Rise of the Jericho
AN: This first chapter was written by my lovely boyfriend who has recently discovered a talent for writing, so shared credit between us for this story.
2552 December 31st, the human race had lost control of the last colony planet they had left, Reach; several UNSC cruisers had escaped the catastrophic destruction of the planet, including the most famous, the Pillar of Autumn. On that cruiser was one soldier, Sergeant Jacoby Simms, who was, to his knowledge, just an average soldier and squad leader; however he was the best soldier with a carbine you had ever seen, he made a shot with a DMR that some of the best snipers couldn't make, and was about to be promoted, his whole squad were. When the covenant hit the Autumn his ODST squad KILO landed on the furthest section on the ring from the Master Chief trying to find a tactical advantage; and with such a varied team skills that were available to them, this was easy.
Piloting their Pelican was Corporal Alan "Motherboard" Stewart, a thin man, looked hardly able to carry his armour in a bag let alone put it on, he was an expert hacker and pilot; he could infiltrate ONI's mainframe 8 times over when he was ten, he was known for his cowboy kitten logo on his armour, he said it cheered him up and made the war no more than light-hearted fun, he had light blonde hair and always took the trousers of his uniform in for style purposes. The heavy weapons specialist was David "Skin-Head" Crawford; he gained his nickname from the fact that he had started balding from the age of 16, however he was also known as "Mad Dog" due to his short temper, not a good combination with such a large man, he dwarfed many and had the physique of Goliath. The mechanic, Jarod "Hedgehog" Brown (nicknamed for his signature spiked hair), had been fascinated by cars all his life, he stripped a warthog down to nothing while a military police officer was away from his post for ten minutes; his brother was very different, he liked to watch flames rise and make things go bang. The 23 year old, Nathanial "Arson" Brown was a professional pyro-technic, serving in the army as has community service for setting fire to a tobacconist at the age of 20 because they refused his bank card. Then there was the sniper, Warrant Officer Helena "Deadeye" Sanhuevo, raised by her aunt and her Hispanic husband, after being orphaned at the age of 11, she promised herself to getting revenge on the man who killed her parents, after Simms helped her get the right guy she joined his squad to "repay the debt" also with the fact she had developed feelings for her new sergeant. To finish the squad there was one final member, The Rookie, that was all they knew him as, his infiltration skills and camouflaging console he had was incredible.
When they touched the ground the 28 year old sergeant was bewildered at how they had landed in a desert and all the other squads were in dense jungle, he had seconds to snap out of it however, the Pelican was hit by human rockets, anyone could tell that; with that he used no words but signalled to The Rookie, Skin-Head, Hedgehog and Arson to head around the compound where the rocket had come from. It was a large castle like nothing they had seen before, it wasn't covenant, they were purple, this castle was made up of a metallic grey with small sections with light emitting. They had no time for questions, they moved up to the building, allowing Motherboard access to the lock as to break in.
Jacoby took his helmet off for a moment sweltering in the intense and magnified sunlight, his brown hair swept into spikes; he couldn't believe what this place was. He turned to Deadeye wondering if she was on the same page as him, "what do you think made this place?" he asked to no response, "hmmm… hello…? Soldier?"
"Huh? Oh, sir, umm… I have absolutely no idea, I think its forerunner, perhaps?"
"Wow, how in the world did you know that?"
"My guardians didn't have a TV; I needed to do something with my time." He always wondered why she never answered his questions straight away. As he started to think Motherboard shouted "Got it! We're in business, people."
One the three were scouting the first room and heading up the stairs they heard a noise coming from upstairs in the main office of the facility, Jacoby walked in first DMR tightly index finger gripping ready to squeeze the trigger and take the man out if he became an issue. The man was speaking to an AI in his computer, he slowly span his chair to face the commander, he was a thin man, same height as Simms, he had a neatly trimmed goatee and slicked back hair, he was wearing a black pinstripe suit and had a magnum holstered to his waist. "Commander Jacoby Simms, how lovely it is to finally meet you, I have been waiting for this for a while now. Yes, I did know you were coming, you see I have watched over your squad of misfits and criminals for years and I wish to make you an offer. I know you were envious of the Spartan teams, like Noble Team, wishing day after day that you too would be able to stand stronger than all men. Well, you can. However let us wait for the others."
No sooner were those words spoken Arson, Skin-Head and the Rookie entered the room, led by Hedgehog, "Gentlemen, glad you could finally join the rest of your team, let me catch you up to what the others know…" as the mysterious man got the others up to speed Simms and Arson slipped out for a moment "Sir, there are troopers, Spartans, around here and he has armour, every kind and 7 sets of each, weird, it's like he knew we were coming." Arson told his superior "Right, keep an eye on this guy, cause I don't trust him as far as Motherboard could throw him." The two chuckled for a moment and then headed back inside. "…Well, you can. Now if you'll all follow me." The strange man said as he started out of the room.
Once they had reached the lower levels and into what looked like a lab, "Go on, pick your suit." The man said to them pointing to small computers "Input to the interface the armour you require and then TA-DA!" The still sceptical commander said to the man, "Who are you? You have armour available to you that the UNSC hasn't even got in its armoury." The man cracked a small smile "my dear boy, I am The Provider, and now the Director to all of your missions, ONI sent you here because I asked them to, they knew who I was and have transferred you to my payroll, I've been paying your wages for the past 3 months. You're welcome." Jacoby gave in; he had to serve the man, especially as the UNSC had transferred him to work for the organization. Once the team had picked their armour they stepped into tubes where robotic arms placed the armour on them.
They gathered to compare, Skin-Head with his EOD chest plate his larger EVA shoulders and his CQB helmet, to give more vision available. Arson had decided to take a HYABUSA helmet and then used the rest MARK 6, not too far from his brothers' EOD helmet and the rest MARK 6. Motherboard had only an OPERATOR helmet and ODST chest plate; he left without shoulder pads because it made piloting easier. The Rookie kept his ODST armour but just had it improved to a Spartan standard. Deadeye had equipped herself with a RECON helmet and a SCOUT chest plate and used her shoulder pads to store extra sniper rifle ammunition. The last to join them was Simms, he had utilised a COMMANDO chest plate, a MILITARY POLICE helmet (to honour his deceased father who died in service defending Harvest) and MARK 6 shoulder pads.
"Oh, Brava! You look like a decent squad now." The Director said gently as the first sentence he acknowledged them with. "May I inform you, these suits do wash you while you are inside them however you can also take them off, if you want to. The suits can keep you awake for a year non-stop, doubt you'll need that though. You can see in your HUD your shields and how strong they are, it will also keep track of ammo count, time of day, weather and keeps contact with me. Oh, and Commander, here." He then fitted a TACPAD to Simms' arm. "This swanky little thing has GPS, Orders written down, a hidden knife built in and a step by step guide to tasks for example bomb disposal."
"Umm… I kind of already have that covered." Arson stepped forward, "You want someone who knows big bangs? I'm your man." This headstrong comment was shrugged off by The Director. "Team, your first mission is for you to take your supplies in your new frigate and get off this ring, the UNSC are to destroy it, we evacuate tonight."
Four hours later, the team were nearly done with packing, they packed up their old armour and placed them into storage, they took enough supplies to feed a squad of fifty for a lifetime. This was going to be a long trip to Earth.