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      Marine Helmet recorder log 7, 2532
Seige of the Atlas Moons. Location- Atlas 4.
Sgt. Matthew Hassay, Serial # 134586

      The Pelican came in low over the gleaming waters of the Arion Sea. The air was moist over the water and there was a peace that seemed to hang over everything. But it was probably just Matthews mind trying to subdue his quaking nerves. If he tried to think about the upcoming assault he would probably puke all over the rear ramp. He turned his head and looked at the men seated in the Pelicans troop bay, they were all young like him and most likely nervous like him as well.

      Matthew turned his head back and looked out into the crowded sky, flanked by the Pelican he was in on all sides were other dropships. Pelican D77-TC's and gunships and even a few Albatross heavy dropships. And flanking them in a defensive formation flew the escorts for this massive ariel assault force, Skyhawk fighter escorts with their Anvill II missle pods and 50mm auto cannons Matthew figured nothing would be able to touch the formation.

      The pilot of the dropship quickly turned and yelled into the troop bay. "Alright boys, get ready!" The red light in the troop bay came on with a wink next to Matthew. He turned and faced his Marines as they all stood. He looked them up and down not being able to find any words to say to them. He just hoped they'd all come out of this alive. Suddenly came the loud shrill sound of loudspeakers coming alive. The next thing Matthew knew was that he was listening to some kind of old opera music that was coming from o few of the Pelicans.

      Matthew smiled, psyhcological warfare could be an old fat lady singing in a high pitched voice he supposed. The shore of the nearby mainland came into view on the horizon as the formation neared it. Matthews hand tightend on the hand grip in the exit ramp. Closer it came. Matthew let out a sigh. Closer. The music seemed to grow louder. Closer. A blob of blue light flew past the formation, then another, then a larger red blob. Closer. The blobs of color began to stream in one right after the other trying to tear the formation apart. Closer.

      Matthew blinked as nervous sweat from his black haired brow rolled into his eyes. When his eyes opened again the shore seemed close enough to touch. The music seemed to scream in his ear as the blobs of color tore into the formation. Pelicans began to take hits from the blobs of plasma that was being fired from fixed positions on the beach. Four Pelicans immidently broke away from the formation and crested out wide and as they accelerated close the beach they tore into the sea wall with their 70mm chin guns and Anvill II missile pods.

      Plumes of dirt foutained up from the explosians of the missles. The music only seemed to grow louder as the formation slowed to allow the gunships to do their job. Next the Skyhawks broke off and dove at small fixed positions manned by Covenant troops. Matthew could see the enemy troops diving for cover as missles and heavy chaingun rounds ripped through their positions. Vaguely man-shaped forms scattered and dove as plumes of dust from projectile rounds chased them up the beach and seawall.

      The plasma fire slackened as the formation neared the beach, it appeared the gunships and Skyhawks had done a good job in chasing the Covenant troops from their positions. Now it seemed the enemy was taking to the skies. Enemy Banshees began to accelerate into the air from beyond the sea wall, their small pod-like engines screamed loudly as they took flight and began to fire on the gunships and Skyhawks.

      Matthew had never seen the ugly fliers himself before, but in basic training on Reach, they had been briefed and detailed on every Covenant ground vehicle the UNSC had ever encountered. But despite their ugly features they were very manuverable, Matthew watched as the Banshees engaged the Skyhawks in ariel dogfights. He winched as one Skyhawk burst into flames as a large green blob from the Banshees fuel rod gun struck the Skyhawks rear engine thrusters. But he was also satisfied to see that several of the Banshees were being shot down and vaporized in mid-air.

      The music grew in pitch as it echoed off the seawall. The pilot again turned his head to the troop bay. "Touch down in thrity seconds." Matthew let out a nervous breath. His duties as a non-com were as spacific as they were vague. To lead his men into battle, to destroy the enemy, and to return alive. He just hoped he could follow them all.
A voice suddenly cracked in his ear as the comm came alive, a gruff voice came on the line, the voice of Lt. Cross. "Hassay, when we hit that beach you stay on my right, if I see you drop an inch you won't have just the Covenant to worry about, now you have got to cover our flank or we'll get gunned down. Understood?" Matthew let out a second nervous breath.
"Yes sir." He replied into the comm.
"Good." Came the Lt's reply, then silence.

