Jungles of Indonesia, Southwest Asia

Time seemed to drag on as the storm persisted, with little else to do Adrian and Liam bid their time in the minor crevice. Over what must have been a few hours, voices could be heard as troops searched the area, at one point the distinct sound of motorization rumbled by causing the rocks to shake around them. Despite that the experience was duller than anything else, the chances of being discovered in the pitch-black night was so low that he was almost tempted to fall asleep. That being said, low chances didn't mean zero chance and it'd be a fools gambit to do slack off. To pass the time the two ODSTs covered over private comms – their helmets muffling their voices – and played simple games as they were doing now.

"But that's what I'm saying, the geopolitical factors facing the Avdrani put them at an initial disadvantage regardless of their elven traits." Liam argued as he analyzed the tic-tac-toe outline sketched into the dirt; drumming his fingers along the ground he eventually swirled a vaguely circular shape in the upper-right portion of the board.

"It doesn't matter though; the show has clearly laid out that the Zaki are too occupied with infighting to be a threat which eliminates one of two border risks." Adrian replied as he crossed two lines directly under the freshly drawn 'o'.

Barbie ran his hand over his helmet in exasperation, "Christ ya fucking dill, it's like arguing with a child, you gotta read the books! It lays out the entire state of affairs and how absolutely fucked they are."

"I shouldn't have to read the books to understand the show!"

"Well doesn't matter much anyway, cause one you're an alf and two you lost." Liam said as he swirled a final circle in the dirt and drew in a line through his three-in-a-row connection.

Adrian grumbled to himself as he pulled up a number of environmental sensors on his visor, "Storms been going on a while, gotta end soon…what do you think?"

"Might as well try, worst case we find a good extraction point and the storms not over, we bunker down. Best case it clears up almost immediately and we're picked up almost immediately."

He nodded in agreement, "Most of the enemy troops should be dispersed, either given up on finding us or stretching themselves thin. Still, we shouldn't be reckless, take it slow."

The two crawled forwards, carefully moving the makeshift blockade away from the entrance as the rain continued to pour down. Stepping out onto the muddy ground, Adrian could feel his boots slightly sinking into the soaking earth. Brining the plasma battery container as well, he slid the case into his ballistic bag and swung it over his shoulder. If they moved straight ahead, it'd be a direct line Southwest to the nearest shoreline which in and of itself would make a solid landing spot if they couldn't find anything else beforehand. Relaying this information to Liam, the duo moved out, very much aware they were in enemy territory, they kept their eyes peeled wide and turned their radars to pick up event he subtlest movement.

"I don't miss the Covenant, but their constant plans to brute force everything at least make them predictable."

Adrian agreed, fighting humans was always a bit weird if he was being completely honest. At the core of it was that it felt…wasteful in a sense, his world or not, fighting genocidal aliens starts to make other threats seem puny in comparison. The innies had their own problems but in the end they were still humans, still part of a dying humanity and to their credit its often reported that a lot – but far from all – turned their attention to the Covenant. Other than that Liam had a valid point that's been heavily agreed upon in military strategy which is that their solution to most problems is simply brute force it. Their more technologically advanced but their tactics are frankly pathetic, not that it matters much when the basic weapon can melt through armor and their ships can turn entire cities to dust. As the UNSC is generally speaking, more successful in ground battles than space battles. With boots on the ground there's centuries of refined military tactics that the Covenant barely understand, in the void of space strategy still exists, but it's harder to implement when you can see an enemy ship from an unfathomable distance and disintegrate their armor before they even get in range. Humans are by comparison, wildly unpredictable which often works to our advantage, but when you're facing other humans that volatility tends to bite you in the ass.

Liam stumbled to the ground as his foot got fell into a barely visible pit in the earth, pushing himself off the ground he started to wipe the sludge off his armor before he noticed something. Kneeling down he waved Adrian over who bent over where Liam was pointing, "Look at these tracks, in this weather those have got to be pretty recent, last fifteen minutes maybe." In the dirt were distinctly human footprints, partially filled with rainwater walking perpendicular to their course.

"Well if we're lucky we'll never run into them, still we should keep an even sharper eye out, means they're still searching the area."

The two continued their trek through the unforgiving storm, and despite initial hesitations they made no contact. No long after the discovery of the tracks, a large rocky outcropping emerged in front of them at least ten meters all around that rose like a spire into the sky. It wasn't by any means huge, but it was clear of any heavy fauna and more importantly the raised elevation meant it would be a perfect spot for extraction. Adrian spared a glance to Liam who looked it over with a scrutinizing eye before tilting his hand back and forth but nodded.

