Chapter 1: The Misdrops
Forge S-210 lied in his drop pod. The glass door of the drop pod was already shattered into pieces. Still lying on the seat after being out for a few hours, Forge tried to make sense of what happened when he was still in the air. Outside, he could see banshees and phantoms in combat with the UNSC air units. Then, a UNSC Marathon-class Cruiser fired its MAC-Round on an advanced CAS-class assault carrier, which was about to fire an unknown weapon that has been identified by the UNSC to be extremely lethal. However, the weapon on the assault carrier was destroyed and it gave of a huge blast, which propelled the all deployed drop pods way off-course.
Forge equipped his assault rifle and his pistol and stepped out of his pod. He scanned his surroundings to see if there was any Covenant. Luckily, he was unharmed by the crash and moved swiftly into the forest, back to the city Serera.
"Carina, check for any marines still alive out here," Forge requested his AI, Carina.
"Hold on… I'm not picking up any heat signatures close by. We're probably stranded out here on our own," replied Carina.
Forge continued on, wary of his surroundings. He tried to radio for help but no one responded. "Seems like that blast from the Covenant Carrier jammed all of the signals…" Carina told Forge.
He kept checking his surroundings, certain that there would be at least one Covenant troop that would be patrolling the forest. After walking around for a few minutes, Carina suddenly alerted Forge of a heat signature not that far away from them. Forge raised his weapon, ready to shoot at whatever comes out of the bushes if necessary. The waypoint on his helmet showed that the target was moving closer and closer. From the bushes, emerged two ODSTs. "Whoa, whoa. Hold on there," one of them said immediately. Seeing that the heat signatures were from allies, Forge lowered his weapon.
One of the ODSTs spoke, "Wow, I thought we'd be the only two out here… I'm Corporal James Watt and this is my partner, Corporal Richard Sigg." Forge looked at Richard and he saluted Forge.
"Are there anyone else you met on your way?" Forge questioned.
"Nope, we spent around two hours moving around in hopes of finding someone but there was no one else." Replied James.
"We should keep moving, its not safe being out here like that. Let's hope the Comms will be clear soon…"
The trio spent another few hours trying to get back to Sereny and see what had happened all this while. Suddenly, a familiar noise became louder and louder. "Phantom!" Richard called out. They moved into the closest bush they could find to take cover from the phantom which approached their position. They kept their eyes on the phantom to see what it would do. The phantom then flew above their heads and went on.
As they continued their path, a rustling noise came from the bushes. "Did you two see that?" James whispered, frightened after catching only a glimpse of a seemingly invisible figure running past him. Forge also saw a figure. "Elites, keep your eyes peeled marines," Forge warned the two ODSTs. Suddenly, Richard's weapon was hit out of his hands and an elite showed himself right in front of Richard. Shocked, Richard did not know how to react. The elite then punched Richard in the stomach with such force that he was lifted of the ground and hit a tree a few meters away from him. Forge and James immediately turned back and fired at the Elite successfully taking him out.
"I'm sure they heard us. We've got to get out of here and fast." Forge commanded while heading to James. James stood up and retrieved his weapon from the ground, claiming that he was all right. Forge nodded and led the two through the forest. As they ran, they were constantly engaged by small groups of Covenant patrol that were drawn by the gunfires. However, they managed to fend them off and eventually, no patrols were showing up. They took the chance to calm themselves down and started moving on after a short while.
Soon, it was nightfall. Their surroundings became darker and darker and they could not see much. Luckily, they had found a small cave where they rest themselves in, awaiting for daylight to come back. The two ODSTs dozed off while Forge lay against the stonewall, watching the entrance of the cave, eventually dozing off.
As soon as the surroundings outside brightened, the trio moved off again hoping to get to Serera as soon as possible. After a while, they stumbled across a Covenant camp. The Covenant seemed to be building something.
"That's a jammer, they're trying to continue to jam the Comms. We have to stop them." Carina said, as soon as she realized what the Covenant were doing.
"We can't just take them head-on just like that, there's too many of them. We'll probably be dead before we even reach the jammer." James commented.
"Of course I'm aware of that, we'll need some kind of distraction. James, you and Richard hold up here while I try and take out the pylon and turn their Plasma Cannon against them. On my signal, I'll provide you with suppressive fire and you two get to me ASAP. Once we get to the jammer, cover me while I override the system. You two got that?" Forge instructed.
The two marines nodded their heads, placing their trust in Forge. Deep inside, Forge knew that the plan was going to work, that all of them would make it out in one piece. Before he started infiltrating the camp, he said, "If I'm in trouble out there, make every shot count."