Halo: Frontlines--First Contact

--August 12, 2532/UEG Outer Colony 'Scipio'--

This wasn't at all how Bryan expected things to go for him. When he first joined the Marines, he had plans of fighting the rebels, bringing (or being a part of bringing) peace and stability to the Outer Colonies. Instead, halfway through boot he and his other trainees got word of a new threat, something worse than the Innies. The Covenant, an alien race hellbent on wiping out Humanity, if the reports about Harvest were any indicator. Plans of fighting Rebels were changed to plans of fighting the Covenant, of fighting aliens they still knew little about. Instead of touring the frontlines and fighting aliens though, Bryan was sent here, to Scipio, a backwater colony where he was put in the UNSC Defense Force.

Two months on the colony and so far, not a peep. His days were spent on patrols or--like right now--playing a friendly game of soccer with the locals. He panted a little as he kicked the ball, running across the field with a group of screaming kids and teens behind him, some on his team and others not. One of the kids tried to steal the ball, only for him to maneuver the ball out of their reach. "Too slow Yusef," he shouted. As he neared the goal though, he stopped as his earpiece crackled to life, causing him to halt in his tracks. "Lewis," came a male voice. Bryan recognized them, his squad leader Sergeant Donovan. "Yes sir," Bryan snapped, quickly moving off the field. "Report back to base Private, Nomad Squad's been given an assignment. Briefing room six, so on the double." Bryan didn't really need any further encouragement, now on his way back to the base.

Zama, the capital city of Scipio, was a big place and easy to get lost in, though thankfully Bryan and his soccer match were located near the city edge and the UNSC Defense Force (UNSCDF) base of Fort Gladius was located close by. Patrols by troopers were common enough that, after providing credentials, Bryan managed to hitch a ride back to base on a returning Warthog. Scipio's sun, Hannibal, was almost unforgiving in this season, beating down from on high all hot and bright, though after two months planet-side Bryan was getting used to it at last. Upon arrival, he got off the Warthog and made his way to the briefing room, passing by the dozen or so other Marines moving in unison around the place.

When he arrived in briefing room six, he found his commander waiting at the front, along with the rest of his squad. "Private, glad you could finally make it," Sgt. Donovan said. Donovan was an older man, probably nearing forty though still in his prime. Barely a wrinkle was visible and his hair was shorn so close to his scalp there was no detectable gray. He led Nomad Squad with a firm hand, though the rest of the squad liked him for not being too much of a tight ass. "Alright Nomad, we've got a recon mission in the North-West," he started.

Lily sat in the emergency room with a patient that had broken a few fingers, corporal Hickson she remembered. He had been complaining about why his fingers were broken to her for the most of his time and she felt like snapping at him but a short buzz in her earpiece gave her the escape. "Sorry but duty calls." She said to the Corporal as she stood up and walked away while listening to her orders.

Her sargent gave her the orders of getting up from the emergency room and straight to briefing room six which wouldn't be long. She made her way to the room and saw a few familiar faces that she waved too as she made her way to the room. Upon arrival she saw a few of her squad mates and then saw the sergeant which became the prime of her focus.

Nomad was one of several scouting and patrol squads stationed at Fort Gladius. A five man team, it was made up of Donovan as squad leader, Lewis as the rifleman, Rose as the medic, Corporal Pasternak on heavy weapons, Private First Class Hollander as CQC. They were all there, so the Sergeant got down to the briefing.

"Forty-eight hours ago," he said, "we lost contact with a settlement in Grid 3-J, about two hundred kilometers from Zamba. We know they were looking for more ore deposits in hopes of setting up mining camps and they would periodically check in every three hours with status updates. It has been 48 hours since they were last scheduled to radio in and they have not done so, so command wants to send us in to assess the situation." Lewis raised his hand, Donovan calling on him. "Yes private?" he asked. "Sir," Lewis said, "is it rebels?" Donovan gave it some thought and said "Possibly, since the miners there were cleared to possess demolition grade explosives for mining, so what Innie could resist? But for all we know someone spilled their soda on the communications equipment and they're in as much of the dark as we are. What matters is that we have orders to investigate. Specifics of our orders are to investigate the settlement and determine why they went dark. If there was an attack or severe accident, priority goes to survivors and alerting command. If this is just an electronics failure we assist how we can."

