Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo ❯ Rescue Attempt ( Chapter 11 )

VanDread - Halo

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is connected to VanDread or to Halo…but I love the both of them.

Chapter 11

Rescue attempt

< >: Thoughts

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In space…

The Nirvana was currently undergoing routine systems maintenance as the ship was docked near a large number of free floating asteroids. Parfet and her engineering teams were busy working on the inside of the Nirvana, fixing all the key systems and doing checks on the circuits, wires, connectors, and systems all over the ship. The rest of the crew were busy with their own matters.

Cortana was busy running a diagnostic check on all the weapon systems on the Nirvana to make sure that they were at full operational readiness for any possible encounter while she was in her personal holo-tank and in the bridge of the Nirvana, as she did so, she reported the weapon status to Magno who listened attentively.

Bart was currently in the Navigation Well, under orders to practice with the controls of the Nirvana to perfect his skills at maneuvering the Nirvana both in tight situations and in combat situations as well. The blonde Navigator was still not happy with the way he was treated by the others, but tried not to complain about it too loudly lest he drew more attention on himself.

Buzam was there as well and was busy checking the incoming information from the Clarion Spy Drones that the former UNSC AI had released ahead of the ship to keep track of any possible activity while they were busy making the routine repairs and maintenance to the ship. Amarone, Belvedere, Celtic, and Ezra were doing their duties as well, though the three had to work hard since Ezra's pregnancy was making her unable to accomplish every duty she had like she used to. But they didn't mind, they knew that with her baby growing as it was, the gentle bridge officer would be like this.

The Dread pilots were busy taking turns in the Dreads on a routine practice run with meia looking at them through the scanners of her own Dread, after that near disaster in the asteroid belt, the Dread pilots had to practice their maneuvers on how to deal with a similar situation like that one on the off chance it happened again.

Hibiki was also getting a crash course in it as he was being run through it by the Master Chief, who was currently in a Longsword-fighter to observe his student's live fire progress. While he did well enough, the Spartan was not going to let the knowledge he had gained in the fight to be dulled just because they were no longer in the same situation as before. As Hibiki maneuvered his Vanguard through the asteroids, the Longsword fighter would follow his progress and the Master Chief would make observations.

The Fire Teams were currently off duty and were taking a break with the other members of the Nirvana's crew, and they were enjoying it immensely as they ate, drank, and relaxed somewhat as they recounted to their fellow team-mates the battles they had been in ever since joining the Fire Teams, the one topic that they never got tired of was their first ground mission. Though the videos were seen by the other pirates after it was over for a few weeks, the videos were not able to make up for the personal views of the people who were down there.

**************

“You actually got hit by a plasma bolt to the head?!”

“Yeah…thank the Goddess my helmet held off the damage long enough for me to get it off…after that battle, and knowing I was still alive…. I swear never to think about those helmets as ugly ever again!”

“How was it driving a Warthog?”

“Let me put it this way…the name might be ugly, but the ride is great! You might want to get used to the sound of either the M41 going off or the Gauss Cannon booming…but to me…it's awesome.”

“Don't you get tired of smelling all that gunpowder?”

“You get used to it, and I don't exactly have time to worry about the smell when plasma bolts and worse are flying all over the place.”

“How strict is the Master Chief?”

“The Chief? Oh yeah, he's strict and he's not above being tough…but he's fair, and he's really got what it takes to be the commander. You do all right, he teaches you how to improve your skills…you try to make it hard for him to teach you…and he gets even harder at you, you can't be fairer than that.”

The stories were varied and the women in the Fire teams admitted that they were lucky that the skills taught to them by the Chief saved their lives, if he wasn't their commander, who knew what would have happened to them in that mission if they were not trained the way they were now.

The crew of the Nirvana were not taking any chances as while the Dread pilots were practicing, they were ready to deactivate the restraints on their weapons systems and go online for a fight on the off chance they get attacked by the Harvesters. Hibiki himself was also alert, while the Master Chief was ready to fight his way through the enemy. Cortana herself was ready to give the Harvesters a full twenty-one gun salute complete with live rounds and missiles on the off chance they showed up once more.

For now, the crew did their best to get everything done before they left the asteroid field they were using. Master Chief however had an idea as he decided to do a scan of the asteroids…and found a large number of them had a good amount of metals, minerals, and frozen water through the scanners of his Longsword Fighter. With that in mind, he contacted the bridge.

“Master Chief to the bridge.”

**************

“Go ahead Chief.”

Magno said as she and the bridge crew listened into the message from the Spartan as soon as he was on the view-screen of the ship.

“There appears to be a high concentration of metals, minerals, and frozen water in these asteroids Captain, request permission to have the Engineering team with Vanguards go out and extract as many as we can. The extra supplies might prove useful both as raw materials and if we can…we might be able to use them as bargaining chips for spare supplies if we encounter any other human groups willing to trade.”

The bridge crew had to admit that the Spartan had a point, the materials they could find could prove helpful for them, and could be useful indeed as trading materials as well. Magno nodded in agreement with the idea as the Spartan raised a very good point.

“All right, I'll have Parfet and her teams begin the process once they're done with the repairs and maintenance of the Nirvana. I'll also have Meia and her fellow Dread pilots act as security detail for the Engineers.”

“Roger that Captain, John-117 out.”

**************

As he finished his communication with the bridge, the Spartan went back to keeping track of his student, as soon as the Tarak teen was done with the first half of the obstacle course that he had set up, the Spartan activated the salvaged Cube Fighters that he was able to have reactivated to test Hibiki's skills.

The Spartan had directed a salvage operation to get any relatively intact Cube Fighters and use them as practice for his student in his actual combat training in the Vanguard, that would serve him well in order to sharpen his reflexes, and improve his skills in combat when the time came. At first some of the crew wondered why he would give that much effort like he did by salvaging the corpses of the destroyed Harvester Shock Troopers…but it became obvious that his reasons were solid as the Fire teams were placed in situations against their foes and allow them to adapt to changing tactics. The salvaged units had their AI cores purged by Cortana and she rewrote their systems for the exercises.

“All right Hibiki, let's see if you've improved.”

“Yes sir!”

With that, the Tarak took out his Vanguard's sword and charged into the mess of Cube Fighters that were heading towards him and engaged them, while his mentor watched his progress in space combat maneuvers.

**************

On a planet, the situation was grim as cities were being overrun and defenders were fighting their very best but were being wiped out piecemeal by the attackers, the attackers were unlike anything they had ever seen before…it was like they had come out from a horror movie as they marched into the ruins of their cities and the ravaged defenses, supported by a massive number of creatures that seemed be a fusion of machine and flesh as they continued to advance…the soldiers were trying their best to save as many as they possibly could manage and they were able to do so…but with heavy losses both in the civilian populations and their own forces…their fighters tried their best…but they were running out of time.

An aide rushed to one of their commanding officers in one of their command facilities…he was tired, haggard, and was reaching the end of his rope…the same could be said for the rest of the people in the command center and his leader as well.

“Sir! Delta Brigade has been overrun by the enemy forces and they are being slaughtered and we've lost contact with Far Point City…and their forces…they…”

“They are all dead…I know…we have no other choice…what's the report from Space Command?”

“Nothing sir…we've lost contact with them and we have not been able to re-establish contact for the past three to four hours…but we are assured that they were able to send out a distress call.”

“Then let us hope that we get help…what about the other cities?”

“All have been lost sir…we've had sporadic reports of survivors…but now, nothing…they are all gone…we have to move out sir…Galand will not hold on much longer….”

“Than that means that we must evacuate to the city of New Dawn…we have to hope that we can hold out that long…give the order for full evacuation now…all forces and civilians are to evacuate and clear out of the city before we are over-run!”

“Yes sir!”

The elderly leader turned as the people in the facility followed his orders as they began to gather weapons, supplies, materials, information and more…he only hoped that they would be able to make it out in time.

As their forces began to move out of the area, they watched as their city was being torn to shreds by the invaders and that made them angry and very much in despair and rage…but they all knew that despite their feelings of the situation, they had to evacuate. The commander looked on as the towers and buildings of the once lush city were torn down in screams of metal, stone, plastic, alloys and more…accompanied by the screams of the wounded and the dying.

He hated having to abandon them to their bloody fates…but they didn't have the numbers and fire-power to fight back and rescue them all…and it made him even more angry at these alien invaders who attacked their world without warning and decimated their space forces and then began to land into their worlds without any reason and began to attack their worlds and indiscriminately kill and capture their citizens and even their soldiers and military personnel…they cared little for age or gender…they took everyone…

He turned and got into the magnetic rail train that was still intact and he and the survivors of his people, both civilian and military, and whatever they could salvage and take with them to the largest city on their world, their capital and their most treasured home…and from the looks of things…their last stand.

**************

The Nirvana crew were now getting ready to move on and make the needed trip back to Tarak and Megele, while the Master Chief and Hibiki were reviewing footage from the cameras of the Longsword Fighter that recorded Hibiki's performance in the Vanguard and the Spartan began to point out the flaws of his combat style and what he needed to work on when the next battle came to them all. It wasn't limited to just the Vanguard itself however and the Spartan even had video clips of the VanDreads that Hibiki made with Dita and Meia, and pointed out the tactical and strategic strengths and weaknesses of the two VanDread forms and how to fix them when they were in combat once more.

Hibiki took the lessons in stride and took the time to listen and record them in his own PDA, that he had been given by the Master Chief to record his lessons and training. The Tarak youth had changed from being the hard headed, brash, and arrogant young man to a highly trained, dedicated, patient, calm, and skilled Vanguard pilot who was winning the respect of the rest of the crew…just as his own mentor was winning the respect, admiration and trust of the crew…and while there were still those who didn't openly trust him like Barnette, she admitted that there was no doubt about his battle skills and attacking the Spartan in any fashion was a bad idea. The Fire teams also changed…from women who were against their commander, to women who were now trusting and respectful of their commander, and would not hesitate to defend their commander with their own words, actions, and lives as well.

Magno herself had taken the time to see the training exercises that the Master Chief had placed on his women and his way to training them well in battle field tactics and more, along with their mock missions in ship defense and she admitted that the women under his command could very well give the best Megele commandos a serious challenge and were no doubt in par with the men's forces as well.

The elderly captain had to only look at not just Fire Teams to show the ability of the Master Chief as a leader, but on Hibiki as well. When the Master Chief assigned Hibiki to work with Gascogne in the Register along with Cortana when it was his time to be in the Register…the boy didn't complain but instead became friendly and hard working as the Spartan had allowed him to mature enough for him to begin to lose his planet's teachings about women and see them differently.

Dita's relationship with the Spartan was purely friendly as she was so focused on Hibiki and despite being obviously uncomfortable with playing the role of relationship advisor to his charge the Spartan did his best to make things smoother between the two and after Hibiki had helped Dita from Rabat…the two had gotten even closer to one another. And so did Cortana as well as Cortana treated Hibiki like a little brother of sorts as they would work together in the Register. And Cortana herself was a good aide to the ship as both a weapons specialist for the Nirvana, advisor to the ground forces and support leader, and also as a friendly person to talk to for the women to learn about men…and that was true since Dita was always asking Cortana for advice on how to approach Hibiki.

The other women were also treating the Spartan differently as well. Meia was more courteous, understanding, and patient with the Spartan and amazingly enough took CQC lessons from him to further improve and refine her skills, she went as far as to ask the Spartan to teach her how to use some of the UNSC and Covenant weapons he had with him…and he admitted that Meia showed skills with both the M7 Caseless Submachine Gun and the Plasma Pistol as well. She had taken a slight liking to the Covenant weapon and The Spartan knew full well the abilities of the Plasma Pistol…and how effective it could be in the right hands and against the right foe.

The Plasma Pistol when used properly could disable vehicles by the plasma bolt and though only for a few seconds…was lethal in the right situation…plus the ability to overpower shield systems was considered a great addition to an already unique weapon.

Jura herself began to show an interest in the Spartan, when he was bare of his helmet, or his armor, as the blond woman had to admit that despite the paleness of his skin, he was in a way…intriguing to her, much to Barnette's slight annoyance. The blonde also wondered why was it seeing the man in clothes and out of his Mjolnir Mark VI seemed so appealing to her, but she didn't complain as she took the time to study the Spartan.

