IN ORBIT AROUND UNSC COLONY WORLD NEW HARMONY, HESTIA SYSTEM,
JANUARY 30, 2535 (MILITARY CALENDAR),
0800, UNSC RAZOR'S EDGE.
. . .UNSEAL_BRAVO_SEVEN . . .
Begin_Cryostatic_Awakening
Cpt_Danforth_ J_Reed: Awakening
Cpl_Tanaka_C_Yoko: Awakening
SSgt_Nux_G_Hector: Awakening
2Lt_Kiran_A_Lila: Awakening
MSgt_Hall_C_Alex: Awakening
Spc_Chase_R_ Skylar: Awakening
Cryostatic_Awakening_Procedure_Complete
The six cryostasis bays holding the squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers unlatched and depressurized with a short series of clicks and hisses. Captain Reed Danforth was the first ODST out of his pod, and consequently, the first one retching up the bronchial surfactant they all took before they were cryogenically frozen. After a minute or so, the rest of the squad joined their Captain on the frigid metallic floor, gracefully collapsing to their hands and knees and gagging on the surfactant as their bodies regained full functionality, and tried to expel the semi-viscous liquid coating the insides of their lungs. After they had all cleared their lungs of the surfactant, some of the Razor's skeleton crew, overseeing the thaw helped the other Orbital Drop Shock Troopers up from the floor.
Cpt. Reed Danforth
'I forgot how much deicing fucking sucked... That inhalant shit still tastes like lime flavored mucus.'
Reed thought to himself as he swabbed some of the surfactant off his teeth with his tongue, then spat it out onto the floor.
"Hell of a way to start the morning, eh sir?" One of the crew in a dark grey lab coat quipped as he lifted me to my feet. Reed didn't reply, instead just nodding since his throat felt like it'd been lit on fire. Reed's vision swept from the shiny metal surface of the floor to the rest of his squad. They were naked just like he was, and each had a crew member attending to them. The Captain's eyes then swept back to the man in front of him. He saw something across his right pec; metallic, glinting against the harshly blinding lights of the cryo bay. It was a nametag that read "Staten, Joseph" he scanned further and noticed the stacked arrows on his shoulders, indicating he was a Sergeant.
"Just let me check your vitals, then you'll be free to get dressed." Sergeant Staten said, as he pulled out a scanner and began to scan Danforth's body; checking for internal cryonic buildup. The sweeping teal colored light went up and down his body, and after a few moments, Joseph tapped his scanner's holographic display a few times, then looked up at Reed.
"You are free and clear Captain, hope you enjoyed sleeping with the Admiral's wife." He flashed a quick smile, then looked over to his fellow crewmates.
"Done?" He asked.
Four of them nodded and packed up their scanners. The other was still tapping away on her scanner finalizing the data.
"Yes sir," she said, tucking a few strands of her auburn hair behind her ear. "Just finishing up with Specialist Chase."
Skylar had her arms hugged tightly around her chest, her olive skin bristling in the cold air. Her short blonde hair flitted back and forth as she shifted on her toes, trying to stay warm. Joseph nodded and smiled back at Captain Danforth.
"Your squad is all clear. Sorry about the quick defrost, but Admiral Winston wanted the UNSC's finest ready to deploy once we've dropped out of slipspace and reached New Harmony. He'll brief you about your mission once you all are clothed. Your lockers are just behind me."
Reed managed a curt smile then cleared his sore throat, "We'll be ready in 5."
The Sergeant tilted his head up. "I'll let the Admiral know you're coming."
The skeleton crew packed up and left the squad to get dressed. Danforth stepped over to a locker and lifted the locking mechanism up, opening up the small storage space. Inside was the undershirt and pants that went on below his armor. Below that was the cool metallic sheen of their combat armor.
Reed slipped the clothes on and heard the metallic clanking of the rest of the squad's lockers being opened. Hector was the first to speak, "Why is it always so cold in these damn rooms?" He asked, slipping on a thermal undershirt.
Skylar gave him an incredulous look as she pulled her shirt down over her head; her fair complexion wrinkling a bit as she replied with biting sarcasm;
"It's called cryostasis for a reason. Dumbass."
"Geeze, you are always so mean when you come out of the freezer!"
Yoko and Aaron chuckled as they slipped their thermal layers on. The Captain stifled a small smile as Lila just rolled her eyes and pulled on her leg armor. Hector and Skylar would always do this when they came out of stasis. The wit of those two always helped to take the edge off of coming out of the icebox.
"Alright, cut the chatter you two. We need to be on the bridge soon."
Danforth scolded them as he brought the heavy chestplate and arm linkages down and locked them into place.
The coal black armor was faded from previous wear and tear, yet still reflected the lights of the cryo bay beautifully, as if it had just been freshly polished. It fit well against his body, the worn interior slipped comfortably into its usual spot on Reed's chest and stomach as he latched the rest of the armor on.
