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Halo: Left Behind

Chapter 4: Why We Fight

Hope is strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost...

-Sergeant Varros, Battle of Harvest. He and his entire battalion were slaughtered in defense of public civilian shelters. They did not succeed

The Jacksonville

Orbit above Harvest 2527

October 8th

---

Krystal, Miyu, Fay, Fox, and Falco stood aboard one of the human ships orbiting the contested world of Harvest. They had only just boarded an hour ago. Shortly thereafter communication was restored with the groundside defenders. And the news was grim. The entirety of the UNSC forces on the ground was in full retreat. Almost none of the armored core was left and the army divisions were at less than half strength. No word had been heard from the artillery brigade or planetside airbases.

All in all it looked like defeat was certain. But thanks to a handful of marines and spartans, they had a fighting chance.

Or so that's what a man called Samus Haraden had been saying since he arrived. The guy had walked in a short while ago in ash dusted armor and filled them in on the status of the ground war. Apparently he had just flown up from the surface. Krystal had been eyeing him warily since he had entered the bridge. She could not gleam a read off of him in any way, not with her telepathy nor her animal instincts, and that set her on edge. There were few people that she could not decipher. Not only that, but he was wearing an emblem that she had only seen once before. The men that had taken Liam away had been wearing it. That meant that this man worked for the office of naval intelligence, and therefore was already someone Krystal did not like.

So far they had seen neither hide nor hair of Liam since they arrived. And the longer that continued the more upset Krystal became. Miyu sympathized with the vixen and patted her paw. They all wanted to find him, those two especially.

Krystal growled quietly as she heard Samus speak up again. "I believe that if we launch a three pronged attack on the massive alien ship, we might have a chance of taking it down." On the holo table was a representation of the floating monolith. As the ONI man gestured, red arrows depicted the assault. "If we can coordinate our attacks with the fleet and remaining ground forces, we can slip a team of soldiers inside with a few Shiva warheads we can liberate from the two prowlers. They would split to different parts of the ship and place the nukes throughout. Then after setting a countdown the team would exfil from the ship and the nuclear warheads will detonate." The image of the alien ship flashed red and disappeared.

The man called Admiral Dansworth stoked his long mustache and grunted. "The plan might work...but we would need a team of super soldiers to accomplish it."

"And we do." Samus said with a grin. "With the spartan team and Atlas we have just enough to do the job. Three will carry bombs and the fourth will draw the enemy away from the bomb carriers."

Rear Admiral Laura nodded in agreement. 'This might be our only option. We have not tested the capabilities of our new ships and this will be one hell of a test. But if we can take out those four guardian ships that will leave the enemy unbalanced and just might give us the weight we need to tip the scales in our favor."

Dansworth clapped his hands together. "Alright then we have a plan now, but where are the players?"

Almost as if to answer his question, the doors to the bridge powered open and a figure emerged from the doorway. "Atlas." Samus greeted the new arrival, turning to face them.

The masculine armored figure stepped onto the bridge stridently, plated boots thudding steel-to-steel. His armor was pocketed with dents, scorch marks, and colorful splashes of odd dyed fluids. His helmet had a crack running down the center and the rest of his suit was just as battered. He stood roughly at eight feet tall and had weapons strewn about his form. The warrior swiveled his helmet to the assembled party and twitched so subtly that only the superior eyes of the Starfox team caught it. The huge armored soldier slowly crossed the expanse between himself and the group, ignoring the humans present to stop in front of Krystal.

The vixen gave him an odd look and stared at the man that had intruded upon her personal space. She glared up into the cracked visor and was about to tell him to back off when he placed his large gauntlets on her furred shoulders softly. He slowly sunk to his armored knees and his helm looked down intently at her. At first she could not get a read on him, but the mind in front of her gradually became exceedingly familiar. Krystal's shining emerald eyes widened in disbelief and she brought a trembling paw to touch the giant's scored breastplate. "Liam?" She gasped in surprise; the whole Starfox team leaned back in shock upon realizing who lay under that massive bulky armor. The assembled bridge crew, admirals, and Samus watched in puzzlement, not understanding what exactly was happening.

The silent man nodded his helm and brought it to touch against Krystal's forehead with the gentleness of a newborn lamb. She closed her eyes and leaned into it, tears tracking down her muzzle as she tried to wrap him up in a hug, but she could only grab onto his bulk instead for he was too wide. The armored warrior rose up to his full height, lifting the vixen in a returning embrace. He softly held her in his grip and she squeezed him tightly and sobbed quietly in many parts relief and happiness. Neither of them cared about the looks they were getting from the humans around them. It was beyond strange to see a super soldier hugging anything, let alone a furred alien, like a teddy bear. They embraced each other what seemed like hours before the centurion reluctantly returned her to the ground, although not straying more than a foot from her at any time during the awkward explanation. Luckily Fox and the others could do the talking as Liam could not offer any assistance in his condition.

