Alright, this story is the product of myself and a few friends thinking of what would happen if a group of SPARTAN's were deployed into a large scale urban battle. I want to make it clear to you all now, that I'm pretty much by the book when it comes to Halo, but I also like to add in my own unique elements to my stories; some of which may seem impossible but will add a unique mental image factor to the story.

I also wrote this story to have an Anime feel to it just to make it a little more unique.

Nearly all of my characters are based off of myself and people I know simply because I like to write about how my friends and I would handle a situation in our own unique ways.

Rated for blood, gore, language, violence, and some suggestive themes. Maybe more later on, who knows. Anyways, sit back, relax, get comfy with a nice cup of Hot Cocoa and enjoy .

LET IT BE KNOWN!!! That NONE of my title's or ship/ character names are based off of the vampire series Twilight!!! Eclipse was thought up before I even knew that series existed.

(CHAPTER 1) ARRIVAL

1500 Hours, October 15, 2552 (Military Calendar) /

UNSC Capital Ship Twilight, In Slip Space, En route

to the Luna System.

His armored boots made a harsh clacking as he walked through the dark corridors of the UNSC Capitol ship, Twilight. Eric, SPARTAN-45 age 21, rubbed his eyes with his glove. He had just gotten out of cryo and back into his armor. The cryo process always left him groggy and quite frankly, he hated the cryo process. He flexed his right shoulder. It was still stiff. He had taken a direct blow from a Brutes gravity hammer on his last mission. The direct close range impact from the weapon left him with a broken shoulder plate, blown shield generator and dislocated shoulder along with several other injuries. Having to fight his way to evac with a limp arm and only being able to fire with his left hand wasn't what he would call a successful mission. After a week of healing he felt back to his old self.

As he walked he looked down at his new suit of MJOLNIR Mark VI. Some parts had been refitted from the last battle. The shoulder plate from the gravity hammer was completely destroyed and his chest plate had a substantially large dent in it; not to mention countless dings and scratches. Now his armor was looking as new as the day it was given to him by Dr. Halsey. Back to its bright sheen of blue with red secondary coloring and it was complete with his custom blue and yellow vortex insignia on the right, red shoulder plate.

Eric heard a humming noise. He turned and saw a CTV or Crew Transportation Vehicle pull up alongside him. He jumped on and the vehicle creaked under the weight of his armor but kept moving none the less. The Twilight was huge, a five mile long Capitol Ship, one of the largest in the UNSC's fleet. Walking from one end of the ship to the other could take even a Spartan nearly an hour at the least to do. CTV's made his and the crews work a lot easier.

No one was walking around on the decks of the ship. It didn't surprise him. They were still a while from exiting slip space so a large percentage of the crew was still in cryo sleep; and seeing as how the CTV was A.I. controlled, there wasn't even a driver to make a conversation with. He sat and looked out the occasional window that would pass by. There was never anything interesting to look at in slip space, only blackness.

Eric set his helmet on the seat beside him and ran his gloves through his long electric blue hair. He was from the planet of Aurora. A planet populated by what you could call humans. The people on Aurora were basically human, minus the fact that everyone who lived on the planet had bright vivid hair and eye color. Those two features were what Eric had that always made him stand out among the other Spartans. Because of his vivid hair color and bright emerald green eyes, naturally he was always the odd one out amongst the other Spartans. He was always accepted by his fellow Spartans it was only the small matter of being different that made things hard for him. He could easily remember the day when he was nine years old back in his training and his good friend and fellow Spartan, John stood up for him against two of the drill sergeants for making comments about his vivid hair. He never liked having other people fight his battles but he was grateful none the less. Now at the age of 21 he only had to deal with the small comments he got from higher ranked Officers and other Marines that apparently knew nothing about respect. Most called him and his race genetic abnormalities and others just referred to him as a "Freak". No one's opinion ever mattered to him. That's mostly the reason he let his hair grow so long. No other Spartan besides the girls grew their hair down to their chin.

Another one of his quirks was his random and impulsive attitude. Eric was never one to miss out on the opportunity to crack a joke or make light of the situation. He could find humor in just about any situation and would occasionally throw random insults at other soldiers to ease the tension of battle. You could call it a morale boost or just ignorance. Either way, it's because of these factors that most of the people in the UNSC can't understand how he was given the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer.

