Chapter 1: There is no Honor in War

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

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0500 Hours, February 11, 2537 (Military Calendar) / Fort Dyfed, Outskirts of Gwynedd, Camber, Powys System

There was nothing but darkness which covered everything in sight. Not the normal darkness brought on by nightfall but something far more oppressive and tangible. Then there was a light in the distance, one that kept growing brighter until the entire world was full of colors. When the brightness settled down, the landscape surrounding him was a mixture of low rocky mountains and scattered valleys covered with various colors like it was currently going through a spring thaw. There was a number of mutilated bodies scattered around and strange alien buildings of various sizes and shapes. He knew what this was because he had seen it before and it still haunted him every time. It was just too realistic.

"Aaaahhhh. Isn't that a shame. You couldn't do anything to stop the coming destruction." That terrible voice rang out in a sweet sickly tone.

He couldn't speak. He was never able to speak back against this voice that shifted constantly as if it were numerous people of different ages and sex speaking at once. He could never see the speaker either. It would always be fuzzy, like a dark blurry fog obscured it from sight. But he saw his family and other figures whose shapes he could never make out either, as still as statues. The shadow would move amongst them like some dark spirit and one by one the figures would drop.

"Certainly couldn't save your father when the Covenant came. Nor your mother. Or your sister for that matter. What makes you think you can save the friends you made along the way?"

He hated the voice. He could never argue against it or insult it. His mouth just wouldn't respond. At the same time, it showed him countless sights he couldn't hope to comprehend. Towers of shining silver floating above the ground. Metal planets with equally metal creatures and plants. Beings with no mouths that could speak as if they had one. Swords of light cutting down everything in their path. Battles that only grew larger and fiercer in scope. He was getting a headache as is something inside him would explode.

"Even if you somehow save them, they will all die in the end or leave you to your fate. And it will be all your fault." Then the images would all get jumbled up even more than usual. Species and worlds he had never seen. Technologies that didn't possibly exist. The entire galaxy spinning above his head or under his feet. The images only got more confusing and horrifying while the background voices suddenly rose in volume.

"We don't leave teammates behind."

"Don't you dare judge me!"

"The most damaged people are the wisest."

"Enough."

"The success or failure of your deeds does not add up to the sum of your life."

"It doesn't matter what they made you into."

"The saddest people smile the brightest."

"Enough!"

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."

"Please don't leave like this! Don't say goodbye!"

"The loneliest people are the kindest."

"I SAID ENOUGH!"

…

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"NO!" The soldier screamed out, his arm reaching forward as if to grab someone. He sat there sweating in terror as the nightmare faded away. Looking around and lowering his arm, he realized that he had just been dreaming. Groaning as exhaustion set in, he laid back on his bed, head in the pillows as he now considered that he should see a psychologist. It had been two years since Jericho VII and he even though he couldn't remember the dream now, he knew it could cause problems. He looked at the watch on his arm and it read 5:00 am. He read it again to make sure his eyes didn't deceive him and then dropped his arm in exasperation.

"Fuck you Universe."

Deciding then that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep and he only had about an hour or two before everyone would wake up, he would figure out his problems by beating them out on some innocent punching bag or weight equipment in the gym. He silently got out of his bed, gathered his things and headed out to the gym. By the time he got there however, he found the room locked. He was going to stew a little at the fact when he got the brilliant idea to break in. He got down by the lock and proceeded to play with the buttons and wires of the pad before the light turned green and the doors opened without any problems.

"Hmmm? It took 15 seconds to break in and I didn't set off the alarm. That's either a new record or the engineers are really bad at the their jobs trying to fix stuff like this? Really thought they would have learned after the last time I had to get in the hard way."

Chuckling at the memory of trying to get in and "accidently" setting the alarm off, the soldier got into the room and proceeded to use the weights first to strengthen himself. He started slowly at first, going from 100 pounds and adding 10 every 50 reps. As he went through the routine he did whenever he was free, he thought back on the dream. It was one of those odd dreams where one could make out the general feelings about it but couldn't make out the details save for perhaps a few noticeable or important things. A shrink would probably say that the dream would be a sign of the war's effect on his mind, something that occurred to every soldier in some form or another like post-traumatic stress syndrome or something like that.

'The war.' His mind instantly grabbed onto the subject that was more real than any stupid nightmare.

