Chapter 2
The morning came, though once again no one could tell, the Sun must have risen over the horizon by now, but the smoke and the "nuclear" winter caused by the Covenant's glassing of Harvest had blocked out the sun long ago. A large glow could be seen in the distance however, it came falling from the sky, flames all around it, the wreckage of a ship, human? Maybe, or Covenant. It was too far and to brightly encased in flames to tell, but whatever it was, it was of no concern to Marcus today, the troopers were checking their equipment, and each other's, in the night a squad of ODST's had arrived, dropped in the wrong positions, in the midst of an ambush in orbit, they were going to join the Marines and Army in the continued reclamation of Utgard. Marcus approached a tent that had been set up the previous evening, a couple of radio's were set up on a table, and some intelligence officers were sat co-ordinating something, he wasn't really paying attention to whatever they were saying, Alice stood, talking to an Army Colonel, the older man had a 5 o'clock shadow, a scar on his cheek, a feature most of the more veteran soldiers had, it was, after all, a dangerous career, his eyes were a very piercing green however, and he seemed fairly jolly despite the chaos and destruction around him, a refreshing change of pace amongst the officer class who were usually very straight faced and direct, near perpetually acting as if they were on the were parade ground, often to the collapse of the morale of the soldiers under their command as they were forced into traditional and predictable attack patterns, leading to their slaughter at the hand of the Alien juggernauts. "Sargeant, Colonel" Marcus said, acknowledging them respectfully. "Corporal, the Sargeant here spoke highly of your exploits yesterday, you fought yourself two hunters?" the Colonel asked, "Well, that's half true sir, I was ambushed, to be honest I ended up having to hide in a building as a heavy weapons team blew them up, but if that is what they are called then yes, I definitely did encounter and engage them" Marcus replied, humble in his response. "Well, either way, brave choice, most men just accept their fates when they see them, but anyway, onto the point at hand, Sargeant" the Colonel finished. "Marcus, as second in command of the 5th Battalion, I'm giving you command of them, I'll take 1st with me, we're going to advance along these three roads, the Army will be in the middle, as we take the two flanking roads, at the end as you can see, is yet another park, we've been pounding that position all night with the Cobra's each of us will be followed by two tanks, use them sparingly, the crews are going to be a big target, if anyone needs any ammo, then head over to the quartermaster in the old coffee shop, logistics did a good job of scrounging together a stockpile. Any questions?" Alice said with the authority of a General. "Other than what is there in the park?" Faust replied. The Colonel answered this time. "We believe, there is a large concentration of Covenant there, it makes sense, the Parks of the city are set up as very defensible positions, perfect kill zones, but, they are close to important buildings, as you know from yesterday, radio stations, other things amongst them, but here we're not sure why they have stayed, there doesn't seem to be anywhere of significance, they for the most part, are holding their positions, in an untenable location, without any support from the Covenant in the North of the city. We'll wipe them out, see what is there, but if you see any new species of Alien, that look like this" the colonel slid a photograph across the map table, Marcus glared at the strange creature, it was like a giant gas ball, it had several strange limbs and its head looked almost like its arms, it had six eyes and a smallish looking mouth, almost non-existent, it was a cross between cute and disgusting, but it seemed harmless, the look of the creatures eyes was one of curiosity, not anger like the other creatures. The colonel continued his speech, "if one of them is around, we might have an answer to what the Covenant are doing, they aren't a violent species as far as we can tell, they seem frightened, perhaps an enslaved species rather than a voluntary member. Advise your people to hold fire if they see one, selective firing is required, we don't want it dead, we just want to talk to it, find out what the Covenant are doing, what they want. The Assault begins at 06:30, gather what you need, you have fifteen minutes" the Colonel finished, Marcus nodded, gave a salute and made way for the old coffee shop, he shouted for the members of 5th Battalion and called over comms, within