"Overwatch this is marauder."

"Go ahead."

"We've found a sizeable rocky protrusion that clears the surround dozen meters or so, how about a pickup?"

The line went silent for a few seconds, "Sounds good, if you can hold position for about fifteen minutes the weather will be passable. Over and out."

"You catch all that?" Adrian asked Liam.

"Loud and clear, spend a few minutes catching some rest and we're in the clear." Barbie responded lackadaisically as he rested against a large boulder. Adrian sat down next to him, switching his M7S out for his BR55 as he rested the heavy rifle in his lap.

Stretching a hand into the air, Adrian opened his palm letting the rain run through his fingers. "Raging storm and solders out for blood aside, not a bad place, eh? Tone down the weather to a nice drizzle, put on some nice jazz…not bad at all."

"Whatever you say mate."

"I forgot you've got a brain the size of a walnut, can't appreciate the softer things in life."

Liam chuckled as he wacked the back fo Adrian's helmet good naturedly, "Gotta say though, aren't your fingertips fucking freezing?" He was of course referring to the fingerless gloves, there were a number of armor variants to cover any possible situation, for Adrian he found gloves were more of a nuisance in his specialization. Covvie tech especially felt like it was designed to be as much of a hassle as possible to work with. That being said, his fingers were indeed freezing.

"Abso-fucking-lutely, I think I have the mark 4-C variant stashed somewhere in my pack for exactly this reason. As soon as we get back to the base, I'm going to swap these out, future inconveniences are a small price to pay for my fingers staying attached to my body."

"That and when we do get sent back, who the hell knows where we'll end up. Say we end up in space, everything but your hands are gonna be airtight, so you'll lose your whole hand in that fucking void."

Adrian hadn't thought about that but it was a valid idea, ODST suits were naturally vacuum sealed with upwards of thirty minutes stored oxygen however you can't vacuum seal a glove when there aren't any fingertips. He was about to speak again when Barbie raised up a hand as he pushed off the rock and crouched down with his gun at the ready.

Adrian looked behind him, spying a solid position on the rocky outcropping he climbed up the jagged edges with a deft display of dexterity before settling his battle rifle into a small crevice for better recoil control. Even with his height advantage he couldn't see anything, and his radar was still only showing Liam, still if his comrade thought something was wrong then he had no reason to doubt it. They waited in silence as the pouring rain began to lighten up, Adrian shifted his footing just as brief whistling flew by his helmet followed only seconds later by the tell-tale crack of a rifle. Ducking behind his cover, his radar started to fill with red dots, first six, then a dozen, then near two dozen dots filled the outer edges of his radar as they began to move in closer. Pulling two grenades off his belt, he pulled the pin on his first grenade and tossed it overhand with all his might aiming for the clustered center of enemies. Waiting a few seconds until he heard the pop, he pulled the pin on the second grenade and tossed it like the first one. Another bang resounded through the jungle as a few screams managed to raise above the sounds of the storm

"You think that thinned them out at all?" Adrian asked over the comms.

"Hard to tell, these trees are so fucking thick I can only catch a few at a time." Liam response as the muffled burp of his submachine gun let loose.

Moving a bit to the side, Adrian inched his rifle over the rocky cover and peered down the scope, catching snippets of movement through the trees as they grew closer. When a soldier would walk into the crosshairs of his scope, he'd open fire, letting a burst riddle their body as they crumpled to the ground. As they returned fire, small chunks of rock and dust would fly into the air making it hard to get a clear view of the incoming soldiers. Below him he heard Liam's fire quiet down before the heavy bark of M45 shotgun tore through the air, sparing the briefest of glances he could see bodies being blasted back in a grizzly spray of blood and shredded gear. Focusing back to the other threats, he resumed popping off shots who came into view.

"How long do you think until the armored calvary comes rolling in?"

"Think they'll the carriers got enough power to break through two miles of heavy tree lines?"

"I give it a fifty-fifty chance, still I'd rather not be here to find out."

Adrian didn't respond but instead continued to pepper fire upon the ever-encroaching horde of soldiers that never seemed to end. A heavy caliber shattered the stone wall next to his head causing him to tumble backwards down the outcropping eventually landing with a heavy smack of metal against earth. He gasped with ragged breath as the air was knocked from his lungs, leaving him a heaving mess on the ground. After what felt like an eternity, his burning lungs started to relax as air filled them once more. Pushing himself off the ground he picked up his dropped BR and shouldered it, noticing how much closer the hostiles were than they'd been just a minute ago.

"I know I'm a badass, but some support wouldn't hurt."

