The Spartan suddenly stood as he heard his name called over speakers. He stretched and picked up his helmet from the seat beside him, looking into its visor for a moment. Momentarily he saw a glimpse of his face: rough, scarred… old. That was the truth of it. Maybe not in literal age – he was barely forty – but the amount of time he'd spent on the field was enough for multiple lifetimes. Despite this, he was proud to serve humanity. After all, someone had to.
"Edward-064 report to the Orbital Drop Bay for further orders." A voice said, somewhat robotic; probably an A.I.
He snapped out of his self-reflection and put the helmet on, the worn inside fitting snugly just as it always had, despite the modification it had been through during his time away. He had been offered an early retirement – an extremely valuable commodity for a Spartan – and had accepted it, but recent events in the Epsilon Eridani system had called for all battle-capable soldiers to be brought back into combat. Although, that didn't explain why his armour had been repainted in a flashy gold.
He dismissed the thought. It didn't matter, after all. Maybe he was in need of a touch-up – a fresh start. Although, it's not as if he had a choice in the first place.
Edward made his way to the Orbital Drop Bay, making good time considering he'd never been on the ship before. Passing marines would make comments on his size as soon as they thought he was out of earshot, though he couldn't blame them. Even for a Spartan, he was massively tall. Before long, he arrived at the Bay, rows upon rows of Orbital Drop Pods designed for ODSTs sitting at the edges of the platforms, ready to be dropped. As he came to the centre of the room, he was greeted by a group of marines and an officer of sorts.
"You called, sir?" Edward said, the accent of his British ancestors shining through despite centuries of interplanetary colonisation.
"'Oh-six-four', I see you're all geared up for duty," The officer said, studying the behemoth in front of him. "Good."
"What's the assignment, sir?"
"First of all, I must remind you that this mission is completely confidential, and technically speaking this conversation is not currently happening."
"Sir?" Edward asked, confused.
"Welcome to the team, Paragon One."
Before Edward could make any sense of what was said to him, he was being escorted down the row of pods by the group of marines. As they slowed to a halt he looked around at the nearby pods, taking note of a couple of Spartans a pod apart. He was walked past these to the next pod, and it opened as soon as he drew close. The marines stopped and gestured for him to enter, and he simply stood, bewildered. One of the marines cocked their rifle, and he sighed almost audibly. Was the UNSC betraying him? Abandoning him on some hostile planet? What had he ever done except serve them faithfully? No matter. He was being ejected from the ship no matter what.
He stepped into the pod and sat down, cramped in the small confines of the seat. The hatch hissed shut and he strapped himself in, staring through the glass at the marines who simply stared back. He looked to his right, where an M45 Shotgun was on a weapon rack, and to his left was an M319 Grenade Launcher. His two preferred weapons. Now he was even more confused. Was there a mission involved or not? Although clueless, he was certain he'd get an answer soon enough.
As the pod and the three others to his right moved away from the platform the screen to his right suddenly came online, the face of the officer who'd very vaguely briefed him appearing onscreen. The officer opened his mouth to speak.
"What's going on, sir?" Edward asked, prematurely interrupting the officer.
"I'm sure you've heard of what's happening on Reach, Spartan?" The officer asked.
"The glassing." Edward replied bluntly.
"Indeed." The officer paused for a moment. "We're afraid the same thing is happening or due to happen to Tribute, but we lost all contact with ground troops during the evacuation."
"What's the mission?"
"Whatever you deem fitting, Spartan. You're in charge now."
The screen flickered then went blank, leaving Edward alone with his thoughts once again. Whatever you deem fitting. The words rang in his ears and through his head, as if splitting his skull open. Those words were not something he'd ever want to hear; sure, he'd often lead troops, but always based on orders from the higher-ups. Anyway, if he was in charge, then surely someone would have to follow his orders…
His head snapped to the right and he leaned forwards, getting a glimpse at the Spartan in the next pod. They were definitely smaller than him, more of an average height, and – although murky through the glass of the hatch – their armour seemed to be coloured similarly to his.
He jolted back in his seat as he felt the pod shake suddenly, and he looked up to see alarms blaring inside the ship. The marines on the platform looked around for a moment, clueless, before turning to each other and exchanging looks of urgency, before running in the direction of the hangar. Edward banged on the hatch, demanding to know what was going on, but realised it was too late. The pods moved further from the platform, and all of a sudden, they were falling. As the thrusters on the pods engaged and they began to move away from the ship, he looked up and saw the vessel surrounded by Covenant warships, likely a miniscule portion of the fleet attacking Reach. He watched as the ship was torn apart in seconds, and simply buried his head in his hands as the fleet moved away.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" A voice said all of a sudden, crackling with interference. Edward turned his head to the screen on his left, and saw another Spartan.
