Laerd Interior, Utgard, Harvest, Epsilon Indi System

2529

Adrian wasn't sure if seconds or hours had passed when he pushed himself off the ground, his whole body screaming in protest as he stumbled over the corpses of the slaughtered elites. Looking around he didn't see the Spartan, only the splattered remains of her fight, if one could even call it that, he saw organs he didn't even know Sangheili had. Leaning against a pile of rubble, he lightly pressed against the front of his armor, wheezing in reaction as he felt his ribs pressing against his organs. Likely fractured but not broken, a small miracle considering what had just transpired, still it meant he could stay combat operational for a while longer. Reaching into his trauma kit, he pulled out a small, armored vial labeled 'Bone-Knitting Polymer', placing the vial in a long syringe, he jabbed it through a gap in his armor right under his ribs. Gasping, he depressed the syringe until it was empty, tossing the empty vial aside, he placed the syringe back in his kit, deciding to linger a few moments longer to catch his breath.

"They're both dead."

Adrian scrambled from his rest, almost pulling out his SOCOM until he remembered that back in his world he wouldn't be talking with the enemy. Still, it was unnerving how the spartan was able to catch him off guard despite the half-ton of armor she was wearing. The dark green armor was heavily worn, the emblazoned white number almost complete faded with what looked like a decade's worth of fighting condensed onto a single suit of armor. It was only when he caught a brief reflection of himself in the Spartan's gold visor, he realized that he'd been standing in silence as his mind raced faster than he could process.

"Both?"

"The marines you were with."

"Williams and Casey." Adrian muttered, "I consider it more of a miracle they managed to survive this far on their own." The Spartan only stared, Adrian stared back, "What's a Spartan doing all the way out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, ODSTs travel in groups."

"Only when they're not dead or missing."

"Trying to find them then?"

In a matter of sense he supposed, far as he knew Liam hadn't come through with him, so there were no ODSTs, rather a whole host of allies that would be in way over their head. "If I had a clue of where to start, for now I'm just trying to survive, get back to a UNSC foothold." He jerked his head towards the heart of the city.

"Probably best to avoid that path, keeping going and you'll meet Covenant reserve forces being held back to make a push by nightfall."

"Well shit...I assume that's why you're here then?"

"Partially."

"Wonderfully vague." They stood in silence a while longer, leading Adrian to wonder if all Spartan's were such bastions of personality or if he just lucked out. Before he could even begin to plan his next move, the distant sound of propulsion jets began to echo through the city ruins. "Guess you're mission just became a joint operation." Adrian quipped.

The Spartan sighed as she nodded, drawing a battered assault rifle from her magnetic holsters, her head tilted towards the towering city skyline and began walking, "Try not to slow me down."

Adrian held back a few seconds, looking back at the blood splattered battlefield before glancing towards the window pouring smoke a few stories up. Shaking his head he turned and followed the green giant, her footsteps still eerily quiet even when Adrian was focusing his attention on trying to pick them out of the surrounding ambiance. A few minutes into their walk, they seemed to come to the same realization as he remarked the measly M9 in his hands. A formidable sidearm, and a force of nature back in the world of Overwatch, but here – now – he needed something with a bit more heft if he was hoping to survive.

Spartan 54 pulled a second rifle for the strips along her back, this time slowing her pace to hand it off to Adrian as he grabbed it. The weight momentarily surprising him before he adjusted his grip; glancing it over it was clearly an early predecessor to M392 DMR. It was a touch bulkier, it's edges more pronounced with a heavier bullpup stock, and if memory serves right, armed with a larger caliber than in his time. Initial reactions to the Covenant from a technical perspective amounted to, throw shit at the wall, and see what sticks. What resulted was many early weapons being absolute powerhouses of force at the cost of stability, versatility, and general effectiveness in attempts to bypass Covenant shields. With only twelve rounds instead of fifteen, and recoil that kicked like a mule, he'd have to time his shots more than he was used to, still ODSTs were nothing if not adaptable.

"Fancy."

