The sounds of war met the dawning sun. Orders being barked out by the officers, weapons offering a staccato of sharp repeats in exchange, bombers screaming overhead only to deposit their explosive payload.

And in all this mess was Noble Six, as calm and collected as a Spartan could be when stuck in the middle a fire fight.

The comms screamed to life, nearly deafening me with a jumbled storm of shouted commands and callouts. I switched over to the team's channel and grabbed a clip for the borrowed tool of destruction that I held in my hands. I pulled back the bolt action and slotted the magazine home with a satisfying click. The bolt was slid back into its place, the first round loaded into the chamber and ready to be discharged with lethal efficiency into the first of many hostiles targets.

The first target was a Fallen Captain with a crimson cape adorning his shoulders. I sighted the scope's crosshair over his head and let out a shallow breath, accompanied by a soft squeeze of the trigger. The gun jumped with a sharp retort and the bullet went sailing through the air only to deeply lodge itself into the helmet of the Captain, and said Captain crumpled to the ground with a new addition to his armor.

I switched over to another target, this one a Vandal with a wire rifle. Another retort, another body, a second later and another one followed in the former's footsteps. Another target, one less bullet, one more body. The cycle repeated over and over, only broken by the few seconds to change out a spent magazine for a fresh one.

Finally after a eighteen spent shell casings I was down to my last magazine. Six bullets left, chances left to make a difference. The first one round was used to terminate a rather unfortunate target proving too successful with a pair of swords. The next two bullets were spent on a Servitor attempting a repair on the AA gun. The last three were used to eliminate a trio of snipers that had claimed a tactical position overlooking the battlefield.

That was that, the bullets were spent, the magazines lie empty, and the rifle lay now useless against the wall. All that was left to do now was dump the artillery shells over the wall and push the button.

I dragged a couple of shells over to the opening in the wall and kicked them out. The fell, increasing velocity to lethal rates, then ricocheted off the slant of the lower sections of the City wall, and firmly landed amidst the enemy far below.

"Reagan, this is Six, I've dumped the first group of shells over the wall, detonate when ready."

"Solid copy, detonating." Came the response.

The ancient weapons exploded, taking the lives of at least a dozen alien lives via shrapnel and fire.

I kicked the next group of charges over the wall.

"Explosives set, detonate when ready."

The charges went off brilliantly having similar effects to the first set.

I repeated the process with the last group of charges spelling disaster for those below.

"High time I got my boots on the ground. Reagan, I'm done here, what's your position over?" I spoke into the communicator.

"Were three floors down from you providing fire support from the wall." Reagan shouted into the com, sounds of war filling in the background.

"Copy that, moving to your location, over." I terminated the link and collected the borrowed rifle from the ground.

I gave one last look over the battlefield. At this rate, we would win in a matter of hours. The explosive charges left the alien army in disarray and without any war machines. Then the City's bombers flew in and dropped their weapons of destruction onto the mass of aliens below. The Tower's ground forces were storming the site, spelling the demise of many aliens. And finally, there were at least three other Fire Teams providing over watch from the top of the wall, if the explosive bangs from above were to be believed.

Our efforts would not be in vain it would seem. We would survive this.

I turned around and headed back out the way I had come. As I descended down the interior of the wall the sounds of war reverberated off the skeleton, coming back to me as a dull reminder that time was not on my side. I sped up my slow trot to a steady run until I came to a halt on the walkway. I didn't have time to descend back down the shaft, I would have to jump down to the walkway below and hope that it would hold against my weight.

I secured my weapons to my person before placing a hand against the railing before jump up and over. I hit the catwalk below and rolled with the impact, and in retaliation to this the catwalk let out a groan loud enough to dwarf the sounds of war. I stood up and started to pump my legs into a full sprint, intent on regrouping with my team as fast as possible and to escape this death trap before it could collapse underneath my weight. I cleared the catwalk in less than a second and was across the room in two.

