Authors Notes: Yeah, I know that the other chapter was a bit short. I was trying to think of some content for the story. Here's chapter one.

SPARTAN 043 sat outside of the UNSC Dawn under Heaven's armory. He was outside of his armor and he felt bare and naked. Unprotected. It disturbed him on how easily he could be killed without. A well placed Jackal beam rifle shot could blow out his brains in a millisecond. He sighed. Nothing could be done.

"Son, you can come in here now. Armor is all unpacked and ready to go." William stood up and scratched the stubble of hair he had left. Sitting upon the table in the middle of the room was the new MJOLNIR Mark VI armor. Will glanced to his left and saw the remains of his Mark V armor. The shielding systems had failed on the way back from the Unyielding Hierophant. A small force of Elite's had infiltrated the Gettysburg on the way back and a skirmish ensued. During the fight, William's shields flickered and faded, allowing him open to an attack. A well placed plasma rifle shot had permanently damaged the shield generator.

That armor did well. thought William.

"This gear just came up from Earth. Supposedly was shipped from Songheim or summat..damn. I wish the regular marines could wear this shit..." Will finished pulling on the last piece of the armor, the right glove.

"Sergeant, you know full well that anyone besides a Spartan would die if they wore this suit." William said, looking down on the short and stocky sergeant.

William tuned his helmet radio to the Dawn Under Heaven frequency and got a message from the Captain. "William, please report to the bridge. We're getting Slipspace whispers by Io. Cortana has probes enroute."

"Yes sir. Thanks for the gear, Sgt. O'Bryan."

Will jogged the short distance to the bridge. Along the way, Will admired the way the ship was built. It reminded of the Pillar of Autumn, the sister ship of the Dawn Under Heaven. He and the rest of the Spartans had at one time had a mission on the Pillar of Autumn. However, Reach was attacked by the Covenant before the mission could launch and Will had to go to the surface of Reach to defend the MAC gun generators. Will was assigned to Red Team and they had to do a hard drop out of a Pelican.

Will shook those thoughts from his mind and jogged into the bridge. He snapped a salute to Capt. Jonas. "Sir!"

"At ease, Will." Will positioned his hands behind his back and looked outside the viewport. There hung Earth, in the cold blackness of space. The homeworld of mankind floated peacefully in space, unaware of the Covenant looming upon Earth's doorstep. The populace had been lied to, been told that the UNSC was keeping pace with the Covenant.

Lies. In truth, the UNSC was about to break. Reach, the main fortress world had been glassed and the Inner colonies were very close to falling. Nearly every ship in the fleet had been recalled back to Earth.

"You see that, Will? The greatest fleet known to man, right here, protecting the jewel." A sudden beeping noise started going off on the nav panel and the captain glanced over. "What the hell is going on, John?"

Will noted that the captain preferred to refer to everyone by first name. Will felt slightly uncomfortable at this. The only other person to use his real name was Dr. Halsley. She was still missing with Kelly.

"Sir, we have several slipspace ruptures just past the moon's gravity field! They look like Covenant carriers. Sensors say that there are 15 ships, sir."

A voice crackled over the com. "This is Fleet Admiral Harper. We are engaging the enemy."

Quickly following the last message, the highest admiral in the fleet, Terrance Hood, spoke up. "Negative, Admiral. Form a defensive perimeter around the cluster."

End Notes: Yeah, I know it sounds alot like the beginning of Halo 2. Don't worry, it won't be like that for long.