The Human-Covenant War, as it was being called, had been going on for about 12 years now. The Covenant, as far as the UNSC was able to tell, was a theocratic empire composed of several different races known to the soldiers on ground by the monikers named for them. Grunts, Jackals, Drones, Elites, and Brutes were what they were called, and their beef with humanity was apparently because they believed their inconsiderate assholes they called leaders and gods desired it or some such reason. He had already seen what they were capable of, had seen his home destroyed. His family had been heavily affected by the war. His mother was a naval officer on ship floating around Reach at the moment. His family was gone, father and mother dead 6 years into the war. His sister was not exactly dead but instead was MIA. She had been declared dead 3 years ago but even before then he had already accepted the high probability that they were gone before it was announced. Just another thing to blame the Covenant for on top of the billions dead by their hands and the number of planets they glassed.

As he continued with his reps he didn't notice a shadow moving toward him from the main door. However, he heard something that broke his train of thought and almost jumped at the first sign. Bad idea as he was now holding around 250 pounds in both his hands and the sudden movement now caused the unsecured bar to drop to his chest. Now struggling a little to take the bar off, he was pleasantly relieved when a pair of hands grabbed the bar as well and helped pull it up. The two pairs of hands were then able to set the bar and weights back on the equipment. Once that was done and he was out of danger he sat up and looked behind him to see who saved him from choking to death.

"You really should learn to pay more attention to your surroundings Nicky." The stranger said with a hint of amusement. The soldier, Nick, recognized the brown haired head, the smiling face with 5 o'clock shadow, and the twinkling blue eyes focused on him.

"And you should know better than to spook a person whose carrying heavy equipment Dick. Do you want an accident to happen?" Nick scolded.

"Oh you know me. Can't help it if people don't have a proper sense of humor."

"Tell that to the pilot of that pelican who lost her nerve flying because of you Dick." Nick groaned out as he stretched his limbs from the workout.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Rick. Hell, even calling me Rickard would work better?"

"About as many times as it takes you to learn to grow out of your habit of pranking people whenever it suits you to. Didn't the instructors ever beat it out of you in boot camp or something?"

"Hey don't be a hater. Yeah I'm a little bit of a prankster…" Rickard admitted.

"A bit!" Nick scoffed.

"Shut up. Okay yes I'm more of a prankster then the usual marine but can you seriously blame me. All the recruits get so down in the dumps in their free time that we all might as well hand ourselves over to the Covenant and say, please kill us quickly so we can be done with it all." Rickard joked.

"So your excuse is that you're keeping morale up?" Nick questioned.

"Exactly." Was Rickard's answer.

"Then that whole, putting itching powder in our commander's armor as well as every other officer in the battalion was what?" Nicholas eyebrows rose up.

"The guys were jackasses or sadists with sticks up their assess. They deserved it for the hell they put us through and it made everyone laugh their own asses off. Don't get me wrong, when the Covenant come here, I'll obey orders and fight to the end but what other stuff can we do here on this rock other than train for combat which we may never get to see?"

"I now got an explanation for the incident as well as the culprit." A voice called out. Both Nicholas and Rickard turned toward the voice and saw their platoon commander moving towards them. "The reason why we train you as hard as we do, is because one day soon, you will see live combat and with your current attitude you will most likely die unless you get it into your head to stop screwing with everyone like an idiot."

"He – Hey officer!" Rickard stuttered at being caught, "What are you doing up?"

"Stow it private! You have two choices now. You can go into the men's restrooms and clean the toilets with your toothbrush for that incident as one punishment."

"What's the second option, sir?" Rickard hesitated.

"Demotion to recruit and redoing basic training for both marines and ODSTs all month."

"Toilets it is sir. I'll get to that." And Rickard ran off without further warnings while Nick smirked silently at the sight.

'And he wonders why he hasn't gotten up to Corporal yet.' Was his somewhat traitorous thought before the officer turned toward him and the smirk disappeared from his face instantly.

"Lance Corporal Nicholas Shepard."

"Yes sir."

"Did you hack your way into the room?" the officer questioned, although his tone said that it was more a declaration that would brook no lies.

"Yes sir." Nicholas instantly responded.

"Then fix the damn keypad and get out. I'll probably assign another form of punishment for you later today."

