Lebenden_Toten

A Feeling of Importance

Chapter 11

YAY another chapter! So, I was wondering, would anyone be interested for creating cover art for this story? I would do it myself but I have a huge lack of time, and the only thing I could probably do would be a vector drawing… So, if anyone is wanting to do so, let me know! Also I appreciate all the support I have gotten from you guys, this being my first fanfiction and all. So anyways, into the chapter, I felt sorta like it was lacking, but I was wanting to get to the Mass Effect bits :P, so in the end I may have rushed… just a bit… maybe a lot. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Getting into the armor for the first time was one of the coolest experiences in my life. All the techs were moving around me as they fit on the various pieces of the MJOLNAR. Then when everything was finally on and connected the suit's gel layer pressurized. Once it had done that the suit had gone from a loose fitting hunk of metal to an armored carapace that felt no different than standard ODST armor, maybe even a bit better. After going through a few systems checks however the armor came to life. I felt the weight of the armor seem to disappear as the enhanced movement systems came online, there was a low buzz as the shields charged, and the heads up display came to life.

"Ma'am, you have really outdone yourself this time," I said as I slowly began to flex my hands, watching how the suit reacted. It was perfect. I mean my actions seemed a little fast, but it's not anything that I couldn't get used to. It was just, well different.

"Yes well I'm glad you appreciate my efforts. When you become comfortable with the basic movements go for a run on the obstacle course. Once you have done that bring you ODSTs and come check in with me, I have another little gift for you all."

Ah hell yes, I like the sound of that. After a few more moments I made my over to the obstacle course she had pointed out.

"You ready?" Asked a technician who was going to be timing me. I looked at everyone else in the room as they prepared to watch my performance. I nodded at the tech. "Alright, three, two , one, GO!". I was gone before he had finished saying go. Running through the course in the armor was an almost freeing sensation. There was just a simple goal, to get through as fast as I could. The MJOLNER acted as if it was an extension of me as I vaulted over walls, crawled under razor wire and completed various other activities while going through the course. Eventually as I neared the end I miscalculated my distance from an eight foot cinder block wall that marked the end of the course. As a result of this, instead of going over the wall I was going to hit it… HOLY SHIT! My thoughts were quickly followed by a loud crash. In short, it was me V.S. the wall, surprisingly I won and there was a SPARTAN sized whole in the wall.

"Holy shit Sarge! You ok?"

"Am I ok… I feel fuckin great!" After I said this I heard Fred let out a laugh and looked over just in time to see him shaking my head at me, a knowing smile on his face.

After I had finished re-assuring everyone that I was intact I went over with my troopers to see what Halsey's surprise was. When we had finally gotten over to her she gestured to a group of techs who brought over a few backpack looking devices. Ah hell yes… This is gonna be so much fun.

"Andrew, I have a feeling you know what these are, so let your troopers in on it, and please try not to get to hurt playing with it," After she said this I quickly nodded and snatched a jetpack from one of the tech's hands.

/A few minutes later/

After a few moments of messing around I had figured out how the damn thing worked. I was now in the middle of teaching the ODSTs how to use them.

"So your saying that basically I just blink at my HUD a couple of times and it activates or de-activates?" asked Campbell.

"That's pretty much the basics, yea… Just please be careful," I responded.

"You worry too much Sarge." Not two seconds after he said that his pack activated and launched him straight up… and right into the re-enforced ceiling.

Sometimes I feel like a fucking babysitter…

"What a clusterfuck," stated Rodriguez as we took off in the pelican (the one that the SPARTANs and Halsey had arrived on). I silently agreed, almost as soon as the last of the SPARTANs were armored up we had gotten news that we had to get back to orbit, the Covenant were moving in and we needed to get the fuck out.

This also happened to mean that the SPARTANs (me included) would have to go EVA to go take out the Covie ship that had been hit earlier (This is a series of events from "Halo, The Fall of Reach"). This also means that unless I did something Sam, one of the SPARTANs, who will (Probably) make it on, will die… At least unless I do something about it.

Once we exited the planet's atmosphere John told us the plan, thruster packs to get us across the ship, then we use the missiles stored in the Pelican and blow the ship's reactor to kingdom come. Well that's the cliff notes version anyway. When John gave us the word the other SPARTANS and I jumped into action preparing everything for our slightly (ok very) unorthodox attack.

