It was midday on the planet of Reach, April 10th in the year 2552. Earlier this morning, Reach, a bustling UNSC military planet, had been at work and had been preparing for a day of searching and guarding and work for It's soldiers and the taskforce. It was just the start of another ordinary day.

However, at around mid-morning, the Covenant, Humanity's greatest foe and currently in a war against them, launched a full scale invasion of Reach. The taskforce and the UNSC on the planet were caught completely off guard by the attack and evacuations had been set up all across Reach to evacuate the workers and the army from the planet. The taskforce, based at the base where the UNSC battleship Axiom had been based, had taken part in the defence but, despite their skill and their special bodysuits, they were little match against the wave after wave of Covenant infantry and their superior firepower in land vehicles and ships. Most were killed within a few hours, mostly from when the Covenant began to glass the planet, but several had survived the glassing and had gone to other bases to try and leave the planet.

At one such base where the UNSC battleship, the Michigan, was based, a group of six taskforce soldiers had arrived from the Axiom base and had taken part in the defence of the Michigan whilst the wounded and the workers were being taken to it by pelican. Eventually, five of the six strong squad of taskforce soldiers were killed, all but the leader. Marcus. He had been a marine just over a month earlier but coming here had brought him into a new life and now it had come crashing down. All of his squad were dead, along with most of his friends.

Michigan base

Marcus sat on the ground on his knees, looking up at the sky where the Michigan had disappeared into. His squad was dead and he was on his own, well almost. There was the Covenant here still but they were not going to look after him or comfort him. They were going to kill him. He looked up at the CCS battle cruisers that had paused in the sky and were hovering there as if they had been frozen. That was strange, but what was even stranger was that when he had come out of the command centre all of the Covenant infantry had fled.

Marcus stood up from the ground. So what was he to do now? Was he to stay here and fight the Covenant or go…but where would he go? There was nowhere to go.

Wait…what about Anya? The last time he had seen her was at the Axiom base barracks. Surely she had escaped. Maybe if he went back there and tried to contact the ship, he could find out if she had escaped from Reach. Yes! A tingle of hope had filled him once again, but the problem was: how was he to get there?

"I hope you are not thinking of leaving,"

Marcus went wide-eyed. That voice! It was deep, and if it was deep… He turned around and standing a few metres from him was an Elite, though this one was not a minor or a major. This was a zealot, the kind of specially trained soldiers that were usually sent on high risk missions. Both of his fists were closed, but in one he could see an energy sword activator.

"Where are the rest of the Covenant?" Marcus asked.

"I have ordered them to fall back," the zealot replied. "I presume you do not remember me," he added.

"Should I?" Marcus asked in a kind of mocking tone that sounded like he did not care.

The Elite growled but did not make a move towards him. Instead, he just stood there.

"I was among a group of my comrades in the same line of work as me yesterday in the mountains," the Elite explained. "We had been searching for something but had been stopped by you and your group of soldiers," the voice of the Elite began to deepen a little in anger. "And you ruined everything. You destroyed our ship, you killed my comrades and hundreds of my men, but worst of all: you destroyed our chance to complete our sacred mission,"

Marcus nodded a little. So this was one of the zealots he had fired on yesterday. Wow! Talk about revenge, and to be honest, he had to congratulate the Elite on finding him and coming to him at the right moment when he was on his own.

"Well, it would been a waste of time if you went back," Marcus said to the zealot. "I went there earlier this morning and it was destroyed,"

The Elite growled again. "That is just the problem with you and your race! You are weak and you do not think!" he barked. "Well, I am glad we have defeated your people here as revenge for what you have done. And I am most certainly glad you are still here,"

"Why, you miss me?" Marcus asked in a mocking tone.

The Elites' eyes narrowed. "No, I have come looking for you for two things Human. Firstly, to exact revenge, and second, which I intend to do when I have killed you, is to obtain something from you. Something of great importance to our Great Journey,"

"Well whatever it is, I don't have it," Marcus replied, his voice remaining defiant. "And if you're gonna kill me, threatening me and trying to scare me won't be enough, split-lip"

At these words, he would have expected the Elite to grow angry and attack him, which was why he had tensed his body, but, to his surprise, the Elite just laughed. A puzzled look etched across Marcus' face. Why was the Elite laughing?

"What's so funny?" Marcus asked.

"Oh, I don't have to threaten you or scare you," the Elite answered. "I have two things here that will make you breakdown; more than you have done today,"

Before Marcus could ask again, the zealot brought back his hand, the one that did not hold the energy sword activator, and threw two floors down onto the ground in front of Marcus. He knelt down and saw them to be a small square shaped object that he recognized to be his holographic photo holder and a tiny clear vial that was no bigger than his thumb. Inside it was a small strand of brown hair. Marcus picked up the two objects in his hand and picked up the vial in the other.

"Whose hair is this?" he asked, staring confusingly at it.

"Oh you know very well," the Elite answered. "That hair belongs to someone you know very well. Someone we have dealt with already. Does it, how you Humans say: ring a bell?"

Marcus just stared at the zealot and then at the hair within the vial. Why was the Elite telling him that he knew the person very well who the hair belonged to. He knew loads of people very well that had brown hair. It was kind of a strange and stupid question and it was wasting precious time for him to go to the Axiom and try and contact it to see if Anya was on board it and see if she was o-

Wait a minute…Anya had brown hair, but that did not mean… No! No, that was not true! A worried look etched across his face and he looked down at the holographic photo of him and Anya and then up at the Elite, who chuckled when he looked up at him.