a couple of minutes about a hundred men and women stood around him. "In..." Marcus glanced at his watch, "twelve minutes, we're going on the offensive, Sargeant McArthur is in command of the remains of 1st Battalion, you lot, are with me, gather ammo if you need it from in here, refill your canteens if you need too... And Marines..." Marcus grinned, "Take a shit now. I don't want to smell you before I see you on the battlefield". A couple of the Marines laughed at that and Marcus went to finish, "When you're ready, rally on me, we leave at 06:30 so get yourself prepped". The Marines fell out, and Marcus walked into the old coffee shop, some of the Logistical troops were pottering about, cleaning weapons, fixing them. He approached a quartermaster, a tired looking woman, mid 30's perhaps, signing forms for whatever reason, even in the frontlines it seemed bureaucracy was ever present. "Ma'am, I'm here for 7.62x51mm FMJ rounds for the MA5C" Marcus asked, the Quartermaster dropped her pen for a moment, sighed, stood from her chair and approached a box of magazines. Marcus already had at least four on him, and a half magazine in his assault rifle already, the Quartermaster passed him six more magazines, "thank you" Marcus said, the Quartermaster merely gave a short smile and a nod, he didn't expect much, filling out forms all day isn't really what any soldier wants to do, the Logistics Corps were a valuable part of the UNSC, but when they're deployed to the front, the thought of not being able to put their training to use gets to them. He approached the third Road, the way they were going to approach the park. Marcus saw the Army tank crews sitting on their scorpion, some were smoking a cigarette, other sipping from their canteen, they were laughing and Joking, and Marcus realised it was on him to ensure they remained alive to laugh and joke in the future. With a minute to spare the remainder of 5th Battalion were with Marcus, the tank crews we inside their own personal fortresses. "Alright, let's move out" the Colonel's voice said over their comms, Marcus gave the signal and the columns of men and women slowly advanced, scanning buildings and rooftops for any Jackals or hidden covenant positions. As they advanced Marcus grew increasingly nervous, it was quiet, far too quiet, even the distant cackling of the machine guns and thumping of the Artillery could no longer be heard. Perhaps a kilometre from the start of their advance, Marcus raised his fist, he crouched down, something was shimmering in the windows, "I think we might have a contact Marines, spread out, you lot in the tanks, back up a bit, but make sure the lead tank can rotate its turret to hit the building if needs be, let's not risk lives if we can just drop the building on the bastards". Marcus pulled a grenade off his belt, he pulled the pin and counted to three, then chucked it in through the doorway, the grenade hit the wall at the far end of the building and rolled for another second, the shrapnel flew through the air, it must have damaged the cloaks of the Elites, because standing there, four of the creatures roared in anger, "Lead tank, fire on the building right now!" Marcus shouted down the radio, the Marines fired on the Aliens who had either ignited their energy swords or began returning fire with their plasma rifles. The tank turret rotated as the Marines began to disengage to a safe distance, the machine fired and large empty casing was ejected from the rear as a 90mm shell fired into the building, a creaking could be heard, and then the first floor collapsed, dropping onto the Elites, regardless of the fact they probably died in the explosion, the knowledge they were now buried under around a tonne of brick and wood relieved him. They carried on the advance, "what happened Marine?" a voice over the comms asked, "Some cloaked Elites Sarge, we dropped a building on them to be safe" he replied, "copy that" Alice replied over the headset. As they gradually got closer to the Park, Marcus' stomach began to tighten, he was the lead man in the group of Marines and an easy target until they could approach a low fence about a hundred meters in. Suddenly a bright flash was seen as a part of wall from a building in the right of the Park collapsed to the floor, exposing the rooms within, and soon the bright green and blue plumes of plasma burst from the windows and the exposed room, dropping about six Marines as they turned in from Route One, Marcus and the remains of 5th Battalion rushed forward, two of his Marines were hit and died instantly, their bodies dropping to the floor, there was nothing anyone could do but keep advancing towards the low wall and use it for cover.
