Sergeant Alex Powell
New Alexandria, Reach
23rd December 2530: UNSC Calender
It had been two months since the battle on Harvest. Honestly, it felt like 2 years. I had been replaying those hours in my head non-stop. Could I have done something differently? Should I have taken Hayleys advice? Maybe. I got the mission completed, and for that, I got myself a new team.
My new team... Four lives directly under my control, Four lives my direct responsibility.
As I glanced around the armoury, looking at the four faces of born killers, I could't help but promise myself to never make the same mistakes again, no matter the cost. To do that, I would need to keep from doubting myself.
The four kids stood at least a meter away from another. Typical. The UNSC sticks together five random people and expects them to be a perfect team in a matter of days.
"Sergeant Powell." I began, "That's my name, you will all refer to me as either Sergeant, or Sarge. We'll be working together for as long as you idiots survive. So get to know each other until then."
Introduce myself as Sergeant Asshole - Check.
Now I'll give them a bit of time together before I give them our orders. That was a matter I had to discuss with our L.T. firstly.
PFC Aaron Bennington
"... So get to know each other until then."
Great. why'd I have to get this arse as my first FTL? Whatever, the girls here are pretty decent looking, so there's that at least. Maybe I'll just hit one of these two up.
"Hey" I said, smiling and extending my hand. " Name's Aaron, you?"
"Kate" She replied tentatively, shaking my hand lightly. I couldn't place her accent. Was she Russian?
She was quite short to be an ODST, roughly 5'6. Her wavy black hair and tiny smile were certainly alluring. Still, she had a slightly figure and was not what one would expect to find in the UNSC let alone the ODSTs. On the other hand, the woman standing on the opposite side of the room was the definition of an ODST. Tall, at least 6 ft, and a blonde beauty, coupled together with her muscular figure, made her look, much like myself, like the real deal.
"How'd you end up in the ODSTs?"
"I'm good at hacking things, and I can shoot straight, so they thought I might be good in a spec-ops unit. Turns out they were right and hey-presto! Here I am!" Yeah, definitely Russian.
"You just don't seem like the soldiering type is all."
"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised" She replied with a strange grin.
Corporal Andrea Black
Three guys and two girls, not quite as male dominated as you would expect of the ODSTs. Though that tall brown haired guy wasted no time at all in trying to get into someones pants. Guess some things just don't change with men. I knew I would have to stop this before it escalated too far.
"Hey, I'm Corporal Amelia Black." I smiled
"Aaron"
"Private Kate Grishin"
"Awesome, hey Aaron, can I have a word?"
"Yeah, sure." We stepped a few paces away and I dropped my tone in place of a more serious approach.
"Alright, I know you're new and relatively young but do not try getting with anyone in this team, squad, or platoon. It helps nobody and it will lead to serious complications. Am I clear?"
His face dropped significantly, frowning "Yes corporal."
"Good." Not the best way to make friends, but certainly a necessity. Not that I would want to make friends with this kid anyway. We rejoined Kate.
"Sorry about that, we just needed to clear some things up." I began, resuming my upbeat tone of voice. "I couldn't help but overhear you guys, you-" I said pointing towards Kate. "Must be our resident tech support specialist."
Laughing, Kate replied "Hah! Is that what i'm called? Makes me sound like a total geek! What do they call him? Resident fat-ass?" She stopped suddenly and dropped her head. "I'm sorry, I get talkative when I'm nervous, it's just a thing and honestly you guys are quite intim-"
"Private" I spoke, trying to get her to calm down a bit.
"-idating, I mean look at you compared to me -"
"Private!" This caused Kate to jump. She wasn't lying obviously. "Calm down, no need to be worried around us." I smiled in a way I thought was reassuring. It didn't seem to help Kate at all though.
"Hey, who's Mr. talkative over there?" Aaron spoke suddenly, pointing at the fourth member in the room.
Honestly, I had forgotten him, he'd been so quiet. He was laying on his bunk, playing with something on his data-pad, his head shifted to our direction and I caught a glimpse of deep blue eyes.
"My name is James" He said in one of the weirdest accents I have ever heard. He sat up to look at us all. "I heard your names already, 'n just so yas know, I'm the platoon medic." Promptly, he returned to whatever it was he was doing. I still couldn't place his accent, it was just... weird. Just like the rest of him. He didn't look weird per se, he looked average. Average height, average weight, average build, average looks... everything. Like I said, weird.
"That answers that."
Sergeant Alex Powell
"Lieutenant, I understand that ODSTs are needed in the fight rapidly, but this platoon is newly formed, we have no combat experience together and we sure as hell haven't formed any sort of unit cohesion as of yet."
The L.T. ran his hand through his blonde hair and sighed. "Orders are orders, I don't have a choice in the matter. Look, sergeant, if you really want to get to know your team, skip cryo-sleep and do it then. Right now, go and tell your team to pack their kit and get ready to deploy to the Omega Bectani system. I want the entire platoon on board the UNSC Andraste by 1900 at the latest." With that, he turned and walked away.
"We both know Sansar will be gone by the time we get there." I said, barely above a whisper. He didn't respond.
Idiot. Don't get me wrong, Samuel Varley was a competent and dedicated leader. His C.V. glistened from successful operations against insurrectionists on Harvest, Reach and Sigmus Octanus IV. How he had never fought the covenant baffled me. However, he did not understand that the Covenant were not insurrectionists, they did not resort to guerrilla warfare and they sure as hell had no problem in drowning us with their own blood. We would need time to gel as a team, time that we simply were not going to get.
Reports had been filtering in all day about a suspected covenant offensive on the planet of Sansar in the Omega Bectani system. In response, the UNSC had authorized the redeployment of personnel into the area in order to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians and "Priority-1 Personnel".
We were stationed in Reach and they were calling us to a planet in the outer colonies. It didn't make any sense.
I sighed, before turning around and returning to the barracks containing my team. Opening the door revealed three of my fireteam in a circle chatting away. Amelia, Kate and Aaron from what I could remember. James was lying off to the side on his bunk.
"Alright, grab your gear, we're headed out to the Omega Bectani system-" I started.
"What? Are you kidding? We just got here!" Aaron groaned, I stepped towards him.
"Private, shut it. Yes we are being deployed, yes, I know you barely had a chance to say hi, no, I don't give a fuck, so get your gear and head to the pelican waiting to pick you up. Move it!" There were no groans this time as my team decided it best to follow my orders promptly. I was beginning to dislike Aaron already.
He was not going to take my suggestion for our on-board entertainment well.
A/N: So yeah, I'm not good with the whole exchanging between dialogue and perspectives thing. I am also terrible at maintaining the correct tense. Oh well, I don't like this chapter all that much, and there is no fighting, but as always constructive criticism is welcome. Hope you can bear with me and my terrible writing for a bit.
Also, I'll likely be revisiting this chapter in the future.
Stay Sharp, JD
