ok 1st chapter of the fall. This was a whule coming I know, but copying transcripts and editing them is a pain, and with what I have going on at the moment, updates may be once every month or so, at least until things settle down and Im free again.

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The screen started to play as Ruby looked down at it, wiping the screen once before flipping it around and putting it on her head. She was in a car-like vehicle with a machine gun mounted in the back, being driven along on a dirt track. Once it arrived at its destination, Ruby got out and walked towards the structure nearby. Inside, she was greeted by a man wearing similar looking armour to her, but with different colourings and design of the titanium plating. His helmet was different too, a large glass visor with a crude carving of a skull etched into the glass. He was sharpening his combat knife as he sat. There was a conversation going on in the background, but before she could take another step, a bionic arm came in front of her, as a woman with short hair, and the same kind of armour stepped in front of her.

"Commander." She said in a thick accent that was unfamiliar. Both the man at the console and the much bulkier man turned to face Ruby, all wearing different variants of the armour.

"So that's our new number 6." the bulky man said in a gruff voice.

"Kat, you read her file?" The man with the skull helmet asked.

"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink." Came the short reply, the commander turned back to the console.

"Anyone came responsibility, sir?" He asked as the reply came over the radio.

"ONI thinks it could be the local insurrection. 5 months ago, they pulled a similar job like this on Harmony, get a relay to get our eyes and ears down then stole two frigates from dry-dock. That can't happen here, Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online Noble 1."

"Sir, consider it done."

"Then I'll see you on the other side, Holland out." The transmission ended as the commander turned round to Ruby.

"Lieutenant," he called out.

"Commander, Sir, Call me Red" Ruby replied as she walked up to him.

Everyone looked at Ruby, "Nickname that stuck." she clarified.

"I'm Carter, Noble team's leader. that's Kat, Noble 2, Emile and Jorge, 4 and 5. You're riding with me, Noble 6." He had gestured to the skull helmet as Emile, and the bulky one as Jorge, as they exited the building towards some Falcons, small basically bullhead frames, with two guns on either side.

"Not going to lie to you, Red." Carter continued putting on his helmet as they walked, another member with a large sniper rifle joining them. "You're about to step into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled. Me? I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength. Just one thing, I've seen your file, even the parts the ONI sensors didn't want me to, I'm glad to have your skill set."

There was a pause as the sniper, Carter and Ruby got on board the Falcon, and he gestured to the pilot to lift off. "But, we're a team. That lone wolf stuff? Stays behind, clear?"

"Crystal, sir," Ruby replied, the sniper looked at her finally,

"Welcome to Reach." Is all he said as they took off.

Ruby paused the video there and gestured to the sniper. "Jun, Noble 3, since you didn't get an introduction." The others turned to face her, "Any questions so far?"

"What are the Insurrectionists?" Blake asked,

"Terrorists." came Ruby's reply. "Like the White Fang, but way worse. Instead of fighting against racism and for equal rights, the Insurrectionists seek to topple the United Earth Government. They perform terrorist attacks, bombings in the outer colonies, steal weapons and machines, there's even suicide bombers sent out to just blow up a bunch of people."

"And the armour you're all wearing?" Weiss asked,

"MJOLNIR Mark-V Powered Assault armour, a suit of power armour that cost the same as a light frigate, allowing breathing in space, has rechargeable energy shielding, boosts your abilities and reaction times. all while providing enough protection to fall from orbit and just walk it off, with a little assistance. However, if we were to somehow get our hands on more sets, do not try them on unless you're augmented, like me. They make you move at such a rate that it's too much strain on your body and it shatters your bones, crushing you to death in the suit." Ruby explained as the others gave her horrified glances, "I was fine, the Spartan II's tested it beforehand. Halsey wouldn't have given it to us if it wasn't safe for us, she's the head of research at ONI." They maintained their expression as they turned to face the screen.

The video resumed as Ruby was sitting in the Falcon with Carter and Jun, flying over the countryside with another Falcon not too far away; Jorge, Emile and Kat sitting in the back. Carter spoke up, giving the team a mission debrief. "Listen up Noble Team, we're looking at a downed relay post 50 clicks from Visegrad. We're gonna introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, and then Kat's gonna get it back online.""Just get me under the hood Commander," Kat remarked over the comms, looking at Carter."Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of colonies?" Jorge asked, confusion adamant in his voice."You get a chance, Maybe you can ask 'em, Jorge."They flew in silence for a time before Kat spoke up again, "Commander, we just lost our signal from HQ.""Backup channels?""Searching… Nada. Can't say what's jamming us.""You heard her, dead zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company this trip.""I'm lonely already." Lamented Emile as the feed paused again.