Activating the monitor wall behind him, Donovan pulled up a layout of the are where the settlement was located. "The settlement was built up along the Darsuf river, with a small cluster of mountain to the west of the place that curves up towards the north. Their central base, which is where their communications array is located, is in the center of the settlement here so that's our objective. Nomad is being deployed alongside Apache and Mohawk squads, who each have their own separate but similar objectives. We're being dropped in by Falcon here outside the settlement and from there we make our way to the communications array."

"Squads Delta and Echo report to Major Ramirez."
I looked up from my disassembled rifle, cleaning the barell as I did. Echo was my squad, so they'd be in here themselves to get their gear on. I gave the last few parts of my rifle a quick clean, then reassembled it, slinging it on as my Sergeant came in, holding his own helmet in his hand.
"You good, private?" He asked as I followed him out of the armoury. I nodded, following him in silence.

"When do we move out?" Pasternak asked. The Sergeant looked gravely at the corporal and said "We take off in thirty. Get prepped and head for the airfield, landing pad seven. This is a recon and patrol mission, so pack light. Now move out." Nomad squad filed out of the room, heading for the armory to load up on gear and supplies. Bryan had some thoughts on what was going on, but didn't let the thoughts dominate his mind, maintaining a clear head for the mission.

At the armory, he suited up in the grey battle dress uniform, grey fatigues with the bulky armored plates on his chest, legs and shoulders. An MA3A assault rifle and standard magnum were his chosen weapons, along with a few spare magazines and some grenades. He attached the scabbard for his knife on his left shoulder, the handle pointed down for an easy grab. As for his squad, Hollander grabbed a shotgun and SMG, a bandoleer that went from his shoulder to waist to hold extra shotgun shells. Pasternak grabbed an MA37 assault rifle, plus a grenade launcher. He would have taken the rocket launcher but the Sergeant said they were traveling light. Didn't stop him taking two satchels of C-12 with him along with the usual grenades. While they were loading up, Bryan eyed the C-12 and said "Dude, it's a patrol mission. Why are you bringing 'The Fuck You Putty?'"

Pasternak shrugged and said "Think of it like a condom. Better to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it." Bryan rolled his eyes and said "One hell of a condom...." Filing out, Nomad headed for the airfield, their Falcon waiting, along with the sergeant. "Alright Marines," Sergeant Donovan called to them as the Falcon was fired up, her turbines slowly spinning. "Grab a seat and strap in, Apache and Mohawk are already on their way to their drop zones."

Lily setted up with her light yet defensive armour and the m7/caseless and her stranded side arm, she then turned and filled her small medical pack with biofoam canisters and a few other things incase anything go dicy.

Once the order to strap in was ordered, Lily sat in then motioned to Bryan. "Think it may be the covenant?"

"Think our sensors would have detected them," Bryan said. "Plus even if it is, it's been 48 hours. Where are they?"

Lily put a finger to her chin and then slightly bended her while nodding. "True, I guess we'll find out."

When Nomad was loaded up, the Falcon took off, rising above Fort Gladius as it flew in an arc, angling towards the settlement in the west. Bryan gave a look behind them, seeing Zama's sole space elevator tower over them all. It and its twin were the only ones on Scipio, built to help transport the metals mined from the surface. As the Falcon flew away, Zama and its elevator shrank until soon Bryan could only see the elevator as a thin line rising in the horizon.

As they flew, Donovan was on the radio with the other squad leaders. Or at least, was attempting to contact them. "Can't raise Apache or Mohawk," he said. "They should have landed by now." Frowning, Bryan said "Radio silence on their end?" Shaking his head, the Sergeant said "They would have radioed ahead. Something's not right."

Bella stared at her gun most of the trip while listening to her squadmates. "Radio jammer?" She said to Donvan and Bryan as a suggestion but from what she heard this seemed like the case.

"Possibly," the Sergeant said. "I'll radio command, let them know we've lost contact with two squads." As he did that, the rest of Nomad exchanged a worried expression. Everyone there besides Donovan was still green, no combat experience to speak of outside of training exercises. But they had a job to do, so they wouldn't back down before they even landed.

Gyözö groaned and rubbed his head, leaning on his sniper planted on the ground, it's legs kicked up. He looked at the target dummy, a piece of metal that popped up in separate areas to simulate 'wild combat', and looked more precisely at the hole right next to the targets head. That miss would've fucked up an entire mission, and probably gotten his men killed in the line of duty.

