Private Amelia Hamilton was worried, it had been twenty minutes since the remnants of her trooper platoon had been ordered to hold the entrance of a military facility known as Sword Base. With the forward scouts not responding over radio she feared the worst. Currently Corporal Sanders was on lookout duty on top of a rock bluff watching the two cracks in the ice shelf that were large enough to fit tanks through. Her companion Private Hall was currently reloading a machine gun turret that was fitted onto the last intact Warthog. Kneeling behind a rock Amelia shifted her shoulders trying to make the rocket launcher that was across her back feel comfortable yet somehow there was always a little metal piece that would always jab her when she so much as twitched. In her mind she ran over what the three survivors of Charlie Two had on them. Two rocket launchers, one for herself and one for Sanders, a battered Warthog and a regular rifle and pistol for each soldier. Amelia shifted again cursing the two barrelled monstrosity that was currently stabbing the small of her back. Sanders laughed at her discomfort through her helmet radio before he too was stabbed by his launcher. His immediate complaint over the ergonomics of the weapon was silenced when his radio cut out. Acting on reflex Amelia ducked as the bluff that Sander's was on was hit by a plasma blast throwing whatever was left of Sander's in any direction the plasma felt.
Shaken by the attack Hall began firing the machine gun past the bluff. Suddenly he leaped clear from the jeep as it too was melted to a set of axles and blackened metal. Hall proceeded to sprint towards Amelia's position. Looking at him it looked like he'd finally snapped, he had seen plenty of his mates evaporated or blown to pieces now it looked like the Covenant had taken his sanity. "Hall, what did you see?" Regardless of Amelia's questions Hall seemed just to stare in a direction that wasn't on any compass. His eyes locked onto hers and between panicked breaths said "We are all going to burn." Instead of giving thought to her fate Amelia swung the launcher off her back and listened. She could hear the energy engines of the Covenant vehicles as they hummed, allowing the machines they powered to float above the ground. The sound seemed to happen two different frequencies indicating two different vehicles of various sizes. Luckily it wasn't a tank, or it would have evaporated the steel doors of Sword Base, from the damage to the bluff and Sander's lack of screaming it was probably a Revenant. While that was good news because the Covenant were only scouting if they had brought that amount of firepower. Unfortunately said firepower could still evaporate people in a single shot. As the engine sounds continued to get closer to Amelia, she could feel herself shaking as adrenaline pounded through her system. Taking a breath to steady herself Amelia flicked the safety off on the launcher and continued to listen. After a few more seconds the alien vehicles sounded as if the were at the base of the slope that led to Sword Base, taking a quick breath Amelia stood up and fired. Once up she observed that the alien force was quite small there was three Jackals and two tall Elites that were currently operating the Revenant and Ghost. The rocket streaked towards the sedan sized Revenant and impacted onto the ground next to it. Before the aliens could return fire, Amelia launched another rocket from the second barrel. Before she could drop down a p0lucky Jakal fired his needle rifle. The shards of pink crystal cut through Amelia's uniform and hit her chest, punching into her ribs, the crystal structure then detonated tearing apart Amelia's lungs and heart. Falling backwards she could only watch as her second rocket missed again hitting the ground close to the Ghost causing the driver's energy shields to flare.
Upon seeing another human fall Private Hall whimpered and began to rock back and forth while muttering to himself, eyes glazed over, as if he too was already dead. While Hall whimpered Amelia stared up at the sky and began to choke as blood from her destroyed heart began to clog her throat. When her spasms were over Hall intensified his rocking and muttered at a rate that his words were no longer comprehensible. Picking up the human movement on their motion trackers the Elite officer ordered the Ghost to advance and eliminate any remaining humans. In contrast to the sedan sized Revenant, the Ghost was about the size of a motorbike and had two plasma blasters on the front to remove hostile enemy infantry. The alien coaxed the machine up the slope with the care of someone waiting for a rocket to fly at them. Upon hearing the noise of the Ghost, Private Hall stopped whimpering and suddenly switched the safety off on his weapon. Gripping the rifle tightly Hall waited as the alien vehicle slowly advanced towards the rocks. Even though he looked like had decided to focus Hall wasn't operating on thought anymore. The training he had received at boot camp was directing his movements, he was no longer Private Hall. He was now akin so gone from his mind that the last vestiges of military strength and precision were now solely guiding his actions. So, when the Ghost drove around the rocks and opened fire Hall didn't stop firing until his corpse was blasted and burned beyond the point of recognition. With their triumph the aliens moved towards the reinforced steel doors of Sword Base. When they were in position the Revenant began to fire, while it would take some time to melt through the doors the Covenant were confident, they could destroy them in enough time before UNSC reinforcements arrived.
Unfortunately for them two rockets smashed into the rear of both vehicles, blasting them to pieces and killing one of Jackals with the debris. The remaining two turned around with needle rifle and plasma pistol opening fire on the advancing armour covered human. The Jackals screeched as the human somehow survived the fatal rifle shot. As a well-placed grenade ripped through his remaining squad mate the Jackal realised why the human wouldn't die. It was a demon, a creature unholy as it was deadly. To make the Jackal's day worse the golden aura surrounding the monstrosity refused to break. Attempting to run he fled away from the spartan and found himself stuck up against the titanium doors it had been trying to destroy. His birdlike body was then perforated by a withering cascade of bullets. The Spartan reloaded his rifle without a second thought and began reloading the launcher he found with the soldier's corpse on the ruined bluff. Opening a communication channel, the Spartan relayed to his commander that the remnants of trooper platoon Charlie Two was now destroyed. After receiving his next set of orders, the soldier moved away from the ruined vehicles and shattered aliens towards the two human corpses. One was burnt beyond recognition and the other had her chest ripped open. Gingerly the Spartan knelt next to Amelia's corpse and removed her helmet before taking her dog tags. He was about to stand when he noticed her eyes, pale blue in the morning sun. Staring towards the sky, he saw his reflection and behind that a Covenant corvette shelling the outskirts of Sword Base. While she was not alive, he felt as if he was being judged. Should he have been faster perhaps those eyes may have been crinkled with joy at the sight of his return. Brushing her eyes shut he collected himself and returned to his duties. Yet as he fought through the Covenant attempting to save Reach. He was reminded of that expression he saw it on the faces of civilians, soldiers and Spartans. Eventually as he felt an energy sword pierce his chest, he felt his mind go silent. His body joined his comrades in watching the sky as plasma rained down, scouring Reach of all remnants of humankind.