The Army forces arrived next, rushing forward to join the Marines behind cover, they lost a further three of their number as they approached under the hail of fire, Marcus ordered one of his tanks to advance, the Machine gunner sprayed the exposed building with hundreds of rounds, gunning down dozens of the Grunt creatures in seconds, in the meantime the main gunner rotated his turret to a building where a plasma turret was pinning down the UNSC forces and fired on it, the wall blew open, exposing the offices to the Marines, a large group of dead Grunts fell from the building or were lying dead on the floor, dozens of limbs scattered about from the pure force of the explosion and the ensuing shrapnel. Marcus popped his head up and raised his rifle, firing off bursts towards some of the Aliens, he killed a grunt but was forced to drop back behind cover as a burst of plasma from a nearby Elite came towards him. Without warning a large blue shell arced through the sky, the humans knew it meant that at least one Wraith was nearby, the ball of plasma came slamming down between the two forces, thankfully it didn't hit anywhere of significance, it merely left a bubbling crater of plasma that would soon cool off and evaporate in a few seconds. The tank that had been brought forward withdrew, not taking any chances of being hit by a stray Wraith round the UNSC forces were now forced to destroy the enemy tank before they could bring their own forward or else find themselves severely outgunned. A group of Jackals had now taken up positions on the roofs of the buildings and were attempting to pick off any soldier who was firing on the Covenant, a Marine just off to his left attempted to hit one of the Jackals with a burst from his Battle Rifle, but another Jackal cut him down, a strange pink shard piercing the Marines helmet, killing him instantly as the shard began to dim down to a dull grey/black ash colour. The Marines were now pinned and Marcus lifted his head ever so slightly over the low wall, the Covenant were now advancing on them, a dangerous situation, "Anyone with grenades, grab one now, pull the pins on my mark" Marcus said over the comms, he got a couple of clicks in response as acknowledgement of the order, he grabbed the last grenade from his belt, "pull the pins now" he said again, he had no way of knowing how many were able to join him, he counted to three, "throw them over the wall!" he shouted down the comms, he saw at least forty to fifty grenades go over, he knew they probably wouldn't kill the bigger and shielded Elites, but if they killed enough of the Grunts they might fall back, and if not, they can always try get some fire on to them before the Jackals force them back down. Without warning a large boom could be heard echoing across the battlefield, followed by two more, the tracers came from a rooftop behind them, and as Faust looked up he saw the slight glint of light reflecting from the helmet of an ODST, explaining where and what they had been doing the entire time. The Jackals were dealt with now and so slowly but surely Marine and Army forces were advancing, breaching buildings and engaging in the intense fighting that always takes place inside the tight office spaces. Marcus approached a now bullet riddled office building with a group of eight Marines, when ready a Marine with a shotgun placed a blast charge onto the door, as it blew the Marine immediately turned into the building, the loud thudding of the weapon could be heard as 8-gauge shells tore through whatever was in his way. Marcus and the remaining Marines piled into the office and they immediately began a sweep as they passed the corpses of three grunts, their bodies lying torn open by the shotgun shells. As they advanced in the torchlight, the Marines were cautious to check every corner, especially if Elites were standing, cloaked and ready to ambush them from behind, but as the thorough search was ended a Marine had called out clear, they piled into a thin corridor that lead to the stairway, approaching from the ground floor office a large, Ape like creature in heavy armour stepped out into the open swinging a hammer that sent the lead Marine flying back into the others, the man's torso was crushed, he would have died immediately, but Marcus couldn't think about that now as the remaining seven Marines fell back into the open space of the office firing at the beast all the while, they were hitting the creature that was certain as blood spattered the walls and the desks of the room but the Alien didn't care, it just roared, slamming its fist against its chest it flung the hammer down against the floor which sent one of the Marines flying backwards through the air, dazed but relatively unharmed, which is more than could be said for the next unfortunate victim of the Brutish creature as it lifted her straight off the ground, holding her a good four or five feet up, the Alien beast slammed her to the floor, using the sharpened edge of its hammer to tear open the Marines torso, the scream was near unbearable to listen to, but the squad had to keep firing they couldn't worry about their dead comrades right now, Marcus watched the counter on his Assault rifle sink, twelve, another long burst, four, firing again, empty, he dropped the Magazine, he didn't have time to try catching it to be used again he just placed another into the weapon and fired again, the Marine with the Shotgun seemed to the be Alien's next target, if the Marine was scared he wasn't showing it, firing shell after shell into the creature who was visibly