Hey guys, back with a new chapter. This one is also kind of a filler, but there's a little action in it so there's a plus side. With that, let's roll:

"I still don't get how this thing stays in the air," I said. We were currently on the back of this giant sky bison thing that belonged to Tenzin. Somehow the two ton beast was able to not only get but stay airborne and fly without any visual means of flight. I'd even double checked for some kind of Covenant anti-gravity tech, but found nothing.

"As I explained earlier, Oogi and the other sky bison stay aloft by airbending," Tenzin said from his position at the reigns.

"Still trying to work that one out too," I muttered under my breath as I sat back in the saddle and folded my arms. I was still wearing my BDU, only the helmet was sitting beside me. Seeing as how I had no other clothing, I was stuck with my armor. That and I didn't trust anyone enough to leave my gear alone with them.

We were heading to the Police Headquarters. Korra seemed to believe my story, but Tenzin still remained doubtful and wanted a second opinion. Apparently there was some form of lie detector test they were going to put me through in order to see if I wasn't insane or not. I would have thought that the advanced gear would have been enough to convince them but apparently I was wrong.

After touching down on the roof of the HQ, we were greeted by a middle aged woman with graying hair, metal armor, and a pair of scars on her cheek. Her arms were folded over her chest, and her gaze was steely. I could tell just by looking at her that she was a force to be rekoned with.

"Is this him?" the woman asked as we climbed down from the sky bison.

"Yes, Lin this is James Durant. Mr. Durant this is Lin Beifong, Republic City's Chief of Police," Tenzin replied. She eyed me warily as I held my hand out to shake.

"Chief Beifong."

"Mr. Durant."

"Lance Corporal, actually," I corrected. She cocked an eyebrow and looked over my armor again.

"Mmm. Military man, eh? Alright, let's get too it," she said before turning and leading us up a flight of stairs into the building. I was expecting to be led to an interrogation room, but was surprised when we entered what appeared to be a communications center. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as Tenzin voiced his confusion on the subject as well.

"Lin, why are we in the radio room?" he asked.

"I don't need to tell if he's lying or not. The armor is far beyond anything either we or the United Forces have. Now this doesn't mean I trust him, but as circumstances have it, I find myself quite possibly in need of him," Lin said as we stopped by a radio. There was a young woman sitting in front of the radio with a pair of headphones on. She glanced up and noticed the Chief looking down at her.

"No change, Chief, the broadcast is still there," she reported as she took off the headphones. Lin motioned for me to take the headphones, which I did, looking at what frequency the dial was set to. It was currently one of the standard UNSC frequencies, but one that I hadn't really gotten a chance to try as of late.

"We started picking up that broadcast during the late afternoon yesterday. It hasn't stopped this whole time," Lin said. Curious, I put the headphones on and listened. It was a distant three toned signal, repeating itself over and over again. I recognized it as the distress signal of a drop pod.

"It's a distress signal," I said after a moment of listening, "do you know where it's coming from?"

"A valley located high up in the mountains. We've been preparing a small expedition to go up and investigate," Lin said.

"I'm going with. If there are any survivors, I know the counter responses that will keep you from getting killed," I said.

The ride into the mountains was a long and boring one via airship. I missed a good ole fashioned Pelican. Compared to this, those things were luxury vehicles. The crew that was coming along on this rescue mission were mainly metalbending cops. They were well trained men and women who utalised metal armor and navigated with a series of cables and pulleys built into said armor. At first glance, I figured it might stop a bullet or two. But against Covenant weapons? Not a chance.

I also wasn't sure about what I was allowed to tell them and what I wasn't. From what I could tell, they weren't an abandoned colony or anything like that. It was like they had been here the whole time. So what did that make this? Rediscovery? First Contact? What protocols dictated what happened here? Did said protocols even exist? At this point, I had more questions then answers. So it was best just to keep my mouth shut.

"We're over the area, we'll be inserting via cable," the Chief said as a side door was slid open. I had my helmet on with the visor polarized so no one could see my face, so I gave a short curt nod as a response. While the metalbenders descended via their own cables, I attached my own to the hull of the airship and slid down.

