1Reach was a dying planet.
Like so many human colonies before it, the great fortress world was being turned to glass by the Covenant ships in orbit. Spartan-B312, better known as Noble Six, watched the alien ships do their work in fascinated horror. All around him were the corpses of UNSC Marines and fellow Spartans. Much like the glassing beams, though, they did not faze her. At this moment, nothing did.
The hyper-lethal Spartan had once more fallen into her death-dealing trance. In her current state, she could feel nothing except for one single, burning desire. A desire to kill any and all Covenant soldiers within reach. A small section of her mind appreciated the inadvertent pun, but it was ruthlessly pushed aside by the killer within.
Dust and ashes swirled around her. Covenant Banshees cruised through the overcast skies. Spirit and Phantom dropships offloaded their troops and then took their leave.
Six checked her ammo. Both her DMR and M6G were loaded with fresh magazines, with a spare for the DMR and 2 extra for the magnum, and lastly, two grenades. She dashed off the platform that she had been spectating from and ducked into a squat, bombed-out structure. She saw the body of a Spartan lying next to his own DMR. Six frisked the man's armored body and gathered three spare clips. She silently paid her respects to her fallen brother before turning to face the building's only intact window, sighting down her rifle.
They emerged from the dust-induced fog like ghosts, Grunts and Elites. Six picked off two of the Grunts and then started to hammer away at an Elite Minor's shields. Another Elite popped up on her scope, way too class for comfort. Switching to her magnum, she fired three times as it ran to one side, each round draining its shields until they broke. As it ducked out of her line of sight, she strafed to the left, cutting off its escape. It roared at her, charging headlong into a pair of bullets.
As the Elite fell to the ground, Six tossed a grenade towards its comrade, causing it to dive away from the explosive as Six herself ducked back into the building. When the Elite surfaced again, Six sent a volley of 7.62mm rounds its way, popping its shields and drilling extra holes in its head. A Grunt then crested the slope, a pair of live plasma grenades in its hands and rushing towards her. The last three rounds of her DMR's clip put it down, the grenades detonating mere heartbeats later.
Reloading the rifle, she spotted another Grunt running around at the bottom of the slope. A single bullet introduced it to the ground. Moving out of the building, she picked off another pair of Grunts and an Elite. A flight of Spirit dropships pelted him with plasma fire, forcing her to duck back inside the ruined building. She once more began picking off Grunts and Elites as they deployed from their dropships.
They soon began stacking up at the base of the hill, however, forcing her to move out of cover and towards them. The barrage of plasma fire soon sent her retreating, though not before she bagged a General. Absently, she realized that the Covenant must really want her dead if they were sending this many Elites. The area was flooded with them.
She picked off another pair of Elites before being ambushed by a Minor. She ducked under a stream of plasma fire and bashed her rifle into its face, silencing its cry of pain with a bullet. A pair of brave Grunts tried to avenge their leader, but were quickly gunned down.
More and more Spirits filled the skies, and Six found herself running from waves upon waves of Elites; teams of Generals and Majors, lone Minors, even quartets of Ultras. She dodged and weaved around them, using a plasma rifle she had scavenged from a dead Elite to tear down their shields and ending their lives with savage blows to the jugular or a knife to the gut. Grenades flew through the air, scattering dirt, flesh and blood when they detonated.
But Six, for all her enhancements and augmentations, could not outrun them forever. She was soon surrounded on all sides by Elites, mostly Ultras and Generals. The ensuing brawl was a sight to behold. Six ducked and dodged the streams of plasma bolts, directing her own stream at every Elite she could, dashing forward and crushing their throats when their shields dropped. Just when she thought she might make it out of this death trap, a squad of Elite Ultras cornered her. Six's mind was running at a thousand miles a minute, desperately seeking a way out.
And she found one. A very reckless and dangerous one. Priming a plasma grenade, she tossed it at an Ultra on his right, the explosive sticking to its armor. The alien flailed about, trying to shake it lose while its fellows distanced themselves from the doomed Elite. They did not notice the second grenade Six had thrown into their midst. Six crouched down, activating her armor lock as she did so. With a whine, the grenade exploded, ripping the Elites apart and hurling Six several meters backwards, cracking her helmet's visor.
Armor lock deactivated, Six pulled off her cracked and broken helmet, tossing it to one side as she reached for an assault rifle lying a meter in front of her. Standing up, she emptied half of the remaining clip into an Elite Ultra, battering its shields into submission before pumping its exposed abdomen full of lead. She spun around and slammed the AR into the face of a General, knocking it to the ground. Six drew her magnum and blew its brains out.
She placed it back on her thigh plating and turned her attention to the left, where a Minor was advancing on her. Two more Elites rushed forward, forcing Six to draw her magnum once more. She blasted away at the saurian aliens, gunning down the Minor and a Major before an Ultra shoved her to the ground, causing her weapons to fall out of her grasp. The Elite readied its energy dagger, but was knocked back by a powerful kick to its abdomen.
A Zealot closed in from the right, energy sword raised high. Six turned and punched the Elite, knocking the weapon out of its hands in the process. The Zealot staggered back, shields flaring. The Ultra rushed back towards her, stabbing downwards with its dagger. Six rolled away from the blow, and sent her elbow into the beast's jaw. The Ultra fell to the ground, stunned. The Zealot drew its own energy dagger and readied for the final blow.
It was then that Six fell into Spartan Time.
As the dagger descended in slow motion, Six tucked her legs inwards and twisted, thrusting both legs into the Zealot's face. She could hear bones snap as the Elite's head snapped backwards, dagger falling from its suddenly slack grasp. Six then drew her knife and plunged it into the exposed throat of the downed Ultra. As the white-armored alien flailed about, choking on both the blade and its own blood, Six grabbed its plasma rifle from its resting place and fired at a charging Field Marshal.
Six yanked the knife from its fleshy sheathe and adjusted his grip on it, all the while pouring plasma fire into the Marshal's energy shields. Just as its shields popped and disappeared, the beast was upon her. Six's knife hand sprang forward, aiming for its neck, just as the Elite's energy blade homed in on her chest.
I recently bought Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the PC and decided to write down one of my play-throughs of the Lone Wolf mission. I hope you enjoyed it.