Yang looked puzzled for a moment, "Clicks?" She asked her team leader,

"Kilometers; we say clicks to save time, helps in more intense situations." Came Ruby's reply,

"Where is Kat from?" Blake asked, "Her accent is different than everyone else."

"Well, She is from the same planet I was raised on; New Harmony, but I think her accent is Israeli, from a region on Earth known as Israel. There's loads of different accents and languages, though English is the most prevalent."

"Any particular reason why Jorge is so big compared to the rest of you?" Weiss asked her partner.

"Yes actually, he's a Spartan II, and one of the most humble there is probably, considering they don't even remember their parents, only the training to follow orders."

"That's awful." Weiss frowned as the others made similar expressions, Ruby just shrugged.

"Hey, they were taken at the age of 6 and trained from day one to be super-soldiers, what'd you expect? I do remember seeing that a small group running back home shortly after their augmentations, to discover they had been replaced by flash clones; A genetic copy of them, retaining the knowledge, or are they implanted? I forget, but they begin to break down after a few years, so they couldn't use them for the program, unfortunately."

"R-right." Came the heiress' nervous reply as she turned back to the screen.

The feed resumed as the Falcons touched down,"Picking up a distress beacon." Kat voiced as they dismounted."Could be the missing troopers, let's check it out." Carter replied, "Jun, I want your eyes on the sky.""Roger that, Commander,""Alright, Noble Team spread out."They made their way to the distress beacon, which was under dome pallets next to a trashed outpost, the vehicle in flames.Emile threw the pallets aside as he picked up the beacon."Found the beacon." He muttered to Kat, tossing it to her,"Make out any ID?" Carter asked,"Negative, but it's military.""So where are the troopers?" Jorge asked."Captured?" Ruby offered, as Emile examined the wreckage more."Why aren't we seeing any explosive residue?" Kat wondered"Noble 3, can you confirm any ex residue in the area?""Mmm… negative sir, plasma maybe.""Can't be." Jorge spoke up, "Not on Reach."

"Why does he say that?" Blake asked.

"Insurrectionists don't use plasma weaponry, only Covvies do," Ruby replied grimly, to which the colour drained slightly from Blake and Weiss' faces.

"There's a lot of blood on the ground." Emile murmured to the rest of the team."Alright Noble, looks like there's nothing here, let's move on," Carter called out to the team, as he headed west."Smoke at the next structure boss," Kat observed."Let's continue circling westward and check it out, Noble Team, you have permission to engage, but be selective, we don't want to telegraph our presence."They followed the path as some large flightless birds came squawking past, And up to the house overlooking the cliff. They made their way through, assessing the damage along the way, shelves knocked over, the contents spilt over the floor."Noble Leader, I'm seeing heat sigs in the structure ahead." Came Jun over the comms, as Ruby and Emile closed in on the house, a sliding door opened, as a man stepped out, with others behind him, remaining inside."On your knees, now!" Emile threatened as the man cowered beneath his shotgun, sobbing in a different language."They're not rebels," Jorge pointed out, "They're farmers. Look at them." The man was indeed of the farmer type, beanie on his head with a fleece top and dirty fingers."Ask him what they're doing here." Carter gestured, and Jorge walked up to the man, kneeling down to him, as he began speaking the same language.After a small conversation, Jorge stands up again, "Hiding, sir." He replied. "Neighbors were attacked last night. He heard screams, gunfire. It stopped around sunrise. He says something in the fields… killed his son.""Something?" Ruby asks, looking to Emile, "I'm not sure I like where this is going."Jun's voice crackles over the coms, "Commander, be advised: I'm reading heat signatures at the structure directly east from your position. Over.""Copy that." Carter replies, "Get them back inside!" They walk up to the building, and as they enter are greeted with corpses, a few in marine uniform slumped against the wall and sprawled on the floor."Damn." Carter curses, as they examined the bodies,"Fill me in Commander, What do have you seen? Over." Jun enquiries from his perch outside."We've got military casualties. Two of the missing troopers. Looks like they were interrogated... It's messy."They get back up, and Carter signalled to head forward, cautiously, with guns at the ready they continue. The team don't get 10 feet when they hear commotion on the roof, the metal clang of footsteps, and some noises that sounded animalistic."Movement, watch your motion trackers." There was indeed a red dot flared up on the motion tracker of Ruby's hud."What the hell was that?" Emile called put as they all glanced above then to the noise, the red dot disappearing."Jun, you see anything?" Carter asked the sniper."Negative. Thermals clean." Came his reply, as the cross a courtyard and into another building."Boss: I see movement, outside your structure!" Jun then called out, as multiple dots appeared on Ruby's radar."Noble Two, move up to the west," Carter instructed, "We're about to be flanked."Ruby continues through the building before looking out a window frame with no window, straight at what looked like a cross between a bird and a monkey of some kind, feathers jutting out of various places, and weird double-jointed legs with the first 'knee' going behind it.

