Chapter 6 – Mission Ready and Deployment
"Get ready marines, we are about to open the hatch in ten minutes," a monotoned voice announced over the communication circuit that was attached to every helmet in the Pelican. "Take out as many of those scumbags as you can." The communication circuit when quiet and all the marines shouted out with excitement. I looked around at all the marines. They all look the same, in a muddy green armor with helmets that cover their face. The marines looked seemed excited, they kept checking their gear and weapons. I felt unusual. This is the first time in this black full body armor. It is not as bulky as the Spartan's armor that I have seen around. I told Orion to get everything ready and that I will be taking the assault rifle first and to have it magnetized to the suit for jump. I reached behind me and grabbed the rifle and had to carefully move it to my front. I heard many men gasp from the sheer size of my rifle. My assault rifle is at least twice or three times as big as theirs. Once the weapon was in my arms, Orion acknowledged tether connection. I was startled by the sudden red light flashing at the entrance of the of the hatch. Then a countdown from ten was announced over the communications circuit. I shifted my feet slightly and heard a crunch from below me. It is a good thing that I am going first, I thought. The hatch opened slowly to show the night sky of the orbit. There were very few stars in view and the wind was thrashing into the Pelican that the men were grumbling.
"Jump Titan." Orion ordered sternly as I moved into action. I pushed off with my right foot and took a step forward. I kept walking but the view opened more as I neared the end of the ramp. I pushed myself off the end of the ramp.
I was awoken by Orion telling me to get up and head to the armory to gather my gear and get into my armor. I chuckled, rolled out of bed and shook away the memory of my first mission drop. That was when they realized that I had to get out of the Pelican much earlier than that time. They now know that I need to jump at the exact moment that we hit the orbital sphere around any planet. For I am lighter in space in my armor and just my body in general. I walked to the bathroom and completed my morning routine.
I gathered my few bags as I looked down at my body. I am in a skintight black bodysuit with glowing neon blue cyber lines throughout starting at the square that is on my chest and back. They are what allow my suit and Orion to monitor my homeostasis, body function, and movement to insure that everything will be good. I have always gotten an uncomfortable feeling every time I enter my armor because the body suit rises in the areas that I am unable to fix while in my suit. I grabbed the three protein bars that I have stashed in my room and headed out my door eating the first one. The protein bars taste chalky with a hint of flavor that is unknown. The package of these three says chocolate chip cookie; I am not sure what that even means. They just did their job.
I walked down the hallway towards the armory. The only place that has the brightest lights besides medical. I am not looking forward to walking into there. The doors to the armory slid open to reveal the pristine beige colored walls. There were two enclaves on each wall making the room have six total. The center of the room held a slightly raised platform with monitors around to allow the engineers to see the diagnostics of the equipment and make changes when need to. To the first enclave on the left holds my armor but in between the two enclaves on the left. There is a large door that enters the showers and small locker room that we can keep out things in. I turned to my left and studied the enclave. My black armor was hanging around curved walls awaiting a time to be put back on. The armor was a smaller and less dense than the Spartan's armor. I could tell that the armor has been recently been worked on due to the welding marks left on the lower leg and arm. It gave the armor a unique warped look to it. The helmet was unique also. The face visor of the helmet was silver instead of the same color of the suit. I do not know why that is, but it is. I looked to the right of the assembly area to see my weapons. They were almost comical really. It had my assault rifle, large sniper rifle, pistols, and grenade launcher resting on the weapons rack that looked to almost crumble under the weight. I shook my head and walk towards my armor until I felt eyes on me. I turned my head to the right to notice that John, Thel, Eton, Viti, and Rasi were staring at me. I looked around confused on why they would look at me with such diverse expressions. John and Thel looked on with contempt and amusement. While Viti and Rasi looked on with slacked jaws and they almost dropped their weapons. The last one was Eton, he looked like he has seen something that he would want to consume.
I noticed that all five of them are in their armor. I guess that I was the last one. I walked and stepped up into my assembly unit. I gathered my hair and put it into a tight bun. I felt my face pull tight from putting my hair into a bun. I turned to the touch pad to my left and typed in my code to start the assembly of my armor.
