infantry battalion are sent directly to the frontlines: The Outer colonies Harvest.

1. Chapter 1

"For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return"

-Lord Hood

I had everything going for me back home in Arcadia.

19, just started college, good grades, good friends.

And then, well, the Covenant arrived.

I was drafted into the UNSC to help with the war effort, and just like that, I lost everything.

August 8th, 2526

209th Heavy infantry Battalion

Planet Harvest (Surface)

The purple glow of the Wraiths against the Orange sky of the early morning made them all to easy targets.

There must've been a dozen of them, all moving in a single file line to get to a cliff perfect for bombardment.

But we beat them there, better yet they didn't know it.

But knowing they weren't too far behind, we dug foxholes around the path that went through the nearby woods, tall grass concealed our positions even better.

Covenant wouldn't know what hit em.

I was fortunate enough to get a SPNKr and take out one of the tanks myself.

All I was waiting on was the word to open fire.

The last Wraith in the line emerged from the woods, and not a moment later:

Marines, take em out!

We all popped out simultaneously, I mounted the SPNKr on my shoulder, aiming out the 3rd to last wraith, and sent a rocket right into the back of that thing.

Immediately the vehicle came to a dead halt, but the elite gunner on the front, completely unphased, started sending plasma bolts my way.

I ducked back inot the cover of my foxhole, SPNKr still in hand.

Shit

Plasma was still flying over my foxhole, and I could hear it tearing into the ground around me.

But those plasma cannons overheat, something that gunner must've forgotten, because only a few seconds later of a constant stream of plasma, and it came to a stop.

Knowing the elite overheated the weapon, I took the opportunity to peek back over and send another rocket down range.

This time, it hit the wraith's main cannon, and the vehicle exploded in a blue and purple spectacle.

Including my kill, 7 wraiths had also met their demise, 3 were in critical condition.

One of the two wraiths positioned itself facing my direction.

The main cannon glowed a violent blue, preparing to fire.

As it was about to send explosive plasma my way, another SPNKr rocket hit the left fin-like part of the tank that kept it hovering on that side.

With the hover thruster on that side knocked out, the wraith tilted to the left, almost touching the ground, and so instead of hitting me, it fired into the dirt 3 feet in front of it, causing further damage to itself.

A second SPNKr rocket hit the driver's hatch, the explosion killed him, the gunner, and disabled the vehicle.

Having no time to think about that close call, I directed my attention to the last wraith where we took a much more direct approach.

The gunner was covered in oily, purple blood and now marines were climbing on top of the damn wraith.

Somehow they managed to pry open the driver's hatch, and one marine peered over the now open seat with a shotgun, and put a quick end to the driver.

With all targets neutralized, the marines erupted in celebration.

It was the 209th's first real win over the covenant, and it felt... Well it felt bittersweet, for me at least.

We won a small skirmish of a losing battle, the impact may be minuscule in the grand scheme of things.

But hey, at least we won something, and that wasn't too common in the war.