ODST: A Touch of the Past

by Blaster master 1942

The Battle of Earth has just taken a drastic turn, and the lone ODST known as "The Rookie" finds himself stranded, his squad missing, and with events happening that he can't explain. Based on a theory about the Rookie's abilities.

1. Chapter 1

(AN: I do not own the Halo franchise, or the ODSTs. The Halo universe is fully the property of Bungie, they're just nice enough to let us play pretend in their playground.)

Halo: ODST

A Touch of the Past

Chapter 1

WHAM!

A rifle butt to the side of the head was the last thing anyone wanted while they were trying to sleep. His head stung, but not from the impact, from something else. For something that was buzzing in his skull. He was on medication, but it didn't help. The headaches were persistent, irritating, and painful. He'd never had such bad migraines before. But ever since Cygnus…

As his vision focused, Romeo's face swam into perspective. "Wake up buttercup!" Romeo said, further rousing the newest member of their squad from his nap. Dutch shoved Romeo aside, "Relax Rookie, he don't mean nothin'." He held out a suppressed M7 sub-machine gun "Besides, now's one of those times... pays to be the strong, silent type." The Rookie took the weapon and fastened it to the inside of the pod. Then hit the button to lower the hatch on his pod. There was a hiss of hydraulics and a crash as it shut tight. 'Should have taken my aspirin before my nap' he thought 'At least then I'd be better prepared for this'. As the pod spun into position, the captain's face appeared on his right screen, and the Gunny Sergeant on his left. "Latest intel reports Covenant troops are massing beneath the carrier" Dare stated

"They're pulling back?" Buck questioned "Why?"

"We're not going to find out up here" Dare responded.

"Pucker up, marines!" Buck shouted at his soldiers as his visor polarized "I sure as hell ain't hosing out your pods!" As the pods began to descend from the bottom of the Say My Name, the countdown timer to FNGs own launch began to beep. When it reached it's final beep, his pod lurched as it was sent plummeting towards the atmosphere. As the fell through space, they passed the remains of several shattered UNSC warships.

"I take it back" Romeo piped in over the COM "Navy got its butt kicked!"

"Hey Romeo!" The GySgt replied "Remember when I told you to shut your mouth?"

"Yeah?"

"Consider that a standing order"

They passed through the cloud layer, and the city below was becoming clearer and clearer, as did the enormous Covenant carrier. "Captain!" Buck yelled "15 klicks off the deck!" The sounds of COM chatter, the rattling of his HEV pod, and the rushing of atmosphere outside made a cacophony of noise that exacerbated the Rookie's already pounding headache.

"Standby to adjust trajectory" Dare responded "On my mark…"

"What did she just say?" While Dutch asked questions, the Rookie quickly grasped his control yokes to prepare to adjust. Perhaps the captain was steering them to some other objective?

"Mark!" The captain cried as she angled her pod, the rest of the squad followed suit. "We're way off course!" Mickey exclaimed over the radio.

"We're headed exactly where I need to go" Dare replied coolly.

"But we're gonna miss the carrier!" Mickey interjected. Below, the details on the Covenant carrier in question were becoming sharper, but suddenly the ship glowed and began moving.

"Radiation!" Dutch alerted.

The prow of the carrier was glowing brighter, until a blob of blue energy emanated from it. "The Covenant just set off a nuke!?" Mickey questioned.

"No" Dare whisper turned into a panicked dry "The carrier's going to jump! It's a Slipspace rupture! You need to-!"

But what they needed to do, the Rookie never found out; all he could do was hang on as the ship they'd been assigned to capture disappeared into nothingness, leaving only an ever expanding electromagnetic pulse behind. The blast blew another HEV into the Rookie's, and for an instant, he saw Mickey's face, his helmet covering his likely terrified face. As the pod spun out of control, the readouts went crazy, and his images of the Gunney and Captain turned to static. "EMP!" Dutch yelled over the radio as is started to die "Losing power!" Buck's voice tried to fight through the static, but it was useless, he couldn't make anything out. All he could do is hang on as the pod fell like a stone, and he began to lose consciousness.

(AN: I know this seems like a blow-by-blow of the game, and to a degree it is. But I've put my own special twist on it, which will be revealed in the next chapter. So please stay with me!

-Blastermaster1942 )