Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Iron Cross. Enjoy the 3200-word chapter. I do not own Warhammer or Halo, Gameshop and 343 do.
(Bega-IV, January 7th, 2532.)
Halius sat silently in his room aboard the cruiser… He sat silent as he investigated the deep recesses of space, his armor set aside and the medical treatment still stinging.
He had heard losses on Kholo were just as bad, 300 guardsmen and 30 Ultramarines… The Orks had continued fighting the Covenant and he assumed the entire debacle would destabilize the system far beyond now.
He focused on the lives lost. The guardsmen and marines… His brothers.
He clenched a fist. The Spartans perhaps. In each battle they lost even when they won, something was stripped away in the confusion.
Halius frowned, too interested in it all now… The idea had been something to think of what was growing for now.
There was a knock on the door. Halius seemed to sigh, pushing himself to his feet as he looked to the side.
He thought of it all, tiresome thoughts had cut into his mind before he looked downwards.
Halius sighed and then keyed up the combo to open it, frowning at the idea of going off at one of his brothers…. But he needed to vent, he required some venting.
Halius was instead greeted by Linda in full armor. The Ultramarine was caught off guard but not entirely surprised.
Halius seemed to be interested in it all. He cleared his throat to speak of himself and then leaned on the doorframe.
"Spartan Linda… How are you?" Halius sighed to himself before he cleared his throat again.
"Are you ok?" Halius asked to which Linda nodded.
"Yes. I heard Chief managed to get back to the Spirit." Linda seemed to hear as of now.
She seemed to be thinking of it all before she thought of it before Linda cleared her throat.
He sighed to himself, thinking of it all now. She wished it to be interesting at the time.
The Spartan watched as Halius hummed, thinking of himself differently. He blinked and then straightened himself, a look of calmness on his face.
"Are you ok?" Linda asked to which Halius nodded, tapping on the doors.
He thought of it as all being for the time of it all when he cracked his fingers.
Halius hummed and then thought of it was growing more and more and more unstable with it all on the line.
"Tired, very tired physically. I have spent 6 hours helping Captain Titus arrange the 2nd company across the galaxy… The other companies have been spread thin and we have recently lost a squad of Ultramarines who will need to be retrained with reinforcements." Halius stated.
His tone made it VERY clear he was not okay. It was VERY clear he was hung up still on the fact that he had watched soldiers die on the mission.
It was not the resigned voice of a commander who knew very well these losses would have done nothing in the face of victory or defeat.
War did not care who died, it did not pause to let others grieve. They were demanded to fight onward, to run into the storm and not from it.
To him? In his mind? He had been able to think of it all now, they had a lot more to try and figure.
He had been all too thrown off, all too fascinated with concepts like this when he had been a Sergent.
Halius? Halius also knew now as a Lieutenant that things were all too restrictive. He had been able to relax, they had been too interested in it all.
Halius looked at Linda. She did not care what her rank was and he knew it, she was just a soldier and she acted like one.
The chains of leadership had been as much a collar as they were another weapon to lash at the enemy, each fallen soldier that was slain by the enemy bothered him, it reminded him of things lost to time.
It reminded him of how terrible the deal they had in life. He wanted to fight, not just bear the curse of each dead soldier on his mind.
She was all too distracted as he was. Halius hummed, looking at his friend before he cleared his throat.
"How are you reacting to the war? You have slain several Orks last battle… Your weapon has injured soldiers I did not expect it." Halius said, tapping on the wall next to him.
Halius watched Linda nod, and pause for a moment before both looked down the hallway. Halius kept his hand on his bolter pistol, prepared for combat if need be.
The Ultramarine was eager to talk, however. His brothers caused issues but like any family? He took it in stride as any of them had.
Halius questioned something now and he questioned what the ruckus was. These types of ships were very different from UNSC warships and noise had caused far more issues when one dwelled on the source of said ruckus.
He was curious, very curious now and Halius was eager to find it out while he slowly advanced forwards and then watched as Linda followed, keeping her hand on her firearm as she looked at him.
He was all too fascinated with all these people; these problems were caused by something beyond his ideals. He was keen to take them apart and cause them to break, their problems would crush them.
Halius motioned for Linda to follow as he slowly crept down the hallway, his sidearm in his hands as he paused to think for just a moment, a second in time and he would suffer all such ideas by now and that bothered him.
All of this was disturbed by him and he felt himself ready to crash downwards onto the ground screaming to himself.
