Halo 3: ODST

I: Back to Basics

New Mombassa, October 22, 2552 (Military Calendar)

Marcus watched the LED signs with fascination. One of them showed a hologram of a ship and the other showed a headset with waves coming out of the antenna. Suddenly, Marcus realized what he was supposed to do. He tapped the left side of his helmet.

"Come in, Lion's Valor, this is Private Marcus Carmine. Is anyone there? I've landed in the plaza of New Mombassa. I arrived here with a squad and don't know where they've landed. Please advise."

"Private, this is Ensign Walker. As of the moment, you will have to find them on your own. There are four beacons scattered around the city that show the current location of your squad mates. Find them, and then report back to us. Good luck Rookie."

"Wait!" Marcus interrupted.

"I'm new, and shouldn't you guys run over the basics, you know, so I live?"

"I guess so," Walker sighed, "Okay, just start traveling around the city and I'll give you intel."

Marcus nodded and began to walk through the city plaza.

"First things first. You can check the area and your mission objectives by opening up the PDA in your right pocket."

Marcus did as he was told. The PDA showed him as a bleeping dot and the city in the direction he was facing. In the bottom left hand corner it said, "Go through training."

"Okay, now click the red button on the right hand corner."

Marcus pressed it. There was a list of beacons he had found, currently at the number zero.

"Keep moving, kid. Now that you've got you're PDA figured out, it's time to learn a few combat rules."

Marcus ran down the street, keeping his PDA in his right hand at all times.

"You ever seen a Spartan, son?" the Ensign asked.

"Not really, sir. I've only heard of 'em. But I did see one about to step on Sergeant Fenix's face once." Marcus answered.

"Well if you'd seen 'em in action, then you'd know about their special hi-tech suits that enable them to heal from wounds while they stay out of the battlezone. As an ODST, you don't have the armor, but you can still heal, so long as you stay out of the fight for a while. Further, you don't have the ability to jump as high, run as fast, or have a motion tracker on you, nor can you dual-wield weapons like they can."

"Why can't I dual wield weapons? I mean, it's not that hard."

"Private, did you ever earn a medal for accuracy with dual-wielding back at the academy?"

"Well, no, but I don't—"

"Then shut the hell up and do as I say." The Ensign barked.

"Yes, sir." Marcus grumbled.

"Now it's time to show you something the Spartans don't have. Activate your helmet's third screen mode."

Marcus did as he was told. His HUD was highlighting every object in red and blue.

"That's the Visual Mode. This helps you identify your teammates and enemies during a fight so you don't end up team-killing."

"Is there anything else that I need to know about?" Marcus asked.

"No, that's it. Your objective is to know find out what happened to your squad. Once you've got enough intel report to us." The Ensign ordered.

Marcus turned off his comm and checked his PDA. There was a small green blip a klicks from his location, not too far away from an old rundown hotel. Marcus jogged to the hotel, surveying the area. There was no sign of a drop pod crashing or any indication that a soldier came through here. He tapped his helmet twice and checked things in the visual mode, but nothing came up. He turned his head toward the sky. Telephone poles were tangled together by something long and sleek. Marcus took out the combat knife in his backpack. With determination, he jumped at the telephone poles and cut them. The long object fell in his hands, revealing a slight dent and a mark of red lipstick near the trigger.

"This must be Romeo's," Marcus mused.

An image began to form in Marcus's head, thinking about the events that led Romeo's rifle to being caught in the telephone poles…

First things first: yes, I realize that the Rookie isn't supposed to be as talkative as he is, but I decided that he should be like any of the other ODSTs we've seen so far: talkative, nervous, and curious. That said, since we haven't heard anything about the squadmates except for Romeo, I'm gonna try and play the other scenarios by ear. Once any new info comes about them, I'll try and update as soon as possible.

Make sure to preorder your Limited Collector's Edition of Halo Wars, which contains a code for the new Mythic Maps: Orbital, Assembly, and Sandbox!

Prepare to Drop.