AN: Thanks again for every review! Advice always helps!

1101 Hours, February 4, 2525. Marine Outpost, Caesar Station. "Day Two of the Battle of Harvest"

It was lucky that the third wave came when they did. I was still pinned behind the Warthog debris, the body deteriorated after each plasma hit it took. I watched as we, the second wave, were cut down after each break we made to get over the hill. Porfirio, Frost; both were cut down as they tried to reach Walsh. The next thing I saw come over that hill was Walsh himself, dragging a Marine that was trailing blood all the way down the snowy hill. I stood up, lifting a hand for Walsh to come to me. Another explosion came from behind the hill and threw Walsh to his knees. Running towards him, I saw that he had lost his rifle and he had a wound of his own.

"Sir! You've been hit!" I looked over him, measuring the size of the wound approximately. It wasn't big enough to be a plasma shot, or small enough to be shrapnel. My conclusion was that he had been hit by friendly fire. But adrenaline seemed to outweigh the pain and Walsh continued to drag the Marine behind the wreckage.

"Croft, this is Corporal Xan from second platoon. He's in a bad shape, try and patch him up while I radio for the third wave." Walsh began searching the body for anything he could use against the oncoming Covenant. Unholstering is own pistol, which I presumed had very little ammo left, Walsh cut down the Grunts with deadly aim. He reloaded the clip and salvaged another two clips from Xan's ammo pack.

That's when another blast from the Wraith tank landed just behind us. This threw Xan over onto his side, showing me his wound in full. There was a large burn on his back, possibly from a barrage from an Elite's plasma rifle. When his wound felt the icy wind, Xan started to scream. This wound was too much for me and the dire supplies I had, so I quickly opened my COM.

"This is Petty Officer Croft! I need immediate reinforcements. We have many wounded and we need EVAC right now!" I cut the COM to attend to Xan, trying to calm him down. But the sounds of rifle fire and explosions around was causing him to hyperventilate. "Xan! Stay with me! Xan!"

The Marine looked up, eyes blurred with tears. "Get me.. out of.. here." He was fading, and I knew that EVAC had to come right now, or I would lose him. I looked around to see if any other medics were present, but all that met me was bloody corpses and abandoned weapons. Xan began to cough violently, blood oozing out the side of his mouth.

"Xan! Stay the fuck with me man!" The sound of footsteps snapped my head around, pistol quickly drawn. It was Jackson. He looked like he had on the Pelican; he had no blood on him and a smile was plastered over his face. "What the fuck Jackson? Get over here!"

Jackson slid down the hill and ran towards me, unclipping a grenade quickly to throw over the summit, hoping to kill and stragglers. When he sat next to me, I began to tell him what I wanted him to do.

"Calm Xan down. He's hyperventilating; keep talking to him while I try and find Walsh!" Another explosion came from behind the hill, probably Jackson's grenade and from the lifted snow came Walsh. Another Marine was on his back, and another wound on Walsh's leg became apparent.

"Shit!" I stood up and ran towards Walsh, who was smiling like Jackson. "Eltee! Are you crazy?"

"We need these men Croft! This is Sergeant Yorke, first wave. He's a little shook up but he's not hurt. Where the hell is back up?"

"I've radioed for it but-"

My voice was drowned out by the constant "rat-tat" of a machine gun. The snow around us was swept off the ground as a Pelican landed literally right next to us. I could see the pilot, who was gesturing for us to pile in.

"Sir! Come on!" I hoisted Xan's arm around my shoulder and began to walk to the ramp. The gunner stopped to let us through without ripping out our eardrums. I lead Xan across two seats and sat next to him, reassuring him that he was going to be alright. But it seemed to me that he was dead, since he wasn't moving and his eyes were closing. With everyone in, the Pelican lifted off and the gunner let rip once more. I got the opportunity to see what was beyond that hill.

The land was completely flat, with small holes cut into the ground thanks to the repetitive Wraith plasma cannon. The Wraith was now in a plume of smoke however, and the Brute driver was lying next to it, bathing in his own blood. The third wave was tearing through the alien survivors, beaten each down to a pulp. My eyes averted from the scene below when the pilot spoke up.

