First off, let me welcome you. Secondly, I am aware of the recent increase of ODST stories caused by Bungie's latest title. I'll then forwarn you that this is not inspired by Halo 3: ODST. This is rather a tribute to the infinately BA Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and their seemingly insane missions. Anyway, here it is.
Chapter One: Regroup
"Admiral Harper, sir! Incoming transmission from Lord Hood on the Cairo," the Titan's COMM officer said.
"Put him on Screen Two," Admiral Harper said as he surveyed the battlefield scattered between the Earth and her moon. Hundreds of gutted and destroyed vessels drifted aimlessly as the remnants of the once mighty human fleet searched for survivors.
"Admiral Harper," Hood greeted. "I'd say it's a pleasure, but we don't have time for the niceties. The Prophet of Regret just bugged out, did a slipspace jump inside New Mombassa."
"How many casualties are we looking at?" Harper asked with a frown.
"Figures are still coming in, but it's in the five digit range now, but that's not why I called you." On the screen Hood started pacing, "Just before he jumped, he sent a message saying, 'Regret, Regret, Regret.' Cortana interpreted it as a call for help. If she's right, it means that-"
"We'll be having some more company over soon…" Harper finished.
"Exactly. We've lost over half of the fleet here, and the MACs aren't invincible. The only reason I'm still here is because I had the good fortune to have the Spartan here, and now he and Johnson are chasing after Regret with Keyes. We just don't have enough ships to go toe-to-toe with the Covenant if, and when, they come back for round two. So, pull the remainder of your fleet onto the dark side of the Moon, power down and wait for the Covenant to get caught up with the MACs. I have a feeling that they'll be heading to Africa again, which is bad considering that the Cape Town and the Cairo are the only stations still over Africa. Once they've concentrated the majority of their forces, hit 'em with a couple nukes in the back and hopefully we can hold them off."
"Roger that, Admiral. I've already relayed the orders to the rest of my ships. Good luck, Admiral," Harper finished with a salute.
"You too," Hood said as he returned the gesture. The screen cut off.
The remnants of the Seventh and Fourteenth Earth fleet rotated and aligned themselves with the Moon. The engines of a little over one hundred vessels flared in the vacuum as the ships moved to the dark side of the Moon. Some ships were leaking reactor coolant, others had run out of both MAC rounds and Archer missiles, but the remaining humans were determined to fight to the last, no matter how bitter it would be.
* * * * *
"Commander Reath, got a visitor here for you," the voice of Lieutenant First Class Claire Hutchinson called out across the cramped troop bay of the Tenth Drop Platoon.
"Fine, send him to my office. I'll be right there," Commander Kyle Reath replied, acting CO of the platoon, as he finished inspecting his BR55.
He reassembled it and then moved towards his office. As he did, he felt the deck of the Marathon-class cruiser UNSC Titan shift under his feet as the ship slid to a new position. When he arrived, he found a man standing with his back towards the door and looking at the pictures of previous commanders of the Tenth Drop. On his shoulders was the insignia of a Lieutenant Commander. The man was clad in full dress. Before Kyle could get himself to attention the man said, "Your men look bored, Commander."
Kyle was caught off-guard by the sudden statement. Despite his better judgment, he said, "Anti-boarding duty isn't usually relegated to ODSTs, sir."
"Would you have preferred to drop with your fellow troopers, then?" When no answer was forth coming, the LC continued, "It might comfort you then to know that if you had you would be dead."
"Sir?" Reath replied.
"Dead, or floating around in Slipspace somewhere. Anyway, I digress." For the first time, the man turned to face the Commander. A single thought ran through Kyle's mind: Spook.
"Ahh, I see you've figured out that I work for Naval Intelligence. I'll be blunt with you then, Commander. We've lost the war."
"Excuse me, Sir?" Kyle asked incredulously.
"We won't survive the next round with the Covenant. I trust you to already have known that fact, whether you were willing to believe it or not. We simply cannot win with what we have. Too few ships, too few Marines, too little time.
"There is however, an alternative. There is currently a Covenant Assualt Cruiser parked a quarter of the way to Mars. Onboard, we believe there to be a Covenant Minor Prophet." The spook let the statement hang in the air.
"You want us to go get him?" the Commander asked.
"No. Even better. I want you capture the entire cruiser, fly it to Earth, and then proceed to bomb the living Hell out of anything that is not human once you get back."
"How would we do that? And shouldn't you have gone to the Admiral with this plan?"
"I came to you because I knew that only a Helljumper would be crazy enough. You would accomplish your objective by inserting this chip into the Cruiser's mainframe," the spook said as he produced a memory card the size of Kyle's thumb.
"How would we board it?"
"I'll leave that in your capable hands, Commander."
* * * * *
"What is it, Commander?" Admiral Harper asked.
"Sir, it has been brought to my attention that there is a Covenant Assault Cruiser in the local vicinity."
Admiral Harper's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at, Commander?"
"Sir, requesting permission to board the enemy vessel."
"What! We're a couple hundred thousand kilometers distant! We wouldn't even be able to approach it before it fried us. Why should I sacrifice my last and best line of defense on a suicide run?"
"Sir, it's the only way we would be able to stave off the inevitable Covenant counterattack. There are only two outcomes: we succeed and maybe win the war, or we fail, in which case it won't matter because we'll all die anyway," Kyle said.
The Admiral was quiet for a moment and then said, "Say I approve this insane mission. How would you go about executing it? I have no more Pelicans available to me."
"Sir, we're Helljumpers. We go feet first."
And there you have it. This is just part one, though don't expect it to become a full-fledged story. Another chapter, maybe two or three if you're lucky, will follow, but that'll be it. If you've made it this far, I'm going to assume you've read it, so please leave a review or a comment.