The sky was the color of blood.

Perhaps people would have seen this as an omen of the terrible slaughter to come, if the skies did not always run red in Merkava, when the upper atmosphere ignited each morning to the heat of the nearby star.

Every day of its existence, Merkava had burned. Now, it simply burned much more than usual.

Entrenchments around Ashkenazi, capital of Merkava

"LIGHT UP THE BASTARDS"

The cracks of rifle fire swept over the UNSC trenches, cutting down the newest squad of grunts in a seemingly endless waves of suicide attacks. Overhead, a squat, ugly covenant frigate dropped down the newest wave of attackers who would inevitably fall before the entrenched defenders.

Sergeant Nicholas Le gazed over his series of fortifications, and the men under his command. Several of them had already broken, and were loudly sobbing in their foxholes, or staring blankly at walls. Snorting, he shifted his gaze to a nearby PFC and muttered his signature phrase;

"They need to get some more damned troops up here."

The private, recognising the phrase after several hours worth of repetition, grinned and replied;

"Very astute observation Sarge."

"You're damned right."

A few moments of awkward silence later, they both returned to scanning for the coming attacks.

Covenant Cruiser "Enlightened Despots"

"What news of the front?"

"No more than 5 minutes ago sir."

"It is uncharacteristic of these pests to hold such tenuous positions for so long."

"Perhaps sir. They are well entrenched, and air support cannot operate effectively, what with the sky being constantly on fire."

"Bah! In my day, it would rain acid, and they would send us out with only a rock above our heads and a stick in our hands, and we would still whip these humans."

"Of course sir."

"..."

"..."

"So… any more news?"

"Still a deadlock sir."

"Prophets be damned!"

UNSC CENTCOM Merkava

General Spielvogel, general of the 8th Marine Regiment, newly assigned to the defense of Merkava, was taking a nap when the news came. A technician was sent to rouse the sleeping commander.

"Sir?"

A startled snort later, and the general was fully awake.

"Yes lad? Has the deadlock been broken?"

"No sir, news from orbit. A new groups of ships just appeared in system. They don't look like ours."

"What?"

"A whole flotilla sir. Some 35 ships."

"Damn. Any response from-"

"And also one of the ice moons exploded and there's a giant metal fork there now.:

"Of course it did. Is that all?"

"The navy is pulling back until they've analysed those new ships."

"The navy is pulling back?"

"Yes sir. They're abandoning Merkava. They send their apologies, and will wait in the outskirts of the system until reinforcements arrive."

The technician fled the room before the general's yelling began in earnest.

Covenant FOB, Outskirts of Ashkenazi Defense line.

General Il Varumee, of the Legion of Glorious Purpose, was staring intensely at a battlemap when the news came.

"General, Shipmaster Harum reports new contacts in orbit."

"Ah, did the pests get reinforcements? How cute."

"No General, the contacts are unknown. The fleet of Righteous Fury is pulling back until identification is found."

"They think tis a third party?"

"Perhaps, general."

"Are we to lose orbital support to those pests?"

"It appears the humans are pulling back as well."

"Ah, so a continuation of the deadlock."

"Precisely general."

The general turned his eyes from the map towards his aide.

"Minor, did I ever tell you how much I detest the navy?"

Turian "Exploratory" Dreadnought "Fire of Fury," Newly discovered Merkava Systems

Technically, the "Fire of Fury" really was on an exploratory mission. It had zipped through some 8 unexplored systems already, sending just enough data back to the citadel to justify its title of "Scientific Exploration and Analysis." And it's not as if the Turian Hierarchy would send a task force specifically to look for a group of aliens it had recently fired upon. No, if that had happened, the Asari would have been ever so cross.

Admittedly, when the "Exploration" group found a Covenant battlegroup about to burn a planet, they reacted with the typical zeal of Titian's enforcing citadel law.

I'm back! No promises on consistency of updates, but for what it's worth, I'll try. Short chapter, working on something substantial.