The Spartan said nothing, instead looking straight ahead as the two continued their trek with Adrian a bit miffed at the change in companionship. He didn't have anything against Spartans for the most part like some of his brothers did, they were all against the Covenant together, there were bigger things to worry about though he understood that for some it wasn't that simple. ODSTs used to be the pinnacle of humanity's military efforts, every daring task, suicidal mission, and life or death situation was handled by ODSTs. Since the onset of the war however, the introduction of Spartans changed the game, ONI and UNSC propaganda machines realized that the Spartan soldiers were at the forefront fo boosting moral and drawing in new recruits. All the fame and glory that went to the ODSTs now went towards the new breed of soldier, on top of the spartan-related incident decades ago…well it was always a point of contention that only grew exponentially worse as the reality got more distorted. Sometimes he wondered if that was pushed by ONI, if creating some inter-branch rivalry made ODSTs more efficient or more willing to take on dangerous missions. Along a parallel road he wondered if Spartans held a similar animosity towards his kind or if it was just a one-sided deal. Regardless he never hated them, though he did find them unsettling as most others did though his experiences with them was limited.

Oftentimes they seemed detached, impassive, and boosted unparalleled combat abilities, outsiders in a species wide war. This was the most time he'd ever spent in the presence of one, let alone actually talked with, in fact he didn't even know the Spartan's name – if they even had one that is.

"So… you got a name?" He titled his head towards the towering figure, his IFF identified her as 054 but that did little to settle his unease. Placing a name towards the armor would honestly be nice. "I mean I can just call you 54, but then it feels like I'm yelling out an order at a fast-food joint, ya feel?"

"…"

"No, I suppose you wouldn't… Listen I'll start, Lance Corporal Adrian Kasporov. This is the part where you say, 'Wonderful to meet you, I'm…' See where I'm going with this?"

An audible sigh escaped from the spartan, "Aliza, my names Aliza. Better?"

"In a perfect world you could hold a conversation, but that's probably too much to hope for." When he didn't get a response Adrian rolled his eyes before looing up towards Utgard's skyline, streams of anti-air rounds screamed through the air with bursts of flak filling the late afternoon sky. Utgard wasn't the largest human city, Harvest wasn't even close to one of the closest human colonies. The city was however a top contender for largest square kilometer of land per person, a result of the wide temperate fields bordered by the Bifrost that kept the rivers healthy and flowing. For most people that meant truly little, trekking through the city however made it a royal pain in the ass though he's almost positive he's already bitched about it to himself already. Before he could begin to question his sanity, roaring engines far above caught his attention as a trio of SF-25M Rapiers streaked overheard. Their lithe, agile frames pulling unimaginable feats of dexterity to avoid the trailing plasma fire that preceded screeching Banshees. Two Rapiers teased the covvie craft, drawing their attention while the third snuck away, pulling a high-g vertical roll to get behind the alien craft. Within seconds of stabilizing the craft, the pilot unleashed two archer missiles that furiously burst forth and struck their targets, causing an explosive eruption of plasma and fire. The successful Rapier did a quick barrel roll as a taunt of victory before catching up with its squad and jetting off to support troops in the city.

"Looks like our fly boys are clearing the skies, maybe the only thing we're doing well in this war."

That comment caught the Spartan's attention, "A bit pessimistic don't you think?"

"Just keeping my expectations tempered."

Aliza spared a quick glance before bringing her focus forward as she began to crouch down behind the burned-out ruins of a luxury sedan, "Well try to keep that out of your fighting."

Adrian crouched down next to her, peeking through the shattered windows and over a charred corpse, "Fuck, looks like…half a dozen elites plus an entourage of grunts and jackals armed with plasma turrets and beam rifles, see any way to get around it?"

"We're not going around, anything we leave is only going to be a problem down the line. We take them now."

He blinked, he knew Spartans were fearless, but he didn't think they were suicidal, hell they might be more alike than ODSTs gave them credit for. "Got a plan then?"

"How are your injuries, can you fight?"

Adrian smiled underneath, "Even when I'm dead I'll still be fighting."

"Good, now take an extra pack of ammunition, you're going to need it."

…

…

…

Adrian rested a few seconds as he scaled the ruins of a toppled office building, briefly looking to the desolate road to the side he could barely spot Aliza crawling allowing the cracked pavement, her form hidden behind a flipped semi-truck that spanned the width of the road. The plan as she outlined it was rather simple, given his less-than-ideal condition which only grew more apparent as his muscles screamed with every action. They were outnumbered and outgunned by a wide margin, what they needed was time to pick off the main threats before moving onto the smaller targets. Adrian would find a vantage point overlooking the enemy encampment. Fairly easy considering the area city was practically a playground of verticality. Meanwhile Aliza who was currently making her way to the opposite end, would flank the covvie fortification while their attention was focused on Adrian. Being so high up meant that they'd have to rely on their Jackal sharpshooters, easy enough to avoid at this range and even easier to kill. Leaving the Spartan to do what they do best.

