Chapter 1- Dropping Time
Gunfire rang out through the halls as the buildings lights all shut off, only for soft red emergency lights to kick in. An Insurrectionist ran down a hallway, weakly gripping an assault rifle and breathing heavily. Chasing behind him was an ODST, reloading his SMG while running.
The Insurrectionist slipped and stumbled to the floor. He quickly tried to get up, but the ODST was already on him.
The ODST grunted loudly as he kicked the gun out of an Insurrectionist's hands. He then used one hand to grab the man by the collar and slam him against the wall. He pressed the barrel of his SMG against the man's chest and loudly asked, "Tell me motherfucker, where are your friends?!"
The Insurrectionist raised his hands and spoke quickly in a foreign language. The ODST let out almost a growl, then slapped the man across the face with his SMG and yelled, "English motherfucker, do you speak it!?"
The man had tears going down his cheeks and yelled with fear, "Gone. Gone. Gone!"
The ODST gripped the man's collar and threw him onto the ground. Before the man could try and get up, the ODST pulled his trigger and sent rounds flying through the man's head. He lifted his SMG up into both hands, then rounded the corner, looking for more Insurrectionists.
They had cut the main power to the building before they stormed it, leaving only red emergency lights on. The ODST crept through the hall, checking behind him every so often. He was with the rest of his ODST squad not too long ago, but they got separated when they chased down two different groups of Innies. Right now, the trooper was alone, and his squad were on the other side of the building with marines.
The halls had piece of cover and crates straddling the sides of the walls. They were most likely being moved when the ODST team broke in, so now they were abandoned. Suddenly, bullets tore down the hallway. One grazed the ODST's helmet as he quickly ducked behind a piece of cover. The bullets whizzed past the top of his head, but as soon as they stopped, the ODST popped up and opened fire. The satisfying crackling of his SMG filled the hallways as his bullets raced down the halls.
Two Insurrectionists fell over, the bullets punching through their bodies, painting the wall behind them with their blood. The trooper stood up, his gun trained on the end of the hall, then his coms activated and the voice of his squad's new guy asked, "Shit, Scott, where are you? Oh fuck."
Keeping his eyes on the hall, Scott said, "I'm on the Southern end of the building. Where's Sergeant Hilby and…"
In a panicked voice the new guy said, "Fuck, they're down! The Innies came out of nowhere and barraged us! I killed them, but I couldn't save… oh God, the blood."
Scott turned his full attention to their conversation, feeling bad for the new guy. He then said, "Alright newbie, calm yourself, just…"
The new guy spoke up and yelled, "My name's Jack, God damnit!"
Scott sighed and said, "Ok Jack, calm down. Listen, I care about them too, but right now, we're still in a hostile filled building. We can mourn our losses later. Right now, regroup with the marines and join me at the southern end. The exits are locked here, they're cornered."
After a few seconds, Jack's voice seemed to calm a bit as he said, "Alright. We're coming to you, Scott. Wait for us to engage, please. I don't want to lose more squadmates."
Scott chuckled and said, "Trust me, if you knew me better, you'd have no issue with losing me, kid."
He heard Jack softly chuckle, but then the coms went off. Scott turned his attention back to the end of the hall. As of now, no one seemed to be trying to attack. He knew he was outnumbered if they did, which is what confused him.
As he waited, he heard the sound of a far away banging coming from the hall he was looking at. He could hear the faint sound of yelling, followed by more metal banging. Suddenly, the ground and the buildings shook, almost as if they had been struck with an explosive.
Then, there was one final metal bang, which was promptly met by louder yelling and gunfire. Then, another sound filled the halls. One Scott had never heard before in his life. The sound was sharp and high pitched, and it was going off like some kind of automatic rifle.
Movement caught Scott's eyes as an Insurrectionist ran around the corner, terror plastered to his face. Scott didn't hesitate as he sent a few bullets flying through the man's head. The body fell over and tumbled next to Scott. Strangely, the man was unarmed, and now Scott was even more confused. As he looked at the body, he saw more movement from the hall. He turned his gun to see another unarmed Insurrectionist running at him. As the man tried to pass Scott, Scott grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. There was pure panic and terror painting the man's face.
