Chapter One: Errant Fall
A/N: This story has been written by Andy Deyario, and the wording for the original request follows "I want a story where a rookie ODST, with the potential to be more, drops into the OMG Universe.'
"Lock and Load, soldiers!"
The shout of his Sergeant reached the ears of young ODST Jason Deyario. The boy was only 25, a fresh recruit for the ODSTs and already being deployed. The soldier speculated on how proud his parents must be, now that their son is special forces. He'd need to write the monthly letter while they were deployed. Clearing his mind, Jason shoved a silenced SMG and a sniper rifle into the slots on his pod, secretly adding an M6S to the layout by putting it in his thigh holster. Also inside his pod, he placed spare ammo for all his weapons. The pod next to his, his assigned supply pod, was chocked full of grenades and ammunition, enough to fire all his weapons constantly for a week.
"We're green for drop Marines, load up and prep for a hot insert!"
The young ODST clambered into his pod, linking the supply pod's coordinates to his own. When the door's shut, he gulped deeply, and behind his helmet a few tears slid down as he feared for his life. More than the fear, however, was an intense desire to make something of himself. If he could prove that he was good, that he was great at being an ODST, then perhaps he'd be proven worthy of the life that his sister had never got to live.
Distracted by his musings, the ODST had never noticed that the countdown expired. He was surprised and released a short yelp when they launched, drawing laughter from his squad. The voice of Sergeant Allie Keller, the Squad Leader, silenced it however, saying
"It's his first drop, you all did substantially worse than THAT when you first dropped!"
This got the men to stop talking, but Allie wasn't done. Her helmet appeared on his left monitor, while a map of the planet took up the right. He could hear her berating the men while Jason blushed beneath his helmet. He'd already made a fool of himself in front of the squad. It was then that she turned her attention to Jason
"Hey, rookie, don't be nervous. No matter where you land, we'll come for you, and we'll help you. We're a squad, right?"
"Y-Yes Ma'am."
"Jason, it's just Sarge, I'm no different from any other NCO."
"O-Okay Ma- Sarge."
She nodded, as if acknowledging him swapping to a nickname, and then added.
"I mean what I say, we'll be in touch when you go groundside, and we'll finish the mission as a team."
Jason, re-assured by her words, leaned back and enjoyed the unique feeling of falling through orbit. The ODST was completely un-aware of the forces conspiring against him, however. The forces of Hell had their eyes on young Jason, knowing he was not a regular mortal. So, it was with this, that they conspired against Charlie Squad. As they plunged to the planet below, a demon watched, and smiled, murmuring an incantation. Just like that, the falling pods were all engulfed in a vortex, and sent to another place, and another time.
Belldandy was happily cleaning the the yard, knowing Keiichi was busy today with a part time job. However, deep within her she suddenly sensed a feeling of...wrongness. Something horrible was happening to someone, and somehow it concerned her. She had a good idea what it was, however, when a pair of objects smashed into the yard. Dirt was flung everwhere, and Belldandy was flung back from the crash site, landing with a loud thud. Urd and Skuld both ran outside, shouting out "Belldandy, what happened!"
They were both brought up short by the pair of objects now jutting out of the yard. They were sleek and black, with glass on what seemed to be a form of door. Through one of the glass doors, they saw quite a few boxes labeled with one of 3 calibers of bullets, or simply reading "FRAGMENTATION GRENADES". Through the other was a Human shaped figure, wearing what seemed to be armor. It was also black, and most of the body seemed to be covered in a form of metal. They could also, however, sense the life within the armor, alerting them to the fact that it is a real human being.
Just as they began to approach the life bearing pod, they saw the figure stir. It lifted it's helmeted head, revealing a mirrored visor as it looked around quickly. It tapped a button, and the pod door exploded outwards, landing next to them. The figure stepped out, slinging a very big rifle on it's back with what seemed to be a sniper scope on it. It also grabbed some form of compact weapon, with some form of sight and a silencer accompanying it.
The figure looked them over and a distinctly male voice said "We...weren't...told there were natives here."
