Chapter One: The Drop
With a violent rumble, the Rookie's pod rockets away from the dropship. Through the thin vertical window it's possible to see a swarm of other ODST pods raining down. The glistening city of New Mombasa materializes below, as does the target objective, a large Covenant ship transporting the Prophet of Regret. Though the pod can't be maneuvered, it is possible to look around and admire all of the knobs and readouts on the interior.
"Man this is crazy!" Romeo screamed into his drop pod's comm system.
"Hell Yeah, I agree with Romeo there!" Dutch said
"On my mark pop your 'chutes" The captain said through the scattered channel.
"What'd she just say?" Buck, the squad leader, yelled
"Mark!" The captain's feminine voice screeched through the comm.
"We're way off course!"
"We're heading exactly where I need to go."
"We're going to miss the carrier!"
"Radiation readings? Did the Covenant just set off a nuke?" Mickey chimed in, after a large ship started clicking and thousands of debris flew and crashed into the pods.
"No, the carrier's going to jump," Replies Dare. "It's a slipspace rupture."
"Stabilize and pop your 'chutes Troopers! We're going in hard!" Buck yelled.
The droppod's small parachute popped but snapped away not being able to hold the force of gravity pulling the pod towards earth's atmosphere. The Rookie saw his last few hours before the drop on the main UNSC ship. His mind fell back to these moments.
...
A new female has arrived to be a part of their little 'Family'. Romeo, the self-proclaimed ladies man, watched her as she walked by. All the males' heads followed her as she strided down the hallway into Buck's quarters. The Rookie just kept staring at her even after the blast doors closed with a hiss. Romeo wrapped an arm around the Rookie's neck.
"That was a nice lookin' girl there eh, Rookie?"
"What kind of armor was she wearing?" Dutch asked no one in particular.
"Don't know." Romeo says "Rookie and I wasn't lookin at her gear." The Rookie felt his cheeks heat up.
"Did you see her symbol?" Mickey replied "Looks like some alien symbol." he continued
Before the four ODST males could get deep into the conversation about the new girl's ODST symbol, Buck and the new girl walked out of his office.
"Alright Troopers, attention!" Buck's bass voice commanded, booming throughout the whole room. The troopers stood up and stared at their CO. All of the troopers had their helmets off except for the Rookie and the new girl.
"This is the new part of our little group." Buck said, motioning for the girl to step forward. She stepped up and the boys all had better look at her armor. Her breastplate was pink with the strange alien symbol on it. On her sides were two silvery black magnums. They noticed that her hands were twitching slightly but it was hard to see unless you were really paying attention.
"She's here for stealth missions. So, treat her like one of the guys, Romeo." He said, in a warning tone towards Romeo.
"Oh, and by the way." Buck added "Her name's Zero." With this being said Buck walked out of the room and headed down to the shooting range for some practice leaving Zero alone with the four ODSTs.
"So," Mickey said, trying to shake the very uncomfortable silence that was going on. "Let us introduce ourselves" He said standing up walking towards Zero. "I'm Mickey. Pleasure to meet you. I am a pilot but I'm mainly responsible for bomb disposal" He finished by shaking her hand. She nodded and smiled under her helmet. After Mickey was done talking, he moved out of the way so Dutch could take his turn. Dutch walked up and took one of her hands.
"The name's Dutch." He said "I'm Infantry responsible. If you need anything, you can always ask me." He finished. Zero shifted on her feet but nodded. Her feet were starting to hurt a little but she still stood. Dutch moved so Romeo could have his turn.
"Romeo" The sniper said, gently grabbing her hand and massaging it. "And you can be my partner." He said winking and kissing her hand. Zero smiled then tightened her grip on Romeo's hand. The male let out a agonizing sceam as he felt most of the bones in his hand pop. The others looked on in awe as the female nearly broke Romeo's hand and wrist. When she was satisfied, she released his hand and watched as he fell to the floor gripping his hand.