[I am currently entered in a contest, where I must write 50,000 words of this book by the end of the month. Therefore, I will have no time to do any editing, and only time to quickly write though this story. Starting December the story will start to be edited so if you do not wish to read an unedited story please wait till later on to read. Trust me I am not getting lazy with this story, but at least 50000 words will be added to it between now and November 30th . if you wish to help edit please send me a message –thanks!]
Shawn gazed into the morning sky as the sun began to rise over the horizon. Already so early in the morning the heat began to escalate, the air shimmering across the ground. Shawn sipped from a small cup of water, the precipitation condensing around the cup.
The door behind him slid open, and he stumbled as the tiny figure of his son crashed into his legs.
"Morning kiddo," he said ruffling the kid's sandy hair, "you're up early."
"Came out here to see the star," the little boy smiled, pointing to the sky. "There it is!"
Shawn's eyes rose, and quickly grew wide. Descending from the darkness of space shot a massive fireball. He knew that something that large would not burn up in the atmosphere, and something that large might have something valuable on it.
He patted his son on the head, and quickly head for the door.
Outside the air was already hot and dry. His feet sunk into the sand as he ran through the narrow backstreets. Despite the early hours of the morning, many people already roamed the small streets. Shawn weaved through them as quick as he could, moving as fast as he could towards a small building close to the edge of town.
He burst through the thin metal door, startling the six men that slept inside.
"Get up boys," he said, a smile spreading across his face, "we have work to do."
The six moves slowly, long nights of drinking and little sleep pulled at them to return to bed.
"where we going boss?" one asked trying to hide a yawn in his voice.
"something large boys, dropping off just over the ridge of the mountains due south of here. Contact in roughly seven minutes. Get moving, we need to be on top of this on first this time."
The eyes of the men snapped up at the sound of this, and they quickly rushed into the garage. Inside sat 2 transport warthogs, the faint tracing of the letters UNSC still lay on their back bumpers.
The old vehicles roared to life as the men jumped on board, black smoke belching out of the exhaust
People jumped out of the way as the jeeps tore through the streets, moving too quickly for it to change course.
The warthogs creaked wildly as they bounced across the ground, shaking the seven men that sat on bored.
"There it is," pointed Shawn as they entered the foothills. "just follow the smoke boys."
Smoke continued to drift form the ships as the group of salvagers arrived. Their hogs skidded to a halt, spraying the ground with bits of dirt and gravel. The men moved cautiously towards the wreckage. The thick metal Popped and groaned as it cooled.
The seven salvagers entered the ship, quickly pulling out all workable equipment and materials.
Shawn was bending down examining a small data pad when a voice echoed though the halls.
"sir!" the voice came "sir, you'd better come see this!"
Shawn stood up, slipping the pad into his pocked he quickly moved toward the room the man was yelling from. The young man, pointed him in, a look of pride spread across his half shaven face.
"There sir," he said, pointing at a large dark mass laying on the ground. "You may find this interesting."
Shawn stepped forward, a small gasp escaped his lips as the shape came into a view.
"is that a-" he began, gesturing towards the lump.
"Yes sir," replied the salvager "one hundred percent UNSC walking tank sir."
"shit," Shawn muttered in awe, "That's going to be worth a fortune."
"Councils going to pay us good for this one sir."
"Load it up-" Shawn began before a flash of blue further into the cargo bay caught his eye. "You and Jeff load it up into my 'hog, I'll be there in a second."
He moved further into the ship, stepping over twisted bits of metal and Broken containers. He stopped in front of a small holo pad. The image on the pad flickered, dying as the last of the power from the ship was drained. A young woman, flickered in and out of view. She was on her knees, holding her head, crying.
"Hello little lady," Shawn smiled "You're going to make me a very rich man."
