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"Boarding craft inbound, Combat Teams Alpha through Omega, prep to repel boarders." Chicago Stations Defense Coordinator stated over the loudspeaker. "All hands report to battle stations. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. Seal pressure doors. Open weapon lockers."

Staff Sergeant Spike ran down the hallway, followed closely by the rest of Combat Team Charlie. In the past couple months, Spike noticed that his body had been growing exponentially. He even towered several feet over the humans in his squad.

"Armory is over here, sir!" Spikes second in command, Kayla, pointed out, snapping the dragon out of his thoughts. Combat Team Charlie moved out of the way as a group of non-combatants ran by, being escorted by several Marines.

"Sorry, Kayla. Kind of new to this still." Spike said, running into the armory. Two other Combat Teams just got finished loading up and were now getting ready to leave the armory.

"I know the feeling." Kayla assured, picking up a battle rifle. Spike picked up a shotgun and slung it over his shoulder, before picking up a couple of SMG's and clipping them to his legs. "So Sarge, you ever going to tell us about Equis?"

"Now's not really the time, Corporal." Spike said, grabbing a handful of magazines for his SMG's and loading them into his tactical vest.

"Aw! Come on Sarge!" Kayla pleaded.

Spike chuckled a little. "Tell you what, we get out of here alive, and I will tell you about it."

The station shook violently as a Covenant boarding craft latched to a nearby airlock. Spike was able to pick up the sounds of gunfire down the corridor.

"Shit." Spike muttered. "Charlie, take up defensive positions! Private Sanchez, set up that turret!" Spike ordered, pointing at a M247H that was leaning against the wall.

"Aye sir." Sanchez replied, balancing the turret over his shoulder as the team jogged out of the armory. Spike and Kayla took cover behind some hastily set up sandbags, helping Sanchez set up the teams turret. Just as they finished, the sound of gunfire stopped.

"Think they took care of them, sir?" Someone asked.

"If you mean they as in the poor Marines who were trying to fight off those boarders, then no." Spike replied. The Gunnery Sergeant who was stationed inside the armory ran out of it, holding two large bags filled with battle rifles and shotguns. Slung over his shoulder were two compact sniper rifles.

"Hey Gunny, toss me one of those snipers!" Spike called out to him. The Gunny glanced at the dragon, as well as his choice of weaponry.

"Hell, judging by the weapons you chose, you're going to need it." The Gunnery Sergeant said, handing one of the compact sniper rifles to Spike. "While those SMG's will rip the Covenant to shreds in close quarters, at the distance, even the grunts will have a pretty good chance of surviving."

Spike shrugged it off and checked if the sniper rifle was loaded. "Where are you heading?" Spike inquired.

"The non combatants said they would like some weapons, so I just grabbed as many as I could and ran out the door." He said, before tossing one of to Spike. "I think you guys may make better use of them, though."

"Thanks." Spike said, pulling out a few spare mags for his sniper rifle and placing them nearby, before setting his sniper up on its bipod. "Good luck, man."

"You too. I'll see you Marines on the other side." The Gunny said, before running down the hallway.

"Go, go, go!" Sergeant Major Xavier shouted, as his squad piled out of their pelican. Xavier quickly followed, clutching his assault rifle. Several warthogs passed by, followed by a couple scorpion tanks.

"What the hell is this place?" Sandstone asked, motioning to the sky. Looking up, he could see the entire ring world, which arched up in the distance and circled around. Xavier had an amusing thought about the ring they were on suddenly losing gravity, causing him to float off into space and crash into the opposite end of the ring.

"Hell if I know. We're going to find out, though." Xavier stated, as he and his squad continued forward. Several pods from one of the UNSC ships in orbit landed nearby, setting up several firebases and stations. Eventually, they would be upgraded to fortresses, once they got the resources. The pelicans, which just finished dropping off their Marine occupants, landed nearby in a neat line. Their pilots were checking over their pelicans, making sure none of them were damaged while in flight.

"Any visual on Covenant ground forces?" Twilight Sparkles voice asked.

"None whatsoever, ma'am." Their Commanders voice, Major Parker, responded. "But they will show up eventually."

"Good, get your bases defenses set up quickly. I don't want the Covenant getting the drop on us." Twilight stated.

"Affirmative. You just make sure those sneaky Covie bastards don't try to glass us." Parker stated playfully.

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Luna watched as a squadron of Sabre's passed by her Destroyers bridge, in the direction of what her Weapons Officer, Lieutenant Simmons, labelled as a giant clusterfuck. This 'clusterfuck' was a giant battle, between an estimated five hundred and twenty Covenant ships and the UNSC's Home Fleet, made up of 362 Frigates, 89 Destroyers, 35 Cruisers, and 15 Carriers, as well as support from the 257 Orbital Defense Platform. The Equis passed by the remains of a Covenant frigate, which was ripped in two by a MAC round from one of these stations. For once, it seemed, they were at a stalemate.

'It's not going to last very long...' Luna thought to herself.

"Simmons, report on weapons status." Luna ordered.

"We are fully loaded on archer missile pods and shiva class nuclear warheads. Our MAC's are also online, their charge decreasing by zero point five percent every five minutes." Lieutenant Simmons stated.

"Solstice?" Luna requested.

"Yes sister?" Solstice responded, as her avatar appeared on a nearby holopad. Unlike her usual appearence, where she looked exactly like her late sister Celestia (just with a long, red/crimson mane instead of a rainbow one), she was dressed up in the armor that alicorn warriors would dress in during battle. Luna smiled a bit at the irony of this. Luna was the only one of the royal sisters who fought in wars, while Tia sat in the palace filing paperwork.

"Show me the closest Covenant spacecraft." Luna ordered.

"Certainly." Solstice stated. Not even a second later, an image of a Covenant CSS-class battlecruiser popped up on a nearby holoscreen. "Distance to battlecruiser is about five hundred kilometers, give or take."

"Set up a targetting solution for the MAC's." Luna ordered Simmons.

"Already on it!" Simmons called out, working as fast as he could at his station.

"Sister, you surely know a destroyer is no match for a CSS-class battlecruiser." Solstice pointed out.

"Captain Keyes took on two frigates, one destroyer, and a carrier all on his own with his destroyer, the UNSC Iroquois, and won." Luna pointed out. "I plan on doing the same."

"But sister, the Keyes Loop was an act of desperation! He got lucky!" Solstice exclaimed.

Luna chuckled grimly, shaking her head. "What do you think this is, Solstice?"