Prologue
Jacob leapt for cover as three bursts of plasma passed overhead. He tore off his helmet, his visor crippled from the close discharge of plasma rounds. He observed it; bubbles rose from a small puddle of molten metal resting on the upper most part of his helm. A formation of banshees arced overhead; leaving Jacob to the three brutes. Bringing his M7/CSG up Jacob obtained a stance to which he could leap from. Another banshee slowly glided not 120ft above Jacob; he was nervous now, his first mission was going to hell fast! Small fires lit up the heavy cloud cover overhead, a slight crack and a group of drop pods rained down from the sky and collided with the banshee; tearing it's body from the wings. Two pods landed 30 ft from Jacob, the others behind his cover; coupling the sound of an impact and shrieks from the brutes. Jacob exited his cover and brought up his SMG, aiming down his sights. Five more drop pods lay a meter underground, one of which had crushed two brutes, the other only one.
There was a subtle hissing followed by crack as one seal of a drop pod was flung open.
"Told you we had your back rookie!" cackled the ODST.
He climbed up the bank and patted Jacob's back. Bammy is what they called him since no one knew his real name, his short, spiked blonde hair and dark brown eyes contrasted each other. He was 6'4" and was very muscular with the broadest shoulders Jacob had seen in a human.
"I never thought you'd pull off something that drastic!" Jacob replied.
Another four drop pod lids hissed and popped open, three men and one woman stumbled out.
"That's Kendra on the far left,' whispered Bammy,' don't give her strife, she's got a pair of balls and I'm guessing from Tristan" Bammy laughed as he pointed to a much smaller ODST clambering around the field looking bedazzled, another ODST grabbed his arm and handed him his gun in a swift and powerful motion.
"He's Arthur, worse than Kendra I'd say,' Bammy paused as Arthur tilted his head in their direction,'don't mess with him, got a real short fuse" Bammy expanded his clenched fist as to symbolise an explosion.
"Squad,' yelled the last remaining ODST,'help our teammates out of their pods!" It was clear he was the leader.
Jacob had seemed to have forgotten about the other two pods that landed near him. Arthur jogged slowly to the first pod and slammed the stock of his weapon into the glass.
"Arthur,' screamed the leader,'don't be f****** around!"
Arthur abruptly turned and cocked his head at the lead ODST, then turned to Jacob and Bammy.
"Get over here you 'tards!" with a quick nod in the direction of the pod.
Bammy trotted over while Jacob hesitantly made a few strides over to Arthurs position, his last movement being a lunge to the side of Bammy.
Jacob leaned over to get a word to Bammy but he shook his head, warning Jacob of the repurcussions.
Arthur grasped Jacob's arm firmly and flung him over to the pod and then stared at Bammy till the two ODST's were in position.
Jacob grasped the pod, turned expecting some kind of countdown but Bammy just tugged at his one side. Arthur brought up his foot and slammed Jacob into the pod.
"Hop to it rookie!"
Jacob timed his tugs with Bammy, upon the fifth tug they had torn off the bolts and the lid had fallen to the ground. A limp body fell upon Jacob, knocking him to the ground. Jacob gasped, his breathe leaving him. Arthur threw the body off Jacob and prompted Bammy to help him up. They stood over the body, Jacob had noticed he was number 11 in the squad, so where were the rest?
"Arthur, this one's out,' Yelled the leader from the other pod,'how 'bout yours?"
Arthur nudged the body with his boot.
"Yeah, this one too!"
A voice crackled on the radio.
"Status Gamma team"
"Two down" Reported the leader.
"The rookie pissed himself too!" added Arthur.
Bammy shook his head and turned to rendezvous with the three other ODST's.
Jacob found that Tristan had almost thrown up at the blood shed from the injured soldier, Arthur deemed them both to be dead soon. Bammy picked up Tristan's gun and handed it to him, whispering something in his ear; Tristan snickered and eyed Arthur who had gestured a slit of the throat to Tristan.
Tristan continued laughing, Arthur had advanced on his and bammy's position whilst Kendra and the squad leader were on alert. Suddenly they stopped, observing the field, then out of no where plasma bombardments impacted near their position; they dodged and weaved through burning wreckage's and cover reaching the other three's position. Jacob had bunkered down behind the remains of a covenant seraph from the previous battle and continued to go unnoticed to the wraith bombarding his teammates. Kendra let out a warcry, pulled up a spartan laser and shot at the wraith's. One wraith glowed a luminous blue and blew apart, whilst the other wraith's turret lay down suppressive fire on Jacob's teammates. Jacob readied himself to sprint down the field and take cover behind a large boulder. He leapt over the seraph remains and stared as a giant blue sun illuminated the field and grew bigger and bigger. He merely stood there in awe, his teammates screaming at him. He stared into the sun, burning into his retinas, and that was all he could see.
