Ashes Chapter 5

Hey guys :) back for another chapter I suppose lol. Had a lot to do lately, final exams and all. Thanks to everybody who has stuck with me through my painfully late updates :P No, I have not discontinued this fanfic, I just haven't really found much time to write. Credits to Kaimaler for helping this story get back underway. Remember, negative reviews are better than no reviews at all :)

2185CE, Uncharted Planet...

"Batarian? No, physiology is all wrong. Quarian? No no, too many appendages. There is only one biological match Shepard... The specimen is in fact, human" Mordin was fascinated by the corpse; he could not keep his eyes off of it.

"Impossible, the humans were still primitive mammals 50,000 years ago, how would a human skeleton that old wind up on an uncharted planet nearly 100 thousand light years away from earth?" Garrus added.

"Are you sure it's not just a mammal similar to a human Mordin?" Tali asked.

"Positive at this point. Will need further testing, but as of now I am positive" Mordin replied

Shepard paced restlessly. This body alone was quite the find, who knows what else this place had in store. As fascinating as the body was, they still had a mission to complete.

"Mordin, you are clear to transport the specimen onto the Normandy, the rest of you, we still have a job to do" Shepard boldly said. They all nodded in approval. Shepard's radio hissed to life.

"Grunt here, were dug in. Meet us by the dig site Shepard" He said in his deep voice.

"Roger that Grunt, make sure the team is ready to descend when we get back"

Shepard and co braved through the violent dust storm, holding their hands in front of their faces to fend off the howling sand. Tali took point because her helmet gave her the most visibility. She had her massive claymore shotgun at hand, ready to blast anything hostile that may emerge from the storm.

"All clear Shepard" Tali assured him.

Through the storm a duo of figures became visible. It would seem Grunt and Kasumi were waiting for them.

"Well it's about time Shep, what happened, you take a coffee break or something?" Kasumi said in her usual upbeat attitude. Shepard just grinned in response.

"Not really, Garrus just needed to stop for his usual 'Turian tea time'" Shepard joked back.

This sparked a minor reaction from Garrus, lightly punching Shepard in the arm. Suddenly Shepard's radio flickered to life; on the other end was a familiar voice.

"Shepard, Miranda here. We've dug down to the signal with the mining laser; take your team into the carts set up there. The carts will bring you down to the signal, meanwhile Legion, Mordin and myself will get that specimen you found on to the Normandy."

"Roger that Miranda, Shepard out." Shepard quickly replied.

Shepard approached the dig site, it would seem that the mining laser drilled a hole in the ground at about a 60 degree angle. There were only two carts, they were both about the size of a living room sofa.

"How are we even supposed to fit in those?" Garrus protested. Grunt approached him and gave him a smack on the back, nearly flooring him.

"Don't you worry your squishy turian head, you're ridin' with me!" Grunt proclaimed. Garrus' face lit up in horror.

"Me? Share a cart with you? I doubt I'll even have room to breathe" Garrus replied.

Shepard just smirked.

"It has been decided, Grunt and Garrus are ride along buddies!" Shepard teased.

Garrus shot the most evil look Shepard had ever seen.

"I won't forget this Shepard." Garrus said angrily.

"Alright people, pile in!" Shepard ordered.

Grunt and Garrus crammed into the back cart (Grunt taking up nearly the whole thing), while Shepard, Tali and Kasumi took the front cart. Tali pushed a series of controls on the cart, with that both carts slowly began to descend. It was crammed in those carts, it would seem that Garrus was struggling to breathe. Tali made sure she gave Shepard plenty of space, she was embarrassed. She had always had feeling for Shepard, but she never really had the nerve to act on those feelings. Just being this close made her extremely nervous. Kasumi looked over at Tali, who spaced herself as far from Shepard as she could in the small cart. Kasumi just grinned and gave her a slight shove, sending her towards Shepard. Her arm grazed his, and at the moment of impact, she instantly retracted. You couldn't see it under the helmet, but she was obviously blushing. Shepard just turned his head towards Tali and let out a shit eating grin.

"Well hello there Tali" He said to her.

Tali could barely speak, she wasn't expecting this.

"Uhh...umm... h..he..hello Shepard" She mumbled out. She just crossed her arms and turned away.

Shepard found this to be extremely cute, one minute she could be a stone cold killer, the next she could be incredibly bashful.

Suddenly, the lights faded. They were getting deep...

Planet Reach...