This puzzled the Goddesses, this man was clearly human after all. If he was human, then he should've obviously known that Japan is populated, shouldn't he?
Belldandy began to speak then, saying
"What? That's silly, all people know Japan is populated!"
The man seemed confused and payed attention to her words. When she said Japan however, he jumped slightly and exclaimed
"JAPAN? I dropped over a hole in the outer colonies!"
Realizing he was speaking English, Belldandy swapped to his tongue, knowing it due to her years with the Goddess Assistance Agency.
"Well, you are on Earth. I know not what these outer colonies are, but you are now in Japan. Perhaps if you explain where you were before, we can help you figure out what happened."
"Umm...maybe. Well, myself and my fellow ODSTs loaded into our po-."
"ODSTs? What are those?"
"Have you been living under a rock? Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, heck we've been around for a hundred years or so!"
"Hundred years? I am sorry but there still aren't any...Orbital Drop Shock Troopers."
"W-what?What year is it then?"
"It is the year two thousand and fifteen."
The man stopped and went very quiet. Belldandy could sense his aura through the armor, and could sense his immense distress. She rushed forward, setting a hand on his shoulder and asking
"Are you okay, sir?"
Behind them, the other two Goddesses were standing there in shock. It was clear to all three that he wasn't lying, after all they would've been able to tell. Rather, URD would've been able to tell. Eventually, however, Urd seemed to arrive at something, saying
"You said 'Orbital Drop Shock TROOPER' this means you are in the military, correct?"'
The man seemed to think for a moment, as if even the basics of his life were in question. They saw him glance back at the pod he had dropped in, as if to confirm it, and then said
"Yes, I'm in the UNSC Marine Corps."
"Hmm...UNSC...What does that stand for?"
"United Nations Space Command."
"United Nations...alright, so what YEAR were you in before you came here?"
"2558."
This brought them all up short, of course. He was from hundreds of years in the future, and here he was somehow. Belldandy however, turned to her sisters and began to speak again, specifically using English so he could understand.
"Wait, I do not think this is coincidence. Think, a soldier from the future just so happens to land in our yard, of all the places on Earth? I believe this to be the work of fate."
"You may be right, sister. After all, what are the odds that he'd land in the yard of THREE Goddesses as opposed to the billions of mortals on this world?"
Jason found himself tuning out their conversation, brought up short by raw shock. Then, however, a realization smashed through his brain and made it's way out his mouth.
"MY SQUAD!"
He bellowed these words and ran to the pod, to the visible surprise of the three women. He activated the pod's COM gear and swapped to the squad frequency, asking in a panic.
"This is Corporal Jason Deyario, does anyone from ODST Squad Charlie read me?"
"It's Allie, Jason. Private Stone touched down in an ocean, we've lost him. Private Keller and Private Slim are already enroute to your location, I was waiting for you to get into contact. Listen, before Stone popped his pod, he used the tech gear in his pod to hack some countires network and get us a map. We're on old Earth, Jason, and we'll rally up with you like I promised. You touched down in Japan, Stone landed in the ocean off Japan, I hit in the Middle East and the other two landed in China. Hold precisely where you are, Private, Sergeant Keller out."
With that, Jason turned away and let tears roll un-ashamedly down his face. Sitting against his pod, he felt sadness rolling off him. He had known Stone for quite some time, they had gone to boot camp together. They'd served in the same Marine unit, and they'd been the last survivors of their regiment on their first engagement. Granted, it was because they'd been riding in a Pelican when a covie ship fired on the regiment's assembly point, but they'd survived for two weeks on a covenant infested planet. Then, they'd still been in the same unit until they were picked up for the ODSTs.
Suddenly, Jason felt like he was being choked by the air in his helmet. It was supposed to be pleasently cool inside it, thanks to his climate control systems, but suddenly he felt like he was burning up. So, he reached up, and pulled the helmet off.
