“God...It's fuckin' hot.” The young Marine was covered in sweat, and his movement was beginning to become sluggish. Pulowski's symptoms were not unique however. We had been marching since 1200 hours in the blazing heat, which combined with the battle earlier was taking it's toll on the troops. But, we had to keep going as it was 1500 hours already, and I wanted that comfortable two hour of space just in case shit hit the fan. We had also expended most of our ammo, and were dangerously low on water. I surveyed the area, looking for a suitable area for the troops to rest. After some scanning, I decided our safest bet was a nearby car park, as the Marines would be safe underground in it. I turned around to face my troops. “Alright boys, listen up. We're going to rest in the bottom of that car park for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I'm going to go out looking for supplies. We're getting close to bingo on everything, and I don't want us getting to the EZ low on ammo.” A wave of relief came upon their faces. I could tell they were glad they were receiving the respite. “Thank God,” proclaimed Barnes. “I hoped you wasn't seriously thinking we was gonna keep up with your cyborg ass!” This drew a round of laughter. I couldn't help myself to join in. “Come on guys, we're almost there. Sooner we get there, the sooner you guys get to sit down.” This put a new jolt of energy in the Marines, and they ran after me towards the park.

	The elevator down worked, blessedly, and the soldiers groaned in relief as they took their helmets and backpacks off. I went up to the girl and took my helmet off. “Hey, how are you holding up?” She seemed a bit dehydrated, and was showing some signs of sunburn. Obviously, she hadn't been expecting to hike for 3 hours in the Charon sun. “Ok I guess, but I am a little thirsty. My feet hurt too.” “Alright,” I replied. “I'll get you some Aspirin while I'm out. Hey Pulowski! Let the girl have some of your water, will you? Get me a duffle bag too while you're at it.” I heard the Marine come running over with his canteen in one hand and the duffle bag in the other. “Thanks.” I turned back to Danuelle. “Pulowski here will take care of you while I'm gone. You'll be safe with him, don't worry.” I wondered if the Marine was proud that I trusted him with such an important task, or if he was annoyed to be acting as a babysitter. I put my helmet back on and turned to Pulowski. “I'll probably be around half an hour. I want the squad to be ready when I come back, alright? Relay that to Lieutenant Barnes and the rest of the squad.” “Yes sir. We'll have our shit together when ya get back. Good luck bro.” I got in the elevator and soon enough was topside.
	
	The only eerier thing in being in a deserted city with only 10 people is being in a city alone. The battle sounded like it was getting more intense on the other side of town. I could now hear the distinctive sounds of tank cannons, both human and Covenant. The invasion must have gotten serious to warrant the deployment of an armored division. The two cruisers still hung lazily in the air, a menacing reminder of the Covenant's ability to strike virtually anywhere at anytime. I wonder how long it will take for the city to fall. Granted, it's not exactly the fleet that invaded Reach, but they're exactly invading Reach either. The Covenant always seemed to win, no matter what happened. Once in a while they might lose on the ground, but almost every battle in space was a decisive Covenant victory. Although I still believed in victory, the war seemed more and more hopeless to those around me. I wondered if my Marines felt the same. If they did, they didn't show it. The Marines had fought with fierce determination on the Vienna and now down here. I respected them as much as any of my brothers or sisters in the program. Snapping back from my thoughts, I ran across the street, wanting to limit my time exposed. While this part of the city seemed to have little activity, it wasn't past the Xenos to set up ambushes like this.

“Jenn, are there any nearby arms stockpiles or friendly units? We desperately need to rearm.”
“You're in luck. My reports with the Major General indicate a friendly unit was housed in the nearby Defense Force armory. They may still be there, and some of their weaponry certainly will be. It's only about a mile out. Uploading the coordinates to your HUD now.”
“Alright, cheers. Would have been a pain in the ass to find it on a map or something.” She laughed. “Hey, that's what I'm here for after all. To make your life better.” I started running towards the waypoint on my HUD. 
	
	When I got there, something was immediately felt wrong. The walls by the entrance were covered in plasma scorched marks. They looked fresh. Very fresh, actually. I pointed my rifle at the door and switched on my IR and thermal vision modes, looking for any sign of enemy contact. Nothing. My motion tracker was clear as well, so I decided to carefully enter the building.