He had been riding on the CTV for twenty minutes. The slow speed of the vehicle and the length of the ship made the trip all the more longer for him. Another thing that bothered him was that he was brought on board the Twilight without any heads up. He was only instructed that once he was on board he had to go to cryo immediately and that once his cryo cycle was over, he was to go to the bridge and get debriefed by Commander Bowley.

The idea of being sent to a new mission without hardly any heads up on the situation to come always made him uneasy. It wasn't the fact that he might be thrown into battle against something he couldn't go up against but the fact of not knowing what the threat would be.

The CTV stopped. Eric grabbed his helmet, jumped off and saw an elevator with a painted arrow on the floor that read, Bridge. He stepped onto the elevator and hit the Bridge button. Halfway through the ride up, he felt his balance shift slightly. The Twilight was decelerating. When the elevator reached the top level, the doors parted and he stepped out. He walked down a hallway towards the bridge. A small window on the wall showed countless stars flickering like silver glitter. They were back in normal space.

This area of the ship was more active. Crew members were everywhere, walking back and forth monitoring different computers and monitors that lined the halls. Occasionally as he would walk past the crew, he would hear their remarks. The same he usually got on any ship he was on. Like, "Look, there he is" or "Check it out, a Spartan." He learned not to listen to it anymore.

Eric came to a door; this one with a keypad that required an access code for entry. It was a typical bridge security protocol. He tapped in his code and the door hissed open. The room glowed an incandescent blue from the countless buttons and monitors that covered nearly every square inch of the room. At the front of the bridge standing on the large thick glass observation area was Commander Bowley and a truly stunning and familiar sight out the front view port. Commander Bowley heard the heavy sound of armored boots clacking on the deck. He turned and saw the Spartan approaching. "It's good to see you Son." Bowley said as he saluted. "Eric returned the gesture and replied. "Likewise."

It was the first time Eric had ever met Commander Bowley. He was easily 6'5" and a rather husky person to say the least. That feature was easily shaken off when Bowley would unleash his strength in battle. He was basically the human version of a Brute, tall, muscular, large frame and a burly face. Bowley was most noted amongst the UNSC as the only Commander to single handedly fight off Covenant boarders off of his ships bridge using only a stray plasma rifle that he had taken from a dead Elite and his bare fists.

Bowley turned. "Stunning isn't it?" He said as he pointed to the planet in the distance. Eric's eyes widened in disbelief when he looked out the view port. The Twilight was in far orbit of a planet that glowed with the bright neon colors of the aurora borealis. The entire planet was covered with them. The solar systems large sun which constantly threw off high amounts of radiation was the cause for the planets spectacular light shows. Eric looked out the view port and said, "Aurora." Commander Bowley said, "This is a bit of a homecoming for you I'm guessing." Eric nodded. "Why are we at my home world, Sir?" Eric asked. Commander Bowley gestured him to follow. The two walked off the bridge and into a small room that was guarded by two ODST's. The two soldiers saluted and stepped aside as there Commander approached.

The door hissed open and inside were three Techs standing around a table looking at an object. Commander Bowley walked up to the table and said, "Do you know what this is?" Eric nodded and went in for a closer look. A purple sheen reflected off of the almost squid-like object that lay on the table in front of him. "Yeah, a Covenant spy probe." "Exactly." Bowley said. "These have been spotted all around Aurora for the past week. This one here was recently captured and disabled and was sent to us for safe keeping. Then they ordered us to keep watch over Aurora and to have you with us in case something bad should happen." Eric turned to Bowley. "Sir, with all due respect, do you think I would let anything happen to my home world? I've been forced to sit back and watch the Covenant glass other worlds but I'm not gonna let it happen to mine!" Bowley put his hand on Eric's shoulder and patted it reassuringly. He continued. "And it's that reason Son that you were selected to take on this mission. And one more thing, just to make sure your mission would be a success, we've managed to bring a little extra fire power in for you." "What do you mean?" Eric asked. Bowley walked over to a small pad on the wall that contained several buttons. He pushed one down and spoke into the intercom. "Send him in."

Eric heard the doors behind him hiss open. He turned and heard heavy footsteps followed by the familiar sheen of his grey MJOLNIR Mark VI armor with the blue secondary coloring. And his most noted feature was the blue and silver Delta Insignia on his shoulder plate. Eric recognized who it was the instant he walked in. One of his best friend out of all the Spartans, Kalder, SPARTAN-73 age 20. He walked in carrying his helmet in his one hand and looking quite groggy from the cryo process. His longer sandy blonde hair was far from neatly combed from being in battle and then instantly put into cryo. Eric walked up to him and instead of saluting like the normal military custom, the two punched fists. Something they had done since they were kids back on Reach. It had been months since they had last seen each other, so for Eric it felt good to be back with a good friend.