Now all I needed to do was find my team and get back into the fight. I un-shouldered my rifle and started up my steady run once more. Down the hallway and a few turns later brought me to a section of the wall that was in a state of major disrepair and the fighting outside certainly wasn't doing it any favors. The walls were showing signs of collapsing and in some sections had been completely been eroded by the harsh weather of the Russian wilds. Some of the support beams were rusted out and in more instances than not rented into twisted renditions of what they once were.

I found my team members located in a room, or what was left of one, a few meters down the hall. They crouched down behind a waist high wall, only jumping up to let off a killing round on some unfortunate on the battlefield. Lily and Alicia were using their rifles to great success while Reagan had set up a belt fed LMG on the wall using a bipod mount. He was firing salvos of superheated lead into large groups of Fallen, tearing them asunder and causing a general panic amongst their ranks.

I pulled back the bolt on my rifle, counted down to three in my head then sprinted into the room before coming to a sliding halt next to Reagan as fed another box of ammo into his weapon.

"Sit rep!" I yelled over the fight.

"We have them boxed into the kill zone. If we keep this up, we should be able to push them back out of the AO."

I gave a nod and sighted my rifle in on the nearest group of enemies: a group of Dregs being commanded by a Vandal. Now that I think about it, the Fallen chain of command follows the same as that of the Covenant. Instead of Grunts and Elites its Dregs and Vandals, it seems even across dimensions, alien conglomerates are all the same. They would get the same treatment as the Covenant.

One pull of the trigger sent a bullet through the gap in the between the Vandal's helmet and chest plate spraying the Dregs with arterial spray. The Dregs didn't seem fazed by this, in fact they seemed to fight harder. They had more discipline than a Grunt at least but their poor battle tactics still made them easy targets. Another three pulls of the trigger put down the threat.

Another two squads and I was forced to duck down to reload. I glanced at the others, Alicia was covering Lily while she reloaded and Reagan was firing in short, controlled burst with his LMG. We had a superior position overlooking a large portion of the battlefield and the enemy has yet to pinpoint our location through all the chaos of the battlefield. However, we would run out of ammo before the fight was over. And judging by the number of spent magazines and the pile of empty brass at Reagan's feet, we would be out soon.

I slapped in another clip and chambered a round. I glanced over the top of our improvised cover and had to immediately duck down to avoid a wire rifle. It seems that while I was laminating over the fight a team of snipers had claimed a hollow in a rock formation; they had our position zeroed.

"Snipers!" I called out.

"Position?" Reagan didn't miss a beat as he ducked down to reload his gun.

"Rock formation at my eleven!"

"Solid copy! Lily, Alicia, lay down suppressive fire!"

The two Exos nodded in sync before they both jumped up and began firing into the rocks. After a few seconds Reagan followed suit with his LMG to a devastating effect. The heavy tungsten rounds tore through the rocks and into the Vandals within. He didn't let up, swiveling the MMG around the battlefield mowing down all who would oppose. Finally, the weapon clicked empty as the end of the belt fed through the chamber and clattered to the floor.

"I'm out!" He called out.

"Last mag!" Alicia called out as she ejected a spent magazine and fed in a full one.

"Same!" Lily called out as well proceeding to load her rifle as well.

"Tower, this is Fireteam Sundown, requesting support, over."

"Fire team Sundown, this is Cayde, ex-filtrate the AO. Commander Zavala is giving a general retreat to all ground forces. The bombers are going to mop up here and we need your team at the south-east section of the wall. The Fallen are mounting up for another assault; the fight's not over yet." The comms went dead for a few seconds before Zavala's voice filled the void with orders of a full retreat.

"Pack it up, we're moving. Six give us cover on my mark." Reagan ordered.

He held up three fingers, bringing them down one by one until he closed his fist. I stood up and began firing round after round into the alien masses below as one by one my team exited the destroyed room.

Just as I was about to follow Lily out the door I caught a glimpse of a small contingent of bombers on the horizon bee lining it to the battlefield; time to leave.