As my boots touched the ground, I had my M7S up and at the ready, scanning the area around us. We were in a small clearing at the bottom of a rather narrow valley. On both sides of us, large cliffs of stone rose skyward. Pine trees littered the valley floor, save for the clearing we were in. There didn't appear to be any sign of human life anywhere.

The VISR in my helmet, on the other hand, told a different story. It was pinging a distress beacon, and it was close, maybe a mile or so up the valley. I held my hand up flat as a board and jabbed in the direction we needed to go before setting off. We covered the ground quickly with me in the lead. Despite having urban training, these guys were doing a decent job of keeping up.

Finally, we found the source of the beacon. It was a single SOEIV pod, half buried with a tree lying on top of it. Based on the damage to the forest around it, the pod had come in at an angle, made a hard landing, and ended up with this tree on top of it.

As I got closer to the pod, I felt my heart sink. The door was long gone, and a good portion of the inside was scorched. Whomever this pod had belonged to, they had been unfortunate enough to have lost their door early into the drop. Which meant they had been ripped free of the craft and then burned up in the atmosphere.

I sighed to myself before I looked over the inside of the pod, hunting for anything that was salvageable. To my surprise and delight, I found that while the occupant may have been gone, their weapon was still intact and in good condition. With a little prying, I managed to yank the sniper rifle free of its housing and looked it over.

The Sniper Rifle System 99D-Series 2 Anti-Materiel, or SRS99D for those who don't wish to try and say the whole mouthful, was the standard sniper rifle for the UNSC. It was a beast of a weapon, capable of taking down even the largest of Covenant foot soldiers with a shot or two. It had a range of about a mile and a half with impressive penetrating power, so much so that I'd even heard stories of marksmen taking down Covenant tanks with it.

Downside to all that power was that it was bulky as hell. From butt to muzzle, the damn thing was almost as long as I was tall. Each magazine only held four shots which made carrying extra ammo for it a bitch as well. But in the end it was worth it, cause if you could keep a level head, not only could you kill your target, but also your target's cover and the five tangos behind him as well.

So that's how I ended up lugging that big ass rifle through the forest, cause frankly, I wanted to be absolutely sure that anything hostile we came across died. Lucky for me though, we didn't have to hike very far before I picked up another beacon. This one was coming from even further up the valley, which was starting to get much more narrow.

Suddenly, the radio inside my helmet cracked to life. In an instant I came to a halt, my hand at the side of my head, turning a knob in order to try and clear up the signal. The Chief noticed me stopping, stepping in front of me and waving her hand to see if I responded.

"What is it, trooper?" she asked. I didn't answer, but continued to turn the knob. Someone, somewhere in this valley was broadcasting. But the walls were causing too much interference for it to get out. If I could just get the right frequency...

"Rookie, you out there? Respond, that's an order." I blinked, stunned at both my success and the voice that had just come through the comms. It was Gunnery Sergeant Buck. He was alive. And if he was alive, then the others in my squad probably were as well. I don't think I'd ever felt so relieved in all my life.

"Gunny? Is that you?" I sent out.

"Rookie?! Thank God, finally! I've been trying to raise you for a day and a half. What's your status, trooper?"

"Green, Gunny."

"Good. The Captain almost has our equipment back up and running, we should have VISR shortly. What's your location?" I watched as new information about the valley ahead was downloaded by my VISR. From what I could tell, all of the squad except Micky had come down relatively close to each other. Wherever the last member of the squad was, he hadn't come down with the others.

"Make your way to us, Rookie, double time. We got a whole mess to sort out."

"Um, Gunny, about that. I brought some help from the locals.

"Civies?"

"Not exactly."

"Innies?"

"No."

"...Covenant?"

"No. I'll let you see for yourself, Gunny. You ain't gonna believe it," I said before killing the comm link. The Chief was looking at me expectancy as I hoisted the sniper rifle up onto my shoulder.

"There's a squad about a half mile up the valley. Stick close to me and don't do anything reckless if you don't wanna get shot," I said.

Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, more commonly referred to by his men as Gunny, was in a better mood then he had been that morning. Earlier, there had been two members of his squad missing. Now there was only one. Micky was still missing, no sign of either the man or his pod, which means he could have come down anywhere.