"This is Lieutenant Duncan-B019, copy?" Another voice said, before Edward had a chance to reply; despite the quick reply, they were very quiet and clearly shy. He looked to the screen on his right, but all he saw was an empty seat.
"Copy that, Lieutenant. Warrant Officer Hannah-A127 here," the first voice replied. "Have you received any information as to what we're doing out here?"
Edward pressed a button on the panel above the hatch to his pod, and sat up in his seat, looking into the camera ready to address the other two.
"Lieutenant, Officer? This is Sergeant Edward-064, and – although it's hard to tell – I do believe I'm heading this operation, whatever it may be." Edward said into the microphone above him.
"Sergeant, what have you been told?" The officer – Hannah – asked. "All I know is my call sign: Paragon Three."
"Same here," the lieutenant – Duncan – began. "Paragon Two here."
"All I've been told is that I'm in charge." Edward said with a sigh. "Paragon One."
"Cut the chit-chat, we're entering Tribute's atmosphere," a new voice said, male and much gruffer than those before it.
"Spartan, identify yourself." Edward said in a tone that made him almost angry at himself; he sounded far too much like an officer.
"Nolan."
There was an awkward silence as all three Spartans expected the late arrival to state his service number, but he never did. Instead, they sat in silence, as Nolan had suggested. Before long, the downward thrusters on their pods disengaged as Tribute's gravitational pull began to draw them closer.
Edward took the opportunity to take a look at the planet beneath them, since he'd never left Reach when he was last in the Epsilon Eridani system, let alone visited Tribute. The terrain was fairly mountainous, and the surface was frostbitten for the most part, while snow-covered in less urban areas. Edward noticed a line of raised terrain leading from a nearby mountain down to the ocean, which supported rumours he'd heard – the planet was no stranger to volcanic activity. His vision skimmed across the coastline and stopped as he came across a fairly large city.
"Everyone, see that city along the coastline?" Edward began. "Try and land around there, we can regroup by the sea."
"Affirmative." Hannah replied.
"Copy that." Duncan said.
A low murmur was all that came from Nolan, but it was enough of a confirmation to set their plan in motion. The four engaged their directional thrusters and slowly but surely adjusted their course so that they'd land somewhere within the city. Just as Edward was satisfied with his course his vision became blurred, the incredible heat generated by the fall now visible as pure flame. He felt the air inside his pod become hotter by the second.
"Guys, there's something wrong," Duncan said abruptly. "It's too hot."
"It's supposed to be hot, idiot." Nolan replied bluntly, though the heat was clearly getting to him too.
"I know that, I used to drop alongside ODSTs all the time, but it's never been this hot."
"Any idea what the problem could be?" Hannah asked, her tone also changed by the heat.
"Either my pod's armour was damaged or my armour's effecting the pod," Duncan began. "Oh god, the breaking thrusters will malfunction if it gets too hot!"
"Calm down. Why would your armour effect the pod?" Edward asked, ignoring the Spartan's tone of anguish.
"No time to explain." Duncan said, his voice now taking on a tone of acceptance. "It's every ODST's nightmare, digging their own graves like this."
As they drew closer and closer to the ground, Edward felt his pod begin to slow, the breaking thrusters slowing his descent considerably. He looked out of the glass and saw two of the other pods slow down too, but not Duncan's. Although his parachute had deployed the thrusters had malfunctioned, and his pod slammed into the edge of a skyscraper at full speed, ricocheting of off the corner before plummeting to the ground below.
"Lieutenant, do you copy!?" He cried, awaiting a reply for a moment before repeating. "Lietuenant, do you copy!?"
There was no reply. All that was audible over the comms was static.
Edward sat back in his seat as his pod hit the ground, his descent stopped in an instant. He shook his head violently in an attempt to recover his senses, then looked out at the outside world. He had landed in an alleyway, it seemed, with only a very slight view of the street ahead of him. Although still dreary, he pulled a lever above his head then pulled another beneath his feet, initiating the hatch opening. He immediately became alert as something purple quickly moved along the street, only visible for a moment. Not a moment later another moved past, and this time he recognised it as a Covenant ghost. He cursed himself for already activating the opening, and realised that there was no way he could avoid fighting the Covenant convoy.
There was the sound of air hissing as the hatch began to open, and before long there was an explosion. The hatch flew off dramatically, flying out of the alleyway and making contact with a passing ghost. Edward grabbed his shotgun.