"Yes sir." And just like that Nick gathered his stuff, looked over the keypad, fixed any damages he made as well as a few that were already there, and rushed off to the showers. As the day would start soon and he wanted to get ready for anything that might occur he began to wash up and think about the events that he would most likely get stuck doing. Traffic problems, evacuation orders, recruitment, training, the occasional insurrectionist. Such was the life of the UNSC Marines 3rd Battalion Reserves at Fort Dyfed. Waiting for the day they would be called to the front lines to fight the Covenant menace. Nick understood more than most. He saw the destruction and death the Covenant left in their wake. How much it angered and saddened everyone when another colony was declared to be lost, or another battle was listed as a defeat. He had been to Jericho VII and had seen the plasma bombardment from space as the Covenant took out the last stronghold of the UNSC's in the Outer Colonies back in 2535. Now the Covenant were poised to move into the Inner Colonies, although there had been no sign of them yet. The only battles that had been of note last year had actually been a number of insurrections that occurred on the planet Mamore, the Bonanza Asteroid Belt, and Far-gone colony platforms, all of which was put down by the UNSC after a few months. So where was the Covenant and what were they planning?

By the time he had reached the mental question that had been bugging him, he had already finished cleaning up and came up to a mirror. Looking up he saw a young face, younger than most of the soldiers here on base but old enough certainly for others to tell he wasn't some bright eyed recruit. It was sharp with narrow cheeks that had been freshly shaved combined with a medium sized nose, shining green eyes with hazel flecks that seemed to constantly change to a different shade along with his emotions, some bags underneath that hinted at his previous nightmare only an hour ago, and a full head of dark black hair with natural bright red tips that was cut short in military fashion. It was the picture of a clean, youthful face, one that should not be experiencing warfare, but instead going through college with all its ups and downs. Nick couldn't help it however. He had to help others and thanks to both a growth spurt, an slightly older complexion, and some technical skills with electronics, he had been able to fake his way in at 14 years of age and join the Marines. His mom would have been pissed when she found out but all his family were long since dead and there was no way he could back out once he signed up. Looking up at his 17 year old self, he saw a face that already was gaining a certain type of wear to it. The type of wear only made him look older and more serious than many of the other recruits or lower ranking soldiers below him that came along, much like a certain blue eyed prankster.

"Man that guy can be such a dick!" A voice rang out through the lavatories as Nick pulled away and headed toward his locker.

'Speak of the Devil and he shall appear.' The saying popped up as soon he recognized the voice's owner and off to his right he saw the figure of Rickard get up from the floor with toothbrush in hand.

"You only have yourself to blame. That and your big mouth." Nick supplied which startled Rickard immediately.

He visibly relaxed before replying, "I know but my earlier point still stands."

"Which one? That nobody here has a sense of humor or that the commander of the fort is a dick?" Nick questioned.

"Both."

"Obviously its everyone else who has a problem and not a certain man child that can't keep his hands out of anything and everything."

"Who me? Perish the thought. So what did you get stuck with?"

"Just fixing the keypad that I used to break in. He's going to try to figure out an appropriate punishment for me later." By this point Nick was fully dressed for the day and whatever might be thrown at him. He would just head to the cafeteria for breakfast and later go to the armory for his gear. He was just in time too, looked like the other soldiers were waking up and getting ready for the day as well.

"Well good luck with your punishment, try not to miss breakfast." Nick called back as he left the building and headed over to the mess hall with a slightly evil grin on his face. Walking across the base's grounds, all Nick could think of was that today was going to be one of those normal, repetitive, boring, military days with absolutely nothing exciting to do except train through combat situations like they had for the past year. But unfortunately for him, the Universe would prove him wrong in a seemingly deliberate attempt just to spite him altogether. The first warning sign that something was amiss was the bass alarm system suddenly going off with the speakers blaring for all soldiers to get to the armory and gear up. Nick could only hang his head back in a long suffering sigh as he realized he probably wouldn't get breakfast because of this.

"Ugh. Goddamn timing."

He then dropped all dramatics and raced over to the armory even as Rickard popped out of lavatories and started to run alongside him.

"You know the hell is going on?" Rickard asked seriously, all pretense of the prankster having dropped away.

"Nope." Nick replied instantly. As they entered the armory and began gathering their gear from their lockers, they heard the platoon officer come in.

"Listen up soldiers! I just got word from command. The Covenant have arrived on Camber as of 0300 this morning."

'3:00 in the morning!' Nick's thoughts instantly screamed. 'How did they get the drop on us for three whole hours unless…!'

