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The Battle For Earth: Part 1: A Day of Infamy


Halo . . . something that echos through John 117's mind every time he closes his eyes. When he shuts them, he sees Jenkins screaming from the Flood, he sees Sergeant Slacker being torn apart by a Hunter's shield, He sees Lieutenant Johnson slumping to the floor; dead from numerous plasma rifle marks. Halo is something that you want to get rid of within your mind, but sadly . . . it doesn't work that way.
John woke up, the bunk small and uncomfortable. The dark room seemed just right for him. "Sleep well?" Cortana asked from the ship's AI. "I wish..." he replied. He ran his hands on his face, feeling his scars. He got up, his under clothes different from the standard UNSC. "We've only got a few hundred more hours before we make it to Earth. Don't worry. I'll get us there." Cortana, in her cheerful voice, told the Master Chief. "Thanks." He replied. He sat down on a chair, opened a can of MGD, and drank some of it. He looked around in the nearest drawer. He found a pack of MREs. He took one and opened it. "Turkey and liver . . . might as well try some . . . " he said.


He sat on the pilot's chair, the longsword flew away from the big spacecraft they came to Earth on. The rest of the crew, Spartans, Sergeant Johnson, everyone was left behind on the ship. He sat on the Longsword's pilot chair, in his armor, watching the stars. "When I was a little kid, I used to sneak out of training, and just....I dunno, watch the stars. It was the only thing there that gave me comfort." He told Cortana.
"Well that sounds.....wait, I'm picking up plasma fire....tracking....it's coming from...." she said, making a long pause. "Earth...The Covenant are attacking Earth...." she told John 117. Even though Cortana couldn't see his face, she knew that he was in a state of shock.



"I need more fucking support!" yelled General Cole, trying to command his army. "I can't let anymore ships leave the killzone. That's insanity!" yelled back Vice Adrimal Howells. "You gotta try. Down here, it's god damn Judgement Day." Cole replied.
"General, I'm sending a reinforcement." Cortana told General Cole. "With the god damn fleet battling the Covenant, just what the hell kind of reinforcement do you got?" Cole asked. "A good one." Cortana said, before shutting the com off. "How you going to get down there?" She asked inside his helmet. "Hold on." he said.