"I'm fine by the way." Adrian snipped back as he aimed down the scope of his BR, letting loose a few shots. Still their armament wasn't suited for such a heavy flow of bodies, their kits specialized for what was supposed to be low-conflict mission. As Adrian ejected an empty magazine, he swore as he felt himself grab his last bit of rifle ammo. Slapping the lone magazine in he was about to draw the bolt as he saw a blotch of red appear on his radar to his right. Not wasting anytime, he drew his SOCOM with his free hand and with a split second reaction time turned the aim of his pistol to the lone soldier that had flanked their position. Pulling the trigger several times the armor-piercing rounds tore through the man's feeble chest plate, as the body hit the dirt Adrian backed up to a more defensible position.

"Barbie, meet up on me, we've got some cheeky fucks flanking us."

"Way ahead of you. What we could really use now is that exfil." Liam spoke as he tapped the back of Adrian to let him know his position, and as if summoned by his question the roaring engines of an Orca screamed overhead as he hovered above the tree line before slowly descending as the back hatch opened. From the tail end of the Orca came a torrent of heavy gunfire as the flap revealed a heavy machine gun being hung from the roof manned by a tall Overwatch soldier, the gun wasn't something he'd seen before, but he wasn't going to complain. The massive rounds being fired at what must have been a thousand rounds a minute tore through massive trees with ease and severed bodies in half even easier. Clambering up the rocky outcropping, Adrian gave small bursts of supporting fire as he depleted the magazine in his BR. Once Liam was in the troop bay, Adrian followed suit reaching up as someone wrapped their hand around his forearm and hauled him into the aircraft. The gunner manning the HMG continued to rain hell down upon the soldiers caught on the ground, those who were bleeding out or already dead tried and failed to retaliate but all they could do was blind fire from their cover with their shots harmlessly bouncing off the aircrafts hull.

The Orca started to pull out, the ground quickly falling away behind them as it took off into the sky, the gunner let off a few more rounds before hefting the HMG out of the way as the rear hatch began to close.

Turning towards the ODST duo, a female voice rang out from behind the dark Overwatch helmet, "You two alright?"

Liam depolarized his visor as he let out a sigh of relief, "Well enough but any longer and we probably would've been fighting them off with stones, thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire."

The woman chuckled, "At least it makes things interesting."

Before the conversation could continue, Vickers walked into the bay from the cockpit, a look of disbelief on his face, "One of these days you're going to have to have to repay all the times I've got you out of the shit. A heads up would've been nice though."

Adrian depolarized his faceplate as well, "You know how it is, like your trooper was saying, it makes things more interesting right?"

Vickers scoffed as he flicked the visor of the soldier, "That's because Kadia only points and shoots, for the rest of us with more than two brain cells it's a pain in the ass."

The Overwatch soldier known as Kadia straightened up, "Sir requesting permission to get another braincell sir."

Vickers sighed, "See what I deal with?" Turning with slight grin he returned to the center of the Orca to relay the success of the mission back to Winston leaving two tired ODSTs and a handful of Overwatch soldiers. Liam plopped into the nearest open seat with Adrian taking a spot next to him. Laying his rifle and ballistic case next to him, Adrian pulled removed his helmet with a sigh as sweat drip locks of hair fell in front of his face. Sweeping his hair back with his hand he pulled a canteen topped with water off his hip and took a few savory sips of icy water. He handed the canteen the ODST next to him who chugged half the metal container before Adrian could even ask for it back. Throwing up his hands in exasperation, he brought his attention back to their original purpose with this mission, grabbing the ballistic fiber bag holding the chrome case, he zipped open the black bag and removed the metal case. Holding it in his hands, he simply looked to Liam and then moved his head to the front of the ship, words weren't needed to explain that Adrian was going to report their breakthrough to the higher ups.

Standing up, he moved to the comms center located in the heart of the Orca. The single door in front of him slid open to reveal Vickers alone in the room communicating with Winston, the gunnery sergeant motioned Adrian over when he noticed the ODST in the doorway, "Speak of the devil, Kasporov's here now with the prize."

Walking over to the circular holographic table, Adrian looked unsure of what to do until Vickers explained that anything placed on the table would be scanned and sent in a three-dimensional representation back to base. Lightly placing the case onto the table, he began to outline what transpired though he skimmed on most of it since little of the information was relevant.

"So, what's in the container then? I assume it's of immense importance if they were willing to go so far to get it back."

Adrian bit the corner of lip, that was an understatement, "Well for starters it's from our mutual friend, far as I can tell it's a plasma battery."

The silence was palpable, "You're sure? Such a thing would be-"

"I'm sure, I've seen them before though not often."