Scott trained his gun at the hall's end, then yelled, "What the fuck is going on!? And speak english you fucker!"
The man kept gasping for breath, then yelled, "Alien! Alien!"
Scott tilted his head in pure confusion, then heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see a group of marines round the corner, with Jack behind them. The marines carefully passed Scott, only for more gunfire and yells to echo through the halls. They all froze, staring at the hall's end.
Jack stepped next to Scott, about to ask a question, when a loud roar filled their ears. Scott and Jack both whipped their heads to the hall, only to see a massive and alien body turn the corner. It was shrouded in mostly darkness, the faint red lights only showing off it's intimidating size.
Scott threw the Insurrectionist to the ground, then squeezed his trigger and dumped his entire mag into the beast. The marines followed suit, but something kept their bullets from killing it. There was some kind of invisible barrier keeping it safe, then it disappeared back where it came.
Jack, obviously terrified, tapped Scott's shoulder and asked, "What the fuck was that?"
Scott shook his head and said, "Got no clue. All I know is that the Innies don't like them. We're turning back men! Get…"
He was interrupted as another beast rounded the corner, but this one was different. They had a large blue shining sword in their hand, then they lunged at the marines. The sword cut through the marines like they were made of paper and filled the room with the smell of burning flesh.
Scott grabbed a hold of Jack's shoulder and pulled him along as the two ran backwards. The monster had killed all the marines in mere seconds, leaving they're corpses in bits and pieces. A grisly sight that Scott would never be able to get out of his head. And now it was running right at them. Scott reloaded his SMG and opened fire with Jack, but even their combined fire couldn't take the beast down.
"We gotta get out of here!" yelled Scott as he ran out of SMG ammo.
In a split second, the beast was right on top of them. Scott naturally reached out to push Jack out of the way, but Jack was faster. Jack shoved Scott out of the beast's path, making it crash into Jack. Jack hit the ground hard, and before he could fight back, the creature roared and plunged his sword through Jack's chest.
"Jack!" yelled Scott. He pulled the battle rifle off his back and opened fire on the beast's back. The barrier surrounding it was glowing brightly, then it disappeared. The beasts spun around to lunge a Scott, but he sent a flurry of bullets through it's head. With the barrier gone, the bullets punched through the creature's skull, killing it instantly.
The sword in it's hand disappeared, then it's tall corpse fell in front of Scott. Scott stared at the body, taking in heavy breaths, trying to figure out what was happening. That thing wasn't like anything he's seen before, and it shred the marines in a terrifyingly efficient manner.
After a few seconds, his senses returned and everything that just happened properly processed in his head. He jumped up and raced over to Jack, put his hands on Jack's cut chest plate.
Jack let out a loud cough, blood flying out, then said, "I'm… I'm sorry. I wasn't gonna… let you die… too."
Scott shook his head and said, "Kid, don't be stupid. I should've taken the hit, you're the new guy."
Jack shook his head in pain and said, "I already failed the other two, Hilby and Monroe. I... wasn't gonna fail you too."
Suddenly, the sound of alien squawks and grunts filled the hallway. Scott spun around to see a bright glowing shield rounding the corner, whatever holding it wasn't clear to the eye.
Scott turned back to Jack, who grabbed a hold of Scott's arm and said, "Don't… let this be in vain. Get the fuck outta here, Scott. Run…"
Before he could finish, Jack let out a final breath, then his head fell back. Jack's grip went limp, then his hand fell onto the ground. Scott stared at his body, too many emotions coursing through his body than he could count. The kid was fresh, this was only his second mission, and he already sacrificed himself for Scott like a hard boiled veteran. He pushed all those emotions aside and focused on one thing, doing what he was told. He wasn't going to let this kid's death be in vain. Scott barely knew the kid, but he already proved himself as more of a man than he would ever be.
