It was around 30 degrees out. Summer in Toronto, Canada. Black dress shoes clapped against the hot concrete, up the stairs. A white glove knocked three times against the wooden door.

Andrew waited for a few seconds in front of the door with a paper in his hand.

"Hello?" A woman answered the door. She looked about 50 some.

"Are you Ms. Collinger?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, are you from the Marines?"

"Ma'am, the United Nations Space Command regrets to inform you that your son, Richard s. Collinger was killed in the line of duty, on an operation that was essential to winning the war." Andrew read from the paper.

Then as ordered handed the woman a brown envelope, containing her sons medals, a death certificate, and number of other 'official papers'. He told her when and where her son's uniform could be collected. Then apologized that it could not be delivered due to the troops being spread to thin.

With that, he turned, walked back to his car, got in, and drove off.

It was only a short drive back to the base, the parents probably moved close to it so they could be near their son. Right, he probably wasn't even stationed there once.

"Poor bastard's ship got shredded by a Covenant Cruiser twice its size." Andrew thought to himself.

He took his hat off and placed it on the seat beside him. It was too hot today. He was going to shave his head again. It's getting awkward. Well, to him at least, used to being almost bald. He pulled into the base's parking lot. Taking the keys out, putting them in his pocket, he got out of the car.

The heat must have been a distraction, because he locked his hat in the car, and had to fiddle around with the keys for another few minutes to get it back.

The gatekeeper knew Andrew pretty well, and let him in without asking for his ID.

Andrew walked over to the door and it slid open automatically to let him in.

"Hey Andy"

"Hey Cal" Andrew said as he passed one of the Marines he used to be partners with.

He stepped into the elevator, hit 4 and waited. The door slid open and he walked into the maze of cubicles and offices in charge of recruiting and, well, telling people their loved ones are dead. He pushed open the door to a rather large office at the back corner.

"HEY! Major,"

"Lieutenant Wood, what do you need?" Major Gordon Redward responded.

"A transfer, anywhere but here Sir," Andrew responded while putting his gloves in his shirt pocket, and clipping his hat to his belt.

"And why's that?"

"Because frankly, Sir, I don't like telling people their kids are dead. I'm not good at it, and personally I don't want to be good at it, I don't want to get de-sensitized to death. Okay, I've seen guys like that at they aren't me. Nor will they be."

Redward stood up.

"Lieutenant, I deal with this everyday, I run this department. I never got de-sensitized to it, and I doubt I ever will, it's hard at first, but think about it. The only other option is to ship you out to the front line, and with the Covenant civil war, the Covenant ships carrying contained Flood, that's basically a death sentence."

"Sir I truly believe I can serve the UNSC better fighting the enemy, than I can being the bearer of bad news."

"Okay, you seem sure enough of this, come back to me in a month, if you still can't do it. I'll transfer you, but Wood, I like you, you're a good Marine, I don't want to send you out to die in space."

Andrew nodded and walked out of the office, he was meeting a friend for lunch in the cafeteria.

Aboard UNSC Battlecruiser Cole:

"Commander, I'm reading a Covenant Destroyer approaching off the rear, its moving slow, using stealth tactics, I can't track it to well. Recommend a quiet resistance." The tactical officer suggested.

"Alright, station troops around all possible boarding zones, don't let them know we're ready for them, power up the main cannon, and all secondary weaponry, make it look like we're running a munitions test. We're going to catch them off guard.

"Sergeant you're needed to help guard Docking Bay B-7447." A marine said to Sergeant Chase Roberts.

"Thanks, I'm on my way."

He walked into the lift that connects directly to the engineering bay, where he was. Thankfully he was already prepared to fight, the ship had been on high alert for about a week, and he was damned happy to get this over with.

The lift stopped on the docking bay. The airlock.

"Sir, we're expecting a huge covenant boarding party, this is the biggest possible boarding zone."

"Roger, then let's take our places,"

On the Bridge:

"Commander, the Covenant Ship is powering up its weapons! It knows we saw it, they're going to blow out the main docking bay, they know we have guys there, they want to clear it first."