When Keiichi returned home, he walked through the gate with a tired smile, saying
"Hey Bell, hows-"
He's brought up short by what he sees before him. In the yard, he finds a pair of black objects, one open and one closed. There is a man sitting against the open one, wearing armor over his full body, minus a helmet which was set next to him. It was the helmet that captivated Keiichi at first, with it's matte black color and mirrored visor showing the full yard. It was then that he turned his attention to the face of the man
He was clearly a young man, based on his fresh face, although he was probably older than Keiichi. The man's tan face had tear tracks running down it, and chocolate brown hair framed his eyes as his tears continued. The clouded irises were still a very obvious shade of blue, and the man didn't even acknowledge Keiichi's arrival.
Belldandy walked to Keiichi then, clearly distraught, saying
"Keiichi, this man is a soldier, he said he is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper."
Before Keiichi can question this, Belldandy explains everything she knows about this man. Keiichi absorbs all this knowledge, and though he is given pause, the realities of living with three Goddesses for years allow him to recover quickly. He looks to Belldandy and asks
"Why is he crying, though?"
Surprisingly, the man himself answers instead, albeit indirectly.
"Stone...Dangit Stone...Why'd you have to land in an ocean? Why'd you have to die?"
His voice is clearly fairly deep, although not as deep as many mens'. With this said, both Keiichi and Belldandy walked over and sat on either side of the man. He doesn't acknowledge them, it's then that Belldandy notices something. The man has a large, very obvious bruise on the side of his face. She watches it curiously for a moment before singing what Keiichi recognizes to be a simple healing tune, one she doesn't even need Holy Bell to perform.
The man however, clearly didn't expect it. He jumps and stumbles back, aiming some form of gun at Belldandy. Keiichi jumps forward to block the rounds and he distinctly hears Urd growl menacingly
"Put the gun down, soldier boy."
His response is neither of what Keiichi had expected however. He had expected the soldier to either lower the weapon and let everything become slightly more tense, or to act more aggressively and get a wicked shock from Urd. Instead, he keeps his gun trained and walks around, carefully picking up and putting on the ominous helmet. With that, he whirls around and aims at Urd. In reply, she let's loose with what I recognize to be a weak lightning spell.
Of course, she didn't account for the metal armor over a non-conductive body suit. Instead of HIM getting a shock, the force of the spell only knocks him back a bit, and sadly let's a piece of his metal armor touch Keiichi, leading to an immense shock filling his body and causing him pain.
Belldandy is instantly bent over Keiichi, singing the same tune to him now. The Goddesses and Keiichi freeze in horror, however, as a pair of silenced gunshots are heard. Belldandy turns her head and stops in horror. When Keiichi finally manages to turn his head as well, the sight greeting him is not one that he expected.
Behind Urd, He recognizes a familiar blonde-headed figure lying on the ground. Urd turns and is confronted with the slowly dissipating form of Mara the demon. Of course, earthly death doesn't actually KILL a demon, as He'd learned, but it meant they couldn't return to the planet for awhile, barring un-usual cases. Lying next to Mara's form is a dagger, giving off a very sinister glow.
Urd seems stunned that the man had saved her, and so turns to him quizzingly
"Why didn't you let her kill me."
"Because, I understand your actions, well, I understand why you did it, not quite the lightning."
"Well, it's because I'm a Goddess, and so is Belldandy."
"...That is complete bull-crap, and I know it. I mean, Goddesses, REALLY?"
"She just healed you with a song and I shot lightning at you."
"..I...But...Good..Point."
She get's a wicked smile and greets
"I'm Urd, Goddess Second Class, System Administrator."
The ODST turns to Keiichi and Belldandy, as Skuld had gone in long ago to work on something, and waits for their own introductions. Keiichi begins, deciding to go first
"I'm Keiichi Morisato, I go to the Nekomi Institute for Technology here in town."
Keiichi says this in English, relieved he had learned it from his teachers in high-school. He turns to Belldandy, and she is smiling slightly at the man. Eventually, she begins
"I am the Goddess Belldandy, Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License."
The man seems to conside this for a long moment, before eventually he finally speaks
"I am Corporal Jason Deyario, and it seems I'll be sleeping in my pod for quite awhile, since none of my squad landed in Japan."
