Time: 12:19:45 am
Date: February 3rd, 2525
Arlego was done with his shift. He walked out of the booth, brushing past Private Keegan. "Have fun in the nap box." Arlego said to him. "Thanks. How much sleep you get?" "2 hours." Arlego replied. The 'Nap Box' was the nickname for the guardhouse. None of them worried because nothing happened in New Trenton. The base was calm and quiet with the exception of a few 'Ten Huts!' every 2 minutes. Fort Stapleton was the safest place in UNSC Territory. The last time anything bad happened was in 2519 when the rebels attacked the mess hall.
While walking back, Arlego looked up at the sky. He saw clear black night and the 2 moons of Jericho. He walked past the Barracks and proceeded on to the Garage. He came up to a tall blue-eyed marine. "ID Please." He said in a low, calm voice. "You new here, boy?" asked Arlego. "Yes sir! First day out of boot camp Sir!" the kid replied. He tried to bark up his voice a bit. "Heh. Here you go." Arlego flashed his badge. Then he patted the new recruit on the shoulder. "Have fun kid." He proceeded on into the large room.
"Lieutenant, glad you could make it!" Arlego looked around and found the owner of the rough, battle scared voice. "Slaggy! You old space dog!" Slagarsky or 'Slaggy' as everyone called him was the best mechanic in the field. "What can I do yer for?" He asked in a happy way. "How is the tank coming? Thought you could use the-" Arlego was cut off by Commander Forte's voice. "RED ALERT; we are under attack!!!" "By who," Arlego asked in a puzzled way. "I don't know!!" Forte's voice called back as he ran out the hangar. Just then the alert rang. "Well I guess he didn't flip his lid. Ok ladies, battle stations!!"
Arlego ran out the station and stopped for a second. Everyone was looking towards space. He joined them and saw over 10 objects dancing across the sky. One of them glow a line of green and blots of lightning came from it and struck the ground. Soon the rest of them did the same. Some bolts hit 2 miles away but the strange thing was that there was no explosion. Arlego turned his attention to a marine to his side. "Son, go radio HIGHCOM; tell them what’ happening." "Yes sir!" The marine replied and ran towards a tent. But then a bolt of green light struck the tent and the whole thing burst into a green and red fireball.
The whole camp was in chaos. Buildings were aflame, people were running everywhere. Arlego didn't know what to do? The bolts of lightning struck in different places. He didn't know what was going on but he did know one thing? This was the beginning of Hell.
10 hours later:
>> Planet REACH
Commander Resnick stood up in his seat, he spoke in a clear rough tone. "What is the status of the MJOLNIR and SPARTAN projects?" "Both are underway sir" replied a voice from the other end of the table. "Good. Now what ships are in dock?" "The Armengald, Blitzkrieg, and Titan" came another voice. "Have the Armengald and Blitzkrieg head to Sigma Octanous. I want the Titan to have a total strip-down and sent to R&D. Meeting adjourned." He said and walked out of the room.
The elevator rushed down the shaft. Commander Resnick was very uneasy about the fall of HARVEST. He went to his palm pad and played back the message that was received 10 hours ago. A man appeared in the small window. "This is Lieutenant Wayne Arlego, Fort Stapleton on Harvest. We are under attack. We do not know what the attacker is or what their intentions are. We request support and EVAC soon. I hope you guys get this!" The picture turned to 25 black objects firing hails of thunderbolts upon the base and planet. "We don't know what they are doing, and we have no MAC support. This is Lieutenant Arlego, signing out!" The screen went black. Commander Resnick muttered to himself. "The true war to end all wars"
"It has begun."