The small campsite they had sat up was in a clearing along a stream. Actually, calling it a campsite would have been generous. Aside from a small campfire and some broadcast equipment, there was really nothing else. Dare was currently tweaking on the equipment, getting a little help from Dutch while Romeo was standing a short distance away, his eyes scanning the tree line for any signs of hostile life.

Buck was on guard duty, same as Romeo. Occasionally he'd swap out with Dutch, which was how they'd made contact with the Rookie in the first place. Hearing the new guy's voice had relieved the Gunny's stress some, but it was no where even close to being totally gone. Who were these so called locals that the Rookie was bringing with him? Were they friendly or hostile?

"Do you trust this greenhorn not to get us killed?" Dare asked as she appeared at his side. Buck depolarized his helmet visor so that she could she his face. The Captain in question wasn't wearing her helmet. Somehow it had gotten lost and separated from her during the drop, leaving her head and long blonde hair exposed to the air.

"He's a Helljumper, Veronica. You know there's no such thing as greenhorns amongst us," Buck replied.

"My question still stands, Buck."

"I read his file, which was why I chose him. The kid knows what he's doing. If he says he's found help, that's good enough for me."

"And what if it turns out he's wrong, and we're on a planet full of hostiles?" Buck polarized his visor again.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he answered. The sound of a branch snapping caused both Buck and Dare to ready their weapons. As the crunch of multiple footsteps trampling through the underbrush reached their ears, Buck leveled his MA5C assault rifle, ready to tear apart anything and everything that might have come out of those trees.

Thankfully, it wasn't some alien monster poised to roast them with plasma, or some local fauna looking for it's next meal. It was the black armored figure of an ODST with a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. Buck almost dropped his rifle in relief, if it wasn't for the armored figures emerging from the trees behind the Rookie.

None of them appeared to be armed, but they had their hands raised like they were ready for a hand to hand combat situation. Ahead of them, just behind his lost trooper, was a middle aged woman wearing a slight variant of the others armor. She had gray hair, fair skin, and a pair of scars on her cheek.

"Rookie, glad to see you made it. I take it this is the help you were referring to?" Buck said, lowering the rifle. He still had it pressed to his shoulder, ready to raise it and unleash it's power if need be.

"Yes. Gunny this is Chief Beifong, she runs the police force of a city not too far from here," the Rookie reported.

"Lin Beifong, Chief of Police, Republic City," Lin said, stepping forward and introducing herself.

"Captain Veronica Dare, and this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck. How did you know we were here?" Dare asked.

"We heard a distress beacon coming from this valley and came to investigate," Lin replied.

"Distress beacon? We haven't activated any beacon," Dare said, confused.

"There's another pod a little ways down the valley from here, we picked up it's beacon," The Rookie said.

"Another pod...any sigh of Micky?" Buck asked. James just shook his head, but otherwise remained silent. The gunny sighed at that.

"Damn. Well Chief we could use some help. Our jump got scattered all to hell, and we don't know if there are any survivors aside from us," he said.

"We'll help out however we can," Lin said. Both Dare and Buck stole looks at each other, despite the fact that the latter's visor was still polarized.

"Might as well take it, gonna need all the help we can get," Dutch said over his shoulder.

"Alright fine. We'll head back to your HQ and hammer out the details. It'll be nice to get out of these woods anyway," Buck finally said. Veronica shot him a glare due to the fact that she had been overruled, but he ignored her.

"You mean I can finally take a dump without it being in a hole I dug myself? Things are looking up!" Romeo said.

"Romeo, remember when I told you to shut up? Consider that order reinstated."

"So let me get this straight, you guys have no contact with the rest of humanity at all?" Buck asked. He, Dare, and James were standing in Lin's office. Korra, President Raiko, and the Chief herself were also in the room, making it rather cramped. All three of the UNSC personal had their helmets off and their weapons had been left outside the room so as to settle down Raiko's personal guard. The only reason they weren't in here now was because both Beifong and Korra were renowned benders in their own right. They could protect the President if things went sideways.