The rest of the crew were also getting used to seeing the Spartan either without his trademark Mjolnir Mark 7 Armor or with it on as they knew that he was a trust worthy person in a fire fight…as he had defended the ship successfully for the past few months to nearly a year.

As things were being dealt with however, things were about to get interesting when the bridge crew called in that they had detected an incoming data pod that seemed to be emitting a high grade emergency signal.

Magno and the rest of the bridge crew began to track the pod as Hibiki in his Vanguard and a small team of Dreads went out to retrieve it…As soon as they got the pod inside, the engineers from Parfet's team began to do what they can to figure out just where this pod came from and who was the owner.

The Spartan then was now back in his armor as the engineers, along with the other members of the crew sent to uncover the data inside the pod, that included Gascogne and Buzam and as the data was decrypted, the Spartan was now in the bridge to hear just what were the contents of the pod were and show sent them.

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As they watched the video feed come in, they saw a middle aged woman, who apparently was in the military, judging by her clothes and the fact that she had rank bars on her sleeves and military insignia on her uniform. The woman looked tired and haggard and she seemed to have a look of a soldier who knew that they were not going to make it…

“This will be the first and last you will hear this message…I am Commander Elena Kendrick of the planet Talvern Prime's Orbital Defense Forces…as of two days ago…we were suddenly and violently attacked by unknown alien invaders…our forward scouting parties began sending us warning message about an unknown force heading at our direction…and then we lost contact with the scouting forces…we tried to raise them, but we were too late…we assembled all of our pilots and scrabbled all available fighters to meet this unknown threat…but we were out-matched…all of our ships were engaged in combat with the alien forces and they were overrun, forced to move back…and then we received video feed of the alien forces for the first time.”

The images then showed Harvester Shock Troopers making their way into ships and attacking the crew made all clear to the pirates who were attacking these people as they listened in to the rest of the report.

“We're doing our best to hold them off, but they have already broken past our defenses and we are already being hit hard here in Space Commander…the aliens then began to deploy their ground forces and our cities are being overrun as well…we've just received word that our outlying cities are now being claimed by the aliens…and they did…horrible things to our people…I have no idea why they attacked us…but I must tell those of you who have found the message to please…for the sake of humanity…help us…we desperately need you're help…our people…we need help. We have little time left…the survivors have…made moves to escape to our main capital city of New Dawn and only remaining space port in the area…please…for the sake of all human life…we need….”

The recording ended and the bridge crew waited for the orders from the captain…Magno thought over what they should do…the truth was that they were still pirates and had no alliance with anyone…but after all they had been through and seen when fighting the Harvesters, they could not afford to avoid this fight…and they couldn't just turn their backs on a plea for help either…they all knew what fate awaited those people there when the Harvesters were involved…and it didn't take very long for Magno to come to a decision as data came in.

The elderly Captain turned to Cortana and the Master Chief.

“Cortana…can you prepare a battle strategy for us when we enter the system? I need to know all the possible tactics we might use in order to help those people.”

Cortana saluted as she went into the holo-tank and soon reappeared in her AI form.

“I'm all over it Captain.”

The elderly woman then turned to the Spartan who stood ready to take her orders.

“Master Chief…how soon can you're forces be ready for a ground assignment? We need them all ready to fight as soon as we arrive at the system.”

The Spartan did a quick recollection of his trained Fire Teams and knew that while there was no way his platoon could defeat an invasion force..they could be able to buy time for the people on Talvern that could be used for evacuation of their people…and his forces were more than enough for that.

“My Fire Teams will be ready as soon as we're in the system Captain.”

“Then get them all ready…it seems we're going to be in the fight of our lives.”

With that done, the Spartan moved out and then got on the COM to contact all members of his Fire Teams. Magno then gave the order for the Nirvana to make all speed to Talvern as soon as possible, while making plans with Buzam…this was a fight that normally they would have avoided had it not concerned the Harvesters…but not this time…they were not going to let Talvern suffer the same fate as the other planets that were gutted by the Harvesters before. They were not going to stand aside and let the harvesters do their butchery on these people…

Magno nodded mentally that this was a dangerous mission, but her conscience and her humanity would never let her leave these people to die no matter what the risk…they deserved a future, and no one…especially not the Harvesters had the right to take it from them and treat them like vegetables to be harvested or treated like livestock.

The Spartan wasted little time as he began to call in the rest of the crew of his Fire Teams to get ready for war, he himself went to the UNSC section and began to download the data from the pod they recovered and worked on what this situation presented before him.

The Nirvana changed it's direction and headed for the location of Talvern…it's crew getting ready to fight.

**************

The Nirvana's UNSC section…

The Fire Teams were now decked in their UNSC Marine Body Armor which had an improved ablative energy coating to withstand plasma more effectively, developed by both Cortana and Parfet in the Engineering Bay, and they were armed to the teeth with ammunition, weapons, and were more than ready for battle. They all knew that this mission they were about to enter was by far the most hazardous and most dangerous they were all about to get into…

The Master Chief ordered Cortana to stock up the Albatross with more than double the ammunition supplies and medical gear to help them in this mission…and to further prove that, a flight of Pelicans were also assembled to both ferry in extra supplies and spare vehicles, along with amazingly enough, another Albatross was also ready to hit the dirt the second it was needed. The equipment also included several new pieces of gear as well.

The Spartan then made sure to check in the need for air support…the Longsword Squadrons that were being piloted by Cortana's AI copies were effective in both space battles and planetary combat, but they were going to need some serious air support to fight an army that size…and therefore, Cortana had prepared some new weapons for the Fire Teams to use in this mission

The Fire Teams were not the only ones in the area though as the Dread Squadrons were also there, along with Hibiki who was already dressed up in his body armor. The Nirvana was at least four to six hours away from Talvern and the two forces of the pirates had to work together in order to assure that the operation would be a success. Meia and her squadron leaders, including Jura and Barnette looked as the Fire Teams got their gear together and were now armed with their weapons, armor and equipment.

The gun collecting Dread pilot looked at the weapons with interest as they were very much highly advantaged guns despite not being the same as the Megele laser rifles her people commonly used. She looked at the MA5C ICWS Assault Rifles, the BR 55 HB SR Battle Rifle, the M90 Shotgun, the M7 Caseless Submachine Gun, the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, the M7S Caseless Submachine Gun, the M6G Magnum, the M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher, and the Weapon/Anti Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Non-Linear Rifle…or more commonly known as the Spartan Laser…which she had seen in action in the hands of the Spartan. The other weapons were the ones based on the Covenant weaponry, the weapons were the Plasma Rifle, the Plasma Pistol, the Particle Beam Rifle, the Fuel Rod Cannon, and the Needler. The weapons were stored in another set of containers and recharge stations were being loaded into the transports. Those were not the only weapons as Tarak Assault Rifles were also being loaded into the ships, along with Warthogs, Scorpions, and several new vehicles to be used…for all intents and purposes, though the Fire Teams were only a platoon sized group…they carried enough supplies and firepower to rival a small army.

The Dread pilots had only seen records of the weapons in action and were not completely convinced that they were effective. However, they were not going to say that before the Fire Teams as the women looked quite different from before. The Fire Team members were like normal women of Megele when not on duty…but they became serious and determined once they were called in for a mission by their commander and the way they treated both their UNSC weapons and their Covenant weapons.

The Spartan then activated the holo-table and outlined the mission to his teams.

“You all know that we are approaching a planet under siege by the Harvesters, as of right now…the people of Talvern are under attack by what appears to be a Harvester group hell bent on harvesting the population of that planet…Cortana has sent out the Clarion Spy Drones and they have gathered enough data to tell us that we are going to be facing serious opposition down there.”

Cortana appeared and the Master Chief allowed his life long partner and friend to show the data before the Fire Teams and the Dread pilots. The images showed the planet that they were soon to be arriving at in a matter of hours.

There were several large circles that indicated cities and the deep red dots indicated hostile forces…who were naturally the Harvesters and there were hundreds of them…along with small collections of larger red dots. The cities were already being overrun…except for one massive city that was located a good distance from the massive wave of Harvester signatures. Cortana then gave the groups the information.

“As far as we know…the Harvesters are in full force over this world…unlike the occupation and garrison force that we had to fight before on the previous ground mission, this is a harvesting force and that will mean that they will be in much larger numbers and will no doubt be in different forms once we engage them…this is not a simple demolition mission, we will no doubt be dealing with a force that could be a small army.”

The women looked at one another and talked among themselves and Hilda was the one to speak out to both the Spartan and Cortana.

“Sir…I know that we have to help those people and I and my Fire Team are ready to follow you're orders…but we're only a platoon of troops…how can we defeat an entire army?”

“We're not going to defeat them…merely delay them until the Talvernian people can evacuate from their world…the city we are going to happens to be their capital city at the moment, and it's the only city that still has a functional star-port…and ships to help with the evacuation. We will be using some new weapons and vehicles to buy them and ourselves time to leave the planet…our operation window is at least half a day before the Harvesters come in full force on that last city. We need to set up a powerful enough defensive perimeter to ensure that their ships don't get shot down by the ground forces. Meia will fill in the details from here on the space operations.”

Meia nodded and showed the planet of Talvern and began to point to the massive clouds of alien fighters that were soon to arrive.

“The Dreads, with the support of the Longswords under Cortana's control will provide support for the ground teams to land and we will also provide security to destroy the Harvesters and clear a path for the retreating ships belonging to the Talvernians, once they have cleared the planet's space sector of the Harvesters…we will escort them out of the planet along with the ground teams. The VanDreads will form the first strike to distract the Harvesters while the ground teams handle the land operations.”

The Master Chief then directed his attention to the rest of his Fire Teams, he can understand that some of them were still not sure why they were going to do this, facing an army of an unknown size and composition, and they were naturally only a platoon, barely enough to hold off even a regiment, but he knew that it had to be done…these people were under siege and needed aid.

“I know many of you are wondering why we are going to go down there and face the Harvesters who at this point are more numerous than we are and for people none of you know nor are you loyal to, being pirates…there is an old saying that I know that fits the situation.”

“What's that sir?” Sheena asked.

“The only thing necessary for evil to win…is for good people to do nothing.”

The Fire Teams were silent and even more so were the Dread pilots and Hibiki as well…even Barnette was silent as they all heard that. John-117 then spoke once more.

“We do have a choice…we can either go down there and save as many of them as we can…or we can ignore them and move on. As human beings…we can't ever do that…for if we do…we subject these people to the horror of being Harvested by the Harvesters…we will leave every MAN, WOMAN, and CHILD to the butchery of the Harvesters…and as you no doubt have seen…the Harvesters will slaughter them all without mercy…all for their organs, the Harvesters have done it before without any form of mercy or pity and we have already seen their handiwork on other barren planets which were once teeming with life and human civilization, and human life…regardless of gender…now…knowing this and what fate awaits those people on that world…can you honestly say to me that you would willingly abandon them to this fate?”

The NCOs looked at one another as each member of the Fire Teams looked at one another as well…and they all replied to the question.

“No sir!”

The Spartan nodded and began to point out the mission parameters. The last city was surrounded by a massive ravine in the front and the only way in were several land passes that they had to mine and hold off…the others were going to be the railway tunnels that were used as fast transport…the good news was that the railway tunnels were already destroyed, so that would force the Harvester ground forces to go the long way…and while the city did have some considerable defenses…it was already being attacked by small bands of Harvesters who were no doubt probing the defensive capacity of the city. The city was also under siege by several of the enemy elements as a precursor to their full scale attack.

The Spartan outlined that they would need to delay the Harvesters since the Harvesters would no doubt target the city's power supply, communication center, and naturally their space port…holding the city indefinitely was impractical so they would have to hold them off at the entrances and then move in to protect the first two key areas and then the space port…they would need to set up ambushes to hold off the enemy…he also decided to be the first to get going to the surface via lone Longsword to find them a clear drop-zone…once the areas of space was clear, he would then coordinate their landing and then set up base command and coordinate with the surviving elements of the Talvern Defense Force.

As the Spartan saw the women get ready for battle…he spotted Dita once more talking to Hibiki who was in his clothes and his body armor, the two seemed better acquainted together, while Jura was still about, the seductive blonde making things a bit more steamy as she and Dita glared at one another. The Spartan gave a slight shake of his head and then spoke to Meia.

