Yayap- An Unggy soldier for the Covenant who survived the destruction of Instalation 04, he would go on to live through the Great Schism and join the New Covenant as a transport pilot. (Halo)
N7 Armor- Designed to provide the wearer with additional health and shield strength. The armor itself is made of a dual layer fabric armor and kinetic padding within a lightweight ablative ceramic shell. (Mass Effect)
Kazdan- Originally one of the test subjects for the UNSC's project utilizing and testing adolescence in advanced warfare, tactical and operational use of advanced technology that was cleverly disguised a card game code named CHAOTIC (Controlled Harnessing of Alien Operated Technology Initiation Corps). The CHAOTIC program would eventually be shut down and replaced with the Orion project, when this happened Kazdan and the other test subjects were offered places in the UNSC military. (Chaotic)
Peyton- Another test subject of the CHAOTIC program Peyton chose to join his friend Kaz and going into the UNSC military. (Chaotic)
Light Rifle- The Energy Directed Engagement Weapon also called a Light Rifle, is a Forerunner developed rifle that fires a beam of hard light particles. It is basically a Forerunner equivalent of a Sniper Rifle. (Halo)
Neural Lace- Also called the neural interface is a standard piece of equipment for all UNSC soldiers. The neural lace is implanted into the user's brain and is then compatible with other equipment. It allows the user to identify allies and enemies on their radar.
Hoon'tak Hunter- The highest ranking officer in the military Hunters are carefully chosen from specific bloodlines that have long standing history in military achievement and voluntary service. To be in consideration of becoming a Hunter the family must have at least three generations of voluntary military service and at least one with a substantial honor for his service.
Hoon'tak Stalker- The middle rank, the Stalker class is comprised of voluntary inlisters. Being volunteers for military service rather than forcibly drafted they are given better ranks and equipment from the start.
Hoon'tak Chaser- The lowest rank in the Hoon'tak military, the Chaser class is made up of drafted males, one from every family, they are the foot soldiers and are often used as cannon fodder, having the weakest armor and weapons.
Boltshot- A Forerunner developed pistol that fires concentrated bolts of hard light. (Halo)
Helljumpers- Also known as ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) are a special organization of the UNSC that specialize in special warfare. (Halo)
Pelican Dropship- An extremely versatile aircraft used by the UNSC mainly for transporting troops, equipment and vehicles the aircraft is also equipped with two gatling guns and can be a powerful ground support. (Halo)
Doc Dexter Jr- Originally a medic for the UNSC Dexter Jr. eventually transferred over to the Helljumpers for a more in the action feel. (Dexter's Laboratory)
Gaz- A close friend of Tak and Ginger, the three girls entered the UNSC together and quickly moved up in ranks, eventually becoming Helljumpers. Gaz is Corporal Class. (Invader Zim)
Tak- Close friend of Gaz and Ginger and a member of the Helljumpers. She ranks as a Private First Class. (Invader Zim)
Ginger- A close friend of Gaz and Tak and a member of the Helljumpers. She ranks a Lance Coprporal. (Snafu Comics)
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Zeeltor's Pov
The Banshee screamed into space leaving the gory scene behind them. They had succeeded in escaping the battlefield unscathed and were approaching the freed ships.
Zeeltor stared ahead blankly, hands trembling. The image of Maggy's dead eyes staring lifelessly at him was bored into his mind.
The leader grunt, known as Yayap, turned to face him as well as he could in his seat.
"Any ship in particular?"
The doctor looked to the thousands of ships. "Send out a mass message and ask if there is an agent Jay of MIB." His usual cheery voice devoid of any emotion.
"Sure thing boss."
Jay's Pov
"This…this can't be real! This is all just a bad dream, yeah that's it. Just a really bad dream and soon I'm gonna' wake up in the alley and catch the jerk who knocked me out."
"Calm down Jay." Y tried. The young agent was in hysterics.
They had all just recently awoken in Hoon'tak uniforms, they had no memory of what happened before or how they all got there. And then if things couldn't get any weirder a fleet of Federation ships had escorted them away from an enormous Hoon'tak armada. They were hovering over an artificial organic planet when one of the now freed ships broke away from the rest headed to a large UNSC ship.
Now they all had front row seats to an intergalactic battle.