"Jesus," Eric said, "They got you here to huh?" Kalder chuckled and said, "Yeah, right in the middle of a mission to take out a Covenant AA Battery they tell me I needed to be flown from battle and brought aboard a ship for a top secret assignment. Speaking of which Sir, "Kalder said as he looked to Bowley. "What ship am I on anyway? I would of known before hand had I not been instantly thrown into the freezer." Bowley cracked a smile. "You're on the UNSC Capitol Ship Twilight, Spartan. Kalder raised an eyebrow. "No wonder it took me so long to get to the bridge. They threw me on the big one."

Kalder looked at the table behind Eric and Bowley. He saw the Spy Probe. He looked to Bowley and said, "I'm guessing where going to be dealing with the Covenant." "How'd you guess?" Bowley said. "But yes, there's been a lot of suspicious Covenant activity around Aurora and just to be on the safe side, where here keeping watch. We can't afford to lose Aurora, it's one of the outer colonies largest economic powers plus, we need to make sure that no harm comes to the planets Chancellor. If Aurora falls, the economy and population of the colonies crashes. That's why you two are here to make sure that doesn't happen." "Understood." Eric and Kalder said simultaneously.

"Commander, you're needed on the bridge." A voice said over the room's intercom. Bowley groaned. "Probably just another blip in the radar." He turned to the two armored warriors. "You two had better come with me." Bowley walked out of the security room followed by the two young Spartans.

The three walked down the hall of the ship towards the bridge. On the way they passed a window. Eric looked out and saw Aurora's glowing spectrum of color accompanied by her two large moons. The Twilight was orbiting on the dark side of the planet so the lightshow was only all the more spectacular.

They ascended a flight of stairs and back into the bridge. Commander Bowley walked over to the Navigation Expert. "What do we have Son?" He asked. "We picked up several anomalies in the systems outer sector, it's gone now." "Any sign of the Covenant?" Bowley asked. "Negative, so far it's just been a few distortions in the area, other than those quick distortions, nothing Sir." Commander Bowley walked towards the front of the bridge and looked out the front view port. He said not taking his gaze away from Aurora. "Spartan's, be on high alert and be ready for deployment. Something just isn't sitting right with me right now. I don't want anything to hit us while our backs are turned." "Yes Sir." The two said.

Eric ran his glove through his long, shocking blue hair and slicked it back then placed his helmet over his head and attached it to his suit. His suit made a hiss noise as it compressed to his body. Kalder did the same. Eric held out his fist and Kalder punched it. "We better get down to the armory." Eric said as he turned and started to walk out. He was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a girls voice say, "Aren't you forgetting something?" "Ah hell." Eric said with a groan. He turned his head slowly only to have his gaze met with a frustrated A.I. Not just any A.I., but his A.I.

Yuna, a lovely looking girl programmed to be around the age of 18. She wore a blue and black gothic style dress with a decent amount of blue frills on her sleeves and her unique gothic style dress that came down at an angle and formed several sharp points at its base. An interesting feature of her outfit was the glowing white trim on the edges which numeric and other symbols scrolled across its length. On her head she wore an elegant blue trimmed black head band with two glowing white roses on each side and below those two elegantly tied bows which dangled over her ears. Her face could be described as nothing less other than a china doll. Her pale skin and rather cute features were only enhanced by her stunning neon blue eyes and long sky blue hair that extended down to her ankles; and all around her figure she was surrounded by tiny shimmering orbs of light that if need be, could be transformed into a type of energy weapon that an A.I. could use to defend themselves in the cyber world.

Ordinarily she was programmed to have a happy, cheerful and somewhat of a "Sassy" attitude as described by her creator Dr. Halsey. However today, she wasn't in the least bit happy with her Spartan. "We forgot them again…" Kalder said with a groan. Eric sighed and said, "I know, and we'll never hear the end of it…" Eric slowly walked over to the glowing holo panel where his A.I. stood. Yuna was standing with her arms crossed over her chest with the stern look on her face that was just waiting to hear his explanation. It was something that wasn't new to her, ironically, this wasn't the first time that her Spartan had forgotten to get her before he left on a mission.

