"So… you got ambushed? And decided not to call for backup?"

Shrugging, Scott leaned against the wall and said, "I didn't have my helmet on when they barged in, and when I did get it in, I was too busy shooting to give you guys a call."

Claire raised a brow at Scott's explanation, then he grumbled and asked, "What the fuck do you want to hear?"

Shaking her head with a grin, Claire chuckled, putting a foot on a chair, and said, "Nothing, nothing, but it would be nice for you to admit you got jumped while rubbing one out…"

Scott scowled and kicked the chair out from under her foot, sending her crying out as she fell flat on her face. He stepped on and over her back with a grunt, hearing her chuckling underneath.

"Go fuck yourself, shortie."

Rolling over and sitting up with a chuckle, Claire watched him walk away and called out, "I bet those Covie's loved seeing you in all your glory!"

He flipped her off as he continued walking, soon turning a corner with a huff. He made his way through the halls, heading up a stairwell. Soon he reached the fifth floor, turning down a hall of spaced doorways. A few injured soldiers were sitting against the walls, Scott carefully walking past them as he made his way towards a room.

Stopping at a door, he lightly knocked on it, awaiting a voice. The door then slowly opened, Melly's helmeted head poking out to see him.

Waving lightly, Scott asked, "How's he doing?"

Looking back, Melly said, "Ask him yourself."

She then swung the door wide open, revealing Johnson laying down in the bed, looking at him.

With a couch, Johnson raised his arm and said, "Hey, jackass."

Releasing a sigh of relief, Scott walked in, taking a seat next to him, then asked, "So, you're awake. How do you feel?"

"Awful. Like my kidney is melted."

Standing next to him with a sigh, Melly bobbed her head and said, "It's something like that. We don't think he'll be ship-shape for combat at all. He'll probably need surgery to get on the road for recovery, and we lack the means to do that."

Chuckling, Scott looked at Johnson and said, "Well, you got your wish, kid. Injured and out of danger."

Grunting, Johnson looked up at the ceiling and said, "Suck me off, old man. I didn't ask for this… shit."

Turning to Melly, Scott asked, "Now that he's awake… you ship-shape?"

Not looking away from her injured friend, Melly said, "Probably. Though I'm not much use."

Standing up with a chuckle, Scott patted her shoulder and said, "I'm sure Meyers would be happy to have someone to patrol with that isn't an Innie."

Releasing a small huff of amusement, Melly nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm sure…"

Nodding, Scott turned to the door and said, "I'm moving to my new position. If you find the will power to go on patrol, meet with Meyers. He'll probably be in that sad excuse for an armory."

Melly nodded, then Scott walked out with a sigh, taking his rifle off his back and fiddling with it.

#

"Target sighted, exiting the building."

"By the gods, if you call him a target again I'm gonna treat you like a target!"

Zuhl slowly turned his head to look at his gold armored compatriot, who pulled her helmet off and stared back at him.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Zuhl looked back through his beam rifle's scope and said, "Your crush is leaving the building now. Most likely heading to a new sniper position."

Putting her helmet back on with a huff, Sil said, "Better."

Rising up to his feet, shaking the feathers on his head, Zuhl nodded his head and said, "Up, he's on the move. We want to meet him where he is."

Standing up with him, the two sauntered off through the building, following Scott through the windows. Sil stared down at the human walking through the streets, her eyes immediately locking on to his plump ass, her tongue flicking out to lick her chops as she quietly chuckled.

Zuhl sighed as he watched his ally basically drool over a human. Such a strange and fetishist obsession, he couldn't help but find himself surprised Sil, of all kig-yar, would stoop so low to acquire it. The mere idea of finding a human attractive sat wrong with him. Not that there was anything wrong with other species such as humanity, but they were the last thing he'd expect anyone to see as such. He would never of course say these things to her or else he'd suffer her wrath of constant annoyance, but the thoughts still lingered in his mind. She was lucky that, in truth, he cared little about others' romantic choices. It was simply an observation he made, that though he disagreed with, it wasn't something he particularly held against her.

Brushing past Zuhl and to the edge of the building, Sil smashed the glass and peered down to the street below. The distance between the building they were in and the next one was treacherous for most, but she and Zuhl could make the jump with their eyes closed.

Before they leaped, Sil stopped Zuhl with a grin and said, "Hey, when we meet up with Scott, do me a favor and just keep watch. I know you aren't the talking type, so you should be fine. I want a little one on one with him."