Nick looked toward a nearby window that was open. The sky was still dark enough to see stars but the dawn was already coming. But that was not what Nick was looking at. He and every other person in the base and planetary government knew that Camber was protected by an early warning perimeter. Even if the Covenant appeared in the farthest reaches of the system, the early warning would alert the planet and the military would be ready for a fight when they arrived as a result. But it failed so how had they got past in the first place? Nick's eyes only went wide when he realized how it was possible for the Covenant to bypass it.

'They used their more accurate slipspace drives to jump under the planetary defenses and strike at targets on the ground before a warning could ever get out! The fleet above and the rest of the planet might not even know what's going on! Dammit!' Nick gnashed his teeth together even as the officer confirmed his hypothesis.

But that wasn't important now, the warning was already going out now and the rest of the planet was being alerted at least. Now they just had to get ready for the coming battle and at this point everyone was rushing with military precision. Nick was already grabbing his gun and Richard's and moving back just as Richard grabbed his helmet to put it on. But at that moment, some indescribable gut feeling just washed over Nick while he neared his friend. He recognized it as what Rickard jokingly called his "sixth sense" and realized that something bad would happen. Before he could get any warning out however, the walls of the armory exploded inward as a shower of concrete and metal forced many of the soldiers inside back and knocked a few others down to the ground. He had been behind a set of lockers at the moment his senses had gone off and stayed still as the explosion went by him. After a few seconds, the explosion passed and looking out, Nick saw debris scattered across the floor, Rickard down on his back and struggling to get up, plus a giant hole in the wall revealing the outside world. But that wasn't all for outside he could make out the figure of a Covenant ship in the distance looming over the planetary capital of Gwynedd. There was something wrong with the view though, it was slightly distorted as if the dust hadn't fully settled and the light was being reflected. His senses only screamed to stay hidden a while longer and they were soon validated when three Elites, two in blue armor and one in gold, appeared out of thin air wielding plasma rifles.

'Cloaking!' Nick's mind instantly supplied and he realized he would have to be even more careful if he wanted to get out of here. But then he thought of Rickard, still stuck on the ground in front of these aliens.

'I will not abandon him here!' Was is angry reply. He would not leave his comrades like this. For as long as he still lived he would never desert them but depending on what would happen within the next few minutes, he could very well be dead within the hour. Even as his mind tried to hatch a plan to save the downed soldier, he saw the Elites warbling amongst themselves in their strange language, and then discard their rifles. Why? That question was soon answered as the gold Elite proceeded to take out a handle of some sort which then ignite into a blade of pure plasma. The other two Elites proceeded to do the same and the gold Elite then walked over toward Rickard. Somehow, Rickard had been able to gain hold of a pistol amongst the rubble strewn floor and was proceeding to aim it at Goldie (as Nick named him). However before he even had a chance to shoot, Goldie had grabbed Rickard by the neck with one large hand and lifted him up while his plasma sword turned toward the unfortunate man. Time slowed down for Nick as his adrenaline suddenly kicked in overtime and realizing he had only seconds before Rickard was skewered, he through caution to the wind and prayed.

'Well here goes nothing.' Were his last thoughts before turning around the corner, guns ready, and calling out in a loud voice, "Hey split-lip! Drop him!"

The Elite never even had time to look at Nick in surprise before he fired off several rounds at Goldie and his buddies. The Elite instantly dropped Rickard and split off with the other two, their shields protecting them from the bullets fired as all three went invisible. Nick ran over and pulled Richard up, shoving the gun into his hands and pulling at him to get out. They couldn't go out through the giant gaping hole in the wall. That way could just be a trap and Nick had no intentions of dying today. Moving through the hallways made of lockers and looking for the other soldiers scattered around. He saw as men and women alike were butchered by the Elites from the shadows. One unfortunate soldier was panicking, even shooting his gun into the air either in front or above him (Nick couldn't tell for sure) but then doubled over as a pair of glowing blades shanked him from in front. Nick then realized how he could see the bastards.

'Their cloaks give off a shimmer that can be detected!' With a determination now filling his heart, Nick whispered in Rickard's ear, "If you see a shimmer in the air anywhere, shoot it." The two of them now walking/jogging/stumbling toward the nearest exit.