The man sat up, rubbing his head and groaning gently. Gyözö had gotten worse and worse over the last few weeks, likely due to the news of the status of the Outer Colonies. Whatever 'glassing' entailed, he knew only the final result. It wasn't something that boosted his morale.

"Alright Nomad, we're here," Donovan said. "Welcome to Bandapur." As the Falcon flew over the ridge of hills, Bryan leaned out of the Falcon a bit to get a decent look. The settlement was built up along the river, the biggest building being the communications center. Scattered around it in loose formation were several dozen kivas, all made of cheap instacrete. And a lot of them were on fire.

Plumes of smoke were rising from several of the kivas, as well as from space between them. "Fuck," Bryan breathed. Descending rapidly, the Falcon headed for the drop-zone. "Still no word from Mohawk and Apache?" Pasternak asked. Donovan didn't look at him, eyes on the rising smoke. "None. Assume hostiles in area." Kicking up a cloud of dust, the Falcon settled in a few feet over the ground and the squad disembarked. Bryan and Donovan panned the area, weapons at the ready. "Alright, move in to the building at my two o'clock," the Sergeant whispered over the comm. While he and Bryan covered them, the rest of Nomad moved for the nearest building, taking cover behind it before Bryan and the Sergeant joined them. "Sir," Bryan said, "should we radio command?"

"Affirmative private," Donovan said. "This is definitely not faulty comm equipment, though our objectives haven't changed. We are to check for survivors and assess the situation here." Nodding, Bryan attempted to hail command.....but got static instead. He tried a few more times, before grimacing as he said "Nada sir. Signal's being jammed."

Lily looked at Bryan. Her grip on the SMG strong. "Told you."

"What do you want a cookie?" Bryan retorted. "That's enough!" Donovan snapped. "Check short range communications," he instructed. "Check," Bryan said into his helmet's mouthpiece. "Check," Pasternak said. "Check," Hollander said. Even that was down. "Dammit....short and long range comms are down, so there goes the option of splitting up. Nomad, loose formation. We're headed for the Communications Center, going building to building. Do a sweep of each house we enter on the way for survivors. Clear?"

"Clear," came the response of Nomad. Moving then, they rounded the corner of the building they hid behind, looking for a way inside. As they neared the front, they came across the source of one of the smoke plumes: a civilian vehicle, a Spade, had been ripped in half by an explosion. By what though, he wasn't sure since the edges looked like they had been melted. "Sir," Pasternak said, "it's been forty-eight hours since Bandapur went dark.....but this looks recent." Bryan wondered what he meant, only to turn and see it. The front of the house was covered in holes, pockmarked by burn marks or holes that had been gouged by what could have been heavy rounds. "What kind of weapon leaves this mark?" Hollander asked, gesturing to one of the scorch-marks. Donovan grimaced and said "Not a human weapon, that's for sure."

I saluted when I reached the Major, as did every other ODST to arrive. I leaned against the far wall, as the major began to brief us.
"Six hours ago, a Marine First Recon unit left Fort Gladius to gather intelligence on potential enemy activity on Scipio. They never reported back." I looked around the room at the other ODSTs gathered. Out of all sixteen, I knew that at least three of them had also served in Marine First Recon. They were the ones who looked worried, some of the soldiers who had served in other units were more confident, writing First Recon off as less capable than them. "We've also lost contact with a settlement two hundred kilometers Nort-West of Zama. As of now, all of you are on standby for a combat drop."
"Is the colony being attacked, sir?" Asked one of the members of Delta Squad.
"We don't know. We're waiting confirmation from several UNSC units in the area."

Suddenly, Bryan's motion sensor went off, a ping from inside the house. "Movement!" Bryan snapped, bringing his gun to bear on the front door. "What's the position?" Donovan demanded, checking his own motion tracker. "Inside the house," Bryan said. "Alright, Hollander get the door. We'll move in on your six." Nodding, Hollander moved to the door and opened it, advancing inside with the shotgun while the squad followed him. For a moment, Hollander considered calling out for survivors, but held back as he moved down the hall. Making a right through a doorway, he came into the living room and found the civilians. "Jesus," he swore.