Sighing, Zuhl said, "If you wish to try and get him to mate with you, you are truly ignorant to his persistence on his loyalty to his current mate."

Gasping dramatically in fake surprise, Sil said, "I would never try and make that man cheat! I like him too much to do that. I'll wait for my turn. I just wanna talk, is all. Unlike you, and any other person in fact, I actually enjoy conversing with this guy."

Nodding, Zuhl said, "Well luckily for you, patrolling was what I planned on doing anyways. Can we get going now?"

Looking across the way to the other building, Sil began taking steps back for a run up and said, "Sure, slow poke. But if you land a floor lower than me, I'll hang it over your head for the rest of this deployment."

"I'll surely try my best then, because there is nothing I dislike more than your incessant yapping."

Cackling, Sil sprinted past him and leaped out of the building, firing her needler forward and shattering the glass of the next building. She flew into the room, rolling on the floor and jumping up onto her feet with a laugh.

She turned back to watch Zuhl take the leap when his hand grabbed her shoulder and he said, "Could've landed smoother."

Her head shot to the side to see Zuhl beside her, making her look back and forth from the building they were in to him, her beak ajar in surprise. Zuhl blankly shook his head, then continued forward without a word.

Watching him walk, Sil jogged after him, "Hey, hold up, how the fuck did you do that?!"

#

Scott sat on a table, messing with his rifle's bipod as he listened to Sil's story, nodding his head and looking up at her.

"... so while my pirate-pa was getting his ass handed to him by his boss for getting his money back, I slipped away and found the fucker who stole it still in the fucking street market. After pushing my way through the crowd, I cornered the fucker, bashed him across the head with a pipe, then took the money and left him unconscious. After returning and giving the boss the money my pirate-pa owed, my pa of course thanked me to The Great Journey, and the boss gave me an approving nod before she left us. That little gesture is how I spiraled into joining the Covenant. Boss had good friends in good places, and they were able to lift me to get into the military."

Tapping his bipod, Scott asked, "So… your real parents died under debris after the Covenant bombarded their own city? And this pirate dad raised you, then that happened. Was he a good father at least?"

Cackling, Sil said, "No. Not what you'd consider a good dad, anyways. Sure, he kept me fed and had an ear to listen to me, but I was also small and flexible as a child. I could wiggle my way to steal shit he and his pals never could. I was getting shot at as an eleven year old. But do I love the guy? Hell yeah. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be the badass t'vaoan I am today."

She takes a strong, sexual pose with a long grin, letting her tongue hang out as she obsessed over herself. Scott lightly chuckled and put his rifle aside, watching her.

"Well, at least you had that. Though it's weird, hearing about the Covenant's inner workings. So advanced, but the culture inside seems so… old school, I guess. Class systems and all."

Chuckling, Sil jumped up and sat next to him, then said, "Trust me, Scott, no civilization is too advanced for class systems. Some just have more… direct approaches. Like I suppose you humans consider each other equals, and feel as though power isn't exactly a birth right. Therefore, I bet your people gain power through wealth, and while you have this false notion that any person can become wealthy, those born into wealth stay at the top. So while, according to the law and all, there is no class, there really is."

Scott chuckled and said, "Don't try and get all deep about it. Hell, once this war is through I bet there won't be enough humans left for classes to exist anyways."

"Just don't be surprised when the majority of those left alive are the wealthy ones."

Nodding, Scott said, "I never said I disagreed."

Patting his back, Sil replies, "Good. You're a smart cookie, sweet cheeks."

Sighing, Scott slid his helmet off and put it beside him. He looked out of the window in front of them, for once taking a moment to take in the destruction of the city, most likely caused by early bombardments.

Digging into his armor, Scott pulled out his earphones and music player, going to put them in his ears when Sil asked, "What are those?"

Looking at her, then to his ear phones, he explained, "Oh, these? They're ear phones. They play music that comes from this thing. I like to listen whenever I can, takes me back to the past, takes me home in the midst of unfamiliar locations and battles."

Tilting her head, Sil asked, "Human music? What kind?"

Chuckling, Scott lightly waved the music player and said, "Oh this is not anything like modern human music. It's old, very old. This stuff is from all the way back from 1960 to maybe 2030. That's when the music was really good. After that, it kind of lagged off for the most part. Sad, really. Though I do know most of these songs by heart, I highly doubt I've even listened to half the songs on here, honestly."

