Hey readers, just thought I'd say a few things before this gets started. I am writing this because I love Halo and simply for the story. I'm not good with the technical names and places of stuff so keep that in mind, I also don't know exactly when this takes place. It could be AU but if any one has any ideas on where this could fit in during the Halo time frame feel free to let me know in a review! Anyways, this story has been in my mind for a while and I thought it was time I shared it. Enjoy!

Disclamer: I don't own Halo...just my OCs

Chapter 1: Combat Medic

You know how in battle the medics are not supposed to be fired upon by enemy soldiers? Well I can tell you now that the Covenant has either never heard of it or completely disregards that rule. When the base I was stationed at came under attack just a few seconds ago I figured that out first hand as the searing pain of a plasma bolt caught me in the arm. I scrambled to find cover while the light blue and green bolts from the alien guns whizzed over my head and around my body. I guess I was just lucky enough not to get hit again as I found a small space underneath a UNSC Warthog where I could take some cover. It wasn't like they couldn't see the bright Red Cross painted on my helmet and stitched into the arm sleeve of my uniform, so I figured they were ignoring it and I was better off where I was.

I was never very good with a gun. I almost failed out of basic training because I never could hit a target, well I might have hit a few targets but believe me they were always off their mark. I can still remember the sounds of my drill sergeant yelling at me and cussing me out when I'd screw up, which was most of the time.

I was bad with grenades too. I had this arm that always went wild when I'd throw anything. I never hit my mark and sometimes ended up landing a few frags into friendly territory. It's a good thing they weren't live rounds during practice or there would be a lot of injured fellow soldiers instead of just the generally pissed off. It was just another thing for the Sarge to yell at me for. Hell, the only reason they let me stay in is because they were short on volunteers.

Basically I was a lousy soldier and the Sarge couldn't find anything I was good at, so I was made into a combat medic.

I suppose it was the most logical choice. I did have an extensive background in biology, though the fact that it wasn't exactly human biology didn't seem to faze my superiors. As to what kind of biology I was into…let's just say that if you've ever been to a seafood restaurant, well, I studied what the waiter brings to you on the silver platters.

So they trained me up on everything I needed to know. How to dress a particular wound, what to give to a particular patient…you know the basic ease-your-pain-while-you-die-because-I can't-do-much-else for-you type of crap. Everyone knows combat medics aren't real doctors. I can't say I was very happy about being a medic because since I was a little girl I was always terrified of blood and gore. I used to get sick just looking at a minor cut, but after a few years in medic training, you get used to it. After a while I didn't even blink when someone's artery would explode in my face and cover my uniform with blood. You have to desensitize yourself to that if you want to survive and do your job.

So why did I join the marines if all I can do is bitch about it? I ask myself that every day, but I think the answer would be because of a sense of duty to the human race…and the fact that if we don't win this war, we won't even exist anymore. I figured the UNSC could use every man they could get, even a screwed up girl who can't even snipe a still target from a few feet away.

As I lay on the floor of the of the ammunitions room, crammed underneath the Warthog, I wondered why the Covenant was suddenly attacking this quiet and out of the way base and why the hell I wasn't warned about it before I got hit in the arm. This was a totally out of the blue experience for me as I didn't remember ever hearing the alert sirens or receiving word from Major Collens, the officer in charge, about an impending attack. I cursed as I remembered my arm wound and thanked God I had my medical kit with me. I was lucky that I had been on guard duty in the ammunitions room or I probably wouldn't have any of my gear at hand. After I quickly patched myself up I grabbed my sidearm and started to return fire. Not that I did much but draw attention to myself and allow the Covenant to discover my hiding place.

"Damn it, Zoey, you know better than to get in a fight without back up!" I mumbled to myself and looked around wildly to see if any other marines were in the vicinity to come save my ass. The heavy sounds of Covenant boots closed in on my position.

The base was on a planet distant from the Earth and really hadn't had much action from the beginning. I arrived shortly after my training was completed solely because I wasn't much good at anything and they needed an out of the way place to station me. Apparently this particular base was short a medic which made it an ideal place for the military to dump an incompetent soldier like me. As soon as I arrived, however, I found out quick that it was also short in female soldiers. I was alright with it, though, since the base was undermanned and the guys generally stayed clear of me because of my clumsiness and the Major's strict orders on harassment. Still, I often wished for more feminine companionship other than the battle scarred Sergeant Robins and the aggressive Captain Sawyer. You could say I was a little meek compared to them.

