Virgil-4
High Orbit
2549: 2200 hours mission clock
1 HOUR BEFORE DROP
"I'm telling you, that's a distress call," Skylar shouted over the other squad members, trying to make himself heard. Thirty- five blank stares were all he got in return. "What are we gonna do about it anyway?" Skylar turned to see a private wading through the mess of ODST armored soldiers. "Even if they are in trouble, there aren't enough of us to make a difference."
"How so," Reese, who had a habit for appearing out of nowhere, spoke up. She fixed the private with one of her infamous stares. "We have three of the best ODST divisions on this ship and you're going to tell me there isn't enough?" The veins on her neck stood out and her cheeks were flushed a vivid red.
The private didn't relent. "I'm saying that we could be facing hundreds of covenant or insurrectionists down there! We may be the best, but were not invincible."
There was fire in Reese's eyes. "If you don't cool your jets soldier, I will have you stripped of your rank and removed from this division!" Reese was breathing hard and her cheeks' tomato color had spread to her ears. "Am I clear?"
"Crystal ma'am," the defeated private slunk out of the map room and past a sharply dressed man bearing the admiral's insignia.
"ADMIRAL ON THE DECK, SIR!" Everyone, even the disrespectfully inclined Jennifer Reese stood ramrod straight.
He surveyed the soldiers that he could possibly send to their deaths. "As you were," he watched as all thirty-five men relaxed their shoulders. "We have just received word from our agents in New Constantinople. There are upwards of one hundred covenant warships of various classes in orbit around Virgil-4, including several that are currently in a fixed position approximately 10,000 ft off the ground. We believe these are support vessels that deliver troop and assault support to the front lines. The real question is: why haven't they glassed the planet already and moved on to the next system. Figuring this out will be your job, right along with beating their sorry asses into submission. So let's go. The clock is ticking, in more ways than one."
Virgil-4
Upper Atmosphere
2549: 2300 hours mission clock
Commander Jennifer Reese
Start of Drop
The drop pod screamed into the upper atmosphere, burning bright against the black of space. Of the occupants, Commander Reese was the most worried.
No squad had ever attempted a REAL orbital drop, at least not one that had lived to tell the tale. The pod lurched sickeningly as it slammed itself into the first of Virgil-4's many ozone layers. Recovering from her scare, Reese checked the scanners. Everyone was conscious so far. Doing a double take, she glanced again at the scanner, noting the amount of raw ions in this part of the atmosphere. Raw ions were basically ions in their raw form, making them unpredictable. Larger ions had been known to tear passenger liners out of the sky. She looked again. The ion count had more than doubled in the ten seconds she had looked away. She instructed her squad to open their chutes and slow the pods. But she did not deploy her own chute.
When she did finally pull her chute handle, the mechanism clanked, whirred and snapped tight as her chute opened