Chapter 4: Decend from the Heavens

Sorry for the delay! I apologize for the time it takes for me to write a chapter and if you are still following then thank you for your support! I'll try to work on it more frequently when I have the time. Anyway here is chapter 4 of Angels of Reach!

July 24th, 2552

Ryan, or "Storm" as he started to call himself like the others, sat in his bunk in a deep sleep, the best sleep he's had in a long time in fact. This time his dream wasn't a nightmare, instead he was back at home, Earth. He saw his sister, Lindsay, running to him with tear glazed eyes running into his arms, glad to finally see her brother after all the years he had been in service. Like never before he was glad to be with the one person he cared about most, seeing the look on her face was something that brought tears to his own eyes. Then he heard footsteps behind him and as he stood holding his sister he saw Snow… dressed in her full ODST armor with her helmet held under her arm as she approached him slowly. Being drawn to Snow, he stood there awkwardly as she wrapped her arms around the back of Ryan's neck and smiled plainly and whispered silently, "Storm…" which confused him; didn't she know his real name?

Suddenly he felt something jerk him suddenly, was that Snow? Storm opened his eyes and looked into Snow's, her expression no longer being soft and rather being stern and hard. Violently she jerked him hard and repeated, "Storm," being much louder and then some kind of strange ambience sounded in the background and finally Snow yelled right in his face at the very top of her lungs as if she was screaming, "Storm!"

In a massive burst of adrenalin his eyes shot wide open and noticed the lights were no longer turned off but instead the alarm was blazing loudly and the lights all lit up flashing in order to wake everyone up. Without hesitation he shot up from his bed and stood, immediately fitting his clothing on before looking back at Snow with a confused expression. "What is this, another damn practice drop?" They had done this a week ago with all the ODST squads to ensure they still knew how to drop in. It was a regular ritual but this one was a little early, even by ODST standards.

Anxiously Snow looked to Ryan and swallowed hard before grabbing him by the shoulders. "I don't know, just get to the armory and get suited up ASAP."

There wasn't any thinking when you were told to suit up; by now it was second nature for him to do this without asking questions. Sprinting past all the bustling engineers and other ODST's trying to make it to where Angel squad was getting set up. This didn't make any sense, why would all these people be running around for a combat drop? Was this a station wide drill? That didn't make sense; they didn't do that because of the amount of people on the ship and the mass confusion they would cause in the process.

Shaking off the thoughts that were buzzing around in his head he ran into Angel squad's armory and saw that the rest of them had already gotten suited up and already were loading up their weapons and doing their final checks. Storm opened his armor locker and quickly started throwing his suit on, fitting on the suit and pressing the chest plate with angel wings on it against his chest, making sure nothing bit into him so when he dropped it wouldn't constrict breathing.

Cross approached him as Storm fitted his combat knife to the right side of his breast plate and already reaching for his magnum, pulling it out to check that it was loaded and grabbing 4 magazines for it, placing them in the magazine pouches. "You got any idea what's happening guys?" Storm said as he looked around the room at his squad, all of them looking just as lost as he was with the whole situation happening around them.

Butch pressed against the back of a Spartan laser, making a high pitched whine as the battery connected to the firing mechanism inside. Raising an eyebrow and propping the Spartan laser on his shoulder and gesturing to Cross. "You got any idea what's going on?"

Storm, as everyone called him now, had already fitted his entire uniform with his three-round burst BR55 Battle rifle, fitting it into the holder in his pod along with his M7-Submachine gun, customized with a silencer and a holographic sight. Turning to face Cross, Storm was thinking of all the possible reasons this could be about but instead of blabbering, he kept his mouth shut waiting for Cross to explain what is going on.

Cross looked around to everyone before speaking in his scary-as-hell-pants-crapping drill voice. "I'll keep this nice and short; our objective is to secure a perimeter for a FOB for marine forces to create an effective counter defense on the ground. Enemy forces have already begun invading the planet surface so expect heavy resistance."

Red slammed a magazine into his .50 caliber M24 sniper rifle before looking back to Cross. "Excuse me sir, but what exactly IS the enemy?"

Cross fitted his helmet on his head before sitting back in his pod. "Who do you think? Shut your mouths and get ready for a combat drop!"

