Halo: Lands of Decimation

The wars have decimated humanity. We have been reduced to twodozen fully functional colonies, eight billion people scatteredacross more than eighty planets, including those that are self-sufficient and those that are completely and purposefullycut off from the outside. The United Federation to Restore Humanity,an alliance that has sprouted from the collapse of the United NationsSpace Command and looks to bring humanity "back." Now, the Federationfaces its first test...
==Dramatis Personae==
===United Federation to Restore Humanity===
====UFRH Surface Division====
*Colonel Vera Tanzani, CO UFRH Forces on Orbital
====UFRH Ranger Scout Service====
*Major John Chase* - CO 2nd Special Warfare Battalion
*Sergeant Major Roy Kaid* - CO 17th Special Operations Company; XO 2SWF Battalion
====UFRH Naval Division====
*UFS Alligator - Flagship Defense Group Orb/1
*UFS Dynasty - Prowler attached to Defense Group Orb/1
* indicates a major role.
==Lands of Decimation==
===Prologue===
<<. ACCESSING_MILITARY_TRANSCRIPTION_**.**.2572.000841 .>>
Tweetie Five: This is Tweetie Five to Gatekeeper, we are dropping to safe zone and going dark, over.
Gatekeeper-225: Understood, good luck Two-Niner; Gatekeeper-225 out.
Tweetie Four: Tweetie Five, I'm goin' balls to the wall.
Tweetie Five: Go for it, Four, I'll follow... ETA five minutes, turn on buffer system.
Tweetie Four: Roger, going dark.
Tweetie Five: After a moment of silence. I haven't established contact with Juliet or Gamma... can you?
Tweetie Four: No I can not; wait, I have Juliet's beacon, I'm sending coordinates.
Tweetie Five: Got it; my sensor's gotta be broke dick 'cause there's no way rebels could've jammed it.
Tweetie Four: You sure about that, Five? Our birds were clean at last inspection.
Tweetie Five: I guess not.
Juliet Charlie: (Unknowingly interrupting) This is Juliet Charlie. Do you read?
Tweetie Five: (With a noticeably more stern tone) We read you loud and clear, Major. Have you or any of your scouts found anything?
Juliet Charlie: Negative, Lieutenant.
Tweetie Four: Whatever happened to the outpost that was supposed to be out here?
Juliet Charlie: Not sure, maybe they cut ties with the Protectorate mainframe and left.
Tweetie Four: Can you contact Gamma and see if he's found anything?
Juliet Charlie: I lost track of Gamma an hour ago went he hid under the sheets.
Tweetie Four: Do you think you can get him through a beacon?
Juliet Charlie: I'll try... (after half a minute of silence) I have a positive ID, wait, holy sh-- (static; conneciton terminated)
Tweetie Five: What the hell just happened?!
Tweetie Four: I dont know, but he got Gamma's beacon upoloaded onto my system... Gamma-305, do you read?
Gamma-305: This is SPARTAN-G305, I have located the castle and it is hot, abort sweep.
Tweetie Five: Can you explain, 305?
Gamma-305: Negative, but you need to pull out now.
Tweetie Four: Uhh, mind telling me- Goddammit, we have snakes on our tail! Pull out, pull ou--
<<. TRANSMISSION_TERMINATED...FILE_END .>>
===Chapter I===
1055 Hours, August 5th, 2573; UFRH Capital Mayfield
The weather was at its nicest since John had began his leave. The great blue sky complimented by the occasional cloud was often lavished with calm, warming breezes from the north. Below the balcony on which he sat, patches of barren farmland mixed their way in with polycrete condominiums and shopping strips, the quaint, well-groomed town first caught John's attention when he was surfing his chatter for different locations on the grand new capital of humanity; he had traveled here for every shore leave. There weren't any "young cowboy" soldiers around to stir up trouble at the local beer hall, nor was there any other member of the Federation's Bureau of Defense for that matter.
There was, however, another veteran of the Great War that lived on the southern edge of the city; John had gone to meet the veteran once and talk about politics, the few comforting memories during the war, and the local economy. This time, however, he was determined to get as much rest as possible for he would return to Earth in just three days to aid in the salvaging process. After the slurs of radiation had beveled the biosphere, few safe zones remained; some locations did remain safe, though; small pockets of hope remained in different areas of the planet and the Sangheili announced to Humanity that they had intentions of helping in restoration efforts. John was aware that this wouldn't make Earth into the grand icon of humanity for it had already been irreversibly replaced by Mayfield almost a decade ago, although Mayfield has a population of 150 million compared to Earth's five billion in 2564. Nevertheless, Mafyfield had quickly become the center of the Human sphere and John deeply respected it's balance of bustling metropolises and humble towns like the one he was in.
Amidst the hour-long nap he was just taking, a vibration and ringing noise startled him. "Goddammit," he murmured as he rubbed his eye with one hand and reached into the pocket of his green service jacket and obtained a small handheld device. He tapped on the screen with his index finger and the face of a woman appeared.
"Good to see you Major; it seems that you have been getting your well deserved rest," she said with a slight accent in her raspy yet lively voice.
