0800 Hours, November 5, 2545 (Military Calendar) \

Karn, Epsilon Galilei System

UNSC Lady Fortune

ODST Spec. Ops, Phillip Aitken

My squad and I sat in the briefing room. Most of us were in full armor, sans helmets. Our CO was about to go over what our job was this time. There were seven troopers: me, Diamond, Behm, Miller, Jacobs, Hoffman, and Pillsbury.

I was our vehicle and Covie equipment specialist, Diamond was our meat shield, Behm was explosives, Miller was our tech, Jacobs was communications, Hoffman was our medic, and Pillsbury was supposedly our sharpshooter. We just got him after our previous sniper died on our last mission; the irony of McGraw getting sniped himself was not lost on us. Pillsbury was straight out of training, greener than grass. This was his first mission. Well, everyone had to start somewhere.

"So what's the plan, Cap?" I asked.

"The plan is the same as ever, Aitken. We drop in the HEVs and do what we do best." Our captain, a tough but fair vet named Shepard, pointed to a spot on a map of the planet below us. "We should land somewhere around here. Tyche."

"Yes, sir." Tyche was the Lady's onboard AI. She took the form of a young woman from ancient Greece, with long hair and robes. Her English had a Mediterranean accent. I highly doubted her selection for this ship was a coincidence; Tyche was also the name of the Greek goddess of luck, a daughter of Aphrodite and Hermes. Her Roman counterpart was named Fortuna. The map zoomed in.

"Sergeant McNally." Captain Shepard was handing the floor over to our sergeant, a disgruntled, no-nonsense Irishman with light brown skin named McNally.

"This is the area we're supposed to make landfall. We will drop, head to this canyon, and await further orders. We're expecting heavy Covenant activity, and we will almost certainly need to fight our way through. Any questions?"

Pillsbury raised his hand. "What exactly is it we do best, sir?"

Everyone but Pillsbury and McNally laughed. I thought I even caught Tyche smile. "Our job, rookie," Behm said, leaning over his left shoulder, "is giving the Covies a hard time. We go in, blow some shit up, litter the ground with corpses, try to steal some info, and make it back on board the Lady in time to do it again on another planet."

"Oh." Pillsbury looked a bit unnerved. He was only about twenty-two, I figured, and a bit short compared to me and all the other ODSTs I knew.

I gave him a reassuring pat on the back because I was sitting next to him. "Relax, rook. Behm makes it sound a lot worse than it is."

McNally grunted and put on his helmet. "You'll learn, dough boy." He walked out of the room.

"Okay, anyone else?" Captain Shepard looked around, and nodded. "Dismissed. Go pick up your kit and get in your coffins." As we left with our helmets in hand, our captain touched me on the shoulder. "Aitken, wait just a second. Tyche, close the door."

Shepard knew everyone else would wait for me when they realized I didn't come out right away and obviously didn't want anyone to hear. "Something tells me this is about Pillsbury."

"Yes, it is. I want you to keep an eye on him out there. I heard he showed promise, but he's still a young rookie out to prove himself. And soldiers like that tend to get killed."

"Okay, Cap. You got it."

"Good man. Oh, and please don't go to the bridge. Commander Brown will kick you out if you go up there just to see Tori."

"Aw, come on, sir, you know I'll behave." I smiled and walked out the door. Just as I thought, everyone had waited.

Diamond said, "What'd Captain Shepard want?"

"He said he called gunner if they sent us a Warthog later."

"Bull."

I laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Can't really talk about it. Top secret."

Everyone made various gestures of dismissal, and we walked to the armory to get our stuff. This mission? It would be a cakewalk.