Chapter-1 They Dropped…
August 4th 2552
UNSC_AVALANCHE
Aboard the Corvette class UNSC_AVALANCHE sat a squad of marines currently engaged in a friendly game of poker. This seemingly unimportant game between a squad was rudely interrupted by blaring klaxons alerting the crew of the UNSC_AVALANCHE that they were about to face action, but alas for the klaxons were not nearly the loudest of noises at the time. No, for over the already deafening noise a lone man was yelling at the top of his lungs.
“LETS GO HELLIJUMPERS!!! GET YOUR ASSES TO THE ARMORY AND GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!!!”
No more than 5 seconds passed before a 5 man squad of ODST ran to the armory to get prepared all of whom were responding with shouts of “YES SIR” and one distinct voice replying with, “Awww, c’mon LT can I nap for five more minutes?” before joining his squad and avoiding a punch to the face from the grizzled veteran who served as the commanding officer of the ODST’s squad.
The LT simply shook his head and made to place his helmet on his head before noticing the stunned group of marines sitting there at an impromptu poker table looking at him.
“Am I going to have to raise my voice again or can I trust you gentlemen to get your asses moving to wherever you should be?”
To which the marines simply replied to with nods and then promptly getting up and running out of the room as fast as their legs could carry as far away from the crazy man as possible.
“Much better.” Lieutenant Graves muttered to himself, “Whelp I should probably get up to the briefing room before they beat me there.” The LT said to no one in particular and thus he began his journey.
- - - - - - -
“Anyone else think the LT’s got a stick up his ass?” asked Cpl. J. Smith as the squad of ODSTs began to get ready for action.
“Stow the shit Cpl. we got more important things to worry about right now.” Was the gracious response he earned from the team’s designated sharpshooter.
“Hey lay of the kid, Ramirez, he’s just nervous cuz he’s a rookie.” Quipped their friendly neighborhood demolitions expert who went by the name of Elton.
“I remember when you were a rookie, Elton, I patched you up real nice after you got nervous with a box of IEDs. Heh-eh, good times.” Came the voice of the team’s medic Lukas Wohlfkrieg carrying a slight yet obvious German accent.
“I didn’t get nervous I got shot in the ass by some stupid grunt cuz you guys were busy looting some damn hogs instead of watching my ass.”
“And what a beautiful hands on lesson of the application of biofoam to stop the loss of another humans internal organs that ended up to be.” Lukas replied with a smirk also drawing laughter from the rest of the squad.
“Yeah yeah whatever man.” Came the quiet mutterings of Elton.
“Now that you ladies are done bickering can we get a move on the briefing room before the boss chews our asses for being late?” was the less than amused response elicited from Ramirez.
And thus the great debate was ended and the squad made their way to the aforementioned briefing room.
- - - - - - -
As each member of the squad filed into the room the LT noted each man’s armor and nodded to the wearer respectfully. The first in was Cpl. J. Smith, he was wearing the standard ODST armor with a black on black paintjob and the usual sky blue visor. The next squad mate to strut into the room with a huge grin was Elton, the squad demolitions expert, he wore an EOD variant of the ODST armor with a grenade bandolier on the chest plate, his armor was colored black with a secondary color of yellow along with the normal sky blue visor. Once Elton got his fat ego through the door he was followed by the only female member of their squad, Mariah Renolds, she was easily the tallest member of the squad standing at an impressive 6’9”, being the squads designated heavy weapons expert. Mariah wore the Standard issue ODST armor with several modifications allowing her to carry some extra ammo and a paintjob of black with a secondary of crimson. The self-acclaimed crack shot sniper, Ramirez, was the next to waltz on in, he also wore the standard issue ODST armor along with an attached VISR upgrade on his helmet for extended zoom, his armor was colored black with a blue secondary. Just like in a combat situation the last one to enter was the team medic, Lukas Wohlfkrieg, he wore an ODST armor variant specifically designed for a combat medic allowing him to carry extra meds and up to two canisters of biofoam. When the squad lined up he stood out like a sore thumb, while the rest of the squad had a color scheme of black with a secondary specific to their roles Lukas was a bright white with a crimson secondary, almost looking like a doctor in a blood stained lab coat.
