I bet Linda's never missed before.I said. Quickly, I recanted, knowing fully well how childish I sounded.

Who cares? Linda isn't here. You are. Linda would tell you to shut up, be a good littlesister and be your own person. She would tell you to stop living in her shadow, and be the best human being you can be.

Unable to dry the tears on my face, I allowed them to dry as I looked on at the scene thathad since transpired. Noble 6 had given the AI Cortana to a UNSC official that I did notrecognize (I would later realize that he was in fact the captain of the Pillar of Autumn,CommanderJacob Keyes). A small dialogue came up between the two of them, the only part of which was when I heard Keyes tell Noble 6, "Good Luck, Spartan." Before flying back to thePillar of Autumn.

"What are you doing, Spartan?" I asked under my breath.

"What's necessary." I heard a gruff, androgynous voice (I never knew the true gender of Noble 6) reply, a voice I recognized as Noble 6's. "I'd appreciate it if you offered me some covering fire while I protect the Pillar of Autumn."

A smile crossed my lips as I comprehended his request. Not a split second had passed before I replied.

"6, I'd like nothing better."

As if scripted, a slew of Covenant troops poured through the opening of the Shipyard,closing in on Noble 6's position. I put down the first two Elites that crossed the threshold, putting the Grunts behind them in a panic. In haste, they activated their plasma grenades and ran towards 6.

Suicide Grunts.

I picked three of them, downed them, and Noble 6 did the rest of thework. Together, the two of us cleared a path to the MAC cannon. Once there, several Covenant Banshee fighters descended and attempted to impede on Noble 6's protective services. As he informed me, his objective was to protect the Pillar of Autumn as it prepared to fly off of thedoomed planet of Reach and into the black vastness of space.

He had no trouble in shooting them down, not giving them the opportunity to return firewith their Plasma Fuel Rod Cannons (identical to the ones fitted onto the arms of the Hunters).All fell to the ground below in bright blue flames. I thought that the battle was over when I saw a large CCS Class Covenant ship fly into eyeshot nearby, the center beginning to glow a bright blue: the telltale sign that they were preparing to 'glass' the area around.

Glassing was a common thing for the Covenant to do when they had conquered a planet.They would pull all of their forces off-world, strategically place their CCS cruisers over specificpositions, and unleash a hellish display of technological prowess. Wide, purple beams of hot plasma would shoot onto the surface of the planet, immediately killing anyone in the vicinity and melting the surface(and covering the area) in a glass casing. They would perform this brutally meticulous task all across the planet. They would shoot down their beams, sometimes in-atmosphere, sometimes from orbit, and slowly lurch side-by-side in a line, glassing large sectionsof the planet at a time.

They would continue until the entire planet was encased in a layer of hot glass. They didthis to ensure that there was no shred of humanity was left after they had eliminated any of theUNSC forces there. We had known by now that their goal in this war was not to enslave thehuman race, or take our resources, or our planets. No, the goal of the Covenant in their waragainst Humanity was much simpler than that: total and complete genocide. They wished only toremove humans from the face of the galaxy, as part of their religious figures' (called Prophets, orthe San'Shyuum, formally) path to what they called the "Great Journey".

Noble 6 wasted no time in attempting to prevent the beam from being fired. Hemagnetized his MAC cannon and fired one round after the other, all being direct hits on theGlassing Beam. After 7 such shots, the entire ship exploded in a brilliant light, and sunk to theground. At that moment, Noble 6 got confirmation that the ship was preparing to leave.

"This is your last chance, Spartan. If you ride your Mongoose off of the edge of the cliff,you should hit into the loading bay that's still open on the side. You'll need to hurry."

"No. I'm not leaving you. I'm going to stay and fight." I said.

"That wasn't a suggestion."

"Neither was mine."

Noble 6 remained silent for a small period. He then nodded and (miraculously) lookedover to my position.

"What's your name, Spartan?"

"Rosenda A344. What about you?"

"My name is—"

The deafening roar of thePillar of Autumn deafened his answer, and I didn't have time to ask again. A U-Shaped Covenant troop transport, dubbed a Spirit, began to fly down onto the edge of the docking bay.

"A344, I don't know about you, but I don't have the ammunition to fight off another wave of troops. We need to go."

The Pillar of Autumnrose up in the air and flew towards space, becoming smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

"Our objective's complete, A344. Let's go."

"I'll be right down there with my Mongoose."

"En Route." Noble 6 said.

We rendezvoused at the end of the canyon where I had made my sniping perch. He hopped on the back of the Mongoose, armed only with his Magnum.

"I need your sniper rifle." He demanded.

"At least say please, first." I said half-jokingly.

"Now,A344."

I sighed and took my rifle off of my back, placing it in 6's hands. He checked the ammunition and leaned his back against mine, looking through the scope.

"Let's go. They'll be right on top of us soon." He said with an air of authority, similar to his usual voice, but more tactful.

"Understood." I said, trying in vain to mimic his tone.

I revved the engine of the Mongoose and rushed forward, as fast as the vehicle wouldunder our combined weight. We didn't make it far before a pair of Covenant speeders, called Ghosts, unleashed a spray of Plasma fire from the dual cannons attached to thefront of their vehicles. I only looked back just in time to see Noble 6 fire two accurately-placed shots that eliminated both of the pilots behind us, permanently silencing the gunfire.

We reached an old outpost that was littered with both the bodies of Spartans and Covenant alike. There was a platform in the center of the carnage that was home to three human machine gun emplacements.

"How are you on fuel?"

I looked down at the fuel gauge on the dashboard of the ATV and saw that the needle wason 'E'. I swore under my breath at my negligence of such a problem.

"We're running on fumes."

"Ok. We make our stand here then. This is our last defensive position."