Making the most innocent face he could manage, he held his arms out and said, "And that's how I learned my lesson!" Yuna instantly slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. "My god…" She uttered. She sighed and said, "Your simple mind, it amazes me sometimes; do you know that?" Eric cracked a smile and said, "Hey thanks! I amaze myself too." "I know you do," Yuna continued, "but do you think that you can free up a few brain cells so that you can actually remember to bring me with you and not forget me again!"

A green flash appeared on another holo pedestal and another A.I. appeared. In a calm, slightly timid voice, she said, "Honestly Yuna, do you always have to be so mean to them?" Mitsuki, Kalder's A.I., was a rather attractive looking girl that was bathed in an eerily beautiful neon green light. She was programmed to be slightly younger then Yuna. She wore a neatly kept green and black outfit that could be easily compared to a sailor school girl uniform. Her green shoulder length hair was kept in two large spiky twin tails and she wore glasses. Her features made her a rather attractive looking girl and she had a large green ring of light surrounded her and fluctuated up and down along her well figured body. The light was her energy weapon that she kept should she need to defend herself in the cyber world. As the halo of light ran up and down her body, she tucked her hair behind her ear and adjusted her glasses.

"Of course I have to be mean to him, he was going to leave me behind; …again, and he was going to leave me behind while he went out and had fun without me!" Mitsuki found Yuna's definition of fun to be rather disturbing. Yuna thought of fun as watching Eric slaughter any enemy that stood in his way. She even took it upon herself to keep a kill counter to see weather Eric had improved from his previous missions. Mitsuki shyly replied, "Don't get so worked up over it, I'm sure there is a logical explanation as to why they forgot to take us." Mitsuki looked at her Spartan with her innocent neon green eyes and said calmly, "Isn't that right, Kalder?" Kalder was trying to keep out of the argument, he knew that these two A.I.'s had their own unique personalities that were prone to these outbursts.

He quickly replied, trying to keep out of trouble, "Exactly! You just didn't give us time to explain." Yuna rolled her eyes and said, "Oh this should be good." Kalder continued, "I was about to remind Eric to grab you before we headed to the armory, but as usual he was too busy debating on his weapon choices that he started to head out of the room before he could remember to grab you." Eric paused for a few moments before looking at Kalder and saying, "You know what… I hate you so much." Eric didn't need to see Kalder's face through his visor, he could tell that he was grinning. Yuna put her hands on her hips and cocked her waist sassily and said, "You've already used that line on us, it won't work again."

At this point, Commander Bowley interjected. "I think I'm the one to blame here. I was feeding them orders and might have jumped the gun on them and made it seem like they needed to jump into immediate action. I apologize for this incident." Yuna looked at Bowley and replied, "You don't need to take the fall for them Commander, We know how they are when it comes to responsibility."

Eric sighed and said, "Look, can we argue about this later? I know that even though you're mad at me right now and you probably want me to take a nice shot from a plasma round just to make you feel better but can we just save this fight for later and pretend that this all never happened?" Yuna stiffened her brow and said, "You aren't getting off that easy. This is the fourth time in the past six months that you forgot to interface me before you left on a mission." Eric sighed and said, "I know, you're right and I'm the bad guy here." "I know you are." Yuna shot back. Eric continued, "I admit I was wrong and that you will always be above me in every way, shape and form." "This is true." She said. Eric walked up to her holo pad and said, "But right now, I have a mission to prep for and you're coming with me." "If you would have remembered me in the first place this wouldn't…" Yuna was cut off as Eric yanked her chip out of the ships systems. "Ahh, sweet silence!" He said to himself as he held Yuna's chip in his hand. He watched as her data crystal began to pulsate blue. It was her way of letting him know that she didn't appreciate him cutting her off mid rant.

"Honestly, that sister of mine." Mitsuki said quietly. "She needs to let things slide more often." "Yeah! Tell me about it." Eric replied as he held her chip in his hand. He looked at her chip as it pulsed with a glowing blue light. He sighed and said, I'm never going to hear the end of this one." He put Yuna's chip into the slot on the back of his helmet and felt his mind wash over with an icy cold feeling followed by a quick shot of pain as Yuna interfaced with him. She usually greeted him when she interfaced with all of his systems but she was silent this time. "Welcome home?" Eric said as he waited for her to lash out at him as she often did. "Nope!" She replied sharply. "I'm mad at you." Eric rolled his eyes and said, "What else is new…?"

