Disclaimer - I do not own Bungie, Microsoft, Halo, or any of its Characters.

Halo: Is this the End?
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage

New Mombasa, East African Protectorate
October 20, 2552 1400 Hours

Plasma bolts filled the air, all aimed at the brick fence surrounding the old building. Corporal Mark Hawes quickly snapped the fresh clip into his Battle Rifle and fell to one knee. A plasma bolt flew over his head, in the space where he had been less then a second ago, and struck the wall behind him. The cheap, blue paint was scorched off instantly.

The Corporal returned fire to the advancing Grunts and watched the armor-piercing rounds splatter their blood on the floor behind them. The Grunts fired their Plasma Pistols at his position, but missed him by a meter.

"I'm hit!" shouted the Private to his right.

Mark ducked down behind the brick fence and turned to his wounded comrade.

"Damnit Mark, I need a medic!"

"The Medic got hit as soon as he dropped in. Give me a second and I'll patch you up.

The Corporal stood up to a low crouch and fired his Battle Rifle at the charging Grunts.

"Get down, Corporal!"

Mark rolled off to the side, seconds before the Chain Turret overhead began to fire into their lines. The Grunts charged, despite their ranks being decimated by the turret above. In less than a minute, the last alien fell.

"Thanks, Sergeant."

"Don't expect me to bail you out every time." Sergeant Clark responded, his voice raspy and cracked from years of smoking.

Mark bent down and helped the wounded private ease back onto the brick fence.

"Let me see where you got hit."

The Private dropped his hands to the side, reveling a plasma burn spanning from shoulder to shoulder. His fatigues had melted from the hot plasma, but some fragments were burned onto his chest.

"Head back into the building. The Sergeant's got some ointment for you to put on your burn. That'll have to do until we can get back to HQ."

The Corporal stood up and scanned the skyline with his binoculars, wincing at the glare of the sun. Dead bodies, Human and Covenant, were scattered all over the sector. Mark could literally walk from the here to the HQ without having to touch the ground once.

"Damnit Corporal!" shouted the Sergeant from above. "Quit slacking and tell me what you see!"

"Sir," the Corporal responded, "the Covenant Dropships are retreating. They must be getting reinforcements."

"We can't afford another assault. We need HQ to send us some birds and get us the hell out of here."

The Sergeant walked inside the company's make-shift base, an old apartment complex, and began to contact the Marine's temporary HQ. Mark set down his binoculars and stretched out his weary legs.

It's only been an hour since the Covenant entered system, and already they've swept aside our ground defenses and gained a foot hold on the city. How log until we have to retreat?

After the Covenant launched the invasion force, HQ had sent his company over to this suburb to try and secure a fall back area for the Marine's defense. The mission hadn't gone very well, though. They reached the destination easily, but wave after wave of Covenant assaults had worn the company down to only 25 men, 11 of which were wounded. The Covenant seemed to have little care for the lives of their cannon fodder Grunts, and had sent those head first into a suicide mission just to wear the humans down. Soon, they'd send in the Jackals and Hunters, and eventually the Elites.

He had seen it happen dozens of times before, and he knew the Covenant would do it again. His company need to evac now, or they'd face certain death.

"HQ's sending in what they can afford." the Sergeant said from the balcony above. "I only hope it's enough."

Mark raised his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the skyline again. Three Pelican dropships flew in over the horizon, their bright, reflective bodies shining under the sun.

"Sir, three Pelicans inbound...Wait a minute..." The Corporal could hardly conceal his glee as he got a better view of the Dropships. "Sir, they've got tanks!"

"Tanks? Let's see the Covenant break through our lines now."

The Pelicans hovered over the street in front of the apartment and dropped the tanks. Once the tanks had activated and drove off, a dozen Marines piled out of each Pelican.

"Alright, Corporal Hawes. You and Private Roberts get in the 'Hog and get your asses out on recon. Contact me if those alien bastards get reinforcements."

"Sir, yes sir!"

Mark ran off to the adjacent parking garage and the Sergeant walked back inside the apartment and down to the Marines gathering outside the building.

"Form up, Marines!" shouted the Sergeant over the dropships engines.

The Marines lined up in front of the Sergeant and eased their weapons over their shoulders as the Pelicans flew off into the distance.

"Alright, men." the Sergeant began. "We need to protect this fall back point at any cost. I want those tanks up front and ready to engage the Covenant the second their feet touch the ground. As for you," he said, gesturing at the line of Marines in front of him, "I want you all to keep the Covenant out of the building if the tanks are hit. We're not getting any reinforcements, so make damn sure you don't die unless you absolutely have to!"

