Chapter 9 – Dropping Sensation and Wonderful New Landscape Eton's POV
Eton's POV
My heart was still pounding away as I though of Valkyrie falling to the ground with no back up. I keep wondering how she deals with the free-fall and the landing. I have never liked the landing too much, but I do know that it is necessary for us to do. I breathed out slowly and let my body relax. I heard shuffling around me as I heard we were three minutes away from the drop zone. I moved towards my pod for landing and stepped in and settled against the padded back of the pod. I thought of how my soulmate was doing and that I would be down on the ground shortly to help cover her back. Before the countdown started, one of the pilots came around and closed the pods. Then the countdown started from ten. I felt the ground underneath the pod drop at the number three. I looked out the window provided and saw that I was plummeting through the air at a suffocating speed. It made me a little dizzy. I do not get the thrill that I got when I was younger. It was just a means to an end now. I do not know when the parachute deployed but it slowed my decent downward significantly. The pod that I was in landed on the ground with a hard and jarring thud. I grabbed the handle that was in the pod and pulled. This caused the front portion of the pod to be blown away and allow fresh air to flow into my nostrils. I hummed with a content sigh of smelling fresh air. I stepped out of my pod and noticed that the other pods have landed. Some of the men and Sangheili troops stumbled out a little shaken. I had to chuckle at that.
I observed the landscape and saw that it was covered in a light glow from the sun. There were hills of colors that one would say is orange, yellow, and red mixture. It was a background to the strange prickly trees in front of it. It looks like one of the locations on my home planet that I visited when I was young. I could think of a picture that should be taken at this exact moment. It would consist of Valkyrie a few meters in front of me in a position with her back turned to me, her hands crossed behind her head that was tilted backwards. Her hips would be tilted softly to the right side as her feet were spread apart. Her hair would be down and gently flowing the wind and her frame would be illuminated by the exquisite orange tinted daylight to highlight one side of her body. It would give her silhouette a distinctive look that I would love to see. I will need to ask Orion if he might have any pictures of my soulmate.
"Val, we all have landed, and I am having Cortana send you the coordinates that we are at." Master Chief said over the communications circuit. It shook me from my thoughts of the picture of my soulmate. Thel motioned for us to gather around as we look at the map that Cortana illustrated through the display panel on the Master Chief's suit.
"The city is made up of mainly stone structures." Cortana's voice said as she spoke from Master Chief's suit. "The city is between flat plains and a cliff that drops to a lake more that a hundred feet below. The city has three districts that circle around each other." Cortana changed the map to view the different levels by separating them. The inner most circle seemed to have the higher buildings and structures that were tightly built together. The second level seemed to have a mix of tall and short buildings with some space in between. This level seemed like a market level. The lower level had different sized buildings with a lot more space around them. There seemed to be some farms on this area. The lower level would be easier to cross due to the spacious area. However, there would not be much cover I thought. The two inner districts of the city provide more coverage for us but even more hiding spaces for the covenant scum that hid here. "There are seven main roads in and out of the city. The roads to the mountains happened to be covered with destroyed buildings from an earlier battle. So that leaves us with three main roads that we need to be weary of." Cortana highlighted each of the seven roads. Then indicated which four had the structures obstruction them. I am thankful for the Ais that the humans brought with them. They are helpful. "The towns people fear the covenant that are currently in there. They will try to stay out of the way as much as they could. "The area by the cliffs happen to be higher than the city itself. If there is a sniper within out group, I would place them there with a few people to cover them." Cortana stated as she raised the cliff side and indicated where the best place the snipe should set up.
To my left I heard three distinct whistles and Master Chief put his weapon down again. I saw the black suit of my soulmate walking over the small ridge of the hill. I smiled as I saw that she was completely fine. I did note that there was some dust around her knees, and I held in a chuckle knowing what had possibly happened. She walked over to the circle that we conveniently created around the map.
"I will be going with Jefferson, Johnson, Eton, Risa, Viti, and the four others that were said to join." Master Chief stated. I looked at my soulmate in the black armor with a slightly disappointed look. "The rest will be with the Arbiter." I know why I was split into the Demon's group. I would have been more focused on staying closer to my soulmate and my body would try to complete the ritual with her.
"Arbiter's group will head to the cliffs and set up a sniper. Val you will be the sniper. The others will surround you for cover as you shoot." The Master Chief said as my soulmate stepped back and started to switch and assemble the very weapon she needs. "My group will be going through the front of the city. We will split up into three groups and cover the three open streets carefully yet quickly. Get ready to move out." The green armored man said as he checked his weapon and got it settled. He walked over to the Arbiter and placed his hand on his shoulder. It seemed like a very appreciative gesture that both needed to have.
"Groups move out." Arbiter and his mate said at the same time. I followed the man and took a last glance at Valkyrie as she walked away with a purpose. I sighed and turned back and continued down towards the city at a steady pace that the two male humans that are not enhanced or of a different species can maintain.
We reached the outskirts of the city and the Master Chief split us into three groups. Master Chief has Risa with him. Viti has two of the Sangheili warriors and I form the other group with the last two. The streets have been coordinated already on who takes what. Risa's group take the center street. I will be taking the left street, which is the closest to the cliffs, and Viti's group takes the right street which is closest to the plains. We have already passed the lower district of the city and we are about to move into the second district that has more cover. I stand behind a building that is placed to the left of the street and peered around the corner to see further down the street. My team started to move slowly from building to building securing the area.
From overhead was a whizzing sound of a round flying. I saw a large Brute fall from four buildings in front of us to ground with a loud thud. I heard some small screaming up ahead from what sounds to be Grunts. I smiled darkly as I motioned to my group to move forward and watch out for the rooftops. There were three quick whizzing sounds from above and more of the covenant fell off the roof to their deaths on all the streets.
"Good job Val." The Master Chief's came over the communication circuit and I heard a small vocalized expression of excitement through the circuit that seemed to get everyone's spirits up. We continued forward without an issue and reached the most inner district of this building. There were only six shots that I heard be let out. So, the middle district did not have many covenants to kill. Which does worry me because we never knew how many were located here.
"Group one has reached the edge of the inner city." I heard the same acknowledgement of the other two groups. Then the order to move forward was given.