As they neared the doorway though, one shimmer appeared on Nick's left and lunged for him. Both humans were sent tumbling to the floor even as Nick used his gun. The Elite's shields instantly activated as the bullets slammed into him and the cloak dropped as a result. The sudden switch from cloak to shields as well as the bullets must have drained them faster than usual because in a few seconds, Nick essentially was lying on the ground with a dead Elite lying on his stomach. Rickard was the first to get up and both of them shoved the dead alien off. Grabbing their weapons, they burst out of the door and ran into the open space of the fort. It was hell. The three Elites obviously couldn't have been the only ones in the base and in hindsight it was now obvious because the fort had turned into a shooting gallery at this point with a number of soldiers, both armed and not, now fighting with everything they had on hand against a large number of Elites, Jackals, and Grunts. Pulling themselves into a hidden alley for the moment, Nick thought things through. The barracks, vehicle depot, and airpad were all on fire and the sounds of battle were coming from the reactor, field armory and command center. Both instantly knew that Fort Dyfed was lost and they needed to leave now. But there was no way to get out on either foot or vehicle if these areas were in enemy hands and there were bound to be Covenant forces surrounding the base. Nick and Richard were essentially screwed either way.

'Maybe not.' Nick's mind thought up. 'Rickard has been around the base longer than you. He might know another way out like the sewers or something.'

"Rick," Nick instantly whispered with a slight hope, "do you know of any other location on base that we might be able to escape from?"

"N…no. Well maybe but it's a longshot." Rickard replied in a loud whisper. "The supply pads that provide for the base. It's possible that their might be some Darter dropships still on them. Other than that there is no other way out."

"But, neither of us can fly a dropship though."

"I can." Rickard said with confidence.

"Good enough." Nick finished but Rickard only grabbed his shoulder to halt him.

"There is a problem though. We would still have to pass the barracks to get to the nearest one and there sounds like a battle going on there." He pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. We stay here, we're dead. If we try to get out on foot, we're dead. Getting a vehicle from the depot or airpad is too risky since it's on the other side of the base so we have to get to the supply pads. We might have a chance with them unless, you know of any other way out."

"Fine. Supply pads it is. Let's get moving before we get spotted."

With their decision now made, the two men moved quickly. The battle was most focused around the command center at this point but there was still firefights going on in the surrounding areas, mainly in the streets. Even as the two moved into the barracks, Nick knew in his gut that they made a mistake. The building was quiet. Too quiet for him to not become more paranoid than usual considering the circumstances.

'Great. It's would just be our luck to end up in the only building on a battlefield that we have to pass through and it has to fit the cliché of "IT'S A TRAP!" or some other crap.' Nick's thought. No matter what though, a potential ambush was still better than the deathtrap the base outside had become. At least they would be a little more hidden from enemy forces.

Still as the two men now moved through the dark halls and rooms of the seemingly empty barracks with their guns ready and pointed down the hallways, Nick couldn't help but focus on his sixth sense/gut feelings and looked around. It was during times like this that he was glad for this ability of his which always made him realize when he was in danger. Once when he had been younger, a school bully had intentionally chucked a small rock at the back of his head. Not only had he dodged it, he had caught it with his hand as soon as it passed his head, something that both surprised him and his bully. The fistfight that occurred afterwards and any events after that where it had alerted him had essentially proved how useful it had become. And it was now suddenly screaming at him to duck.

"Nick get down!" He heard Rickard scream before he dropped to his knees and rolled out of the way. Rising up from his crouching position and turning around he saw what both his gut and Richard warned him about. The gold armored Elite from earlier, who must have been cloaked and following them since, had apparently swung his plasma sword right where Nick's head had been and had embedded itself into the wall as a result of the dodge. Both soldiers had proceeded to open fire but this Elite must of switched to his shields earlier than the first or just had stronger shields in general and as a result was harder to take down. The Elite simply removed his sword from the wall and began to race toward the two men. Both soldiers began running away as fast as they could to while firing blindly at the charging Elite behind them as well as knocking over any obstacles to slow the Elite down. As the running firefight continued Nick had turned to look ahead and his gut once again warned him about an open doorway on his right. He instantly began shooting into the doorway and was rewarded with the glow of a second Elite's plasma shields which had been drained by the cloak and now dropped completely. The hiding Elite was killed with a bullet to the brain and the duo ran past his falling body and toward the nearest exit. As the exit sign appeared at the end, the two realized that Goldie was gaining on them so they placed their guns in their holds, pulled out their grenades and began throwing them behind their backs as they made the last dash to safety.