      The Pelican slowed and as Matthew looked up he saw that it was begining to rotate so the troop bay faced the sea wall. The flanking Pelicans had already opened up with their chin guns to clear the remaing beach area. This was it no turning back now, the moment of truth. The gunships and Skyhawks had banked up now and were engaging the Banshees beyond the seawall. Matthew hoped they would keep the Covenant fliers off their backs long enough to make it to the sea wall.

      Suddenly a bright green light winked on beside him and he could hear the pilots voice. "Go go go!"
Matthew's mind seemed to suddenly go blank and all his training and instincts took over. "Let's go!" He screamed to his men behind him.

      The next thing he knew he was jumping from the Pelicans troop bay and running as fast as he could straight for the seawall. He felt like he was running over a hundred miles an hour. The wet sand squished under his feet and he snapped his head around to get his barings on the area. The beach was baren and empty of vegitation or cover except for the occasional crater made from the gunships attack runs. And all of this lay in the shadow of the sea wall, a massive cliff that seemed to grow out of the beach and extend straight up into the sky.

      Matthew stared up at the top of the sea wall, on top of it he could see the vague man-shapes of the enemy moving to and fro trying to man new positions and fire on the oncoming wave of humans. Though he knew their must be over two hundred of his fellow Marines making this assault, Matthew felt like he was running alone. To reasure himself he turned to look back and saw a kid who must have been at least two years younger than him with bright red hair and a baby face, get struck right in the chest by a blue flash of energy. The kid seemed to stare straight forward and continued for a few more steps before he seemed to relize he'd been hit. The bolt of blue plasma jolted through his chest creating a large red hole through the middle of it, the wound was quickly fuzed over by the heat of the plasma, turning the red gaping hole into a black crispy gap in his chest. The kid went wide-eyed and then without a sound he went to his face in the sand. It only probably lasted a second but for Matthew it lasted eternity.

      Matthews concetration rocked and he nearly stumbled. So he quickly turned his head and willed himself on further. His head snapped back to see were the shots had come from and saw a blue line of the plasma projectiles raceing for the oncoming Marines. The clever bastards had dug a hole in the sea wall, and from were he was standing Matthew could swear it lead all the way to the other side. And sitting in the entry way of this hole, behind two of those medium sized sheild generators the enemy used all the time for defense, were two strange looking creatures. Vaguely man-shaped they were small and had large tanks mounted on their backs with a strange breathing apperatus attached to their face. Grunts.

      Matthew knew what they were from training but he couldn't help but gape at them as he ran forward. Actual real life aliens from outer space, the mear thought brought back memories of horror movies Matthew had seen as a kid. And even though these aliens didn't look all that frighting they were the enemy and they had to be destroyed.
"The bastards are dug in sea wall! Let'um have it!" Matthew screamed to the men behind him.

      Spurts of rifle fire from the troops MA5B's and the officers BR55's came alive behind him as his comrades opened fire on the enemy postion. The grunts were surpised at first and hesitated a fraction to long. Bullets tore through the gunner of the snake-head plasma gun they had set up. And before the A-gunner could react he was dead to.

      Matthew kept running forward and soon he was in the shadow of the sea wall and leaning against it's rock surface. Matthew was breathing very hard, it seemed like he'd run a mile but as he looked it was only about a four hundred yard run. More Marines ran up alongside him, some he knew some he didn't, some from his squad and some from others. Matthew looked around scanning the beach, looking for the Lt.

      Most of the Marines were already up to the sea wall and some had begun scaling it with ropes and tethers they had brought with them. Meanwhile others had found groves the Covenant had cut into the sea wall, and were using them to reach the top of the cliff face. But through all them he could not see the Lt. Matthew let out a hard breath. He couldn't wait for the Lt, he was going to have continue on without him. He turned to the men alongside him, "Alright, some of you may know me and some of you may not, but that's not important right now, what is, is that there's a lot of bad guys on the other side of this sea wall and they're not to happy to see us. So let's return the favor and kill'um all." The Marines nodded in reply and he got a few "Yes sirs".