weakened but still kept coming, but finally the soldier ran out of ammo and was forced to reload, the beast took its chance, leaping forward with a speed unexpected of the ape like thing it slammed its hammer into the unfortunate soldier, sending him flying as his heavily broken body smashed into the wall and fell limply to the floor, within a matter of minutes the creature had killed three of his Marines and was only just beginning to show signs of slowing down, relying on its hammer now to hold itself steady. As the Alien advanced on a fourth Marine she was left with little more than her pistol to defend herself, the 12.7x40mm rounds seemingly pathetic compared to the punishment this hostile could take. The Marine must have gotten lucky as the creature dropped to the floor, the other three regrouped with her and all poured the remainder of their magazines into the head of the alien, positive it was dead Marcus set about grabbing the tags of the three dead Marines and gathering their ammo, sharing it out with the others and taking the shotgun for himself, he holstered the Assault rifle to his back and loaded the shotgun, then, the five remaining soldiers advanced back down the corridor to the stairwell, it was clear this time. They cleared out the office pretty quickly, no more aliens remained in there, as they stepped back out into the park battlefield, Army medics and Marine corpsmen were treating the wounded, the fighting had gone inside now so it was relatively safe for them to gather up and treat them. The ODST squad had at some point gotten down off their rooftop position and were standing near a building off to the left looking over a map, Marcus thought nothing of it as he and the squad of Marines with him advanced on to another office, they breached the door and as he entered at least six grunts were ahead of him, he fired off several shells and thanks to the close proximity of the aliens to each other a couple of shells were all he needed as the spread tore them to pieces, the four Marines with him then entered and they began the sweep all over again, instead of risking anyone else Marcus took a grenade he had taken from a dead Marine and chucked it down the corridor, when all seemed clear he slowly advanced, finger on the trigger and shotgun raised, but as he arrived at the stairs it was all clear, the building was four stories big but apart from the huddle of grunts it was clear, so Marcus took his squad to check the roof, as he turned the corner from the doorway a Jackal stumbled to its feet and was fiddling with a device on its arm to get its shield active but it was too late, an 8-gauge shotgun shell tore into its face, blowing it near completely off, the Jackal had been alone, Faust decided to check from above the situation on the ground, the tanks remained back, a short distance down their route, the Wraith was still firing but its rounds were sporadic and inaccurate, the only damage was done to empty buildings for the most part, though it was clear there was some fatalities as a medic and a corpsmen were carrying a dead Marine over to a grouping of body bags, setting a sombre tone for the rest of the evening. After another hour of fighting the park was clear, but the creature they had been looking for was either long gone, or had never been here at all, the six tanks advanced through the park and took out the Wraith tank and cutting down some of the remaining Covenant forces before withdrawing to the UNSC positions. The Marines gathered up with the Army, and it was blatantly obvious that they had taken heavy casualties, at least one fifty wounded and about one hundred wounded. They were significantly understrength and many soldiers were exhausted, the ODST's spoke to the Colonel and Sergeant McArthur and then left, and whilst four men wasn't going to make all the difference, it sure as hell was going to add up if the Covenant came back.
The evening was quiet this time, the sky however was erupting in flashes of light as the UNSC and Covenant would once again be fighting for dominance of Harvest's orbit. Most of the soldiers were looking skyward, hoping that it was them who were winning, but those who had been unfortunate enough to witness a Covenant warship knew that even one could fight off a fleet, Admiral Preston Cole, one of the UNSC's most renowned and skilled Admiral's had won a large battle with them last year, but it was 2526 now, and Cole couldn't be everywhere at once, which meant Naval skirmishes were frequent, for the most part the UNSC would win, but if one flew over the landscape of Harvest, the wreckages of frigates and destroyers would occasionally be seen rising from the ground, having fallen into the atmosphere and falling to the ground, the same could be said for the Covenant, their colossal warships forming strangely smooth almost cylindrical structures wherever they hit. As Faust looked skyward he hoped for the UNSC to remain in control of the skies, because if they didn't, the chances of him living would be a lot slimmer as the Covenant would bring to bear thousands of reinforcements, millions even for all he knew, for it seemed like there were millions of Grunts and Elites wherever you turned, they just kept coming. The body bags were loaded onto the back of warthogs and withdrawn, maybe they were the lucky ones, their fight was over, but Marcus made his way over to his Sergeant's position, as her second in command he needed to know what was going to happen next, and as he looked around yet another destroyed park he wondered about what life was like here before