~End part 1
~Part 2
Jacob slid down the other side of the seraph, pulled out his Automag and fired four shots at the brute manning the turret; it slumped over, purple blood oozing out.
"Lucky shot rookie!" yelled Arthur in the background.
Jacob shoved himself into the boulder as another blue fireball impacted nearby. He felt a burning sensation on his back and realised it had been melted by the previous strike. He tore off his back armor and pack; flesh, metal and rubber fused, peeling off his back leaving a layer of gore.
"Ahhh" screamed Jacob.
Bammy and Tristan winced while the lead ODST lunged to help but was stopped by Arthur. A mortar strike impacted not two meters from their position.
Jacob ignored the pain and armed a grenade, throwing it blindly over his cover, it exploded and blue metal was flung in all directions. Jacob scrambled to his feet and rested on a small ledge on the boulder. his grenade had jammed itself in a gap between the hull of the wraith and the cockpits lid, it had blown of the lid and blown a chunk out of the brute's head.
Jacob fell off the ledge and leaned against the rock.
"You did good rookie" called the captain.
He signaled Bammy and Tristan to help him up, leaving Arthur and Kendra to themselves.
"No office romances you two" yelled the captain.
"I wouldn't exactly call this an office!" replied Kendra.
Bammy lifted Jacob up by his arms while Tristan stood sheepishly working his way around to Jacob's back. Tristan screeched and leapt back form Jacob, the captain went to observe the gory mess.
"You're not going to be able to fight son, you've had some heavy s*** hit you!"
Exclaimed the captain.
"I'll carry you Jacob, 'k?" offered Bammy.
Jacob shook his head but doubled over and threw up blood.
"Sir, we'll need to treat his injury's now or he might bleed out"
The captain turned to Bammy and nodded, Bammy started dressing Jacob's wounds.
"Stop it hurts!" yelled Jacob.
Bammy sedated Jacob and continued to tend to his wounds.
"Will he make it,' asked the captain, who then turned to Tristan ,' get your s*** together and go and tell those two we're oscar mike!"
Tristan jogged unsteadily towards Kendra and Arthur, both giving him the eye as he approached.
Bammy had laid Jacob over his shoulder, his feet reaching Bammy's waist. Bammy had no trouble what-so-ever moving with Jacob on his shoulders, it was like another pack to him.
"F****** freak!" whispered Arthur to Kendra.
Bammy heard this but chose to ignore it. They had been walking for fifteen minutes until they saw a military station in the distance; vehicles assembling on one side, soldiers on the other. The squad now moved faster, hoping to approach the base before enemy units could spot them. The sun was setting, the sky darkened and the clouds parted, the squad was now only a few hundred meters from the base when they had opened fire. Bullets sputtered upon impact of the ground, kicking up the red-brown dirt. Explosions sounded behind them, they turned, pelicans and hawks had opened fire, carpet bombing and firing 50-cals.
Bammy sprinted to the nearest ditch, the captain and Tristan followed closely.
"Why in god's name are they firing at us!" yelled the captain.
Bammy gave a quick shrug and then started looking around frantically.
"what?" asked the captain.
"Kendra!" cried Tristan.
Bammy and the captain turned to see Kendra's limp body resting in Arthur's arms; his forehead against hers, face frozen in a heart broken position, tears welled at the corner of his eyes, his teeth clenched... he then let out a roar.
The captain climbed out the ditch and lunged toward Arthur. A gun sounded and a single round pierced Arthur's body, tearing through both him and Kendra. Their bodies slumped to the ground, blood pooled around them, their expressions lingered; heart broken lovers.
The captain slid to a halt, pivoted on his right foot and then sprinted to the cover, diving in and dodging a round from a sniper.
"No!" cried Tristan, tears rolled down his angelic cheeks.
No one thought it possible that the two strongest, bravest soldiers had died in such a cowardice way. They all lay there in silence, staring at each other.
Jacob let out a gasp, all heads turned to him. He had come to at such a bad time. But the squad needed every man they had.
~End part 2
[Edited on 12.21.2009 3:35 AM PST]