"You know that Colonel Ackerson will not allow this. Amy is simply not on the list of current transplants." Dr. O'Brian's whispers echoed off the Titanium-B reinforced walls. Incandescence from the various Bio-monitors painted the room with a soft blue hue.

"I DO NOT CA.." Dr. Wilkes composed himself as his face regained a calm demeanor. "I do not care what the Colonel thinks of my decision, nor does he have to know. That is my daughter lying in there. Amy's body is dead, but she can be salvaged. I don't care what it costs me I want my daughter back." Edgar turned away from Christy to view Amy's monitor. Lines representing his daughter's mental traits skewed back and forth as if it were a bad television reception.

"Would you have her die a second time? Mombasa is gone. The slipspace jump inside the city eradicated everything. You are NOT the only one who lost someone today."

"If I may interrupt your little spat." Jordan's image appeared as a confident Marine, his hands gripping each other at the small of his back. "The Colonel frankly doesn't care which intelligence's get transferred. At this point the war is becoming critical, and more personnel are needed to fight. You two are simply wasting time. Your conviction toward your daughter is admirable doctor, if not poorly misguided. There is a much bigger picture than your daughter at work here. You two just need to quit squabbling and get the Colonel his warriors."

Jordan's image flickered and faded. A thousand thoughts seemed to run through Edgar's mind.

Who was right here? Did he really want to see his daughter die again? Could anything be done to stop the Covenant now that they had found earth?

"Christy, please finish the alterations to the remaining Dragoon's armor. I will prep Amy and the other subjects."

Christy placed a gentle but firm hand upon Edgar's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want me to prepare Amy? That seems a little much to place on you."

Edgar placed his hand upon Christy's and rubbed it gently. "I will be fine."

---------------

The fluorescent lighting temporarily blinded Josh as he managed to force open his eyelids. He immediately began to squint. Josh then shot upright in his bed and instantly pain ran across his right chest and shoulder. The beeps on heartbeat monitor connected to him reflected his increase in activity.

"Oh good, you're awake." Josh hadn't noticed the nurse standing beside his bed, keeping track of other vitals. "Try not to do too much, you took a heck of a beating."

Josh took a moment to notice the neatly wrapped dressing that precluded him from seeing his wound. The wounded Marine then began to take in more of his surroundings. "Where's Amy?"

The nurse seemed to ignore Josh's question, instead gently placing her hands on Josh's uninjured shoulder, motioning for him to lie down.

"I need to know where Amy is." Josh's tone sounded annoyed.

The nurse's gentle smile turned more ominous, and Josh's stomach began to churn. "I am afraid your friend, Amy, didn't make it."

The words hit Josh like a truck, and tears immediately filled his eyes. He had so many questions running through his mind that he couldn't pick out one to ask.

"She and others were ambushed on their way here. A few managed to survive and bring you to our medical bay." The nurse looked away from the tears streaming down Josh's face. It was clear to her what they had meant to each other.

"I have to see her, see for myself. I have to find her dad, somehow. He has to know, too." The words were strained as Josh sat up again and then cupped his face into his hands.

"I am afraid that is impossible." The nurse's words were spoken delicately, but deliberately. "The Covenant managed to cause an explosion." The nurse fought back tears of her own as she thought of her own family in New Mombasa. "I am afraid everything in New Mombasa has been destroyed. I am hearing reports that hardly a building is left standing. The whole city has been wiped out."

Josh sat in silence as he absorbed what the nurse had told him. So many friends had been lost in a day's time. Humanity's worst fears were being realized now that the Covenant had found Earth. Josh wondered darkly whether or not he should continue to fight. The human race seemed to be just a cockroach for the aliens to step on, and now they had found humanity's nest.

Josh begrudgingly got out of bed, using the nurse as a prop to get to his feet. "I'll be alright to walk." The swimming in Josh's head cleared up and he moved over to a small aluminum sink. He wasn't sure if he would throw up, but he certainly felt nauseous as he allowed the cool water to fill up his cupped hands. A quick splash felt good against Josh's face, although the extra movement caused pain in his shoulder once again.

