Author's Notes: Sad to say, its probably going to be a while till you see the next part. I have to start catching up on my Fire Emblem fic, lest my fans there track me down and lynch me. But don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can!

Chapter 13: No Rest for the Wicked

Sept. 3, 2552

Onboard UNSC destroyer Valiant: In orbit around Aeola

"Sensors, do you have anything for me?"

"No sir, our sweeps are clean."

"Good. Alert me if you pick anything up."

"Yes sir."

Captain Rogers lay back in his command chair. So far, the past few months were fairly uneventful for his ship and his crew. Because of Aeola's EM fields, Covenant ships couldn't bear to stay around very long. Usually, the only ships that they saw were cruisers that popped in fast enough to disgorge a number of dropships and jump out as quickly as it could. Usually, those dropships were met by Valiant and its sister ship, the Fidelity, and only a small fraction of those dropships managed to pass. But usually, to the annoyance of his crew, both destroyers were often tasked with ground support. Providing planetary bombardments and staging airstrikes for the Marines on the dirt seemed be beneath Navy, but it was a job to do.

Rogers took a look back to the orbital station that he was keeping his ship's orbit in sync with. Actually, it wasn't really a station, just a hastily constructed scaffold covering a warship under construction. Rogers had no idea what kind of ship it would be, but he as told that the Freedom was the cutting edge human spacecraft engineering, combining both human and Covenant technologies.

But the exact specifications of an experimental warship were not his concern. It was his duty to make sure that thing would get out this system in one piece.

"SIR!!"

Startled, Rogers nearly jumped out of his seat.

"What is it, Ensign?"

"Covenant ship inbound! Sensor profile and speed suggest it's a destroyer!"

"Bearing?"

"Coming in at heading zero two niner!"

"That's crazy, that heading is going to take them straight into-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Covenant cruiser's plasma drives flicked for a moment and died. The entire ship went dark until its bow began to glow a dull orange.

"The Covenant ship's orbit is decaying rapidly, sir! It's already hit atmosphere!"

"Sensors! Plot that thing's course! Where is it landing!"

"Uhhh, it's going down in grid six-five."

"In relation to Mackhall airbase please."

"Oh! Uhhh.... About twenty miles southwest, give or take another twenty."

"Communications! Get on line with Mackhall, now! Transmit the ship's heading and approximate landing site and tell them we need Marines down there ASAP!"

Mackhall Airbase

Sam and Leo were running down the hallways of the base. They kept going until they found the room they were looking for and dashed in.

"Late as always, Privates!"

"Sorry sir, but-"

"Can the crap, Leo! Just sit down and shutup!"

Both Marines quickly found a chair and sat down.

The briefing room was a fairly large area. It seemed empty though, since the room was originally designed t hold an entire battalion of about 600 men. Right now, only twelve Marines occupied it, including Sergeant Paccone. The room was literally nothing but an empty box. Only several rows of ancient chairs, a raised podium, and a holo screen filled the room. The graffiti, trash, and other junk littered about the area gave homage to the past generations of Marines who sat in the very same room.

"Okay Marines, lets get this started!"

Paccone picked up a remote and pressed a button, activating the holo-screen. It began to project on overhead view of a town.

"This is the town of Robles, just several miles south of Molino. Has a population of roughly ten thousand. Now, we know that the area itself is of little strategic importance, hence why neither side has attempted to approach the town, but-"

Paccone clicked the remote again. The image zoomed out and a number of marks began to show.

"A wave of strange attacks have been reported throughout the outer limits of the town. We thought at first that the Covenant might be moving in on the town, but all the reports suggest that these are animal."

One of the Marines, Collins, raised his hand.

"Yes, Collins?"

"Sir, don't you think this is a job for the cops? I mean, we're the Marines, we're supposed to be soldiers, not dog-catchers."

"That's precisely what the people of Robles thought, and they sent their own expeditions out to try to find out what's going on. The problem is, none of them came back."

All of the Marines stared at each other nervously.

"So, command has seen fit to send a squad of Marines to check out the problem. That's us."

Paccone clicked the remote again. Several arrows and more symbols appeared on the screen.