The large UNSC ship wasn't doing so well. The Hoon'tak mother ship, had rammed it. Both ships were stuck together, still flying and shooting through the heat of the battle, smoke and fire billowed from their hulls. And no one on board knew how it had come to war with the Hoon'tak empire.
One minute he was with Kay searching for their perp and X, then being thrown back into Kay and slipping into unconsciousness. But that was it. Now it looked like 'War of the Worlds' and there was no sign of his partner anywhere. But at least he wasn't alone. Y was there along with a few other agents and even the worms, who having searched the entire ship for coffee with no luck had settled to watching the battle below unfold.
At this point Jay was hyperventilating.
"Don't tell me to calm down Y! What part of this should I be calm about, huh? The fact that we've been shanghaied and are floating thousands of miles above an unknown planet or the intergalactic space battle?!"
Y could understand the young agents fear. He was scared too, although he knew how to keep his fear in check. "Well think of it this way, at least things couldn't get any worse." He tried.
"Except for the squad of Covenant Banshees headed this way." Sleeble said point out to the window.
Y was just barely paying attention to any of them. "Right except for the squad of-WHAT!?" He quickly looked to where the worm was pointing. "Shit he's right!"
Jay freaked out and ran for the controls. "Where are the weapons?!" He screamed. "Someone fire the torpedoes! Are there any lifeboats on this thing?" His panic was beginning to spread as the worms began screaming in pandemonium.
"We're all gonna' die!" Cried Sleeble.
"Attack formation beta!" Shouted Wormy.
"Woman and worms first!" Cried Geeble.
"I didn't even get a last espresso!" Yelled Neeble.
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" Y shouted at the top of his lungs. He pushed Jay out of the pilot's seat. "Look they stopped."
Jay looked out and saw that it was true. The Banshees had stopped a few yards short.
"They're hailing us." Y said as he opened the message.
"Well what are they saying?" Jay asked curiously.
Y's eyes widened a bit. "They're looking for you."
"Well tell them U's not here."
Y almost face palmed. "Not agent U, you you." He said pointing to the young agent.
"What!? Why me?" Jay began to panic again.
"I don't know. Let me ask them who they are." Y communicated with the Banshees while Jay paced behind him muttering to himself.
"It's doctor Zeeltor. Zed sent him to find you."
Jay mentally and physically relaxed. "The doc? Well then tell him to come aboard."
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The Banshees docked and Zeeltor entered with his squad of grunts.
Jay practically hugged him. "Yo doc, you're alright. What's going on here? Where's Kay and Zed and everyone else?"
Zeeltor tried to smile but couldn't shake the image of Maggy out of his head. He relayed everything that had happened since Jay and Kay's disappearance.
"Are you serious?" Jay asked.
Zeeltor nodded grimly.
"Damn aliens." Y cursed.
The young agent looked to Y. "So what do we do now?"
"Just wait and hope for the best. That's all we really can do." The older agent replied.
"What!? We can't just sit here and do nothing!"
Y was becoming very annoyed at this point. "Listen junior we don't have the firepower to do any real damage. We'd be more harm than good if we went out there."
Jay sighed in defeat, Y was right. All they could do was watch and pray.
Kay's Pov
Smoke pillowed through the corridor making him cough and wheeze. He activated the N7 Armor, a quick gift from Lopez before sending him into battle. The N7 armor was designed to augment tech, biotic and weapons damage as well as provide additional health and shield strength. The helmet was a layer of fabric armor and kinetic padding within a lightweight ablative ceramic shell. Coming standard with a set of communication, navigation, and battlefield awareness software. The body, interlocking plates of thick, ablative ceramic plates, it was designed to be light, effective, and easily repaired.
Catching his breath as filtered air was pumped through his armor's vents.
Kazdan's Pov
The first blast slammed into the observation doors which lead to the airlocks with a noise that made private Kazdan jump. His heart pounded as he quickly hit the door controls, engaging an emergency lockout. A heavy metal barrier slammed into place with a crash, then began to glow orange Forerunner energy weapons burned their way through.
"They're trying to get through the door!" He yelled.
He glanced down into the bay and saw Peyton, a stricken look on his face. Kaz could see his own startled reflection in the MIB agent's armor's visor. Kazdan lunged for the alarm, and had time to call in an alert. Then the security door exploded in a shower of fire and molten steel.
