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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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"You know the rules-"

February 26 2527 - Hour 0217

MSGT Logan 'Log' Sutton

Pirth City, Eire, Arcadia

These months had been quite intense due to the training I put my squad through. New ranks didn't mean any easing down with the hard work, and so more material was included to train them up when it comes to some officers-related duties in case they had to take care of some teams. The experience in Circinius IV had left a few questions regarding the lacking performance when it comes to leadership. Some had it easy due to experience, but Arturo actually struggled to keep the marines under control and prevent his line from collapsing. Thus a bit of theory was added to the mix.

That and training with melee weapons. Doctor Gerhardt had finished testing out the prototypes and we could get our choice tools out of the large list of items that were prepared for the Project. It was mostly knives, with the exception of Alba's unique weapon. A warhammer that was reinforced and meant to propel foes with extra force if handled correctly.

I decided to stick with a Kukri since... Emil. I just loved the guy and wanted to make a memento after the canon version of the character. Months of training in handling the blade while also studying more about officers' duties did good for us all as I felt we were all getting better and more prepared for the next mission.

Speaking of which, peace couldn't last long and the Covenant were onto something as we would soon learn. Somehow they managed to learn about the Forerunners' ruins on the planet and had sent a fleet to take care of these devices. Which meant Halo Wars was still happening despite my best effort and we were now dealing with similar odds like in the game.

The difference? Cole had reacted just in time by sending a response force that was bigger than the canon fleet sent to handle the situation. We were assigned to the UNSC Roman Blue, straight under the command of Captain Terrence Hood, and assist the joint operations on the planet with the ground forces dispatched by the UNSC Spirit of Fire.

The situation was fairly dire due to how 'late' the intervention had arrived. The Covenant had set up heavy AA weaponry that was chipping away some of the advantage the UNSC fleet had over their numerically inferior ships. We were going to win it, but the orbital cannons had to be taken care of if we didn't want this to be a costly win.

So, with the notion that the entire region was packed with numerous AA pieces, the plan of attack was driven by a single common logic: Use SOEIV drop pods to land on the surface, rally all men in multiple squads, remove most of the AAs, secure footholds for Pelicans to begin the real fight.

Sounds simple but... I don't need to explain it isn't the same in practice. To make a rundown on what the SOEIV drop pods are, these things are known to be the 'tin cans of death' due to how easily it is for one of those to malfunction and kill the user. And my team and I plus a considerable amount of ODSTs assigned for the time being under my command, were expected to safely get as close as possible to Pirth City, clear up about half the city and destroy any cannons within range. We were without vehicles within this early mission, but we were promised some tanks once we had the whole place cleaned up.

The civilian evacuation was unfolding under heavy fire as some of the men from the Spirit of Fire had been ordered to brave the storm and get the people out while providing aerial cover for the operation. Fairly deadly, but it was the best bet they had due to how intense the firefights were getting in the areas they held.

"Alba doesn't like this," A certain Jiralhanae groaned in distaste, her noises followed by a few agreeing sighs and a snort from Gage. Of course Gage would love this having trained as an ODST and learned the sublime art of dropping from the skies through a suicidal pod and then expect to make it alive through harsh missions.

"Coordinates set. We will launch soon." Sif confirmed as we all got ready while the AI started the countdown.

Soon, one by one, the drop pods started to drop and fall towards the planet. The very moment we entered the atmosphere, things started to get a bit heated within my pod as the pace it was falling had it burn at the ceramic skin meant to tank that kind of temperature. It still got me 'warmed up' at around 30 C° and I could tell that was just one of the many bad features of the tin can of death. The fall still continued smoothly as none of the AAs seemed to pick us in their radar as drop pods- a bit of a relief since it showed how the Covenant didn't have the means to differentiate a drop pod from a meteor.

At 3,000 feet, the drag-type chutes activated, slowing down the fall and, at around 200 feet, the pod's braking rockets activated further slowing down the fall and allowing the pod to eventually make a strong landing without actually exploding on impact. After getting a bit shaken up due to the loud and intense landing, I managed to get the frontal hull slammed open so I could leave the pod.

