A/N: Alright, for context: This takes place in the year 2560, going by the Terran calendar, and 35 BBY going by the galactic calendar. The next installments will be set at more well-known times, like, say, 22 BBY, or 4 BBY. Anyway, I own nothing.

Corporal Justin Haltmann was not known to wait around. He complained incessantly whenever there was nothing to do onboard. Which usually turned out to be all the time, because not much happened on the Subsistence. Just a whole lot of, well, subsisting. "Maybe that's where it got its name…" he thought to himself. "400-something people all just floating in space, occasionally finding something even remotely interesting. Ah, screw it. I'm overthinking this crap. Also, why the hell am I outta cryo so early? Geez!" His grumbling would continue, until eventually one of his superiors woke from cryo: Gunnery Sergeant Valerie Zheng. She too was rather pissed. But mostly because the nutrient sludge was horrible (that everyone agreed on) "Alright, corporal. What are you doing?" she said as she put her clothes back on. Hartmann shrugged. "Not much, ma'am. Just been grumbling about how boring this post is." By this point, most of the others in cryo had woken up, and they were all soon chatting about various things. Then there was a voice on the comms. "All personnel to bridge, repeat, all personnel to bridge!" With that, the marines all charged down the hall into the elevators, and punched in the bridge level.

In no time at all, everyone was in or near the bridge. That was when Captain Daniel O'Reilly pointed out the window. "Everyone sees that, right?" A marine raised their hand. "Exactly what is that, sir?" The captain began explaining. "That… is a planet. An ice planet. WIth abnormally high energy readings for something this barren. Our scanners say crystals. I want all of you to get down there and find out what the hell is going on and report it back to me. I think this'll be a mining colony soon…" he trailed off, before bellowing, "Well what are you waiting for!? GO!" The marines did so, and the 25 ODSTs onboard began hopping into their drop pods. But before they dropped, their commanding officer, Major Gavin Renault, gave them the standard ODST speech: "Alright, boys. That planet may be cold as balls, but we've gotta get down there no matter what. Now, those other guys have nice dropships and armor. They've got the soft landing. But not you. Tell me, how do you get down there?" The ODSTs shouted back, "WE GO FEET FIRST, SIR!" Major Renault chuckled. "Damn right you do. Now let's go! I want me some of those crystals!" WIth that, the pods dropped, and they hit the atmosphere.

At the same time, the marines were hopping into their Pelicans, ready to hit what appeared to be snow on the ground. One of them, on seeing the rock formations jutting out of the ground, even said, "Looks like a giant chocolate chip ice cream scoop." Someone beside this marine elbowed him, then commented, "Save your cravings for when we hit the ground." With that, the marine shut up, and their Pelican dove in.

As his Pelican landed, Cpl. Haltmann noticed something seemed off about the cliff face. After blinking once to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he saw it: An ancient structure dug into the cliff face. He spoke up about it. "Um, ma'am?" GySgt Zheng turned. "What is it, corporal?" "I think that's a building. I'd say a temple or something, by the look of it." Valerie took note. Then she said, "Alright, Corporal Haltmann thinks we've got something in that cliff face, and I say we do too! So everybody move out! I wanted to be there yesterday!" That got the marines' attention, and they shot across the open plain between the LZ and the temple.

Up on top of the cliff…

Private Miranda Cykes had had a rough landing, to say the least. When she'd gotten out of her pod, which had buried itself under a good 15 feet of snow and ice, she'd lost all communications and any navigation. However, she eventually got a frequency that wasn't blocked by interference, and started sending out her location data. After getting a couple pings from the marines, she tried talking to them. "Alright, this is Private Cykes, can anybody hear me!? I think I'm on top of a cliff or something! I'm right above that energy source!" At first, there was only static. But then, there was a reply. "This is Lance Corporal Hannah Bridger! We have a lock on you, Cykes!" Private Cykes sighed with relief. Then she asked, "Great! Alright, now how do I get down?" Lance Corporal Bridger responded, "Got any rope with you?" Private Cykes replied, "Yeah! Now just get me to the cliff face, and we can go from there!" By this point, a few other ODSTs had made contact. "This is Sergeant Thomas Hikowa, can someone guide me down? I got Corporal Franks and his squad with me, and the corporal's not doing so good. Says the landing messed with his arm or something." When Sergeant Hikowa said that, Bridger's superior, Staff Sergeant Kyle Jacobs, said this: "Look, I know Yanniv, and I say he's fine. Just get a rope down here and I'll deal with him." With that, they did so, but as those who had made it hit the ground, there was a sudden *BOOM!* and a giant pile of snow started slipping down the cliff face. "WOAH!"

Earlier…

Major Renault had managed to get hold of Master Gunnery Sergeant Kenny Go and a small fireteam, and after reaching the cliff, he formed a plan. "Alright, Master Gun Sarge Go. You have any explosives on you?" MGySgt Go nodded, before handing the trigger-happy major a clump of frag grenades. "Great. Here's what we're gonna do: Whoever's got the best throwing arm, toss these to the cliff face when I shout your sergeant's name. Got it?" The marines nodded, before Sergeant Mikhail Gorbachev walked up. "Alright, take these. The rest of you get back a bit. This is gonna be big." With Gorbachev in a pitching stance, Renault shouted, "GO!" and Gorbachev lobbed the grenades, before diving behind cover. Seconds later… *BOOM!*

With that, the fireteam on top of the cliff slid down, and eventually landed on the ground with everyone else. After a pause to reorient, the newly reformed company charged in.

A/N: If you haven't guessed the planet by now, you're blind. But anyway, a certain ship is about to arrive with some familiar passengers…