Scott ripped the dog tags off of Jack's neck, then stood up and sprinted down the hall. He heard a loud squawk down the hall, then watched green blasts fly past him. He barely made it around the corner, then heard more alien yells filling the halls.
Scott had never ran faster as he bolted through the halls, soon reaching the door they had blown open. The second he stepped outside, he was stuck, frozen in shock in terror. Up in the sky, he could see a massive alien ship. He'd never seen anything like it before.
He shook his head, realizing staring in terror at an alien warship won't save him. Scott turned to the pelican that had dropped them off, only to see two creatures standing near it. They had bright shields on their left arms, and they looked like burnt chicken corpses.
Scott didn't know what they were, but they sure as hell weren't human, and that was enough reason to put them down. He raised his battle rifle and opened fire, immediately doming one. The second one loudly squawked and crouched over, hiding it's head behind it's shield.
There was a spot on the left side of the shield, exposing the alien's arm, and Scott quickly aimed in and fired on it. His shots staggered the creature, making it's head poke out from the shield. Scott was quick to plug it's head full of lead, then made a mad dash for the pelican. The back was open, and as he jumped in, he could smell burning flesh.
He raced into the cockpit, only to see the pilot in the seat was only a corpse. Their armor had been burnt through on the helmet and chest. Scott could see their lower jaw and ribs clearly through their burnt flesh.
He grimaced, but he didn't let that stop him. He grabbed the body and heaved it out of the seat, then jumped on and played with the controls. Scott knew how to fly a pelican, mostly, but he had no idea what these aliens were capable of. If he tried to fly off, maybe he'd get shot down quicker than thought possible. Maybe there wasn't even a fleet for him to fly to.
Scott gritted his teeth, determined to find a way out alive, then activated the pelican. It rumbled in response, then lifted up in the air. He shut the back door to the pelican, then punched it and flew off, not exactly knowing where to go, just knowing to get away from wherever he was now.
#
ODST Corporal Scott Sterling was sitting in his drop pod, a wide grin plastered on his face as he watched his sqaudmates discussing the coming mission. He knew he probably looked like the biggest asshole ever, but in times like this, he needed to stay light hearted to deal with the war they were in.
It has been 5 years since the Covenant began attacking the UNSC, and Scott has been forced to fight and watch his friends get mowed down for all 5 of them. And right now, this war seemed nowhere near over.
Scott leaned forward and watched as two ODST's entered the room, each quickly turning their heads towards the Sergeant. He waved them over to talk, followed by Scott stepping out of his pod to join in on the discussion.
Before Scott could say a word, the Sergeant held his hand out in front of Scott and said, "No Sterling, I will not be sending Johnson down first as recon. Jeez, the beef between you two is ridiculous."
Scott began cackling at the comment, then Johnson groaned and said, "There is no beef! I don't know what that guy's issue is!"
The ODST that entered next to him chuckled and said, "It's because you accidentally took his gun instead of yours on a mission, then proceeded to throw it into the face of a Grunt when you ran dry."
Johnson grumbled something under his breath, then Scott leaned towards them and said, "You threw my precious Brenda at a fucking alien, and we never saw her again! And you never even apologized!"
Johnson turned to the ODST next to him and said, "Come on, Claire, you have to understand. It's a piece of metal, and this man is treating me like I threw his mother off a cliff!"
Claire continued chuckling, then Scott laughed and said, "I'll have you know Brenda is my mother's name! And that rifle was never able to hit harder than one of her backhands!"
Sergeant Meyers waved his hands to calm them down and said, "Troopers, calm down! We have a drop in ten minutes and we have a big mission to discuss. Now, like I was saying, this is going to be a long one. Covenant forces on the planet are fewer than expected, and for once the Navy seems to have control over the air. But, we expect that to change soon. We're going to be dropping in the middle of a Covenant attack on one of our camps. Right now, our boys are holding them back, but if we don't show up, they'll get overrun. We'll be dropping directly between the camp and the Covenant, so we'll be turning our pods to face the camp so we create cover. We'll drive them back in a full frontal, while Scott and Claire stay in the camp to support us with their sniper rifles. Johnson, me, and Melly will push with the Marines into the forest and eliminate the rest of the Covies. Is that clear?"