Kalder then approached Mitsuki and then yanked her out of the ship and then inserted her back into his neural implant. He felt her come online with him and said, "Ready to go, Mitsuki?" She sighed and said, "I suppose, just be careful this time."

The two Spartan's looked at Commander Bowley. Eric said, "Let us know if anything happens. We'll be the first one's in guns a 'blazing." Bowley nodded and said, "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that." Kalder replied, "We'll be prepping for combat just in case, Sir." Bowley nodded and then saluted the two and they returned the gesture. "Get to it than boys." "Yes Sir." The two replied. Bowley watched as the two Spartan's left the bridge. He looked back out towards Aurora and said to himself. "It's a good thing I never pissed her off while he was still in cryo, she woulda killed him."

The two walked past the crewman and back to the elevator. Kalder hit Deck 27. The elevator began to descend. "How bad do you think things are gonna get?" "What do you mean?" Eric asked. Kalder replied, "Well, should Aurora get attacked. I've never been on Aurora before so I don't know what it's gonna be like should we go down there…" Kalder was cut off by Commander Bowley's voice over the ships COM. "Attention, all crew, slip space rupture on the edge of the system. Head to battle stations Now!" "Wow!" Eric called out. "Irony!" The elevator stopped and the doors hissed open. This deck was empty. It was where the private armory was located. Only a select few got to use this armory. The two walked out and the lights went black. A few seconds later the red emergency lights came on. "We're running dark?" Kalder asked. Eric ran to a view port on the side of the ship. He looked out and said. "I think it's a good thing where running dark." Kalder walked over to see what Eric was talking about. He looked out and saw one of the largest Covenant Capitol ships he had ever seen. Eric nudged Kalder away from the window. "C'mon, let's get to the armory."

The two ran towards the armory. Commander Bowley came on over their COM's. "Spartans, the Covenant are trying to established an orbit above Aurora and are heading for its capitol city of Eclipse. Once you're finished in the armory get to drop bay 72-D. I have a map of Eclipse set up in the armory for you once you get in there. It will have marked locations of your landing zone and your rendezvous point." Kalder cut in. "Sir, before you give us the rest, can you please tell us what our mission is once we get down there?" Bowley replied, "Your mission is simple boys, stop any Covenant that you see. Odds are their going to head planet side, and you know as well as I do that we won't let them turn Aurora into another Reach." The COM cut out. "Not much for details is he?" Kalder asked.

After a five minute run, the two made it to the armory. The ships COM was constantly filled with the chatter of Commander Bowley and the other higher ranked Officers giving out orders for troops to start deploying down to the surface. This armory was under strict lock down. Only a select few on the ship were granted access to this armory. There were two orbs of transparent blue light on both sides of the door. It required an A.I. in each to open. Kalder and Eric both placed their hands on the orbs allowing their A.I.'s to grant them access to the armory. Their hands sparked with golden static as there A.I.'s interfaced with the computer. There was a beep and the doors hissed open.

The two slowly walked in. The armory was huge; rows upon rows of weapons, ammo palates, vehicles, and explosives. In the center of the room was an immense holographic map of the city of Eclipse. The city was huge; countless skyscrapers that rose for hundreds of stories, and smaller structures covered every square inch of the land; and Eclipse's most stunning feature was the immense structure that spanned the entire length of the city. The Arch as it was called. Its sleek curved design provided the power for the city by taking energy from the aurora borealis that dominated the sky.

The two walked over and looked at the holographic cityscape. Cars and people walked the streets. The map was clearly a moving image of what was going on in the city. "Shit." Kalder said. "This place is huge." Eric replied without looking away from the map. "I know, it's going to be nothing but close combat down there." Eric studied the map. He saw a blue circle around what looked like a small park on the edge of the city. "There's our LZ." Eric said as he continued to study the map. "Not a lot of room for a landing. And we don't even know how many other people are going down with us." "Where do we go after landing?" Kalder asked. Eric took his helmet off and inserted Yuna's chip into the map. He said, "Yuna, show us our mission objective and parameters please." Eric heard Yuna's voice say, "Acquiring information." There was a pause. "Done." She said cheerfully. Eric pulled his long blue hair behind his ear and leaned in to the map. A red line appeared from the LZ that led to the city center. Eric looked to Kalder. "Commander Bowley gave us a direct link to the city center. It will be a long trek there. We're gonna need a Warthog or a Scorpion." Eric walked over to the weapon racks. "Oh, and by the way Kalder…" Kalder looked to Eric. Eric grinned. "I'm driving." Kalder groaned. "I never get to drive!"