Before I knew it John had given the order to commence our little plan. As soon as I heard the command I was out the door and into the vacuum of space. We are all gonna die… well maybe not, but it sure as hell feels like it. The quick journey felt like a lifetime as we used EVA packs to fly towards the Covenant ship. Eventually we neared the giant purple ship. The ship's plasma weapons had started charging, readying to fire at the UNSC frigate that was our way back to Reach. Right went the turrets fired their shields went down for a split second. That short amount of time though, was just enough for us to enter the ship through a whole created by earlier by the frigates MAC cannon.

It wasn't long before we were inside the pressurized atmosphere of the ship. Surprisingly John had me take point as we moved through the dimly lit purple hallways. Eventually we reached what we believed to be the reactor room. The other SPARTANs (John, Kelly, and Sam) that had made it onto the ship stack up on the door. After placing a C12 breaching charge on the door I readied my shotgun. I was to be the point man after all.

"Alright, blowing the door in three, two, one." A dull roar filled the hallway as my helmet deadened the noise of the explosion. Before the smoke had even cleared as I was through the door.

(John's P.O.V.)

As soon as the door blew 095 was through the door, his shotgun raised.

"DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!" his yelling was quickly followed by the bang of his shotgun and the inhuman screaming of a jackal and a few grunts.

"Well he hasn't changed a bit," remarked Sam dryly as he moved through the door way. That he hasn't… I thought to myself as Kelly and I moved through the doorway. Andrew was still a perfect representation of his younger self. I just hope he keeps his anger in check, Halsey has shown me the footage from when things have gotten bad in the past. Sam went through to the door to what we believed was the main core. Suddenly when he was almost through the sharp zapping noise of a charged plasma pistol went off. Before Sam, Kelly or I could react however Andrew had pulled him back out of the way of the projectile before charging through the door with a yell, tossing two already primed frags as he went. It's almost as if he knew that would happen. I thought as in awe as I moved through the door. Before me sat the bodies of at least two full squads of covenant. To say that they had been ah… eliminated, would have been an understatement. An arm over here and a leg over there… Well at least it was clear that it was the grenades that caused most of it.

(My P.O.V.)

"Can we hurry up please?" I said while John, Sam, and Kelly all surveyed the carnage caused by my… ah, dramatic entrance to the reactor core room. "I mean in all for enjoying the scenery, but there are more often than not there are a couple hundred angry aliens moving towards us right now."

"Right, everyone set the timers for twenty seconds," said John. "We don't want to be here when this thing goes up." We all acknowledged his orders and quickly moved to comply.

"Ok boss, charges are set" I said after placing our improvised explosives around the main reactor core (well whatever it was it looked important). "They are set for both timed and remote detonation, we need to get moving."

"Good job, now let's get out of here." After John gave the order we all began to move back out the way we came. Surprisingly (and mercifully) we didn't run into anything worse than a grunt on our way back to our 'entrance'. "Alright," John began, "Once the charges go off the shields should go down. When they are, jump out and use the EVA packs to get away before the whole thing gets blown to hell. The pelican will swing by and pick us up, understood?" After everyone applied in the affirmative John motioned for me to ready the detonator. "Whenever you are ready 09."

"Alright then, three… two… one…" I jammed my thumb down on the button of the detonator and then felt a slight shudder in the ship's deck plating. "Shields should be down now," I said as the hallway's main lights went out.

"Okay then SPARTANs, let's get out of here."

"Right behind you sir," I said as we all jumped out into the blank void of space as the Covenant ship exploded behind us as we slowly drifted away(cool guys don't look at explosions)…"Well that was fun."

"095, you and I have completely different definitions of fun," said Sam over the coms.

"Meh, I kill aliens for a living… you can't expect me to be completely normal."

/A few months later/

(My P.O.V.)

Well a lot has changed since I had first seen the SPARTANs again (when we all got our armor). Since the multitude of things had happened. The first one, I had ah… modified my armor a bit. The lights on the various pieces of the armor itself now emitted a murky red color. The armor itself was now a dark gray/black with Maroon highlights. I had also added various hard points on the armor that I could use to attach various items to my armor. My favorite thing to do was to add some titanium A plates that I had… Uh borrowed, to act as supplemental armor. When all of the various plates were attached (don't worry I painted them to fit my armor's colors) to the armor I essential yaws a walking tank when going against anti-personnel weapons. In layman's terms, it was a Juggernaut suit (well relatively when compared to my normally armor). Other than my armor I was still sticking with my 'Reach era' MA37 assault rifle, my M45 tactical shotgun, and my trusty M6G Magnum.

