A/N: This is my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is appreciated, as are compliments. I'm not sure if I'm a good writer, but I at least tried to get out all the spelling and grammar errors. I have a lot of chapters already typed, but I'm just now posting it on Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – 0500 Hours

It was another morning on the Concrescence. At least, on Earth it would be morning. Out in space, the only way to tell time was with a clock. As usual, I was the first one awake in my ODST squad by an hour. Once out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom to check the mirror. I was about six feet and four inches tall with light brown skin, jade eyes, and very short black hair. Unlike most Helljumpers, I had almost no tattoos on my body. The one I did have, located on my right arm, was a shield with two swords and an Elite skull stacked over it. Above it read WE GO and below it read FEET FIRST. All I had on was what I went to sleep in: my pajama pants, my dogtags and my trusty combat knife, which has claimed the lives of several Covenant that have been stupid enough to cross the path of me, First Lieutenant John Henson. I decided to make my way to the mess hall for some breakfast, but I was stopped by an announcement.

"Lieutenant Henson, please come to the Bridge immediately."

"Damn," I muttered to myself as I headed for the bridge, "I was hungry, too." When I finally got to the Bridge, a sergeant told me to report to Lieutenant Colonel Hegwood. The Colonel didn't look too happy to see me out of uniform.

"Henson, you've been up for ten minutes and you couldn't put a shirt on?" he said.

"I was on my way to the mess hall, sir," I replied.

"Fair enough. As you know, Commander Keyes brought a detachment of Marines to this sector to recover an Index, I believe, to prevent the Covenant from activating this Halo. She and Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson are currently holed up in the control room with a large group of Covenant reinforcements en route. Your squad will be sent in to locate Keyes and Johnson. Once you have them, we will send in a force to engage the Covenant and evac your team. If they aren't alive, you are to secure their transponders, find a suitable extraction zone and call for an evac. Are there any questions?"

"Yes. Do you realize that my squad is the smallest one on the Concrescence, sir?"

"Your squad also consists of the best-trained Marines, which is why you're going in first. Are there any more questions?"

"Yes. Do you also realize that this mission is suicide should the Covenant fleet arrive sooner than expected?"

"That's a risk we're willing to take."

"Easy for you to say, since you're not going on the mission," I said under my breath. Luckily, Colonel didn't hear it.

"Your squad will be sent out at 0800, so you have two and a half hours to get ready. Good luck." I saluted the Colonel and walked back to my squad's bunks. Before that, I stopped by the mess hall and got my breakfast to go. Food wasn't allowed to leave the mess hall, but I was getting sent to my death, so I didn't care about another demotion.

Once I arrived, I found that everyone but First Sergeant Davis was asleep. I opened up my meal and began to wolf it down. Davis noticed this and began to put her equipment on. "Mission?" she asked.

"Yeah." I stared at her for a second as she got out of bed. She was about five foot ten with white skin and light brown hair that went a little lower than her shoulders. She stood up in a black sports bra and pink pajama pants, and then looked at me with her blue eyes. "Suicide mission?"

"When aren't they?" She smiled and began putting her BDU's on. At 0600, the rest of the squad was still asleep, so I drew my M6D pistol that escaped the stupid recall. I loaded a dummy round and shot the ceiling. Startled, Cummins and Posada awoke, but Nicholson remained asleep. I had a good laugh after seeing their faces. I then walked over to Nicholson, who was on a top bunk. He had dirty blonde hair that was slightly curly, and we often joked that his head was oversized for his six foot body.

"Nicholson!" I yelled. "Get your lazy ass out of bed!" He awoke, cranky. I then walked back to my cot and began sorting my gear when I heard some snoring. I slowly turned around and saw that Nicholson had fallen back to sleep. Being the nice guy that I am, I walked over and pushed him off his bunk onto the ground. There was a moan of pain. "You awake yet, Nicholson? Good. Everyone, listen up. We have a mission, and we leave at 0800 hours. You all have two hours to get your equipment, eat breakfast, and get in your jumper pod. This is expected to be a short mission, so take mostly ammo. I'll brief you on the way down." We then all made our way to the armory.

We all decided to take our usual load outs. I grabbed a belt of pistol ammo and a holster. First Sergeant Davis got her trusty S2 AM Sniper Rifle. Master Sergeant Brad Cummins, who was five foot nine and had short blonde hair and blue eyes, grabbed his M90 shotgun. Staff Sergeant Brenda Posada, six foot two with hazel eyes and red-dyed hair, reached for two M7 sub-machine guns. Finally, Gunnery Sergeant Arnold Nicholson lumbered in with two painkillers and took the standard issue BR55 rifle. Everyone got the usual four M9 grenades, but I grabbed six.

"Sir, your load out seems a little underpowered. Only a magnum?" Cummins asked.

"Look again, dipshit. This is an M6D, still has the scope," I replied. "Ten extra mags, too. Ok, people. Ten minutes 'til the pods leave. Move out."

We slowly made our way to the pods with me up front. I walked slowly, as if I was walking to an execution chamber, which was a high possibility. We all quietly loaded our gear into our pods and climbed in.

"Goodbye, Concrescence," I whispered as I closed my pod's door. "We may never see each other again." I began fastening my restraints when I heard Posada's voice:

"So, sir, about our mission..."