Peering at the earphones in his hand, she asked, "May I listen to some?"

Turning to her, he smiled and said, "Sure. Yeah, just… show me where your ears are."

Sil nodded, brushing her feathers back and poking at her ear holes. Scott then carefully fitted his earphones in, luckily fitting pretty well, then turned to his music player.

"Alright, the first alien to ever listen to human music, I think. What's a good intro song…"

Chuckling, Sil loudly said, "Don't overthink it, sweet cheeks! Just give me a tune!"

Nodding with a grin, Scott scrolled and said, "Alright then, good thing I got a tune here!"

Pressing play on a particular song of his liking, he turned to her with a smile and said, "A little bit of Instant Crush, by one of my favorite duos on this thing. I'm sure you'll like it."

Sil nodded her head as the song began playing in her ears, a strangely surreal experience for her. Sure, there was music back home, but she never truly listened to it, what little of it there was. This, however, she couldn't help but listen to. There was a strange combination of natural and computer-like instrumentations, soon followed by a robotic yet naturally enticing voice. After a bit she couldn't help but bob her head to it.

Scott chuckled as he watched the skirmisher begin bobbing her head, knowing by heart what she was hearing. Despite not even hearing it himself, he bobbed his head to the music as well.

The two sat there for a while, Sil simply letting the music consume her. Human music sounded so… soulful. So creative and lively. She could feel the music reaching out to more than just her ears… and it was so strange.

As it seemed, no matter what the species, emotions were easy to read. Scott watched multiple wash over Sil's face as she listened to song after song. At this point he's just sat here and watched her listen for almost half an hour, not a word spoken between the two.

Slowly, however, Sil began moving into a bigger groove. Chuckling at the sight, Scott popped one of her earphones out and said, "Lemme hear what you're listening to."

He began laughing as he heard the song. "Dancin? Dancin is actually getting the alien to dance, eh?"

Sil only nodded with a cackle, jumping off the table and moving her feet. Scott bopped his head with a chuckle as he watched the bird's surprisingly impressive footwork.

Soon enough though, he got up too, pushing her back, then he said, "Lemme show you how to bust a real move."

Simply continuing moving, Sil kept her eyes on Scott as his feet suddenly began moving about. He was like a precise machine with his footwork, his body moving left to right as his feet floated across the float, twisting a foot over the opposite leg and back, his hands swaying over and away from his chest. With a laugh, she copied his dance, moving close, making him laugh back.

"Didn't take you for a mockingbird!"

Sil cackled back, "Didn't take you to be so spry!"

As the two laughed and continued moving, Zuhl peeked in from the doorway, curious as to the raised voice. Seeing that the two were fine, he grunted and moved off, wandering down the hall and peering into the empty rooms.

He stopped in front of one door, noticing this room had been completely torn apart by an explosive. Walking in, he noticed a human corpse, or what was left of one. Thanks to plasma burns and time, it was only half a skeleton caught on some rebar through the ribs. He stared at the skeleton, then raised his head to the sky above. It was cloudy, hiding away any naval battle happening above he could see. Though by now, any battle should be over now. The army should be reaching the city any time now. It was only a matter of time before this short period of peace for them would explode into deadly combat once again.

Zuhl sighed, looking once again at the skeleton. So much death… and as it seemed, for nothing. It disgusted Zuhl. He saw himself as a soldier, not a drone. That's the reason he takes orders from Bota. Bota earned his respect, he was more than a killer. He had morals, limits, a clear and smart mind. He had honor.

Lightning caught Zuhl's attention, making him look up again as the electrical currents lit up the clouds. Along with it came the beginning rain, the droplets smacking against his golden armor. Stepping back under the cover of the building, Zuhl shook his feathers a bit and sighed, moving back down the hall.

Those two danced in the other room, somehow putting aside the hellish conditions the galaxy was enduring, and having fun. It puzzled Zuhl. They were all soldiers, who's focus should be on the war at hand. And yet, those two seemed to mirror each other, and in that they talked, laughed, and enjoyed their time.

Sil always called him cold and characterless. A drone. Zuhl didn't show it, but the comments did not simply slide past him with no effect. He remembered each and every one, and he truly pondered them.