Upon the return to Republic City, the equipment that had been salvaged had been stored in the police lockup and then placed under armed guard by Romeo and Dutch. Protocol was sketchy at best in this situation, so they were playing things close to the vest in order to be on the safe side. Raiko had been brought in and informed of what was going on, showed the advanced tech and gear as proof, and now they were conducting negotiations of sorts.

"Up until recently we had no knowledge of life beyond the bounds of this planet. And to be perfectly honest, I'm still not fully convinced that you are who you say you are," Raiko said.

"While I can't say that I blame you, that's not really our concern. Right now, our main priority is making contact with the UNSC," Dare said.

"And that's another thing. Say we do make contact with this UNSC of yours, how will they react? How do we know they won't subjugate us to some kind of colonization?" Raiko pressed. Dare and Buck looked at each other. Neither one of them knew how the UNSC was going to react to this. As far as they knew, nothing like this had ever really happened before. They were treading in unknown waters here.

"Better them then the Covenant," James muttered under his breath.

"Look, Mr. President, chances are the UNSC will probably just ignore you. They've got enough on their plates with the Covenant, a small backwater world would be the least of their problems," Dare said.

"Unless you come under attack by them, in which case if you're allied to them they'll send troops to help. And trust me, you'll want their help if the Covenant ever find this place," Buck added.

"Personally I think we should keep quiet. If what you say about these Covenant are true, we won't stand a chance against them. And what better way to get their attention then to just start broadcasting blindly into space?" Lin asked.

"And what happens to them? We can't just leave these people to their own devices," Korra countered.

"Both of your opinions are noted," Raiko said, silencing the two women, "but the fact remains that no one trusts each other. And nothing beneficial for any side can get done unless that is established."

"What about a trade?" Dare asked.

"What kind of technology did you have in mind, Captain?"

"Oh no, not that. We're not authorized to trade any military equipment. What I was suggesting is that we lend one of ours to you for whatever assignment you choose as a sign of good faith," she proposed. This clearly got both Lin and Raiko thinking.

"Hm. The negotiations with the Earth Kingdom are coming up," Lin said.

"Yes, yes they are. Avatar Korra, you are suppose to mediate at these negotiations are you not?" Raiko asked.

"Yes..."

"And you still have no bodyguard, correct?" Korra's eyes went wide when she realized where he was headed with this.

"Wait, you don't mean..."

"Then it's settled. We will assign one of yours to be the personal bodyguard of Avatar Korra. Who did you have in mind?" Raiko asked, turning back to the troopers.

"Lance Corporal Durant," Buck said, motioning toward James who had remained silent and at attention the whole time. If he had an objections to the assignment, he didn't show it. Korra, on the other hand, was very up front with her opposition to this.

"Now hang on..."

"The Lance Corporal seems like a capable man. Alright, we have a deal," Raiko said. With that, the meeting came to an end. Korra waited until the others had filed out of the room before she turned on Lin.

"I don't need a bodyguard," she hissed at the metalbender.

"I know you don't. But politics are politics, kid, it's best to just go with it for now," Lin replied. The Avatar took a few breaths and began to simmer down. She wasn't happy about it, but she had to admit when it came to bodyguards, she could have done way worse. He wasn't that bad on the eyes either, assuming he didn't wear his helmet.

Outside the office, Buck, Dare, and James began to march down to the lock up. Although he hadn't known him for that long, Buck could tell that something was bothering the other trooper. Veronica had yet to pick up on it, probably because she had just joined the squad.

"What's the matter, Rookie? Don't like a babysitting job?" he asked. The Rookie didn't answer, but rather gave a short terse shake of his head to indicate that wasn't the case.

"Well I have to say I can't blame you, as far as VIP's go, you could do worse. So what's bothering you?"

"Something that Beifong said, Gunny. 'Bout how broadcasting might attract the Covenant," James said. Veronica stopped and turned to face the ODST.

"You think the distress beacons from the pods might attract the Covenant?" she asked, putting two and two together. Durant shrugged, indicating he wasn't fully sure. But now that the seed was planted, it was enough to get the others thinking.