"Sergeant Clark," crackled Corporal Mark's voice over his Comm System, "We've got visual of the enemy. It looks like they're content on capturing the building, sir. They've got Wraiths."

Wraiths? Damnit. They'll destroy us before we can fire a single shot.

"Alright, Corporal, get the hell back here and help us protect the building."

"Yes sir!"

The Sergeant's Comm system snapped off and he began to pace in front of the Marines.

"Scatter, Marines! Protect this building no matter what the cost!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

The Sergeant sprinted into the building and up the stairs to the second floor balcony.

Sergeant Clark stood on the balcony and stared down at the Marines below. The three Scorpion Tanks guarded the front of the apartment, the only place the Covenant could strike from. The Marine reinforcements all stood on guard, waiting for the Covenant's inevitable counter-strike. The Sergeant inspected his Battle Rifle as the sound of the distant Covenant Dropships drew nearer.

The Sergeant checked his Battle Rifle's scope and replaced the old clip with a new one. In a matter of seconds, four Phantoms appeared from behind the distant skylines and Jackals and Grunts began to pour down their gravity lifts a little over 200 meters from the Marine's position.

"We've got hostiles!" the Sergeant shouted. "Check your weapons and fire at will. I want those tanks ready to take out their Wraiths."

The tanks moved forward towards the Covenant as the Phantoms flew off and the Wraiths activated. The Scorpions each fired a shell at the Covenant, causing aliens limbs and pavement to fly in the air. The Covenant continued to charge, and the tanks continued to move towards them. Wasting no time in returning fire, each Wraith fired a mortar round into the air.

The Scorpions continued onto the Covenant's position, but the mortar rounds landed in the middle of their formation and erupted in a blue-white explosion. When the mist cleared, all that was left was the melted bodies of three tanks.

"Fall back into the buildings, Marines!" shouted the Sergeant.

The Marines rushed towards the building, but the Wraiths fired another volley of mortar at the building.

"Retreat, Marines!" Sergeant Clark shouted as he jumped off the balcony. The second the Sergeant's feet touched the ground the mortar shells impacted onto the apartment and collapsed the building.

The Marines scattered through out the street, avoiding plasma fire as they went.

"Damnit Marines!" shouted the Sergeant. "Get back here and fight!"

The Sergeant never got to see if the Marines followed his orders, however, as a volley of mortar fire rained down onto him, vaporizing his flesh in a matter of microseconds...

Corporal Mark saw the dark ally zoom past him as the Warthog sped towards the fall back point. The 'Hog turned a corner, and what he saw left in awe. The apartment complex was nothing more than a pile of rubble, and Grunts and Jackals inspected the surrounding area. Three Wraiths moved off towards the center of the city, but one remained by the building.

"Roberts," Mark said from the rear Chain Turret, "The base got hit. We've got to get out of here and get back to HQ."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Mark."

The Warthog backed up and sped back down the ally. Mark swept the area with the Chain Turret, keeping an eye out for any Covenant forces. The 'Hog reached the end of the ally and began to bound down a long, smooth highway. Several Grunts stood near a tollbooth, all armed with Needlers. Mark turned the Chain Turret and opened fire on the Grunts, mowing them down as he went.

One Grunt fired off a series of shots, each impacting with the Warthog's windshield. One of the explosive projectiles cracks the windshield and impaled Private Roberts straight through the temple. The Warthog lurched forward and came to a complete stop as the Private fell out of the jeep, dead.

"Roberts!" shouted Mark as he hoped off the Turret and bent down by his dead comrade.

His mourning was cut short, however, by the sound of a Banshee Flier heading down the Highway. Mark hopped back into the Turret and fired at the nearing aircraft, but it barrel rolled to the side and avoided the fire. It continued onto the stationary 'Hog and unleashed opened fire on the jeep. Hot waves of Plasma surged past the Corporal's head, but he continued to fire at the Banshee.

The pilot's luck must've run out, for three of the jeep's armor piercing rounds connected with the ship's wings and snapped them off. The Banshee lost altitude and crashed into the road, exploding on impact.

Mark stepped off the turret again and sat down in the driver's seat. He wiped Robert's blood off the steering wheel with his sleeve and continued on down the road, alone.

Author's Note - This is going to be a little side story to Halo 2, following the story of the Marine Corporal Mark Hawes and his attempt to survive the Covenant's invasion of Earth and the discovery of Delta Halo.

In recap so far, the Corporal was sent to secure a fall back point a little while away from the Marine's make-shift HQ in New Mombasa. The company was defeated, and Corporal Mark is heading back to the HQ.

I hope you read and enjoy the story, and please leave a review on what you think about it.