Chapter 2: Home Again
Three hunks of metal hurdled towards the surface of Remnant. As they broke the atmosphere, stabilizers were released to slow their descent. Inside, the passengers all had their own reactions, or lack thereof, as this was far from the first drop the experienced team had been through.
"Yang, maybe you could turn it down a little? I don't really care either way, but Weiss has gone quiet. And that's never a good sign…" Blake warned the blonde through the comms in her helmet.
Yang heard her squad mate and glanced over at the video feed of Weiss in her pod. The shorter ODST was shaking in her seat. And while they all were to some extent, due to the rapid drop from the sky, Yang's glance focused on the clenched fists on the handles of the Schnee's seat.
"Uh-oh…" Yang muttered, followed by her immediately turning down the metal music to hear the beeping of her pod as the lights started to flash, signaling their near arrival. "…Brace for impact…" She warned with fear in her voice. Not for the imminent crash per se, but for what was in store for her after they regrouped.
The three pods came into contact with the ground, kicking up dust and debris as they created small craters against the grassy field. All but one that happened to go off course just slightly, ending up barreling through a tree at the edge of the forest and landing sideways tangled up in the giant mangled limbs of the now uprooted topiary.
"Egh-Crap…! That wasn't the best landing…" The blonde murmured as she was tossed around and ended up sideways with the pod and out of her seat.
Pushing herself up, Yang glanced around to see that the door had neglected to eject automatically. Bracing her feet against the doorway, the ODST delivered a bit of force to see if she could make it budge. When the metal around the thick glass window creaked, she brought her boot back and kicked as hard as she could. The pod door came loose and was thrown several feet away, smashing into another tree before falling over with a clang as she was freed.
"Damn…" Yang groaned as she crawled out on her elbows, a small bruise already making itself known on her side.
"It could have been worse…" A voice said humorously as a heavy, but familiar boot stepped near Yang. "…Remember when Weiss landed in that lake?"
The slightly sore ODST looked up to see an almost exact copy of her own armor extending a hand as the other held a suppressed SMG. The gesture and reminiscence put a smile on her face as she accepted the gloved hand and stood up with Blake's help.
"Ehh, it was more of a big puddle really…" Yang joked, downplaying the memory as she glanced to the side to see Blake's pod open and vacant within the clearing. Her vision then shifted further, looking for her leader's when she spotted it…Along with an absolutely fuming white and black ODST stomping towards her.
The 'gunny' sergeant put up her hands in feigned innocence as a nervous chuckle escaped her lips. Weiss gave her no time to defend herself though, as she grabbed her by the collar of her armor and slammed her into the nearest upright tree. Blake stepping to the side, just letting it happen with an eye roll.
"My ears are still ringing, you dumbass! And not because of the crash!" Weiss' voice came through both of their comms, absolutely just as angry as Yang knew she would be. Her helmet only came up to Yang's chin, but that didn't mean she was any less intimidating.
"Why didn't you listen to me when I told you to turn it down?!" The Schnee asked as she put more pressure on the hold.
"C-Come on. It wasn't that bad!" Yang tried quelling her anger as her voice was stunted from the pressure on her chest, but the hearable smile from the blonde's audio feed just made Weiss angrier.
As her grip started to strengthen even more on Yang, Weiss flinched as a hand landed on her shoulder. Vision darting to her side, she noticed Blake standing next to her, but she wasn't staring at either of the two ODST's in their typical squabble.
"Lieutenant, look." Blake directed as she nodded westward.
Far off, nearly past the horizon, were flashes of light streaking downward towards Remnant. As the lights vanished, rumblings of explosions could be heard and plumes of smoke seen rising up from the vanishing points.
"That's…The direction of Vale…" Yang uttered as she also looked over. The grip on her collar slackened as she and Weiss stared in awe of all the chaos that must be raging in their home town.
"They…They must be attacking close areas of military presence…" Weiss murmured sadly as she let go of Yang entirely.
"Fort Beacon…" Blake finished for her, clenching her left fist tightly before letting it go with a steadying breath. She knew now was not the time to let sentiment decide their actions. "There's nothing we can do for them now…Weiss? Do you want me to move ahead and make sure the coast is clear?"
"Y-Yeah…Covies might have heard our arrival…" Weiss took a moment to compose herself before grabbing her rifle from her pod and checking to make sure it survived the crash. She gave a quick routine check-in with command before heading towards the forest after Blake. Glancing back as she flipped on her visor to mask her face with the signature black tent though, she saw the blonde still staring at the smoke trails. "Yang…It's time to move out." Weiss ordered, her voice softened in understanding.