He clasped his weapon with a soft croon, continuing his patrol as he thought about everything at hand. He was currently in a turn, a turn of his life and goal. So was Bota, Sil, and even Scott. None of them would come out of this the same, or with the same future plans as when they arrived on this planet.

#

"Lady, hear me tonight! 'Cause my feeling, is just so right! As we dance, by the moonlight. Can;t you see, you're my delight!"

Scott sang with a laugh, him and Sil dancing around the table together, little care in their movements. Sil had a lively expression in her eyes as she moved, somehow familiar to Scott, in a strange way. He ignored the familiarity and simply focused on having a good time.

He moved faster as it was about to hit a high note, when the sound of an explosion shook them both back into reality. They looked at each other for a moment, then Scott grabbed his rifle and helmet, slipping it on and aiming out the window, music still playing in his ear.

Right down at the border, he could see purple, fiery flames. Suddenly, his coms lit up with multiple voices yelling about contacts. One stood out. Meyers' voice.

"Covenant contacts on the border! We got two wraiths in the tree line with ghosts and grunts moving onto the streets!"

Bashing the window, Scott took aim down into the streets to see the attackers come into view. He didn't waste a second as he watched ghosts begin zooming into his line of sight. Locking onto one's head, he began firing. Nailing the first grunt right off his ride, then continued down the line, repeating the action with every ghost he saw. A massive wave of grunts followed, gunfire and plasma soon swallowing the road.

Voices yelled over the coms as Scott continued firing, hitting a target with every shot.

"How the Hell did they sneak up on us!?"

"We need fire support on the eastern front of the border! We got revenants bombarding our- AAA-"

"Fireteam Sparrow, all available members are ordered to regroup on Corporal Sterlings position. From there, engage the enemy and make your way back to headquarters! I want the street you travel on cleared before you get here!"

Reloading his rifle with a huff, he turned to Sil and said, "Sorry to cut this off, but as you can probably tell, shits getting fucked. I got orders to move in."

Gesturing out the window, Sil asked, "Right into the enemy?! As a sniper!?"

Chuckling, Scott patted his rifle and said, "Exactly. So hold onto that earphone for me. I gotta go. Don't get shot."

Sil could only nod as she watched the ODST run past her, swiftly moving down the stairwell and towards the ground floor.

Leaping off the stairwell, Scott sprinted out the doorway and behind a column in front of the entrance. Aiming around the column, using it as cover, he saw down the street at the firefight. He could already see his squad pinned down behind destroyed vehicles, a massive crowd of grunts firing away.

Scoping in, Scott fired his mag into the crowd, his rounds punching through multiple targets at once. Fortunately, he was able to draw the grunt's attention away from his squad. Jumping out into the street to give the grunts something to fire and waddle at, Scott grabbed his pistol and aimed it at the grunts, taunting them to attack.

Thankfully, grunts aren't the brightest soldiers in the Covenant, and the crowd swiftly began moving towards Scott, dismissing his squad in the process. They opened fire, though at their current range Scott knew he was mostly safe. He fired his magnum into them, doming a few, but he was only keeping their attention.

As if on cue, his squad peeked out of cover and unloaded into the grunts from behind, the whole crowd getting laid out before the last one could squeal his last words.

Reloading his magnum and holstering it, Scott ran past the fresh grunt corpses and caught up with his squad, Claire still firing her sniper rifle down the road at enemies further away.

Once Scott reached them, Meyers nodded at him and said, "Nice of you to join us. Thanks for the save, but we gotta move up the road to HQ. Stay tight and cover our angles as we move. We don't know how many enemies are about to cross into the city."

Lifting his rifle with a grin, Scott said, "Aye aye, sarge. Lead the way."

Nodding, Meyers jumped up and quickly led them away from the fiery vehicle and down the road. Claire and Scott naturally took up the rear, Scott almost jogging backwards as he aimed down the road. He could see a firefight going on further down, a squad holding off a group of grunts and elites trying to bear down through an intersection. He watched distinct sniper shots coming from the building right next to the fire fight, though a wraith shot suddenly struck the sniper's position, making Scott shake his head and refocus on his squad.

They were passing by a few disheveled shops when plasma fire suddenly began bearing down on them. The squad immediately turned and crashed into the closest shop, Scott leaping and crashing through the window to avoid getting struck.