Six rushed up the ramp and took cover behind a large metal box. She quickly dipped her head out to get a view. There it was. The Covenant drop ship laid there, ready for the taking. It was in the middle of a large landing bay, with a large tunnel leading to the surface. She would need to be careful not to alert the covenant, or they may just fly out, then she would have no ride off this planet. She raised her DMR rifle to scope out the area. The landing pad was guarded by a mixture of three dozen grunt and jackals, led by three elite. No question the ship was incredibly well defended. There is no way she could possibly beat them all by just rushing in, and even if she could hold her own against such a group one may slip past her and take the ship. She would need to execute this plan perfectly, one mistake and there's no way off of this planet. She opened up her wrist computer and activated her personal radio.

"Are you in position Corporal?" She asked.

"Gimme a sec Spartan, almost ready" he replied.

Jordan was down on the other end of the landing bay, in cover behind a large support beam, shotgun in hand.

"Alright, I'm in position, ready to go" Jordan said over the radio.

"Alright corporal, let's get started"

Jordan proned around the support along a stockpile of crates. He was cautious not to draw too much covenant attention, but he had to get close enough to get a decent view of the phantom.

"Lieutenant, can you give me a good idea of how many of these sons a bitches there are?" Jordan asked over his radio, quietly enough not to draw enemy attention.

"A few dozen grunts, accompanied by a smaller group or about ten jackals. There seems to be three elites leading the group, one of them appears to be a Zealot so be careful of an energy sword." Six replied.

"So why am I down here? aren't you the genetically altered super killer?" Jordan said back.

"Relax corporal, I'm in a great Sniping position, I won't let them flank you unless you piss me off" Six said sarcastically.

"Ha. That's a good one, but seriously. If you don't mind I would like my flanks clear."

"I've got your back Jordan, don't worry. Now, let's get this thing underway." Six said.

"Right" Jordan said abruptly.

Six took a deep breath and readied her scope. It was show time. Six had her eyes on a lone grunt that had straggled from the group, a perfect first victim. A quick pull of the trigger finger dropped the little beast. His death attracted the attention of his comrades, who quickly rushed to the scene. One of the Elites spotted Six's sniping position and began to open fire. Perfect. While the covenant were busy shooting at her, Jordan could approach the Phantom will little resistance. Balls of plasma whipped by six, but she was dug in good. It would take the most accurate (or lucky) shot to get a good hit on her. The Covenant on the other hand, were right out in the open, and were easy targets to Six's DMR fire. One by one grunts and Jackals fell; It was a kill-zone.

Meanwhile Jordan made his way closer to the Phantom behind the crates. The majority of the covenant landing forces were distracted by Six, so he faced little resistance. Jordan was ten feet away when a Grunt jumped out of nowhere. In an instant, Jordan dropped him with a shotgun blast to the chest. The shotgun was not the most silenced of weapons, and it attracted more Covenant attention. About a quarter of the Covenant in Six's kill-zone shifted to face Jordan. This wasn't good, Jordan would be overwhelmed. Six jumped from her position on to the landing bay with fire in her eyes. Like a woman possessed, she killed every covenant unfortunate enough to enter her line of sight. In particular, an Elite Zealot with a sword in hand noticed Six's ferocity and charged to meet her. This elite swung wildly at six, but she was able to dodge every swing and thrust. Frustrated, the elite took a powerful overhand swing. Six grinned, and with lightning fast precision, she grabbed the elites arm, stopping the sword in the air. While the elite was strong, Six's strength far exceeded the alien. She raised her DMR with her free hand, placed it against his chest and fired. A DMR round to his heart was more than enough to bring down the powerful alien. Six quickly holstered her DMR and grabbed the elite's energy sword, now things would get interesting.

Six cut her way through the Covenant like a blowtorch through butter. Every hack, slash and thrust took down a grunt, jackal or elite. Plasma rounds smacked against her shields, but she didn't slow down. The last grunt in her path saw the carnage this one Spartan was able to wreak, and began to run for its life. Six gave a diabolical grin before tossing the sword at the grunt, sticking it into its back and killing the thing.

Six looked over at Jordan, who has seemed to rack up a body count of his own. Ten covenant bodies surrounded him, shotgun smoking.

"I see the Covenant didn't bring you down" Six pointed out.

"With all due respect Spartan, you shouldn't underestimate the ODST" Jordan replied with a grin.

Six nodded. "Now let's get off this rock".

Six and Jordan left the piles of covenant dead behind them and entered the Phantom, ready to leave Reach…

Well there you go, another chapter finally got through. The next chapters shouldn't take as long I promise :P The main reason this chapter took so long was a combination of RL distractions and writer's block. So don't worry, I have not abandoned this fic J Reviews would be appreciated