"Our insertion will be carried out by Pelican. They'll drop us off here in the forests, near where the attacks first started. We check that out, go back the Pelican, and it ferries us to the next area of interest. We also have four more squads moving in to check things out as well, but don't expect them to be nearby for help. We go in with full combat gear. Weapons, rations, the works. We have no idea what's out there and I don't want to get caught in the middle of nowhere unprepared. Is that clear?"

Everybody nodded.

"Good, I expect to see you on the pad in fifteen."

Sam and Leo filed out of the briefing room with everybody else and made their way to the locker rooms.

"Hey Sam, you look so calm. Doesn't this mission give you the creeps?"

"What do you mean, Leo? It's probably a pack of rabid dogs or wolves or something that attacked a bunch of campers."

"And rabid dogs can just make an armed party just disappear into the forest?"

"Just because they disappeared didn't mean the dogs got them. Those forests stretch for hundreds of miles. They could just have easily gotten lost and couldn't find their way back."

"Right."

"Come on, we're just jumping around several spots for a day or two, and like Paccone said, there's no Covvies in the area."

"Supposedly."

"Hey, it's not like we haven't fought them before."

"Do not take things so lightly, little one. Danger lies everywhere, especially in the most unexpected places."

Sam stopped.

"Leo, did you just say that?"

"Say what?"

Sam shook her head. She probably just tired.

"No, nothing. Hey, meet you at the pad, okay? I have to make a stop at the armory. My old S2 got slagged by that damn Banshee..."

"Sure, see you later."

Sam took a right at the next hallway and followed the red line to the armory. After signing in and getting past the guards, she walked in and inspected the weapons. Rows of MA5Bs, stacks of M6Ds, crates of grenades, everything that could fulfill any Marine's fantasy. Sam walked through and picked up an S2 AM. She checked it for any flaws and adjusted it slightly Satisfied, she slung the rifle over shoulder and picked up several boxes of rounds. She was getting ready to leave when something caught her eye. She walked a little farther back and noticed it was a type of MA5B she hadn't seen before. She had seen quite a few variations of the MA5B. Some had flashlights, others grenade launchers, and several that even had portable cameras attached. But Sam had never seen this kind of model of MA5B. The barrel was slightly narrower and longer, it had a larger compensator and flashback suppressor, and had a scope mounted on the top of it. Intrigued by this new type of rifle, Sam picked it up and played around with it. It was slightly lighter than an MA5B, the feel was more comfortable, and Sam was confident that it was far more accurate than its more crude and clumsy cousin. She slung the rifle over her shoulder along with her S2AM and picked up a box of clips as well. She was interested in seeing how this weapon would do in combat. She glanced at her chrono. Thirteen minutes had passed.

"Shit! I'm going to be late agaaaain!"

Elsewhere in the base

Karla was in the base's motor pool, too busy tricking out and fixing up her Warthog to notice the familiar clicking of boots on the floor until she heard someone call out.
"Lieutenant Wellings!"

Karla pulled herself from under the Warthog and looked up to see Major Peter Mackenzie. Karla knew him back in her days at Reach, and liked him immensely, which was very rare among her superior officers. Karla quickly snapped to attention.
"Sir!"

Mackenzie looked at Karla once and nodded.
"At ease, Lieutenant. I've got some good news and some bad news.

Karla looked at the Major curiously.
"Good news first, I guess, sir."

"Well then, Colonel Raines believes that your uniform isn't befitting of your rank."

Mackenzie tossed a small box to Karla. She instinctively caught it and opened the box.

"Sir-"

"Congratulations, Captain Wellings. Command has reviewed your past performances and has seen fit to reward you for them."

"And what about Armbruster?"
"Armbruster has been promoted as well and transferred to another unit. I daresay it's going to be the last time you will see him for a while."

Before she had a chance to jump for joy, something struck Karla.

"Wait, if you're giving me rank now, that means I'm going to have to pull it, right?"

"Smart girl. That's the reason why I liked you the best. But that's where we start getting to the bad news. Command wants you to move out. Now."

"Sir, you can't do that! Our troops haven't even gotten through their rest cycle yet! They're still exhausted and short on-"

"Damnit, Karla, we have no time for this! A Covenant destroyer is about to slam into the planet, and command wants Marines there to secure it! Your unit is the only one available, and that's the one they're sending. See you on the pad in twenty minutes."

"Karla stared long and hard at Major Mackenzie."
"Make that ten, sir."

"Good girl, Karla. Don't let me down."