I sprinted out the door and caught up to my team. They were moving slowly, cautiously through the skeletal structure of the wall. We were going to need to speed things up if we were going to make it to the new battlefield before the shooting starts. I moved in front of them, doubling their pace easily. They quickly caught on and matched my pace, which was a slight jog for them. We moved back through the halls and over the chasm with little difficulty. Once we were outside Reagan motioned for a full halt.

"We can call for a shuttle to take us to the Tower; we'll need to rearm before we jump back into the fight."

I don't like the idea of leaving the fight. Spartans were trained to head towards the sounds of dead, never away. But I can't deny the fact that we need the supplies. While Spartan's are trained to use, and repair all equipment, human or otherwise, I don't have any experience with Fallen tech.

Reagan radioed the Tower for pick up while we set up a perimeter. We didn't have to wait long before a shuttle flying the cities colors, settled down in front of us, kicking up snow and rust. The bay doors slid back to reveal what I would guess to be an engineer outfitted in light combat armor. He waved us in and we followed, first Lily and Alicia, then Reagan, and finally me. Once inside we secured our gear and took our seats on a bench situated near the back of the shuttle. The engineer closed the doors and headed to the front. A moment later the shuttle shook as we ascended from the courtyard below and headed to the Tower.

The ride was relatively short lived in silence as the overhead light bathed the bay in red light. Soon the pilot called back to us "ETA to Tower one minute, get ready for a quick drop. Another shuttle will be waiting to take you to the frontlines."

We stood from our respective seats and grabbed the overhead handle bars as the shuttle came to a standstill. The doors slid back to reveal the interior of the Tower's hanger bustling with activity as the service mechs were performing repairs on fighters coming back from the battle. We stepped off the shuttle and the engineer immediately closed the doors behind us while the shuttle turned around and departed to another section of the fight.

"Fire Team Sundown, what the hell are you doing in my hangar!" A voice called out. That voice belonged to none other than Amanda Holliday who, at the moment was looking quite stressed. She was sweating and her breathing was labored as she finished tightening down some unknown piece to a ship.

"Well?" she asked while pointing a large wrench at us almost accusingly.

"The shuttle just dropped us off here. We need to restock before we head out again." Alicia spoke up.

"Dammit Dalton, I told you to stop dropping them off in the hangar; your supposed to drop them off in the main area." Holiday said more to herself then to us.

"So how fares the fight?" She asked.

"We just secured the breach in the wall on the north side. As soon as we finish up here were to head out to the south-east section. It's under siege and they need reinforcements." Alicia said in a huff.

She took a second to let the information process and then nodded as if to confirm this to herself.

"Ammo and weapons are being set up in the main atrium for easy access. You should get a move, things to do, aliens to kill and all that."

We nodded our thanks and headed out to rearm. The main area was in a frenzy of activity. Stall vendors were packing up what they could into safe storage containers and their stalls were being commandeered by the Vanguard for weapon and ammo placement. Others were running around with various crates marked ammo or medical going to various places. Guardians stopped by seemingly at random and only long enough to get what they needed for the next fight. It served as a reminded to me of when the UNSC would prepare to repel a Covenant assault. I had to wonder how faired the war back home.

We marched over to the nearest ammo dump and started to reload spend magazines and replace lost clips. I snatched three fresh clips for my rifle and another three for the pistol, in addition to two fragmentation grenades. I was ready to go and by the looks of things so was the rest of the team.

"C'mon, transport leaves in two; we need to get moving." Reagan stated.

Transport in question was docked and destined for the frontlines. It looked something like a pelican that is if a pelican had thrusters on the wings that could rotate vertically at 180 degrees. It also had less armor in the rear but it made up for it with forward weapons and armor plating. To finish it off was a gunmetal grey paintjob featuring the Vanguard icon on the side of the nose. Now that I'm looking at it looks like a falcon and pelican hybrid. Hopefully it flies just as well.

We boarded the ship via the rear cargo bay hatch and took our seats along a foldout bench running the length of either side of the hold. The hatch sealed shut behind us, and the overhead light switched from green to red signifying that the door was closed.

"ETA to hot zone is five minutes out. The Fallen are pressing the assault but so far the Guardians are holding out. Last time I made a supply run over their Fallen was dropping in pikes so watch your asses." The pilot called out.