The machine whirled into life and washed me in a light blue light. The metal arms moved around and started to move the armor for the legs around and required me to step into the boots. They tighten the armor until it was snug then continued with the joint and upper leg protectors. Then continue with assembling the rest of my armor. Before the helmet was placed on the assembly station asked me to complete the follow movements: squat, jump, lunge left, right, front, and back, bend forwards and backwards, and twist while moving my joints around to see if there was any issues from the movement. I informed the station that there were no restrictions and no things that need to be changed.
"Roger that, Titan." The automated slightly feminine voice of the assembly unit stated. "Get ready for helmet placement." I gathered myself as I watched my helmet descend onto my head and hearing the connections whirling and grinding into place. The helmet was secure. The screen came alive with the boot up sequence and then everything came to light. The left side of my visor screen showed the display of Orion and the enemy display unit under him. To the right of the visor scree was the assessment of the armor, weapons, and team members. All of this was in pale green color while I can still see through it all to see my surroundings.
"Valkyrie," Orion's voice came over the communications unit of my suit. "You will need these weapons for this mission. The anti-tank/anti-aerial sniper rifle SRT-455, Magnum M6H2 Pistol, and the assault rifle." I acknowledged the statement of my weapons. I stepped out of the assembly unit and moved over to my weapons. I picked up the pistol and verified all the ammunition that I needed for the unit and attached it to my right thigh through magnetic tether. I placed the extra two magazines for the pistol into the right thigh hidden compartment for the ammunition. The pocket hissed closed as the magazines were fit in correctly and securely. I looked over at my assault rifle and sniper and decided to place the sniper onto my back. I verified that the weapon was cleaned, functional, and armed. Before I placed the sniper onto my back, I took the four extra magazines that I need and placed them about my left thigh in the hidden compartments made just for this reason. After they were placed in the correct areas. I picked up the sniper rifle and very carefully unscrewed the barrel from the main body and placed both onto my back snuggly. I turned my attention to my assault rifle and repeated the same ingrained steps of checking the weapon as I did for the sniper rifle. I placed the two magazines in the hidden compartment in my left shoulder and placed the assault rifle onto my chest and made sure that it was secure. I was ready to start this mission.
"How do you feel?" I heard Orion ask as I turned around to walk out of my enclave.
"I am feeling resigned and ready to get the mission over with." I replied and walked into the middle of the armory and opened my communications circuit to the five that are in the room.
"Are you ready to head to the ship?" The voice of John asked as he turned his covered head towards me. I saw apprehension on the faces of the Sangheili that was present. The four did another check of their weapons.
"Yes." Was my simple answer as I looked over to the Sangheili in the green and white armor. I felt the unusual feeling in my chest again as I looked him up and down. Noting how the armor looked good on his body. His body seemed very lethal with all the movements that he was completing while checking his armor and weapons. I felt my face grow hot and Orion let out a chuckle.
"Then lets head to the ship." John said after the confirmation of the Sangheili. We all agreed and followed John out of the armory. I think we would be a sight to see, considering all the people in the hallways moved to the walls to give us space to walk. We walked down few hallways to get into the hanger three.
The hanger was spacious with rough ground that was colored black from all the foot and wheel traffic on it and a painted large three in the center of the floor. The walls had hanger bays with all the set numbers for this one hanger. We walked towards the farthest open door in the hanger to see a pelican standing by and ready for launch. The two marines, Johnson and Jefferson and the other seven Sangheili all suited up in their armor with their weapons. They were mingling and from what I saw trying to understand the others culture for the most part.
"Load up." John said as we walked into the hanger bay. I let everyone walk in and get settled. I stepped into the pelican and heard a slight buckling under me. I watched as the ramp door of the pelican closed and the countdown from five until we are sling shot into the surround space and heading towards the planet that we are needed on. I heard the marines grumble from the turbulence that was happening, and I tried not to move too much due to the metal under me might just give away. It was always unnerving to be on a pelican and worry about falling through. We flew through space as quickly as we could.
"Titan," the voice of the pilot came over the communications circuit that was still open. "You will be dropping in ten seconds." Then a count down started. I turned my head to the others and nodded. They all seemed startled to see me jump from this height. I turned back towards the ramp and watched it open. I saw the sun slowly rising around the planet with a dark orange color. It was a contrast to the rest of the space that was black and the dark blue of the planet. It was a beautiful sight, and this is one of the things that I love to watch as I jump out of any aircraft.
"Go." Was the stern last word I heard from the pilot as I walked off the ramp diving headfirst to the ground.