Feeling the pressure on his chest ease up, Adrian resumed his climb as his mind drifted towards how reminiscent this was of one of his earlier excursions with Overwatch. Right around the time he'd meet Jack and the first time he'd talked with Ana, a mission in the mountains taking out a Talon arms convoy. It's funny how now it feels like a lifetime ago, but in the grand scheme of everything that's happened is barely a blip on the timeline. From one war to another, to the wrong time trying to undo the shit that brought him here in the first place, it would be a righteous pain in the ass but as things were right now – they could be worse. Aliza was stoic, it was hard to get a read on what she was thinking or planning on doing which made things messy. Time was both a necessity and a luxury, the Harvest campaign would drag on for a couple years as the least and Utgard was always at the center of it, getting UNSC support would be relatively easy and if he wanted to survive this slaughterhouse, he had to be smart. On the flipside however, if he wasn't alone, and he didn't have any reason to think he was, the people from Overwatch and Talon were ticking down. They weren't prepared and getting to them before the Covenant did was a constant pressure, if they met up with UNSC forces first…well that's a whole other shit show he can't even begin to wrap his head around how to deal with right now. For now, he'd stick with the Spartan, that was his best chance of success and as it stood perhaps his only chance, besides considering how he ended up here, he'd need every ally he could get.

Jumping to the side, his fingers gripped upon the remains of a jutting ledge, his legs hanging before he forced himself onto his elbows and hefted his body weight up and onto the abandoned office level. His destination was a little over halfway down the path of ruined cubicles and shattered glass to a dented window frame hastily barricaded with wooden planks. A small but sizeable enough gap in the planking barricade would allow him to stay mostly hidden without sacrificing much maneuverability. He'd spotted it down on the ground while Aliza was walking him through her plan, she'd seemed impressed he noticed it though with Spartans it was hard to tell.

Finding his spot, he laid down flat on his stomach and inched his ways towards the boarded window as she unslung the DMR he'd been given. Peaking the tip of the barrel out of the gap, he briefly glanced around before grabbing a blasted block of plastic and placing it under the grip of his gun. It wasn't much but as a makeshift bipod it'd do the trick to keep the gun's stability in check as much as possible.

After a few minutes of waiting, he spied a glint of Aliza's golden visor across the way followed by the slightest bob of her head. Smirking he adjusted his aim to one of the two plasma turrets guarding small encampment. The jackals were a threat, but it'd take them a few shots to find his position, in the meantime the turrets were by far the biggest threat to himself but mostly to Aliza. Shielding or not, a few seconds in the open would shred through her like a knife through paper if she got spotted. Before firing he jotted down the quickest trial between targets he could muster, if he had to cycle halfway up the camp to sight his next target it would be time wasted. It was a lot like connect the dots but for efficiency, tracking an invisible line that wasn't bound to last but would allow him to take at least three targets down in the initial confusion.

Edging the reticle over the head of his first target, a grunt arming a plasma turret on the south side, he pulled the trigger as a crack rang out across the city scape. The bullet landed dead center, causing the corpse to slip out of its seat as it went limp. Without wasting anytime, he quickly moved his focus towards the second turret, unleashing another shot that tore through the neck of the grunt. Not killing it instantly but rather leaving it thrashing agonizingly on the ground as it's comrades tried to rally and fire back. The last covvie he managed to snag on his imaginary path of targets was one of the jackal snipers that had previously been snoozing on one of the covenants' signature floating watch towers. After that the Covenant wised up, they still didn't know exactly where he was but one of the hinge-head bastards had caught a glimpse of his muzzle flash, not enough to pinpoint but they started to pepper the entire floor with plasma fire.

The closest bolt of energy was still a few feet off, so he zeroed in on his next target, a sharpshooter that was surprisingly taking it's time. An oddity among jackals who were usually too bloodthirsty to care if they were hitting anything or not, but this one was smart, it was waiting. Sadly, those brains would go to waste as they splatted over the dusty road median. On the peripheral of his vision, he could see a green dot slowly making its way through enemy after enemy, taking it's time with each kill to try and keep the element of surprise alive as long as possible. His choice of target changed as he saw an elite shifting it'd body wait to look behind, swearing to himself, Adrian popped off a shot that nicked it's head. The force of the bullet caused it to stumble only slightly as its energy shields flared. Firing again a bit lower to try and make full contact, it dodged but not fast enough as the bullet hit it's chest, it's shielding crackling as its broke. The elite roared as he ran to the side, blindly firing as it dashed for cover. Adrian tried to land another shot but between the unusual recoil and rate of fire, he missed his last two shots before he was forced to reload. To compound problems, that elite now not only knew exactly where he was but when it took cover, it spotted Aliza's flanking maneuver.