It now seemed like the little military base's life was over as hundreds of Covenant were pouring in and slaughtering our meager defenses. Right when I was fresh out of basic too! How could things be worse?

"I'll tell you how they could be worse" I thought to myself as the big booted feet of a brute came to a pause in front of my hiding place. I heard him grunt and lift the heavily armored three ton vehicle away from where I lay underneath it. I stared up in shock at the massive, hairy, monster as he tossed the Warthog to the side and seemed to leer down at me like he was certain there was no escape. All I could do was draw out my pistol and realize with anguish that even at point blank range I'd probably miss. Not that a single pistol shot would bother this bastard anyway.

It all happened so fast, but it felt like hours to me as I watched the alien weapon lower down towards my face and at the same time, out of the corner of my eye, caught the flash of another soldier ramming into the brute's side and knocking him off balance. Surprisingly, though my whole body screamed at me to move I could do nothing but lay there, repeating to myself over and over again in my head oh my god! I was almost killed!

"Henson! What the hell do you think you're doing! Move your ass, NOW!" I heard my rescuer, Sergeant Robins, yell at me as she came running back from quickly dispatching the brute with marine efficiency.

Her harsh voice woke me from my stupor and I scrambled to my feet and ran like hell after the already retreating Sergeant. Plasma was still flying around us and I was not about to wait around to get hit again. Once we reached the door to the rest of the base, Robins closed it and activated the automatic locks. We could hear the aliens outside, but their leader had been killed and they were in even worse disarray than usual and were trying desperately to reorganize themselves. Robins jerked her head at me in an indication for me to follow and we started off down the long hallway surrounded by blinking warning lights and sparking wires. A sound like thunder resounded from the outside of the base somewhere and made me shiver.

"What do you think you were doing girl?" the sergeant asked me as we walked. "You should have moved or shot at him or something. You're just lucky I came looking for you or you'd be dead."

"You were looking for me?"

"Well, yeah, we need a medic and frankly you're the only one we've got. We lost Genova when the Covenant first hit us. You can at least treat wounds can't ya?"

"Of course," I replied, feeling insulted.

"Just wondering. Didn't look like you could do much of anything from what I saw out there."

I remained silent for a while, she was right of course. I wasn't much good to anyone in battle, but maybe I could make it up to them through my medical skills. I was fresh out of training and I knew all my stuff.

We finally reached a closed off room in the interior of the base and the single guard nodded us through. This was strange because the protocol for guards at the base was at least two at every post. The Major must have decided to break his own rule to help even out the fight. He was there when we entered, the Major I mean, looking very disheveled and weary. His usually pristine uniform was dirty and torn along with the soot filled hair and mud smeared face. He looked up as Robins approached him and stood at attention.

"Sergeant Robins reporting as ordered, sir."

"At ease, it looks as though you've found our missing medic," Major Collens observed, motioning towards me.

"Yes, sir, she was taking cover under a Warthog in the ammunitions room."

Collens nodded and turned, addressing me. "This is our temporary headquarters until we can get rid of the covenant. You will report here when ordered. At the moment I need you in our medical bay, we've got some injured people."

I nodded and prepared to follow him out of the room, slamming into him as he stopped abruptly to dismiss the sergeant. "Not too fast, Corporal," he said to me and then walked out of the room with me tagging along behind.

He was silent while we walked towards the medical bay and it took me several minutes to build up enough courage and ask, "Major, if I may, what happened? Why are the Covenant attacking us and why wasn't there an alert?"

Collens turned his head to look at me a minute and then answered saying, "I would assume you know the answer as to why they are attacking; just because they hate us. There wasn't an alert because no one saw them coming. They used some kind of device to cloak their ships, even our sensors didn't pick them up."

I mused over this awhile and then asked again, "What is the current situation?"

"All the marines we can spare are currently defending this base. We've lost the rest of the planet, though there are no other major cities or outposts other than our base."

"Are we going to make it through this, sir?" I asked quietly after taking in the bad news.