“You know…if you were not so used to flying Dreads and leading them and you were not needed to make a VanDread with Hibiki, I could certainly use your help and skill in flying the fighters we are going to use.”

“Really?”

The announcement did indeed catch Meia by surprise…she was already aware of the Spartan's respect of her skills as a Dread pilot…but here he was now wishing she was part of the strike team he was commanding.

John-117 nodded.

“I do…I've watched you fly in you're Dread both in training missions and combat…and I can say you can fly with the best of the UNSC Navy and Air Force's best…however I know you're needed here in space so I can't say much about that. Be careful Meia Gisborn and good luck to you.”

Meia nodded and replied.

“Same to you Master Chief.”

The Spartan then got into one of the Longswords, the very same one that he was going to us to get to the surface ahead of the rest of his forces to set up a forward position and get a lay of the land. The others awaited his order as he powered up the Longsword and got ready to move out.

**************

Over Talvern…

The Cube Fighters, Seed Ships, and Space Urchins directed their attention right at the pirates who came out of nowhere and began to attack their forces…the indication was the blast from VanDread Dita's shoulder cannons that quickly destroyed a small group of Cube Fighters and severely damaged a pair of Urchin Ships…bypassing their spines and destroying them as well. The Harvesters were then bombarded by the Dreads and Longswords that came into the area to both distract the enemy and buy the ground teams time.

Cortana and Bart guided the Nirvana in to support the Dread and Longsword Squadrons as the Navigator kept the Nirvana at a good operational distance as Cortana unleashed the 50mm Point Defense Guns and the Archer Missiles. The former UNSC AI coordinated the volley with lethal and efficient precision as Cube Fighters were being turned into scrap by the weapons of the Nirvana. The Dreads also added to the fray by firing their energy weapons and missiles at the groups of Cube Fighters while the Longswords, under Cortana's control with the use of her highly upgraded AI abilities provided support for the Dreads with their own ammunition. The squadrons were needed to also support the strike teams as they would be on their way to the surface and support the Talvern people in helping to evacuate their citizens from their soon to be doomed home planet. It was also when the Longsword piloted by the Master Chief arrived.

Like all the Spartans, the Master Chief was trained on how to use and pilot all manner of UNSC vehicles…including Longswords…and while he was more a ground trooper, his skill was enough to use the Longswords. The Spartan fought past several Cube Fighters and made his way to the atmosphere…and soon enough, the Longsword was now through the atmosphere

Magno then was called by Ezra that they now had established communication lines with the people on the ground below them. The monitor activated and the image of a middle aged man with the uniform of a military man appeared.

“This is General Maxwell Grant…who is on this line?”

“This is Magno Vivian of the Megele Pirates and Captain of the Nirvana.”

The general's face turned from hope to anger and rage as he replied.

“If you're here to raid us then you…”

“We're not here to raid you…as of right now our space forces are fighting the enemy as we speak…we know ho you are facing and we are here to help.”

The General was surprised at this and he quickly turned aside and got confirmation that several groups of unknowns were now attacking and engaging the aliens above their world. He then turned and spoke to Magno.

“I don't know why you're doing this…but you have my thanks…you said you know these aliens that are attacking my world?”

“Yes…they are the Harvesters…we've already dispatched a scout to go there to you're city and clear us a landing zone for our ground teams to help you defend the city.”

“A single scout? No offense, but how can one person face the Harvesters? We're already under siege from some of their raiding parties…and we're being routed already.”

“Don't worry…he is more than capable of that task.”

**************

And sure enough…

The Master Chief saw the battle ground below him as his Longsword came through the atmosphere…he spotted several bands of Harvester Shock Troopers making their way into the city, causing as much damage as they could…he spotted several transports coming in…no doubt with reinforcements to the raiding parties already in the city. He quickly guided the Longsword to an attack run and contacted Cortana…the woman in her AI form appeared on Longsword's small holo-tank.

“What is it John?”

“I'm going to land ina few minutes…get control of the Longsword I'm in and guide it down to where I land, I need to clear the landing zone ASAP.”

The Master Chief then went to the back of the Longsword as Cortana took command of the fighter and guided it into the battle zone. The Spartan activated the Longsword's hidden weapons locker and equipment storage units…he grabbed a good number of grenades…a SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, with full weapon load and his trusty MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle with full weapon load, a Combat Knife…and a Falcon Wing.

The Falcon Wing was a less complicated and arguably less dangerous method of orbital insertion into a planet's surface than the HEV, and was actually a well constructed parachute that UNSC troops used in combat when landing in either HEVs or Pelicans was deemed too noisy and attracting too much attention.

The Spartan placed on the pack and double checked it to make sure nothing went amiss…with all that done, he activated the override code to the Longsword's rear access way…and quickly the ramp opened up and the Spartan saw the surface below him…he looked down and got ready…just as Cortana contacted him.

“Be careful John…”

“Always…”

With that, the Spartan leaped out of the back of the Longsword and was now in the full of gravity…at least thousands of feet in the air…and was the Spartan made his way down, he scanned the area…with his Combat Recorders and COM recording his descent to the pirate crews back on the Nirvana…and the bridge crew…the sight was immense as the Longsword he had just vacated began to drop bombs on the transports as it flew away from the flying blobs of high energy plasma fired at it…some hit the hull, but the fighter was unharmed.

The Spartan looked down and sensed something was wrong and he then deactivated the safety constraints of the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, armed it and clicked off the safety...and in the middle of his descent…began to fire four shots…while flying towards the ground…

“What is he doing?!”

Belvedere commented as she saw the Spartan's move via his COM-link…they were surprised that he was actually taking the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and then firing it…without seeing the targets.

Buzam was a bit surprised but after all she and the senior officers had seen in every mission the Spartan had been in…along with his records…they knew that if he did something that was totally outrageous…he had a very good reason to be doing just that.

“Keep you're cool, the Master Chief knows what he is doing.”

“But he's still in the air Commander…and there's no target in sight…what does he expect to hit?”

Cortana grinned…she knew that there was no doubt something HIT by those rounds fired by the Master Chief, and whoever's down there was about to get some serious back-up from the Master Chief.

**************

Down on the ground…

“Where the hell did that come from?!”

One of the Talvern Army soldiers replied as he and his team-mates were in a ditch trying to fight off the alien forces that were moving into their home city, they were engaging several more of the alien forces and more were coming in towards them…they were slowing them down but there were too many coming in…however…four of the alien soldiers were suddenly hit right on the heads by what appeared to be bullets…the four who were hit immediately dropped dead as their life blood began to flow out from the wounds from their heads. The alien forces looked for the shooter…but the aliens had no time to recover as four more of their kin were suddenly cut down…the rounds coming from the unknown weapon tore right into the aliens as four more fell dead…with bullet holes…large ones in their foreheads…and then an object appeared landed right into the group of aliens.

And the one who asked the question quickly recognized what it was and shouted.

“GRENADE!!! HIT THE DIRT!!!!”

He and his comrades hit the dirt as the grenade exploded in a loud bang and when the dirt stopped falling, they tried to look, but they went back to the ground as the sounds of bullets and explosions filled the air…and after a few moments…the place was now silent, the group then looked up to see the alien soldiers slaughtered and were littered all over the place…but while that was a welcome sight since their weapons were already short of power packs…

It was another thing entirely as they saw him…

The man…or if was man was a giant…dwarfing them and resembled the statues of their national heroes. He dressed what appeared to be a full body suit of green and black armor and was like futuristic warrior come to life…they had seen movies and while they enjoyed them…they admitted that there was no way such super-human soldiers were ever real…they were nothing more than creations of directors and actors…

Now however…it seemed that they were going to have to change their minds. They moved out of their ditch and cautiously approach the behemoth of the man…who had a massive sniper rifle on his back and had a Combat Knife as well.

The giant suddenly turned and they all cringed back and aimed their laser rifles at them, and they found themselves looking at the giant's face…which was hidden by his helmet and they saw their faces looking right back at them through the polarized golden tint visor…it was like looking at yourself…and looking at an emotionless machine of death in a human form…it was scary as hell.

The leader, a male solider that was armed with a laser rifle and carrying the rank of Sergeant spoke to the giant of a man.

“Who the heck are you?”

The giant looked him over and then revealed his weapon…a powerful looking Assault Rifle, that action further made the group more uneasy as though they would have fought if the giant did something hostile…but they were not going to try something to a guy who had not just slaughtered the alien forces that were about to massacre them…but who could wipe them out as well.

The giant then spoke.

“United Nations Space Command Navy, Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117 at you're service Sergeant...”

“The name's Aleck Brooks…I don't know where you're from…but you saved the lives of me and my group.”

“No problem…I have to set up an LZ for the rest of my ground team Sergeant Brooks…see you around…”

With that, the Spartan got ready to move out, but then Sergeant Brooks called out to the Spartan.

“Master Chief, sir!!! If you find more of my comrades, then help them out if you can…we need everyone we have to hold these aliens back!”

“Understood.”

The group left, but some of the others were still stunned as to where that giant of a man was. The Master Chief had activated his Falcon Wing and made it half way down, but had to ditch the parachute as soon as he was at a good survivable altitude, he tossed the grenade early and it scattered the Harvester Troopers and he was able to use the confusion as he landed and blasted away at them as they were still gathering their wits about them.

His Mjolnir Mark VII activated it's built in medical systems once he landed to deal with the injuries and he was now back into fighting shape as he moved through the rubble and buildings…dodging the occasional plasma round as the battle was underway.

A Harvester Trooper was in front of him and died in a hail of lead as the Spartan attacked and killed it. He then moved to get cover near a building and then fired another burst…catching yet another Harvester Trooper right in the stomach…ripping the flesh apart. The Spartan then arrived and quickly spotted another squad of Talvernian soldiers under heavy fire from an advancing wall of Harvester Troopers. He took out a plasma grenade and primed it…and with one powerful toss, sent the glowing sphere right into the bunch of Harvester Troopers…and then…

BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

The smell of ozone and more was in the air as several Harvesters were quickly blown apart by the Plasma grenade when it adhered to the body of the middle Harvester Trooper and blasted the Harvesters…sending parts and bodies flying…much to the shock to the Talvernian soldiers. They then heard the powerful crack of the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and watched as several Harvester Troopers were gutted in a line by four loud rounds and they directed their attention to the location…just as the Spartan came with MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle going at full tilt…filling the area with lead and cutting up and unfortunate Harvester Trooper still left alive in the carnage.

The soldiers were stunned, just as they were getting a message from High Command, it was told to them that if they saw a giant of a man in green and black armor with a golden visor…then he was their back-up. They thought that there was no way one man would be enough to stop these aliens…but now they were thinking otherwise.

The Spartan quickly got into combat position and took out the sniper rifle which in the eyes of the Talvern soldiers was more like a cannon than a rifle as the weapon roared as it was fired. Their commander looked at the Spartan and saw the arrival engage several more Harvester Troopers with the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and take down several more…he wasted no time and rallied his group.

“Come on! Time to take the fight to these alien bastards!!!”

“Yeah!!!”

The soldiers moved out of their hiding places and quickly moved in to support the Spartan with their own laser rifles as the Spartan used that massive rifle to take down several more of the Harvesters…the Harvester Troopers then realized just who was helping the Talvernian soldiers and began to focus their attention on the Spartan, but the Troopers were too late as they were shredded…

The Spartan then reloaded his weapons and moved on, the squad of soldiers decided that they had a better chance with the Spartan and followed him after they recharged their weapons and checked their fellow wounded. John-117 normally didn't like too much company…but this was more than welcome as he moved through the city…so far the city had suffered minimal damage…but the Spartan knew that it could all change in a matter of time before this city would either be in fire or ruins…he had seen it before after all. The Spartan then scanned the area and then moved on, eliminating any Harvester unit he came across with lethal and quick precision as the squad following him got into contact with any other units in the area and then to high command. It didn't take long for the Spartan to locate a large enough area of the city…namely one of the massive courtyards.

He contacted Cortana and the AI guided his Longsword down and he then boarded the fighter and reloaded his weapons and got out several spare grenades and then contacted the Nirvana.

“This Spartan II Master Chief John-117 to the Nirvana…here are coordinates for ground force deployment. We need to set up perimeter ASAP!”