Kazdan heard the whine of a Forerunner Lightrifle fire, then felt something punch him in his chest. His vision blurred, and he groped to feel the wound. His hand came away sticky with blood.
It doesn't hurt. He thought. It should hurt shouldn't it?
He felt disoriented, confused. He could see a flurry of movement, as armored figures swarmed into the observation room. He ignored them and focused on a picture of his wife, Sarah, which he'd had in his pocket, smeared with his own blood. Which had somehow fallen to the deck floor.
Kaz fell to his knees and scrambled for the photograph, his hands shaking. His field of vision narrowed as he struggled to reach the photo. It was only centimeters away now, but the distance felt like kilometers. He'd never been so tired. His wife's name echoed in his mind.
Kazdan's fingers had just brushed the edge of the photograph when an armored boot pinned his arm to the deck. A two fingered hand plucked the picture from the floor. Kaz cursed weakly and struggled to face his attacker. The alien, a Hunter class Hoon'tak cocked its head at the image in puzzlement. He glanced down, as if noticing Kaz for the first time. The human continued to reach for the picture. He dimly heard his friend Peyton's voice call out in anguish.
"Kaz!"
The Hoon'tak aimed the Lightrifle at Kaz's head and fired.
Kay's Pov
Kay bristled. Hoon'tak forces were in close proximity, and a UNSC soldier had just died. He longed to climb to the observation bay and engage the enemy, but he was needed more elsewhere. X and Elle had gone to find and evacuate soldiers, weapons and ammunition, while Scar and Rtas'Vadum took on the larger infantry.
A cryo-tech opened a hatchway.
"Come on!" He yelled. "We gotta' get the hell outta' here!"
Kay followed the crewman through the hatch and down a corridor. A sudden explosion blew the next door to smithereens, hurled what remained of the technician's body down the passageway, and caused kay's armor power to drop momentarily.
He mentally cursed and reviewed the schematics of the 'Valiant' and doubled back. He vaulted over a pair of power conduits, and landed in the dimly lit maintenance hallway beyond. The emergency lights strobed red and alarms wailed. The rumble of a second explosion echoed down the corridor.
He pushed ahead, past a dead crewman, and into the next section of hallway. Kay saw a hatch, its security panel pulsing green and hurried forward. There was a third explosion, but his armor deflected the force of the blast.
The agent forced open the partially melted door, saw an opening to his left, and heard someone scream. A naval crewmen fired his sidearm at a target Kay couldn't see, and the deck shuddered as a missile struck the 'Valiant's' hull.
Kay ducked under a half raised door just in time to see the crewman take an ionized particle shot through the chest as human soldiers arrived and returned fire. Hoon'tak forces backed through a hatch and were forced to retreat into an adjoining compartment.
Chaos reigned as the ship's crew did the best they could to push the borders back towards the air locks or to trap them in separate rooms where they could be contained and dispatched later.
Kay heard a low click and heard the familiar voice of Lopez.
"Kay, you read?"
"Loud and clear General. How am I hearing you?"
"We got a call from that Zeeltor fellow. He found your partner and patched us in through a comm link via your armor, doc's pretty damn smart, he did this all remotely. I want you to make your way down to the after-deck, they could really use you there. Zed'll meet you down there."
Kay was relieved to hear that his partner had been found. "On my way."
"Good man, Lopez out."
He heard another click as the link ended, and began following the signs that would take him to the after-deck, trying to avoid the firefights that raged all around.
He made his way down a darkened access corridor, the Hoon'tak boarders must have shorted out the light circuits in this compartment, and nearly ran headlong into a Hoon'tak Hunter in black armor.
The alien roared in surprise and anger. The agent crouched and prepared to meet the alien's shoulder charge, then ducked as a marine fire team unleashed a barrage of assault rifle fire at the Hoon'tak. Green gore splashed the bulkhead, and the alien dropped in a crumpled heap. The marines moved forward to secure the area, and Kay nodded in thanks to the squad leader.
He turned, sprinted down the passageway, and made it to the after-deck without further incident.
He looked through a view port, saw the artificial world and was momentarily curious about it. He strode towards a large room that doubled as a captain's station, near the center of the after deck.