They were all dead. He counted four bodies, two adults and two kids. The father had an old out of date rifle at his feet, with burn marks on his chest that were much like ones outside. As for the mother she had died trying to shield the children, or what little good that did. All of them were covered in the same marks. "Sir," Hollander said, his voice wavering as he did his best not to hurl. Seeing dead people was never easy but.....a dead family was a whole different level. Nomad entered the room with Donovan grimacing at the sight. But they had no time to check the bodies, the dot on their motion trackers on the move....and passing through the room it seemed. "Above us!" Donovan barked, and the squad moved back through the house and out the front door in time to see.....something, leap from the roof and land perhaps twenty feet away on the ground. They couldn't see much else, the smoke from the fire blocking their vision, and whatever it was they were tracking had begun running away, further in towards the settlements center.

"Do we pursue?" Pasternak asked. "Negative," Donovan said. "This area just became too hot for us. The falcon is still circling but right now they're more in the dark than we are. Hollander, pop a smoke and signal the Falcon to pick us up, we have got to contact command stat."

No one was exactly disappointed, the dead settlement leaving them all on edge. They fell back to the landing zone, Hollander taking a smoke grenade out and tossing it to the ground. Orange smoke began to rise up from the grenade, a cloud of it signaling the Falcon for an emergency pick up. The pilot saw it, circling back to the drop point and descending low for the pick up. However, their emergency alarms began blaring, radar picking up a contact moving in fast. They looked out the glass of the cockpit in time to see a ship, small and resembling a bug come flying at them. A bright green glow emanated from its undercarriage before it fired the same glow. In the blink of an eye the shot struck the front of the Falcon, ripping through the steel and killing the pilot in an explosion of energy.

Nomad watched from the ground, moving back to cover as their ride fell from the sky, flames eating the ship in midair and smoke trailing its descent before it crashed on the ground and detonated in a fireball.

"Dismissed." Ramirez barked, and the briefing was over. It was worrying how little they knew, but it was better to have us and not need us, than it was to need us and not have us; though some of my squadmates didn't like it. Corporal Mike Archer, Echo squad's marksman.
"Man, this is bullshit," He declared loudly once we were in the safety of our drop bay. "They haven't got a fucking clue what they're dealing with, so they're wasting our fucking time so we can babysit the Army here in case they fuck up." He paced up and down the bay as he spoke, looking for someone who disagreed.
"We wouldn't be here if they didn't think they'd need us," Gunnery Sergeant Kaden Richards replied, "You better believe that this is gonna go bad, no innies are gonna make the UNSC scramble like this." The bay went quiet, even though I'd only been posted to echo recently, the Sergeant had already proved that his instincts were near enough perfect.
"You think its Alpha Bravos?" Asked Lance Corporal Jones, a hint of worry creeping into his voice. Nobody could blame him for it though.
"I think it's got everyone scared shitless, and that's not a good sign."

"Lima Squad, fall in!"

Gyözö got to his feet, pulled up his rifle and knocked the feet back in, and made his way over to his Sergeant, standing along side the other five members of his squadron. Far from anything special, they were just like everyone else - with the sole exception of having a bastard of a commanding officer.

"Alright ladies, you're all fine and good and what you do. The best sniper, the best demolitions, some of the best soldiers in all of the UEG and the UNSC. Be proud."

The men looked at each other, a little confused. Thankfully, the sergeant quickly stopped acting so out of character, slapping Gyözö right across the face hard, frowning at the team.

"You fucking pansies are a disgrace! Can't even hit an immobile target! Alright you little runts, we're goin' out for a live action run! I've got us a Hog, so you little girls are gonna mount up and make way to the Ciminia Forest where you'll meet Delta Squad! From there, you two are gonna have a little competition, so I can see just how fucking pathetic you shit eating Covie fuckers really are!"

All at once, Lima Squad made way for the Warthog, mounted up, and rolled out. Gyözö looked over his shoulder at the man sitting next to him on the back of the troop transport. He smirked, and the two bumped fists. Compared to most of his rants, he'd been pretty light today.

"Seems like the sarge is in a good mood."

"Back to the house now!" Donovan barked. They ran back, moving around the corner and headed straight for the front door. Bryan took up the rear and as he ran he heard a sound amid the panting and crunch of boots on the dirt. Stopping to turn, he saw it. It was bipedal but with a squating stance, the feathers around its head making him think of a bird. In its claws it held a weapon that made him think of a rifle, pink spikes sticking out of it. And there were two more coming up behind it, holding different looking weapons, the one holding the rifle taking aim.