Sliding across the floor, Scott quickly flipped up and raised his rifle. He watched as two elite minors sprinted at the shop, plasma rifles in hand. Before his squad could regain their footing to fire, Scott whipped between the two with his rifle, tearing holes into each of their heads, the alien corpse stumbling and crashing into the shop.

More plasma fire raced into the shop, forcing Scott to dive over a counter and behind it for cover. His squad returned fire as three jackals approached the shop, a bit discouraged by the death of the elites.

It didn't take long for them to hit the jackal's in their weak spots, making them topple over and succumb to the bullets with squawks of pain. Once the last jackal fell, Scott quickly leapt back over the counter, egging Melly forward with his hand as they all made their way back out to continue off.

They continued running through the streets, Scott keeping their rear covered as they moved. Multiple times elites and jackals popped out from intersections behind them to attack, but Scott easily dispatched them before they could fire. As they moved into the inner city things calmed down a bit, the fighting seeming to only be located around the border at the moment. Scott was personally surprised they'd been able to hold the border this long, but the defense was doomed to fall, he knew that.

As they jogged down the road towards HQ, they watched as a small group of warthogs sped down the road, the gunners cheering at the prospect of a fight as they headed towards the battle.

It didn't take long until the headquarters was in sight, which prompted Claire to release a heavy sigh and say, "Holy shit… that was intense."

Shouldering his rifle as they approached the entrance, Scott chuckled and said, "If that's what you'd call intense, you really haven't been in the game very long."

Scoffing, Clairre slugged his shoulder and said, "I wouldn't call this a game."

Marching past them, Meyers said, "You two can joke around later. Right now there's a battle waging and we have orders to attend to, so keep it moving."

Scott shrugged his shoulders, turning to Claire, "Buzzkill."

She shrugged back and said, "But I guess he does have a point. Come on, old man."

Slapping his shoulder, Claire hurried her pace to keep up with Melly and Meyers, Scott sighing and tailing the three, putting his rifle away on his back.

The squad swiftly maneuvered through the halls, making their way to the impromptu war room that had been set up. As they entered it, the Colonel quickly took Meyers by the shoulder and said, "It's unfortunate timing for us that you four got a mission, which means we're on our own without some ODST's again."

Saluting the Colonel, Meyers asked, "What mission, sir?"

"We were able to get in contact with command, or what's left of it. The navy is being ripped apart, and we still have resources on this planet we need evacced. One that is apparently very significant. So much so, Command wants to pull you from here and assist another ODST team with extracting it."

Nodding, Meyers asked, "Where's the waypoint?"

"That's the tough part. It is inside what we've identified as territory under enemy control. Covies are swarming the facility holding the objective, along with the land around it. Which means it'll be rough getting where you need to go. And all we have to give you is a warthog."

Crossing his arms, Scott asked, "No pelican transport?"

The Colonel grunted and said, "If we could spare a pelican there would be no need for you to head in. We'd just pull out the team already on mission."

Meyers turned his head and looked at Scott, shutting him up from asking more questions, then asked, "Once we're on site, how do we extract the objective?"

"Fortunately for you, the squad already on site has that figured out. They just need fire support and transport out of there. It's not too far, fortunately. But you'll have to drive around the flank of the current assault and head due north, about 3 miles. We have a transport hog in the underground parking garage. Take it and head it, now."

Meyers nodded, saluting the Colonel, who saluted back, "Godspeed, Fireteam Sparrow."

Meyers nodded, lowering his arm, and said, "Thank you, sir. Let's go, ODST's."

The three nodded in unison, turning and running out of the room, heading right for the stairwell and heading down to the parking level. Meyers rushed through the door, holding it open for his squad as they ran out. Meyers quickly spotted the transport hog, then jogged off to it with his squad, Melly hopped into the passenger seat, Claire and Scott jumping in the back as Meyers got into the driver's seat, putting his gun aside and starting the car.

Reversing out of the spot, Meyers pulled the warthog around and said, "Alright, I'll need all your eyes wide open. We'll be driving alongside a warzone, I want your guns ready to fire. Got it?"

Scott patted his rifle and said, "I'm always ready to shoot, sarge!"

Claire nodded, holding hers up, "That makes two of us!"

Melly hoisted her battle rifle over the brim of the warthog, ready to aim and fire, giving him a nod. Nodding back, Meyers hit the gas and sped the warthog out of the building, entering the beat and war torn streets and making his way towards the city edge.