the war, kids playing, climbing trees, playing football, rugby, American football, whatever it was kids would play on the field as their parents worked or looked on gossiping with friends or family members, or perhaps it would be a peaceful morning as older members of society sat on the benches admiring the beautiful blue skies, the kids at school and the quiet singing of the birds, the odd bark of a dog, but now, the park was another smouldering ruin, the field cratered the walls crumbled, bullet riddled and covered in scorch marks from the plasma rifles of the enemy, some troops were sat down, examining the remains of the Jackal's strange projectiles, the shard fired had a pinkish hue, but now it was just a strange dull ashen colour. He made his way to Alice who was studying a map of Utgard with the Army Lieutenant and one of his troopers, a young man, mid-twenties perhaps, stubble starting to appear on his face, a common feature among the newly deployed, the Marine Corps and Army both preferred everyone being clean shaven, but with little time to go about doing it, the men were growing beards, and with the frozen weather, most people didn't care and grew their beards, the thicker the better, coupled with the masks and thicker uniforms the men and women of the UNSC on Harvest must have been the most comfortable in the entire front. "Sargeant, Lieutenant" Marcus said as a sign of acknowledgement to the two, they both glanced and gave him a curt nod, and proceeded to stare at the map in silence for a for more minutes before the young Army trooper circled a road that led to a stadium, "it's wide enough to get our tanks down safely, but for the most part, we risk heavy losses, there's no reason for the Covenant not to have set up their heaviest equipment there. But if we want to attack with our armour that road is the one we are going to have to take", Marcus had no idea what was going on, or what was at the stadium, but he listened attentively to the three soldiers, "perhaps if we sent four of the six down the road, and used this road here to flank the enemy, we come from behind and whilst the armour and a squad sized amount of troops reinforce the main force, the remaining infantry push into the arena?" McArthur responded, trying to find a way to minimise casualties it would seem whilst still achieving whatever their objectives were. "What is our objective?" Marcus finally asked, "the Alien creature we spotted earlier, has most likely been moved to that stadium, the Covenant forces have regrouped there, the closed dome provides cover from the air and positions with wide streets have allowed them to set up their remaining wraiths to fire on the surrounding areas, recon squads are currently up there trying to locate the creature, but the chances are it's inside, so it will be room to room with very restrictive fire" the Lieutenant answered, "A full frontal assault there would be suicide with the forces we have then Sir, there's what, a couple of hundred of us, advancing in a column will have half dead in a matter of seconds if they ambush us, advancing scattered they may drop a few of us but they will have us pinned and the buildings on that road aren't going to give us good firing positions, we'd have to waste valuable equipment on tearing holes through walls to go building to building or else use the backstreets which would, if the Covvies were smart, be mined, or have traps or troops in reserve to ambush us in the more restricted positions, our tanks will do some damage but the Wraiths will take them out before we get close, and once that is done they will fire on the infantry in the buildings, it's a massacre, and we have repeated it on every road in the city, and now you want us to advance down Utgard's main road, with four tanks in the open?" Marcus said, his eyes scanning the map, "do they have any form of AA?" he asked, the three other soldiers shared a quick glance, "well no effective form, but given enough time their plasma turrets could tear through a Pelican, or a lucky wraith shot could hit them and take them out" Alice replied, "if we call command, they could have Pelicans here in forty minutes, from there it would be what? Five minutes to the stadium, and from there, boots on the ground in ten, after that, our full force will be in positions we have pre-determined to give us the best advantage, then, as they are distracted, the tanks and a small force we leave in reserve advance up the main road, as soon as they are in range the Scorpions take out any Wraiths in sight, if they can't see them then fir on the covvie positions which would relieve pressure on us, I know it's all reliant on us actually being able to utilise the Pelicans, and surviving deployment, but if we make the battlefield a position of our choice, it will be a lot better than fighting on the enemies terms" Marcus said, he worried he had spoken out of turn and his heart was pounding in his chest, it was worse than being in combat, the others again exchanged glances, they stared at the map as radio reports of more and more covenant positions were marked by the army trooper with them. "It could work" the Lieutenant replied, "if Command will spare us the resources, then we could make it work" he finished, Faust nodded and as the discussions kept on and on, the Lieutenant got to work making the calls on the radio to command, he drew increasingly frustrated and Marcus worried he'd be forced to tell his friends that they were going on a suicide run, but when the Lieutenant returned to the table, his news was entirely unexpected.