They were either real lucky or Goldie must have been more slow in his response because the first few that were thrown his way had bounced off the walls or floor behind the Elite but as they had neared the last intersection, one grenade had bounced off of Goldie's head. Neither men saw the end result as the grenades went off one by one behind them and they burst out of the exit in front. They were soon followed by a loud boom and some shrapnel plus smoke but by then the two had safely made it out of the barracks and were rushing to the supply pad in front of them. Moving through the building with quick efficiency, they scrambled their way to the top using the stairs as the electricity supplied by the base reactor was now gone. The building itself was empty and lifeless, the men working inside must have went out to help as soon as the battle had started. Reaching the top and throwing open the door, they were greeted with a wondrous and horrific sight. The entirety of Fort Dyfed was burning in some way with bodies scattered around, mostly humans by the look of it. Surrounding the fort was a large Covenant force consisting of Wraith tanks which were launching plasma on the command center. In the distance, Gwynedd was burning as Covenant Spirits and Phantoms deploying into the city with a Covenant destroyer hovering over it all. But right in front of them was their ticket out. One dropship still remained.

"Get her ready!" Nick ordered Rickard who proceeded to climb into the cockpit and turn on the engines. Nick meanwhile jury-rigged his last grenade to the door to ensure that anybody who followed wouldn't cause any problems before hopping in behind Richard.

"Are you almost ready?" Nick yelled over the sound of the starting engines.

"Almost but I still have to check the flaps and the rotors for any problems we might have." Came Rickard's reply.

Unfortunately for the two, the door to the pad suddenly blew open as someone triggered the grenade. Out of the large amount of plaster dust and smoke caused by the explosion, fell a blue armored Elite with a plasma launcher and then striding out of the cloud came the same gold armored Elite that chased them only minutes ago.

"Time's up!" Nick yelled in a panic. "Floor it, NOW!"

Rickard acquiesced and stepped on the gas like his life depended on it, which in this case it did. The Darter dropship scrapped its way across the floor of the pad and shoved itself off the edge where it almost lost all altitude and crashed. The two survivors inside it were screaming like mad, thinking all the while that this was how they were going to die. By crashing into the ground before they even took off. But just before they hit the ground they began to level off as they approached the ground and in a few seconds, the dropship had righted itself and flew off from the base as fast as possible which, since it was a Darter dropship and not a pelican per say, wasn't very fast.

"Oh, oh thank God. Thank God." Nick breathed in and out as his beating heart slowed from the massive adrenaline rush he just received from their near crash before leveling a half-hearted glare at the back of Rickard's head. "Where in the hell did you learn to fly a dropship?"

"A friend of mine showed me the ropes while I was here. Picked up a thing or two." Rickard shot back in mirth.

"Well if we ever see him, remind me to thank him for the lessons. Now let's get out of her…." Nick began but finished when the dropship suddenly lurched from a hit in the back. Far on the ground, the golden Elite looked through the scope of his plasma launcher he had just recently fired as his shot hit it's mark.

"Crap! Our engines been hit! I have to do an emergency stop on the engines!" Rickard called out.

"Stop the engines!" Nick cried out in horror. "Will crash and burn if we halt in midair!"

"And we'll definitely explode if we don't! Just hold on!" Rickard called out from the front seat. The dropship continued to smoke and swerve dangerously as it got ever closer to the ground and farther away from Fort Dyfed. The engines had completely stalled in a few seconds, preventing any possible fires from igniting the gas tanks but without the engines, the rotors had stopped and just as Nick had pointed out, the entire hunk of metal was now falling at fast rate toward the ground.

"Prepare for crash landing!" Rickard called out as the ground moved ever closer. In the last few seconds before the dropship met the ground, Nick saw is entire life flash before him. Then the ground came up and the dropship rolled. Nick called out, "Rickard!" one last time, and then everything went dark.