Samus digested what he had been told and hummed as he brushed a hand against his chin. "So this was the team you worked with before....interesting." He had not heard much about Callahan besides that he worked in the Lylat system prior to his...selection for the program. And it would also appear that he had a....intimate relationship, with that oddly decorated vixen. The ONI rep filed that information away for later use and returned his focus to the task at hand. It was far more important to see to the defense of Harvest then to speculate about his subordinate. There would be plenty of time for that after they had won the war. "As interesting as all this is, we have more dire things to concern ourselves with.

What he said was true, so the assembly's attention was redirected towards the battle plan. Well most of them anyways, Liam and Krystal just stayed close to each other while the others planned. She was leaning against his armored waist and looked up to him. Her beatific smile had been slowly shifting into a frown as he studied him. She knew it was Liam, but he was not the same as when she last saw him. One glaring change was his physical one. He was a lot larger both in stature and muscle mass. How does one change like that, even in a span of a single year? What's more, he had not said a single word since they had reunited. It may have been true that he was no longer capable of speech. Worried, she tapped a claw on his armor and grabbed his attention. The large man looked down at her and she mouthed silently. "What happened to you?"

Liam stood there silently for a long time before fiddling with something on his right bracer. He typed onto a device built into the armor and after a minute shifted it to her so she could read it.

I was changed by the office, turned into a weapon. It was hard, but I thought of you and pushed through the pain. Since then I lost the ability to speak, I fear that it may be forever. It was so desolate without you Krystal. It was a very, very long and lonely year....I hope you can forgive me. I should never have walked away. I missed you.

She could not see his face behind his cracked mask, but she did not have to. Instead she felt the waves of self-loathing and despair he emitted like a broken faucet, spewing his emotions into the open air. Not even his massive suit of armor could contain what he felt on his core. She almost gasped in disbelief, she had been the one to make a mistake and he was apologizing to her.

She hugged him again, feeling the etched armor that covered him, it was cold, dirty, and damp in some placed, but she didn't care. "No, it was my fault; I don't know what came over me. I should never have hit you." She whispered, his armor audio sensors easily picking up the low spoken words from such close proximity.

She felt his depression fade to a dull ache, and he placed a gauntlet on her shoulder and lovingly pushed her closer. They both were so pleasantly content to have found each other again that they did not pay attention to the brief. Liam knew that he would download it into his armor anyways once it was over.

"Alright, that's the plan people. We launch the mission in just twelve hours, so until then you," He gestured to the Starfox team. "And you," He pointed at Liam. "Have that much time to relax and prepare. Centurion, take your armor down to hanger-B; I brought the prowler's cradle system onboard and it's hooked into the ship's power. Techs will go over it and do what they can to...repair the damages you seem to have sustained. After that you're of the leash until I have need of you. I will have a bunks arranged for you all on Deck-C if you wish to get some rest." Samus flashed a rare, friendly smile, directed at Liam. "Use it well." After that the ONI operative turned and left the bridge.

Liam watched him go and shook his head in wonderment. That was the strangest office agent he had ever met. And he was lucky that he had him and not some other hardass. He felt a tap on his armor and looked down to see Krystal. "Wanna get that big suit off? I could use some cuddles. You have a year's worth of backpay to reimburse me for." She smiled brightly with raised chops and Liam's heart leapt at having her back. The man nodded eagerly and turned to leave the bridge as well. But he halted as he remembered that his other friends were there as well. His single-minded euphoria of being reunited clouded much of his judgment.

He looked at all of them and noticed two key players missing.

Where is Slippy and Peppy? He typed out.

Fox was the one to answer reluctantly. "I told them to stay behind. Peppy is getting old and Slippy is not suited for this kind of stuff."

Liam nodded. It made sense, although he would have loved to have the enthusiastic toad and wise hare with him right now. So...how have you guys been?

They chuckled at the casual text and Fay filled him in on the past year's events. Soon the whole group was chatting on the bridge of the human cruiser as if nothing had happened. There was the slight downer of him not forming vocal responses but he told them not to dwell on it, what's done is done.

I should probably get out of this suit. Liam reluctantly keyed. He hated to postpone the conversation with his friends, but he was still wounded and once the armor and bodysuit were off he could address that issue.