"What are pikes?" I questioned.

"One man recon vehicles outfitted with light anti personnel weapons and minimal armor." Lily said.

"It sounds similar to ghosts."

"And what are those."

"It's same thing from the sounds of it. Easy to get around in the right circumstances though."

"I'm dropping you off at the edge of the perimeter; you'll have to hump it from there."

The shuttle settled down with a thud before the rear bay doors opened up. Outside we could hear the tell tale sounds of war, mainly a constant staccato of weapons discharging. We grabbed our gear and hurried out of the shuttle with me on point. Wherever we were, it used to be a shopping district or something. Old storefronts that were once bustling with activity were now boarded up as a silent reminder of what it once was. One such shop however, was turned into a make shift triage. Wounded were being lugged into it from the frontlines. Those that didn't make it were set off to the side of the building with white sheets draped over them, and red splotches showing through the thin fabric.

I pulled back on the charging bolt, and shouldered the weapon; it was time to engage the enemy, and the rest of the team seemed to be of the same mind. Similar sounds of weapons being loaded emitted from them before we headed for the battlefield at a light jog. The fight seemed to be taking place on the other side of the wall, and in some places inside it. This wasn't going well for the City.

"What's the plan?" Lily spoke up.

After a second of deliberation Reagan seemingly came to d decision. "Lily, seek and destroy hostiles inside the wall; Six, back her up. Alicia and I will assist friendly's up top." And with that we went our respective ways. Reagan and Alicia broke left to an exterior service elevator while Lily and I proceeded through the ground floor. As we approached the entrance someone came running out caring a wounded service man that was bleeding profusely from a wound on his leg. The man gave us a passing glance before surging forward towards triage. As we entered the first floor, a staff sergeant was prepping himself alongside his men for close quarter's engagement; they were armed to the teeth with shotguns and sub machine guns. The sergeant himself was wearing some sort of heavy plate carrier system across his chest, and smaller similar pieces protecting his upper legs. He took notice of us when we approached.

"Guardians, what the hell are you doing here? You should be up top with the rest of them repelling the assault."

"Negative Staff Sergeant; we have orders to assist your team with hostile elements in the AO." I replied.

"Well, we could always use the backup. Hostiles have multiple entry points on the second and third floor via holes in the outer wall. We can't get an angle on where they're coming in from the outside so we're going in to clean them out; any questions?"

"How many entry points?" Lily asked.

"Unknown, but I would expect at least five if not more. Now if that's all you're on point; we'll back you up." He pumped the shotgun in hand for emphasis. The rest of his men took the hint, various sounds of weapons being loaded reverberated off the walls; they filed through a door labeled "stairs" at the far end of the room with the sergeant following after.

"Alright, two teams. Haggis and Sigma with me, designation Alpha one; Fred, Akash, and Herman, designation Alpha two."

We followed after them, and once inside two soldiers sealed the door we had just walked through. If we failed then there wouldn't be anything to stop the Fallen from getting into the City. They already breached the wall, now it came down to this moment to determine if they would get any further.

The Staff Sergeant's squad broke up into two teams: one at the top of the stairs in a stacked formation and the other at the bottom of the stairs. The Sergeant was at the back of the breach team waiting for us; apparently we were leading the breach. I got into a ready stance with my weapon lowered but ready to be brought up in a moment's notice, and prepared myself mentally for the breach. And for one moment I was back on Mamore getting ready to breach a door with three other marines.

It was May tenth when the UNSC launched a counterattack on the insurgency on the Colonial Planet Mamore. I was deployed alongside two squadrons of Sabres; we were tasked with escorting Pelican flight teams to their LZ's planetside. The insurrectionist had seized control over the local UNSC airbase, and was expected to deploy AV-14 Attack VTOLs and AC-220 Gunships.

