9; Part 1 Ch. 1 "Blazing Arrival"
P.O.V. Third Person, Washington D.C.
Timothy McGee's residence.
April 17, 2008, 0300 hrs.
Tim awoke to Jethro's loud barking for the second morning in a row. Ironically those two days were the two that had passed since Abby had forced the dog into his care. "What could you possibly need?" Tim asked the dog. Jethro wined and tilted his head.
Another irony was that Tim picked up on signals that Jethro gave when he needed to go outside. This was one of those signals.
Tim moaned, dragged himself out of bed, and put on some shoes. He put the leash on Jethro, walked to the door, and grabbed his badge and gun. Just in case something happened.
Tim had been walking Jethro for five minutes with no results. "Come on, just go already." Tim said, frustrated. Jethro looked up at him and almost smiled. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" Tim asked.
Jethro finally did his business and they began their walk home when Jethro stopped again and barked toward the sky.
"Oh what is it now?" Tim asked. He looked up to see what his dog was barking at. "It's a shooting star, big deal. Can we please just go home?" Tim pleaded. Jethro didn't stop barking.
Tim seriously thought about shooting the dog like he did when they first met.
Suddenly a sonic boom filled the air and put Tim on high alert, gun drawn and eyes scanning everything. He noticed the star Jethro had been barking at had gotten significantly closer. Tim realized it was getting headed straight for them. He pulled Jethro to the left, out of the way.
The star crashed hard into the ground. Sending dirt and smoke into the air.
Tim felt disoriented and his hearing was muffled. He stood and tried to look around to evaluate the situation.
He caught sight of a dirt trail in the grassy park. He followed it to what he assumed was the crash site. Fire was everywhere and raging flames engulfed something. At first he thought it was his mind messing with him but when he got a closer look, he found that he was right. It looked like a pod of some kind.
He had to call Gibbs.
P.O.V. ODST Major Dominika Salt
Memory Sequence
A sentinel drone hovered near Dominika as she put items into her duffle bag. It gave her a slight nudge. She looked at it as it spoke. "Shield in countdown mode. Exchange proper counter response, Reclaimer."
She quickly grabbed her helmet and put it on.
Then everything quickly faded white.
More memories played through her unconscious mind, each getting longer.
The day she joined the military.
The day she made it into the ODST program.
Her first Orbital drop.
The years of fighting the Covenant.
The day she'd received those classified orders.
Training the Spartan III's of Gamma Company.
SCPO Mendez had asked her to assist in the training because as good as he was, he was getting older. Apparently whoever he asked highly recommended her for this. She didn't question it.
Fire truck, ambulance, and police sirens wailed. Tires screeched as the vehicles skidded to a stop. Men and women barked orders left and right. The fires were put out and the Police set up a perimeter.
"What happened, McGee?" Gibbs asked. Tim explained what he could to Gibbs. "Hey, I think someone's in here!" One of the officers near the pod said. The EMT's who were still at the scene rushed to the pod. The used a saw and the Jaws of Life to pry the pod open. "No pulse. She's gone." One of them said. "Could military." Another said holding up a bag with rifle barrels sticking out the top. They loaded the body onto a gurney.
Tim got closer to the body. She had on a strange type of armor. He did recognize a service tag when saw one though. It was a sticker like patch on her armored shoulder.
It read:
Dominika Salt
Major - UNSC ODST Division
Service number 26783-49658 DS
Blood type A positive
"Boss, Definitely Military. Service tag is right here." Tim said. "I'll call Ducky." Gibbs said pulling out his phone.
"Would you like me to give you a time of death Jethro?" Dr. Mallard asked holding up his liver probe. "I think we know when she died, Duck." Gibbs said. "Well in that case, Mr. Palmer will you bring our gurney here, please?" Ducky said. "Yes, right away Dr. Mallard." Jimmy said. Palmer brought over the gurney and helped Ducky transfer the body from gurney to gurney and close it up in a body bag. "A pod, strange armor of unknown origin, This sounds like a movie plot." Jimmy said. Both Gibbs and Ducky gave him a look. "I'll take her to the truck." Jimmy said sheepishly.
Back at NCIS morgue-
Jimmy had put the body bag on one of the table. "Ready Doctor?" Jimmy asked. Ducky nodded. Jimmy had just begun to unzip the bag when suddenly the bag's occupant sat straight up and inhaled deeply. Both Jimmy and Ducky jumped backward, obviously shocked that the dead woman wasn't dead anymore.
"That's twice now this has happened." Ducky said.