The video paused. "That, is a Skirmisher; an agile but not too strong member of the Covenant," Ruby explained. "In this firefight, you're also introduced to Grunts, Jackals, and Elites. Together they make up the brunt of the forces the Covenant use, but you will meet a few others; Drones, Engineers, Hunters, and..." She looks at Weiss, "Brutes." Said ice queen swallows at the prospect, but looks back nonetheless. "I'll pause and give a proper introduction as they come," Ruby explained as she resumed the feed.

"Covenant!" Ruby calls out as she headshots the skirmisher with her pistol, she looks out the window to see small creatures with tanks on their back, and hard shell-like skin in various different types of armour.

"Grunts," Ruby clarifies. "the cannon fodder of the Covenant. Cowardly, sometimes suicidal, and they breathe methane."

"Methane?" Blake asks, confused,

"Yup, it's in the tanks on their backs. I will say though, they look small here, but remember, I was 6'9" here, a grunt is nearly 5 feet."

She begins to take shots, a Grunt falling with each round, except with the white armoured ones; they take two shots."Contact, contact! Spartans, assist!" Carter calls out to his team as Ruby runs towards the stairs. "They're heading into the basement. Move down to the lower levels!"A high pitched drone begins to sound overhead as Ruby helps Emile to take out the skirmishers in the basement."Banshees! Heads up, Charlie One!" The pilot of their Falcon calls out.The team take out the stragglers, while the Falcon engages the Banshees. Ruby looks out to see a double-pronged Covenant ship, about 30m long come down and hover over a spot across the river."Noble Leader, enemy dropships inbound!" June calls to the team."Falcon, moving to assist." The pilot notifies everyone, using its heavy gun to take out the recently dropped forces.Ruby crosses the bridge before taking more shots with her magnum.

The feed pauses once more as Ruby takes aim at a hand sticking out if a circular bright blue shield, "This is a Jackal, they use shields and the quickest way to take em down is shoot their hand and then their head." Ruby explained to her team, "But they can be snipers, which are a real pain unless you know how to deal with them."

The feed resumes as eventually, the last enemy falls."Stand down, Noble," Carter Calls out to everyone. "stand down. Contacts neutralized.""Contacts? It's the damn Covenant!" Jorge spits out in anger."Cheer up, big man," Emile chuckles, trying to boost the tank's spirit. "this whole valley just turned into a free-fire zone.""Kat, we've got to warn Holland. I need you at that relay outpost now." Carter commands,"Boss, I'm showing more activity to the east!" Jun calls out to the team once more."Copy that, Jun, we're on it. Red, you've got point."Ruby tread over the bluff, taking out the Jackals and Grunts, as a tall figure in white armour appeared, it had the same kind of legs as a Skirmisher, with two toes, and a large helmet sticking above its supposed head.

"Elite, Ultra specifically, different ranks get different armour, each rank getting a stronger energy shield, overall plating, and are not to be underestimated," Ruby told her team.

Having ran out of ammo, Ruby tossed her pistol aside, picking up a weird one-handed weapon one of the Jackals used, charged it before walking to the Elite as she fired, a blue shield flared and broke as the Elite roared in rage as Ruby switched to her Assault rifle, continuing to fire at the creature, before getting with range to beat it to the ground."Commander, I'm seeing more hostile activity to the North-East." Jun scouted out for them."Emile, you're with Kat." Carter responded, "Red and I will run interference on the ground. We'll meet you at the outpost."Ruby got in the driver's seat of a nearby truck as Carter got in the passenger seat and Jorge on the back, resting his Gatling gun on the crossbeam bracing of the cab before they drove off.

"You know how to drive?" Weiss asked, puzzled.

"Weiss, I'm 21, and have been doing missions since I was 14, of course, I can drive."

"Get to work, Noble." Carter Commanded. June then called to them over the comms, "Noble Leader, I'm picking up a distress signal." It was patched through as a marine began a distress call."Mayday! 3 Charlie Six, does anyone read? We were attacked by Covenant forces. The Covenant is on Reach. I repeat: the Covenant is on Reach.""The Troopers?" Jorge asked."Let's move, Red. We've gotta find the source of that distress call.""No disrespect," Jun pitched in, "but don't we have better things to do than round up strays?""We don't leave people behind. You see those Troopers, you let me know."They continued to drive as a battalion of Covenant Troops were seen firing on a group of marines. Ruby drove into the battalion, flattening many of the Jackals, Grunts and an Elite that was caught off guard.