      "Alright follow me." Matthew then turned and quickly jogged over to the hole where the two grunts had been. He climbed into the hole which was only a couple feet off the ground and looked at the two dead aliens, they were ugly and that effect was doubled with the blue liquid oozing from their breathing masks. Matthew shook his head and continued on, not even checking to see if his Marines were behind him. The tunnel was dark and moist and there were Covenant crates and what not scattered all over in it. Matthew had to duck his head sometimes in places were it looked like explosians had collapsed the tunnel.

      Occasional rumblings sounded overhead and dust fell onto Matthews helmet. It sounded like one hell of a fight up there. Gradually Matthew began to see light at the end of the tunnel and as he grew closer to it more and more sounds became apparent. Rifle fire sputtered followed by the answering sound of plasma weaponry. Then the occasional grenade explosian.

      Suddenly as Matthew neared the exit of the tunnel shadows passed in front of it. He turned and motioned for his Marines to stop with the proper hand signal. He turned back to the tunnel exit and approached it slowly. As he neared it he could hear a rasping sound, almost like a creature talking. Before he reached the end of the tunnel he ripped a grenade from his belt primed it and underhand through it out of the tunnel. He then covered his head with his hands as the explosian sounded causing dirt to fly into the tunnel and an earsplitting echo. There was also a fainter sound, a shrill shriek. Matthew knew he had gotten something.

      He turned back to his Marines and motioned them forward then exited the tunnel. Around him outside was a large basin filled with Covenant crates and abandoned weaponry. And at his feet was the dead body of a strange bird-like creature. A Jackle. Behind him his Marines climbed out of the tunnel, one of them commented on the dead alien. "Whoa, they are ugly ####### aren't they."
"You ain't kidding." Another replied.

      Matthew shook his head and looked around, above them was a makeshift purple bridge that connected the two sides of the basin. Then he noticed the carved groves cut into the sides of the basin. "Let's go." He said to his men. As they approached it Matthew noticed all the bodies. Twisted alien corpses lay all along the path that lead up to the top of the basin. Apparently they hadn't been lucky today. He began to walk up the path and found it was easier to walk on the bodies then try to step over them. Many of the Marines commented on it, saying it was nasty and the corpses stank.

      Matthew ignored the corpses and tried to focus on what had to be done when they reached the top of the basin. Then he looked back and for the first time took a good look at his men, there were eight of them and he gaped as he looked at the single gold bar on the one mans chest armour. "Hey!" He exclaimed "Your a Lt." The other man just seemed to not know what Matthew was talking about, then he shook himself.
      "Yes, yes I am." He said shakily.
      "Well you should be leading this squad sir, not me." Matthew said stopping.
      "No, no, it's alright Sergeant, your doing a fine job." The man said to Matthews shock.

      Matthew was speechless and just turned back and continued up the path. A superiour officer, he thought. But his thoughts were quickly replaced by training and instinct again as he reached the top of the path. Walking on to flat ground at the top of the basin Matthew only had seconds to react as a plasma weapon opened fire on him. Matthew dove for cover screaming to his men, "Hold position!" Many of them stopped but one Marine hadn't reacted fast enough and walked headlong into a stream of blue plasma fire, his chest was ripped apart and burned and the last thing he did was scream in pain as his body tumbled back into the basin.

      Matthew winced and turned his attention to the new threat. A long trench had been dug near the edge of the basin and it was manned. A snake-head plasma gun was mounted near the trenches edge and Covenant soldiers were moving quickly inside the trench trying to find good firing positions.
Matthew thought quickly and opened up his comm, "Marines, there's an enemy trench right in front of us, I want you to prime grenades and on my signal throw."
      "Yes sir." Came the reply.

      Matthew quickly ripped another grenade from his belt primed it and took careful aim as he set his MA5B down. Matthew quickly found the snake-head again and threw, and in unison eight more grenades flew into the trench. Explosians ripped through the trench as the eight grenades detonated and Covenant soldiers streamed out of the trench, from the small reptilian Grunts to the large bird-like Jackels. There was even a couple larger creatures, Elites if Matthew didn't miss his guess.

      Matthew snatched up his rifle and it came alive in his hand, he sprayed 7.62mm rounds into the enemy troops, as did his Marines. The Grunts went down quickly, the Jackles next and then the massive Elites whose strange armour shielded them from the projectiles, but not for long. The enemy troops answered back with their plasma weapons but it was to little to late, many of them were gunned down others managed to limp back into the trench wounded.