On the Nirvana, the Fire Teams got ready as they were given the location of where they were supposed to land…the area looked large enough for them and was at a good spot for a base camp and defensive position. Cortana powered up the two Albatross Drop ships as the Fire Teams and their NCOs now got their gear ready to move out. The former AI in her AI form was in the lead Albatross' cockpit along with the second Albatross, and as soon as she got the message from the Master Chief…she took the two Albatross Drop ships off, and was escorted by the number of Pelicans they had for the operation.

As soon as the Dread teams and Hibiki got word that the LZ for the ground strike force was now set up and the strike teams were on their way…they divided into two groups…one was dedicated to the attack on the Harvesters to divert as much of their attention away from the landing parties, and the other was to make sure that the landing parties were not intercepted until they reached their objective. The Harvesters figured that out pretty quickly and attempted to strike at the ground forces that were on the move…but the Dreads and the Longswords beat them to it as they screened the ground teams and ensured that they were safe…

Cortana made double sure by providing heavy fire support with the UNSC arsenals on the Nirvana as the 50mm cannons made their presence known along with the Archer Missiles that came right at the Cube Fighters.

Hibiki was currently cutting down several more Cube Fighters and Dita was right next to his Vanguard and it didn't take too long for them to merge their respective machines with one another. VanDread Dita quickly tore through several more Cube Fighters and then unleashed it's shoulder cannons in one massive blast that destroyed several more of them and severely damaging the rest. Jura was not happy that she was not going to merge with Hibiki once more…but she had other priorities at the moment as the Albatross and it's Pelicans were her team's concern.

As soon as the Albatross Drop ships and their fellow Pelicans hit the atmosphere, the Longswords took over the escort mission and were now following the Albatross pair and the Pelicans…the strike team were now taking the form of falling meteorites as the heat resistant alloy that protected them began to heat up with the heat from reentry. The Longswords managed to fend off several Cube Fighters that tried to get too close to the strike teams and while two of the escorting Longswords were destroyed…by both reentry and attack fire…the rest were able to kill the Harvester fighters and they now breached the atmosphere…just in time for the Talvernian Defense Force to get word that reinforcements were well on the way.

As the units of Talvernian soldiers heard from High Command that more of their new allies were on their way, they were cheered at the thought. On the ground the Spartan…freshly armed with spare ammunition and having spare weapons was busy wiping out the survivors with the support of the Talvernian soldiers he managed to rescue. The men and women of TDF were in awe at how skilled this man in combat armor was and he was kicking the aliens like there was no tomorrow.

The Spartan ducked under several fallen building debris as plasma bolts slammed into them and he quickly grabbed his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle and one of his newly acquired fragmentation grenades and after firing a few bursts that killed two of the Harvester Troopers, the Spartan did a quick calculation and tossed the grenade to the right side and the flying explosive bounced off a wall and landed right into the Harvester group that was also using the nearby rubble as a shield…the grenade exploded and the Harvester Troopers were mauled hard by the explosive as the Spartan then spotted several more Talvernian soldiers arrive on the scene and reinforce the perimeter…but some of them were not so lucky as they were now under fire from some of the surviving Harvester Trooper raiders and some were wounded…others were even worse off as they were critically injured…the good news was that least they had a medic in each group to patch up the wounded.

The Spartan then took out his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and began to lay covering fire, along with eliminating any Harvester Trooper that was out in the open…he was on the move after each shot was fired and then switched to his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle to finish things up with a few well aimed and timed bursts…cutting them down before they can get the drop on the rest of the group.

It didn't take long for the Harvester raiding forces to be wiped out of the map and the Spartan looked up at the sky as he heard the roar of the Longsword engines…telling him that his back ground teams had just arrived…and sure enough,..there were the Albatross Drop ships and the Pelicans…all heading for the large open courtyard park before them.

The Talvernian soldiers looked on as the ships began to land…the first were the Albatross Drop ships and much to their surprise…namely the male soldiers, they were looking at a large number of very attractive women walking into the scene with large numbers of weapons and body armor. Since female UNSC Marines were a common sight among the UNSC…the Megele women were wearing very comfortable Marine Body Armor and therefore felt no discomfort in their suits…though some of them did decide to customize the armor for themselves…the women quickly got to work setting things up as they took out the supplies from the Albatross Drop ship that they disembarked from and the supplies included ammunition and weapon canisters, medical supplies and weapon systems…this included Missile Pods on their adaptable tripods and the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun which were still unpacked and were loaded on the backs of several modified M831 TT Warthogs, along with those heavy weapons were large numbers of the same weapons the Spartan had with him, along with others, that the Talvernians saw to be similar to old Earth style weapons, but highly advanced…and amazingly enough…weapons of a totally alien nature. The women in the Fire Teams didn't waste time to chat as they got their supplies ready as the Pelicans then began to drop off their supplies of extra munitions…medical gear, spare weapons, recharge units for the Covenant based weapons, and also spare equipment that Cortana had out loaded to them.

The TDF soldiers looked on as the women, their respective officers and their apparent overall commander were busy kicking things up…and as the Nirvana Fire Teams were getting ready to set up their temporary base camp…a hover vehicle with markings came on the scene.

The Spartan turned and while the patterns and colors were different, he had enough knowledge to see a military vehicle of a high ranking officer came on the scene. Sure enough…he spotted a man dressed in an officer's uniform and had several rank bars on him, along with a side-arm and wearing body armor with the same ranks…and he knew that the way the man moved…his hands close to his weapon, ready to take it out at a moment's notice, his focused and relaxed stare…and the way the men and women of the Talvernian military greeted and treated him…he was a high ranking officer. The man looked older than the others and carried himself as a professional soldier. He then looked at the Master Chief and the assembling Megele women who formed the Nirvana Fire Teams and spoke.

“Who among you is the Master Chief?”

The elderly male officer looked with some surprise as the Spartan moved forward and with crisp military precision and experience stood straight and saluted him in a crisp and serious fashion, the officer recovered just as quickly and saluted the Spartan as well…John-117 spoke to the elderly officer.

“That would be me sir.”

“Good…My name's Maxwell Grant…General Maxwell Grant son…thanks for coming here as soon as you could…I take it you're in full command of this all female outfit?”

“Yes sir!”

The men looked at the Spartan with some surprise while looking at the Megele females who had not yet worn their helmets for the operation…due to the inbreeding between women of Megele…the word ugly certainly didn't exist in their vocabulary so the best of female beauty were all for them to see…the women under the Spartan's command however were not paying attention as they did their best to set up the operational command since they had only half a day to get things done. The men wondered just what did it mean to have only one man in command of an all female strike force and ideas were flying about.

General Maxwell then saw the ideas and gave the soldiers a warning glare…he could see that the women were serious fighters.

“That's good Master Chief…I need you to hold off the enemy for as long as you can until the ships we have on port are fully fueled and powered up…they were never thought to be used except for occasional trips to the other colonies we had on hand…but now…any way…we need several hours to prepare the ships…can you buy us that time.”

“We'll do what we can sir.”

“That's good enough…half of the remaining forces will defend the space port….while the other half will aid the defense of the outer city, along with your forces…God speed Master Chief.”

“The same to you sir…”

General Maxwell then spoke to his officers and the word came that the Spartan was in overall command of the half of the Talvernian Defense Force…it was natural that some of the officers were uncomfortable with the idea of having a complete stranger in overall command of their forces…but that was a direct order from their General and they had no choice on the matter.

The Spartan didn't mind at all the addition to his forces…it just made things easier to deal with for him. He then gave orders to his NCOs to begin setting up defensive perimeters and also to set up ambush sites and sniper positions for both their Anti-infantry weapons and then their Anti-vehicle weapon systems…the Master Chief then took out some of the new weapons Cortana had been able to make in the manufacturing labs…he knew this weapon would really be worth the work and effort.

The Model 99 Special Application Scoped Rifle or the M99 Stantion Gauss Rifle was a UNSC Army weapon, but was sometimes used in special operations by the UNSC Marine Corps…the weapon was based on the same weapon system principles that spawned the MAC Guns on UNSC ships and Defense platforms, and also used in the Gauss Cannons used on the M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle Warthog. Unlike the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle that used high powered Armor Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot Rounds, the Stantion used high powered electromagnetic coils to fire a 21 caliber/5.4mm tungsten round at extreme kinetic speeds…and due to the fact, this weapon was deadly to the extreme…as it can go through extreme distances reaching 4.5 km without loss of speed and accuracy and kinetic force…

Before it was phased out at the year 2521, the weapon was normally used as a way to destroy explosive ordnance and light vehicles, but was a deadly anti personnel weapon. The Stantion's unique system allowed the round to rip through several instacrete pylons…kill it's target by ripping it apart, and blast through more barriers without any loss of speed, power, and accuracy.

It was a powerful and deadly weapon, and used a portable computer for high grade ballistic calculations to engage long range targets. The M99 Stantion can also merge with other battle field weapon systems such as the ARGUS Drone for trajectory and ballistic data.

However, the Nirvana Fire teams only had four of the M99 in their arsenals so the Spartan gave them to the best markswomen in his Fire teams and they were told to set up sniper nests in several roads and buildings, and use both the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and the Particle Beam Rifle. The other members of the Fire Teams were given the use of the M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher, and the Weapon/Anti Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Non-Linear Rifle/ The Spartan Laser…with enough munitions and recharge packs for the weapons.

The rest of the Fire Teams were evenly spread out, and worked well with the TDF soldiers as they took up defensive positions as the remaining members of the Fire Teams helped the Spartan take out the rest of the gear and the vehicles…the Scorpions were then positioned in the city in high ways, roads and on some torn open buildings…along with several of the LAAV and the LRV variants, to provide good covering fire with the rest of the Fire Teams and the TDF, he then gave out several valuable pieces of equipment for them to use…namely the Bubble Shields.

The Bubble Shields were designed as portable shield generators and was capable of resisting a variety of weapons, ranging from bullets to lasers, plasma fire, rockets, and most weapons used by both the UNSC and the Covenant, and could handle a massive amount of damage before it collapsed or ran out of power. However, the Brutes loved using these weapons to secure drop zones and hold positions…so salvaging this equipment was valuable…this piece of equipment however was far too valuable to lose and he was thankful Cortana was able to mass produce many of them.

It had taken several hours to get everything set up the defensive force in the city along with securing the perimeter around the two key installations to protect along with the space port and the Spartan then gave his NCOs his orders.

“Remember…we cannot hope to defeat the Harvesters in an open fight…we have to hold them off once they are in the area and by the Talvernians enough time to evacuate their forces…once we have engaged the Harvesters…I want a fighting retreat action so we can use the city's structure to ambush the Harvesters with the aid of the TDF. Cortana will provide the air support with the Longswords and also we might get support from the Nirvana.”

Fiona was confused a bit by that.

“What do you mean by that sir?”

“You'll see…”

The Spartan then directed the implementation of the Lotus Anti-Tank mines and packs of other high level demolitions, including amounts of Fougass and C-12 Shaped Charges…both in their cube forms and their Damage Pack forms in the city for ambush and also for the land pass entrance into the city. Fougass was basically a barrel that was filled at the bottom with remote detonated grenades and filled with whatever was on hand. The Spartan had the two types placed evenly into the area. The first was the `fire' Fougass which had napalm in it…and the second was the `shrapnel' Fougass that had spent shell casings in it…ensuring that the weapons would really pack quite the surprise for the enemy once remote detonated. Lotus Anti-Tank Mines were deadly motion activated weapons that had enough power to rip apart Scorpions and Covenant vehicles into pieces and was deadly to infantry as well…he knew that for certain as he had nearly been subjected to them himself. They also set up large amounts of Thermite-Carbon Cord for ambush surprise for the Harvesters.

He also equipped the Fire Teams with the Asteroidea Anti-Personnel Mines, the weapons had eight arms with pressure triggers and were safe to throw by infantry…making it more a grenade than a mine. And last was Antlion Anti Personnel Mines…mainly used to kill enemy personnel and were able to be detonated either manually or by proximity fuse.

As soon as those were set up…the Spartan quickly took command of one of the newly released Hornets and a small volunteer squad from his Fire teams got onboard with him…this was a three member recon team and they had to hurry as they had to see just what sort of opposition they had to contend with.