"Was that really necessary?" Weiss asked as Ruby got out of the truck.

Her team leader just shrugged, "Deals with them and doesn't waste ammo, may be brutal but it's certainly useful."

With the help of the 3 Spartans, the squad of marines dispatch of the remaining forces quickly, and Carter notified the Falcon."Transport, LZ is clear. Move in for evac.""Affirmative. Transport inbound." Jun responded as the Falcons landed and picked up the marines and Spartans before flying off."Noble Two, sit-rep," Carter asked, as the Falcon, they were in, closed in on the relay."We're at the relay outpost. Door's locked. Mechanism's been flash-fused." Came Kat's reply."Can you beat it?""I dialed up my torch, cut a way through. Going to take some time.""Okay, we're en route to your location."Upon reaching the relay outpost, The feed showed several Covenant forces putting pressure on another small group of marines, along with Kat and Emile."Drop us in the courtyard," Carter asked the pilot, as they closed in."LZ's a little hot, sir-" The Pilot began before Carter cut him off."Put her down, pilot. Red, break's over."After taking down the forces there, Carter, Ruby and Jorge met up with Kat and Emile at the door."How we doing, Kat?" Carter asked."Taking a little longer than I hoped, Commander. I've cut about halfway through the door."She replied as more forked dropships appeared over the hill nearby."Contact!" Emile exclaimed."Hold them off until Kat can hack the controls." Carted instructed, as Ruby took a DMR of the wall and began taking shots at the Grunts and Jackals as they jumped off the dropship.More dropships came however; this time with Elites, of various classes, one with an arcing projectile at exploded on impact, not doing much damage, but it gave off a white light with every impact, blinding those nearby."Kat...?" Carter asked their tech expert, getting worried."Just about… there!" She replied. "We're in!""Everybody inside! Go, go!"The team get inside as the door began closing, more dropships appearing in the horizon.When the door closed, there was a green flash as everything was outlined and appeared clearer in the gloom."We need to find the control room." Carter began. "From there, Kat can get the relay back online. Emile, post here. If we flush any hostiles, they're yours. All right, let's do this."

"What's that green glow on everything?" Yang asked her sister.

"Night vision," She clarified. "We Spartans may have good eyesight, but we can't see in pitch black. This uses wavelengths we can't normally see and tunes it so it appears visible to us."