      Matthew continued to spray rounds into the enemy until his weapon made a dry 'click'. He quickly ejected the spent magazine and replaced it with a fresh one from the bandolier on his chest. Then from behind him came a faint moaning sound. He turned and was stunned to see to Marines in the trench with him. Or at least what was left of the Marines. Chared and blackened skin covered the skeletons that had also been blackened. Matthew flinched at the sight of them. It wasn't until sometime later he'd found out that the crater they were in had been full of water and that when a plasma grenade had gone off near them the heat had turned the water into instant steam, flash frying the skin from their bones.

      The one Marine on the right moaned again and Matthew again flinched. What a horrible fate. Matthew raised his rifle, uttered a quick prayer and fired. Putting a bullet in the mans head had seemed the only humain thing to do. Then Matthew looked up and his breath left him. The makeshift bridge that he had seen from below was littered with the dead bodies of Marines in olive drab. Their must have been at least a whole platoon of dead Marines on that bridge, and there were even more of them laying in front of the bridge in between it and the trench.

      Matthew wanted to be sick. But instead he looked away. The Covenant in that trench had done a lot more damage than he thought and his little squad and he had just practicly killed all of them. Satisfaction crossed Matthews mind. "Paybacks a bitch." He thought to himself.
      Matthew turned to his Marines and motioned them forward. They slowly crawled up and over the edge of the path and walked to the trench. Matthew was quickly out of the hole he'd taken cover in and was approaching the trench as well.

      As his men neared it a couple of Marines opened fire into the trench with their rifles. "That ####### dead now that's for sure." One of the Marines said.
      Matthew only shook his head and approached the trench. Then he peaked over it's edge and came face to face with a near dead Elite. A blue plasma weapon was leveled at his face. Matthew quickly threw himself backwards as the Elite fired. As Matthew landed on his back sputters from rifles quickly solved the Elite problem. Now the wounded monster was dead, and dead was good.

      Matthew slowly stood back up and approached the trench, he looked at the dead Elite. It's face was contorted by a bullet through it's head but the rest of it's body was mostly in tact and huge. And to it's left and right were the dead bodies of his comrades who had been killed by the grenades. Limbs and colored gore filled the trench as well and the stench was already overwhelming.

      Matthew backed away and looked back to see Marines crossing the bridge. The man in the front of the colum had to parallel silver bars on his chest which signaled him as a Captain. As the man approached Matthew saluted and the Captain casualy returned it.
      "Jesus Christ!" The officer exclaimed. "We've been stuck on the other side of this basin by these bastards for the past twenty minutes, how in the hell did you pull this off sergeant?" The Captain asked.

      It had only been twenty minutes Matthew thought before replying. "Well sir we attacked their position from here with grenades and then followed up with rifle fire."
      The Captain just looked at him then said, "And just how in the flying #### did you get up here from the beach?"
      "Well sir, the Covenant had construced a tunnel that lead to the basin from the beach, I lead my men through and then to here."
      The Captain only looked at him then at the trench. "If only you'd gotten here before we sent Macks platoon across." He said quietly then turned back to Matthew. "Well son, be damned if you ain't gettin promoted for this." The Captain took a firm hold of Matthews hand and shook it. "I'm Captain Bently, Alpha company 2nd battalion, 1st infantry divsion, who are you?" He asked.
      "Sergeant Matthew Hassay sir, 2nd squad, 3rd platoon Charlie company of 2nd battalion 1st. infantry divison."

      "Well son let me just say I wish a had ten more officers like you. Let's hope you live through this son." The Captain clapped Matthew on the shoulder then approached his men.

      Matthew just watched him go then thought to himself, "I hope we all live through this." Before looking down at the dead bodies of human and Covenant all around him. "I hope we all live through this."

Continued in Part 2

I hope you all like it. My name is Kevin and my two cousins are Elitehunter and KillMonitor. I'm a big Halo fan and War fan and enjoy reading and writing about both since they fit so well together. I won't be here long because I only staying with them for a week so I hope you enjoy my story it will probably be the last one I write.

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