This time, Marcus felt like he could not go on life anymore. He had lost many friends, he had lost his entire squad and now…now Anya, his girlfriend, someone he loved and cared for… She…she was gone! He swallowed hard, his mind unable to comprehend what had been revealed to him and going to the worst possible outcome.

She was dead!

"We killed her hours ago," the zealot Elite said as Marcus dropped the vial and holographic photo and buried his face in his hands. "Think of it as revenge for what you did to us yesterday. And now, as I believe I have told you, I intend to kill you," the zealot Elite activated his energy sword as if to put a setting point to his sentence. "But first…" he held out his other hand. "Give me what I'm looking for. Give me the data cord,"

Marcus sat in his crouched position, his face buried in his hands as the Elite waited impatiently for him to give him the data cord he wanted, but he did not seem to be weeping as he looked like he was going to do just seconds earlier. What was he doing?

Then, a noise came from Marcus…, but it was not whimpering. In fact, it did not sound like a sad noise at all. In fact, it sounded like…laughter!

Marcus rose his head up from his hands, which he rested on his legs. He was laughing! The Elite went wide-eyed with shock and a hidden anger. Why was he laughing?

"Why are you laughing?" the Elite barked at Marcus. "What is so funny?"

Marcus only laughed more. The Elite growled and took a step towards him, raising his energy sword, ready to attack him.

"I said: what is so funny?" the Elite barked at Marcus, his voice rising more with anger now.

Marcus lowered his laugh to a chuckle and looked at the Elite with a smile on his face.

"The data cord," he said. "I don't have it," the Elites' eyes went wide when he heard this. "You see, the Axiomship has the data cord and It's long gone and far away from here now," he laughed again. "Face it, split-lip. You've lost,"

The Elite held his position, his eyes wide with shock. A hint of terror swept through him. That data cord was of utmost importance to the Covenant in their mission to complete the Great Journey. If what the Humans was telling him was true… The Elite swallowed hard as sweat began to trickle down his head. He had failed!

Then, anger seemed to explode inside him like a supernova and the Elite, furious, charged at Marcus, bringing up his energy sword. Marcus saw the threat coming and, at the last moment, threw himself into the legs of the Elite. The creature roared in surprise and fell over with a crash onto the ground, dropping his energy sword on the ground next to Marcus, who, after pushing the zealot off him, snatched it up and back away a few feet. The Elite shot up from the ground, anger blazing away in his eyes like an inferno.

"You will pay for that, you meddler!" he growled, his hands clenched into fists and shaking madly with fury.

"Then why don't you come and kill me, split-lip?" Marcus replied in a mocking tone.

That seemed to have pushed the buttons for the Elite. He roared and charged towards Marcus, bringing back his fists to swing at him. Marcus tensed himself and raised the energy sword. Both were ready to strike, though the question was: who would strike first?

The Elite swung his fist at Marcus, hitting him in the side of the head. Marcus yelled out in pain and fell to the ground. The Elite chuckled and watched as his enemy got up from the ground groaning. It was then Marcus realised something as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand. Where was the energy sword.

"Uuugh! Aarrgh!"

He looked up at the Elite and went wide-eyed to see the weapon embedded in the side of the Elites' chest. The Elite placed a hand on his chest and gasped for breath as he slumped down onto his knees, his eyes emptying of colour. He looked at Marcus in an unbelieving way as if to say: "I cannot believe you beat me!" before he fell forward onto the ground and moved no more.

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief and stood up and walked past the Elite, staring down at the body of the creature as a pool of purple blood began to form underneath it. Well, he was safe now. Now he just had to find a way of getting to the Ax-

He felt his foot hit something and he looked down to see the holographic photo holder on the ground. The vial lay smashed open and empty next to it, the Elite having stood on it. What was left of the hair that had been blown away by the gentle breeze in the airlay on the ground next to the vial.

At once, sadness and grief returned to Marcus and he slumped down onto his knees and picked up the holographic photo holder and the few strands of brown hair left. He breathed a heavy breath and tried desperately to hold back his tears as he held them in his hands like they were parts of her he was holding. It… it made him sick and sad all the way down to his heart. He loved her, and now she was dead. She was gone… Just like all the others.

An explosion from the CCS battle cruisers nearby lit up the sky a purple colour and Marcus looked towards them to see one of them with a glassing beam coming out of the bottom of it and growing in size, destroying everything it touched. There was no doubt that was why the zealot had ordered the infantry back for and this was what they were to do either when he returned or if he was killed. The Covenant on all of those ships had probably seen what had just happened and decided to destroy Marcus and the base completely, by glassing them.

Marcus sighed. He knew he could not escape and decided now he was to accept his fate. He looked once more back at the holographic photo and the brown hair that had once been part of the woman he loved and really cared for. A single tear rolled down his face, but it was a calm grief rather than a defeated grief.

"I love you Anya," he whispered.

Moments later, the glassing beam slammed into the building area, incinerating everyone and everything in it that had survived the fighting so far. Marcus was destroyed completely along with his bodysuit, his holographic photo of him and Anya, the few strands of her hair and his body. Everything.

Except for one thing. His and his squad's legacy. Their courage and their sacrifice in the face of defeat to allow others to escape. If they had lived, they would have known that their actions today had ensured the survival of Humanity through events that were to take place over the next few weeks, and with that legacy of courage and sacrifice, they also ensured that Humanity could rebuild