Six is not an army (Chapter 1)

*** Prologue ***

Reach. A planet once basked in life and Glory, now burns like the flames from which it were born. The last few battle on against an unlawful and undefeatable army, whose astounding technology cannot be matched by that of Spartan development. The UNSC knew this day would come. They spoke of the day that Reach fell slave to the Covenant army, but they never imagined it would come so soon. Two lone Spartans travel out into the night, dependant on escaping from their determined foe. They are prepared to surrender the planet that gave birth to millions. A whole army of Spartans wiped out by the almighty power of the Covenant. But of course, an army never does truly stick together. There are those who venture out beyond the reaches of the stars. Those who avoid danger at every cost. Those who survive.

The planet is not alone in its strip of the galaxy. When darkness descends upon the blue skies of Reach, something becomes visible. Shimmering with a deep maroon glow, a small moon hides just out of the covenant war-path. Rumour has it that the moon was created by a species far ahead of its time, from a galaxy millions of miles away. Some regard it as an anomaly in the sky’s unstained fabric, others refer to it as “The moon of reach”, but to Spartans, it is hope. The haven untouched by covenant hands, where five lone warriors wait patiently for the enemy to retreat to another place. Patronus, The moon of hope.

*** Chapter one ***

I opened my eyes preparing to discover the worst. I could remember leaving reach, but I couldn’t seem to remember why. The Lifeboat was badly damaged and it didn’t look like I’d be dashing off again anytime soon. With no return flight, and multiple areas of pain throughout my body, I began to worry. What if I had landed on some barren planet with no inhabitants? What if I had landed in the middle of a war-zone? I guessed I’d have to find out sooner or later. As I was about to haul myself up, a spray of thick black dust splattered from the ground and an odd looking Mongoose pulled up beside me. The rider was a Spartan, fairly tall and kitted out with a CQB helmet. Although I had not seen the particular model of armour before, it had a larger breast-plate and limited leg space, so I assumed my rescuer was female. I staggered to my feet and hobbled away from the damaged craft that I had arrived in. The Spartan beckoned for me to join her on the back of the mongoose.
“You don’t look all too good” She observed as I clambered onto the dust-stained seat.
“I’ve seen better days” I spluttered, trying to catch my breath.
With that, she placed her foot on the accelerator and proceeded to follow the tracks that she had left behind in the sand. As the mongoose picked up speed I began to notice that the air felt dense, and slightly cold. I was fairly sure that I was no longer on Reach, but the question remained, where was I?
I panned the horizon looking for some sign as to my whereabouts, but all I could see for miles was the thick black dust that seemed native here. The sky was an odd colour, slightly brown but with hints of red in places. There were no clouds, not a single one as far as I could tell. Perhaps I had made a crash landing on an alien planet. All I could tell right now, was that there were other Spartans here, and their technology seemed even more advanced than that on Reach. Besides the huge pain in pretty much all of my limbs, I thought I’d struck pretty lucky with the landing actually.

Eventually, the scenery began to change. Vast mountains arrived on the horizon and with them, came large metallic structures which jutted up into the scarlet heavens that surrounded them. A loud rumble filled the air as a Falcon flew past us and headed off towards one of the landing pads nestled amongst the base. A Spartan with Orange armour shouted something at us, but the noise of the craft’s rotating blades was substantial enough to dissipate his voice.
“How many Spartans are here?” I asked the driver of the Mongoose.
“There are five of us,” She replied, keeping a keen focus on the buildings in the distance, “Six including you.”
I could think of a million other questions to ask but decided to keep them to myself, assuming that I would find my answers when we arrived at the base. I could see it more clearly now. A vast network of structures, all connected with tunnels that seemed to have been built at a later time.
“It’s an impressive structure,” I acclaimed.
“We built it from scratch, using parts that were left behind by previous inhabitants”. She stated, as we pulled up inside what appeared to be a docking bay.
A collection of different vehicles lay scattered, as if waiting for action. Each one labelled with a number, presumably belonging to one of the five Spartans that were situated there. Upon noticing this, I glanced at the rear of the Mongoose that we had been riding. Like the others, it was numbered.
“Four,” I proclaimed. The female responded, as if I had called her by name.
“We like to keep track of everything. We number things to show who’s responsible for them.” She explained, climbing from the vehicle and offering me a hand. I shook my head and leaped from the back of the Mongoose.
“You should take more care” She chuckled. I laughed and hauled myself to my feet, proceeding to follow her through a large hydraulic doorway.

“Through there is the living quarters,” She began, pointing at a passage leading off to the left. “And then if you head straight on, you’ll get to the main command room. The others are probably in there”.
I presumed that the building we were in was the main section of the base.
“There are other buildings too but most of them are just for storage” she added, as if reading my mind.
We abruptly took a left turning and followed a sign which displayed the word “Infirmary”. A red cross lingered above the doorway and situated in the room were a collection of beds, furnished with white sheets and ready-made in preparation for use. There was a large window across the back wall which glowed with a red tint, staining the mountainous landscape which settled behind it.
“I never asked,” The woman started, “Do you have a name?”
I hesitated for a second before responding, “Six”. “Noble six”.
“Noble six?” She replied, clearly a little shocked by this clarification. Withdrawing a small handheld device from a panel on the wall, she began to bash keys.
“The Nobles, A group of six brave Spartans dedicated to defending Reach from the covenant invasion. It has been reported that all six of them are now confirmed dead.” She paused for a moment before wittingly asking “What’s it like to be dead then, six?”
I skipped my eyes across the article and focused my mind on remembering what had happened. I could see their faces. Kat, Jun, Jorge, Carter, and Emile. It seemed that the article had proven a wake-up call for my brain as I began to remember the events that had taken place on Reach. I shuddered for a second, reminded of the reason why I had left. With an army that played host to millions, and technology built to tear apart planets, I had been forced to flee by an alien foe. The covenant.