Scott raised his hand, but Sergeant Meyers ignored him as he turned to Johnson and asked, "Questions?"
Johnson stayed silent for a few seconds, then sighed and asked, "Are we staying on the ground after the drop?"
Meyers nodded and said, "Yup, no pickup. We'll be doing the rest of our mission from a nearby command post. So I hope you guys are ready to sleep in cots."
Johnson nodded, then Meyers sighed and slowly turned to Scott, who still had his hand raised. He looked at Scott with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Yes, Scott?"
Scott smiled and asked, "Can I actually push into the forest with Johnson? I feel like he'll need another buddy to cover his back, ya know?"
Meyers stared at him with an emotionless face, then he said, "No, Scott. We all know you'll get him killed by tripping him or something."
Melly walked up behind Johnson, then slapped him in the back and said, "Don't worry Johnny boy, I'll have your back! You can stay in the back with your dinky ass rifle where you belong, Scott."
Scott scoffed and said, "My, how rude. I run with a rifle and a shotgun. I can get close and personal if I want to."
Meyere hushed them all and said, "Scott, you're a sniper, you're staying in the back! Melly, remember proper spacing, don't actually stay on Johnson's back! Why the hell are all of you wearing your helmets except for Scott? Go clean your guns or something, briefing is done!"
Meyeres then clapped his hands, then everyone slowly dispersed back to their pods. Scott walked to his pod, then leaned on it as he took a wipe and started slowly cleaning his rifle while looking at Johnson. Claire stepped next to him and followed his gaze.
She lightly chuckled and asked, "You don't actually want to get him killed, right?"
Scott laughed and said, "Of course not. I'd get court martialed. Dammit, at this point, if he dies, I'll be blamed no matter what!"
The two leaned on the drop pod, looking at their team, when Scott heard the sound of metal sliding across metal.
He turned his head to Claire, who was now about a foot closer, and said, "Claire doll, I have a wife."
Claire leaned forward, letting out a loud laugh, then she turned back to Scott and asked, "What the fuck, Scott? I literally just got a little closer, I'm not trynna grab your dick or anything!"
Scott chuckled and said, "I know, I'm just letting you know. I'm a loyal man, unlike Johnson!" He ended his sentence in a yell, staring directly at Melly and Johnson, who were both deep in discussion.
Claire tilted her head and asked, "What's that about?"
Scott sighed and said, "I was peeking over his shoulder while he was reading messages, he apparently already has a girl waiting for him back home on Reach, but that guy is all over Melly. And she's all over him. Have you seen his face? What does Melly see?"
His comment put Claire into a fit of snickering, then she nodded and said, "Yes, I've seen his face. He kinda resembles a Grunt. Have you ever seen one with their mouth masks? Fucking nasty little shits."
Scott chuckled and asked, "Who are you calling little? They're taller than you, Miss five foot four."
Claire lightly slapped him and said, "That's because of their backpacks, dipshit."
The two both went quiet and continued leaning against the drop pod. Scott held up his rifle, happy with his cleaning job. He leaned into his pod and hooked the rifle in, then heard more metal sliding against metal.
Scott immediately jumped into his pod's seat and said, "Nope, you will not faze me, temptress."
Claire loudly laughed, then waved her arm as she walked to her pod and said, "You're a fucking moron, Scott."
Before she could get too far, Scott unsheathed the knife on his chestplate, then pointed it at her and said, "Bet this moron can blow more Covie heads off than you!"
Claire spun around, walking backwards, and said, "I'll fucking take that bet!"
Meyers walked between the two and said, "Enough with the soft flirting you guys! Be prepared to drop!"