Eric walked over to an ammo palate. He saw his old friend, the MA5B Assault Rifle. He never liked the new MA5C. Half the clip was never something he liked. He preferred the 60 round clips over the 32; twice the bullets, twice the Covenant to kill. The next thing he grabbed was the 8 Gauge Shotgun. A new feature the weapons techs came up with was the razor shell. Standard 8 Gauge shotgun shells loaded with razor sharp buckshot. A guaranteed Brute kill with one close range shot. Eric loaded up as many clips as he could carry.

Kalder grinned evilly as he picked up his S2AM Sniper Rifle. He was one of the best snipers in the SPARTAN program. He had learned his skills from his childhood crush, Linda, SPARTAN-58. He also chose to bring the 8 Gauge. Both he and Eric were wizards at one-two kills on enemies. They would charge an enemy and shoot it at point blank with a shotgun. Usually and Elite would go down in one shot but for Brutes, the two would rush them, shove the barrel of their weapons into the aliens stomachs, pull the trigger then as fast as lightning melee the poor sons a bitches before they could scream in pain.

While stowing a few grenades, Eric heard Yuna panic. "Eric! Kalder! Get to the map ASAP!" Eric and Kalder quickly ran to the large hologram of the city. "What's wrong Yuna?" Eric asked. He heard her disembodied voice say stunned, "They're breaching the atmosphere and heading planet side." Eric and Kalder looked at the map. On the streets they could see civilians running in a panic, and then a sleek angular shadow crept over the city. "Holy shit." Kalder uttered. The Capitol Ship that had recently come through slip space was now hovering over Aurora's largest city. Eric quickly put his helmet back on then yanked Yuna from the map. He put her back in his neural implant. She came online and Eric said, "See, I remembered you this time." "Gee thanks." She said sarcastically.

Eric and Kalder left the armory. Their next task was to report to drop bay 72-D. The two ran at full tilt. Despite their enhanced speed, it was still a six minute run across the massive ship to the drop bay. When they arrived, there was no one else there. Commander Bowley's own A.I. named Rika came on over the ships loud speaker. "Spartan's please be seated in drop pods numbers one and two. When you land your orders are to get to the rendezvous point as quickly as possible. Covenant troops are already starting to land so expect a hot landing. Also, only help civilians if it's absolutely necessary. Don't stop for anything that could slow you down. Your objective for this mission is to get to the rendezvous point, and worry about survivors later. Understood?" "Yes Ma'am." Eric and Kalder said. "Good luck, and be careful down there."

The Spartans walked over to their drop pods. Kalder held out his fist. "See you planet side." Eric punched his fist. "Have a good drop." Kalder hopped into his pod and sat down. Eric watched as the hatch on Kalder's pod closed. Eric looked at his pod. He sighed and sat down uneasily. He hated riding in drop pods with a passion. The feeling of free fall was something he never enjoyed, and the feeling of no control was something he hated, and the fact that he screamed like a little bitch when he experienced his first hot drop at age ten. The other Spartans still never let him live that one down. He hit the small flashing red button on the inside of his pod and the door closed.

Kalder opened his COM to Eric. "Hey Eric, you gonna out scream me in this one?" There was a sharp yet quick reply of, "Fuck you!" from Eric which made Kalder laugh. Mitsuki came on through Kalder's helmets speakers. "You really shouldn't tease him about that you know." She said softly. Kalder replied, "I know, but it's the one thing that I have against him that I don't plan to let him live down." Mitsuki sighed. "Honestly, you can be so rude at times."

Rika's voice came on over the speakers in the drop bay. "Prepare for hard drop. Launching in 3, 2, 1, mark." The drop pod rapidly started to descend. Eric tensed and gripped the arm rests on his seat. Yuna spoke. "You really don't like these drops do you?" "No, not really!" Eric said nervously. Yuna laughed. "Want mommy to hold your hand?" Eric said back, not moving from his tense position. "Do you always have to make me look like a pansy when I ride in these things?" Yuna replied, "I call it pay back for nearly forgetting me AGAIN!" "I told you I was sorry." The drop pod shuddered violently as it caught the edge of the planet's atmosphere. Eric again tensed and said nervously, "But yeah, if that offer still stands, you can hold my hand."