The three member recon group took off and made their way through the city and past the walls. The city had it's own fort and therefore the TDF had it's military forces on the ready to hold off the enemy…but they would have evacuate as well since they could not hold off the Harvesters and their forces for long. The Spartan only hoped that they would buy enough time for the evacuation of all survivors.

They arrived on a ridge area that was a fair distance from the city and the recon team got ready to spot the Harvester planetary invasion force and it didn't take too long for them to be able to spot the incoming forces and they were large in number.

The Spartan took out his still present SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and looked through the scope and contacted the Nirvana.

“This is Master Chief John-117 to the Nirvana…we are sending over visual data of the incoming Harvester forces.”

On the bridge of the Nirvana…the bridge crew, including Cortana, Magno, and Buzam were looking at the images and it was time to see just what sort of invasion force the Harvesters had for ground combat operations and this time…they knew that they were not dealing with garrison forces this time.

**************

The Spartan and his small recon squad looked and spotted the first wave of Harvester Trooper transports heading their way and they were escorted by a larger number of new Harvester Troopers and several new vehicles…The Spartan looked through the scope of his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle to see just what sort of opposition they were going to have to contend with…

There were several of the same Harvester Troopers…but that was only due to body design and shape…they appeared not to have either the close combat blade on their left arm…nor the right arm plasma weapon…but instead had two large cannons on their back and they were moving slowly and in rank and file…they appeared to be not suited for close to medium range combat…but the Spartan knew better than to rely on looks alone…these units were designed for long range attacks…but those cannons were on an angle on their backs…so were no doubt not sniper weapons…but mortars. They were moving in a standard wall formation of equal spreading…no doubt to make sure their weapons had maximum impact effect, along with minimizing the risk of accidental firing…and since he could see through the scope that they had power packs and magnetic chambers on their backs as well…they were no doubt armed with plasma rounds.

“What are those things? We've never encountered them before…”

One of the members of Hilda's team said as she checked with her own BR 55 HB SR Battle Rifle's Scope. The women also agreed as Cortana spoke to the rest of the recon team via her comm.-link from the Nirvana as she and the rest of the bridge crew were currently looking at the images.

“Judging from the size of those cannons, their angle, and the lack of the normally present weapons in the Harvester Troopers and Shock Troopers we fought with…I'd say those must be their mobile mortar version of soldiers…that must mean they are their form of infantry artillery support…very clever…their weapon systems are integrated like all the Harvester units we've faced and since they're armed with mortars only…they must be used as light siege weapons in ground assaults. There's no way they'd be used in ship assaults…those cannons would be too bulky and unwieldy in close combat.”

“Then we've got to take them out once we get the chance…”

The Spartan said nothing as he scanned the rest of the forces that were well on their way to the city of New Dawn in less than three hours from now…to see just what else the Fire Teams and him were up against…

There appeared to be Harvester Troopers that were armed with the normal weapons, but there were some that appeared to be armed with larger and more powerful plasma cannons on both their arms…they seemed to be dedicated to all out suppression fire and must be the Harvester Trooper version of the heavy gunner type soldier. Cortana also studied the Harvester bio-mechanical soldier and made the same assumption.

“Those must be their heavy gunner soldiers, they aren't armed with any form of close combat weapon systems and those plasma weapons they have are certainly not the same grade…it seems they must have an advanced cooling system so they could be used in that configuration…those are serious threats John…”

“Tell me about it.”

There were other Harvester Trooper types as well…

There were several of the Harvester Troopers that appeared to have some form of cannon that was not a plasma weapon and the regular close combat blade system on the left arm…but the blades appeared to be dull…no edges…but there seemed to be arcs of lightning coming from the blades. The Master Chief wondered just what those weapons were until he spotted one of the units flush out a surviving Talvernian…the Harvester Trooper fired out a massive blue gout of mist at the Talvernian soldier, forcing the soldier to run from his hiding place gagging and gasping and as soon as he recovered from the gas… he tried to escape…the lone unit ran up to the human and then used it's blade…the man was not cut down…but the arcs of lightning that came from the blade enveloped the man and the man fell down…quivering and shaking…he saw the man was alive but was unable to move and he was then retrieved by another type of Harvester Trooper…

This one had the blade system on the left arm…but no plasma weapon on the right arm and had in the weapon's place…a hand with three fingers and one thumb…all made of metal and were covered in sharp metal as the new Harvester unit lifted the apparently stunned human and dragged him off.

Cortana and the bridge crew saw the whole thing through their connections to the Master Chief's HUDS, along with Buzam and Magno and they quickly assessed jus what they were seeing.

“Those must be the ones they send out to capture their victims…at least the live ones who were not able to fight back…the first must used that gas cannon to flush out survivors and that blade of his to stun them…the other one must be the retriever type and recovers the victim for the Harvesters.”

As the recon team scanned the rest of the infantry, they noted that there seemed to be taller and larger versions of each of the new Harvester soldiers and the Master Chief recalled the one Harvester Trooper he had dealt with before on the first official ground mission the Fire Teams had before and made a guess that the taller and larger versions must be their officers. That meant that the Harvesters were getting a bit more flexible in their operations, now they had their own version of NCOs as he and the Fire Teams did.

Cortana noted that as well and called it in…

“Those larger ones must be their officers John…if we take them out…we might very well be able to break their organization for the time being. But why is it they don't have any of those officers with their Shock Troopers when they attack ships…could it be the Seed Ships control them the same way as the Cube Fighters?”

“That might be it…that means that the Harvester Ground Forces must have a network of command.”

“Right…that must explain why they have such a different force for space and ground operations…see what else you can locate John.”

The Spartan looked on and spotted the very same transports that he and his Fire Teams had dealt before and noted the newer models heading their way…one new vehicle resembled an old species of Earth crab…the horse shoe crab… and it appeared to be moving through anti-gravity systems…the unit appeared to be armed with what appeared to be a massive selection of missile launchers that were on it's back…no doubt making in a deadly long range artillery system.

There was another that resembled something that resembled an arrow head with some sort of cannon that was on the middle on what appeared to be some sort of turret…meaning that it was something of an MBT or Main Battle Tank for the Harvesters. That unit seemed to have several two forward facing plasma weapons that no doubt were used as an anti-infantry platform.

Another vehicle resembled an insectoid walker with four legs and some sort of energy weapon on the front and seemed to resemble a beetle of some sort…and judging from the way it moved…it was used as a high speed attack unit despite it's size.

As far as he could see…this was a well armed force…but he had no doubt that the Harvesters might have other weapons as well. And he was right as he spotted another massive unit…

The machine resembled a smaller version of the Scarab Walker but was large never the less…but the machine was certainly different from the Scarab walker he and the UNSC forces had encountered over the years as it resembled a spider type machine…and like all Harvester units had pseudo-organic coverings on it and resembled a grotesque giant spider….the machine appeared to be armed with four tentacles in the front and from what the Master Chief and the recon squad saw what appeared to be weapon ports on the tips…there were other tentacles as well, though smaller and the legs had what appeared to be razor sharp points and edges on the legs…there appeared to be five eyes on the front of the machine and then there was a massive twin pronged cannon like turret on the middle of the machine as well…and a massive glowing sphere holding what appeared to be highly energized plasma. There also appeared to be openings on the sides of the creature as well

“What the heck is that?!”

One of the women commented as they saw the behemoth making it's way to New Dawn, the women wondered just how in the heck they were going to take such a behemoth down before it got to the city…thankfully it was at the far rear of the advancing forces and it was taking a bit longer to move as well.

“That looks like a Scarab…or something like it.”

**************

On the Nirvana, the bridge crew gasped at the sight of the new behemoth under the command of the Harvester Invasion Force…how in the name of all the Megele Goddesses were they going to stop the thing?!

Cortana looked on as she studied the monstrosity before them.

“That thing resembles the Scarabs John and the UNSC Marines fought with before…the Fire Teams going to have their hands full if that things gets close enough to attack them.”

Buzam looked on in shock at the machine creature before them and then turned to Cortana.

“Is there any way we can take that thing out before it reaches the city?”

“Yes…I can have the MAC Guns on the Nirvana open fire at the thing…but that will only be as a last resort…the power of a MAC Gun is not to underestimated. If I fire it at the target and I miss it, the kinetic force of the MAC round hitting the ground will be enough replicate a high yield, long range thermonuclear bomb and it can blast right through the crust of a planet….I mentioned that before. One is that powerful Commander…but Firing all three is even worse…and that thing has to stand still for me to get a clear shot at it.”

Magno looked grimly at the image as she understood the information.

“Then the Fire Teams and the Master Chief are going to have to get creative in taking that thing out of the picture.”

***************

Back on Talvern…

One of the recon squad turned to the Master Chief and asked.

“How the heck are we going to take out that thing sir?!”

The Spartan turned and looked his companion and saw her fear and understood it…they had never dealt with anything like this kind of threat back on Megele…but he did…no matter how tough and massive a unit like this was…there were always weak points. The Covenant Scarabs were tough and deadly…but they were NOT invincible. This one Harvester unit had a weakness…all they had to do was find it.

“We'll take it out…we'll have to head back to the city…let's go.”

The three man team got back on the Hornet and quickly took off back to the city and avoided the enemy forces as the main forward attack elements of the Harvester force was half way to New Dawn and along the way…the Spartan was already coming up with a plan to finish off this threat. He knew for a fact that there were ways to take those kinds of foes down…but they had other things to deal with at the very moment as he spotted the Harvester forward forces reach the area of New Dawn…

As soon as the Hornet landed in their temporary base camp, he and the rest of the recon squad dispersed as he contacted the rest of the Fire Teams and their Talvern allies and told them what was about to happen. They gulped and a few comments were heard in the COM but they all knew that now was not the time to worry about the details as the Spartan took to the field armed with his trademark MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle and his fully loaded SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle. He was on the wall and contacted the Scorpion Tanks to get ready to provide heavy suppression fire at his mark…he used the scope of the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle to triangulate the target distance from the Harvester forces and their vehicle support and quickly called in the coordinates to his Scorpion Tank drivers.

Several of the Scorpion Tanks were positioned to take advantage of the height and position as their drivers waited for the command from their commander…while the rest of their teammates were ready with their own weapons, and those who were on the LRV and LAAV Warthogs also waited for the right moment to attack…they knew that with their forces…there was no way they could stand an open fight with their enemy so they had to bombard them until the situation got down to close combat.

The Spartan spotted the enemy forces closing in and quickly moved from his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle's scope and took out the binoculars and began to triangulate the coordinates for the most damage..as soon as he was finished he coordinated the Fire Teams and then he called in the coordinates for the members armed with the Spartan Lasers, M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher, and the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun. They were then given the combat coordinates and the women quickly got ready to unleash their weapons, along with their comrades armed with the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifles and the Particle Beam Rifles.

As soon as the Harvester forces were in the kill zone…the Master Chief gave the order to unleash their fire-power.

“All Fire Teams…fire at will!”

The women heard the order and called it out as the Talvernian soldiers also unleashed their own barrage of laser bolts at the incoming forces…just as the women of the Nirvana Fire Teams unleashed the fire from their weapons at the Harvesters. The bullets from the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, the energy bolts of the Spartan Laser, the M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher's powerful rockets, and the powerful rounds of the AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun were unleashed on the Harvesters and the weapons of the LAAV and the LRV Warthog, and the Scorpions were unleashed in a massive maelstrom of weapons fire. The women then fired the M88 Stantion Rifles in their arsenals and the Particle Beam Rifles.

The result was explosive in every sense of the word and that was further increased by the use of the Missile Pods on their tripod mountings…becoming missile mortars that smashed hard into the Harvester ranks. Harvester Troopers of the various makes were caught off guard in the barrage…as they had been sent to clean up the mess and Harvester survivors…but to suddenly be assaulted by the enemy in this fashion was certainly unexpected of them and the results were there

The Talvernian soldiers also got into the act as their own heavy weapons were brought to bear on the Harvesters as they were now reinforced by their forces. The Talvernians were equipped with a variety of laser weapons and these were brought to bear on the enemy. The result of the unleashed firestorm of weapons fire from the Nirvana Fire Teams and the Talvernian soldiers was obvious as bodies of Harvester troopers were falling over the place…their magenta colored fuel/blood spilling all over the place along with parts of themselves as they were cut down.