A variety of naval personal sat hunched at their consoles as they struggled to control their beleaguered vessel. Some were busy shooting the latest wave of Hoon'tak fighters, others worked on damage control, and one grim faced lieutenant made use of the ship's environmental systems to suck the atmosphere out of those compartments which had been occupied by Hoon'tak forces. Some of the enemies carried their own atmosphere, but some of them didn't which made them vulnerable. There were crew in some of those spaces, perhaps some she knew personally, but there was no way to save them. If she didn't kill them, the enemy would. Kay understood the situation well. Better a quick death in a vacuum than at the hands of the Hoon'tak.
He spotted Zed near the main tactical display. Zed studied the screens intently, particular a large display of the strange mountainous structure that surrounded 'Genesis'.
The MIB agent came over. "Zed."
Zed turned to face him. "Kay. Things aren't going well. Everyone did their best, a fleet of New Covenant and Federations ships are right behind us, trying to destroy the Hoon'tak's mother ship. But their chances of succeeding look slim."
A holograph image of Zeeltor suddenly materialized onto a holo-panel. "I'm glad to see that you're okay. I managed to get my way into the ship vital systems by hacking the satellite and re-routing the output systems."
Before Kay could reply, another blast rocked the entire ship. He grabbed a nearby support pillar and braced himself, as several of the crew crashed to the deck nearby.
Zed grabbed onto a console for support. "Report!"
Zeeltor's hologram shimmered blue. "It must have been one of their boarding parties. My guess is a high-powered particle charge."
The fire control officer turned in his seat. "Sir! Fire control for the main cannon is offline!"
Zeeltor looked at Zed. The loss of the ship's primary weapon, the magnetic accelerator cannon, was a crippling blow to their holding action.
"Zed the cannon was your last defensive option."
"All right, you hearing this Lopez?" Zed said gruffly.
"Rodger." Came her angry voice.
"I'm thinking we abandon ship and head for the planet below, your thoughts?"
"Great minds think alike!" Lopez shouted. "Alright listen up! We're abandoning the 'Valiant'. That means all of you!"
"While you do what, go down with the ship?" Zed shot back.
"In a manner of speaking," She replied. "I'm gonna' try to land the 'Valiant' on 'Genesis."
Kay shook his head. "With all due respect general, this war has enough dead heroes."
There was a momentary silence.
"I appreciate the concern Kay, but it's not up to me. The destruction or capture of UNSC technology or shipboard ranking officers is absolutely unacceptable. That means all of you are abandoning ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones and upload them to my neural lace."
Zed paused then nodded. "Yes sir."
"This is where you come in Kay." Lopez said over the comm link. Gather as many officers as you can fit in a lifeboat. Keep them safe from the enemy. If they're captured, they'll learn everything about us and the Federation. Force deployment, weapons research." She paused then added. "Earth."
Kay nodded. "I understand."
Zeeltor glanced at Kay. "Agent Kay if you could insert a portable info chip into this holo-pad I'll be able to 'upload' into your suits functions and monitor the landscape from there."
Kay nodded. He took the chip from the back of his helmet and inserted it into the holo-pad, and touched a series of controls. Zeeltor's hologram disappeared and kay pulled the chip re-inserting it into his armor.
"There we go." He heard the doc's voice from his personal com link. "Now I'll begin to upgrade your systems."
A small blue bar appeared at the top center of his helmet visor, an image of a few weapons and ammunition appeared to the right, a small radar at the bottom left, an image of his frag grenades in the two left. A small circle in the center of his visor.
"You can now view your shield level here, your weapons and ammunition counter, a motion tracker that will monitor enemies and allies in the proximity, your grenades, and a cross-hair that will increase your aim capabilities. I'll upload maps and inform you on your current location."
Zed locked eyes with Kay. "Good luck Kay."
The agent saluted and left the after-deck.
The sounds of fighting were even louder now, indicating that in spite of the crew's best efforts, Hoon'tak forces had still managed to fight their way out of areas adjacent to the air locks and made it all way up to the area around the command deck.
Bodies lay strewn around the corridor, roughly fifty meters from the bridge. The human defenders had pushed them back, but Kay could tell that the last assault had been close. Too close.
Kay paused to kneel next to a dead officer, took a moment to close her eyelids, and gathered the fallen trooper's ammo. The pistol the soldier had given to him on the bridge was standard Navy issue. It fired 12.7mm semi-armor piercing high-explosive ammo from twelve round clips. Not what he would choose to tackle a Hoon'tak Hunter's armor with, but good enough for Hoon'tak Chaser armor.