Scott leaned forward on his sweat and asked, "How many other ODST's are dropping?"
Meyeres put his helmet on and said, "Five other sqauds, but they'll be dropping in a different location. We won't see much of them, so they don't matter. Just focus on your squad right now, Sterling."
Scott nodded, then slipped his helmet onto his head. He could tell Meyers had a look of distaste under his helmet as he looked at Scott. Scott had painted some Sangheili skulls with their fancy energy blades behind them on the sides of his helmet in yellow, along with yellow pieces all over the rest of his armor. He knew Sergeant Meyers had an issue with it, but he didn't care. Scott enjoyed standing out a bit. He even corrupted Claire and got her to paint some blue horns on the top sides of her helmet, though Johnson and Melly were both spineless shills and wouldn't do anything.
Meyers walked towards Scott's pod, then leaned forward and asked, "Scott, will you please stay focused? I know how you deal with this war and all, but please, this is important. If we can pull a win and push back these Covie's, that will do a lot for morale. The Covenant has been winning non-stop across the colonies."
Scott sighed, then nodded and said, "Alright, I'll try to tell less jokes, but no promises."
Meyers nodded, then lightly banged on his pod and walked to his own. Scott tried to spin his knife in his hand, but it fell out almost immediately, clattering next to his seat in the pod. Scott grumbled under his breath as he scooped up the knife and slipped it back into his sheath.
He looked at the three weapons hooked into his drop pod. His sniper rifle, a shotgun, and an assault rifle. He brought along a third weapon since his drop pod would be stuck right next to their encampment, he could easily swap weapons from it on the fly.
Scott looked up when he heard the sound of machines moving, then watched as his drop pod's door shut. He took a deep breath and grabbed the sticks in his pod as it slowly moved to drop. One of his screens turned on, revealing Meyers' helmet.
Meyers grunted and said, "Alright troopers, who's ready to drop feet first into hell?"
Scott loudly whooped over the coms, followed by softer cheering from his three comrades. Scott turned from the monitor and out the front window, then watched the metal of the ship disappear, replaced by a beautiful view of a vast forest planet, with a nearby small city, along with a slowly descending sunset.
He also saw almost a dozen other pods drop as well with his squad, though they almost immediately changed course, destined to land very far from Scott's squad.
Scott could feel his pod shake as it fell downwards. He clutched his joysticks out of instinct, and watched as they fell closer and closer to the battle below.
It wasn't long until he felt the massive jolt, then his door flew open. He grabbed his sniper rifle and leaped out of his pod. The first thing he saw was a cam with Marine's scattered around, taking cover behind barriers as plasma fire peppered them.
Scott listened as more pods struck the ground near him, then he ran towards the camp. He jumped over a barrier, feeling the heat of plasma fly past him, then spun around with his sniper rifle. As soon as he scoped in on the enemy force, he knew why they needed backup. There were almost four dozen Covenant soldiers not too far from the camp now. They were a large mixture of Elite's and grunts, but luckily no Jackal snipers.
Scott turned his head to see Claire jump behind the barrier next to him and prepare to fire, while the rest of his squad stayed at their pods, waiting to move up with the Marines.
Scott placed his reticle on the head of an Elite trying to use a tree as cover, then squeezed his trigger. He blew the right side of the Elite's face right off, scattering brain matter across the grunts hiding behind him.
The Covenant were at the edge of a tree line, some standing in the open while other's tried to hide their large bodies behind the trees as they fired.
Scott and Claire had a field day as they were quick to clear the foolish Elites and grunts standing in the open. The Marines behind them, now gaining renewed confidence from their ODST allies, moved forward to their pods. He could see his Sergeant yelling at the Marines, telling them what to do. Luckily, they nodded, then he watched the large group bolt forward.
Scott and Claire both jumped over the barrier and repositioned at the pods. They peeked around the sides and continued firing at any Covenant bodies they saw.