"I actually have been, thank you... Commander, could you tell me why you've contacted me?" John replied.
"There's- um- I'll just say it straight. The Covenant's back."
Shit! John thought to himself. "Where are they?"
"They've been spotted by a probe drone near Epsilon Indi, approximately twelve warships and likely around six-thousand ground assets, and guess what? Your battalion's the first to go in."
"Yes, ma'am, see you in briefing." John was somewhat shocked by the news. How had they survived? How powerful are they? What of the Sangheili? His mind was engorged with thought, but he new he shouldn't boggle himself with so many questions. He then stood from the reclining chair, stretched a bit, and retired to the interior of his small condo. He quickly packed the little that he had brought: two duffel bags full of clothes, a combat knife, three quart-sized containers of varying fullness containing Bug Juice, and an M6N Sidearm. John then left the condominium and made his way to the nearest bus stop and awaited a transport to Mayfield City where he would travel via elevator to the fleet in orbit.
----
At the top of an elevator was an elegant station; at two kilometers in width and seven in length, the eliptical station was one of many components of Mayfield's commercial operations. Near the primary elevator (also the one that he boarded) stood dozens of kiosks, restaurants, and various other shops. Near the far end of the station was the military quarter where one hundred soldiers rested at different ships while they patrolled the station. Lastly, at the end nearest the main elevator, dozens of airlocks were available for docking ships. John stepped up to the map of the station and studied it for a bit; the fact that he had changed to fatigues, a beret, and holstered his pistol on his chest caught the attention of many, though he seemed not to notice that he was a distraction (Ranger Scout dress differed in many aspects from standard infantry). As Chase trotted his way towards the airlock, he noticed another man in the same fatigues as he was. Instantly recognizing who it was from be hind, he called the man's name out, "Kaid! Kaid! It's the ol' Chaser!"
"Well I'll be damned, Chase. It's been 'bout a year since I last saw ya. You hear about Baby Kong?" the man said in a feint farmer's tongue, though John didn't reply at first but instead jogged over to him.
"A bunch of these people are probably vets and they know what that means, so don't get anything started."
"Sorry," Kaid said, now speaking more quietly, "so, with the Bravo Kilos in the sphere, what do you think the Federation'll do?"
"Hell if I know, but all they've told me is the Battalion's going in first."
"Yeah, it's just that I'm not sure what they're up to with only a mediocre battlegroup."
"We'll find out soon enough, Roy."
===Chapter II===
1055 Hours, August 5th, 2573; Near UFRH Colony Tate, aboard UFS Normandy
"We're hitting enemy fire zone, fasten your seat belts, boys," the female dropship pilot said. The Major and his battalion had been attached to Battlegroup Normandy, a unit of twenty vessels created to eliminate the Covenant convoy harassing local patrols and shipping. The colony of Tate was once a haven for scoundrels though after the Splinter War it made a turnaround and evolved into a modest outpost and mining colony. The twelve Covenant vessels decided to enter orbit of the planet and had not glassed the planet; instead they began to capture and eradicate the towns and cities on the planet. Chase and parts of his battalion were being deployed via dropships and T185's to the surface where Jiralhanae, Unggoy, and Yanme'e besieged ill-equipped troopers and improvised militants. While they were deployed to the surface, Sergeant Major Kaid would lead another force to capture the leading cruiser and hopefully all would work out well.
The craft shook as crossfire exchanged itself and exploded outside the scurrying dropship; minutes would pass before they had made it to less than an altitude of one kilometer. John made his way to the back of the troop bay and looked through the porthole as the dropship leveled itself a few hundred meters above the surface below. A massive plain coated this area of the planet, and he was saddened that such a beautiful scene would be scarred by war. Before he made his way back to his seat, an explosion was heard from the nose of the dropship and he blacked out.
----
"Aw... Da- shit, what happened?" John said as he awoke in the bay of the dropship. He was laying face up on the floor of the troop bay, the lifeless and bleeding body of another soldier lay across his own. He carefully freed himself and painfully stood, realizing momentarily that the dropship was aflame and inclined. The Major looked to the cockpit, which had disappeared and given way to polycrete rubble. Wiping a small stream of blood from his brow, he made his way through the deceased Ranger Scouts to see what had happened; John climbed the pile of rubble only to find a shocking site: the dropship apparently crashed into the top floor of an eight-story building and he was the only one to survive. He attempted to tune his helmet comm set; it didn't work. Against his values, he retired to the wreckage and checked to see if any of comm sets of the fallen were operational. He found one that worked, held the helmet to the side of his head at an angle and said: "Can anyone hear me? Please Respond."
"This is the UFS Normandy and we read you loud and clear, Corporal Paxton; what's going on?" John winced when hearing the name said by the voice of the headset; he knew that it belonged to the wearer of the helmet.
"This is Major Chase, we have suffered severe casualties, the bird is down, and I'm the only one left. Is there any available aid?"
"Uh, not at the moment; all assets are engaged and you're on your own for the next hour or two. I suggest you make use of what you have and hold out in that township."
"Roger that, Chase out." Chase attached the helmet to a utility clip on his right hip and proceeded to painfully salvage what was usable in the wreck.