History Fanfic / FromHarvestToTheArk

* CripplingOverspecialisation: After almost 20 years serving in [[spoiler: ODST Black Ops]], Alley discovers that, while still useful, his sniper rifle is rather cumbersome during a normal infantry assault when he partakes in one during the Fall of Reach.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: DoubleSubverted. We first encounter Alley as an ordinary guy going through [[BootCampEpisode training]] to join the [[HomeGuard Harvest Militia]]- he then joins the UNSC Marine Corps (albeit as part of a Force Recon battalion) and this trope is finally played straight when he joins the [[ItsRainingMen ODSTs]] in Chapter 36 and remains part of this unit for the rest of the story.

* YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler: On [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Alpha Halo]], Alley's LoveInterest Sophie Devereux reveals to him that she gave birth to [[AbandonedWarChild his daughter]] and gave her up for adoption on a planet that was later [[SaltTheEarth glassed]]. {{Exaggerated}} when Soph [[HerHeartWillGoOn also gets killed]],]] but ultimately [[spoiler: {{subverted}} when he finds that his daughter is [[ContrivedCoincidence still alive]]... And a [[SuperSoldiers SPARTAN-III]]]].
* YouAreInCommandNow: Alley is first promoted to Sergeant on Verus III to replace his squad leader, [[BraveScot Sergeant MacIntyre]], who was incapacitated by shrapnel and had to be medevaced.

''From Harvest to the Ark'' is a PseudocanonicalFic set in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' Universe, which provides a [[FirstPersonPerspective first-person account]] of the life of UNSC militiaman (later Marine, later [[spoiler: [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous ODST]] ]]) Albert "Alley" Garris, who, through an impressive combination of [[BadassNormal badassery]] and [[BornLucky sheer luck]], survives nearly three decades of fighting across the bloody battlefields of the Human-Covenant War, from First Contact at the remote colony of [[Literature/HaloContactHarvest Harvest]], to [[VideoGame/HaloReach The Fall Of Reach]], and from the discovery of [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Installation 04]] to the [[VideoGame/Halo3 the final showdown on the Ark]].

** [[SergeantRock Sgt. Johnson]] was one of Alley's instructors during his Harvest Militia days, yet he somehow never encounters him on Alpha Halo or the Ark.

* TraumaCongaLine: Think [[ItsPersonal seeing your home planet destroyed]] and fighting through nearly thirty years of HopelessWar would be bad enough for poor old Alley? On [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Installation 04]]]], [[FromBadToWorse It Gets Worse...]]
** [[spoiler: After [[OutOfTheFryingPan narrowly escaping]] the [[VideoGame/HaloReach Fall Of Reach]], he finds himself trapped on an alien RingWorldPlanet with almost no hope of rescue...]]
** [[spoiler: Then he sees his LoveInterest, Sophie Devereux carried into [[Literature/HaloTheFlood Alpha Base]] on a stretcher- she has been [[GuttedLikeAFish nearly disembowelled]] with a Covenant [[LaserBlade energy sword]].]]
** [[spoiler: While [[ActionFilmQuietDramaScene lying injured in the makeshift infirmary]], she decides that [[TheReveal now would be a good time to explain]] why she [[TheAlcoholic descended into alcoholism]] several years prior- she gave birth to [[AbandonedWarChild Alley's daughter]], giving her up for adoption on a planet which was later [[YankTheDogsChain glassed by the Covenant]].]]
** Shortly after that bombshell lands, [[spoiler: [[FinaglesLaw the Covenant attack Alpha Base]]. During the chaos, cloaked Special Operations Elites sneak into the infirmary and [[HerHeartWillGoOn finish Soph off]]. Alley's Archangel Squad comrade [[TheBigGuy Pyro]] also [[KilledOffscreen dies during the assault]].]]
** [[spoiler: And just to [[DeusAngstMachina rub it in a little harder]], Alley then encounters [[EldritchAbomination the Flood]]. He, along with fellow ODST Celt and a small group of Marines including his BestFriend Matthew Dempsey, manage to [[HopeSpot escape the contaiment facility]] only for a solitary Infection Form to [[TransformationHorror latch onto Dempsey]], forcing Alley to [[MercyKill unload his assault rifle]] into the mutating corpse.]]
** [[spoiler: [[AndAnotherThing Finally]], as Alley is about to leave Halo, he sees the remaining Human forces [[Literature/HaloTheFlood hijack a Covenant cruiser]] which slowly [[HopeSpot rises into the air]]... Only to immediately [[DontCelebrateJustYet fall to the ground and explode]].]]

* PleasurePlanet: Emerald Cove, famed amongst UNSC servicepeople for its beautiful sandy beaches, peaceful lagoons, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers renowned brothels]].

* AerithAndBob: The real first names of Archangel Squad are Patrick, James, Wesley, [[spoiler: John, Albert]]... Virgil and [[AwesomeMcCoolName Lucullus]].

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Most of Archangel Squad's [[NomDeGuerre call signs]] (Scar, Celt, Pyro, Apache, Cajun) probably count- although they all pale in comparison to Pyro's real name, ''Lucullus Jackson''.

* BadassNormal: Alley. He's an [[ImprobableAimingSkills exceptionally good sniper]] who manages to impress an Elite - a species of eight-foot-tall ProudWarriorRaceGuys who can tear your average human apart with their bare hands - by ''fighting it almost to a standstill in hand-to-hand combat''.

* AerithAndBob: The real first names of Archangel Squad are Patrick, James, Wesley, [[spoiler: John, Albert]]... Virgil and [[AwesomeMcoolName Lucullus]].

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Most of Archangel Squad's [[NomDeGuerre call signs]] (Scar, Celt, Pyro, Apache, Cajun) probably count- although they all pale in comparison to Pyro's real name, ''Lucullus Jackson''.

* AerithAndBob: The real first names of Archangel Squad are Patrick, James, Wesley, [[spoiler: John, Albert]]... Virgil and [[AwesomeMcCoolname Lucullus]].

* ContrivedCoincidence: Whoo boy, a ''long'' string of them. Somehow, [[spoiler: Alley and Sophie's daughter Samantha not only survives the glassing of [[PleasurePlanet Emerald Cove]], but has the neccesary qualities to be '[[ChildSoldiers recruited]]' into the [[LaserGuidedTykeBomb SPARTAN-III]] Program. She also ''isn't'' one of the members of said program who was sent on a suicide mission and never returned before the Battle of Earth took place, ends up fighting in said battle in the same city as Alley, and just so happens to have fallen in love with Alex, [[TheBusCameBack the boy Alley rescued from Salamis II]], [[UpToEleven who is himself a junior SPARTAN in the same unit]]]].

* HellIsThatNoise: [[spoiler: The skittering of the Flood becomes this for Alley. It creeps him the hell out when he first hears it on Alpha Halo and when he hears it ''again'' in Voi, knowing [[BodyHorror exactly]] [[TheVirus what]] [[OutsideContextProblem it represents]], he '''[[FreakOut FLIPS OUT]]''' to the extent that his behaviour is enough to convince his commander to go along with his demands to retreat immediately.]]