Swearing even more to himself, he hastily tossed out the empty magazine and slapped in a new one.

"You're spotted, I'll try to draw their fire."

"No need, just keeping your aim steady."

Before he had time to respond, he saw Aliza dash across the camp towards a jackal, snap its neck with one hand while sticking a plasma grenade to its belt lined with several dormant grenades before tossing the ticking time bomb of a corpse towards a group of elites. The corpse bomb amplified by the grenades on the elites caused an explosion with such force that Adrian could see shockwave ripple for several meters out before dissipating, the elites themselves were nothing more than charred giblets of flesh and armor.

Snapping himself out of his awe, he went back to picking off targets though at this point the two of them had made quick work of the bulk of the enemy forces. The elite that had zeroed in on his position tried to dash to a new set of cover, but Adrian landed two solid shots that shattered it's shields followed by a third that went low but shredded through the alien's lower leg. What would be the calf on a human turned into exotic pulled pork, strings of muscle and sinew flew through the air as the elite crumpled to the ground. He was tempted to leave it there to suffer, humiliated among the corpses of its comrades but he knew better than to underestimate the Covenant. Quickly shifting the barrel of the DMR, he popped off a quick shot to its head before putting that behind him as he began seeking a new target.

A bolt of plasma landed only inches from his helmet, sending a slew of sparks and dust flying as he instinctively covered his head. Inching backwards another shot from a beam rifle was let loose, this one skimmed the metal plating of his shoulder pad forcing him to scramble back more. The singed armor left smoldering as Adrian clicked his tongue, dashing through the abandoned office, he repositioned himself further down as he brought the DMR back against his shoulder. Peering through the scope he saw that all the Sangheili were dead, as were most of the grunts and jackals, a few were left but scattered and running around in fear. He hesitated to pull the trigger as he honed over a cowering grunt, not out of any sense of newfound empathy, because hell knows the Covenant don't deserve it, but out of practicality. Was it worth it to waste the scare ammo he and Aliza had on some grunt? It appeared the Spartan had the same thought, as he spied her using her large, serrated knife to make quick work of the stranglers. Briefly scanning the battlefield, he saw no remaining targets and no new hostiles coming in, lowering the scope from his view he sighed as he pushed himself to his feet. The adrenaline from the fight wearing off left his ribs aching and the feeling of irritated raw skin on his shoulder where the ricocheted beam rifle bolt likely left a splotchy first-degree burn.

"We're clear, all hostiles eliminated."

"Get back onto the ground and we'll continue our push to the target, we shouldn't linger."

"Yeah I'll be down in a few minutes…a painful few minutes." He mumbled to himself as he slung the DMR onto his back. The trip down was far quicker than the climb up which was a small miracle considering the day he'd had so far. Maybe he'd grown soft during his time with Overwatch or maybe this was just payback for months away from fighting the Covenant. In all honesty he'd hoped it would be the latter, the last thing he wanted, the last thing he needed, was to be a hinderance to during his time on Harvest. With his injuries, lack of understanding regarding the situation, and his lack of any armaments aside from what had been gifted to him, he was already operating at loss. When his boots hit the ground, he sighed with relief as his shoulder gained a momentary break. Every human hated the Covenant with a passion, but Adrian had always despised their weapons just as much as the creatures themselves. Plasma based weaponry meant that a direct hit wasn't needed to inflict damage, simply being in the vicinity of a molten ball of energy was enough to fry electronics, scorch metal, and melt flesh. Brute weapons that relied on projectiles instead of plasma were created for the sole purpose of misery, spikers, maulers, whatever they were armed with would irreversibility fuck your day up.

"Nice shooting." Aliza said coolly as the two met up in the center of the now empty encampment. Adrian looked at their handiwork, a grin rising to his lips, seeing dead covvies almost made up for the injuries, almost.

"I aim to please." He replied as the Spartan nodded her head forward, past the camp and through a massive hole of a once glittering department store. Through the hole the massive skyline of the heart of Utgard could be seen with dozens of twisting, towering building rising through the air connected by a dizzying labyrinth of skybridges, terraces, elevators. Though he suspected their goal laid far sooner than the city center.

