I am so sorry! I've been busy with school as of late so I haven't had much time to work on the story. For those of you who have remained true and patient I thank you all! And for those of you who are still discovering this story I hope you stay true to it. With that said here is chapter six! Enjoy (Note, due to school related issues and other things, new chapters WILL be slow to publish, sorry!)

Chapter 6: Ride through the country

July 26th, 2552

After a hellish run across the rocky slopes near New Alexandria, Butch, Red and Storm finally managed to meet up with the rest of their squad who were holed up in an abandoned farmhouse. When they identified themselves, Snow greeted Storm with a gentle punch on the arm and a warm smile, putting that warm feeling that was better than him pissing his pants. Right after that Cross gave a whistle and everyone turned to the old crusty bastard and paid attention, knowing that this was beyond chit-chat time and was now fuck-up-some-covies time. After everyone settled in a little he began to speak. "Alright, so now that were all here, we got a big fucking problem on our hands. Covies decided to hit Reach with everything they had."

Hammer's eyes went about as wide as saucers as he forced a hard gulp down. "You mean everything sir?" He said with great emphasis, still unable to comprehend the power that the Covenant had been holding the whole time.

"They sent everything, as in the entire god-damned fleet. Enough to punch clean through our oribital batteries like they were toy guns shooting at a giant."

Snow crossed her arms in concern as she thought deeply, attempting to say something but nothing was said until Storm spoke up. "So where exactly does that leave us, sir?" That was something he still didn't quite understand, what could one squad of ODST's do against the entire Covenant fleet?

'Well, here comes the fun part," Cross said with a smirk, staring around at the squad. "We got radio contact with one of the platoon sergeants who goes by the name of "Rusty". He said his boys down in the camp have needed some reinforcements against Covenant strike teams coming in from the Corvette above New Alexandria. That's where we come in. Our job is to head down to the base and offer whatever support they need, and trust me on the fact we will be VERY busy for the next few days. Anyone got any questions?" After a brief moment of silence, Cross gave a confirming nod. "Alright, pack yourselves into the farming trucks. Storm, Butch, you two are with me. Snow, Hammer, Red, you three take the other vehicle." With that everyone set on their helmets and got to their vehicles, Storm taking the shotgun seat while Butch propped his launcher on the roof of the vehicle, obviously eager to blow something up. Hell, Storm was to after all they did to this planet. So without further a due the squad went roaring down the dirt road with the thoughts of bloodlust on their minds.

As they made their way down the long and windy road, Storm sat on the shotgun seat of the truck staring out the window, watching for anything unusual before looking to Cross and actually attempting to make conversation. "What did you do before you became an ODST?" Storm asked curiously, not actually knowing all that much about the bald man himself.

Holding the steering wheel tight in his hands, the cold bastard looked over at Storm with a smirk. "That depends; you want bullshit or the truth?"

Not really know where he was going with this, he responded with a shrug. "Truth I suppose."

Cross gave a slight chuckle before turning his head over to Storm and looking him dead in the eyes. "I used to work for ONI. Was a field operative for the longest time until I got sick and tired of the whole bullshit that just filled your nose. Everything was absolute with the backstabbing and the bribes and all that shit, you would think that war would change people but people are still the same."

Absolutely dumbfounded by what the man had just told him, he was about to call bullshit on Cross but the more he thought about it, the more it actually seemed possible. "So let me guess, Cross was a nickname they gave you because of how god damn cranky you are?"

The old sergeant just laughed until he finally was able to come up with an answer. "Nah, Cross was my codename because I would crucify people for the UNSC for shit like illegal fund transfers, rebel activity, the whole works. Was fucking deskwork I tell you."

Storm couldn't help but shoot a look over at Cross and let out a chuckle, not having actually known the man on this level before. Then to Storm's surprise, Cross went to speak back to him but was interrupted by a slight whining that seemed to carry through the air. "You hear that…?" Cross asked, glancing over his shoulder to Butch. "Keep your eyes open Butch."

The man in the back responded with a short brief nod, hefting his launcher up to his shoulder as he kept his eyes focused on the sky, seeing nothing but the passing of leaves and the grey overcast that laid beyond that. But the whining grew louder and louder, everyone getting on edge as they began to think it might have been a problem with the engines of one of the trucks. Then as the whining grew incredibly close, there was a quick flash as something banked in from over the trees, lining up with the road and the sound of hissing air breaking the constant whining. As soon as that was heard, there was a massive explosion of green right in front of Cross's truck, who immediately grabbed a hold of the steering wheel and yanked the truck to evade the plasma as Butch yelled out. "Banshees! On our six!" With that came the sound of another shot followed by the same burst of hot plasma as before. As soon as that one had been evaded, Banshees now opened up with their plasma cannons, pounding the earth as they rapidly flew in.