Storm put his helmet onto his head as did everyone else as they sat back in their pods. He looked at Snow who was already in her pod with a look on her face that showed fear, pale white before her visor darkened and he couldn't see it. Storm threw on his helmet and sat in the pod as it sealed shut, suddenly moving to the side as an automated crane system jerked his pod suddenly and held it over top of the drop chute as Cross's voice came out over the radio. "Alright boys, when the UNSC calls upon us to drop in, when we are called upon for the jobs no one else can do, when the asses needed to be kicked need be kicked for good, HOW DO WE RESPOND!?"

All the squad responded as there was a hiss of the locks releasing, Storm took a breath full of air before yelling out in unison with the rest of the squad. "DESCEND FROM THE HEAVENS!"

Suddenly, without any warning, the gut-wrenching feeling of weightlessness filled Storm's body as the bright sunlight filled his visor and he immediately took in the surroundings.

Their pods had dropped in first out of the several hundred other ODST's above them, looking up seeing a small area of sky like a trail from the Pillar of Autumn of drop pods. There was more than your average amount dropped in, usually only a fraction of the amounts to deal with insertions. Storm brought his eyes down and his breathing stopped like he had been punched in the gut and shot; covenant ships dotted above the atmosphere beyond counting from his pod, burning wreckage from UNSC ships and orbital stations burned brightly from the left over plasma that burned their decompressed hulls. Mac rounds pounded at the attacking covenant ships while volley's of plasma torpedoes, havoc missiles and covenant ships pouring in from slip space like they were throwing their entire fleet at them. As Storm's pod hit the first layer of atmosphere he grabbed a hold of the controls and began steering it manually, something about computers made the ODST's uneasy so they usually flew solo. Once the pods reached the inner layer of atmosphere, covenant corvettes over the major populations had already set up and began launching phantoms and spirits onto the surface. Storm hit the switch on his chute which opened up and slowed him down a little bit.

Suddenly there was a lurch and a loud clang was heard as his chute broke off from the pod, hitting another pod above him and crushing it into itself and flying off course. Hammer suddenly screamed out over comms as Storm's pod went into free fall. "SHIT! STORM!"

He managed to look up to see his fellow hell jumpers above him as they began to slow down while he continued at the same speed, thoughts going through his mind as he streaked towards the earth at 4500 feet and falling fast. Nothing was coming to mind; this was just like when he pissed himself except this was a LOT higher and he would definitely not survive the drop from this altitude. Radio chatter filled his ears from his squad mates talking but he had no clue what they were saying, Storm just knew he would probably wind up flat as a fucking pancake. Great way to die, quick and painless he supposed. But as he passed through the main cloud layer and stared down at the ground from his altitude he saw a beach with a wide passing ocean lying out for as afar as the eye could see. From what he could tell his pod was going to hit nearby the beach on land which he knew would kill him before he knew what happened. However he then thought of his sister, his parents, his home, Snow… how could he explain to her how he felt if he was dead? At that moment he had flashbacks of all the times he had with everyone he knew in his life, the ocean reminding him of his childhood home, skipping rocks with his sister standing on the beach on his 12th birthday, through to his wedding with Snow and them having children until they died on Earth peacefully and happily. However he looked back to the skipping rocks when he was a boy and looked down at the ocean, getting the most absolute, impossible, outlandish and bat-shit insane idea he ever conceived in his time as a hell jumper.

Skip the pod across the water onto the beach, just like skipping stones.

At this point, Storm didn't give a fuck if it worked or not.

Fighting with the intense g-force, he fought with the controls to force his pod to move straight down so that he was now plunging straight towards the dark, dreary waters of the ocean instead of the beach. Storm let his pod descend down towards the water while clenching his controls tightly knowing he had to get his timing right. Just like the rocks, if his pod went too high, it would hit the shallows and kill him from the impact. If it came in too sharp, it would hit the water and most likely kill him or pull his pod into the depths where he would drown. Breathing heavily and slowly pulling on the controls to bring the pod so it would come in more flat, the pod began shaking violently and controlling it began to become harder and harder as the water then began to rush up towards him as he tried to level out the pod. Looking at his altitude gauge it read 2300, 1750, 1392, 946. Storm now put the finishing touches on the angle before he saw that right before he was about to hit the water, he noticed a dark, reef beneath the surface and cursed loudly. "Oh for FUCK…"

Before the thought could even be finished, the pod streaked towards the black abyss and he didn't even feel anything as it smashed hard against the water and his vision blacked out.

That was chapter 4! Hope you enjoyed the change of pace compared to the first 3 chapter and there will be more to come! Don't forget to follow along and if you see anything you like or don't like? Drop in a comment and I'll be happy to fix it for you!