"…Coming…" There was a dangerous tone in Yang's voice as she balled her fists tightly, but she followed the order all the same, retrieving Ember from the downed pod and activating her visor before jogging her way to catch up with Weiss, as Blake was further ahead within the forest. 'Stay safe, Dad…'
The squad moved swiftly and quietly through the cover of the forest. With Blake, their forward scout and stealth expert leading the way, there were to be no surprises as they made their way closer to the objective marker within their HUD.
"Another patrol to the north…Looks like we were right in assuming 'gators'. Another Elite with a group of Grunts… Staying low and changing course to avoid them." Weiss and Yang heard Blake inform them as they moved up, also avoiding the patrol party as they trudged through the thicket of bramble and shrubbery in the untamed forest they found themselves.
They had yet to see the trooper moving ahead of them since their regrouping, but this only instilled more confidence in their mission's success, as it meant the enemy wasn't likely to see the black haired scout either.
Continuing further into the dense woodlands the team made their way effortlessly past a few more enemy groups before their forward scout reported back in.
"Hold up. I've found something…Weiss…You're gonna' want to take a look at this…" Blake's voice came through quietly, a sense of worry sinking into the leader and squad mate as they slowly proceeded.
"What is it? The base? ...!" The Lieutenant questioned as she approached Blake's blip on her motion sensor. Her question was answered as she and Yang sidled up to her squad mate, prone on top of a rock overlooking more forest in a gorge below.
Hundreds of feet away within the wild valley was another cluster of Covenant. Except these were stationary and peering out into the forest and rocky hill ahead of them on alert. Four Skirmishers with carbines kept their eyes on the surrounding foliage, two perched in separate trees while the other two were on the ground. There was one Elite guarding the area as well, but what had the leader truly startled was the shimmering wall of light that bounced off of seemingly nothing between him and the group of avian creatures.
"Well, I guess we know what was blocking the ship's view from the Covie's base now…" Yang murmured lowly as the group eyed the giant energy shield that expanded across as far as they could see.
"Lieutenant, any ideas?" Blake wondered as she glanced to her leader.
"Working on it…" Weiss muttered as she activated her comms to command.
"Command. We have a problem…" Weiss waited for a reply, but when there was none, her eyebrow twitched. "…Command?"
All the squad leader could pick up was static from the channel as she waited longer for a response.
"Maybe command's not taking personal calls right now?" Yang joked before a yelp forced its way past her lips, being hit in the shoulder by Blake.
As Yang held her arm, the black haired ODST glanced back at the shield. "Maybe that's blocking long range communications by proximity as well?"
"…It's possible, but regardless, we need to report this to command. If we have no way of getting closer to the enemy base, then they need to know why." Weiss explained as she started to move, getting ready to head back to where they last had a stable connection with command.
"Wait, boss! Look!" Yang shouted into their group comms as she pointed back to the Covenant guards.
Another patrol group was approaching the guards and the wall of energy from the North East. The new group of Grunts and shielded Jackals seemed to communicate something before the Elite on the other side of the dome made its way over to a console.
A hole, maybe big enough to fit a warthog, opened up on the giant shield, allowing for the patrol to start passing through.
"That console. That's how we get in. We need to inform command, then devise a way of getting …" Weiss informed the team before abruptly being silenced. She was nearly turned around, ready to go back to the clearing to get a hold of her father, when a muffled gunshot went off, grabbing her attention after the fact.
Yang and Blake saw everything however, as they had yet to take their eyes off the threats stationed below.
As one of the last Jackals from the patrol group made their way inside the barrier, their head was pierced straight through, ripped apart by a large caliber round that left them dead before they hit the ground. The bullet wasn't done there though, as it traveled through the opening in the shield and into the console operated by the Elite. The lights flickered and then dimmed in disrepair as the opening remained as such.
The Elite tried to access the controls again, but when he had no such luck, he slammed his fist into the computer with a furious roar and then turned to the unseen threat with his plasma rifle ready.
"What the fuck just happened?" Yang asked, perplexed as it was clear that none of them fired the echoed shot. The noise from the interruption seemed to come from every direction, making finding the source a dubious task.
"I bet the Covenant down there are asking themselves the same thing…" Blake mused as she looked over at Weiss, ready for orders.
"Well, we can't have them alerting the rest of the force…" The Lieutenant led on, shouldering her suppressed DMR and lining the sights up with the Elite frantically searching for a threat. She pulled the trigger and the round glanced off his shields as they absorbed the first shot, but not the final of the next three as each shot made their mark, putting a sizeable hole in his chest as he keeled over.