"Where exactly are these enemy reinforcements holed up anyway?"

The Spartan pointed towards the outline of a massive factory nestled in a slight dip in the earth, "Intel reports show Covenant activity converging on that point over the last few days, which conveniently places them along our weaker front. UNSC forces in the city are already stretched thin trying to fend off a month's long siege to the North, meaning it's not possible to redirect any towards our weaker Eastern front."

"I hope this ain't a suicide mission and we're not doing this alone."

Aliza shook her head almost imperceptibly, "My partner is heading from the South-end with a small company of marines, the plan is to place a series of explosives along the perimeter, detonate, and sweep up whatever survived. If all goes according to plan, it should be quick and clean."

"If something if this damn war ever went according to plan, we might actually have a chance at winning." Adrian shook as head, when someone says, 'according to plan', it really means prepare for everything to get ass up, keep your head down, and don't die. "What about the situation up above? How's our navy holding up?"

"Surviving though I don't keep up with it up much, Admiral Cole's doing his best."

"For every one covvie ship that goes down, we lose three." Adrian mumbled to himself, a vaguely remembered analysis that came up years after.

"If you say so." The Spartan replied nonchalantly.

As the two of them fell into silence, Adrian's mind began to wonder to something he'd only know begun to consider as he realized his growing involvement in what could be an important moment in the Harvest campaign. How was his existence here going to change the future? He wasn't much for philosophical quandaries or brain turning paradoxes, and despite technological advancements made over the past hundred years the idea of time travel had firmly remained in the realm of science fiction. A genre that he'd never cared for much anyway but that's beside the point. When the battle to reclaim Harvest was waging, he was still a kid, barely able to read and write let alone grapple with the fact that humanity was at war. With Overwatch it was different, he was in a different time sure, but he also never existed in that time aside from that one singular moment that continuously moved on a singular forward path. Now though, back in his own world, he was fighting in a battle he shouldn't be, participating in events that he should exist in. He told himself he'd keep a low profile even back with Overwatch, but now he's in one of the most infamous moments of the war, how the fuck can he explain that let alone grasp what will change. The whole concept was making his head swim, a faint spell of dizziness washed over him that he quickly ridded himself of as he focused back on taking calm breathes and measured steps.

Just as his mine began to swerve into the whole other shitshow of cause and effect with the actual members of Overwatch, Aliza quickly veered into a mostly intact building to the side, waving him in as well. She grabbed him by the front plate, yanking him through the open doorway and out of sight, tossing him to the ground next to her. He landed with a muffled thud on some raggedy carpet that at one point might've been something to enjoy, but now was so threadbare and caked with grime it was a miracle it hadn't been lost to nature. Forcefully pushing himself off the ground, he almost thought about stomping up to the green giant and giving her a piece of his mind but stopped himself after taking a deep breath. For one she could snap him like a damn twig, more importantly though was the fact she wasn't looking at him but barely peeking outside. Spartans worked differently than typical marines or ODSTs, they wouldn't do anything unless they had to, tossing him was a purposeful, methodical choice, regardless if he liked it or not. Barely a few moments later, the echoing reverberations of a heavy, rumbling engine began to fill his ears, a distinct sound that didn't take long for his brain to register as a brute chopper.

"Brutes, in the same deployment area as elites – that's unusual." He quietly voiced before a second thought came to him, "They'll alert the rest of the covenant forces in the area if they keep heading up the road towards the encampment."

"I know."

"That'll fuck the whole plan."

"I know."

"Can't stop them as we are though, those choppers will shred us like fucking cheese."

"I know." Aliza growled.

"But I think I know how we can level the playing field."

"I…" The Spartan stopped, before throwing a glance his way, "Which is."

"Just make sure to not let me die." He dropped the DMR on the ground, removed his helmet, and began to move outside before an armored vice grip stopped him in his tacks. He tiled his head back towards the armored solider, "Just trust on me on this, we don't have time." A second later the grip disappeared.

"Damn ODSTs." Aliza muttered behind him.

Faintly smirking, he continued outside, wincing as his eyes meet the scorching sun unprotected for the first time in almost a day. Drawing his knife from its sheath, he winced as he slashed a number of light cuts along both of his cheeks. Nothing deep, just superficial enough to draw blood. Placing his blade back he vigorously rubbed his face, smearing the blood as much as possible.