The flight down was interesting to say the least. We lost two of the ten Pelicans and five Sabres on the way down. Shortly after the Pelicans had deployed, the local Double AA's came online and targeted our forces. We lost another three Pelicans on the way out before we docked with the UNSC Bum Rush. Shortly thereafter, I was deployed along with a squad of ODST's that were more or less unhappy that Brass had deemed that groundside deployment of a Spartan was necessary for mission success. We we're tasked taking out the enemy AA's so that the deployment of additional forces could go on without further obstruction.

After being deployed via the SOEIV pods, we came under fire in the streets. The rebels had anticipated us, and had occupied numerous buildings in the AO. We lost at least a third of our landing force immediately after drop to a couple of mmg nests set up in an office building. A few grenades made short work of the positions, but it didn't change the fact that we were severely out manned.

It was another hellish three blocks before we reached the compound housing the AA positions. Three whole blocks of rebels and ambushes and traps. They had rigged construction grade demolition charges in sewage drains along the street, and primed them to calibrated pressure plates hidden under pieces of debris. One misstep, one shift of the debris' weight would lead to a catastrophic and explosive end. Down another two men and with anxiety levels through the roof, we finally reached the edge of the compound.

"Stack up and prep for breach." I ordered.

At this point the ODST's didn't give a rat's ass about their petty grudges against Spartans, and just wanted the mission over with. The three remaining ODST's stacked upon the door with weapons at the ready.

"On your mark, Spartan." The corpsman said.

"On your go Guardian." This time, instead of breaching an Innie occupied UNSC Sam Sight, I was in a stairwell with soldiers I didn't recognize. It took me a few seconds and a shake of the head to orient myself back to the present. A hand sat itself upon my shoulder, the owner of which being a purple android.

"You good, Six?" She asked, her tone laced with concern.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm good." I didn't know who I was really reassuring. Either way she seemed to accept it and removed her hand from me.

"Three...two...one!" I launched an alloy encased boot into the door where the locking mechanism was located, shattering it in one go. The Sergeant frantically waved his men into the next room.

"Go go go!"

"Breaching!"

"Hostile contacts!"

Inside the room one of the men caught a round from a wire rifle in the chest, the energy round zipping through the air leaving a vapor trail in its wake. His body armor absorbed the brunt of the impact, sending him sprawling back on his ass with a grunt. The energy round ate a fist sized hole in the center of his plate carrier, replacing the area around the impact with a sizzling hole. The man in question seemed to fine as he flailed with the buckles securing the now burning plate carrier to his person.

"Haggis is hit!" The Sergeant cried as he drug him back through the doorway.

"Sigmas, lay down suppressive fire." A loaded submachine gun was blindly sprayed into the room in short controlled streams. None of the rounds found a target, but that wasn't the intent. Incoming enemy fired slowed to a near stop as the occupants inside were forced to duck and cover less they bite the bullet.

After the Sergeant finished dragging in and checking over Haggis, he turned to Alicia and Me

"Move in and secure a foothold in the room. We'll lay down covering fire from the doorway, and on your go Alpha two will back you up!"

We expressed our assent by shoulding our weapons and preparing to run into the enemy fire. Once we crossed the threshold of the doorway, the enemy resumed their ether fueled onslaught with renewed vigor.

The room wasn't much of a room, but more of a large service hall that curved slightly to the contours of the wall that stretched for thirty or so feet. Three Vandals had taken up forward positions behind rusted crates and propped up paneling. Four Dregs had posted themselves closer to the door, most likely to function as a buffer between us and the Vandals; just like the Elites and the Grunts. And finally, one lone Vandal with a Wire Rifle was crouched along the length of an overhead beam in the back of the room. He would have to be dealt with first as he was the most immediate threat to Alpha Two.

Lily fired a pump from her shotgun on the way into the room, the lead wall eviscerating the chest cavity of the nearest dreg. The others seemed to stop for a second in shock as their comrade was brutally cut down in front of them, then they abandoned their pistols in favor of their shock knives. It seemed that we had made things personal for them. Fine by me; unlike the Covenant, the Fallen officers weren't willing to fire upon their own troops, cannon fodder or no, to get a few kills. I could work with that.