"Those are orders I can get behind~…" Yang sang as she hopped over the slope and slid down until she was able to stop herself behind a tree after a forward tumble. Blake followed after her as she gave her leader a knowing look for her teammate that said, 'I'll keep her out of trouble,' before she flicked her visor shield down to mask her face in the presence of a fire-fight.
As the two ODSTs moved up, Weiss continued to rain down on the enemy caught in the open. She took out a few fleeing Grunts as another nearly soundless shot went off, the direction indeterminable. This time, it was aimed at one of the two Skirmishers perched in the trees.
The avian-like alien squawked out as its neck was torn open, falling out of the tree and onto the leaf covered forest floor.
Weiss aimed for the second tree bound Covenant and managed to land a hit on its shoulder, but the creature clutched a branch as it was nearly thrown off from the hit, remaining a threat as it found the ODSTs location based off of the direction of the shot. Before it could return fire however, a third unknown blast came for its chest. The Skirmisher was thrown into another tree from the impact, leaving a purple streak against the trunk as it fell towards Remnant, dead.
The white haired leader bit the inside of her cheek at the mockery, whether it was intentionally mocking or not. The anger quickly fled her body though, as a green light soared past her helmet, one of the Skirmishers on the ground also spotting her. Weiss fell on her stomach at the edge of the ridge to hide herself as she activated her comms. "Are you two making any progress? I'm pinned now, so the rest is up to you until you take out those sharpshooters!"
"On it!" Blake sent back, before turning to Yang who was behind a different tree. "You get the one on the left, I take the right?"
"Aw! That's no fair! The rest are closer to the one on the right!" The blonde complained as she peeked around her tree, only to pull back as the Skirmisher on her side fired at her, knowing exactly where she was.
"I know~…" Blake teased, wanting to rack up a higher kill count than Yang. The ravenette then quickly turned around and rushed to a closer tree to the threats, firing her SMG in tandem. Ducking and weaving through plasma bolts, she managed to tag a few Grunts, but was unsuccessful on hitting the Skirmisher as the avian creature ducked behind the closest tree.
"Yang? You still pinned…?" Blake asked as she couldn't see her position anymore from her new location. She got her answer shortly after though, the sound of an M90 shotgun going off followed by the shriek of a dying T'vaoan Skirmisher. 'Leave it to Yang to find a way to use a shotgun against a long range opponent…' Blake thought as she internally rolled her eyes.
"One!" Yang cheered over the comms, a short laugh following as she stayed behind the tree previously owned by the now-dead avian Covenant.
"Two…" Blake rebutted with a smirk.
"What?!" Yang questioned before glancing across the battlefield to see two slain Grunts near Blake's path. "Grunts don't count, Blake!"
"You never claimed that this mission~!" The black haired ODST argued teasingly, checking once again if the Skirmisher stayed behind the same tree. The alien had started to raise its carbine towards the louder sergeant, but Blake was quicker on the draw, laying down suppressive fire with her SMG. "Lieutenant, you're good to move up!"
"Got it!" Weiss once again rose up to survey the firefight. All that was left besides the Skirmisher Blake had pinned was a Jackal with a shield and two fleeing Grunts.
Trusting in her squad to deal with the stragglers, the leader decided to search the surrounding area for where those sniper shots came from. She had heard those gunshots many a time before. They belonged to the SRS99D-S2 AM model suppressed sniper rifle. So either this person was an insurrectionist that got a hold of military grade equipment, or this was the person the team was expecting.
The Lieutenant checked her motion tracker but picked up nothing aside from her own squad and the last remaining Covenant.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Yang barked out with a half-smile as she pulled out her sidearm and lit up one of the fleeing grunts. She then took aim at the Jackal, but someone beat her to the punch.
*Pa-Pa-Pap*
Three bullets consecutively struck the Jackals back, rendering it a twitching carcass as it met the ground.
"Blake?! That one was mine!" The blonde sergeant whined like a kid losing a favorite toy.
"That…Wasn't me…" Blake murmured after she finished off the last of the Skirmishers that she had suppressed. They both turned around and glanced up at the origin of the silenced rifle. In a tree right above them.
*Pa-Pa-Pap*
The last Grunt dropped dead as the gun went off one last time.
A dark figure started to shift from a prone position within the tree branches now that the threat was dealt with. Blake and Yang aimed their weapons up at the unknown, not taking any chances.
"Call sign: Gold!" Blake enquired, finger on the trigger.
"Shine!" An unfamiliar feminine voice came through their helmets as the figure showed itself, jumping down from the tree.
"No fucking way…" Yang breathlessly uttered, lowering Ember to her side as Blake did the same with her SMG, the call sign being answered successfully.