"HOOOOORAHHH!!" Kalder shouted as his pod went sailing off into the blackness of space. He opened his COM to Eric. "Dude! How can you not love this? You've done this a shit load of times before." All Kalder heard was Eric reply sharply, "SHUT! UP!" Mitsuki asked Kalder, "How can YOU like this so much?" Kalder said, "I just like the feeling of weightlessness." Kalder pulled up Eclipse's map up on his helmets HUD. He had never dropped into a city this large before. Come to think of it, he had never fought in a city this large before. Eclipse was easily five times as large as Earth's largest city of Tokyo and just as and if not more crowded. He knew one thing for sure; he was in for one hell of a battle.

Eric looked at the small view port on the door of his pod. It shone a bright neon green that morphed into pink and finally into a cool electric blue. "We must be heading through the aurora field." He thought to himself. There was a rumble and a flash of red. Aurora's atmosphere was beginning to show itself. A few minutes later his drop pod passed through the atmosphere. There was a hard jerk as his pods air foil was deployed. Kalder felt a hard thud and a loud snap was heard. "What the hell?" He thought. He simultaneously heard Mitsuki and Yuna yell to him. "Air Foil failure! You're in free fall!" Eric opened his COM to Kalder. "Kalder, get ready to over pressurize your jell layer and brace for extreme impact. Just sit tight and…" Eric felt a huge thud against his drop pod. "Yuna! Assessment!" Yuna replied, "Covenant Banshees firing on us." Eric's pod rapidly started to accelerate. "Air Foil destroyed!"

Eric felt another thud. The metal on the inside of his drop pod was beginning to glow red. "Shit!" he said to himself. "This is why I hate these damn things!" Eric braced his back against the wall of the drop pod and forcefully kicked at the door. The metal clanged and creaked from the sheer force of an adrenaline filled Spartan kicking at it. The door eventually gave out and popped off revealing a vast city landscape rushing up towards him.

Eric stood up at the edge of the door. Yuna said, "Eric... you wouldn't." Eric flexed his knees and leaned back. "You couldn't!" Yuna argued. Eric forced himself forward and jumped from his pod. "You would..." Yuna said slightly annoyed.

"God, no wonder he hates hard drops so much." Kalder said as he braced for impact. "Impact in twenty seconds. I'm preparing to over pressurize your jell layer. Don't worry; I'm going to make sure you get out of this one." Mitsuki said in the most calm voice she could manage. She said again, "Ten seconds. Where going to go through some buildings. Brace yourself." Kalder heard a tremendous bang. He heard the sound of metal twisting and couldn't help but scream in fear. He felt his suit constrict around him. His jell layer over pressurized and Kalder blacked out.

Eric was now in open air free fall. He looked back in time to watch a Banshee's fuel rod cannon completely destroy his drop pod. He did his best to keep calm. "Y-Yuna, be prepared to over pressurize my suit right before I impact. I'm going to try and slow myself down as much as I can." Yuna told him soothingly. "Don't worry; I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Eric saw a Banshee flying below him. He got an idea. He laid his body flat and aimed down. He rapidly picked up speed. He only had one shot at this; he had to make this one count.

Eric came down hard on the Banshee. The vehicle shuddered from the sudden weight change. Eric began to slide off. He frantically looked for something to grab onto. No good. There was nothing to grab onto on the vehicles smooth purple alloy. He slid off and quickly grabbed onto the wing of the vehicle. The pilot began swerving in the air trying to shake him loose. "Hang on Eric!" Yuna yelled with worry. The Banshee suddenly nose dived. "Oh not good!" Eric yelled. The Banshee nose dived easily breaking the sound barrier. Eric held on for dear life. When the vehicle reached the top levels of the sky scrapers it made a sharp upward motion. The sudden change in velocity nearly dislocated Eric's shoulders. His grip loosened and he was sent sailing towards the ground at a diagonal direction. At least it wouldn't be a direct impact.

Eric faced his back towards the ground. He grinned his teeth and shut his eyes in fear. "Hang on!" Yuna yelled. Eric felt an extremely hard hit on his back. He saw fragments of glass; dry wall and other materials fly past him. He had gone through a building. His decent was rapidly slowed and his vision blurred from the sudden change in speed. The last thing he heard was Yuna yell "I'm going to save you!" Then there was a hard impact and everything went black.

(There's chapter 1. I hope you like cliff hangers, because I make a lot of them. Chapter 2 will be posted ASAP. Rate and review. Thanx)