The Spartan got into the act as he used his own SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and cut down several more Harvester Troopers with precise shots to the head and chest…namely where the `heart' was on the bodies of the Harvester Troopers. The women who were armed with the Spartan Laser, the Missile Pod, and the M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket Launcher focused on groups of Harvester Troopers and the vehicles that came into sight. The women and their Talvernian allies held their own and fought on as the Harvesters…despite the horrendous casualties they had suffered were not giving up and kept on moving towards them and their defensive lines. The M99 proved to be a devastating weapon system despite it's age as it's rounds sliced through Harvester Troopers and even hit the Harvester Transports dead on with lethal accuracy.

The Harvesters were also getting hit by the weapons of the Scorpions and the Warthogs as Gauss rounds, M41 bullets, and 90 millimeter tungsten core rounds ripped into their ranks along with the rounds from the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, the M99, and the Particle Beam Rifle. The resulting blood bath was a seriously sickening sight as the Harvester Troopers in the front were cut down by the weapons fire…along with several of them being blown to bits…spilling their blood and bodies all over the place. Several of the Trooper Transports of the Harvesters were also hit hard…One got hit by a Scorpion's cannon round and had half of it's upper half shorn off by the round and it exploded all over the place. Another got hot dead center by a Spartan Laser bolt that melted right through the front and through the vehicle's back…the machine halted and exploded out violently all over the place…another was about to release it's load of Troopers when it got hit by a Gauss round as the doors opened and the round smashed right into the Troopers and spilled their internal organs and fluids all over the insides of the Transport.

The Harvester Invasion Forces' Main Battle Tanks were also hit hard by the resulting barrage and they were hit hard…one had been hit in the front by an M41 Rocket Round and then by a Gauss round…resulting it being severely damaged and out of the fight. Several more of the Harvester Battle Tanks were hit hard by the ensuring assault and were badly damaged. The Harvester Troopers were being bashed up and crushed by the weapons fire…however, the women knew that soon, the momentum of their initial strike was going to fade and then it was going to be the Harvesters' turn to unleash their counter assault.

As he reloaded another clip into his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, the Master Chief quickly checked up on the Nirvana and the rest of the pirates in space through his COM to Cortana.

“Cortana…what's the situation up there?”

**************

Back in space…

The Nirvana unleashed another barrage of Archer Missiles as Cube Fighters tried to engage the pirate ship as it was in orbit over the planet of Talvern. The Dreads and the VanDread were busy taking the fight to the Harvesters and thankfully…they had managed to pull a victory with the support of both the Nirvana and the Longswords under Cortana's command.

“We've gotten more control of the situation up here John…how are things at your end?”

“Not too good…we're badly out gunned at the moment…we've got the one up…but I have no doubt's we'll have to be pulling back from the front lines and into the city soon…”

The Spartan then spoke a moment later…

“Cortana…start you're coordinate calculations…for an orbital MAC Cannon strike.”

The bridge crew members were stunned at that announcement and so were Magno and Buzam…and for good reason. They knew how deadly the MAC Cannon was when it involved the use of such a weapon on the surface of a planet…and the risks involved with it as well. Magno was the first to ask about that situation.

“Are you sure about that Master Chief? The risks are high…very high if you make a wrong call.”

“I don't mean to use it now…I have a plan to put an end to that machine out there…but only as a last resort…we'll hold the line Captain…and we WILL make it back…every last one of us…you HAVE my word.”

**************

And sure enough…the battle was about to get very hairy…

The city of New Dawn was hit hard as the Harvesters unleashed a torrent of weapons fire as they closed into the city…plasma bolts of various sizes and levels of power smashed hard into the city, along with missiles from the Harvester Missile Tanks. The Mortar Troopers were unleashed from the Trooper Transports and then reinforced their fellow units and unleashed powerful mortar barrages from the cannons attached to their backs…the plasma bolts that came from the cannons had a deadly effect as they approached the city…first moving over the heads of the defenders and then exploding on the descending flight and unleashed more numerous and lethal blobs of highly charged plasma that exploded on contact and burned like napalm all over the place…the result was an explosive rain that hit the city area and resulting in fires and explosions as well as explosions as the Mortar Troopers maintained their attacks on the city and it's defenders.

The women of the Fire Teams and the Talvernian soldiers ducked and covered as the plasma bolts rained down on them…as missiles from the Harvester Missile Tanks slammed into the city destroying towers. Apartment complexes and other districts with intense and brutal force, along with powerful shots from the Harvester's own version of the Scorpion Tanks…only this vehicle fired a bolt of high density super charged plasma that packed equal explosive force as the Scorpion Tank's own cannon as the shots blew apart the city areas that were in it's target sights.

The Gunner Troopers, the Harvester Troopers who were heavily armed with ranged weapons began to unleash a storm of plasma bolts all over the place…intent on crushing all the opposition to their masters and the Harvest. They moved as an unending wall of plasma firing biomechanical constructs and this massive barrage forced many of the defenders to take cover as small moving, high velocity plasma bolts were flying all over the place and smashing into the area…several of the Talvern soldiers were hit by the plasma bolts and had to be evacuated out of the area…while screaming in pain at the burning sensation…the smell of burning ozone and flesh was getting more uncomfortable…but the women of the Nirvana held on as they knew that getting worked up about the situation would only be an open invitation to being shot at by the enemy.

The Spartan saw the Harvester troopers being to use combat tactics as the Troopers of their various forms began to use the land as cover, along with their ruined vehicles and even the bodies of their own slain comrades. While they didn't move like normal soldiers did…they certainly were able to show their adaptive nature. He knew that things were going to get even more complicated if they didn't make a strong move soon to counter their foes…thankfully, their traps were proving to be a serious power to their arsenals in slowing down the Harvesters as the harvesters drew closer and stumbled right into the first outer ring of the traps that he and his Fire Teams had set up.

The Fougass were the first to go as the ones containing napalm exploded and covered the advancing Harvester Troopers with the highly flammable substance and many of the Troopers…even the ones who were designed for close range were covered and were now being roasted alive…the UNSC napalm was made in a way the made it twice as potent than before… and it worked beautifully. The second type of Fougass that was filled with shell casings exploded and while it didn't do too much damage to the more heavily armored vehicles, the explosions of both grenades and shell casings were murder on the Harvester Troopers as the shrapnel tore through them and ripped them apart like thin foil…their magenta colored fluids were spilled everywhere…while chunks of their pseudo-organic flesh was sent all over the place.

The attacks however were not going to stop anytime soon and things were getting hairy as the city was being hit harder by the second. Several of the Talvernian soldiers and some of the Fire teams were hit and were wounded…thankfully there were medics on hand to even it up and patch the wounded…however the city was quite in flames.

“This is Spartan John-117 to all Fire Teams…what is your status?”

“Fire Team Alpha here Master Chief, we've got three wounded and we're pulling back! There's no way we can hold this position! We're moving back to the secondary defensive position!”

“Understood…Fire Team Bravo. Report status!”

“Fire team Bravo here Master Chief…we're still holding on but three of our Talvern allies are too wounded to keep fighting…we're giving them medical treatment ASAP.”

“Understood…Fire Team Charlie, status?”

“This is Fire Team Charlie…we're moving back to the secondary defensive position to treat the wounded…we've got two of our own down and five of our Talvern allies!”

“Understood…All Fire Teams move to secondary defensive positions…remaining Sniper Groups and vehicle operators to provide covering fire for retreating forcers!”

The Master Chief himself vacated the area he was in and placed back his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and used his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle to fight his way through as the first wave of Harvester soldiers made their way into the city. Some of them spotted him and quickly converged on the Spartan…firing plasma bolts at him, while several of the close combat variants tried to come in and either take him out or collect his organs.

They were not going to have easy time of it however the Spartan quickly moved in and took out three of them with his Assault Rifle…the rounds tore through them quickly while their plasma bolts hit the Spartan's Mjolnir Mark VI Shields, bathing the Spartan in golden light.

Several of the close combat units quickly attacked the Spartan…but paid for it as he cut them down…one managed to get close enough and try to stun the Spartan…but the shields held and the Spartan replied by smashing the butt of his Assault Rifle right into the skull of his foe…his increased strength, both natural and Mjolnir Mark VI enhanced shattered the skull and sent the attacker down in a heap. Others were cut down as they converged on the Spartan and he grabbed a plasma grenade and it landed into a group of the Harvester Troopers and exploded.

As soon as the explosion faded…he dashed in and bashed the heads of some of his attackers…breaking the necks of several Harvester Troopers with his enhanced strength and then firing out several more rounds into the alien forces. As he made his way past several more of the Harvester Troopers, he spotted an incoming number of Trooper Transports and he made his way into the defensive positions that were vacated by the Fire Teams and their allies, there he ducked down and scrounged up some left over clips of ammo for the MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle, and his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle. He then turned and held the position,…taking down several more of the Harvester Troopers, the Spartan moved like lightning as he switched from his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle to snipe the Harvester Troopers as they closed in, and then to his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle when things got to mid range. The Fire Teams turned and spotted their leader and proved covering fire as they had reached their secondary defensive positions and were now in the process of beating the living day lights out of the Harvesters as the enemy forces began to enter and were now being cut down by the outside traps. However he knew for a fact that he couldn't rely on the traps forever as the giant machine that was under the command of the Harvesters was moving in closer to the city. The traps that were set outside were already causing massive damage to the Harvesters as the area near the walls resembled a hellish war-zone as bodies of Harvester Troopers and Harvester Vehicles were all over the place.

As soon as he ran out of ammunition for the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, he moved back and was able to evade plasma bolts that were flying all over the place and was able to meet up with the rest of the defense team and quickly lent his support and the Talvernian soldiers quickly saw the effects of the presence of the Spartan in the women under his command.

The women were already good soldiers and were led by very talented officers, all trained by the Spartan. But they fought even better with the presence of their commander and it showed as the Spartan calmly directed their defense of the area and cut down even more of the Harvester Troopers even as more of them continued to make their way into the city and cause even more damage.

The Harvesters began to unleash and even greater hailstorm of weapons fire and the city of New Dawn was being given a serious beating as towers and buildings were being set in flames, chunks of their walls and foundations were being blown apart and scattered all over the place…and the Harvesters had their support provide even more weapons fire to the battle-field. The city was being hit hard as the Fire Teams and the Talvernian Military held the position and kept the Harvesters from getting closer.

In the space port…the civilians and whatever needed supplies and gear were being ferried into the ships that were located in the space port…there were a collection of old transport ships, cruisers, freighters, supply ships, battle-ships and more…this fleet was supposed to be sent out to increase border patrols…but ever since the attacks that had happened and then this invasion force had appeared and the sudden and unexpected attack had grounded the fleet and now they were dedicated to the evacuation of all their people.

Soldiers gathered the supplies as all available hands were on the ships, pilots, technicians, engineers, medics, nurses, and all important personnel were brought in to staff the ship while civilians were brought into whatever spaces they could be housed in…while there were a large number of ships…the survivors were far more numerous, along with the civilians, there were also military personnel who had to be evacuated as fast as possible and then the ships had to be fueled up and given time to warm up their systems and their engines. The people were still in great fear as the sounds of battle reached the space port and things were getting even more hectic as the Longswords came on the scene and began to lend in air support for the ground teams and the sounds of missiles and bombs along with explosions were everywhere.

The civilians from New Dawn were also on their way to the evacuation centers as they knew that they had to hurry before their city was torn to shreds and they had to move quickly and were now entering the space port's main gates, however…not all of them were as lucky…one such convoy was suddenly hit by one of the Mortar Trooper's plasma mortar cannon rounds and the vehicle was on a nearby highway and one such truck was send flying to the side.

The convoy stopped and the military escorts looked at the wreckage as it was now on the top of a ruined building. A young woman rushed out and cried as she tired to reach the ruined vehicle. She was stopped by some of the soldiers and she screamed.

“MY CHILDREN ARE IN THERE!!!!!”

The soldiers however had no choice but to stun her…as much as it tore them to leave the survivors behind…the Harvesters were already ripping their way into the city and there was no time to send a rescue team…however, they decided to send the coordinates of the crash site and hope that someone could get there in time to rescue the survivors…if any.