Once the squad had filed in and taken their seats the LT, who was wearing the standard ODST armor along with a tac pad and a black with white secondary paintjob began his briefing.
“Now that you’re all seated and quiet,” the LT shot Elton a quick glare before continuing, “we can get started on the mission brief.”
The LT proceeded to activate the monitor via the tac pad located on his left wrist before motioning to the aerial picture of a covenant corvette hovering over the city of Quezon on the planet Reach.
“As you all already know we are currently in orbit above the city of Quezon awaiting our next orders, and we have received them.” The LT paused to make sure everyone was paying attention.
“Well don’t leave us hanging man, spill the beans, what’s the plan?” came the impatient reply from Elton.
“Very well, we along with two more squads of ODSTs from neighboring ships will be dropping in ON the corvette.”
“You’re joking right? He’s joking right?” came the question from a skeptical Ramirez.
“No, I’m not joking. We will be deploying onto the corvette in a tight formation and proceed to gain entry through a large gap caused by an anti-air barrage.” The LT zoomed in on a hull breach on the starboard side of the corvette and continued the briefing, “We will enter, we will kill every damned squid head and gas breather we see, and we will steal the ship. Any questions?”
“Uh yeah,” started Cpl. Smith, “a few actually, for one: aren’t the damn things shields up? And for two: why are we not just blowing the damn thing up?”
“Well you see Cpl, no the corvettes shields are not up due to an energy overload that fried their shield generators, and for your second brilliant inquiry, when was the last time we had a chance to steal a covenant corvette? Their technology is far more advanced than our own and ONI is jumping at any chance they have to snag some new toys. That answer everything pretty boy?” was the lengthy response earned from the LT by the Cpl’s efforts.
“Uhhh…. Yea – I mean – Y-yes sir, thank you for the clarification sir.”
Lukas couldn’t help but chuckle at the overwhelmed rookie.
“Mhm… glad we got that out of the way, now get a move on, Hellijumpers, get in your eggs we drop in five.” The LT made to turn before stopping himself and looking at Elton, “And for god sakes Elton don’t forget your Jetpack this time, you’re not just any ODST you’re a Bullfrog, and that goes for the rest of you as well.”
“SIR, YES SIR!!!” was the reply from the squad of Bullfrogs as the stood up and began making their way to the hanger and their designated pods.
- - - - - - -
True to his Word the LT had gotten them all loaded up within three minutes. Lukas sat in his pod doing one last equipment check before the call was made. Making sure he had everything he mumbled the list to himself and patted each piece of equipment in turn.
“M7S caseless submachine gun, check. Smith&Wesson .44 magnum revolver, check. 7.9in combat knife, check. Flashbang grenade, check. Two fragmentation grenades, check and check. Two canisters of biofoam, check and check. Anesthetics, check. Adrenaline stims, check. Medical tape, check. Jetpack, check.”
Although an ODST wouldn’t normally carry an old time Smith&Wesson revolver, any soldier is allowed to carry whatever they prove to be efficient with into combat and Lukas was no exception to that rule.
Just as Lukas finished his routine equipment check the voice of the LT crackled to life on the helmet radio, “Alright ladies now that you got all your make up on we can finally go have a night out on the town.”
After the squad replied with a resonating “HOORAH!!!” The LT got a smile on his face and continued on. “We are nearing objective drop zone, maintain a tight formation and try not to miss, Lukas, you get the lights.”
“Roger that sir, as always.” Came the reply from the teams medic who was long used to being the last one down to make sure the area was mildly secured so the medic wouldn’t be the first one hit.
No more than thirty seconds afterwards, a green light began to blink in one of the screens of the drop pods and a 30 second count down began.
20 seconds.
10 seconds.
5 seconds
“Brace for launch.” Were the final words spoken by the LT before drop.