"I will be at the nurse's station if you need anything, just use the call button above your bed." The nurse exited the room as Josh ignored her statement. It seemed as though Amy was staring at him from within the mirror. Josh reached up and gently rubbed the mirage as beads of water raced down the mirror's surface.

The war had taken everything from Josh. His family was all but gone, save for maybe a cousin fighting somewhere. And now Amy was gone. Josh removed her picture from his nearby hanging shirt pocket. He gently stroked her facial features, remembering the nights they had together. It was at this thought it occurred to Josh. He had to fight. His war with the Covenant had always been about revenge, and this time would be no different. Josh would fight to the death, a thought he welcomed, as he now felt there was nothing else to lose.

---------------

E'Las Pertumee loosened his bipedal jaws and allowed dirt and sand to fall from his mouth. Traces of blood also painted the dirt below him, and quickly reassured the Sangheili warrior that he was still alive. Pain shot through the Elite's body as he turned his head to the left, looking up the beachhead and noticing smoldering wreckage a hundred meters from his location. A slight stench of burning flesh coupled with electrical components filled his senses, and made the Sangheili nauseous.

What had happened?

The scene flashed through his mind almost too fast to comprehend. E'Las and his outfit of Grunts were joining other groups in descending Phantom's when they had been hit hard.

Who had hit them?

The human's weapons had always proven ineffective against the Phantoms' shields, so it was unlikely they had something that could bring that many of them down that fast.

Standing, E'Las gazed skyward as a more sickening feeling enveloped him. The sky was littered with Covenant cruisers and other classes of vehicles. The Covenant was increasingly favoring Jiralhanae shipmasters, no, entire crews, over their Sangheili counterparts. Could the Hierarchs be making a mistake in their approval of the beasts? Were they now being targeted by their own?

E'Las's thoughts were broken as he heard the snarls of several brutes beyond a tree line just beyond the beachfront. E'Las clicked on his armor's stealth unit, and was surprised when it hummed to life. The Sangheili was confident it would not have survived the fall.

Covertly E'Las made his way to the trees, as the commotion from the two brutes became louder and louder, followed by another familiar sound, the shrill of a grunt in pain. E'Las got his first view of what was going on beyond the trees, but wasn't sure what he was seeing. The two brutes seemed to be fighting over whom the grunt belonged to. As he listened though, that thought quickly vanished from E'Las's mind.

"Your time for serving our glorious Covenant has come to an end, pathetic being." The small grunt held between the two behemoths screamed as its arms were being wrenched beyond their limits.

"That is right little one, soon this planet and many others will be filled with the screams of the Unggoy, Sangheili and Lekgolo filth. We will cleanse this galaxy of your wretchedness and then shall take your place alongside the prophets in the Great Journey."

With that each Jiralhanae pulled hard but effortlessly as the Grunt's arms ripped themselves free, spilling its blood on the ground and the Brutes' thick hides.

E'Las was unaffected by the Unggoy's demise. They had never held a role more than canon fodder, to throw their lives away on the front lines for the glory of the Covenant. The Jiralhanae's words, however, had cut the proud Sangheili warrior deep. This treachery would not go unpunished. E'Las removed his plasma blade from its hilt, as a banshee swooped overhead and began strafing the ground near the Brutes. The Brutes returned fire, the hull of the Banshee singeing from the heat of Brutes' plasma rifles.

Seeing a window of opportunity, E'Las moved swiftly from the tree line as he powered up his blade. The Brutes paid him no notice, their eyes still fixed on the enemy overhead. E'Las quickly stabbed the chest of the nearest Brute, then in one fluid motion removed his blade and sliced the other's leg off below the knee. The creature fell to the ground in agony as it fired wildly into the air.