After a few minutes the squad was fully armored up and ready to move up to the bridge. The rhythmic clinking of boots on the floor of the Razor seemed to echo on forever through the cavernous spaceship.
"Everyone else must still be on ice.." Aaron said, noting the lack of personnel up and about.
"Forgot how damn creepy the Razor could be when her crew is on ice." Lila said, an edge of loneliness in her voice.
"Scared?" Alex stated teasingly.
"Bite me." Lila laughed as the small grouping of ODST's made their way from the Cryo labs up towards the Razor's bridge.
The winding metal corridors could make it easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention. Fortunately for the ODST's, they'd spent enough time on the Razor that they could practically navigate it blindfolded. They carried their helmets and rushed to the bridge where Admiral Sam Winston was waiting. The ODST's formed a line, then snapped to attention, with helmets by their sides and hands raised to their eyebrows in a crisp salute.
"At ease." Winston said cooly, turning to address the newly awoken soldiers. The ODST's all dropped their hands to their sides as Admiral Winston continued. "Feeling up for some combat today soldiers?"
A resounding "Sir, Yes sir!" was the reply.
Winston smirked happily and looked over each of them, but locked eyes with Reed.
"Captain Danforth, you and your squad are going to be deployed via Pelican to the surface of New Harmony at 0900. This is a joint counter insurgency op. We've been having issues with some insurrectionists taking over, and promptly blowing up spaceports. The security forces they've sent aren't doing the trick. So you'll be joining up with a group of paramilitary fighters, and you'll assault their main base of operations at Rault; where we believe they are making these explosives. Cripple the manufacturing, and their whole operation should go up in flames."
Reed nodded. "How many sir?"
"Well the thermal scans around Rault have been showing around 50 to 60 bodies in the plant itself, with another 20 outside guarding it." As he finished the sentence Winston waved his hand out in front of the holographic table in front of them, activating a holo display.
"Damn.." Alex and Skylar said in unison. The shock on their faces evident.
A picture from the thermal scan popped up and showed a mass of orange and red dots peppering the area in and outside of what seemed to be a large warehouse, surrounded by barbed fencing and lots of heavy armaments.
"They've managed to intercept a shipment of weapons and explosives that was sent out to resupply some of our forces near New Harmony, so eliminate the hostiles with extreme prejudice.. If you can, try to bring back the stolen weapons and explosives as well. The UNSC doesn't take too kindly to thieves."
"We'll do our best, Sir." Reed replied sternly, then gave his head a quick jerk to signal that they were moving out.
5 pairs of booted feet followed closely behind as Winston gave them a farewell.
"Good luck.. All of you." Τhe Admiral said as the troopers departed.
The shock troops made their way down to the armory and started to pick out gear. Danforth grabbed a standard issue BR55HB Battle Rifle and ejected the magazine, checking to make sure it was at capacity. He tapped the magazine against his armor to make sure the bullets were all seated and firmly in place, before slamming the magazine home and looking over the smart display to double check. Sure enough the ammo counter read out a full mag, 36 rounds.
Reed grabbed 9 spare magazines and loaded them into the ammo pouches he had integrated into the armor. He set the Battle Rifle on his back and listened for the satisfying "click" of the magnets engaging, locking the gun in place on his back. Then the Captain walked over towards the sidearm area and snagged a M6D semi automatic pistol, pulled the nickel plated slide back slightly to make sure it was loaded, re-racked the slide, then stuffed it into his leg holster. He picked up 9 spare mags for that as well. Then he grabbed a few M9 frag grenades and put them into their respective pouches. Reed's vision swept over the armory as he surveyed the team doing the same.
The rest of the squad's loadouts were mostly the same as the Captain's. Alex, Hector, and Lila all had battle rifles like Danforth, but had MA37 automatic rifles in place of their sidearms. Yoko picked up an SRS99 Anti-Matériel Sniper rifle, and looked over to Lila, smirking happily. "Can't wait to see the looks on those innie bastards faces when they get a hole in their head from this bad boy" Lila laughed "They aren't going to have a head left, after you pop them with one of those rounds." Yoko grinned and slammed a fresh magazine into the rifle, and stood it up so she could attach a sling to it.
"You sure you can handle that rifle Tanaka?" Hector quipped.
"Up yours, Nux" Yoko replied curtly with a tinge of venom in her voice. Yoko was the smallest of the group, standing just shy of 5'6" and Hector loved to give her shit for it. The sniper rifle, standing upright, almost came up to the top of Yoko's ear; her jet black hair falling over the edge of the muzzle.
Skylar sighed as she chambered a shell into her M45 tactical shotgun.
"Come on Hector, save the shit talking for the Covenant."
He chuckled and watched the ensuing verbal clash go on for a minute more, after checking the time to make sure they'd still be on time for the Pelican drop off.
"Okay, that's enough. We've wasted enough time as is, are you all locked and loaded?"
5 nods was the reply.
"Alright. Let's move."