"Command has denied us use of pelicans, and our mission in general has been scrubbed, ODST's are going to be deployed to secure the asset, we're digging in here so that an Engineer battalion can be brought up to help build some fortifications, when that happens artillery is to brought up, we'll hold the line, the UNSC Epoch is apparently arriving from Reach within the week with reinforcements, lucky you, will be brought aboard to rest and recover losses" the Lieutenant said, the anger was apparent in his voice, and Marcus didn't blame him, the Marines got to leave for rest off world, and the Army would be taken to command, whilst the Marines are relatively safe in orbit the Army's R&R was going to be within the danger zone of enemy banshees or sudden covenant assault. Marcus gave a curt nod to the three and went outside, he went to find Titch and tell him the news but as he looked around something seemed off, a glimmering appeared in the corner of his eye, he hoped it was just a trick of the light, but as it seemed to move around he realised it was an Elite, he pulled his Assault Rifle from his back and fired, the soldiers around him confused until suddenly a blue beam could be seen hovering in the air as if a ghost was stood there, the bullets made the glimmering creature crackle as they impacted the shield and slowly broke down the cloaking device, but the Elite returned fire, dropping two Marines and wounding an Army trooper, the blue light then vanished and once more the glimmering creature was gone, seconds passed and once more bolts of blue plasma hit the soldiers as they returned fire, this time the fire broke its cloking device, allowing the Marines to see the four-jawed Alien, standing at almost eight feet tall, four more soldiers dropped dead as the creature sprayed Plasma from its rifle before eventually the UNSC forces killed the creature, some Marines approached to make sure it was dead, one fired a pistol round into its head blowing a large hole into face, but it didn't matter, no one had noticed the plasma grenade the Elite had activated and the three Marines were blow apart by the force of explosion and the burning away of their limbs by boiling Plasma, the Elite's body was all but vaporised. After a night on edge, the Engineers arrived, they immediately set to work, placing barricades on street corners and mounting machine guns to their tripods, they set about reinforcing the foxholes and trenches the Marine and Army joint forces had dug in the night, using iron bars to prop up the dirt and ensure they had a more solid ground to walk on, on rooftops and within buildings they set about mounting Gauss Turrets to deal with the heavier infantry and the light covenant vehicles, though with the combined fire of each Gauss turret, they could easily destroy a Wraith or even a Phantom troop transport. By midday the UNSC positions had gone from a ragtag defensive position to a fortress. The tanks had been arranged to act as static defences whilst ensuring they were exposed in only a minimal way, this therefore meant they had the firepower to take on almost anything the Aliens could throw at them, which relieved Marcus as he wanted to live long enough to at least enjoy the peace he could experience onboard the UNSC Epoch, all he had to do was wait five more days.
The hours passed slowly, and as the hours turned to days Marcus and the remnants of the UNSC forces at his position sat on edge, the gunfire echoed throughout their positions as the ODST's attempted to secure the asset that the Marines should have been taking, he felt almost guilty that others were dying when they were just as capable at mounting an offensive, but he had to wipe the thoughts from his mind. Wraith shots sometimes found their way over to their fortifications, damaging the static defences, but thankfully there were no casualties and as the fifth day rolled around Pelicans landed in the thin streets, here to withdraw the Marines to the UNSC Epoch, the first in its line of UNSC Carriers of the Epoch class, over 8000ft long it could hold the remains of his Division and more, the Epoch would be full of new recruits, and the Veterans knew they would be grilled for information, most of it pathetic stuff like 'what is it like to kill an Alien?', questions whose answers will provide no real useful answers. As he watched his platoon, or what was left of it, board the dropship he felt relief at knowing he would have some escape from the battlefield, but as he himself walked the dropships small ramp to the troop compartment he saw the two wormlike conglomerations in his head as they fired their plasma beams towards him, the sight of the Marine crushed by the Ape like beasts Hammer, he realised at that moment, he would leave the Battlefield, but the battlefield would not leave him, and the longer this war continued, the longer it would continue to haunt him.
