July 18, 2552
UNSC Leviathan
Sigma Octanus System

The Pelican's ramp steadily moaned about its duties as light from the UNSC Leviathan's hanger illuminated the wartorn bird's hull. Kelly watched as one broken spirit after another walked past her and out into the busy area. The Spartan couldn't say that she felt much different. On the one hand, her group seemingly (and for the time being) had kept all of Sigma Octanus IV from being glassed. The small victory, however, came at a high cost.

Kelly glanced over her shoulder as her heavy footfalls clanged upon the Leviathan's floor. Reverberations from the rest of the Spartans' steps filled the bay as Kelly stopped. The scene outside was nothing less than a graveyard of twisted metal and broken steel that used to be UNSC and Covenant forces. The Spartan didn't want to think about the number of corpses floating around, never to be recovered or remembered. Just to float aimlessly forever or to fall into orbit and burn into nothing.

A scar now laid upon a once pristine world. Where there was once a large section of green and gray was now blackened, the work of the Havok tactical nuke that Kelly and her fellow Spartans had deployed. Many thousands of Covenant of all classes were wiped out in an instant, but Kelly was sure that number would pale in comparison to the number of human casualties now gone along with the streets of Côte d'Azur.

A slight tug on her hand broke Kelly's attention away from the vaccuumed cemetary and onto a small girl. The towering Spartan took a knee. She knew this girl, and Kelly knew what was coming.

The little girl had not seen the Elite that had cut her parents down with its blade, but Kelly had. She could have sworn the son of a bitch smiled when he saw the helpless child and began stalking toward her. The little girl noticed the monster headed for her and clutched her stuffed monkey, Wilfred she had called it later, as the Elite approached. As it closed in the little brunette dropped into a ball, Wilfred shielding her head like a noble protector.

A single round from Kelly's MA5D got the Elite's attention. It turned toward the Spartan as it let out a primal roar.

Kelly began firing off successive rounds at the Elite as it began to close the gap. Bullets richocheted off its shields as they flickered from each shot.

Kelly fired the last shot from the pistol and watched as the field surrounding her assailant collapsed.

Still the beast kept coming, unimpeded. Kelly thought delusions of grandeur in killing a 'demon' probably clouded its judgement.

She unshouldered her M-90 shotgun and leveled it at the Elite's chest as it closed the gap. The sizzle from the Elite's plasma sword was suddenly drown out as the M-90 barked out two successive shots.

The Elite roared in agony but continued forward, albeit much slower than before. The creature took a half-hearted swing with its blade, which Kelly easily sidestepped. The Spartan stuck the barrel into the Elite's exposed side and pulled the trigger. The angle of the shot blew a large hole out of the creature's back as it fell backward, lifeless to the ground.

"Ms. Kelly, I can't find my mom and dad. Can you help me?" Kelly had insisted the little girl just call her Kelly, as somehow the little girl's politeness just made the situation worse. Her manners wouldn't be swayed, however.

Normally Kelly disliked the fact that people shied away from the Spartans, but this was one time she wished she could avoid the contact. Kelly was trained in all manner of warfare. She could kill Covenant, breach defenses and destroy entire cities. Facing this little girl, though, was a task she felt ill-equipped to handle.

Kelly unlatched her helmet and sat it upon her knee. The expression that crept across the little girl's face made her wonder if removing it was the right thing to do. "I knew it."

"What?" Kelly looked at the little girl inquisitively.

"Bobby Brookshire said you guys were monsters… Or robots. With glowing red eyes and metal teeth. I didn't believe him. He was always mean."

Kelly wondered if Bobby Brookshire managed to make it out. Unfortunately she doubted it.

"No sweetie. We are people, just like you." Kelly thought back to the time when she was just like the little girl before her. Times when she and John went on missions of Cpl. Mendez' choosing, or simply or spent hours just talking out in open fields. Of course it wasn't true now, but Kelly hoped her bond with the past could give the girl comfort before she unleashed an emotional hell upon her.

The Spartan took a deep breath as she searched for words to say. Suddenly hurried footsteps stopped beside them.

"Kaitlin? Is that you? You're alright!"

The Spartan looked up to see a slender woman covered with dirt and and dried blood bending down to hug the little girl. "Mrs. Greenlee?"

Kaitlin seemed unsure, although the two quickly hugged. The older lady then stood with Kelly. She paused briefly, probably noting the Spartan's exceptional height. Her eyes told the tale of pure exhaustion and dread.

"My name is Erica. I was Kaitlin's english teacher. I had thirty students in the class with her." The lady quickly began to choke up. "Kaitlin is the only one I see here." The woman's tears spilled down her cheeks as Kelly looked down at the little girl.