There was a metallic click as he slipped the first clip into the pistol's handle, followed by the targeting reticle lighting up on his visor as his armor made electronic contact with the weapon.
Then, conscious of the need to evacuate the ship, he made his way down the corridor.
He heard the higher-pitched grunts and roars before he actually saw the Hoon'tak Chaser class troopers themselves. Consistent with his status as a veteran, the first alien to come around the corner wore red trimmed armor and a marine's pistol belt. The alien wore the captured gear poncho villa style. Two of his comrades brought up the rear.
Confident that there were more of the vaguely simian aliens on the way, Kay paused long enough to let more of them to appear, then opened fire. The recoil compensators in his armor damped the effect, but he could still feel the handgun kick against his palm.
All three of the Chasers went down from head shots. Phosphorescent green ichor spattered the deck. It wasn't much but it was a start. Kay stepped over their bodies and moved on. A lifeboat. That was his real goal, and he would do whatever it took to find one.
Shee'va's Pov
Ashamed by the ignominy of it, but with his orders, the Hoon'tak called Shee'va waited until the Chasers, Stalkers and Hunters had charged out through the human air lock before leaving the assault boat himself. Though armed with a Forerunner Boltshot plus a half dozen Pulse Grenades, he was there to observe rather than fight, which meant that the Hoon'tak would rely on his stolen active-camouflage unit to keep him alive.
His role, and an unaccustomed one at that, was to function as a 'Theta' or spy for Alpha. The concept, as outlined to Shee'va by the superior, was to insert experienced officers into situations where intelligence could be gleaned, and to do so early enough to obtain high-quality information about the Federations weaknesses for later use.
The Hoon'tak were sent in three divisions, each consisting of troops from the three military classes. The Chasers, the lowest class made up of force employment of civilian Hoon'tak males, one from each family unit. These Chasers were sent in large numbers to coral the enemy to the higher class of warriors, both their armor and weapons were weak, Chasers were basically cannon fodder.
The Stalkers were a higher class, basically the equivalent of Privates. The Chasers were Hoon'tak who joined the military willingly and were assigned better training, weapons and armor.
The Hunters were the highest of the Hoon'tak infantry. They were trained officers carefully chosen from families with long standing military history. They were assigned the most high tech weapons and strong armor.
Though both intelligent and brave, Alpha felt that the Hoon'tak had an unfortunate tendency to destroy everything in their path, leaving very little for the empire to analyze. Now, by adding Shee'va to the combat mix, Alpha hoped to learn and destroy the Allied Federation by using data on their weapons and force deployments to the greatest prize of all. The coordinates to all their home planets.
Shee'va had one other major objective. To capture senior personnel. It was bound to be difficult, but a quick check confirmed that the video gear was working.
So even though the assignment was empty of the glory of kills, Shee'va understood its purpose, and was determined to succeed, if only as a means to return to the regular infantry where he belonged.
The Hoon'tak heard the rhythmic clatter of a human weapons as a group of their Marines backed around a corner, closely pursued by a pack of Hoon'tak comprised by Chasers and Stalkers. The Theta considered killing the humans, thought better of it and flattened himself against a bulkhead. None of the combatants noticed the point where the metal appeared slightly distorted, and a moment later the spy slipped away.
Kay's Pov
It seemed as if the 'Valiant' was infested with barbaric aliens that spouted ionized particle fire. Kay grabbed an MA5B Assault Rifle along with close to four hundred rounds of 7.62mm armor piercing ammunition. In this situation, with plenty of ordnance lying around, he preferred to reload when the ammo indicator on his weapon dropped to around ten. Failure to do so could result in disaster if he ran into serious opposition.
Kay couldn't help but think of how much he was reminded of his time in military school, back before MIB. His father had been a sergeant major in the marines and expected his son to follow in his footsteps. Neither his father nor he ever expected what would come of his life.
With that in mind, Kay hit the release, allowed a nearly empty magazine to fall, and shoved a new clip into its place. The weapons digital ammo counter reset, as did the one in his visor.
"Your close." Zeeltor said over the com. "Duck through the hatch ahead and go up one level."
Kay ran into a shimmery, black-clad Hunter and opened fire. There were Chasers in the area as well, but he knew the Hunter posed the real danger. He expertly sprayed a trio of bursts at the alien. The Hoon'tak roared curses and fired in return, but the sheer volume of the specially hardened 7.62mm projectiles caused the Hunter's armor to crack, shatter, and fail. The bulky alien fell to his knees, bent forward and collapsed.