The Pelican broke out of Harvest with ease, and through the open door to the pilot's compartment Marcus admired the hundreds of thousands of stars in the distance, he wondered to himself if one of those stars was the home world of the Aliens they were fighting, and then wondered how many more species could be out there, and how many worlds could Humanity find to colonise? It was a wonderous site and relaxed Marcus despite knowing that there could be trillions of more enemies, that there were still trillions of more potential places for humanity to live in peace. Ten minutes passed and soon the formation of pelicans approached the UNSC battlegroup, it was an awe-inspiring site, thirty battleships, three destroyers, four carriers and a phoenix class colony ship that had been converted into a frigate alongside fifteen regular frigates, it was a formidable force and one which ensured that when they were on the ground that no more Covenant forces could be deployed without heavy losses, and even more so, that they couldn't bring their plasma beams to bare and glass them where they stand. Landing in the deck of the UNSC Epoch, Marcus was glad to be off Harvest, and as he and his platoon stepped off the dropship Sergeant McArthur was there to greet them, ordering them all to form up the battered Division that now stood before the Admiral of the Epoch wasn't even the size of a regiment, they'd fought for so long that there were barely a hundred and fifty of them left, they might have more if any of the wounded they brought back recovered enough, but chances are they'd be flooded by new recruits fresh out of basic training on Reach regardless, or if not, would be folded into a different division and a new officer would be brought in to replace McArthur, who would reprise her role as a squad leader and nothing more, Faust almost laughed at the thought, he knew she didn't particularly enjoy the pressures of leading, but she was the kind of person to enjoy the power trip she could have whilst they were on leave on the Epoch. "Attention!" Alice barked as the Admiral walked up to the gathered Marines, the men and women snapped straight as the old looking man approached them, a grizzled beard and a cigar in his mouth, against UNSC regulations, but no one really paid attention to it, they were at war, so if they were to die they were at least going to enjoy the little things, the old Admiral removed the lit cigar from his mouth, "At ease" he called, his voice was deep, but there was a softness to it, he probably saw the sorry state of the troops before him and felt pity for them, "Welcome aboard the Epoch, this will be your home for the next two weeks as you get used to working alongside the new recruits who are to fill your Division back to fighting strength" there was a pause, as the Veteran marines gave a collective groan at the news, "I understand your reservations, believe me, I do, but we are facing a technologically and potentially numerically superior enemy, and we need to win on Harvest, not one Human planet is going to fall to these Alien bastards, but to ensure that we need full strength units, and these Recruits have no idea what they are going to be facing, we're keeping news of the Covenant invasion censored, they still think they are fighting insurrectionists, so you are going to teach them all you know, and you're going to make sure they are as ready as can be in the fortnight you have, it isn't much of a leave, but it's of the utmost importance, any questions?" The Admiral finished, taking a long drag from the cigar, "Sir" Marcus shouted out, if no one else was going to ask, he may as well, "Will we have to serve under these new green officers?" he could almost feel the collective force drag him down as everyone tensed themselves for the Admiral's response, "I'm afraid so, you'll all be reassigned to your respective platoons, I'm sorry it isn't what you want to hear, is that all?" the Marines had nothing to say now, their lives were in the hands of people who'd been out of basic for a matter of weeks, with no combat experience and tactics suited to fighting insurrectionists and not the Covenant. As the group fell silent the Admiral nodded, "Dismissed!" he shouted, the Marines stood to attention, saluted, and walked away, Marcus made his way to Titch and Alice, "You just had to ask" Titch said with a laugh as he slapped Marcus's shoulder, "We needed to know" he replied, "I don't like it, they should have promoted some of us, put us in charge, these guys are going to get us all fucking killed" Alice said in response, "I don't like it either, I gotta admit I sure as hell don't want to deploy with a group of fresh faced recruits into an active warzone, but we can't do anything about it, so we just do what the Admiral says and make sure they are up to speed, gather up everybody's helmet cam data, we'll scrounge up some images and videos of battles, and make sure they know what they are getting into...And we'll have to keep an eye on their correspondence as well it seems" Marcus said to them both, Titch nodded and Alice sighed, but they all knew what they had to do.
A week had passed since the Marines had been brought back to the Epoch, and apart from a few minor skirmishes with Covenant fighters, which Longswords and point defence cannons made light work off, there wasn't much to be concerned about, they'd briefed their new officers, taught the new troops how to deal with the known species of Covenant they had faced, and shown them video recordings and images of what they could do to fight back, some of the recruits went pale, some even threw up as they saw cloaked Elites slice soldiers apart and then drift back into the darkness, the wormlike creatures particularly disgusted some of the new recruits as they saw from Marcus' own helmet camera data as the heavy unit blew them apart from the colossal form they had taken.