"How. What. Theres…I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll discuss this more in person but for now can you give me a brief run down?"

"Brief is about as good as I can do, my understanding is that they're generally stable though I haven't done much to test that claim. Compared to others I've seen this one is pretty damn small, I don't know if that affects its power output or just it's capacity, maybe even both, but again I'm scrapping remnants of memory. That said they're powerful, even with eh size reduction it'd still pack quite a punch."

Another snippet of silence, "This could prove extraordinarily useful, I'm even more eager to begin unearthing it's secrets."

At that moment, the Orca's co-pilot entered the room, an uncertain look crossing their face, "Uhh Gunny, we've got an incoming comms hail."

Vickers looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "But we're on an encrypted channel…What do you think Winston?"

"Do we know who sent it?"

The co-pilot shook their head though it obviously wouldn't be visible to Winston, "No sir, only that it's originating from somewhere in India."

"Play it through."

The co-pilot nodded returning to the cockpit, not long after the unknown third parry was added to their conversation, "This is Overwatch I presume?"

Winston responded, "That depends on who's asking."

An audible sigh of relief could be heard, "Thank be, this is Governor Ahuja of the Karnataka State. I'd been hoping for a miracle like this but had no understanding of how to get in contact with you."

"We're not exactly the most welcomed group but we are of course willing to help any who need it. How can we aid you?"

"I feel this is a conversation best held in person, but I'll try to lay out the important facts. The Vishkar Corporation has been developing a number of projects in the region, one of those was their 'redevelopment' of a large village along the coast." Adrian thought he'd heard of this corporation before but based on the Governors tone it was clear he held no great love for them, "However there was a catastrophic incident heavily damaging a large portion of the village. While Vishkar has taken responsibility and promised to aid in rebuilding, I frankly can't trust them especially with growing unrest in the village. I don't suspect anything serious, but I don't think they hold the interests of the village at heart."

Winston spoke up, "Are you asking us to help rebuild or keep the peace?"

"Both? Neither? To be honest I'm not sure, the village is vital agricultural area and I'd sooner trust a crocodile than Vishkar."

Having stayed quiet until now, Vickers made himself known, "Excuse me Governor Ahuja, I feel it should be known that this current transport is military in nature. We are as my superior mentioned, always willing to help, but I feel it should be made abundantly clear we're not exactly trained for disaster relief."

"I see and I appreciate your honesty, this is why I feel this conversation is best held in person so we may discuss this with far more understanding than we currently have." The governor replied.

Winston interjected, "Well if Gunnery Sergeant Vickers is willing to change course than I'll gladly support such an endeavor."

"I'm all for it." Vickers agreed.

"Then it's settled, I am deeply grateful for your generosity. I'll make sure the appropriate information is forwarded to your craft." With that the governor left.

Now it was time for Adrian to speak up, "I understand the desire to help, but what do we do with the highly sought-after object in our possession?"

Winston replied rather jovially, likely happy at Overwatch's increased recognition, "Keep it stored aboard the Orca, it should be adequately safe. Beside I fail to see why civilians would know about it, let alone have an interest in it."

"What about this Vishkar Corporation?"

"Hmm yes, they could prove troublesome. Keep an eye on them if it seems they're straying from rebuilding the village, it's not our job to govern them but the governors distrust is well-placed. I'll leave you to it then." Winston clicked off the comms.

Vickers turned to Adrian, "Not rest for the wicked eh?"

Walking back into the troop bay, Adrian snorted to himself as he saw Kadia and Liam talking rather animatedly. Putting his hand on Barbie's shoulder he got the attention of the other ODST who shot him a questioning look, offended that Adrian had obviously interrupted the conversation.

"We got new orders, don't get too comfortable."

"Already? It really is just like home, back-to-back missions and insurmountable odds." Liam grinned as Kadia groaned behind him.

Vickers shouted out the new orders as Adrian found an open seat, stretching his legs out he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Might as well try and get a little bit fo rest while he had the chance, who knows what they'd be stepping into once they hit the ground.

A/N: Yeesh what's it been...a month, apologies for the extremely late update? Admittedly not my timeliest upload but university finals and papers take their toll, though I did also just procrastinate a lot. That said I'm pretty excited for the next set of chapters, especially one massive arc I've planned since the beginning that we should be getting into relatively soon. Hope all is well with you all! Stay safe and hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Rook435: Glad to see you again! Always appreciated seeing your comments and glad to see you've continued to enjoy the story up to this point. I hadn't thought of it but having a clash between Covenant and Talon would be interesting, perhaps even make it a three-way battle for control between the main factions. Who knows maybe I'll be able to work it in but thanks again for the support!