"Behind us!" Bryan screamed. A shot rang out, and a purple-pink round came flying at him. The first shot missed and he backpeddled to the door, his squad laying down suppressing fire to keep the aliens back. "Shut the door!" Donovan barked, and as soon as Bryan was behind the door Hollander closed it. "What the fuck were those things?!" Pasternak screamed, clutching his assault rifle so tightly his knuckles would have been white beneath the gloves. "Best guess," Bryan panted, "that was the Covenant." Donovan growled "And they've got us cornered. I counted three of them but that's gonna change fast. No way three of those things took out a whole settlement. We need an exit, and we have to find a way to alert command stat."

Standing up, Bryan jumped back as something slammed against the door, the aliens no doubt attempting to force their way in. "Can't stay here, we've gotta move now," Donovan said. Hollander moved to the back and found a rear door, probably to the side yard. "Got an exit!" he called, and the squad moved to his position, filing out right as the door was blown in. It wasn't even knocked down, it exploded in fire and flaming pieces as blue flames erupted into the hall. But they got out and circled, running from the house. "We need a vehicle now!" Donovan yelled.

Lily felt like telling Bryan I told you so but right now, that wasn't the best idea. She stayed with the group as they ran from the building, looking left and right for hostiles and any transport.

Whatever those things were, they caught on fast, one of them running around the house to get to Nomad, and it was fast for a biped. It made a sound between a squawk and a loud hiss, bringing a weapon to bear. It looked like a pincer, green energy building up between the two front ends before it fired. A miniature bolt of energy like the one fired by the alien ship came flying at the squad, hitting Hollander in the leg. It burned through his fatigues, the fabric catching on fire as he screamed in pain, the bolt searing his flesh and burning into his leg. "Man down!" Bryan shouted, turning to kneel, assault rifle brought to bear as he squeezed off two bursts of shredder rounds. But the alien dove to the side and the power in its legs was evident, diving further than a human could as the shots missed. "Pasternak, Rose get Hollander on his feet!" Donovan barked. "Bryan, lay down covering fire!"

Lily moved to Hollanders side quickly and ordered her helper. "Pasternak get one arm, I'll grab the other." From the looks of the wound she didn't know if biofoam would work but she would have to try once they were safe. Picking up one arm she lifted it over her head so that she would be carrying him and Pasternak copied her. Once this was done they continued after the squad.

Bryan kept firing, keeping the alien on the defensive. His ammo counter read at fifteen rounds in the magazine so he would have to reload soon. "Move it Private!" Donovan barked, now firing his own weapon to cover Bryan's retreat. Their target was another house, and as Pasternak helped the doc get Hollander to it both the Sergeant and private kept up the fire. "Please let this one have a car," Pasternak groaned. Hollander didn't say much, screaming in agony--he had broken his legs and arms once (separately of course) and that didn't compare at all.

Lily could hear the screams and was starting to feel better knowing it wasn't her. It could have been her but no. "You will be fine. We will get you out of here." She tried to tell the screaming Hollander.

They got to the rear door to the house, Pasternak kicking it down ad leading the way in. Donovan and Bryan soon followed after the three, Bryan holding the door as he pumped out a few more rounds. "Reloading!" he said when the gun clicked on empty. As he grabbed a new magazine, the alien came running, its weapon firing more bolts of that energy. Whatever it was, it wasn't accurate on the move, several shots hitting the wall of the house before Bryan loaded in the clip and fired. Short controlled bursts were squeezed off, the shredder rounds hitting things arm and making it explode. It screeched in pain before Bryan followed up with another burst to the chest, killing it. "Hostile down!" he said.

Lily placed Hollander against the wall and checked his wound. She pulled out a canister of biofoam and injected it to the wound. "What now."

A group of marines stood in an elevator.  They wore full gear, guns, equipment, body armor, full gear. They were on protective detail. Escorting a particular individual back to base. He was, of course, at the top of the building when they went to get him. Now they had to go back down... via the elevator. This was an internal elevator, which meant there were no windows. One of them fidgeted continuously as they went down.

M1:"So, how long do you think the way down will be?"

M2:"A couple minutes."