Frightened by what happened to their leader, the Chasers turned and began to retreat.
Individually, the Chasers weren't too much of a big deal, their armor was weak and their weapons were not very powerful, in the Hoon'tak army they were basically there to keep bullets away from higher ranking individuals, but the agent had seen what a group of the aliens could do. He opened fire again. Alien bodies tumbled and fell. He continued on through a hatch, heard more firing and turned in that direction.
"Hoon'tak! On the landing above you!" Zeeltor called out.
He ran toward a flight of metal stairs, and charged straight for the landing. Boots rang on metal as he slammed a fresh magazine into the weapon's receiver and passed a wounded marine. The agent remembered the soldier from the bridge. The marine held a dressing to a Light Mass burn and managed a smile.
"Glad you could make it, MIB…we saved some party favors just for you."
The agent nodded, paused on the landing and took aim on a Stalker. This Stalker carried an energy shield stolen from a Kig-Yar long ago. The Stalker shifted to take aim at the wounded marine, and Kay saw his opening. He fired a burst at the Stalker's unprotected flank and the alien hit the deck, dead.
MIB's finest reached for another magazine. Another Hunter roared, as did another. There was no time to reload, so Kay turned to take them on. He discarded the Assault Rifle and drew his sidearm. There were a pair of dead marines at the alien's feet, roughly twenty five meters away. Well within range, he thought and opened fire.
The lead Hunter snarled as the powerful handgun rounds tore into the helmet around his head.
Sensing the human's threat, the aliens shifted all of their fire in his direction only to watch as it dissipated against his shields and armor.
A group of marines had the misfortune of retreating into that particular stairwell, followed by a group of Stalkers who joined their Hunter brothers in attacking the MIB.
Now free to direct their fire wherever they chose, the marines launched a hastily organized counterattack. A fragmentation grenade blew one Hunter into green bloody ribbons, shredded the Stalkers who had the poor judgement to stand next to him and sent pieces of flying shrapnel flying across the stairwell to slam into the bulkhead. The other Hunter was consumed by a hail of bullets. He seemed to wilt, fold and fly apart.
"That's what I'm talking about!" A marine cheered. He fired a coup de grace into the alien's head.
Satisfied that the area was reasonably secure Kay moved on. He passed through a hatch, helped a pair of marines take out a group of Chasers and marched down a corridor drenched with blood-both Human and Hoon'tak.
The deck shook as the 'Valiant' took a new hit from a ship-to-ship missile. There was a muffled clang and a light flared beyond a view-port.
"The lifeboats are launching!" Zeeltor announced. "You should hurry!"
"I am hurrying," Kay replied. "I'll get there as soon as I can."
Zeeltor started to reply, reconsidered and apologized. Sometimes fallible though they were, MIBs were right.
X's Pov
X had just gotten the call from Lopez. He was to get as many dropships and pilots off the 'Valiant' as possible by any means. Elle had gotten her orders to, she was in charge of the Helljumpers. Which meant they had to go separate ways. He didn't like it but if he didn't many would die.
X waited for a Chaser to round the corner. He shot it in the head and the bastard dropped like a rock. He took a quick peak, verified that the next corridor was clear and motioned to those behind him.
"Come on! Let's get while the getting's good!"
Three pilots along with and equal number of ground crew, Scar and Rtas' followed as X thundered down the hall. He ran with a flat-foot determination. The plan, if the wild assed scheme he'd concocted could be dignified as such, was to make it down to the ship's launch bay, jump into the D77-TC 'Pelican' dropships, and get off the 'Valiant' before the cruiser smacked into the planet below.
At best, it would be a tricky takeoff and a messy landing, but he'd rather die behind the stick of a bird or a gun than trust his fate to those damn Hoon'tak. Besides if they got some of those birds off, maybe they'd come in handy. That was looking like an increasingly big maybe. It was ironic a few days ago he was trying to end his life and now he was doing everything possible to prevent the same outcome.
"They're behind us!" Somebody yelled. "Run faster!"
X wasn't a sprinter, he was used to close range combat, damn it. He turned to take on his pursuers, when a globe of glowing yellow ionized particles sizzled past his large ear.
