May 9th, 2549. The Battle Of Harmony.

Activity filled the hangar of the VDF Mariposa as marines, army troopers, and rangers bustled about, getting into dropships, sergeants and lieutenants rallying their troops, and engineers getting the gunships in order.

Among the massive assault force, was a lone marine, sitting on a crate while she awaited orders.

She had on a black bodysuit, over light plates that covered most of the bodysuit, similar to that of the body armor of a Gen. II Clone-trooper. The helmet clipped to her waist, was a MJOLNIR Armor helmet. To be more specific, the Nightfall Variant. Over the armor, she had on a black leather jacket, with a blazing sun emblazoned onto the back and shoulders. The armor being as thin as it was, could have minor pieces of outerwear, such as jackets and dusters, put on over without causing any technical issues. On her back, was a large military-grade backpack, carrying the marine's personal effects, as well as her explosives, rations, extra medical equipment, and extra ammunition. In her hands, was a leather bound book, with two separate images of a blazing sun, each one engraved into either side of the book. Leaning against the crate she sat on, was an MA5C Individual Combat Weapons System/Assault Rifle, loaded with a magazine of 7.62x51mm Full Metal Jacket rounds.

Upon her face, was a large burn wound that covered the entire right side of her face. In the place of her right eye, was a prosthetic. It's sclera was black, with a bright red pupil that glowed. Her left eye was a casual cyan-blue. She had long hair that reached the base of her neck (in comparison to her squadmates, her hair was long.) and shared the coloration of bacon. Her eyes gave little away, and her expression was stone-cold. Her personality wasn't much different.

Her name, was Sunset Shimmer. She is a lance corporal in the Vanguard Defense Force's Marine Corps. She, from age five, was raised to be a soldier. And a soldier she was. She belongs to Phoenix Company of the VDF Mariposa.

Sunset looked up from her sketching to a loud whistle.

"Lance Corporal Shimmer, we will not wait for you! Get your ass moving!" She closed her journal and slid it into her bag. Sunset slung her MA5C onto her back and jogged over.

Her sergeant was an age veteran in his forties, with slicked-back graying jet-black hair. He had scars, albeit minor, covering his face. He had an M395 Designated Marksman's Rifle in his hands, an Enforcer Variant helmet atop his head.

"Alright, we're moving out, marines!" the sergeant major roared, climbing into the back of a Dropship 77-Troop Carrier, more commonly known as a Pelican. Sunset climbed into the blood-tray, sitting at the seat closest to the hatch, her MA5C sitting in her lap.

Sunset felt the pelican lift up as the thrusters fired up. She glanced up and saw her allies. Each wore a suit of Argus-Class Body Armor, the same Sunset wore. The person opposite her, wore a bulky suit, with large shoulder and chest armor, an M247H Heavy Machine Gun resting in his lap as he stared out the window through an Achilles-Variant helmet, painted a dark gray, like the rest of his armor, his visor a shade of gold.

The Lance Corporal grappled onto the braces that held her in place as the pelican shook intensely from it's constant maneuvering from enemy fire. She felt the pelican enter orbit as it dipped, nose-down. Sunset's rifle hung across her chest from it's sling as the pelican descended. Sunset closed her eyes. The pelican rattled, a few of her marine comrades shifting in excitement and anticipation.

The upcoming battle would determine whether or not the Vanguard and company would have a permanent home. Their target, was a UNSC colony, designated Harmony. It was an outer colony, but because of it's size, it was protected by a fleet's worth of ships. As they approached, the loud blasts of AA guns filled Sunset's ears. She grabbed her MA5C and cradled it to her chest as the sergeant stood up.

"Alright, marines! This is it! This battle will determine which of us will survive! Which of us will get to live to see us win against the United Nations Space Command, once and for all! Now give me some noise marines!" Sunset included, the entire pelican's crew roared out a single "Oorah" as the Pelican slowed to a halt, lowering to the ground.

Sunset undid her restraints and walked over to the hatch. The pilots began yelling at each other, when-

"Oh, SH-"

KABOOM.

Sunset was sent flying out of the pelican as it began spiraling, a fire lit in one of the engines and the cockpit. The dropship spun around, then flew forward on it's own, crashing into the ground with a large explosion.