"It doesn't look as though we are. All we can do is hang tight and hope for reinforcements."

By then we had reached the medical room and I was taken aback by the number of wounded that were crammed into the tight quarters. The room itself was dimly lit due to a power outage and the same monotonous blinking lights flashed on and off. It was mostly quiet despite the pain the soldiers must be in. The few who could, lifted their heads upon our arrival and some saluted to the Major. He returned the gestures and then spoke to me again, "I know you are fresh out of training but you are all we have right now. This base wasn't deemed important enough to receive a proper medical staff, and as Robins probably told you we lost our senior medical officer. You're now in charge here, do your best for these men."

I swallowed, and though the weight of the world seemed to come crashing down on my slim shoulders I nodded, "Yes, sir!"

"Good, now get to it and make sure the marines assigned here do everything you ask," he said, and left the room immediately after.

I stood there for awhile, just taking it all in…it was a lot to take in so give me a break. We can't all be perfect soldiers who jump into every assignment right away. Though of course, the moans of the injured, as well as my reputation that needed fixing, finally got me moving and I approached the nearest marine assigned to serve as a "nurse" for information.

So we got to work bandaging open wounds, distributing painkillers, and in the worse cases sometimes removing limbs that had got crushed or disfigured beyond repair. I just thanked God I wasn't squeamish anymore. The biofoam was running low so we reserved that for the worst wounds and relied on good old cloth and fabric for all others. Speaking of that, most of the medical supplies were running low and I knew that if the wounded kept coming in like this and we didn't get reinforcements soon, many would die.

After hours of grueling and bloody work I took a short break, sitting down with my back against the cool wall. The marines I had helped had been very grateful and cooperative despite my many slip ups, I was still new to this but at least I hadn't screwed up too badly and seriously hurt anyone. I think that when you're actually put in a real world situation all the practice and simulations that you thought you'd forgotten just spring into your mind and you know what to do. That's how I felt at least when I realized I had just stitched up a wound with a complicated stitch pattern that I didn't even know I had learned. It's amazing what kind of crap surfaces in your mind when you really need it.

While I was resting there, my mind wandering to a time when I wasn't so tired, a noise louder than the normal bangs and thundering rolls I had been hearing resounded through the base and shook the walls. I jumped with a start and was on my feet in no time. "What the Hell's going on!" I yelled frantically though I didn't expect an answer. Marines were scrambling everywhere, grabbing their weapons while the wounded sat helpless and alarmed. My first thought was to send for help, but I never got a chance before Major Collens was ushered hurriedly into the room with several other marines accompanying him. His head was gushing blood but he was still trying to push the attending marines away and get back to his post. I ran quickly too him with a medical kit and tried to mop up the blood but he pushed me away.

"No, no, it's just a head wound I have to get back out there. They've got us overrun!" he yelled and forced his way back towards the entrance.

"But your head –" I started to say and was cut off by another soldier running into the room, a look of despair flooding his face, as he approached the Major and said, "It's over, sir, they're all dead! We've been overwhelmed!"

The Major paused, his frantic attempts to escape ceasing, and suddenly became very still. "Prepare our last stand against them. We'll take a few out before they take this planet, "he calmly said. The marines around him loaded their guns and prepared for a last stand. One of them handed Collens a loaded pistol and he took a ready position.

I stood there behind them in complete shock. There were about twelve of us and hundreds of them. This time no one was going to save me, I would die here without ever having done anything significant or worthwhile…but I had done my duty hadn't I? I had saved the lives of many marines in the past few hours and I hadn't messed up. I was proud to have served and done my best in a time of crisis, and if I was going to have to die I was going to die defending the human race from the covenant. I hastily drew out my sidearm, loaded it, and took a position behind the major, gun aimed at the door. It was then I remembered my bad aim and that I probably wouldn't do much good, but what the hell, I was gonna die anyways, so who gives a shit if I can't aim.

Hmmm, I think this chapter was a little short, I'll try to make some longer ones. Arbiter and Master Chief should be coming in soon! Oh, and I will try to update this whenever I can. I am in college so sometimes...well a lot of the times other things come first, but I promise I will finish it. Thanks for reading, reviews welcome but please don't flame.