Disclaimer: It my first time attempting a thing like this so any sort of critical reviewing is fine by me.
A day on the beach
"This is Eagle's Nest, come in Alpha-06, what is your situation? Over."
The remains of shot down Albatross Dropship could be seen from all over the south end of the island. Codenamed Relic it was selected for reconnaissance due to its location far out from the main land and its Forerunner building in the centre.
The pilot of the dropship was killed in the impact but the co-pilot had survived. His face was cut from shattered glass and his right arm was severely paralysed from electrocution by the on board hardware. He picks up the communication helmet and puts it on.
"Eagle's Nest this is Alpha-06. Our situation is critical. We have been hit by Covenant ground forces…"
He turns his head to check up on the men in the cargo bay. The men were no longer in the cargo. Instead, they were already engaging Covenant forces.
"…UNSC forces are currently engaging the enemy. They are converging on our location, requesting shock troopers on our position now!"
"Negative Alpha-06, all ODST forces are currently on mission. Over."
"Damn it, we have injured here. We need some kind of support now!"
Silence. The co-pilot watches as the men huddle up avoiding heavy enemy fire waiting for a response. The fighting was terribly close to the dropship but when in war, they had to fight for every inch. With that fact he knew the dropship would be safe as long the soldiers were still active.
"Ah, Alpha-06, Eagle's Nest has clearance for heavy dropping on your location. ETA 30 seconds. Gather remaining forces and head for the water; out."
"Copy that."
The co-pilot rushes out of his seat and into a totally blown out cargo bay. Stray fire was flying around him so he begins to run for the soldiers. They were positioned behind defences that were set up amidst the fighting. The ground was of sand and he could hear the water washing up on the shore while gun fire was exchanged. He jumps around trying to avoid the random plasma charges at him and finally makes it to the defensive line.
"Lieutenant, we have artillery barrage coming in. You have 25 seconds to move your troops into the water!"
The Sergent looks at the pilot with disbelief. He had fought many battles to his current one. He saw what an artillery barrage looked and sounded like. He'd seen the cons of doing artillery barrage in tight situations. 'Oh great, just what I need, more crap' he thought. He tightens his grip on his battle rifle and charges out too his lock downed men on the other side of a causeway they were positioned up against.
"Soldiers, move it out, we have artillery coming in. Carry the injured and move towards the water. You got 15 seconds!"
The Lieutenant throws out a grenade up the causeway.
"Come on, move it out. Carry the injured and move towards the water. Now Go, Go, Go!"
Men begin to rush for the water with the injured around them on their backs. The grenade explodes showering the causeway with sand and over the men.
The Lieutenant was now alone. Covenant forces were converging again after the explosion settled. The Lieutenant's aim was to literally die for. His weapon of choice was the battle rifle. It shot at burst of three bullets every cycle with deadly accuracy or known as burst fire. The Lieutenant leans out and fires at the closest enemy and then leans back. An Elite rolls down the causeway bleeding blue blood from inside its helmet. The Lieutenant looks back up the sky and realises they shells the where closing in and fast. 'Holy shit' he thinks. He straps his gun around his body and begins a mad dash for the water.
Boom!
The first shell hits the island but was a complete miss on enemy units. The alien forces are startled and look back away from the Lieutenant. The area begins to fill with a deafening screeching sound. The Covenant looks around puzzled. A Grunt looks up and squeals. The others look up to a sky of scorching fire.
Bang!
The second shell was a complete hit. The Covenant realise what was going on and begin a full retreat. 'Too late' one of the Elites thought watching from inside the Forerunner structure.
The Lieutenant dives into the water, belly flopping it and turns around to try and see the explosions. The individual shells could be heard screeching and then exploding into a ball of flames. The Elite watches as the troops on the field run back.
Bang!
A shell hits dead in front of the charging pack. The explosion rips through the group.
The UNSC personnel in the water watch as the enemy forces are ripped to shreds.
"Looks like the artillery is owning them," a soldier spurts out.
"Don't think were out of it yet…" the Lieutenant speaks out.
Then by coincidence, a shell lands smack bang on the dropship. The distance from it and the surviving forces was only about 20m. The Lieutenant ducks into the water. The flames illuminate the water. Debris falls around him. He knew this would be trouble. Turning his head, he sees a soldier. The soldier also turns and looks back. A metal plate smashes into the water and hits the soldier on the head. The Sarge looks in disbelief and immediately looses his breath. He quickly rises to the surface to gain some air.
He takes a few gasps of air and notices something different. The sound was clear. The barrage had stopped. He turns around and sees bodies floating…
Only 3 minutes had passed since the crash landing of the pelican to the point of begin all washed up on the shore. The forces begin to regroup and manage to pull bodies onto the shore.
The Lieutenant sits on the beach wet and annoyed. A medic in the background treats the injured. A slight breeze passes the Lieutenant. He looks up into the sky and spots something, a slight irregularity, a very small patch that looks like fire.
"Oh my God, you've got be kidding me!" he says quietly to himself. "Everybody back into the water, we got seconds coming in!"
"What? Oh man, not again..." one of the soldiers mutters out.
The men head for the water again and head even further out for precaution. The unconscious were lain on pieces of debris and floated out. The Sergent continued to look and the dots of light while swimming and thought about it. 'Why would she send out two artillery barrages onto a small island?'
The Lieutenant considers the most logical possibility. 'A second barrage would just be a waste of munitions. But what else could be dropped apart from artillery? It has to be ODSTs.'
The Lieutenant sighs. "Everybody head back to shore. False alarm, ODST's in bound."
As the pods begin entering the atmosphere of the ring world, a trail of fire and smoke can be seen. Soon there were five distinguishable trails of smoke from the pods.
'There are only five pods,' the Lieutenant notices. 'Will they be enough?'
The pod's continue their fiery decent. The chutes deploy and the speed dramatically decreases. The burning heat around the pod lessens from a fire ball to a smouldering piece of flying metal. The chute's catch release is pulled and the pods free fall. One by one, the HEV's or Human Entry Vehicles crash hard into the land. The entry door blows open and the soldier from within the HEV jumps out. The five grey suited, heavily armed and suited, Shock Troopers or knick named the 'Helljumpers' run towards the beach front and see the UNSC men just coming out of the water, drenching soaked with water and the wounded on floating debris.
The team leader walks up too the first person that makes it too shore which happen to be the Lieutenant. He extends his hand out. The Lieutenant takes his hand and is pulled out with immense force.
The ODST mutters to the soaking wet officer, "Nice day for a swim, eh Lieutenant..."
To be continued…