M3:"You really don't like elevators, do you?"

M1: "I - No, I really don't."

M3: "It's not like the elevator is going to go crashing into the ground" The third marine laughs.

M1: "Man, fuck you, that ain't cool."

The elevator grew silent. Outside the elevator, the Covenant began scouting the planet. Taking note of the forces and anything of interest. Scouting parties skirmished in remote areas outside the cities, in little settlements, kivas, and did their usual thing. People ran, people screamed, people failed to communicate and died. Little pink needles pierced flesh, or gathered and exploded. People died. People had their bodies burned away by plasma, green, blue, and red. Some were beaten to death by muscled hands or bitten by sharp teeth, torn by razor-like claws. If the weapons of the covenant left bloodstains, the ground would be obscured in a sea of red - the blood of many humans. Miles away, men, women, and children went about their day as if nothing was going on. Little did they know the horror creeping ever closer - till it was too late.

In this elevator four marines and one civilian stood calmly, bored, even. Their thoughts not on war, but on the trivial annoyances of everyday life in the military, or in business. The little things that bothered them, the wishes that excited them, the memories that haunted them. They were standing and waiting for the end to come. The end of the elevator ride.

When the biofoam was injected Hollander screamed, cursing Lily out. "AHHHH! FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING BITCH!" he yelled. Biofoam may have been an effective battlefield medicine, but that did not mean its application was a painless one. "Lewis, are his friends coming?" Donovan demanded. Eyes still on the other house, Bryan spotted the two other aliens coming in. "Affirmative sir, looks like they're gonna rush," Bryan said. Pasternak came up behind him grenade launcher at the ready. "Fire in the hole!" he barked, firing a round. I went flying, hitting the ground a few feet ahead of them, detonating on impact and sending shrapnel flying at them. Too late to pull back, they were ripped apart as the pieces of metal tore into them, reducing them to quivering hamburger. "Bagged two," Pasternak said, though the quiver in his voice spoke volumes of how terrified he still was.

Lily was use to it, the yelling in pain. "Be happy I didn't leave you without it." She snarled at him before standing up and walking towards the Sargent. "He'll most likely live but that's if we get out of here." She reported to him.

"Well we've got some breathing room," Donovan said. "Keep an eye on him private. Pasternak, run a sweep of the house, check for a vehicle in the garage or out front, we need to get our asses out of here." Nodding, Pasternak left the room, leaving Bryan by the door. "Private," Donovan said to Bryan. He didn't respond, hands clenched around the gun, each breath through his nose quick and deep. "Private!" Donovan snapped loudly, pulling Bryan back to reality. "Sir?" he gasped. "Take it easy, I need you capable not wound. Keep covering the door but don't engage if not seen, we need time here not a firefight."

"Yes sir." She answered to the Sargent but first turned to Bryan. "You alright."

"Now's not the time," Bryan said, checking his rifle to make sure he had a full clip. Pasternak came rushing out of the garage and said "Sir, we've got a spade in the garage. Looks to be functional, but I can't find the keys." Donovan rolled his eyes and said "Then hot wire the damned thing Corporal, that's our ticket out of here."

"Right." Lily rolled her eyes and moved to Hollander. "Gonna have to pick you up again. No swearing."

"No promises," Hollander grunted. Pasternak headed back for the garage, checking on the spade. He gave another look around for the keys but couldn't find them, so he resorted to hot wiring the vehicle. Removing the covering below the wheel, he sifted through the wires before finding the wires for the power and starter. Donovan moved to the front window, checking for any other hostiles. "I'm not seeing any more aliens," he said. "Wait," he said, getting his small binoculars out. "Crap, I'm seeing more down the road. Two more of those raptor things and.....bunch of smaller ones, different type of alien, and it looks like they're heading our way."

"Dammit," Bryan said. "Pasternak, please tell me you got that thing ready!" he called out. "Not yet!" Pasternak shouted, touching the wires together.

She smirked to that and did what she did last time, hoping he would help with his good leg to get to the car. "Just hop."

"Do I look like a fucking rabbit to you?" Hollander growled, though he hobbled as she carried him. Pasternak gave it another try and the engine came to life. He cackled as he said "It's alive!" Donovan began barking orders. "Pasternak you drive, Rose put Hollander in the back, Lewis you're with them." Nodding, Bryan got up and headed for the garage, helping Rose carry Hollander along the way. "Double time it people!" Donovan barked.