"Grunts are the, well, Grunts of the Covenant armed forces, they are tenacious little buggers, and frankly, a little bit pitiful, but don't let that stop you killing them if they come at you, their weapons will burn through your army, more than a few shots to a vital part of your body, and you'll die very quickly, anywhere else, and the scorch marks will leave you in tremendous pain, sure we can give you prosthetics, or skin grafts, you lose an arm and get a metal one you might even get to fight them again, but either way, these Aliens will come at you with their bare hands, and despite their small stature, they are strong, here, watch this" Titch said, pointing to a screen where footage of an Army trooper stormed one of the park buildings with the Marines, ambushed by a grunt who broke his arm, the trooper drew his knife and attempted to stab the little creature, who easily deflected the Marine, grabbing him by his throat and punching him in the chest, the Marine whose helmet cam was recording it fired on the Grunt who took the rounds before using the Army troopers own knife to slice his throat before a second army trooper came in from a back door and gunned down the Alien with her shotgun, the recording stopped. "That grunt, is about 5ft tall, give or take, the Army trooper, is about 5'11, and yet that height gave no advantage, the shorter frame and bulkier body is beneficial to the Grunt, the ease at which the grunt overpowered the trooper's swings for it is clear for all to see, do not get close to a Grunt unless you know you can kill it quickly, do not let them engage you like that, if you do, you will almost always lose, understood?" Titch asked, the officers sat before him nodded, Titch smiled, because he knew they would most likely ignore him, their rank bred arrogance and it was the poor recruits under them that would suffer when they redeployed to Harvest, Marcus looked around as some of the Officers stood, as if they were about to leave when Admiral Langley stepped onto the Deck, everyone stood to attention at that point, the Commander of the Epoch took his pipe from this mouth and put everyone at ease. "I'm afraid we're going to have to deploy you sooner than planned, I know you veterans expected another week of R&R but Utgard has fallen, the Army forces that were stationed there thought they had it reclaimed after the joint Army/ODST push sent the Aliens packing, but within an hour they'd been overrun by hundreds of thousands of Covenant forces, Phantoms, Banshees and Seraphs fired into their positions, causing utter chaos, as our units tried to focus fire on the incoming airborne threat, the Phantoms deployed their troops and Ghosts then came from the plains outside the city, their rapid onslaught forced the Army and ODST units to fall back, within hours the city centre had fallen to the enemy and by the end of Saturday all UNSC forces had either been destroyed or withdrawn, were it not for the need to boost morale we would most likely have nuked the fucking place, but we need the planet back, all of it, tomorrow, on Monday, we'll set you on the Pelicans, and you WILL take Utgard and you will hold it. ODST forces will be dropped by the UNSC Hannibal tonight and secure landing zones for you, get some rest, and good luck", with that, the old, gruff looking man left the deck and the Marines followed suite, Marcus, Titch and Alice left for the mess deck, a lot of the green forces were sat there, the obvious fear in their eyes, the three of them lined up, followed the queue and took their food to an empty table.
"So, Utgard, again, how are you feeling about it gents?" Alice asked, "Well, we're soldiers, may as well fight, besides, what would we do without the Aliens? Apart from kill each other, and I mean, let's face it, that was getting a bit boring, we've only been doing it for what? A hundred thousand years or more?" Titch said with a grim laugh as he placed a large forkful of Ham and chips into his mouth, "I don't care to be honest" Marcus said in response to her question, "I have probably become dangerously numb to the killing, I just want to win, and one day, it'll be there Planets we invade" he didn't look any of his friends in the eye at that point, just went about cutting into his own ham. "Well, happy lads you are" Alice laughed as she placed a couple of chips in her mouth. From that point on they made small talk, they had little else to do that day and as the hours passed by and the mess hall emptied they finally decided to return to the barracks. Thousands of men and women, trying their best not to panic about their first deployment, though it was noticeably quieter, and Faust found himself wondering about the ODSTs in their drop pods, would they make It through the night against the Covenant? How would they hold the landing zones for so long. Marcus recalled learning of a battle, from a war that happened centuries ago, the battle of the Bulge, and he thought back to the day he learnt of it, in basic training, and wondered how the Airborne held off such a huge and determined force, and the ODSTs were going to deploy into a similar situation today, in smaller groups, against hundreds of thousands of Aliens with superior technology, the Germans lost, but only because of a determined defender, the ODSTs might have to face a determined defender, and then have to defend themselves after, with limited supply and limited equipment.