"Yeah, despite its...rugged look, it seems you got some nice stuff out of this." Falco muttered as he looked at the armored suit enviously.

The price wasn't worth it. He responded, his helmet shifting to look at Krystal. The vixen looked back and smiled softly, but it was pained. He was right, it wasn't.

Falco nodded solemnly. He understood that much.

Liam turned to walk out of the bridge and led the way with the team following. Krystal moved to catch up to his larger pace and gasped when she spotted the lines of dried blood cascading down his back. The armor was shredded all along the spinal region and looked as if he had fallen backwards into a can opener. The team looked to see why she had gasped and was equally shocked.

Liam turned to see what the commotion was about and did not understand until it dawned on him. He typed out. The enemy is quite dangerous. I fought with two massive creatures and all of this was courtesy of them.

"Does it hurt?" Miyu enquired worriedly, tail flashing back and forth as she gazed at her friend.

Yeah, but not as much as being away from Krystal and all of you. I would take this every day to stop that from happening again. He keyed into his pad firmly.

He might not have spoken, but his conviction bled through none the less.

Liam turned and resumed his journey down the hallway. They followed him down to the hanger and noticed all the looks they were getting from the crew of the human ship. Many of them stopped and stared or gave odd looks as they followed after the centurion. It was unnerving at sometimes but they knew that it was just because they looked so different from each other. The irony was that Liam had felt and was treated the same way during his deployment in the Lylat system. They were the aliens now, and this was the humans' world.

---

_ _Thankfully they soon arrived at Hanger-B, and saw a weird machine set up along the side of the left wall. Four humans in dull grey uniforms were all over it, presumably making sure it was ready to go. To the side was a heavy duty trolley. Liam walked over to the techs and the device, and the techs backed up, finished.

Gingerly, Liam placed his back on the machine's chair and hydraulic powered tools went to his suit's plates and inserted little probes. The armor made a whirring noise and the components of the suit opened marginally allowing them to be removed. During the process, the techs waited on the side to lug the heavy armor chunks to the trolley to be carted off to the ship's mechanics shop. Soon all that was left was a form fitting black armored bodysuit and his cracked helm.

Liam stood up from the chair and walked over to the table; he pulled his helmet off and placed it upon the wheeled table along with the rest of his gear before removing the TACPAD to take with him. He nodded to the techs and they rolled it away. Liam then turned to face his friends and they saw his face.

The human had changed in the year he had been absent. The wound on his face from Krystal's claws were somewhat faded. Just around his throat where the bodysuit's gorget switched to skin, was the aide-mémoire of his throat wound. He also supported a thin cut of hair, more like stubble, atop his head. And his face looked harder and less youthful as last they saw. Despite all this, his sapphire eyes still glowed with their accustomed warmth and gentleness. Liam smiled softly at his friends as he walked over to them. Outside his armor he was shorter, more around seven feet. The bodysuit he was wearing fitted his body snugly to show his enhanced musculature. Whatever was done with him had changed his body quite noticeably. He was now like a mountain of muscle and fibrous tendons.

He stopped at about a foot or so away from the. He towered over them all, even out of his suit, Krystal only stood at his upper torso and she was the tallest among them. Liam silently stood among them, his pad was held in his left covered hand. He entered a small phrase into his pad before turning to leave.

I will meet you all at the bunks on Deck-C. I must see to these wounds and find a change of clothing. When I get patched up I'll see you all there.

While he walked away he heard another set of footprints following him. He looked over his shoulder to see Krystal following close behind. She saw his look and replied firmly with a determined look. "I am not leaving your side ever again."

Liam smiled and turned back to head down the hallway. It was wonderful to have her back.

**********

It took a few minutes to get to the infirmary on Deck-E, When he got there the pair got a few looks but the doctors managed to fix him up. His wounds were not that severe, the armor absorbed most of the force and power of the attack. But he did receive some deep dermal damage and the muscles in his arms were torn. His spine was also bruised and he should by rights take a few days to recuperate. Yet he was needed for the mission and so had to grin and bear it until it was complete.

Liam switched out of his bodysuit and into a large crew uniform, once more grabbing his pad. The bodysuit would be taken to be repaired along with his armor, for now he would have to be content with the regular uniform, although it was not as protective. Not that he would need it aboard the ship, still he had gotten used to the armor and its security. The clothes sat on his body tightly, and not as comfortably as the bodysuit, but his uniform was on the prowler he came in on. So for now it would have to do. When he was dressed, he exited the infirmary to see Krystal sitting on a chair waiting for him. Upon seeing him she stood up and walked over. She embraced him and kissed him softly on the cheek as she wrapped him up in a tight hug, able to wrap her soft furred arms completely around him when he was out of armor. She was silent for a long time before she spoke in a husky whisper. "I missed you so much."