"Screw this!" He yelled, then ran with renewed energy.
Laurel's Pov
The 'Valiant's' contingent of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, also known as ODST, or Helljumpers had originally been assigned to protect the cruiser's power plant, which consisted of a unique network of fusion engines. That's where Elle had been told to go by Lopez, who had made her lieutenant of the platoon. She'd filled her in that she'd have to be tough as shit to get their attention. They weren't exactly thrilled to be taking orders from a girl who'd just jumped ship, but after a few words from 'Momma Lopez' they were marching in line two by two.
The engine room was served by two main access points, each protected by a Titanium-A hatch. Both were connected by a catwalk and were still under human control. The fact that Lopez's marines had been forced to stack the Hoon'tak bodies like firewood in order to maintain clear fields of fire testified to how effective the men and woman under her command had been.
There had been human casualties as well, plenty of them. Laurel who waited impatiently while 'Doc' Dexter, the platoon's medic, bandaged the arm of a purple haired soldier. There was a lot to do and clearly she wanted to get to it.
"Got some bad news for you Gaz" The medic said. "The tattoo on your bicep, the one with the skull and the letters 'ODST' took a serious hit. You can get a new one of course…but scar tissue won't take the ink in quite the same way."
Elle knew the talk had a purpose, knew it was Doc's way of taking the soldier's mind off 'Cup, Tak and Ginger. Their comrades who'd died in the last wave. The medic secured the bandage in place and the officer rolled her sleeve down over the dressing.
Gaz smiled, something she rarely did. "You know what, Dex. You are truly full of it. And I mean that as a compliment."
Dex wiped his forehead with the back of a sleeve. It came away with some blood on it.
"Thanks, Private. Compliment accepted."
"All right," Elle boomed as she strode out onto the center of the catwalk. "Listen up! Play time is over. General Lopez is tired of our company and wants us to leave this tub. There's a planet down there, complete with an atmosphere, gravity and the one thing marines love like beer, and that's dirt beneath our feet." The young agent paused at this point, allowing her eyes to sweep the faces around her, her mouth straight as a crease.
"Most of the crew, not to mention your fellow jarheads, will be leaving the ship on lifeboats. They'll ride to the surface in air conditioning comfort, sipping wine and nibbling on appetizers. Not you however. Oh no, you're going to leave the 'Valliant' by a different method. Tell me, boys and girls…How will you leave?"
It was a time honored ritual Lopez had filled her in on, and the ODST marines roared the answer in unison. "WE GO FEET FIRST SIR!"
"Damned right you do." Elle barked. "Now let's get to those drop pods. The Hoon'tak is holding a picnic down on the surface and every single one of you is invited. You have five minutes to strap in, hook up and shove a cork in your ass."
It was an old joke, one of their favorites and the marines laughed as if they had just heard it for the first time.
Then they formed into squads and followed their new noncom out into the corridor that ran down the port side of the ship.
Elle led her platoon down the hall, past the troopers assigned to guard the intersection and through what had been a battlefield. Bodies lay sprawled where they had fallen, ion burns marked the bulkheads and a long line of 7.62mm dimples marked the last burst that one of the dead soldiers would ever fire.
They pounded around a corner and into what the marines referred to as 'Hell's waiting room'. The troopers streamed down the center of a long narrow compartment that housed to rows of oval shaped individual drop pods. Each pod bore the name of an individual trooper and was poised over a tube that extended down through the ship's belly.
Most combat landings were made via armed assault boats, but the boats were slow and were subject to antiaircraft fire. That was why the UNSC had invested the time and money necessary to create a second way to deliver troops through an atmosphere. The HEV, or Human Entry Vehicle.
Computer controlled antiaircraft fire would nail some of the pods, but they would make small targets and each hit would result in one death rather than a dozen. There was just one problem. As the ceramic skins that covered the HEV's burned away, the air inside the pods would become unbelievably hot, sometimes fatally so. Which was why ODST personnel were referred to as Helljumpers. It was an all-volunteer outfit, and it took a special kind of crazy to join up.
Elle remained on the central walkway until each of her men had entered their particular pod. She knew that meant she would have sixty seconds less to make her own preparations and was quick to enter her HEV once the last hatch had closed.