The bay doors of the longsword opened, the Chief flying out of the bay. He continued to fly forward, the Covenant ships battling the UNSC ships. He saw other UNSC ships exit Slipspace behind the Covenant fleet, but the Covenant outnumbered the UNSC 5 to 1. He cleared his mind, and saw a ship getting close. He attached the grapple to his MAB7 Battle Rifle and fired.
The grapple dug into the metal of the Covenant spacecraft. The grapple's motor functions went hay-wire, and it repelled him to the ship at a fast speed. "HOLY SHIT!" yelled John 117 as he flew forward at a hundred miles per hour.
He hit the metal hard. He quickly got his mind and stomach back, and began to cut a small square into the metal. He quickly finished, the cutter thrown away into space. He kicked the metal, the square being pushed into the ventilation shaft. He quickly crawled into it.
The Covenant alarm went off, and the shield around the ship covered that square into space. The vent was pressurized, and the hole into space covered. "Step 1 complete, Step 2 in progress." Master Chief said to the UNSC Fleet Intelligence Center, a ultra-secret organization where ONI is one of it's small branch offs. "Roger that Chief, FIC confirms, we got another objective. We want you to take control of the ship, and find out where the Covenant homeworld is."
"Uh...I dunno sir, that sounds a little hard, sir. I would have to clear the entire ship of Covenant. That's....uh...I dunno, like 1,456 Elites, 2,085 Grunts, 580 Jackals, and...I'm guessing 190 Hunters. Even for my training, I can't clear the ship of all of those Covenant." The chief replied.
"Roger that, Chief. Sending a elite combat unit." they said, shutting off their connection. "Well....that went well." said Cortana. "Yeah, I know." John replied, chuckling. He continued forward.
Two hours later, he came upon a small rec center. He kicked the vents down, and jumped down. He didn't expect the long drop. "Ahhhh!" he yelled, hitting the floor. He rolled into it, and landed into the crouching position. "Dammit Cortana, get your altitude right." he whispered to her. "Well excuse me! I thought I got it right, my hardware is still kinda messed up since Halo, you know." she said. "I.....I told you not to bring Halo up, ever again." he said, emotionally distressed to her.
"I...I'm sorry, John." she said. John shook his head, and leaned against a wall. "Chief, this is Lieutenant Breslau, of the 102nd SAS, 2nd Division of the ODST." said the lieutenant, speaking in a British accent. "Me and my 7 man squad have taken the escape pod section. We're planning to hook up at the rec center. Are you close to there?" Breslau asked. "I'm already there." he said. "Roger that." replied Lieutenant Breslau.
John secured the center, setting up places where men could easily hold off a Covenant attack. He leaned back, took off his helmet, and lit a smoke. He coughed, then smiled. "Nothing like a smoke..." he said to particularly no one. He closed his eyes, and thought of his comrades on the ship. He fell asleep.
"Sir?" asked a voice. John shook his head, and opened his eyes. It was Lieutenant Breslau. His squad looked like rag-tag marines than ODST elite. One of them took out a small pocket watch. "Area secure. Nothing on Motion Tracker. It's like there's no one home." said Sergeant Foxworthy. Another Sergeant started to set up Claymores. John put his helmet back on.
"We've planned to assault the bridge next. We've got...uh...2 MAB7s, 3 MA57s, 1...heh, I didn't know they keep these... one Barrett 5000XTR 50. Caliber Sniper Rifle-" he started to say. "Wow! They stopped making those back in 2370! Damn." John said. "And one SPNK Heavy 4 Barrel Rocket Launcher. That's something we don't plan to use." Breslau told John.


John and the ODST squad stood before the Bridge door. It was in lockdown, so it didn't open when they got close. Sergeant Colin Thompson took out a fiber optic cable, while Sergeant Foxworthy cut a small square under the door. Colin stuck the optic cable under it, and viewed the bridge.
4 elites stood in there, with numerous grunts and Jackals. 2 elites and a Hunter stood guard over a gold elite, who had his hands behind his back. It appeared he didn't want to fight the humans, and that's why he was on his knees. Strangely, the Covenant were armed with human weapons, and two grunts were holding a regular SPNK Rocket Launcher.
Colin took it out, and gave a status report. "It looks like there is at least 24 Covenant. 6 elites, and a hunter. The rest are 2 Jackals, and the rest, Grunts. It looks like we can clear the room by using standard United Nations Police Special Forces Unit tactics. But...there is a gold elite, being held captive. Don't, and I repeat, don't kill it. It might have important information." he said, giving his report.
Lieutenant Breslau looked like he was thinking deeply. "I got a better idea, Sergeant Thompson."



The Covenant patrolled the Bridge, making sure nothing could get inside through the doors. The hunter stood still, looking like it was sleeping. Their human weapons made them look like rebels, so they could infiltrate the human's line better.
BOOM! The door into the bridge exploded, MAB7 and MA57 fire flew into the room. Another explosion came from above the bridge. More fire flew into the room. 15 seconds, it was all over. All of the Covenant, except the golden elite, was killed.
Lieutenant Breslau and John 117 un-hook their grapples, the wire zipping back up into the ceiling. John walked over to the elite, and un-hook the cuffs. The elite felt his hands, then moved his mandibles in what appeared to be a grin. "Thank you. I do not know how to thank you humans. I bet you want to know about my Homeworld." he said in perfect English. He moved over to a map and turned it on. The 3-d image appear in what appeared to be the Milky Way. He punched in a number of numbers, and a small square appeared around a very small planet, the size of the moon. "That your homeworld?" asked Lieutenant Breslau.
"Yes." he said, updating the information into a datapad, and gave it to John 117.



