Jenson once again found herself in a familiar situation. One with a familiar and formidable enemy. Her eyes squinted with hate. Her dark complected hand reached up, fist balled and tensed, and knocked on a solid steel door. The door shuttered with the thump of her knocks. Its sound rippled with a faded echo. Her arm retracts and folds behind her. Her body relaxes and stands at the position of ease. Shoulders straight, hands behind her back, feet shoulder width apart. The perfected position to state an informal request of someone. Or so she thought. The sun reached its peak height and shot its rays of light directly on her. Beaming down the heat of a desert. Sweat beads from her forehead, rolling down her temple and cheek. Her eyes quivered with stain. What should have been just moments turned to an eternity. Her patients ran thin as she knocked again. And again. She repeated the knocks every thirty seconds. Each knock rose in sound, becoming thunderous and fierce. This went on for another five more minutes. No movement. No sounds. Nothing.
"Unbelievable." Jenson muttered to herself. She turned her head from left to right back to the left. She shifted her body to the right and jogged towards the nearest corner of the building. The grass and dirt crunched underneath her boots. Her weight left an impression on the dirt as she came to a halt. She tilted her head around the corner with her body following her momentum. Her hums of annoyance grew as two vehicles parked next to the building. She approached the docile vehicles. One vehicle looked like a warthog, but instead of looking like her troop transport or the one with turrets at the end. Its back was flat and a little longer than a standard warthog. It still had crates strapped to the back. The other vehicle looked more like a van. That vehicle was still running with a low hum only to stutter every so often. She grew closer to it. The silence of the scene almost seemed unnatural, wrong like, and it unnerved her. Once she got the back of the van, she noticed the door still cracked. Peering in she saw melted frozen goods and condensation dripping from the end. She let her eyes trail the water droplet to a muddy puddle that filled a boot size print. Her eyes traversed the dirt, eyeing boot print after boot print. It pulled her into the direction of a shutter. The door next to the shutter remained closed but the shutters themselves remained open. Hovering only inches from the ground.
Jenson walked over towards the shutter. Hand placed on the rickety sheet of metal. She felt the slight movement and stuck her boot underneath the shutter. She lifts it up with the tip of her boat in a fast manner. Once she had the shutters at waist height, she crouched down and lifted it with ease. The light from outside poured in as she lifted it over her head. The storage room seemed filled with metal crates and shelves. Everything looked organized. Metal cabinets and drawers remained shut. She crept forward, feeling the air change from sunny warmth to shady cool. Her boots made soft pants as she tipped toed.
The deeper Jenson entered the more she felt unsettled. Her gut told her to run, but she quelled that feeling with her right hand. She rested her palm on a handle to her pistol. She unclipped the hostoler and prepared for anything. Or so she thought as she kicked something wet. She watched it disappear into the corner. The oval like figure skidded to a halt, tapping against a door. She drew near towards the object and crouched down to get a batter look. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her identification pad and used it to illuminate the small object.
What Jenson saw made her stomach twist a bit. In front of her laid a fleshy body part. One that did not belong to a human, but a sangheili. The body part had teeth that protruded from the pinkish side. Purple blood still oozed from its wound. She twisted her head away from the sight only to see the mess of blood that lingered on the wall. At first glance, she would not have noticed, but with the light from the pad. Her mind recognized it. The sticky and thick consistency. Someone struggled. Prints from a four digit hand pressed all along the rim of the door. Her sight flicked back and forth between prints and scratch marks. It dragged her view to the bottom of the door. Her mind wanted to push forward, but training told her not to. Backing away from the sight, she exited the building.
Jenson felt the warm rays of the sun again, but that did not stop her from shivering a bit. She attempted to calm herself before making her way to her vehicle. She brushed past the hood and towards the driver seat. With a grunt, she leapt up into the front. Her hands reached over to her right to pick out an earpiece from a little empty slot. She plugged in her ID pad and started tapping. Her finger hovered over the UNSC symbol. She pecked it. The earpiece produces static before clearing up.
"UNSC outpost Sunset, this is Sergeant Major Valerie Jenson. Do you copy?" Jenson spoke quietly and clearly.
"We read you, just give us one moment to connect to your PDA." The pad she plugged in chimed. "We see you, AI verified you as Sergeant Major Valerie Jenson. What seems to be an issue?"
"I need reinforcement. I found signs of a violent struggle while searching for Private coordinates of my location." Her pad lit up with another chime.
"Coordinates received. Sending a small team. ETA thirty minutes." He disconnected. Silence lingered in Jenson's ear. She yanked the earpiece and dropped it back in the cubbyhole. Her head drifted to the sky, watching the clouds glide across the sky. White with dark underbellies. "It may rain soon." She mumbled to herself before sighing. She knew today was going to be long but she was not expecting this.