As the rumbling began to grow louder, he forced himself to stop and instead fell to the ground, propping himself up against half a car littered along the main road, trying to look as close as possible to near death. The engines eventually grew to be practically deafening without anything to muffle the sounds, eventually they appeared, two brutally constructed machines of twisted metal road upon by two gargantuan beasts. Deep in the pit of his stomach an immediate regret of the plan began to form, brutes could be predictable to a point in their brutally simple nature but were also by a wide margin the most violently unpredictable of the Covenant. An oxymoronic contradiction he knew but had little else to explain them. After a few agonizingly slow seconds as he wondered what would happen, he internally breathed a sigh of relief as the crude motorcycle like crafts passed by him before immediately whipping around and stopping only a few meters from. That relief was short lived however as the engines cut off and the ear-splitting tumbling was instead replaced but incomprehensible grunts and roars of the malignant aliens. Their heavy footsteps stomped over to him, an unmistakable chortle of laughter emanating from one of the brutes as they sized up what could be their next meal. Glancing upwards, one of the beasts licked it's chops in anticipation, the fresh blood coating Adrian's face was probably driving them up the wall, their sense of smell was arguably more sensitive than a blood hound and their palette was far less human friendly.

It reached down, grabbing Adrian by the ankle, and held him up high, the blood began to swim to his head which in turn made the faint cuts on his cheeks turn into an even more appetizing tease to the aliens. The beast holding him moved its head in close, it's razor-sharp fangs glinting in the late-day sun with its rancid breath bringing Adrian to the verge of vomiting.

"God damn, ever heard of a breath mint you hairy freak? I've cleaned latrines with better hygiene than you fucking apes." Adrian barked out, he tried to scan around for Aliza but the brute wasn't giving much wriggle room. He wasn't sure if it could understand him, but it sure got his tone of voice as it immediately snarled, opening it's gaping jaw to take a bite before it stopped. It's anger still lingering but it's focus elsewhere as it sniffed the air, it's eyes seemed to widen slightly before the sound of arms fire filled the air. The second brute that had up until now simply been standing off to the side, waiting its turn in the hierarchal order of brute culture, fell backwards as half its skull blew out the back of its head.

Before the other brute had a chance to react, Adrian drew his SOCOM sidearm from its holster and blasted a few shots pointblank to the beasts face. It unceremoniously dropped Adrian to the ground as it stumbled back, covering it's face with its hands as it let out a ferocious roar. Thrashing around wildly, Adrian groaned as he tried to right himself on the ground while also moving out of the way of the brute's infamous berserker rage that seemed to consume them. Before it got the chance though, Aliza's green armored form jumped upon it's back, grabbed a fistful of hair upon its head and yanked back with all her might. The brute's head snapped up as he used her free hand to draw her large combat knife and draw it deep across the alien's throat while still pulling it's scalp with all her might. The bastardized ape howled in agony as it tried to rip the spartan from its body, but the damage had already been done as Aliza's knife went cleanly across its neck from side to side. Still yanking on its skull, Adrian visibly flinched in surprise as the sound of skin ripping and bones breaking filled the street as she began to tear the brute's head from its body. With a sickening cacophony of sounds, the head tore free from the body with a ferocious tug; the brute's headless corpse stood upright for a moment before slumping forwards in a poll of blood, soon joined by its missing head as the Spartan tossed to the ground with a grunt.

Staring at the brute's corpse in stunned surprise, he barely noticed when Aliza walked over and offered him a hand, gratefully he took it as he chuckled, "Holy shit, that was like witnessing a miracle in action. Brutes deserve every ounce of pain they get, fucking scum of the universe."

He thought he heard a faint chuckle emanate from the armored soldier but chalked it up to the wind, "How did you know that would work?"

"I didn't." Adrian shrugged as he grabbed the canteen from his hip and poured it over his filthy face. "But brutes can't pass up a fresh meal, they're violently unpredictable but equally simple."

The Spartan nodded before lightly chastising, "I don't know if it's smart or reckless, they might've just killed you outright."

"ODSTs aren't exactly known for their intelligence or their sanity."

She looked at him through her orange visor for a moment before turning her gaze towards the now abandoned vehicles laying a few meters off, "Do ODSTs at least have the intelligence to drive?"

