Starting this chapter I will be putting dates up. Thought it'd make it look more militarily professional. Enjoy, my fans!

AUGUST 12, 2552

VIERY TERRITORY, REACH

Reach.

385,421,100 total military personnel, 58,430 land assets, 1,209 naval assets, 11,050 total air assets, and a defense budget of 38,287,000,000 cR. I think to myself as my Falcon flies above the hundreds of Warthogs below me. Reach. Humanity's fortress among the stars. I chuckle to myself. I might just be the first to say that.

I look over at Roger, who's sitting across from me on the Falcon, his Designated Marksman Rifle resting in his lap. I can just barely see past his polarized visor. His eyes are closed, just as I knew they would be. He'd taken up meditation before missions. Apparently it helps him focus his shots. I look back over the edge of the Falcon as the machine gunners open fire at something behind me. I look just in time to see a Warthog below us burst into flames as a Banshee bomb hits its engine. The Warthog flips as the driver loses control of the Jeep.

A clicking noise brings my attention back to Roger. His eyes are open and his DMR is shouldered. I smile at him and look to my left. Three Warthogs are headed towards a bridge. As the first Warthog gets to the bridge multiple Banshees bomb the bridge destroying the first Warthog and the bridge. The second one jumps the gap without hesitation, but the third isn't so lucky. It hits the opposite edge of the bridge and plummets down to the bottom of the canyon.

I look back up at the second warthog and I'm shocked to see two figures walk away from the wreckage. Hell they're not walking, they're . . . sprinting! Right toward the covenant forces. I look through my battle rifle's scope and see that the two figures are Spartans! One of them appears to be a girl in light blue/teal armor, while the other is obviously a guy in black armor.

I tap Roger's shoulder.

"Dude, look!" I yell to him, pointing to where the two Spartans engage the three dozen Covies. He looks through his DMR as the Spartan in black jumps on the back of an Elite and rams a knife through the top of its skull.

"Damn." Is all he replies. He always was the silent type. We continue to watch the Spartans pulverize the Covenant until they move out of sight. I turn to Roger.

"Well looks like we're off to a good start. Let's hope we can keep it that way." I tell him. Over the next ten minutes we see plenty of our brethren destroyed. When the two main forces collided, we were flown everywhere, where ever they needed help. Our final mission today is to take out some Wraiths on a ridge near one of their Spires.

We touchdown and immediately get off. Two other Falcons land, both carrying Troopers instead of Marines.

The man in charge, a Sergeant Ryan Brooks of the UNSC Army, orders us forward. As he leads our team of eight, he tosses me a Bubble Shield.

"Use it wisely Marine. You only have one shot at it." He shouts to me as we rush towards the three Wraiths.

"Yes sir!" I yell back, wondering why he gave it to me. I've never used one before in my life, I think to myself. Is this the on switch?

The Troopers open fire as they come into range. The Wraiths' turret operators, noticing them for the first time, return fire upon our group. Two of the Troopers go down as we take cover and a third suffers a direct plasma bolt to his stomach.

Roger and I take cover behind a large boulder, returning fire at the gunners. Harum calmly shoots one of the gunners, a Brute Minor, in the throat causing him to bleed out. Unfortunately this draws the attention of another gunner who fires at our boulder. With both parts of our team pinned down, none of us can complete the objective.

I look around the boulder for a quick second in time to see all three Wraiths fire upon the Troopers.

"Cover me!" I shout to Roger as I run towards the Troopers, not bothering to look over my shoulder.

Almost immediately I hear his DMR rounds sounding off. The second Brute gunner turns his attention to me, firing at me as I rapidly clear the gap between me and the others. I prime my Bubble Shield seconds before the gunner hits me.

I fall immediately as the plasma bolts sear into my left thigh. The pain is unimaginable, like being shot and burnt alive at the same time. But then the pain ends as soon as it begins. Using the break in fire, I put all my energy into my right leg and kick myself forward toward the soldiers. As soon as I land I slam down the Bubble Shield, activating it. Almost immediately, three giant blobs of blue plasma slam into the Bubble Shield.

As the dust clears, I see the two gunners now focusing on Roger. He won't be able to move if we don't do something soon! I think to myself. As our shield goes out we return fire from the boulder only to see the three Wraiths explode into flames. We all stare in shock at the destroyed Covenant vehicles.

I look up to see a Falcon flying towards one of the spires. Using a Falcon grenade launcher is the Spartan I saw earlier, the one with the black armor who assassinated the Elite. As the troopers cheer for our savior, he lifts one hand in a salute. . . . Just before he enters the spire's shield and his Falcon starts to crash.

I stare at the falling Falcon before attempting to run towards it. Idiot that I am, I forget that my left leg is torn up. I fall down on the dirt and start crawling towards the cliff. Brooks grabs my arm and pulls me up before I can get any farther.

"Are you crazy Marine!?" he yells at me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"But we have to help them! They just crashed in there!" I yell back.

"What the fuck do you think you can do? You can't even walk; I've got two dead and one wounded, and your friend over there looks like he's ready to drop at any second! And besides, he's a Spartan. There's nothing those guys can't handle!"

"I guess, but have you seen what they're up against? Even they're gonna have trouble with that."

"Maybe. We got some time before our med evac gets here. let's see how this thing plays out."

He puts left my arm over his shoulder and helps me over to the cliff side. We get there in time to see not only the Spartan in black, but a larger Spartan with a turret emerge from the wrecked Falcon.

They rush towards the waiting Skirmishers, Grunts, and Elites, tearing through them like a chainsaw through paper. I watch as the big one gets on top of a hill and fires down into the masses of Covenant guarding the Spire. As the bodies of the Covies hit the ground, the Spartan in black rushed the Spire, using his assault rifle to tear cut down the remaining Covenant.

As the Spartan in black ascends to the top of the tower, a Falcon flies overhead stopping just outside the EMP shield. On the other side is the large Spartan, waving at the passenger of the Falcon.

I turn my attention back to the Spire in time to see the Spartan stab and Elite in the back and push him off the edge of the Spire. He watches the Elite fall for a moment then runs into the Spire's control room. Seconds later the EMP shield turns off and the Spartan walks out, shaking blood off of his knife. As the Falcon from earlier reaches the top, the Spartan in black sprints and jumps off the edge.

Brooks and I watch in disbelief as the large Spartan grabs the black Spartan and pulls him onboard the Falcon. We start cheering as the UNSC Frigate Grafton enters the scene and fires a MAC round at the Spire, completely obliterating it.

And then it happens. The beginning of the end. The Grafton bursts into flames and splits in half as a Covenant supercarrier fired upon it, destroying the frigate and all aboard. Our cheering stops abruptly.

"Where the fuck did that thing come from!?" Roger yells, breaking his usual silence.

I just shake my head and walk towards the Falcons that have just landed.

"It's not our problem right now. Let the Navy take care of it." Brooks answers.

We hop on the Falcons in grim silence. We all know what this means. The fall of Reach.