The first dreg to come within melee distance took a wide swipe and my torso. I stepped back out of the ark and sent the but of my rifle into its elbow accompanied by a satisfying crack. The Dreg dropped his knife and cradled is now reversed elbow while the other Dregs went stepped forward. Lily fired a pump from her shotgun once more felling another Dreg in a spray of visceral and lead. The impact of the shot sent the lifeless body of the Dreg into his wounded comrade. The third and fourth quickly realised that engaging the humans in CQC was a mistake and abandoned the fight to fall back. The Vandals opened up as soon as the Dregs turned tail to run forcing us to take cover less we be caught by the incoming projectiles. Alpha one, who was still inside the doorway, to the initiative to return fire against the aggressive alien barrage. The hall soon broke out into a reverberating chorus of automatic ballistics fire and the high pitched whine of energy weapons discharging. Unfortunately this left us in the middle of the fire zone hunkered down behind some crates hoping that a stay round wouldn't catch us. We couldn't stand up to return fire either as the Vandals equipped with Wire Rifles were zeroed in on our position, and would take a pot shot at our peaking heads.

"Six, I have a plan, but you're going to have to trust me." Lily spoke over the cacophony of weapons.

"Whatever you're going to do do it fast; we don't have much time."

"I need you to draw their attention away from me for a few seconds."

A few shots zipped over our heads and buried themselves in the wall behind us.

"Okay, 'Alpha one provide suppressive fire on the Vandals." Their wasn't a reply except for the increase in ballistics discharges forcing the Vandals to momentarily divert their attention to the doorway.

I rolled out of cover and brought my rifle to bear. One of the Vandals in the back fired off a round with its Wire Rifle. The shot zipped past and impacted against the floor where was only a second before coming up from the roll. I in turn let loose my own shot which found its mark in the leg of the shooter followed by its short plunge to the rusted floor below.

Just after the squelching impact, a flash of violet light emanated from my immediate right. Glancing over, I noticed that the source of the light was in fact Lily. Her body was encased in dancing patterns of lilac and violets while she was doubled over. What was happening to her! Was she in danger or was this some sort of Guardian trait that everyone had neglected to inform me of. I soon found my answer when she flung a splayed hand forward at the Vandals and Dregs, and all of the light seemed to course through her body to her arm like a great dam had broken and the water was surging forwards. And the resulting action was the brightest ball of violet streaking through the air leaving a vapor trail of sort in its wake before slamming down amidst the Alien invaders. The ball of light seemed to implode before exploding in a spectacle of light whereas the Fallen seemed to be struck with some invisible force before they began to turn a shade of purple and then fade into nothingness.

Lily herself was left visibly weakened and I had to provide assistance in helping her back into cover.

"Alpha Two move in!" The Staff Sergeant called back from the doorway.

"What was that?" I asked the Exo. Her LED's seemed to dim a bit as she sat there trying to recover.

"That was a Nova Bomb." She said simply.

"And what is that."

"Look, we don't have time to explain the whole thing right now but know that every Guardian has an enate trait unique to that Guardian's class. I'll explain more when we aren't being invaded." She said rather matter of factly, almost angrily while pulling herself back up into a low crouch.

I silently cursed myself. I'm a Spartan, how could I forget that the City was under siege even for a single moment. I would need to do better in the future. Small slip ups like this end in an avalanche of momentous mistakes that could result in failure or death. This was a lesson drilled into us since day one of the Spartan III project. Either way there was still a sniper in the AO and it needed to be dealt with before we could move on.

Lily unslung her rifle while setting her shotgun aside against the crate. By this point Alpha two is swarming into the room and taking cover against the crates. The last remaining Vandal at the back of the room was overwhelmed by the incoming humans and was forced to retreat into the next area. With a heavy sigh, the Sergeant gave the all clear. Everyone gathered up in the center of the room while two men were posted at the front of the room as a forward deterrent against a counter attack.

"Haggis, you good?" The Staff Sergeant asked.

"Yeah Sarge. Bastard only got through the first few inches of body armor, nothing more."