He leaned back slightly and saw her crying silent tears, and he frowned. A reunion such as this should be an event without tears. She should not be crying. He placed a hand on her ruff on her cheeks and looked down at her kindly. He placed a kiss on her nose and hugged her back. It was a time like this that made his desire to speak almost painful. Instead he let his actions speak for him. Liam hugged her until she calmed down. He heard the door open behind him and saw one of the doctors come out. The man looked up from his motes and froze when he saw the duo, Looking flustered he apologized quietly and ducked back in to the opposite room with surprising swiftness.

Liam smiled and made a small noise, at that and Krystal looked up curiously and he shrugged before leading her to the bunks. He knew the layout of marathon cruisers due to his service aboard one. She followed closely behind him, holding his hand resolutely in her paw as they walked. In short order they reached their destination and saw the rest of the team lounging around the large room of cots. They all turned to see the pair as they entered. Liam ducking as he walked into the hatch.

Upon seeing them, the team quickly rushed over. It was a great thing, having spare time to talk with them all. He found himself thanking Samus for being understanding enough to give him this opportunity to catch up with his friends. Even talking with Falco was great. The avian had numerous questions about his gear and was eager to try the weapons out for himself. Liam had been quick to dissuade him in that regard with a long explanatory text, elucidating that to try would give him extreme injury. Falco was reluctant to acquiesce to that fact but with Fox's help he managed to get the point through.

When Falco finally conceded, the topic switched to a different tune. They spoke of olden times and did their best to not dredge up the less unsavory portions. From what they told him, Katt Monroe, the feline he briefly worked with, was doing well. He was surprised to hear that she worked with the team many times before. Apparently they were all good friends, for the most part. She was roaming the system last they heard, looking for steady work. Starfox on the other hand had mostly been doing lite work, nothing as serious as to be mentioned.

Venom was apparently quite for now, this was in response to the heavily occupied and defended human world recently established. They had been given Eladard and turned it into a massive fortress world, much like Reach. It had several shipyards and factories. Many UNSC personnel and colonists had been shipped their over the past year and it was slowly becoming one of the nicest colonies one could hope to go to. Eladard had vast mineral resources on it and in the asteroids fields in the surrounding space. With it the USNC is expecting a massive expansion of their military power and the UEG's economic output. Indeed a fleet of ships were currently in production and the UEG was making profit off of valuable minerals back in the inner colonies.

Liam thought that was great to hear, he had been out of the loop ever since he set foot on Reach so this was all brand new information for him. He was curious as to why they were privy to this knowledge and Fay explained that they had visited the planet a few times.

That was interesting, but he did not just find them all to talk about other things. He had texted that he wished to know how Slippy and Peppy were faring in more detail, as he had not seen them yet. Miyu told him that both were doing well and wished to see him when they could. But Peppy had opted to stay behind and Slippy was told by Fox to remain behind with him.

Liam nodded and quizzed them more thoroughly. Several hours were spent in well, reminiscing about the past. As they talked, Liam sat on one of the cots with Krystal in his lap; she adamantly refused to be any farther away. She snuggled against his broad chest as they talked, murring contentedly and rubbing a padded paw on his arms constantly as she began to drift off to sleep.

As the hours dragged on, the eventually ran out of anything new to talk about and were tired from their long days, Liam more than anyone else. He had nit slept since Harvest was attacked over seventy two hours ago, and that thought made him jolt in shock.

His family!

When he saw Krystal they had ashamedly left his mind in the excitement. He harshly berated himself for forgetting them. How could he have done that? It mattered not; he needed to rectify that mistake soon. He would have to speak with Samus after he rested.

Leaning back in the cot he chose, he drifted off to sleep while his friends continued to converse. He was glad they were back, but he was tired beyond belief. He felt a warm and soft weight on his chest and opened his eyes to see Krystal laying on him. She looked down at him with her emerald eyes that glowed softly in the dim light of the bunk room. He smiled at her and she returned it before wrapping her lips with his own. He accepted it wholeheartedly and they both slowly succumbed to sleep. He was happy to have her back with him once more. She was his light in this brewing war. He would guard her, his friends and his family with his life. She was his hope that there was something for him when he put down his weapons and took off his armor for the last time.

Krystal was the reason why he continued to fight.