"Hm. The beacons are what led the locals to us, there's no telling who else could be listening. Not to mention we have no idea where here is, exactly," Buck said, placing his hand on his chin.

"If we're in Covenant space, it's entirely possible we could be attracting some very unwanted attention," Dare added.

"We should make shutting down the remaining beacons our main priority," Buck said.

"I agree."

"What about me?" James asked.

"You keep on with your assignment, Rookie. We'll take care of the beacons," Buck answered.

"And if the Covenant show up?"

"We'll worry about that if it happens."

Village of Wai. Earth Kingdom/United Republic Border.

It was night time, with a thunderstorm threatening to descend upon the small village. Nothing but wide open prairie surrounded the village on all sides, making it seem like an island in a vast ocean to it's residents. Wei existed because it sat on a crossroads near the border, making it a rest stop for travelers making their way across from both sides. Upon this night, however, the people of Wei were receiving some very different visitors.

From out of the storm came three purple colored craft. They were bulky, and they flew without any visible form of propulsion. The Type 52 Troop Carrier, or Phantom as it was known amongst the UNSC ranks, was a formidable foe to any who found themselves within it's sights. Part troop transport, part gunship, all bad news.

The three craft came to a hovering halt just outside the outskirts of the village, their floodlights illuminating the town. Gravity lifts located near the rear of the craft came to life, deploying several blue armored Sanghelli along with a single red colored officer. By now, the people of the village were starting to emerge from their homes, curious to see what was going on.

"Leader, what should we do with the settlement?" one of the Elites asked, speaking in their own tongue. The red armored giant stepped forward and regarded the humans with a mild curiosity. He'd seen humans before, fought against them. The unarmed ones, like these before them, usually fled in terror.

One of them stepped forward before the rest. He was wearing some ornate clothing, setting him apart from the others. The Elite drew his Type 1 Energy Sword from his side, but didn't activate it. His curiosity may have been getting the better of him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be prepared.

"Greetings, great spirits. I am the leader of these people, how may we serve you?" the man asked, bowing before them. The Elite officer cocked his head to the side. It had been a long time since he was at the front lines of the war, and the translation software in his armor had not been updated to include the human languages. Still, despite his curiosity, he was a faithful follower of the Path.

With a snap hiss, the blueish white double blade of his sword sprang into existence. The man took a hasty step back in surprise, but it wasn't far enough as the Elite ran him through and lifted him high over his head. The man looked down at the Elite, his mouth agape as he hung impaled on the plasma blade. Letting out a grunt, the Elite threw the man from his blade, allowing his body to land at the feet of the villagers, his body and clothing still smoldering. Many of the villagers screamed and ran in terror.

"The words of the Noble Prophet are clear, Cleanse It!" Upon his order, the other Elites drew their Type 25 Plasma Rifles and opened fire. Blue plasma bolts sailed through the night, striking down humans as they fled or igniting the wooden buildings. The Red Armored Elite advanced with his brothers, keeping his sword activated should he have need for it.

However, this didn't seem to be the case. Many of the villagers had been cut down in the initial volley, and any remaining survivors were killed before they got within range of his weapon. A young human male suddenly appeared from around a corner, swinging his fist at the Elite. A large rock erupted from the ground, flew through the air and smashed into the Elite's chest.

His energy shield took the brunt of the impact, which was enough to force him to one knee, but not enough to completely knock him off his feet. The Elite roared in anger before springing forward and running the human clean through. He lifted him off his feet before smashing him back to the ground.

The human was left gasping for air as his wound slowly claimed his life. Looking down at his defeated opponent with disgust, the Elite officer raised his boot before bringing it down on the human's face, crushing his skull with a single blow.

When he had learned that he was to lead the vanguard force landing on this human world, the officer had believed that the humans would put up more of a fight. So far, this hadn't been war at all, it had been sport. Still, this was just a small outpost, which was why it had been selected as the first landing zone. The other humans on this world would put up more of a fight, of that he was sure.

There was no honor in it otherwise.

And that's a wrap for this chapter. After this, things are really going to start to get interesting. Remember to review, PM, or do something to let me know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter, and I'll see you all next time.