"I want suppressing fire on that plasma turret now god dammit! And where the fuck is our artillery support?" A vaguely gruff voice shouted over the screams of battle, his words barely registering in the ears of Private First-Class William Yu, who was currently buckled down in a hastily dug trench with smattering of fellow marines as well as army grunts, and some unfortunate flyboy pilot that got shot down over the battlefield. Hefting his MA2B over the lip of the trench, Yu laid down a burst of fire that dropped a grunt in its track, the others around him popping up when the plasma cleared their space, taking pot shots here and there when they could. Though it was hard to imagine this battle going anywhere other than another retreat, having said that the UNSC had been pushing hard to take back Harvest no matter the cost. He'd never originally planned to join the military proper, though he doubted many of the folks he was battling beside did. In the brief moments of respite they had, it was common to share your story, where you were from, what you had waiting for you back home, the usual stuff. A lot of them, though obviously not all, had been much like himself, joining his planet's local militia to be able to do something, anything. Newer colonies or those on the outskirts of UEG space, weren't all that big generally speaking, Harvest itself was about three million give or take with two-hundred thousand making it off planet during the initial invasion. That's beside the point, lots of the new outer colonies were around half a million to a couple million at the most populated by lots of agriculture and so a chance to join the militia was a chance to leave the farm life and go see the city.

Williams himself grew up on minor colony that most people had never even heard of, Tau Beta, mostly a research posting with a colony population of a bit under half a million. Joining up with the local militia promised to send him halfway across the continent, pay him for what most considered an easy job, and leave with enough money under his belt to comfortably get a place of his own when his four years were up. The most dangerous thing on Tau Beta were the predators in the floating forests, mainly the flying Yngloths but those were pretty much nullified once the colony started to get more government funding. Still, he'd had a pretty comfortable first year, mostly spending his days on guard, occasionally getting called out for a problem with the local wildlife or the very rare case of a disaster. That all changed when the first news of first contact spread through the galaxy, the colonial militias got folded into the UNSC and every simple farm boy went from sitting on their ass to damn near constant fighting.

An explosion rocked the ground only a few feet away, Yu ducked down once more as he swapped out the magazine in his assault rifle. Popping back up he quickly zeroed in on a jackal to the right, three stories up off the ground; he depressed the trigger on his rifle sending a haze of bullets flying towards the marksman, his aim was true, and his rounds riddled the alien. It's bioluminescent purple blood spraying the air as a fine mist before it fell forwards out of the building and fell thirty feet before hitting the ground with a heavy thump.

"Nice shot Yu, only if you could shoot your shot with a girl half as well as you shot your rifle." His friend Richter slapped his back in jest.

"Shut your mouth both of you and focus on killing those slit-jawed freaks." Their sergeant shouted from behind them as she slid into their makeshift cover.

"Pleasant as always, are we finally getting that artillery we called in an hour ago?" Richter replied as he fired his entire clip on a huddled group of grunts.

"Heh, no, in fact we're getting something better!" Sergeant Umar grinned, showing off her tobacco-stained teeth. Not long after they could hear cheers from the left end of the front, and like a wave the cheers started to carry over their way. Throwing a glance behind, Yu could see why. A dozen heavily armored double-barreled Grizzly tanks rolled up, firing their massive ordinance into the throng of Covenant forces, absolutely decimating the incoming wave of grunts and jackals. Far back in the Covenant line, a couple explosion caused by damaged Wraith engines could be heard going off bringing out even more cheers from the weary soldiers. It'd been almost two straight days of non-stop fighting, not even a minute of silence for the soldiers. At first, they'd swap out in shifts after 18 hours, to send some further back to get a couple hours of rest at the least, but as casualties started mounting and the covvies showed no signs of stopping they'd quickly had to cancel that. Now though with an armored battalion rolling though, the UNSC could start pushing!

William let out a holler as the Grizzles rolled over the trenches and pressed forward with no signs of stopping, unleashing a constant barrage of tank shells sending the covvies scattering into a retreat.

The comms of every solider in the area crackled to life, "Don't let his opportunity slip us by, press forward and secure our victory!"

Another joyous collection of whooping was heard as the UNSC forces hopped out of the trenches with a renewed sense of vigor, Yu was animated but kept his eyes open for any enemies that might've slipped by tanks. Ahead of them thick billows of dirt were thrown up into the air as the armored vehicles moved forward at a brisk pace with a coalition of soldiers forming around them. William took up a position a dozen or so feet behind one of the several grizzlies, his excitement and adrenaline slowly falling as they had yet to run into any more enemy contacts. The tanks occasionally fired out a shot or two but those sailed far beyond the effective range for an average infantryman. Still he wasn't complaining, if they could retake this plaza it would give them a decent foothold to start repelling future Covenant attacks, and it looked like they may have won the battle for now.