"Dammit!" Sunset's vision blurred and she heard ringing. Her helmet visor was cracked, and the bar at the top of her HUD that marked her energy shields flashed red with 'WARNING!' displayed across her screen. Sunset got to her hands and knees, rifle clutched in her right hand. She felt rain pattering against her back, and saw it land in the ground around her.

"Come on, we're out in the open!" Someone grabbed Sunset by the collar and practically tossed her forward into the dirt and mud a few meters below. It was the heavy. He jumped down after her.

They sat in an old-school foxhole, with wooden boards and sandbags supporting the wall of earth that provided them cover. Steel plates and such were placed over the ledges, where M808B Main Battle Tanks, M12 Force Application Vehicles and M121 Light Strike Vehicles, or, in order, Scorpions, Warthogs and Jackrabbits rolled through, guns ablaze as they fired upon a UNSC stronghold a good couple hundred meters ahead.

The VDF Di Vinci was lowered into the ground a few thousand meters back, dropping off vehicles straight from it's hangar. Aerial attack consisted of the VDF's armament of EV-44 "Nightingale" Support VTOLs, modified with chin-mounted autocannons, G77S Pelican Gunships, UH-144 Falcons, and D96-TCE Albatross dropships.

Sunset got to her feet and leaned against the wall.

"Status update!" Sunset's sergeant roared as he limped over, holding his left arm, which was bleeding profusely.

"We've got UNSC forces that're taking initiative to push their asses forward! Our tanks aren't pushing far enough into the battlefield to do any damage!" An engie yelled over the din of gunfire, jogging over to the sergeant.

"I suggest calling in for M400 Arties." The engineer pried the sarge's hand off of his arm, getting a look at the damage. He waved over one of the medics, who briefly escorted the sarge into a bunker built into the trench.

"Push!" someone screamed over Comms. Marines and other VDF personnel began scrambling up out of the trenches. Sunset followed, climbing up a few of the objects that held up the trench wall, only to slip and fall back when she's hit by a huge shockwave from an explosion.
, followed by a harsh amount of automatic gunfire. She poked her head out...

Each of the soldiers who'd tried pushing forward were blown to bits. Foxholes were dug into the ground by the sheer force of the autocannons mounted on a Mammoth that began rolling forward, UNSC personnel being dropped off all around.

"Dammit! They're pushing ahead, Di Vinci, we need cover fire!" another VDF Commanding Officer yelled over Comms. Several of the missile tubes on the exposed plates of armor opened up and began raining down support fire, slowly, but surely tearing through the resistance. Sunset shouldered her MA5C and climbed up out of the trench.

She charged forward, letting her shields take the brunt of the oncoming gunfire that crossed her vision. She sprayed bursts at the hostile force while she moved, ducking and weaving through sniper fire and such. Sunset watched as a round tore into the mud before her foot impacted. She quickly did a spin and ducked into an overhang with two marines and a ranger taking shelter within.

"Friendly!" Sunset held her hands up submissively. The two marines were bleeding, whilst the ranger was stacked up against the wall, poking his head out occasionally.

"How the hell'd you get through? Last I checked, we could barely get a glimpse at the field..." one of the marines began saying. His voice was older, raspy. Sunset helped him to his feet and leaned him against the wall. She pulled out her Combat Lifesaver kit and got to work dealing with him.

He had a few shallow bullet wounds in his abdomen, along with shrapnel damage up and down his left arm. Sunset swore under her breath and slid out a can of bio-medical foam, spraying it over his abdomen, whilst she applied a VDF-made version, known as Freezeburn, to his arm.

"Don't try to use it. Even with the augmentations, you'll still fuck yourself up further than I can help ya. Understand?" The marine nodded and chuckled.

"Never thought I'd see the day a major would be taking orders from a corporal." Sunset gave him a pat on the abdomen wound.

"First time for everything, yeah?" the major laughed as Sunset knelt down to the other marine.

"Don't try... she's long gone." Sunset looked up at him and shook her head.

"I'm gonna at least try." She examined the marine's wounds, applying Freezerburn and her leftover Biofoam to them, or disinfecting and bandaging them.

