Chapter 1: Entry
Author's note:This story is loosely based on Halo 3: ODST so some portions may be slightly identical to the game. However, this story is published before the game so if it is very different from the game, it is because I did not play it.
The ceramic pod flared like the 'strike anywhere' matches used by the Marines to light up their counterfeit cigarettes. The temperature of the pod rose by another 40 degrees as it enters the atmosphere. The 'Rookie' reviewed his mission plan in the pod. He was a member of 'Captain's team. They were supposed to strike at the Covenant forces inside New Mombasa. It was about a minute before the pod reached the ground.
Suddenly, he caught a transmission from Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes.
'… going to jump inside the city.'
An image appeared on his display, showing a Covenant Assault Cruiser entering slipspace.
30 seconds to impact. Just then, the force field resulting from the matter-antimatter annihilation caused the pod to tumble and turn.
10 seconds. 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0.
The pod crashed into the ground upside down. The Rookie grunted as his world turned upside down and his vision turned black.
'Motor vehicle crash… Acquiring vehicle ID… Unable to analyze. The Superintendent (SI for short), reported the error to New Mombasa Police Department. It added a short message, 'Keep it clean'.
6 hours later…
The Rookie opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. Remembering what happened before he lost conscience, he retrieved his weapons, a pistol, 4 grenades and a M7S submachine gun (SMG), he blew off the hatch of his HEV pod and following protocol, dropped a grenade into the pod to destroy all machinery so that the Covenant could not salvage it for their own.
A bright search light shone above him. He sprinted to a dark hiding place, knowing that the light was not from a friendly source. True enough, as he looked up, he saw that the search light was coming from a Phantom, which was a Covenant drop ship. He pinged the team com to ask for back up.
Static answered him.
It was then that he realized that he was alone. He gripped his SMG tightly, knowing only one thing. Firepower was not going to win this battle nor help him survive, stealth was.
'Updating now.' The Superintendent was installing an update he received from UNSC to change from a civilian AI to a military AI. This was after he sent an error message to a UNSC battleship called 'Say My Name' reporting the error to scan the vehicle ID of a Covenant drop ship. 'Update complete.' He realized that the Covenant were hunting down the 6 remaining human survivors. He marked the location of all 6 of them and tried to contact them. However, he could only send an email to a PDA held by a Lance Corporal with only a single word on his dog tag. The word was 'Rookie'.