Quickly, Sif did a quick diagnostic scan from my suit and confirmed no injuries. The same was done with the rest of the attack force and I sported a grim look when the AI confirmed two pods had failed to enter the planet properly and the operators had been killed in the ensuing deadly landing.

Two more names to add to the ever-growing list of avoidable deaths.

It happens, they died trying to help. Sif tried to sound reasonable about this, but I just felt a bit more miserable about this. Someone had to get this issue solved at once. It wouldn't do for a military force to allow faulty devices as deadly as these drop pods.

Shaking my head as I pushed that topic for when, I spent the next ten minutes getting in contact with the rest of the squadron and rallying them all in four large teams. From what I was aware, we weren't going to be on our own dealing with this. Team Omega has been dispatched too to clean the other sections of the city we weren't dealing with. This mission was, by all means, a full clean up of Pirth City before we got all survivors out and ready to leave.

And the next few hours were quite unpleasant due to some familiar sights. Not only were we handling large forces of foes securing the districts of the planetary capital just like in Harvest... but the smell was the same. The smell of rotting flesh and burning one. Jackals and Brutes were known to engage in cannibalism, I just didn't expect for them to drop into this mindset this early on.

The first time around was because it was useful to terrify the marines guarding the streets, but here there was none of that. The Militia was still around and holding small sections of the capital, but this tactic couldn't do much against their already shaky yet hardened morale. No, whoever was commanding these troops had willingly enabled these two species to engage in these vile deeds.

I felt a bit more detached than usual, still handling out orders just fine but lacking the usual calm I have in these situations. I saw a few marines, both experienced and newbies pause a few times around the pile of corpses we found. Some missings limbs, others blacked out and turned to charred dust in most parts. Alba herself stopped to stare in dismay and growing anger at the sight of a dismembered child trying to hold onto who appeared to be her mother. This was... plain evil. And I could tell the bastard that had planned this attack had to be killed in the earnest.

"Sir, is everything alright?" Serin called out quietly as she spotted my unease. Clever girl, I guess I had to blame myself for her sharp perspective of things in this regard.

"This is like Harvest," I admitted curtly. "Same settings, same monsters- I guess my little hope of never stumbling on a situation like that one was a bit naive on my part."

"...Was it that bad?"

"Considering I didn't have this large back-up working on cleaning the place up?" I replied back with a flat tone. "This is slightly better."

Serin nodded at this, deciding against pressing for more details in that regard. The rest of the operation worked quite smoothly beyond a few issues tied to hostile vehicles. Some of the Wraiths were difficult to kill when they were in groups and firing at us, but we managed to clear up a large area of the city, finally making our way to the landing strips that were used by the civilian emergency ships, we managed to met up with the rest of the forces sent by the Spirit of Fire. The welcome party was as warm as one would expect.

"This is Sergeant Forge, who do I have to thank for taking off some of the burden here?"

I smirked. "Master Sergeant Sutton answering, it seems we are far off from engaging in eased talking, Sergeant."

Forge chuckled. "Sorry, sir. Been a bit of a troublesome few hours now."

"Understandable, but no pauses until we got all Covvies in the area eliminated."

"Sir, yes sir!"

The rest of the clean-up operation went through with no issues. The covenant had been isolated as the large portion of their force had been repelled from the city. Or, at least by the reports, it felt like they had retreated before our advance. The truth was that something more sinister was unfolding as we finished off the last sections of resistance.

While Pirth City had been taken care of in most part, the rest of the planet was still packed with Covenant troops and... they were moving with the bulk of their forces in an area we had to follow them in. And that was where we were going to get close and personal with our foes as we were venturing over the renowned jungles of Arcadia. That, I could tell, was going to be where a turning point could be made for the next few days of engagement.

I just didn't know how 'close and personal' things were about to get. Especially since it all felt so familiar and foreboding...

AN

Next time, some shield-busting with plasma-blasting tanks!

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

REVIEW Q&A!

Isco5721: Daisy already made an appearance, I will do something to include Cal too. The Paramount series is trash as I had expected and I will not even consider even thinking of adding anything from that. I believe doing so would be applying a severe downgrade to any good story.

Tinfoot: Yeah, that's my bad actually. I tried to get it ready faster but I had commissions to write and those take time and quality to get done.