The marine, apparently a private, had her legs ripped up by shrapnel, her arm, abdomen, hell, her head, even had bullet wounds. She still was breathing, somehow. Sunset tore the private's helmet off in exchange for hers. Her lung was punctured as well. Sunset pulled out a tube from a slit in the helmet, and drove it into a port in the private's armor.

"Marine, where's your bucket-" The major frowned.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sunset stood up and shouldered her MA5C.

"Get her back to forward camp. I've got your asses." The major scoffed.

"You won't last five goddamn minutes-" Sunset shushed him.

"You and the ranger get the wounded back as quick as possible. Be gentle, you could hurt her more if you're not careful." The major rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Fine... Good luck out there, marine." Sunset nodded and gave the major a salute.

"As to you." Sunset saw the ranger staring right at her.

"You're somethin' else..." he muttered, then slung his SRS99-D and walked over to the major. They carefully heaved the injured private up and walked out of the overhang, where they were protected by another trench.

Sunset held three fingers up. Two... One. The rogue Lance Corporal barreled out of the trench, MA5C blazing in her right hand, while an M7 SMG fired at anything that blinked in her left. Sunset avoided the majority of gunfire, hopping down into a UNSC-controlled trench.

She stared at an ODST, before launching forward. She planted the barrel of her M7 to his jaw, and aimed her MA5C to the left, firing as reinforcements arrived to assist. Sunset fired two rounds from her M7 into the ODST's skull, splattering his remains onto the mud wall behind him. The lance corporal ducked under a knife swing from a SPARTAN-III and retaliated with a strong right hook.

The SPARTAN ducked and drove his knife into Sunset's abdomen. She drew a Karambit knife in response and rammed it up through the exposed neck of the SPARTAN-III. He crumpled to the floor, Sunset's knife driven up through his neck and into his spinal cord. Sunset coughed blood and removed the knife from her abdomen, her suit's supply of Biofoam sealing the wound.

That'll last for only so long... time to get back at it. Sunset reloaded her firearms and scavenged ammunition off the bodies of the UNSC personnel, finding a variety of grenades on the SPARTAN-III in his Semi-Powered Infiltration armor's ports. Sunset took his helmet and slid it on, no apparent damage visible. Her armor seemed to recolor itself to match the helmet. Sage green, with brown accents. Sunset smirked to herself at this.

She stood up and weaved through the trench, killing any UNSC marines or ODSTs that got in her way. She tossed her M7 aside as she entered a bunker, with several M247H Heavy Machine Guns blazing, leaving her no room for movement. Sunset picked up a BR55 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle off of the ground and clicked the bolt back. Full magazine. She clicked it forward and took a deep breath.

She removed the section of her belt that held her grenades, primed them all, then lobbed it at the machine guns. The gunners screamed, before they were torn apart by burning shrapnel and molten metal from the HMGs they'd used.

Sunset spun out of cover and fired two quick bursts, ending the gunners' suffering. She had at least a shred of human decency left to do them that much. The corporal made her way deeper into the bunker, finding many more UNSC personnel inside, to which she gunned them down, scavenged their ammo, and moved on.

She reached a staircase that led up to the surface, crouching down. Nighttime had reared it's face, and now, Sunset had the slightest semblance of cover. She darkened her armor colors and stealthily moved out of the bunker.

UNSC forces patrolled around the concrete fortress all around her, warthogs, scorpions and all other sorts of vehicles scattered around, in varying conditions of repair or disrepair.

She smirked to herself as music begins playing...

Author's Note

First rewritten chapter of The Outcast.
A/N: If you want a better look at what a VDF soldier would look like, look at the SPI armor, via google or Halo Nation wikia.
VDF is a fictional military group, made by yours truly. It stands for Vanguard Defense Force. The idea of the Vanguard, is a power that rivals the UNSC, that they know that could very well destroy them, vice versa. Each group has on-and-off peace agreements, that normally break within weeks, hell, even days. Their original concept was a Mercenary company, though, now, it's more of another military company all together.

Hope you all enjoyed reading, if so, write a comment, if not, write a comment, tell me why you disliked/hated it.
I own like... nothing.