Halo: Front Lines [BOOK ONE]

Chapter Four - Invasion

UNSC Colony World: Harvest,
Epsilon Indi System,
0230 Hours March 1st, 2526 (Military Calendar)
Historian's Note: The Second Battle of Harvest unfolded after the UNSC fully mobilized against their newfound interstellar threat. With the Covenant's true capabilities still largely a mystery, Admiral Preston J. Cole deployed the largest invasion force assembled in known human history to secure a foothold on the ravaged agricultural colony.

First Lieutenant Liam Brown stumbled forward in the Pelican troop transport bay as the pilot vehemently dodged incoming anti-aircraft fire. The Pelican was a sturdy, reliable aircraft that played a dual role of combat gunship as well as dropship for light infantry units. It could even haul a singular Scorpion-class tank or Warthog light reconnisance vehicle on the back while still allowing room for its troops to efficiently disgorge onto the battlefield. That is, of course, if it was given the opprotunity to land.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is your Captain speaking, we're coming in hot!" The pilot yelled over the roar of the engines. Enemy anti-aircraft fire struck the pelican next to them, engulfing it in a ball of flame before sending debris in every direction. Every pelican hit meant twenty-two souls were extinguished before they could make a difference. It sickened Liam to his core.

"Alright lads you heard the man," He took a good look around the bay. They were ready. "Weapons check!" Brown ordered. The sound of MA5B standard-issue assault rifles, Designated Marksman Rifles, and M6 handguns clicking rapidly satisfied him. Magazines were loaded, safeties were switched off, and charging handles were pulled back in rapid succession.

Indeed his men were as prepared as they were ever going to be for this sudden and newfound threat. His only concern was if he could still say the same. Ever since Harvest initially went silent months ago, he'd had no contact with his wife and daughter. He knew in his heart that they were dead. All the refugees from Harvest had been accounted for. They weren't on the list. This was his home, everything he knew, and he would make the Covenant pay their debts in blood with no small amount of joy.

He was thrown violently against a row of his own infantrymen as the pilot dodged more incoming fire.

"Strap in lads! Our job is to retake the city while the rest of the Battalion clears the suburbs," Brown called out to them as he tightly gripped a hand-hold in the ceiling. "First platoon! Remember your objectives! Remember what youre fighting for! Remember what your enemy deserves!"

"Yes sir!" Ninteen Marines simultaneously yelled. As First Platoon's leader, Brown had to maintain his composure in the presence of the men and women who looked to him for guidance. Of course he was horrified, about facing the enemy, the fate of his loved ones, his little girl most of all. The thought of his little princess in her final moments without her father there to comfort her sent a pang of guilt through his heart unlike any he'd ever felt before. Every infantryman needed a reason to fight the enemy, this was his. Unfortunately for the Covenant, they were giving out reasons left and right.

"Ten seconds! Have at em' boys!" The pilot yelled. As he spoke, the red light that illuminated the cabin of the Pelican shifted green and the ramp that was protecting the men inside slid down to reveal a horrid firefight underway in the streets below. All of Brown's men instinctively formed two rows, one to his left and one to his right. Suddenly, the airship took a hit on its underside in the space between the cockpit and the troop cabin. Everyone was thrown in different directions as the pilots fought tooth and nail to save their bird.

Their efforts were in vain.

Brown had the sense to stumble backwards and grab onto a seat as the dropship fell into an uncontrolled clockwise spin. In horror, he saw that those at the front had been sucked out into a freefall, promptly reaching terminal velocity and plummeting to their demise. He grabbed onto Gray as he slid by and managed to keep him inside.