It was hard for the Elites and grunts to peek and fire at the incoming soldiers when every time one did, their head got blown off their soldier within the second.
Soon, the group reached the tree line and opened fire, tearing any Covenant apart that hadn't noticed how close they had gotten. Scott loaded his last magazine into the sniper rifle and looked down the scope to see Elites had started retreating backwards, firing at the Marines and ODSTs as they ran.
Scott sent a round through one's head, then watched another bullet strike their already falling corpse. Scott laughed, then turned to Claire and yelled, "A bit slow to that one, weren't ya?!"
Claire let out a soft chuckle and yelled, "If you waste your time trash talking, you won't get the last few!"
As she finished, Scott quickly turned back to his scope to see the last few Elite's running, but before he could properly aim and fire, he heard three loud cracks, and all three fell dead.
He let out a disappointed groan, then heard Claire snicker and say, "Guess the old man's not as fast as he thought."
Scott chuckled while keeping his scope on the tree line, keeping his allies covered while they made their way back to the camp. Without turning away he chuckled and said, "Ask my wife, she'll tell you exactly how fast I am."
He continued to chuckle as he heard Claire let out a small groan. He kept watching the tree line until he saw his squadmates and the marines pass his pod, then he lowered his rifle and turned to the camp with Claire.
They were clear, for now. You never knew when the Covenant would attack, but right now was their only chance for a breather. Scott turned to Meyers and asked, "What's the casualty count?"
Meyers turned to him, then said, "Well, from before we showed up? There were originally forty marines, but only twelve remained when we got here. Now, we're at ten. Two got shot down as we neared the tree line. We have another one injured from a bad hit, but he'll live. So we have 9 combat ready marines."
Scott grunted, not liking the numbers. That was a lot of dead men. These Covenant bastards were tougher than anything he's fought before, and he spent a few years fighting suicidal and psychotic Insurrectionists.
He must've been looking gloomy, and Claire gave his shoulder a tap and said, "Hey, cheer up. We saved the ones we could. That's better than saving none."
Scott took a second to think, then he nodded and said, "Yeah, you're right. I just…"
Before he could finish, Johnson scoffed and said, "Look at this, he's getting more emotional over the already dead marines than he ever will over me dying, his own squadmate."
Scott turned with a hiss and said, "Shut the fuck up you two timing dickwad! You aren't dead, at least not yet!"
Johnson took a step towards him and asked, "Is that a threat motherfucker?"
Claire pushed herself between the two, pushing them away, and said, "Hey, buckos, we're still in a hotzone. Calm your tits."
Meyers nodded as he grabbed Johnson's shoulder and said, "You two need to clean up your act. We just touched down, and you two are already at each other's throats. I swear, this squad gets more and more dysfunctional with each mission. It should be the other way around!"
Scott slung his sniper rifle on his back and said, "Then get that bastard transferred! You know my combat record is better."
Meyers shook his head and said, "You two may butt heads, but the UNSC doesn't really care. We're in a war for survival, they don't care whether you two make up or die, so I think we'd all prefer if you two just became friends so we can all survive, got it?"
Scott and Johnson both stared at each other, then Scott turned his head and said, "Fine. I'll play nice. But I'm not gonna be his friend. He's already got Melly on a leash, I think he has enough to satisfy his needs."
Melly silently grumbled, but she didn't say anything. Johnson simply kept staring at Scott, who then turned around and asked, "So, now that that's over, you marines got extra sniper ammo?"
A marine was quick to rummage through a crate, then lifted up three extra magazines. Scott happily swiped them from the marine, then said, "Thank you, good sir."
Scott sat down on a log and started working on his sniper rifle. He peeked upward to see his squadmates talking about something, though Scott didn't really care. If it was important, they'd come tell him.
After a minute, he was satisfied with his rifle's condition and put it back over his back, then tried to relax on the log. He turned to watch Meyers walk over to a marine and say, "Now that we're all calmed down, take me to your commanding officer."