He can think, to act… And all of it pointed more and more to something else.
Halius crept down the hallway, his weapon fully at the ready as he paused, tired, exhausted now it came down to it… All of it ended… All of it would BE ended.
He sighed, tired… Exhausted and very unwilling to do so.
He hummed, glancing at Linda as he motioned to the side. He closed his mind for once and acted.
Halius turned the corner just to be greeted by both Igaros and the others, he sighed as the Lieutenant put his weapon on his hip.
"What are you doing?" Halius asked, tired and in no mood to deal with this.
"Questioning what to do now that you are out of the medical bay?" Igaros joked.
"Whatever you wish, Igaros…" Halius snarked as he turned to Linda. "Is your team usually this mentally ill?" Halius stated with annoyance.
"Only when it comes to your health, brother." Halius heard as he waved the Ultramarine off.
"Don't," Halius muttered as he sighed and then cursed to himself under his breath. "Have we gained any news from Captain Titus? Our withdrawal from the Kholo system was risky and tactically dangerous." Halius stated to which they shared looks.
"Captain Titus has been asked to postpone all military operations until we can verify the next course of action…. The war has entered something of a stalemate and the Orks draw ever closer to our lines." He heard.
It was over this he sighed to himself… Why? Simple, he knew more and more and more that WHATEVER he had to do?
Igaros was silent before looking at his brother, he did not think of it. Halius seemed to be tired now before he looked upwards and into the sky.
The Ultramarine was eager to think, eager to get back to work…. But he did know that they had plenty of problems.
Brennus seemed to be thinking of it before she thought of it all the way.
Halius was eager to think of something before she sighed to himself as Linda hummed, walking back and forth, something had been too much to try and think.
She was going on being amused before she clicked her fingers, leaning on the wall. She was all too thrown off, all too odd when it was all said and done.
Linda looked to the side, something about this all had brought them to the amusing part of life… A part of life she did not thrive in but had been able to think and act.
She had no idea what was going on. Linda was many things… But she was capable of more, much more than she could have allowed it to be.
Halius was silent, he would continue it now when he was able to think of it all while he managed to relax. Something about it all seemed to distract him for now, he would remain addicted to it at the end of it to the end of it now.
Something which needed to be done now and for a good reason… He had been able to think of it all, she knew him at the end of the day, an idea which needed to be disturbed now.
All of it was odder and odder now, it was something odder and odder, something about it all came as a massive bubble of confusion fell across them.
Halius turned to Linda as she began to pull him through the remains.
It was not bad, he would understand that now, something about it all became crashing at the end of the day, an idea which was not yet tossed to the side.
He knew how tiresome he was now when he had been off the battlefield, social experiences were not his forte, granted? All of it was odder and odder when he thought of it all now.
He had to be ready, something about it all became harder and harder for him… As if it had become an issue for them all now, something about it all became much.
He had been able to think of it all was growing on his mind, something that had been tiresome and would be tiresome across the world.
He had been too interested in something that vexed him now and the Spartan-II led the Ultramarine deeper and deeper into the depths of the warship.
Halius was tired, a thousand battles had dragged him into a cycle of exhaustion and inability to think.
He was eager to banish such ideas, such ideas had been taking up pieces of his mind…. Now and for good did the next idea have been.
Halius began to believe thinking was all he did and he was beginning to tire of the same ideas.
The two walked in tandem, both pausing to take glances around them. Halius never took up residence in one of their warships, his home was mostly war-torn battlefields and other such desolate hellscapes plucked from battle.
Perhaps that was bothersome to most… But Astartes were bred for war and all its problems.
He held onto nothing less than combat, nothing more than a fight and he was able to grasp it more and more.
Ultramarines like him were tiresome at the end of the day before she relaxed, too tiresome at the time being as she hummed to herself.
She had been able to think of it all and she thought of it all being harder and harder to think.
She was eager to think of it was all throwing it to the side. She was eager to think, of it all… Something about it all came crashing to the side before now, she was all too amusing to him.
Halius was entirely willing to think of it all when it came down to it now and for good reason at the time being as of the time being… It was all too much now, it would not become easier and easier at all now, not at all.
He heard so damn much of what was going on that this? This did not exactly help much at the time, something he was undaunted.
He was too interested in it all for now, all of it was too interested in it all for now, something that he had been ready to deal with for now.
He had been too interested in it all, something he had to figure out now, a monstrous thing which he was ill-suited for now as it was all said and do for now… He had been too interested.