They wandered around the corridors until they found the control room, with a dead body of a scientist at the end of the corridor, blood pooling around his body"Red, search that body."Ruby approaches the body as Carter checks on a wounded trooper, and Kat checks on the control panel."Where's the rest of your unit?" Carter asked as Ruby began feeling the body for anything unusual."We got split. I don't think... It sounded bad on the comms.""All right, Corporal, stay put. We'll get you a combat surgeon.""Damn. Plasma damage!" Kat calls out, raising her arms in frustration as Ruby checks the front side, a small cartridge falls out of the pocket."Found something." Ruby holds up the cartridge to Kat, who snatches it up."I'll take that, Six. Not your domain.""I've got a live one over here!" Jorge called out to the others. "Come on, out you come." Jorge picks up a woman probably in her early 20's, as she begins to yell at the armoured giant in a foreign trying to punch him."It's all right, we're not going to hurt you." Jorge tries to calm her down, but she continues her feeble assault."Jorge," Carter calls out."I've got her." He assures, before lifting her by both arms and setting her down again in front of him."Keep still, and I'll release you.""Még…" She began, "Itt vannak."He stiffens just as an elegantly armoured Elite jumps down, brandishing an Energy Sword. Jorge barely avoids it while covering the woman. The Elite growls a challenge at the rest of Noble Team and charges, while two more differently armoured Elites jump down."What's your status, over?" Emile comes over the Comms, as Ruby begins to fire her assault rifle at the first Elite."We've been engaged!" Carter yells, also firing, but he has to duck to avoid a swipe with the sword.Next, the Elite nearly cuts down Kat, but Carter pushes her out of the way. Ruby maintains a constant fire during this, and the Elite's shield finally collapses, and it knocks her down as he runs out the door."Bad guy coming out!" Carter calls as he tries to take it down before it leaves their sight, but it gets away.One of the others grabs Ruby by the neck and extends a smaller version of the sword, and attempts to bring it down on her, but she punches before he snarled, bearing all four mandibles at her,"Your a pretty one aren't yah?!" She calls out before punching it off. Carter opens fire, then kicks Ruby's Assault Rifle to him. The other two Zealots head for another door, one holding the shouting Corporal as a shield. Noble Team held their fire. The civilian girl begins screaming while the Zealots head through the door, and the Corporal's screams are heard as he is killed."That tango blew past me," Emile calls out as the woman begins to scream and the marine calls out. "permission to pursue?""Negative Four, stay on the entrance. Two, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole."Ruby reloads as she and Jorge head into a room, which he then seals shut behind them. They then quickly clear the room, taking down the Grunts and Jackals. The Elite that was with them, though, made its way down the corridor meeting up with the other."There's more. Flush 'em out, I've got you covered." Jorge says as they walked into a room of data banks, a few Grunts around the place, after eliminating them, one of the Elites appeared, brandishing its Energy Sword as it charged at Ruby, roaring in rage at the loss of its troops.Ruby just fired the DMR she had picked up at the entrance at the Elite's head until it's shield broke, one more shot and it dropped dead, about half a foot out of range of the sword.She picks it up, igniting the blade before sneaking up on the other Elite, and running it through with the double-pronged plasma blade, it growled in pain before going limp as she shrugged it off the blade, letting the corpse fall to the floor."Noble Five reporting. Contacts neutralized." Jorge spoke up as he caught up to Ruby by the Elite's body."Kat needs you to reset a junction. Do it and get back up here." Carter responds, thankfully the necessary junction seemed to be right in front of Ruby, she interfaces with it for a little bit, before it flashed green, signalling that it was in working order, and made their way back to the rest of the team."How long?" Carter asked the seemingly empty question."Question of my life..." Kat mutters. "If the question is when will this station be back online, two weeks, earliest. This is plasma damage. All major uplink components are fried.""Two minutes is too long." Carter began, leaning over Kat."Which is why I'm splicing into the main overland bundle to get you a direct line to Colonel Holland... You're in my light, Commander." He backed off and looked to Jorge, who was back with the woman."Find out what she knows." He gestures to her.Jorge taps the Girl's shoulder, but she shoves his hand off. Emile chuckles. Looking away for a moment"What's your name? Do you live around here?" He began, trying to calm the girl, he then tries taking off his helmet, she looks up slightly"A nevem Jorge." He says, gesturing to himself."Sára." Came her mutter of a reply."Sára… szép határozott név. Your accent sounds familiar. Sopron?""Tengeri."He looks at the body of the scientist. "Friend of yours?""Father.""Sajnálom. I'm sorry.""Why would you be?" She almost spat, looking up at him. Ruby looks up to Emile almost needing clarification."Big man forgets what he is sometimes." Was his response."She just lost her father," Jorge growled as he turns to face Carter. "She needs a full psychiatric workup.""She's not the only one." Emile chuckles to himself, Jorge glares at the close-quarters Spartan."Lock it down, both of you!" Carter snaps, "Get her on her feet… the body stays.""Thank you, sir."He walks by Emile and glares at him, then helps Sára get on her feet."Signal!" Kat calls out. "It's patchy, but it's there.""I'll take it," Carter said, taking off his helmet."Best not touch anything. You wouldn't want to ground this place." She growls at the commander.The static of the transmission clears as Holland is heard over the coms, "...I'm barely getting you. What's your situation, over?""Colonel, this is Noble One," Carter begins, "There are no rebels. The Covenant are on Reach. Acknowledge?""Come again, Noble One? Did you say Covenant?""Affirmative. It's the WINTER CONTINGENCY."There was a pause."May God help us all."

The feed paused there as Ruby looked over her teammates, waiting for the obvious questions.

"Winter Contingency?" Weiss asked, a confused expression on her face.

"A protocol set up for when a major colony world is discovered or invaded by The Covenant; all forces are set up on a counter operation to try and quell the invasion."

"What were Sára and Jorge speaking?" Blake asked.

"Hungarian. I don't know too much, but I believe it was something along the lines of 'my name is Jorge.' and 'You're quite strong.'

"And why are they leaving the body? Shouldn't they give him a decent burial?" Yang asked her sister.

"Well, when you're busy fighting off aliens, evacuating civilians is hard enough, imagine trying to fight while carrying a dead body. Unfortunately, with war, that's just how it works. If the body is not in the way, it's left. Names will be imprinted on a memorial though. Anything else?"

"When did this happen?" It was Blake who asked, to which Ruby stated,

"About 4 months ago, the whole fall takes about a month, and I spent about another week wandering the planet after it's glassing, and then found a facility that brought me here."