The Spartans of Valarida
(The Story of The Frozen Shadows)
During the final week on Reach, before it fell. An important mission was at hand, the evacuation of Echo Valardia, a small city/base of the UNSC. A handful of SPARTAN soldiers were sent in to evacuate and protect those that were surrounded by the Covenant. The Spartans quickly found themselves in a losing battle as the Covenant quickly tore apart the last vehicles and weaponry available to sustain a respectable resistance. Once inside the small city, the Covenant found a resistance they had not known. For the next four days, over five thousand Covenant fell to the hands of the Spartans that protected Echo Valardia.
Frustrated and angered, the Covenant decided to hammer the city into the ground. Four capital class cruisers were brought in to finish the job. Two hours later, the city was in ruins. One last survivor's words were, "I saw the metal on the buildings melt before I saw any flame."
After the Covenant attack, the Prophet ordered his fleet to move on, confident that the planet would fall in the next few hours. The UNSC launched a recovery mission for any lucky survivors, realizing that they would soon leave the solar system. One marine came back mentioning that the shadows of the dead were burned into the few walls left standing. That they were frozen there...
None of the remains of the Spartans sent in were ever found, not even their armor. Several of the survivors claimed that they never saw a single Spartan fall in the last hours of Echo Valardia, finishing with that they didn't believe they were killed, just that they were gone.
The stories made it back to Earth of the Spartan shadows that were frozen on Reach...the Spartans that the UNSC had to leave behind.
Frustrated and angered, the Covenant decided to hammer the city into the ground. Four capital class cruisers were brought in to finish the job. Two hours later, the city was in ruins. One last survivor's words were, "I saw the metal on the buildings melt before I saw any flame."
After the Covenant attack, the Prophet ordered his fleet to move on, confident that the planet would fall in the next few hours. The UNSC launched a recovery mission for any lucky survivors, realizing that they would soon leave the solar system. One marine came back mentioning that the shadows of the dead were burned into the few walls left standing. That they were frozen there...
None of the remains of the Spartans sent in were ever found, not even their armor. Several of the survivors claimed that they never saw a single Spartan fall in the last hours of Echo Valardia, finishing with that they didn't believe they were killed, just that they were gone.
The stories made it back to Earth of the Spartan shadows that were frozen on Reach...the Spartans that the UNSC had to leave behind.