"Alright just lift him in." Lily said to Bryan as they made it to the back. Lifting Hollander into the flatbed.

"Gotcha," he grunted, lifting up his squad-mate and laying them in the bed of the truck. Donovan climbed into the passenger seat as Bryan did the same, Pasternak in the driver's seat already. "Wait.....is there a garage door opener?" Bryan asked. "Oh for fucks sake.....Private the button on the wall, hit it!" Donovan barked, and Lewis jumped out and slapped his palm on the button. The door of the garage lifted open and as he climbed back in Pasternak floored it, the vehicle jumping into motion as it drove out of the garage.

He made a sharp turn as they left the garage and began picking up speed down the road. Bryan looked back and saw the Covenant troops advancing, only to stop when they saw him. The raptor things screamed at the retreat and broke into a run, quickly closing in. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Bryan gasped, and he began firing his rifle at them to keep them back. "Put the pedal to the metal Pasternak!" Donovan barked.

Lily turned her eyes from Hollander to the reptile creatures that were closing in fast. "Bloody hell." Lily said in surprise as she grabbed her side arm and started to fire at them.

The gunfire forced the screeching aliens to fall back and Bryan sighed in relief. "Jesus Christ," he said, "any idea how large a radius the jamming signal has?" Donovan shook his head and said "No, so we keep driving east and check our radios every mile. If the Covenant are here then we have to warn command." That went without saying really; their priority as part of the Defense Force was to the colony and its people. Bryan started checking his radio but found nothing but interference. He had to hope that the next mile would be the end of the jamming signal.

"Is now the time?" Lily asked Bryan as she kept her eye's on both the road behind them and Hollander.

"It's been a mile, so might as well," Bryan said. He tested the radio....and his heart soared as he made a connection. "Sir we've got a connection!" he yelled and Donovan immediately opened the channel and started shouting into it. "This is Sergeant Michael Donovan of Nomad squad, Covenant presence sighted at Bandapur settlement in grid 3-J!" The radio was silent for a moment before someone on the other end spoke, Colonel Rush, Fort Gladius' commander. "Say again Sergeant, did you say Covenant?"

"Affirmative sir. We just got out of their crosshairs but there is a definite Covenant presence on Scipio." The Colonel swore under his breath and said "What's your status Sergeant?" Donovan gave his squad a look over in the mirror and said "On the move in a commandeered civilian vehicle with one of my men wounded." "Alright hang tight, we'll send a Pelican for you. In the meantime I'm putting the alert out: we're under attack."

Several minutes following the end of the radio call, the Colonel issued an alert to the rest of the colony. It branched into several different things: orders to begin moving civilians to bunkers or to prepare for evacuations, large scale deployment of troops to the Covenant area and long range communications to the ships in orbit and to FLEETCOM. The message rang loud and clear: Covenant detected on colony world Scipio, requesting reinforcements.

Lily like the others felt better that command new about the covenant threat. She turned to Bryan and smiled. "Seems like our first encounter. Also you didn't answer my question fully." She said to him. She herself was in a bit of shock but Bryan froze for a moment. "You good?"

"If I'm not then I'll have to get good," Bryan sighed. "Hollander how about you? You good?" Hollander though had passed out, some new painkillers in him. "Guess he's good," Donovan said.

"Haha, yea I guess. Don't know if he will be able to walk again. Never treated plasma burns." She told him. Talking is always a cure when something bad happened and the covenant invading was considered a bad happening.

"Sir, up ahead on the horizon," Pasternak said. There was a dot closing in from the east. Getting his binoculars out, Donovan gave it a look. "Pelican, we're getting our ride boys." Bryan sighed and sagged back against the side of the bed. "Short break though," he said. "Soon as we get back, ten credits says we get shipped out to fight those fucking aliens."

"We might need a replacement for our squad if that happens." Lily said to the sergeant, looking at Hollanders leg.

"Ain't telling me nothing I don't already know private," Donovan said. "Pasternak, pull up by that boulder, we'll let the Pelican land and grab us." Doing as told, Pasternak drove towards the spot, parking by the large rock and shutting down the car.

"Bryan mind helping me carry the sleeping beauty." Lily asked as she moved to get Hollander off the bed.