Editing Dirt

{{Title|''Dirt''}}

{{Status|RealWorld}}

'''Dirt''' is the fourth short story in ''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]'', written by [[Tobias Buckell]]. ''Dirt'' tells the story of [[Gage Yevgenny]] from his time before the [[Human-Covenant War]], time with the [[Colonial Military Authority]], and later his career in the [[UNSC Defense Force]].

==Plot synopsis==

The story begins as [[The Rookie]], an [[Orbital Drop Shock Trooper]], discovers a crashed Pelican dropship. Not far from the crash site, he finds a mortally wounded veteran ODST, Gage Yevgenny. Despite the Rookie's objections that they don't have time, Yevgenny insists on relating his life story, saying:

{{Article quote|Shut up and listen, rookie! There's something important I have to tell you. About friends. Betrayal. Loss. If you keep your head up and do what I tell you, you might even live long enough to tell someone what happened here...}}

Gage tells the Rookie that he was born on [[Harvest]] on [[2506|January 3rd, 2506]]. He worked on the family farm with his father, though he resented the agrarian lifestyle, often arguing with his father. On [[2524|January 3rd, 2524]], the hour he turned eighteen, Gage joined the [[Colonial Military Authority|Colonial Military]], wanting to do more with his life. After getting out of boot camp, Gage met [[Felicia Sanderson]] and [[Eric Santiago]] at the [[Utgard]] [[Utgard Spaceport|Spaceport]]. The three quickly became friends. They participated in [[Operation: TREBUCHET]] on [[Eridanus II]], doing small jobs, such as investigating possible [[insurrectionist]] activity and riot control in [[Elysium City]]. After two months, they made friends with [[Allison Stark]], a CMA [[D77-TC Pelican|Pelican]] pilot, who often flew them to parties on weekends. One weekend, after the four flew a [[AV-14 Hornet|Hornet]] to a night club, an insurrectionist bomb detonated inside the club. The blast killed Allison, sent Eric into a coma, and heavily injured Gage and Felicia, who were pulled out of the rubble by ODSTs.

While recovering in the hospital, Gage, inspired by the ones who saved him, decided to join the ODSTs. Felicia, who had nothing else to lose, decided to join along with him. However, after several weeks of hard training, they were informed of the [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] threat and Harvest's destruction. Felicia fell into horrified shock and screamed at Gage for his long-standing disrespect toward the planet.

In the fall of 2552, five years after reuniting with his friends, Gage was involved in an operation to infiltrate [[Mount Haven]], a city on an unknown UNSC colony that was under siege by the Covenant, who were looking for [[Forerunner]] artifacts. Simultaneously, several former CMA members were performing a clandestine operation to extract a massive supply of [[gold]] from a bank. However, after infiltrating the bank, the ODST team discovered a class of school children and their teacher, [[Julian]], hiding in the underground vault, hoping to survive the planet's inevitable [[glassing]]. After loading two Pelicans full of gold, the ODSTs knew there was no room for the children. To deceive the civilians, the troopers claimed that the gold would be used in the UNSC's war effort. Gage, who had seen too many people killed by the Covenant, was in strong favor of postponing the theft to save the civilians. Believing that the civilians would certainly die, the other ODSTs, [[Sita]], [[Dale (ODST)|Dale]], and [[Orrin]], began to argue. Felicia stepped in, wanting to call in more Pelicans, but the other ODSTs had already raised their weapons at one another. In an instant, Gage was shot in the abdomen, three other squad members were dead, and Felicia was fatally wounded. Gage rushed to her side, but she died in his arms.

Gage, in shock, went outside to find Eric, who informed him that the UNSC were falling back. Gage knocked him out with his gun and called for more Pelicans, claiming they were under heavy fire. He then flew Eric's Pelican to the pickup point and collected the artifacts the Covenant were looking for, as well as a [[shiva-class nuclear missile|''Shiva''-class nuclear device]], then flew away from the city. Gage believed that the Covenant forces would follow him in pursuit of the relics. As he was being pursued by Covenant [[Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft|Banshees]], he was shot down by a pair of ex-CMA ODSTs, [[Amey]] and [[Charleston]], who knew of his betrayal.

Gage crashed near the mountains outside the city, where he was found mortally wounded by the Rookie, who had arrived with Gage's reinforcements. The Rookie, who had listened intently, promises to remember Gage and do whatever he can against the Covenant. Gage then tells the Rookie that Covenant forces and the rogue ODSTs are on their way to the crash site, and warns the Rookie to get as far away as possible, as he is going to detonate the Shiva, killing them all. The Rookie drops most of his gear and runs until he reaches the other side of the mountain, at which point Gage detonates the nuke, killing himself, his renegade teammates, and thousands of Covenant troops. The Rookie, being the only survivor, hails a Pelican and is informed that [[Reach]] has been attacked,<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''', "Dirt": (''"The Covenant just attacked Reach," the pilot reported."'')</ref> and that the survivors are retreating to [[Earth]]. They escape as the planet is glassed, but the Rookie vows not to forget Gage Yevgenny and his long and tragic life.<ref>'''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''', ''Dirt''</ref>

==Appearances==

{{Featurelist|secondcolumn=title-5|title-1=Characters|

*[[Allison Stark]] {{1st}}

*[[Amey]] {{1st}}

*[[Charleston]] {{1st}}

*[[Dale (ODST)|Dale]] {{1st}}

*[[Eric Santiago]] {{1st}}

*[[Teller]] {{1st}}

*****[[105th Shock Troops Division]]

******[[26th Marine Expeditionary Force]] {{1st}}

***[[UNSC Navy]]

****[[Naval Special Weapons]]

*****[[SPARTAN-II program]]

****[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]

*[[23 Librae]] system {{Mo}}

*[[Asmara]] {{1st}}

*[[Cygnus system]] {{1st}}

**[[New Jerusalem]] {{1st}}

*[[Gravity hammer (fiction)|gravity hammer]]

*[[CH252 helmet]]

*[[Cryo chamber]]

*[[Emergency lighting]]

*[[Energy shielding]]

*[[Fusion drive]]

*The story features the first two openly gay characters in the ''Halo'' series, [[Felicia Sanderson]] and [[Allison Stark]].

{{Ref/Sources}}