The marine nodded, then waved over another marine. The marine in charge was a large guy, probably a bit taller than Scott. He had a large beard and wore a cap and tactical sunglasses over the usual helmet.
The marine saluted and said, "Second Lieutenant Karl Baxter at your service."
Meyers nodded and said, "What is your current objective, Lieutenant?"
Baxter nodded and said, "We were retreating from a base lost to the Covenant a couple clicks north. There were too many Covies in the air for a pelican evac, so we had to go on foot. We're supposed to rendezvous at Command Post Xavier, which is still a few clicks south. We were setting up here for the night, and the Covies sneak attacked in the morning. We were pinned for a couple hours before you guys showed up. You have my thanks."
Meyers nodded and said, "Glad to be of service. We should continue with the retreat as soon as your men are ready."
Baxter nodded and said, "Aye aye. I trust you troopers to get us home."
Baxter then turned back to his marines and said, "Get your stuff together and be ready to move out in five. We want to be quick, Covies don't stay gone for long."
The marines all nodded, and Scott watched as they all began gathering any equipment they had. Scott stood up with and stretched his legs, keeping himself limber.
Claire stepped next to him and said, "You usually don't get that seriously aggressive."
Scott scoffed and said, "I wouldn't if Johnson didn't treat himself as worth more than any marine, especially those that died. It's when he says shit like that that makes me wonder why Melly is so hooked with the guy."
Claire shrugged and said, "Some people aren't very bright when it comes to identifying jackasses. She'll either get smart or get hurt, either way, she'll get what's coming."
Jack nodded his head, then stretched his arms and said, "No matter what, I will not befriend that guy. The strongest bonds may be built on the field of battle, but I swear on my wife's God that I will not say a kind word to that man."
Claire chuckled and asked, "Oh, so your wife still believes in God?"
Scott turned to her and said, "She's barely religious, just enough to not burn in Hell when the time comes. At least, that's what she says."
After he said that, Meyers clapped his hands and said, "On your feet, troopers! We're heading out!"
Scott stood up, brushing his knees off, then watched as Johnson walked up to Meyers and asked, "Do you know how long we'll be down here exactly?"
Meyers turned and said, "No idea. Could be days, weeks, or months. Command Post Xavier is gonna be our home while we're going on operations on this planet, so you better get cozy there."
Johnson grunted, then Scott spoke up and asked, "Not ready for a long haul, huh Johnson?"
Johnson spun around to face him and coldly said, "Staying on the same planet fighting the Covenant for too long is a death sentence."
Scott lifted his pistol up, looking at it, and jokingly said, "Maybe that's the point. The UNSC might just want to throw you out here so you can die and they get to keep your paycheck."
Johnson growled and was about to give him a retort, Meyers stomped between the two and said, "Troopers, we are moving out! Did I make myself clear!?"
Scott nodded his head and said, "Loud and clear to me, sergeant. Maybe a bit louder for Johnson, though."
Meyers turned to Johnson, who huffed and said, "I heard you. I'm moving."
Johnson then walked past them and began following the remaining marines as they walked off, Melly quickly running up to his side. Meyers slowly turned back to Scott and Claire, then said, "Let's move. I want you two watching the rear, you have the best eyes."
The two nodded, the Meyers motioned for them to follow him. The three jogged to catch up with the moving group, then they took their positions and began their trek. Scott was prepared for a long operation, but with each mission he went on, he doubted his survival more and more.
As they marched off, despite the two snipers' great eyes, they missed the almost invisible sight of two aliens watching them from the thick vegetation in the tree line. One let out a quiet squawk, then the other carefully retreated from the brush, going somewhere far from the moving group.
Hey, I'm here. I wrote a thing. I hope it's good. Hope you enjoyed this thing. I will keep writing this thing, and I hope it keeps getting better. Being my second story, I'm actually really nervous making this. But, I had to write something else, and I've had this story thought out since halfway through my first story.
Please review, leave your opinion, do a lot of things. Follow your dreams. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and have a good day or night!