Once inside, Elle's hands were a blur as she secured her harness, ran the obligatory system checks, removed a series of safeties, armed her ejection tube and eyed the tiny screen mounted in front of her. The 'Valiant's' fire control computer had already calculated the force required to blow the pod free and drop the HEV into the correct entry path. All she had to do was hang on, pray that the pod's ceramic skin would hold long enough for the chute to open and try to ignore how fragile the vehicle actually was. No sooner had the MIB braced her shoes against the bulkhead and looked up at the countdown, than the last digit clicked from one to zero. The pod dropped, accelerated out of the ejection tube and fell toward the artificial world below. Her stomach lurched and her heart rate spiked.
"Holy f*ck!" She screamed. Her shout was followed by cheering, hoots and hollers and a few cat calls over the team frequency.
Somebody popped a tiny disk into a data player, touched a button and pushed the hyped up strains of the Helljumpers anthem, 'Highway to Hell', out over the freq. The regs made it clear that unauthorized use of UNSC communications facilities was wrong, very wrong, but Elle knew that at that particular moment it was right and Lopez must have agreed if she was listening because nothing came over the command freq. The music pounded in her ears, the HEV shuddered as it hit the outer layer of the planet's atmosphere and the marines fell feet first toward Genesis.
Kay's Pov
The deck jumped as the 'Valiant' absorbed yet another blow and the battle continued to rage outside and in. Kay was close now and prepared to sprint for a lifeboat.
That was when Zeeltor said, "Behind you!"
And the agent felt an ionized particle bolt him squarely between the shoulder blades. He fell, rolled and sprang to his feet. He whirled to face his attacker and saw a Chaser had dropped out of an overhead maintenance way. The alien stood with his feet planted on the deck, a Boltshot overcharging in his claw.
Kay took three steps forward, used his Assault Rifle to knock the enemy off his feet and followed it with a three round burst. The Chaser's Boltshot discharged its stored energy into the ceiling. Drips of molten metal sizzled on Kay's armor. The armor piercing rounds punctured the alien's jugular vein, released a stream of green blood and caused him to gag choke on it.
A trio of additional Chasers landed on the agent's back forcing him down and grabbed hold of his shoulders. It was almost laughable, until he realized that one of them was trying to remove his helmet. A second alien carried and ignited Pulse Grenade. The bastards meant to drop the explosive into his armor. He flexed his shoulders and shook himself like a dog. Hoon'tak flew in every direction as Kay used short controlled bursts to put them down. He turned toward the lifeboats.
"Now!" Zeeltor urged. "Run!"
The human ran, just as the door started to close. A nearby marine fell while running for the escape craft and the agent paused long enough to scoop the soldier up and hurl both of them into the boat. Once inside, they joined a small group of crew officers already on board the escape craft.
"Now would be a very good time to leave." Zeeltor commented coolly, as something else exploded and the cruiser shuddered in response. Kay stood facing the hatch. He waited for it to close all the way, saw the red light appear and knew it was sealed.
"Punch it."
The pilot triggered the launch sequence and the lifeboat blasted free of the ship, balanced on a column of fire. The boat skimmed along the surface of the 'Valiant' at dizzying speed. Energy blasts from a Hoon'tak warship slammed into the 'Valiant's' hull. In seconds, the lifeboat dropped away from the cruiser and dove toward the planet.
Kay killed his external com system and spoke directly to Zeeltor. "So any idea where everyone is and where we are headed?"
"As far as I can tell agent Elle is already headed to the planet's surface, agent X is almost to the Pelican drop ships with Scar and Rtas'Vadum, Thel'Vadam is on a cruiser not far behind us, 'Karepta is still running the battle above and Lopez is still at the controls of the 'Valiant'. As for where we are headed, no, not exactly." Zeeltor admitted. "I managed to slice some data out of the Hoon'tak battle network. The planet is called 'Genesis', and the artificial mountain structure surrounding it was built by the Engineers and is some kind of large installation, of what kind I can't say. But other than that…your guess is as good as mine."
"Genesis." He repeated. "Looks like we're going to be calling it 'home' for a while."
The lifeboat was too small to mount a Shaw-Fujikawa faster-than-light drive so there was nowhere to go but the planet below. There were no shouts of jubilation, no high fives, only silence as the boat fell through the blackness of space. They were alive, but that was subject to change and that left nothing to celebrate.
One marine said, "This really sucks." No one saw any reason to contradict him.