In other news, the battle for Reach had begun… My squad and I had originally been deployed into New Alexandria to help with civilian evacuation. Eventually through I was separated from my squad. They stayed in New Alexandria while I was deployed with a group of six other Spartans, Noble team… To commemorate my time in this universe so far I had also gotten a tattoo, in my previous life I had say I wouldn't ever get one unless it was for something that was really important to me. Well if the giant fucking UNSC eagle and globe on my back doesn't say anything about what is important to me, I don't know what will.

Oh and last but certainly not least of my more recent ah 'changes' was that my anger issue caused by augmentations finally snapped… I went a bit berserk on a squad of elites at one point, losing complete control of my actions in combat. Halsey heard of my little 'incident' and came up with a solution. A few weeks after the event she paid me a visit and handed me a data chip, and said "Just a bit of guidance, don't worry it will help maximize damage to the enemy," and then walked away with a smile. Turns out the data chip was an AI, an extremely aggressive AI at that. His name was Ares and he was a 'smart' AI. As he explained it to me, his purpose is to make use of my little 'outbursts' by giving slight amounts of guidance through the HUD, as well as doing regular 'Smart AI" stuff. Also did I mention that he sounds like Sovereign from Mass Effect… so cool.

/A few years later/

(My P.O.V.)

I woke up, a quit hiss filling my ears. The last thing I remembered was escaping from Reach on a transport shuttle (a long term one) then getting stuck in the middle of no-where because the Navigator had been hit and unfortunately died after initiating Cole Protocol. So that left me, and all the other passengers of the vessel stranded in space. So we went in to cryo sleep hoping for rescue.

"Sir," began a Marine who I suppose was the one who let me out of cryo. "You are needed back on earth, the Covenant are there and in force, the Chief is there and the Elites are now allied with us but we still need help. The Prophet of Truth and his forces have been looking for something." After this long rant of information he had to take a breath to recover. Before he did however I interrupted him.

"Well then, what the hell are we doing standing here, let's get these people off the transport and head back, we have a war to win."

"Ooh-Rah sir! We will get it done."

Well shit, seems as if I missed Halo One and Two… Halo Three here I come.

/End of HALO 3/

(My P.O.V.)

"SHIT, FUCK, GODDAMIT JOHN WATCH YOU'RE FUCKIN DRIVING!" I yelled as we careened through the Forerunner installation. The ring, needless to say was falling apart around us.

"IM DOING MY BEST OK!" was his reply as we jumped over a rather large gap in the road while then running over a few flood combat forms. Needless to say the rest of the ride was rather stressful as I sat on the turret mowing down some of the more over aggressive flood. The Arbiter however just sat in the passenger seat, calm as ever. Eventually we saw salvation in the form of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. The Warthog lurched as we left the ramp to the Dawn. Landing in the hanger bay with a crash we all jumped to get out of the Hog, and made our way towards the exit of the hanger, one of us however had to shut the bay door. I am not letting John play the here and then be stuck here until Halo Four. I motioned for him to go on as I went to the terminal to shut the door. The door shut as the Dawn started to make the infamous slipspace jump at the end of Halo Three.

"Well fuck…" I said to myself realizing what the hell I had just done. (Bold is gonna be Ares voice) Rather accurately put if I do say so myself…. "Yup." After taking a moment for the gravity of the situation to set in I began moving towards where the cryo bay was. Once there I took out Ares data chip and put it in the console. "Ares, wake me if someone is trying to kill us, I wanna get a good night's sleep for once." Whatever you say… I stepped into the cryo pod and gave a long sigh as the capsule closed and began to cool. What a crazy life I have, in my old life I never would have done any of this shit beyond the games… now I can say that I have basically done it all. A feeling of belonging, a feeling of importance…

(Bridge of the SSV Normandy)

"Hey uh Captain Anderson?"

"What is it Joker?"

"You might want to take a look at this…"

"… What in the name of God…"

"My thoughts exactly."

BEGINNING OF MASS EFFECT ARC!

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Thank you so much for reading! I would really appreciate reviews on this one because I put quite a bit of effort into it! Feel free to msg me with any questions you may have as well. Also as a side note, if there is someone that would be willing to sometimes pre-read what I'm going to upload and give me feedback, and is willing for me to bounce ideas off of them let me know! I will leave you all by saying thank you for all the support that you have given me so far in writing A Feeling of Importance, and I hope that you all will enjoy what is to come (I put a lot of effort into this shit :P). Also one final quick thing… Advanced Placement exams are a bitch.