"It's weird in a way, in all the movies and stuff, the aliens always land in the capital or super important place to humanity. But now that it's a reality, they land on Harvest of all places." Yu absently mindedly spoke.

"Well no shit, the stories wouldn't be interesting if they landed out in the middle of nowhere; but this isn't a story. Harvest is one of the furthest planets so it's not a surprise they landed here first." Richter chaffed as he scanned the rooftops.

"Besides it wouldn't be a very inspiring story if humanity was getting it's assed kicked." Sergeant Umar spoke up from behind, "Reality is always harsher and less exciting than the stories kiddo."

"Yeah I know, I-" Before he could finish, a massive explosion sent the entire backline of soldiers tumbling to the ground. Coughing as debris filled his lungs, William looked up to see the nearest Grizzly was nothing more than a flaming wreckage of steel. Down the line another tank ruptured into deadly ball of fire and smoke, this time catching several soldiers in its fiery grasp. William stared on as they screamed in agony, their flesh melting off the bone as they ran in circles aimlessly, pain over riding action. Forcing himself to break from his terror, he raised his rifle in a desperate attempt to find something to latch onto it only to see dozens of heavily armed grunts, jackals, and even an elite standing upon the rooftops firing into the trap they'd laid out.

"SHIT WE'RE IN A KILL ZONE, SPREAD THE FUCK OU-" Sergeant Umar yelled before half her face was vaporized in an instant, sizzling muscle contracting awkwardly as she fell to the ground. The grizzlies accelerated backwards as fast as they could, opening fire all along the sides causing several buildings to collapse and fall to the street. Marines and Army grunts were shouting an incohesive mess, scrambling out of the plaza as debris, fuel rods, and plasma began to rain down like hellfire. Yu dashed to the side as fast as he could, his heartbeat pounding with every step. Vaulting over a low concrete wall, he took shelter in the ruins of some ruined plaza attraction, what was once likely a bustling giftshop was now nothing more than an empty husk filled with destruction. Peeking out from behind cover he had a decent view of some of the Covenant ambushers, raising his rifle he retaliated, dropping a couple of the grunts armed with fuel rod cannons before ducking back behind cover before they obliterated him like they did with the tanks. Outside the battle raged on even harder than it had only hours ago, the sounds of tanks unrelentingly firing coupled with shouting orders filled the space outside his temporary shelter.

Just as he was about to step out and make his way to what survived of the UNSC forces, a crackling noise and an unexpected gust of wind caught his attention. Turning around he saw a purple-ish portal existing in the middle of the ruins as if it always had, looking sort of like the slipspace portals used to travel between worlds. He immediately snapped his neck to the battle outside before looking back towards the unknown vortex, tempted to leave it, he stopped when something…or rather…someone came out of the portal. Raising his rifle, he almost immediately lowered it as he saw the person was just that, a human, and not some humanoid alien.

Gingerly stepping towards the person, he took stock of their unusual attire, white plate armor almost reminding him a smock, layered with black and orange fabric, it was like nothing he was familiar with. Maybe some sort of new inner colony clothing style…or…more likely as his mind started to rush with thoughts, between the odd entrance and the armor, some sort of ONI agent or project gone to shit. Still first things first.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

A woman with a sharp face and stylized blonde hair looked up towards him, heavy confusion coming across her face as she studied him and her surroundings, "Where…where am I?"

William blinked now almost as equally confused, "Harvest ma'am, in Utgard, but this really isn't the time for questions." He turned his attention towards the hole in which he'd come in, the fighting still going strong.

A heavy rumble, likely from a plasma mortar landing just outside, shook the whole buildings, "Why, what's going on?"

William Yu was stunned as he brought his attention back to bear on the mysterious woman, "Ma'am, we're at war."

A/N: Well it's been a while eh? I deeply apologize for the lack of any update for the past - what is it, two months? Yeesh, anyway life just got busy and I didn't have much time or energy to be writing and sadly I feel behind on my schedule. However it should hopefully pick back up again, anyway I put extra time into making this the longest chapter yet, hopefully that softens the blow a tad. As always I hope you enjoy and please leave a review, I always enjoy hearing thoughts, feedback, or just general comments on the story. Have a great day!

Sm0keyPanda: Damn been a while since I wrote one of these, and also you are completely right, totally skipped my mind but I adjusted that and edited the last chapter to reflect that canon. I appreciate the heads up!