**************

The battle grew more intense as the Spartan and the Fire Teams moved back to their secondary defensive positions and they used their traps and their new defensive positions to hold the fort and cut down even more of the invading Harvesters. As the Master Chief moved back…he picks up an incoming communiqué from the Talvern High Command and quickly learns of the situation.

He decides to move out and rescue any survivors and orders his NCOs to begin the moving back into the inner sanctum of the city when the Harvesters would be able to break through the defenses. He was escorted by several Talvernian soldiers and he had to sacrifice his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and take one of the new weapons Cortana had been able to make and that was the Gravity Hammer, this weapon he had used before and this weapon was deadly indeed.

He knew the power of this weapon very well and knew it would come in handy in close quarters combat and as he and his group moved out…he spotted a nearby Harvester Missile Tank getting ready to fire a missile salvo at several of his Fire Team members and they were tending to the wounded…he wasted no time and quickly placed aside his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle and rushed right into the fight with the weapon in hand and as soon as the Spartan reached the top of the rubble with weapon in hand, the Missile Tank fired a pair of missiles right at him.

The Spartan used his enhanced senses and quickly determined the range and speed of the missiles and quickly sent his Gravity Hammer right at the first missile which was at a fair distance from the second and to the utter shock of just about everyone else in the area…the Gravity Hammer hit the missile and sent it flying…right back at the Harvesters.

The Harvester Troopers who were moving into the city were suddenly blown to bits by the missile that was sent right back at them and the explosion sent several bands of Harvester Troopers to the great beyond…while those who were barely surviving were no longer able to function. The women of the Nirvana and the Talvernian soldiers were in awe when they witnessed the event. However that was not all as the Spartan suddenly lashed out with his free hand…and literally swatted the other missile aside and sent it into the sky and it exploded harmlessly in the air. The Missile Tank then made the mistake of being near the location of a Lotus Anti-tank mine and the high powered weapon quickly ripped apart the tank along with several Harvester Troopers as well. The people nearby were awed by the sight.

“DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

“HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT?!”

“THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!”

The Spartan however didn't waste time as he orders the Fire Teams and their Talvern allies to gather their wounded and move out as there was a lull in the fighting…but if there was one thing the Spartan knew from his long years of combat…if there was a lull in the fighting…something big was about to happen and he wanted to get his team ready for anything. With that in mind, he orders the ones who were manning the M99 Stantion Gauss Rifles to vacate their locations and fall back to their normal weapons of choice.

It didn't take long for him and his small band of allies to reach the area where the fallen transport was and as he closed in…the transport was still a mess and he quickly moved in and punched a hole into the side door of the transport and began to rip the wall to shreds…further stunning his allies and as he forced the side door open…he quickly scanned the room and found that some were still alive in the transport…while the others were not so lucky. He then moved in and gently began to free the ones still alive and could be saved by moving away the debris, twisted metal and…the dead people inside. Those who were alive were revived and the Spartan found three young children in the transport…wounded, but unharmed and not fatally injured.

The children were shocked by his appearance and they screamed at him, but the Spartan spoke to calm them.

“Don't worry, I won't hurt you…”

“Where's mama?!”

“Let me get you out and we'll find her.”

The children looked at him and seeing as they were alive…they quickly clung to the Spartan as he gently got them out of the transport and they cried as they saw the battle field where their home was at the moment. The Spartan then checked for any other survivors and after finding none, he gave orders for the Talvern soldiers to escort the wounded.

And it was then that he got a call from Cortana.

“John…you had better get ready to move out…that Harvester behemoth is coming in…and from the energy readings I'm picking up…it's going to fire it's main weapon systems!”

And sure enough…the Harvester behemoth does fire it's weapons as four massive arching beams of high density plasma hit the walls…cutting through it all and two massive bolts of plasma slam into the city's walls, causing a massive seismic shock of the entire area. As the shockwave hits the city, the Spartan knew that the time had come as he decided to order all the Fire Teams to fall back and get ready to lure the massive behemoth into the city.

It was time to unleash the MAC Guns of the Nirvana on this new terror.

**************

As the massive machine made it's way through the walls of the city, the Spartan, his Fire Teams…and their Talvernian allies held it off with several more ingenious battle tactics suited for urban warfare…as they used their demolition equipment to give the Harvester Heavy Assault Walker a serious head ache as the C-12 explosives and more blew pot holes and sent debris all over it…slowing it's advance into the city…while the Talvernian military brought their own weapons to bear. The attacks were slowing it down…but the Spartan knew that the best chance they had was to take out the unit from the inside…the machine was too well armored to fire at conventionally and they were running out of time…they had been able to hold off the main invasion force before this mammoth showed up.

The evacuation was already reaching completion as the first of the Talvern ships began to take off…while the ships were armed and had provided heavy fire support in the sky…they were not meant to stay there as they had to evacuate their people…the Talvernian ships were then escorted by the airborne Longsword fighters…half of them made sure to bomb the massive machine that was making it's way into the outer walls of the city in the outer most sector of the city itself…

The Fire Teams had to move quickly out of the area…gathering the wounded and the dying to save them…thankfully, they didn't have any fatalities…and their armor, training, experience, weapons, and medical expertise kept losses down. However, they were saddened to have to leave some of their fallen Talvern allies behind…as they couldn't afford to stay in the area for too long or else they would have been caught by the enemy and that would have been worse. They managed to avoid the traps they had placed and lured the Harvesters right to them…they also hid in the ruined buildings…and rubble and poured it on in a fighting retreat as the battle grew more intense…the Fire Teams might not have any human fatalities…but several of their vehicles were destroyed and had to be abandoned. Several of the Warthogs and the Scorpions was still intact and were pounding hard on the enemy as the city was filled with the bodies of the Harvester Troopers, along with the bodies of those who were among the Talvernian soldiers who aided in the defense…but the Harvester Trooper bodies were everywhere as the traps placed by the Nirvana Fire Teams proved to be lethal as the Troopers were either cut down by Antlion mines, Lotus anti-tank mines, Asteroidea mines, and more. However, even with this much fire power…the Fire Teams salvaged what they could and fought on as they retreated, the entire front of the outer city was now in ruins as the Harvesters continued to pour into the city…

The behemoth crushed through the city as it's height allowed it to move around freely and without hindrance and it crushed all in it's path…even it's own allies as several Harvester units were crushed by the behemoth's legs and some were even blown apart as it's tentacle like weapon systems began to fire arcing beams into the city…cutting down buildings left and right…thankfully the Fire Teams had abandoned the buildings and were no longer in danger from explosions and debris.

The Spartan then gave the full evacuation order to his crew as he managed to intercept a comm.-channel and was told that the last ship was fully loaded and was now taking off.

“This Spartan-117 to all Fire Teams…begin to evacuate from the planet…I repeat, this is a full evacuation order to all Nirvana Fire Teams, pull back to the Albatross Drop ships and move out to the Nirvana.”

The Spartan listened in as the members of his Fire Teams made their own actions and move back to the Albatross Drop ships, they had to abandon some of their vehicles as some were too badly damaged to be of much use to them in battle now…the Spartan then saw that the Harvester behemoth would be able to fire it's weapons at ships and knew that he had to do something to make sure that neither the Talvernian Ships and his own Albatross ships were not harmed….at the moment, the Harvester behemoth was firing it's weapons at both the city and the Longsword Fighters that were attacking it.

The Spartan moved out and located a nearby cache of weapons and acquired another spare SRS99D-S2 Am Sniper Rifle with a good amount of clips left and a spare Particle Beam Rifle that still had enough power left in the battery to be of use to him and the rest of the strike team. And most of all…he found at least twelve still intact Damage Packs…all loaded with fresh and potent C-12 Shaped Charges in them.

With the new munitions in his arsenal, he quickly left behind the Particle Beam Rifle and took the Damage Packs and moved out and entered a building near several cat walks and as soon as he was clear of the building, he moved through the cat walks and the then arrived at a road and headed in the direction of the still lumbering behemoth…the Spartan moved at his best speed and avoided the attacks from the Harvester Troopers, the soldiers under the command of the Harvesters tried to kill the Spartan the moment they saw him, but the UNSC super soldier was not someone one easily defeats on the first try as he quickly made his way past them and used his weapons to cut through the opposition…several Harvester Troopers were gunned down by the Spartan with precise and lethal bursts of bullets from his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle and the rest were quickly taken out by a well thrown Plasma Grenade as the Spartan moved on.

As the Harvester attack unit ripped through the city, the Fire Teams had gathered their wounded comrades and the Talvernian soldiers who were their allies in the battle. The people of Talvern were assured that the space above them was now clear and that was true…in deep space, Hibiki and the Dread pilots had been able to clear the space region of Cube Fighters and Seed Ships…their charred ruins floating all over space as the Talvernian Ships began their ascend into space, and along with them were the two Albatross Drop-ships as well.

Magno quickly orders three Dreads to act as a screening force for the ships while Longswords, the ones which were still in space provided the extra fighter screen protection. The pirates in space kept track of planet side traffic to monitor the situation while the bridge crew tracked the IFF tags of their comrades who to their relief were all in the Albatross Drop-Ships…and also as the Spartan fought his way to the enemy's main attack unit as they tracked his progress.

Back on the ground, the Spartan managed to arrive at tall complex with a large walkway tube left over from a plasma storm barrage. The Spartan looked down and saw that the massive machine was already moving right under him and he wasted no time as he leaped downwards.

The Spartan landed with a thump on the top of the back of the Harvester behemoth, his Mjolnir' Mark VI's magnetic boot pads holding him in place and he had no time to waste as he quickly avoided a powerful plasma beam that came at him from the tentacle like arms on the Harvester behemoth's weapon systems…he checked his scanners as they determined that the beam was fifty times stronger than a Hunter's Fuel Rod Cannon…meaning that there was no way his shields could have withstood the shot…even his armor would have been easily destroyed by the beam…and now he had to evade four of them as the tentacles began to unleash several beams at the Spartan…which he avoided and quickly got some cover and then spotted that appeared to be some sort of power tube that resembled the vein of some living thing.

He grabbed a Plasma Grenade and used his strength to punch through the plating and then placed the grenade inside. The weapon exploded and that caused some level of discomfort for the behemoth as it began to slow down it's attack.

The Spartan saw that he was still some distance away from the main plasma tank and quickly sprinted forward, moving as fast as he could before the tentacles got a bead on him…however it seemed that the behemoth had halted it's tentacles as it realized that the Spartan was too close to it's plasma battery tank. The Spartan wasted little time and quickly activated the Damage Packs. He then reached the Plasma tank and fired several rounds to the outer shell and then placed the Damage Packs there and leaped away…landing behind the behemoth as the Damage Packs exploded in a massive storm as the harvester behemoth seemed to unleash a massive roar as it's plasma tank had been given a massive rupture by the Damage Packs.

John-117 looked up and saw that the attack he had worked as the behemoth began to move erratically and seemed badly injured as high powered plasma was leaking out of the massive hole that was on it's abdomen. He wasted no time looking at the monstrosity as he spotted more Harvester Troopers beginning to focus on him. Plasma bolts flew all over the place as he moved away from the scene…avoiding some falling debris which would have crushed him flat. He knew that considering his distance from the Albatross Drop-ships…there was no time for him to make it there…he would have to get to his still landed Longsword Fighter. His attention however was diverted when he picked up an incoming transmission from the TDF.

“We're under heavy attack by the alien Troopers…we have children with us…anyone out there….”

The Spartan activated his NAV marker system and found the target to be at least three hundred meters from him and quickly made a quick turn and headed there…his speed was incredible and he spotted several Harvester Troopers attacking a transport and to his surprise, he spotted the same children about to be attacked by a pair of Harvester Troopers…the Talvern soldiers already dead and so were the rest of the Harvester Troopers…he quickly took out his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and fired two successive rounds and took down the Harvester Troopers…they dropped dead before the Spartan and he made his way to the children…finding to his relief that they were all alive.