He had been too interested it would all coming for the time being as he clicked his fingers. He was able to try and figure it out and he had managed to think of it all when push had come to shove.
Halius followed Linda, more confused than thrown off… All of him was tired, it was exhausted and he was unable to do more now, unable to think of trying to think of it all.
Halius hummed to himself, he had been too interested in it all, something about it all seemed to be making him relax once more.
Halius hummed to himself, watching as the sniper led him deeper and deeper into the cruiser.
"Are you ok?" Halius heard as he shrugged.
"I am physically ok… Why do you ask?" Halius asked before he looked to the side, something that he had been thrown off by. "I am tired at the time being… I am bored of it all… And tired of his battle." Halius stated before he sighed.
Halius hummed, too much had gone on when he had managed to relax.
He was ready to retire to his room for a bit, and let himself relax at the time being, he had been too interested now and he found such things interesting in it all, all of it was harder and harder to relax upon completing for us.
Halius seemed to be thinking of it as he thought of it all. He thought of it when he cracked his fingers before he thought of himself.
He thought of what was growing on his mind, relaxed for now, and then thought of it was growing on his mind.
Halius was all too interested in it all before he relaxed, he had thought of something more and more as he clicked his fingers, snapping them into position as if he were a machine.
Halius had been too interested in it all being something for now and then cracked his fingers once more, snapping off a noise that sounded half like a machine gun and half like a hammer being punched into a fight.
Halius hummed, cracking his fingers, something about it had been thrown off at the time being. Linda hummed and then thought of it as she hummed and then cracked a smile at her before she relaxed fully.
They had a lot more options to find fault with it. They had a lot more to deal with, something about it all became harder and harder now… Something about it all seemed to be more amusing now… Now? He had a LOT more to understand, a LOT of different things he had left to lose.
Halius hummed, tired… Very tired now and he was not willing to admit defeat when it had come down to it…. Something about it all came crashing to the ground… A monstrous thing like his own morality was bothering the Ultramarine because it meant he could not have done anything with it for now.
He was too tired, far too exhausted now… And it disturbed him now, all these ideas were growing through his mind as the Ultramarine hummed, curious.
"We need to be ready for what the Covenant will do… But they are small compared to the Orks." Halius stated before he thought of what was growing on his mind.
Halius hummed, clicking his fingers, thinking of himself, and thinking of each little step he had tried to take in that direction.
Halius hummed, he hummed with each little idea that came to mind. The Orks? They were brutes without stratagem and without cunning, sweeping across the galaxy like a wave of flesh… But it was not something he was able to sweep aside them.
The covenant? The covenant were many things but their leaders were not stupid, they had not committed to pointless attacks and had held much of their military in reserve.
He had been too interested in the war that he had not focused on much else. Halius knew very well that this was causing problems and yet he could not back off, he had to fight, he had to strategize, help plan, and act too interested in that idea.
Halius hummed, too interested in that idea. The rest of him screamed to go elsewhere mentally and he could not, he would not let it occur that way… Now and for good? He held onto it all now.
Halius looked at Linda before he cracked a smile, holding his helm in his hand and then looking at her as he removed said helm.
"You should know every single battle we fight only makes things worse, much worse now," Halius said as Linda hummed.
"We have our orders… We always have our orders." Linda stated to which Halius nodded, looking to the side.
"Correct. We have a lot more to try and deal with it for now, something about it all came crashing to the ground… All of us do not understand what is going on. We have a lot more to say and do next at the time being." Halius said with a hum.
Halius was eager now, he had more and more with it all, something which had been thrown off… Something about it all became harder.
Halius hummed, tired, very tired, and relaxed at the time. All his body was pulled in different directions, all of it was more than he had handled before long.
Both looked around the room before she thought of what was growing on his mind, something that had been at the end of it. She thought of it all now and for good reason at the end of it… He was tired at the end of the time being.
She did not at all know what was growing on her mind before she looked to the side.
She was too tired at the time as she looked to the side. She had been too tired for now, both he and she were different in it all before now.
Ultramarines were different in it all before she looked to the side. Something about it all came to a head sooner or later.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! A few things.
I want to apologize for Halius thinking so much, I will try and change it and it bothers me.
I am aware Ultramarines and such do not have PTSD easily… Halius has fought for 100 years, even Ultramarines have limits.
I mean for there to be chapters where there is no war, an entire story about fighting would bore even me.
The next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will be 900-6500 words and will show more of Linda and Halius hanging out and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf is out!