"Admiral! I suggest you pull back!" yelled Major Alderman. Admiral Halsey's Longsword joined up with the Major's. "Negative. This is a battle, and I'm not pulling out." he said. The two longswords flew in formation, the Major's a little behind the Admiral's left side.
A banshee squadron was flying in front of them. "Open fire!" yelled the Admiral. The Longsword left loose MA57 fire onto the Banshees. One of the Banshee's wings broke off the Banshee, and it flew into the other, blowing up both of the Banshees and causing the formation to break up.
"Good hit! Good hit!" yelled the Major. Then, two other longswords flew with Admiral Halsey and Major Alderman. "Colonel Jack Davis, reporting." said a pilot. "Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Gallagher, reporting." said his wingman.
"This is Admiral Halsey, of the Concordia Battle Group. I'm gonna try to get into Earth's atmosphere and disrupt the Covenant invasion. Vice Admiral Howells has taken my place during the attack, and I'm gonna need all of the help I can get." he said, over the unicom. He flew around for a few seconds, then saw about 25 other Longswords hook up with him. "Eagles 5 through 30, reporting, Admiral."



Meanwhile, the fight on the ground wasn't much better. The UNSC Marines weren't that prepared, and the other fact was that they weren't armed well. One thing, though, that kept them fighting, was freedom. Freedom to choose, Freedom to live.
One such fighting unit was the 101st Airborne SAS ODST, 7th Platoon. 7th Platoon was made of fighting man who completed Specialist Marksman, Specialist Demolitions, and Specialist Weapon Specialization courses. This are the specialists' specialists.
They were stationed in Berlin when the Covenant invaded. Their Platoon leader, 1st Lieutenant Michael Bay, was caught by surprise when the Commander told him what was happening.
Their Mission was to infiltrate a Covenant cruiser.



A elite's blood was covered on Michael's uniform. His squad was already dead, only two remained. Sergeants William McKnight and Roger Hopper were in the reactor room, setting explosives, enough to scuttle the cruiser. Michael got up and continued to where his objective was. "Lieutenant, we've got a problem. The explosives aren't gonna be enough. The Covenant are trying to break in. We want you to find a way to scuttle the vessel. Call in a Longsword strike, But.......Fuck! They broken through! (Plasma fire is heard on the radio) Dammit......Lieutenant, we'll hold them off as best as we can, you find a way to blow this fucking ship up!" yelled Sergeant Hopper. The radio went dead, and Michael stood still, softly crying.
He wiped his eyes, and continued to the Bridge. No Covenant were present, so he knew they went to kill his last squad mates. He started to run, MAB7 loaded.
He ran inside the bridge, killing the Captain of the vessel and his XO. He looked at the radio. He knew he couldn't do anything, since the Covenant used different frequencies than the UNSC.
He ran around the ship, trying to find a way up. Covenant Elites and Brutes followed him, shooting and throwing grenades. He ran as fast as he could, his adrenaline at his max. He seemed not to run out of energy.
He finally made it to the top of the Cruiser. He got onto the outer Hull, where the sky was present. He took out two green flares, then activated them. Numerous plasma fire hit his back. He fell to his knees, his back arched.

"I see green smoke!" yelled Admiral Halsey as his squadron flew down to the Cruiser. The bomb bay doors opened, and the bombs were lowered. The rest of the Longswords did the same. "May god have mercy on that Soldier's life." said the Admiral, launching his bombs. The rest did the same.

Michael turned around and screamed at the Brutes and Elites. The elites and the brutes were taken back, while Michael ran at them, shooting his battle rifle.

The explosion wiped out the outer hull, the inner hull crippled. The explosion blew electrical systems, causing mini-storms inside the ship. The storm hit the reactor, and caused the ship to crash into buildings.


The Chief exited the pod, Lieutenant Breslau's squad at hand. They looked around, the crashed starship in front of them. "Alright men, let's kick some ass!"




TO BE CONTINUED

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