The children however, then screamed and he quickly turned and spotted one of the Harvester Troopers still up and it slashed out with it's blade weapon, the Spartan blocked with the SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle and blocked it…but the weapon was now useless as half the barrel was cut clean with the edge of the blade. The harvester Trooper tried to kill the Spartan, but never got the chance as the Spartan launched a vicious punch that splattered the face and he then stabbed the Harvester Trooper with the weapon's sharpened barrel…with the threat terminated…the Spartan knew that time was of the essence as he got the children with him and then activated his NAV marker to locate his Longsword…he was thankful the fighter was still intact from it's signal strength and was where he had left it before. The Spartan slowed his pace to help the children as they made it there, but he was lucky to have found a hover car…no doubt used by the Talvernian people…wasting little time the Spartan punched through the windows and opened the door…and when he looked at the controls, he decided to take a second and then revealed a newly added feature to his Mjolnir Mark VI as a small data cable was released near the right forearm guard.

The Spartan then located a port and locked it in, the Mjolnir Mark VI's systems quickly accessed the schematics and mechanics of the hover car and transferred the data into the HUDs to show the Spartan how to start the car…and without any more problems to worry about, the Spartan quickly maneuvered his way out of the area as more of the city began to fall around him as the Harvesters began to rip the city to shreds…

Apparently the behemoth was not only the main attack weapon of the Harvesters but served as the main command and control node for the entire invasion force…explaining why it was massive, heavily armed, and well armored. However, the Spartan knew that he would have minutes to spar as he quickly arrived at the site where his Longsword was…he opened the door and quickly ushered the children inside. His shield gauge flickered and he quickly turned around and fired several bursts from his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle, cutting down two Harvester Troopers and spotted three more heading towards him…namely the close combat types. With a quick head count, the Spartan then tossed his last two Frag Grenades at the incoming troopers and watched as they were torn apart by the explosion of the weapons and he killed the survivors with another blast and he moved back into the Longsword and closed the boarding ramp. The Spartan moved to the cockpit and strapped the children into the crew chairs, he quickly took the Longsword up and it began to take off…several other remote controlled Longswords flew top cover as the Spartan got the fighter to it's high speed, pushing the engines to their limits to escape from the area. He quickly contacted Cortana.

“Cortana! Fire the MAC Guns ASAP!”

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The command to fire the weapons was implemented and for the first time in the first few months…the MAC Guns of the Nirvana were brought to bear into a battle…the bridge crew and everyone on the ship were shaken a bit as the three MAC Guns fired their rounds. The Dreads and the VanDread Dita moved aside as three massive cores of metal were fired at high speed from the front top section of the Nirvana. The molten slugs of tungsten and depleted uranium streaked towards their target and broke through the atmosphere at hyper speed, glowing blood red due to the heat.

The Longswords, including the one piloted by the Spartan were able to stay away from the path of the weapons…but they were buffeted by the kinetic force of the projectiles. The Ai controlled fighters were damaged and some were destroyed…but the Spartan regained control of his fighter and got it back into control.

Down below…the massive Harvester behemoth was able to recover and then directed it's attention to the sky and tried to lock on but it's attempt to slay the Spartan was defeated as the 600 metric ton tungsten slug from the Nirvana's MAC Cannon ripped right through it's back…literally carving a crater on it's back and it was slammed hard into the ground and was blown to bits as the kinetic force of the weapon was like a nuclear bomb as the round punched through the Harvester behemoth and into the ground…the area around the behemoth exploded as it too was ripped apart by the massive force and pieces of the once mighty Harvester weapon were sent scattering all over the place…the other MAC rounds slammed into the same area and further devastated the battle-field and tore through the invasion force of the Harvesters into nothing but melted debris and more. The result was a massive dust cloud that reached thousands of feet into the sky and a flash of light was seen from space as the plasma in the behemoth ignited…bathing the surface in a super heated plasma cloud. And the shockwave reached up to the sky and the bridge crew lost contact with the Spartan.

The crew watched breathlessly for any word of the Spartan…from the Nirvana crew, the Fire Teams, and the Talvernian people…seconds passed and then…when all hope had been thought lost…

“This is Spartan II John-117 to the Nirvana…we've made it…civilian passengers are alive and accounted for.”

A massive cheer filled space as everyone in all the ships roared out their relief and joy…

They had pulled a fast one on the Harvesters, a risky gambit had paid off big time and an entire world's survivors were alive and well.

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Onboard the Nirvana…

The pirate crews gathered around the Hanger Bay as the Longsword piloted by the Master Chief came back…along with them were among the Talvernian survivors…including one very worried mother who was beside herself with fear and grief…hoping that just maybe…her children were alive. The loading ramp of the Longsword opened and the mother was overjoyed as several voices came out.

“MOMMY!!!”

Three young children…two boys and a girl came running out…none the worse for wear…no injuries as well…the children were overjoyed to see their mother alive and so was she…

“JAREN!!! MARA!!! DAN!!!!”

Lana rushed up and hugged her children with tears in her eyes…the youngest of them, young Mara was bawling tears as she held her mother. While her two boys hugged her tight and were also crying the other members of the crew looked on and then the Fire Team members cheered as the Master Chief returned…still carrying his MA5C ICWS Assault Rifle…having sacrificed his SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle to stop the Harvester Trooper from harming the children. He placed his weapon on his back walked over and stood before the re-united family as Cortana walked up to him…the former AI now human female gave a sigh of utter relief as she approached her close friend.

“You really know how to make an escape John…thank heaven you made it.”

“Thanks Cortana.”

Another person came forward…none other than Maxwell Grant who smiled and saluted the Spartan, along with those who were with him as the General shook hands with the seven foot tall Spartan. He had never thought that his people would have made it…they were surrounded and out gunned…but these people…these heroes came and saved their lives…and gave them all a fighting chance…he knew that some of or a good number of his people were not so lucky but they would be avenged someday…all he had to worry about now was to make sure that his people would find a safe place to hide and recover.

“My people owe you and your fellow pirates our lives Master Chief…if you hadn't been there…then I don't even what to know what our fates would have been.”

“Not a problem sir…and you have Captain Magno Vivian to thank.”

Maxwell turned and saw both Buzam and Magno come up to them and he saluted them as well, to which Magno smiled back, and he spoke to the elderly pirate Captain.

“I don't know how I can thank you Captain…if you and your crew hadn't shown up…our people would have been finished.”

“Think nothing of it…the Harvesters are a grave threat and stopping them from inflicting their horrific plans on others was worth every moment…so what do you plan to do now General?”

“We'll be evacuating to another sector of the galaxy…far beyond where the Harvesters' range and maybe rebuild…the ships have more than enough supplies, resources, and equipment for us all to rebuild our lives again…and this time…if the Harvesters ever show up again…we'll be more than ready for them. And this is where we thank you.”

The general then looked to his fellow officers and they nodded as they called out a number of names and sure enough several of their soldiers came forward…twenty men and twenty women…all appeared to be well trained soldiers, and they all saluted both the Master Chief, Cortana, Buzam, and Magno. Maxwell looked at the looks of curiosity and gave the answer.

“My officers and I have talked it over with the soldiers before you and they have decided to join you in your mission…they want to work with your Fire Teams and help you in the battle with these alien monsters. They are all highly skilled soldiers and can really be of help to your forces…I am not saying that they are not capable as I have never seen a far more skilled band of soldiers in my life. They are all volunteers and know what they are getting into…of course…this is entirely up to you if you want them in your crew.”

The Spartan looked at the assembled volunteers and he saw that the General was not kidding, he saw professional soldiers in the groups before him and while he was not the kind to deny the Talvernian people some of their own soldiers, he couldn't be picky in this kind of situation no matter what and he saluted the General.

“Thank you sir.”

The three children then left their mother and all three faced the Master Chief as he looked at them. Dan and Jaren then saluted the Spartan and he saluted them back as the eldest of the siblings spoke.

“Sir…someday I want to be a soldier, and when I do…can I volunteer to join the Spartans?”

The Master Chief recalled the time one UNSC Marine named Harland asked him the very same question and he knew that giving a full answer was not the best move one could make. He didn't know the fate of the Corporal afterwards, but he had hope that he would have done his duty and had made it.

“You don't volunteer son…you get chosen.”

“Oh…but when I'm full grown and a soldier…tell them I'm willing to join the Spartans so I can pay those aliens back for harming my world.”

“Me too sir!!!”

The Spartan looked at both boys as they walked back to their mother and then the young girl hesitantly walked over to him. He looked at her and he could see that the young girl had something to say to him but she seemed to be very shy about the whole thing, he decided to move to her height as she was only up to his stomach in height. The Spartan then spoke to the young girl.

“You all right?”

“Yes…I want to thank you for…saving us…you're a hero.”

Without any hesitation, the little girl hugged the Spartan…much to the surprise of just about everyone in the whole hanger. Unsure on how to react to this properly, the Spartan hugged the child back, keeping his enhanced strength under full control.

Paiway looked and grabbed her trusty camera and took a picture.

“PAI CHECK!”

**************

Hours later…

The Master Chief checked his chronometer as he walked through the halls of the Forward Unto Dawn section of the Nirvana as the ship was currently on it's way back to Tarak and Megele. The men and women recruits from Talvern were given bunks in the UNSC section and they were now part of the Nirvana Fire Teams, giving him more people to train and mold into efficient soldiers for ship defense and ground operations.

The pirates were taking a long, well deserved rest, while the wounded Fire Team members were currently recovering in the Medical Bay of the Nirvana, all wounded but thankfully alive and would recover soon. The Spartan decided to get together a band of combat medics to be assigned to each Fire Team in the later future…should another battle be on his hands that required him and his Fire Teams to go to the ground.

Cortana was happy to see him alive and so were Hibiki and his NCOs, and the break they had was worth it, the former UNSC AI was currently on the bridge with the weapon systems active…keeping ready to fight just in case the Harvesters came back into the battle. The Talvern Fleet had left the area and were now moving away to find a new world to settle on, however, they vowed that someday, they would repay their debt to the pirates.

A he reached the holo-table, the Spartan took out a data crystal chip from his helmet and locked into the data slot in the table and he reviewed the battle footage he had recorded from the ground mission, for many reasons apart from tactical evaluation of the mission and the enemy. The Spartan knew that this battle had taught him that the Harvesters had a formidable military…similar in some way to the Covenant of old…but he knew that the aliens he was fighting were not the Covenant…because when the truth about Halo and the Great Journey came out…the Covenant was broken and the Elites, and several other races such as the Grunts and the Hunters were allies now of the UNSC…of humanity…but the Harvesters…whoever they were, were not like the Covenant at all…they had no moral concept of mercy…their merciless attacks on human worlds was proof of that.

He vowed that he would not let humanity in this universe suffer the same fate of extinction as his did…no matter what, he would not let the Harvesters win this war…it was not his war by definition…but he would never turn his back on humanity…ever…so no matter what weapon the Harvesters had with them…he would fight.

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To be continued…

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Author's notes:

It's been a long time since I worked on this chapter…sorry to my readers, but you know how life is at times. But I am happy to finally finish this chapter, though some work could be done to further improve this one.

As requested by some readers, the Harvesters have a now more expanded arsenal of soldiers and vehicles to their force and they are deadlier than the standard troopers and vehicles you've read about so far. There are Missile Artillery Tanks, Main Battle Tanks, Gunner Troopers, Mortar Troopers, CQC Troopers, Officers, and of course…their massive command fortress walker…which I dubbed the Devastator Walker. This means that on any more ground engagements…you can expect that things are really going to get messy for the ground teams…they are alive for today and have new members with them and there are now men in the Fire Teams.

Is there any chance of…well, relationships? Maybe…we'll just have to wait and see now won't we? There's kind of a mess with the story…but that's kind of expected since I've just gotten back to writing this story…we're reaching the soon to come ending of this fic…but I'll do my best to make it as exciting as I can, so feel free to give comments and ideas to help along okay?

On the next chapter…we're going swimming to a certain water filled planet, and a certain blonde is about to get her wish…though whether she likes the results or not is up to her. However, don't think it's going to be all peaceful on the surface once company shows up.

Trailer:

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Magno and Buzam looked at the incoming units that resembled…boats and were approaching the city…the officers and their Fire Team escorts knew that things were now going to be rather interesting from here on out.

The Spartan calmly reached for a Spartan Laser as Fanita spoke.

“You can't stop the Munya from doing what must be done…”

The Spartan turned and Fanita backed a away a bit at the Spartan's stare as she saw her face in the golden visor of the eight foot tall super soldier who emotionlessly replied.

“Watch me.”

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See you on the next chapter folks!!!