	The scene that greeted me was quite gruesome. The interior of the armory was even worse than the outside. Spent shell casing littered the floor, as did the bodies of dead Marines. I cursed under my breath. The walls were covered in bullet holes and plasma scorches. A thin lining of blood covered the floor. Making my way to the armory, I almost tripped over a Marine, or what was left of him after an apparent plasma grenade. The armory itself was seemingly untouched, with just a few rifles and grenades missing from their racks. “Well, I wasn't expecting THAT much to be left” said Jenn. “Yeah,” I replied. “I don't like it. I have a bad feeling about this, let me tell you.” I went to work filling up the bag. Pallets of 7.62, boxes of 8 Gauge, sniper mags, belts of MG ammo, and some 40mm grenades. I also managed to find some pouched water. The bag filled up quickly, and soon enough I slung it on my back. I quickly visited the medical center to pick up some pain relief for Danielle, and headed for the entrance. I was about to walk out the door when I noticed too blips on my motion detector. Red for hostile. I quickly activated my active camouflage, and hid in the corner.

	Two Elites walked into the dorm with their weapons drawn. They were Zealots, some of the best the Covenant had to offer. They were only used in situations dealing with the retrieval of sacred Forerunner artifacts. I wondered, what were they doing here? From their search of every nook and cranny, they seemed to be on the hunt for something very important. “It seems the girl is not here.” Said one of the Elites to the other. He was a bit taller. “Yes. Tell me brother, do you even think she will know where the Sacred Instrument is?” replied the smaller one. “Truth believes she will; so do I. He is infallible. And she is the daughter of the mining leader, so it seems logical. I believe she will lead us to the Instrument, and thus towards the Great Journey. Come my friend. We must go now. Glory and salvation await!”

	My head swirled with questions. Why did the Zealots, and even moreso, the Prophet of Truth, have an interest in Danielle? What connection did this artifact have with her father? And most importantly what exactly was this “Sacred Instrument” they spoke of? None of it made any sense to me. I waited for them to leave and switched off my cloaking device.
	“Jake, I just got an idea”, said Jenn. “Charon II was one of the few colonies found that didn't need terra-forming. It was found habitable. I think it's possible that Charon II is Forerunner in nature, or at the very least was inhabited by them. Perhaps BXR mining found something while digging. Something important, and that's why their searching for Danielle. From the sound of it, it has some deep religious connotation for them. Jake, whatever happens, we can't let them catch her. And we can't let them find it.”
“Fuck...I think you're right. That would explain why they haven't glassed us yet, and probably why they took so long to actually start the invasion. Contact ONI and tell them what's going on, they need to know. And try to contact Dr. Halsey too, I'm sure she'll want to hear it from the horse's mouth.”

	I sprinted back to the car park, praying that the Elites hadn't somehow found her first. While it was the logical decision to go alone for the ammo, I regretted leaving the girl alone. Thankfully, upon exiting the elevator, I was greeted with the elated voices of my squadmates. They congratulated me on getting them the ammo and water, but my mind was too concerned with the most recent turn of events to pay attention. Danielle walked up to me, asking if I had brought her meds.

	“Yeah, and I have some water for you as well...Do you mind if I talk to you privately for a minute? It's important.” A look of concern appeared on her. “Yeah, uh...sure.”  We walked out of earshot of the group.“What's the matter?” “Did your father tell you anything important about work recently? Any recent discoveries?” “No, I don't thi- Well, now that you mention it yeah he did. He said that he was running into some problems in a mining site. He said he found something that he didn't really know of, and that a group called ONI quarantined the site. He said he was losing money because they wouldn't let him work on it. Why do you ask?” “That's classified,” I replied. “Sorry to hit you with that, but, that's the way it is.” She sighed. “I understand.” “Do you know where it is by any chance?” “I know what continent it's on, but that's it. He said it was on Epoch. It's across the ocean from here... Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.” She looked down at the ground. “Hey,” I said, stooping down to meet her gaze, “You've been doing great so far. The fact that you've been able to keep up with us and haven't complained is a testament of your strength. And don't ever apologize for something that you can't control. You got me?” She nodded. “Yeah, t-thanks.” I took her hand and squeezed it. “I'll get you on that ship if I die trying. You have my word.” I saw something in her eyes, a glimmer of hope perhaps. I let go of her hand and looked up. Barnes was jogging towards me. “Hey, we're ready to move out whenever dude” he said. I stood up and told him to rally the troops. We still had a long march ahead of us.