Kaitlin seemed uninterested in the conversation, instead scanning the hangar as medics rushed around the room, tending to the wounded. To the left of her a man clung to a woman tightly as she collapsed to the ground. She kept screaming "My Baby!" repeatedly.

"Do you know if her parents…" Kelly quickly cut the woman off with a slight shake of her head.

Erica covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She quickly wiped them away and took a deep breath.

"Does she know?"

"No, I was about to tell her when you walked up." The woman looked down at the little girl and looked back to Kelly.

"I will tell her if that is OK." It felt as though a weight heavier than her armor had been lifted off Kelly's shoulders.

"OK. And see to it that she is taken care of." Kelly noticed John walking towards the trio in her periphery.

"I will. She's all I've got." Teary-eyed, the woman was leading Kaitlin away when suddenly she broke from Erica's grip and ran back over, Wilfred extended at arm's length.

"Here, take Wilfred with you. He will protect you."

"But Wilfred is your protector Kaitlin." Kelly looked down at the little girl, even with arms raised and a whole twelve inches of stuffed Wilfred above that she barely reached Kelly's chest.

"No, he's not nearly as big as you are. He will protect you, and you can protect me."

The Spartan smiled as she examined the child's attempt at logic.

"Sounds like a plan."

Kelly took Wilfred as Kaitlin and Erica walked away, the child having a slight spring in her step from the exchange. Kelly knew that would soon be gone.

"You OK?" John's gruff voice sounded through his external speakers as Kelly inspected Wilfred. There was a slight tear in the doll's left shoulder, and somewhere along the line its right googly eye had fallen off.

"Yeah, I just hate it for her. Lost both of her parents today." Wilfred's arms flapped from front to back as Kelly gently twisted it from side to side.

"We did what we could."

"I know, but it never seems to be enough."

"Admiral Stanforth wants a debrief. We are all to report to the bridge."

"Let's go."

Admiral Stanforth stood staring at a large starchart as crew prepared the Leviathan for a slipspace jump.

"Slipspace jump in one minute Admiral."

"Thank you Benchley." The AI beside Stanforth was represented in full navy dress atire. His hair was regulation cut and he kept his cap tucked neatly under his left arm.

No one in the room seemed to be looking around at Kelly and the others as they walked toward the Admiral, even though that many Spartans in a room was a sight to behold. Kelly stood next John and Fred at Stanforth's left while Grace, Linda and Joshua stood to the right. Instead of admiring, the crew was busy moving their hands incessantly across holoscreens and other controls, checking the ship's systems and functions.

The viewport would have been breathtaking for someone not acclimated to it. Well over a dozen UNSC ships of various classifications sat seemingly still against a backdrop of Sigma Octanus IV's moon, which was half eclipsed. One by one ships began to disappear in brilliant flashes as they cut a hole into slipspace and exited the system.

"Slipspace jump in twenty sec… Admiral, power-up detected off port. Covenant-class cruiser coming around to firing position." The AI's calm demeanor didn't lend itself to the seriousness of the situation. Admiral Stanforth knew the Leviathan was about to be broadsided.

"Dammit, the bastards waited until we were alone. Benchley, full power to the slipspace drives. Get us the hell out of here."

"Transferring… Slipspace jump in ten seconds. Covenant plasma inbound. Time to impact 9 seconds."

A rift in space itself opened before the Leviathan. "All hands, prepare for impact!"

There was nowhere to go. The Leviathan sat waiting to enter slipspace and could no longer maneuver out of the plasma's path.

"Admiral, tracking two plasma munitions. Impact in four…" Slipspace began to engulf the ship.

Suddenly alarms blared as the ship was rocked. Kelly and the other Spartans managed to stand as some of the crew were tossed form their posts and onto the floor.

"Venting in level C-2. Sealing."

"Sir, slipspace drive failing! Exiting slipspace in three seconds!"

Kelly's field of vision distorted as a sudden feeling of nasuea began to rise up within her.

"Second, what's happening?"

"Not sure admiral. Some form of anomale within slipspace. Exiting… Now."

A flash washed across the forward screen and was quickly replaced with stars.

"Sir, second plasma ordinance detected following us out of slipspace. Impact in 5 secon…"

"Evasive maneuvers, now!"

Kelly momentarily lost her footing as the ship shifted hard to port.

"Correction made. Second plasma ordinanace missed. Admiral, five unknown contacts detected."

"What in the hell?" Everyone on the bridge turned to look out the viewport. The space in front of them was littered with ships, very large ones. They each had a distinct triangular symmetry to their design, with the exception of a large rectangular structure towering above one side.

"I want to know what and who they are Benchley. Now"

"Unknown classification sir. Nothing remotely similar in UNSC databases. Sir, there is a problem."

The AI didn't have to explain. Everyone who looked through the viewport could see the trail of whitehot plasma streaming on a collision course with the nearest ship.

"Find a way to establish contact. Now!"