February 9th , 2535 / UNSC Cruiser Ciska, Stationed around the planet Jericho 7
Staff Sergeant David Powell banged his head as the intercom woke him from his sleep. His eyes were an ebony color, a dark tint of green was present. The hair on his head was getting to the point where you can tell how old he's gotten serving in the war. The scars on the Sergeant's face showed the history of the battles that he was once in, the rebellion against the UNSC. He was glad that he served as an ODST, the best of the best, the ones that do the dirty work and special operations, they were revered in the navy, they also hit hard where the enemy was weakest, but now there's a new enemy, one that doesn't have a weakness.
He heard the reports from alien invasions happening to the outer colonies, and that the UNSC has only won one battle against the Covenant. He wanted to make a difference against the aliens.
A dreary voice echoed through the ship's cabinets.
"All personnel, report to your battle stations. I repeat, all personnel report to battle stations, we have contacts at the edge of the system."
The words echoed through the entire ship, none of the crew members have faced the aliens before, but they've seen the reports on the fighting. The Covenant can destroy entire planets by glassing them from orbit, or win fleet battles when they are outnumbered 5 to 1. The humans can only beat the aliens on the ground, but it is still mostly stalemates. But they wanted a well deserved fight from losing so many of their own planets.
A knock came from the other side of the Sergeant's door followed by a calm voice "Sir, the captain would like to see you on the bridge."
The Sergeant opened the door and saw his Corporal, who had ruby hair and a few scars going across her cheek. She wore her ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) armor just without the helmet. The Sergeant could see that his Corporal had a nervous look on her face. He shared her concern, they have never faced the Covenant yet and he worried about the well being of his men and women that served under him.
As the Sergeant made his way up to the bridge he could tell that everyone was on edge, they were rushing towards their posts and he could hear computer alarms going off. He stepped in the bridge and walked up to the captain and saluted him, "At ease soldier".
"What have we got sir?" he wanted to face the enemy, more than anyone. He lost his homeworld Harvest to the Covenant when they first appeared and glassed the planet. No one was expecting that kind of firepower when they made contact.
The Sergeant could tell the look on the captain's face "It's bad, about a dozen enemy ships just outside of the system, mostly destroyers. We don't have the firepower to take them head on. The best we can do is"-one of the communication officer's interrupted the captain
"Sir! Slipspace structure right on top of us!" A moment later, two Covenant destroyers and one carrier came right into view next to the fleet. hundreds of enemy U shaped transport ships flew out of the carrier and headed straight for the planet. An emergency call went out to the whole fleet. "All ships open fire on the enemy destroyers! Cruisers, drop all forces to the planet to hold back the Covenant invasion." The voice buzzed out as plasma started to rain fire on the fleet's command frigate. The Neon colored shots tore through the command ship like it was paper.
"Damn it! we lost the Dragoon. Sergeant get all your men ready and get to the pods, we will be doing a fly by to drop off the men to slow the enemy down." after saying that, the captain went to the intercom. "Lieutenant Anderson, get your marines locked and loaded and on to the pelicans, get to the planet as fast as you can, we cannot lose this sector." Not a moment later, he got a response.
"yes sir, we'll be down there in 10 mics."
Everyone knew what it would mean if they lost Jericho 7. It was one of their last outer planet's, but they also knew that so many people would have to die if they were going to protect it.