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There was a distinct throbbing feeling. It was becoming sharper and clearer. With came a greyness washing aside the dark. The grey became lighter and lighter until his eyes opened for the first time in God knows how long. He was hurt and in slight pain as his eyes opened up to the world once more. He was obviously lying down on something soft and the bright lights that had temporarily blinded him had also dimmed, leaving with a view of the inside of a hospital. An honest to God human hospital surrounded by other beds full of patients with differing wounds. How did he get here? Last he remember, he was on that dropship when they had been forced to make an emergency landing. Getting up into a sitting position, he found that he was covered in patches and stitches but any greater damage he might have suffered had either not occurred or had already been healed. He still needed answers and he pressed the button to call a doctor over. His patience was rewarded 5 minutes later when a female doctor with short greying blond hair and bluish green eyes came over to his bedside.

"Hello there." She said. "I'm Doctor Karin Chakwas and you are Lance Corporal Nicholas Shepard aren't you?" She spoke in a sweet mothering voice as she looked over the report by his bed.

"Yes, I am." Nick replied. "Where am I? What's happened? Where is Private Rickard White? He sometimes goes by the nickname Rick. Do you know what happened to him? What about the Covenant on Camber?" He was firing off questions rapidly until the doctor raised her hand and silenced him.

"Don't worry." She said, "I've called somebody over to explain everything to you alright." Nick only shook his head numbly as he listened to her.

"Alright," he replied, "where is he?"

"He's right here." A voice called out from the end of the ward. A man, a captain, with greying hair and grey eyes came forward. "Can you give us a minute doctor?"

"Of course." The doctor replied before moving toward another patient of hers.

The man turned back toward him and in a grandfatherly tone said, "Hello marine, I'm Captain Allen of the UNSC cruiser Santuario whose medical ward you are currently in. Are you alright son."

Nick instantly sat a little straighter and saluted the man. "Yes sir I'm fine. Thank you both for helping me."

"It was no problem soldier. Now can you tell me everything that happened?" The captain asked.

"Yes sir. Me and my friend, Private Rickard White, were both stationed at Fort Dyfed, near the capital city, Gwynedd. When the Covenant breached the colony's early warning system and attacked the base in force, we were able to escape using a Darter dropship at the fort's supply pads before the place was overrun. However we were hit and the dropship fell out of the sky. The last thing I remember was the ground coming to meet us. If you don't mind sir, can you tell me where Private Richard is and the state of Camber?" Nick finished.

The captain only looked at him with sad, tired eyes. "I'm sorry son but that was a three days ago."

"Three days!" Nick looked shocked and he almost couldn't listen to what else the captain would say. It would assuredly be worse news than the time he lost while unconscious.

"Yes." the captain continued, "I'm sorry to say that during that time, the Covenant were able to destroy most of Camber's military instillations as well as the capital as well and most of the colony's defenses. Camber has been lost."

"And my friend, Rickard?" Nick asked, not liking a single bit where this was going.

"You received multiple lacerations and several breaks on your arms and legs which have been set and will heal in a week. Your friend, I'm sad to say, received deeper gashes on his torso and legs as well as numerous broken bones. He bled out before we could save him. I'm sorry but as of this moment, you are the only survivor of the 3rd Battalion Reserves." The captain finished.

Nick felt empty inside. Rickard hadn't been very close but he had considered him a friend and vice versa. He was the only one who made him feel welcome at Fort Dyfed. Now he would never hear his jokes and watch his pranks ever again. Rickard was gone.

"I'll leave you be." The captain said before leaving him to his thoughts.

"How many?" Nick asked.

The captain halted. "How many what soldier?"

"Survivors. How many survived sir?"

"Besides yourself, 81,313." The captain gave his answer evenly. "Get some rest son." He walked off and the door shut behind him leaving Nick alone.

Camber was lost, Richard was dead, the entire 3rd Battalion Reserves had been wiped out along with over 5.5 million people who lived on the planet. He had failed in his duty as a soldier. A fire lit itself inside the deepest parts of his soul and his fists clenched until they were about to bleed. Raising his head up, he saw a nearby mirror and the damage caused. He had a number of bandages, bruises, and a black eye but the thing that caught his sight was a series of stitches on his left temple in the shape of a crescent going around his eye. He turned away from the mirror and instead stared downwards. As he aimed a dark glare at the floor below him, Nicholas Sebastian Shepard promised himself he would never again fail the people he was supposed to protect ever.

"No more."

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Right then, first chapter done in four days. Not bad, hopefully I can do better. 14 pages with 6,881 words is a lot even when spread out over several days. Also I should let you all know that I'm taking a college class this summer so updates might be sketchy after June 8th. Hope you enjoy it and feel free to ask questions or point out mistakes. Thank you.