"Good, medical wouldn't take your sorry ass even if we wrapped you up in a pretty bow." The Sergeant said with a hearty laugh.

"I love you too, Sarge." Haggis's voice was rolling in sarcasm.

I ejected the clip from my rifle and fed in a fresh one. At this rate I wouldn't have to restock before we redoployed.

"We need to move while they're still regrouping." Lily spoke up.

"The Guardian is right. Stack for another breach, frag and clear this time." The Sergeant ordered. The teams reloaded and filed over to the door, taking up similar positions like before.

"Guardians, you're on point again."

Lily and I took the point positions on either side of the door which was a simple pressure door that swung inward with a turnstile mechanism. Alpha one divided itself in half and stacked up behind myself and Lily. One of the men passed up two of his fragmentation grenades which were of a similar make to the UNSC's standard. Hold the trigger down and pull the pin with an optimal three second cook time depending on the distance to target.

After a few seconds of examination, the man behind me, Sigmas if i remember correctly, gave me a pat on the side since he couldn't quite reach my shoulder; that was the breaching signal. I pulled the pins on the grenades and then gave a nod in confirmation to Lily who then swung the door inward by a foot; plenty of room to throw a frag in. There was a commotion inside and an uproar of yelling as the deadly spheres bounced into the room. Then it was silent as Lily yanked the door closed followed shortly by a muted 'boom'. She kicked in the door and i charged in with my rifle at the ready while the rest of Alpha one surged in behind.

The grenades took out the majority of the Fallen inside and even collapsing a small section of the rusted ceiling in one area taking with it several Vandals and an unfortunate Dreg. The rest of the surviving Aliens, which consisted only of three Dregs and the Vandal from the previous room, lay scattered and disoriented no doubt from the blast. The Dregs were put down in short order while Haggis gutted the Vandal with a point blank round of shot from his scattergun in a grotesque show of revenge. The results were a newly colored Haggis and one disfigured carcass.

"All clear; holo map indicates one of the breaches just up ahead. Haggis, since your so playful why don't you take point, give the Guardians a bit of a break." Haggis ejected the spent shell which skittered across the ground before flashing a grin at us.

"Sure, why the hell not!" He seemed rather eager. Hopefully it wouldn't get in the way of rationality.

We went down the hallway in rows of two with Haggis leading the column, gun at the ready. All that we could hear were the sounds of fighting coming from the top of the wall and the other side of said wall in addition to armored boots thudding across rusted metal. Down the hall we traveled in silence until we came to a 'T' intersection upon which Haggis signaled halt with a raised fist. The Sergeant seemed to know what Haggis was waiting for and tapped his right shoulder twice upon which Haggis signaled to follow as he turned down right after he checked his corners.

At the end of the hallway was a small set of stairs leading up to a double door pressure bulkhead labeled exterior access. Two Dregs were shot in the back as we came around the corner to find them getting ready to cut the rusted welds.

"Stack up and make sure you're packing a full load. The first breach is through here and they're gonna be real excited to see us. Guardians, you're gonna have to take point again. Opposition is gonna be tough so be prepared and try to avoid any structural damage."

We nodded and braced ourselves against the door while the rest of the team got into position.

"On your mark we breach."

I looked at Lily who nodded to me and held up three fingers. I nodded in return and she started to silently count down. Upon the last finger falling, she and I launched our respective boots into the rusted metal. The door twisted and groaned under our combined might but gave in all the same. However, what was on the other side wouldn't give in so easily.

xxx

Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait; I know it's been awhile but it's finally here. Long story short for the lack of updating was due to a bunch of life throwing shit at me and me trying to shield myself from it. Anyways, I hope you like the chapter and sorry about the abrupt ending; I felt really bad for the long wait. As an informal apology I will give you a heads up as to what the next chapter will contain: The other half of Fire Team Sundown and their situation. As always, please Read and Review, and let me know what you thought about this chapter. I'm kinda on the fence with it so let me know if you like it, hate it, or it's just kind of 'meh'. Till next time this is DemonicalFox777 signing off...