"This is Gamma 225, requesting landing permission at Caesar Base."

"Croft.. Hey Doc, wake up."

I opened my groggy eyes up enough to see Jackson standing over me. I groaned and began to sit up but immediately lied back down. My back was killing me.

"What is it sir?" I placed a hand on my back, trying to find any bullet hole or burn. But I guessed it was only my tendons playing up. I looked up to see an olive green ceiling. I had found out the previous day that I was in Caesar Base, one of the first bases stationed in Harvest when we found the planet. The doors were closed, keeping the cold out and the heat inside. Around me bunks were empty save the odd few Marines who sat on their bed either reading or cleaning their weapons. The relaxed atmosphere was a welcome break from the battlefield.

"Captain Aracen is holding a briefing in the hangar. We're heading out again."

My expression faltered. Going back out there had been at the back of my mind, hiding behind thoughts of getting off this planet and keeping my own skin. Swinging my legs over the bed I proceeded in getting into my battle dress. The garments left for me were better than the ones I had wore at the hill; the underclothes had been strengthened in a thermal material by the feel of it. They were also a mix of dark and light grey instead of green. Fitting my helmet on I stood up facing Jackson, quickly giving a nod before making my way outside.

Caesar Base was big. There were several buildings, mainly hangars and barracks. But in the middle of the whole compound sat a huge group of buildings. Groups of Marines were heading towards a particular hangar, so I presumed that was where Aracen was giving his briefing. Jackson had caught up with me and was walking along side me.

"How did you like The Hill?" Jackson asked, his pace quickening so he could keep up with me.

"The what?"

"The hill you were yesterday has become one of the first major battles on Harvest. Makes you kind of proud you were part of it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah.." I lied, not feeling at all proud of myself. I had found out that Xan had died when we had touched down at the base, which only worsened my current state of mind.

"Apparently the third wave had to be reinforced themselves by a whole bunch of helljumpers."

"What?"

"You seriously shouldn't have slept through the pilot's information. They're a new bunch of soldiers, not enhanced like the Spartans but they know how to fight. They were virtually how we won that battle."

"Other people helped make that victory happen sir, not just the helljumpers. Your friend Porfirio did."

Jackson seemed to stop in his tracks but began walking again, not replying to my statement. I guessed that they had been pretty good friends so I left it there. By know we were inside the hangar, where Aracen was standing on a pile of ammo crates. I then recognized McCollough, who had been promoted to Master Gunnery Sergeant. He nodded at me as the two of us stepped in.

"..the battle for the hill was a great victory for us, but it cost us many lives. But third platoon managed to bring back a few survivors from second and first. We've found out that further on down from the hill there is a Covenant compound.

"Most of the UNSC have been stationed down there but are getting beaten to a pulp. Even the Spartans are fighting." This caused a few mutters to go around the Marines. I looked at Jackson who was looking at Aracen, waiting for him to carry on. I regretted mentioning Porfirio like that, especially since I could've saved him.

"We will be leaving in two days time at oh-five hundred hours sharp to reinforce the 501st Marines and the Spartans. The General has told us to have some downtime while the Army joins the fray. Take this time to gather more ammo and prepare for one of the biggest fights of your lives. Dismissed Marines."

The crowd dispersed and Jackson went off in a different direction. Seeing a few medics head off in a particular direction I followed, catching up to the group.

"What's going on?"

One of the medics turned around and looked me over. He was reasonably tall with a brown bandana underneath his helmet. He spoke with a thick Australian accent. "We've gotta restock our supplies. New intel says that we need to take three packs of supplies since the conditions at the compound are shit."

"The name's Johnny Ives. You'll be with us if you were at the hill. Aracen has made a special squad of strictly medic and even promised us a Spartan bodyguard, but I think these guns can take on the whole Covenant army."

He flexed his muscle and everyone laughed, even me. Suddenly the oncoming battle seemed a whole lot more fun with these guys.