Bryant locked in the last strap of the drop pod. On the way back to his station, UNSC scientists got him up to speed on some upgrades they'd made on his pod. Bryant had always liked trying out the new tech. "Innovation is progress. Progress is the way forward." Something his Dad used to say quite often when he had to leave and travel to Earth for work.

Bryant briefed the rest of his team, Beta 6, on the details and their reactions were a mix of anxiety and excitement. Each member expressed concern for the severity of the mission and it's consequences but were glad of the opportunity to demonstrate their value. This would be their second mission together and Bryant would make sure they delivered. Their first outing had not gone so smoothly.

Go time.

There was nothing quite like the sensation of hanging in midair above a planet before drop. "Midair" wouldn't be the right way to describe it since they were in space but Bryant digressed. Over the radio, Buck spoke to his team who also hung above the planet. Bryant temporarily cut all comms. Outside his window was the purest, most beautiful shade of blue he'd ever see. It stretched across a curved horizon bathed in golden sunlight. Nothing compared. Bryant wanted to dive right into it, to be enveloped in the soft hue. And he would. This was the secret pleasure of his duty. He gripped the controls, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Four soft tones followed.

BOOP

BOOP

BOOP

BOOOOOOOOOP

Bryant smashed the release button jetissoning his pod on a perfect vertical drop down...down...down. Rockets engaged making slight course corrections leading him through the atmosphere. The encasing shuttered and resisted, but held together. Exhilarating.

Bryant re-engaged his comms. "Mei! Tyson! Andre! Form up!" The other 3 members of Beta 6 honed in on Bryant's pod forming a distinct arrow formation as the team passed through thick clouds. It was going to rain soon.

"I'm on your 6 B!" A familiar voice chimed.

Bryant smiled, "Glad you could make it to the party, Adrian."

Buck, and the rest of Alpha 9 came up on Beta 6's left. Bryant smirked. The Covenant ship had absolutely no idea what was about to hit it. Now began the fun part.

"Alright Beta 6, time to see if these upgrades are the real deal. We're reaching optimum altitude."

The new pods were designed for situations like this. Whether glassing a surface to oblivion or simply deploying enemy forces, the larger class Covenant ships had to signficantly reduce their speed. That left open a large weakness. The new pods' exterior were equipped with thrusters that would spin the outer shell while the inner chamber was suspended keeping the pilot facing forward. The result was a pod that threaded through the air like an armour piercing round sure to pierce straight through the ships shielding and outer armoury. Once inside the ship, clamps deployed biting into any surface the bottom of the pod came into contact with. Codenamed: DRILLBITES these were the latest prototypes in drop pod tech. Faster and faster the pods accelerated, whizzing through the air at hypersonic speeds.

BLIP... BLIP... BLIP

Bryant checked his HUD. On radar he could see the six friendly dots which made up Alpha 9 getting further and further away. Why weren't they keeping up? They should have engaged their DRILLBITE protocol by now. Bryant radio'd Buck.

"Buck, I know you're a little slow but you're going to need to be going faster than that to penetrate the shields!"

No response.

"Buck! Are your comms on?"

This was not good. Bryant's team was going to make contact soon. The Covenant maybe able to prepare some kind of counter maneuver if Buck's team came in too late. Bryant peered out of the window and searched the skies. He could just make out their pods, but even from this distance he see the problem. Alpha 9's pods were not DRILLBITES. There was no way they would make it in time. Bryant thought quickly. Ok. If the rest of his team's pods tightened up their formation, they should be able to tear a hole big enough in the shield for Alpha 9 to slip through. But that was a big if. And, there was no reason to believe that the shield wouldn't immediately regenerate after being penetrated by Beta 6's pods. It was the best plan they had. The Covenant had only chosen to invade at this location on Earth. We needed to know why. This had to happen and it had to happen now. This was not the time for comm issues. Bryant tried again.

"Buck I don't know if you can hear me, but we're going to make a hole. It'll be a tight squeeze but you should be able to follow throu...

Buck's video feed disappeared, replaced by Captain Dare's. Her voice came in cold as ice but crystal clear.

"You have your mission. And we have ours."

"Captain..? We can still make it if we just.." Bryant's eyes grew wide looking back at the emotionless gold visor.

"Stay on course. Good luck Beta 6." The captain replied.

And then her feed vanished as well. Bryant tried to reestablish contact with Buck but the only people he had contact with were those of his own squad. He could still however hear all of the interactions between Alpha 9 and Captain Dare.

Dare: "Stand by to adjust trajectory. On my mark." Bryant: No!...What are you doing?! This wasn't the plan! It was pointless Bryant knew he was muted. Romeo: "What'd she just say?" Dare: "Mark!" Alpha 9's pods veered off to a new course: towards the city.

Mickey : "We're way off course!"

Dare: "We're heading exactly where I need to go!"

Mickey: "But we're gonna miss the carrier!"

Bryant focused. He still had a team of his own to worry about and they were closing in on the Carrier.

"Brace for shield penetration! Activate Drill Bursts...NOW!"

Once the DRILLBITES' outer shells reached a maximum RPM, a single Drill Burst option became greenlit. It sent the outer shell's thrusters into overdrive, exponentially increasing the speed of the pod's spiral. The UNSC had spared no expense with this tech. The pods had to cut through the shielding.

The shield may as well have been plastic. All 5 pods made it through with no trouble. But something else became increasingly apparent. A blue and purple hue began to surround the front of the outer hull of the ship. Bryant could just make out a circular opening tearing through the fabric of reality directly in front of the vessel.

Dutch: "Radiation!" Mickey: "Covenant just set off a nuke?!" Dare : "No. The carrier's going to jump! It's a slip-space rupture! You need to–" Bryant and the rest of Beta 6 impacted the ship crashing through metal, machinery and Covenant soldiers alike passing through reinforced floors as if they were only suggestions. Bryant could still feel the tingling shift of space-time around him even as the outer shell of his DRILLBITE was shredded to pieces as they ripped through two more floors before decreasing speed. The Carrier had jumped to light speed. Inside the city. Bryant did his best to maintain his composure as the pod shook him like a rag doll. Bryant begged the prototype to hold. Finally the pods slowed down enough to engage their clamps bringing them all to a complete stop. This much trouble for his team's SECOND mission together. His ODSTs were still pretty green. Alpha 9 was meant be an example but they were gone, dead, who knows. Only 5 remained of what was initially an 11 man team. As far as Bryant knew, they had No backup. No extraction. No communcations. ...And they were completely surrounded in an enemy ship.

Author's message:

If anyone actually shows up to read this, you have no idea how much it means to me. Decided to knock the dust off this old thing and try to make some more progress. Feedback, comments, PMs, I love them all!