As soon as the first explosion had gone off, Cross had his helmet on and yelling back to Butch. "I can't keep this up! Shoot that rat bastard out of the fucking sky!" He screamed over the wailing of the hostile aircraft and the roaring of the cheap motor as it screamed loudly.

"I can't get a damn lock on him! The trees are too thick!" He responded, trying to keep himself balanced while another two Banshee bombs descended upon them, throwing up dirt into the windshield. Storm had already began firing burst from his battle rifle at the aircraft which wouldn't do much, but there had been the odd chance where he managed to bring one down like this; but then again, there weren't any trees.

As the trucks wailed from the abusive maneuvers that they were never supposed to take, they then came to a fork in the road where the tree line stopped and with that, exposing the Banshees. He didn't even have to remind the crazy bastard in the back who already held the bead steady on the lead one. Once the targeting system beeped with confirmation of a lock, Butch let loose a rocket that flew true towards it but at the last second, rolled to the right and the rocket sailed past. Giving out a curse and began lining him up for another shot. Before he could though, there was a sudden flash from the second truck and the red laser from Hammer's weapon stuck the Banshee in its side, separating the entire thing in half as the pilot fell out of it, nothing more than a charred corpse with his burning wreckage. Butch let out a roaring laughter as he yelled out to his brother. "Damn good shot, but I think you missed one!"

Hammer responded in kind as he let the searing hot barrel cool off. "No thanks to your sloppy shooting you blind old bastard!" With that said, the remaining Banshee swooped in low, firing a bust towards Red's truck, most of the shots hitting the dirt but two of them meeting their mark on Hammer; one on his left shoulder and the other one on his chest plate as he screamed out in pain. Butch yelled out loudly with, "BROTHER!" as without a moments hesitation he threw up his launcher, in a blind rage firing off a shot without letting it lock on, almost hitting the Banshee but sailing past it. Storm realized that it had Red's truck sighted in, moving in to unleash one last Banshee bomb which would destroy the old, crappy farm truck. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed hold of one of the spike grenades at his belt, looted from the brutes earlier as he yelled back to Cross. "Slow the truck down just a little!"

The man didn't understand what he was saying until he saw the grenade clutched in his hand, looking at Storm with a shake of his head, "You're one crazy son of a bitch." And with that he let go of the gas a little, waiting as the banshee slowly leveled its wings to let loose its killing shot. He would only have one shot at this, once chance to save that truck and Butch's brother from those alien bastards. Once the pilot brought his craft just close enough to have an accurate shot, Storm whipped the grenade into the air as it sailed freely from his grip, flying straight towards the purple Banshee until with a solid "THUNK" it stuck. Butch stared back over his shoulder as he had a fresh round of rockets loaded up, only to see a mass explosion of spikes followed by the sound of the Banshee screaming towards the earth with a hole blown into its side. A wild shot flew forth from the barrel of the descending aircraft, hitting the ditch as the Banshee soon followed, a mass explosion of blue fire and dirt as it finally laid to rest. There was a moment of silence from everyone before Hammer let out a hearty laugh. "Fuck yeah Storm! That's how it's done!" He laughed as he stood up on the back of the truck, the plasma burns only being minor from hitting the armour plates.

Leaning out of the shotgun window hearing the cheers of everyone on his team, Storm pulled himself into the truck and looked over at Cross who was eyeing him. "You did good kid, never thought you actually pull that off."

Butch interrupted Storm before he could respond, pounding him on the shoulder through the back window and looking over to Cross. "Sir, I think this kid deserves a fucking medal or something!" With another pat on the back, Butch then proceeded to sit up in the back, calling out a fury of curses towards the crashed covenant Banshee's.

Then over the radio silence, came Snow's voice saying, "You saved our asses Storm…thank you." She said softly, filling Storm with a warm feeling as he stared back out the front window again.

Tomorrow was going to be so much fucking worse.

Thank you for reading my story! I will try and update more chapters sooner but I can't make any promises as of now. Keep up the reading and I hope you enjoy it!