E'Las stepped on the Brute's trigger hand and held it down as he powered off his cloak. "Savage beast, you will never spill my race's blood again." Another quick slice removed the gun-toting arm from the Brute's torso, the plasma blade cleanly cauterizing the wound as it cut. E'Las then lunged with his whole body's weight as the blade entered the creature's head and glassed the sand below, temporarily pinning it to the ground below.

"Impressive, you have done well fellow warrior." E'Las looked back toward the beachhead as another Sangheili approached. His banshee now nose-first into the sand, E'Las knew this to be the pilot who had distracted his prey.

"We must send word all the way to the High Council. The Hierarchs have betrayed us. These two Brutes were saying that the Covenant wish to rid themselves of the Unggoy, Sangheili as well as the Lekgolo."

"It is a process that is already underway, young one. I am Eddu Septomee. We must hurry to gather our forces together. We must cleanse this area of the Brutes. We can only assume that the Kig-Yar and Yanme are also working with the Jiralhanae, and are also executing them onsite. My brother, this planet has already caused us much pain, I am almost fearful that the Prophets have lost their vision. We must fight to protect our own and to rid this wretched planet of any who stand against us. We cannot, however, do it alone. Go and find help. Now."

---------------

The feeling intensified as the light in Amy's periphery grew. Her eyes were not opened, and Amy could not feel nor control any part of her body, but for some reason Amy felt astutely aware of.. something. There was no sound, it seemed as though the world had became a vacuum full of images, but the images were slowly fading.

Luna's eatery. Amy and Josh's first time together, learning of her mother's death. All the memories bad and good were being pulled away, all into the light. The light was like the perfect black hole paradox. All light was escaping it, however it still pulled at her memories, her feelings. Amy felt she would fade soon, and all would be gone. She was so close to seeing her father again. So close to being in a place that seemed safe from this damn war. Only to have it all ripped away.

"First phase complete doctor." The woman's voice echoed in Amy's inner space. The light was slowly dimming, and replacing it was a feeling of coldness. It seemed as though she had been moved from one small box devoid of herself to another. Amy's mind was frantically looking for a way out. Nothing seemed to respond to her pleas. She screamed within the void but no echo returned. Amy's mind raced to try to flex muscles or even take a breath, but nothing responded.

"Second phase complete doctor." The same woman's voice echoed again, and Amy felt a cooling sensation tingling down what she hoped was her spine.

Did I make it? Am I really alive?

Amy could suddenly feel her extremities, although they seemed very unnatural and bound to her. Nothing would move. Not a finger or toe. Amy began returning toward panic, as breathing didn't seem to be a possibility. Her mind raced for a source of air, but curiously her body did not seem to require it. Indeed, her body did not seem to follow along with the furor that was taking over her mind.

"Initializing power up sequence." Amy was now beginning to localize the voice. It was coming from across the room to the left. A blinding light once again entered Amy's sight, but this time was toned down by the Dragoon's polarized apertures. The room quickly became quite clear, as a figure from her past filled Amy's eyes. Suddenly wondering what was different didn't matter, as standing in front of her was the man she hadn't seen in years. Tears streaked down Edgar's cheeks as Amy's eyes focused on him. Amy wanted to run and wrap her arms around her father, but found herself unable to do so. Her extremities were still not responding, a fact that greatly annoyed Amy.

"Just chill a minute doll, they'll knock the inhibitors off and you'll be killin' in no time." Amy searched the room for the voice's origin, but didn't see anyone. Amy assumed that by the voice's demeanor that it came from some Marine stationed in the room, but she failed to see one.

"We must power you back down for some last minute.. changes before releasing the inhibitors. See you all in about fifteen. Lights out."

What did he mean power us back down? What the hell has happened to m….

With that the Dragoons were brought back off line. Dr. Wilkes needed to correct some minor coding issues, and then he would reunite with his daughter. Edgar only hoped his daughter would be able to forgive him.

Back to the story. Hoped you liked this chapter. I think from now on out I will be including a lot more Covenant stuff. Hopefully you will enjoy the path I am about to take. Please read and review:)