Chapter 1
Crash Landing
The Pillar of Autumn was going down. Sergeant Edward Grant knew that for certain. So, he had gathered all the men he had come across and battled his way to the escape pods. He had lost three along the way, and had one with only one arm left. But now, he was safe.
The pilot in the cockpit was speeding them toward the ring world in front of them. None of the Marines or Navy crewmen had seen anything like it before. He turned from it, and looked around the vessel.
Seated with him were four Privates, two Privates First Class, one Lieutenant, and two Ensigns. He checked his MA5B Assault Rifle. He only had three clips left for it, one loaded, and two inside his pack.
The air inside the pod was riddled with fear and apprehension. One private was shaking. There was a stain from where an ensign had lost his lunch.
"Sergeant," said the Lieutenant, "what do we do when we get on the ring?"
"First, we secure our landing site. I don't know if the Covenant will be waiting for us, but better safe than dead." The others in the pod nodded in agreement.
"Then, we find Silva and the rest of the Helljumpers. They'll be making a base camp. We'll go from there."
They all nodded. One man exhaled a long sigh, and pulled out a picture of a girl. He kissed the photograph.
"Well, it'll be a while before I get back to my baby."
Grant recalled his battle through the tunnels of the Autumn to get to this pod. He had killed thirteen Grunts and two Elites. He remembered watching as one man had a plasma grenade stuck to his chest, then seeing his entrails splatter across a narrow hall, some of it hitting him.
The pilot called back to the rest of the crew.
"EST is thirty seconds! Get your weapons ready!"
They all did so. He looked around. Most of the company had MA5B's, but the ensigns had M6D pistols. One Marine had a S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and one had a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. He had retrieved a Plasma Rifle from a dead Elite and strapped it to his belt, just in case.
Suddenly, the pod started to shake. It became very hot inside the pod, and Grant felt beads of sweat flood down his body and into his clothes and boots. He wiped his brow, and braced for impact.
-
There was a huge thump as the pod touched down. Grant's head began to shake back and forth uncontrollably with the pod's movement. But then, the shaking gradually stopped. He looked around. Everyone was shaken, but okay.
Grant stood in front of the door, rifle to his shoulder, as another Marine opened the door leading outside. The door opened, but luckily, he saw no Covenant. But that didn't mean he was safe yet.
The crew took a few minutes to secure the area. They found no traces of Covenant in the area.
"Okay. Do we have radio contact with the rest of the humans?"
"Yes," replied the pilot. He spoke into the radio. "This is pod 526, requesting pickup."
"I hear you, 526. I'll pick you up ASAP, but am currently picking up survivors of pod 487. Estimated time till pickup is two hours, depending on how the Covenant welcome us onto the ring," came the response from the other side.
"Copy that."
"Okay, soldiers," Grant barked, "we've got a little wait ahead of us. Let's scrounge materials from the pod and get a signal ready."
The soldiers got to work. After about an hour, they were ready for pickup.
"Okay. Now all we have to do is wait. You there, with the sniper rifle, what's your name and rank?"
"Sir, Ryan J. Thomas, sir. Private first class, sniper."
"Good. You see that hill over there? You get on it and scope out the area. I want a report on everything you see."
The sniper saluted, said "Yes, sir!" and hurried off to his task.
"As for the rest of you, set up a circle around the pod. Make sure we have no blind spots."
They did so. For at least two hours they waited and watched. Grant had a sinking feeling that something was wrong.
"Pilot, send out a signal again. Something isn't right."
The pilot did so. All he got was static.
"Sir, I'm not getting anything. We're alone out here."
A sense of foreboding spread over the group.
"Sir!" yelled the sniper.
"What is it, soldier?"
"We have Covenant in the vicinity! Hunters, sir! Lots of Elites, Grunts and Jackals too!"
"Aw, crap. We can't stay here. Everyone, get your stuff together."
"Where are we going, sir?"
"Does it matter?"
They all got their bags and ammunition and headed out away from the pod. Grant knew that things would only get worse from here.