"Lieutenant…We found the new addition…" Blake's words tumbled out as she stared at the imposing figure in front of her.
"So that was them screwing everything up…I can't believe-…!" Weiss began berating the new person as she made her way to the squad, only to stop herself as she caught site of who, or what, they were.
Nearly seven feet tall, a woman clad in black and red armor from head to toe stood in front of them. This was not ODST armor however…
"A Spartan…They sent a Spartan…O-On a recon mission…?" Weiss muttered, mostly to herself, in awe of the rare presence.
The unknown Spartan's armor was primarily black with the exception of the armor plates between her knees and waist painted red along with a few red lines on the top of the black tented recon helmet she bore. Her right bicep had a bandolier of sniper rounds attached for easier reloading. This made sense, as Weiss could see the sniper she had heard being fired earlier on the super soldier's back. On the Spartan's left wrist was a TACPAD displaying geographical data of the surrounding forest. And currently within the new arrival's grasp was a BR55HB suppressed battle rifle. The gun that she had 'stolen' Yang's kill with, ending this little bout with the Covenant.
"Recon mission? Well, not anymore. I'm afraid this got a lot more complicated for you troopers…" Was the female Spartan's response, marching towards the still opened energy shield.
"W-Wait! We have to tell command about this! We don't know what we're walking into and command doesn't even know about what's interfering with their surveillance!-… Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Weiss stormed off after the Spartan, fuming as she was being ignored. It was like having a second Yang on the squad…
"We can inform command after we take down this shield. Besides, you have new orders…" The black and red Spartan explained as she stopped next to the console within the shield.
"New orders? What does that mean? And what are you doing down there?" Weiss continued fishing for answers as the Spartan dropped to her knees and began messing with the terminal.
The Spartan pulled a panel off, exposing wires and the power source. The latter was what the one-woman-army was after, as she checked over it. "Well the power core seems to be mostly intact…" She mumbled under her breath as she noticed her bullet hit exactly where she wanted it to. "…I'm trying to find out if we can't use this to help…-Ugh! Damn!" The Spartan cursed as she checked the line running from the power source to the shield controls, finding no problems until she made her way to the controls themselves.
"Controls are smashed to hell…" The Spartan huffed out as she stood to her feet once again.
"Well, whose fault was that? You're the one that shot it!" Weiss reminded, taking a bit of satisfaction that the Spartan's own plans were foiled.
"I did, but my shot wasn't what put a Sangheili's fist-sized hole in the control panel…" The giant woman muttered. "I shot the power source to short-circuit the shield controls so that that 'Gator face' couldn't just close the shield back up. He must have known that I would try to access it later though, so he just decided to smash it to hell and worry about fixing it later!"
"Well, can you fix it?" Weiss asked standoffishly.
"Short answer is no. Long answer is yes if I could find the right parts, but we would have to search for another terminal rendering fixing this one pointless if we did. I say we just move on. Chances are I wasn't going to be able to use this to completely drop the shields anyways..." During the Spartan's explanation, Yang and Blake had walked up after checking all of the corpses for life.
"Area's clear, Lieutenant." Blake announced pointedly to the white haired ODST instead of the Spartan.
"Good." Weiss said to Blake before turning back to the Spartan with a hidden glare. "So are you going to tell the squad about these new orders of yours?"
"My command wants us to destroy that ship threatening this planet." The Spartan explained, gesturing to the massive vessel above Remnant. "I don't know how you three feel about it, but those sound like pretty good orders to me."
"You mean ONI…" Blake murmured, untrustworthily. Remembering that their 'new leader' is close with the organization.
"That sounds great! Why don't we just go do that then! I'm dying to know how you expect the four of us to pull that off!" The sarcasm in Weiss' tone was palpable as the new member turned away and started walking deeper into enemy territory, nonplussed.
"Ughhh…This is worse than I thought it would be…" Weiss ground out between her teeth as Blake laid a hand on her shoulder again.
"Calm down, Weiss. Just take it one step at a time. She seems pretty capable…" The ravenette said, forgoing comms as she tried comforting her leader without the new Spartan hearing, thinking on the bright side.
"As a war machine, or a leader?" Weiss muttered so only Yang and Blake could hear.
"Hopefully, both!" Yang jumped in with a cheery tone, following their lead to keep it between the three of them. The blonde slapped her hand on Weiss' other shoulder as she gave her a little push to move forward. The three ODSTs on their way to catch up with the new Spartan addition.
They've arrived on the battle field! And they met up with their new ground leader. I wonder who it could be...? Yeah, it's not supposed to be much of a surprise for you readers, but someone on that squad is in for quite the surprise later on! xD Until next update, peace!
