CHAPTER 2
Helios's atmosphere glowed as the large red sun shone through it. Beneath were thousands of scattered white clouds, encircling the big yellow ball of the planet's surface. There seemed to be mostly deserts, with a few blue seas speckled across. The planet was coming closer and closer, faster and faster. I looked up to see the black Frigate, the UNSC Ascension. It has long, sleek box shape with bulging back sides where the thrusters would be. This was the only home I'd ever have. To both my sides, I could see multiple SOIEV drop pods falling down and trailing red with burning gasses as we penetrated the planet's outer atmosphere. "Where are we landing?" I asked in the general comm.
"Two kilometers off of New Kingston, the city where the farmers colonized. Expect desert terrain: dunes, rocks, mountains. The city has been under attack for 5 days, but it held. There must have been a good defense perimeter around it, but it's been breached two days ago. The colony then fell silent." Commander Kai said, and as she talked Persephone supplied us with a visual diagram in our HUDs.
"What about enemy forces?" I heard another fellow ODST, Jason, ask through the comms. He was a brute- heavily muscled, two meters tall and with the lack of even basic intelligence. I don't understand how they accepted him to the program. The UNSC must be more desperate than I thought.
"A Covenant assault-carrier is currently orbiting Helios, and we know it sent, there are reports of two smaller battle-cruisers ready to release reinforcements, low on the ground. We can see Phantoms, and Banshees all flying around as well as Wraiths, Ghosts and Choppers on the ground." the Commander answered. I looked far ahead, at the planet's orbit, and could faintly see a purple speck- the Carrier. The one that would later melt this planet's surface until all that's left is fermented glass.
"Choppers?" Jason asked.
"A brute vehicle. Like a motorcycle but much larger. If you see one, hide." said the Commander, as a small picture of it showed in my HUD. Brutes. I've only heard of them- tough, barbaric, huge and apish, with a bad temper. This should be interesting.
"This world is lost. What are we doing here, really?" Harry asked, another ODST from my team.
"Did you miss the debriefing, recruit? ONI has a giant facility based here, unmissable by the Covenant and probably the only reason they didn't glass Helios yet. The Cole Protocol has been initiated, but the stationary ONI agents are not responding. The defense perimeter was only breached a few hours ago and the Covenant must be searching for what kept us fighting here so hard instead of evacuating. There is still time, we must wipe the facility's computers completely." the Commander said, though there was something unusual in her voice. As if she was struggling to say it.
"Oh, so that's what Cunningham is here for?" Benny asked, joking.
Cunningham was our tech expert- Danish- but, unlike most tech experts, she was not one to take that insult without dealing one herself. "And what are you here for, Benny?" Cunningham asked, stabbing back at him.
"Are you implying I am useless, private?"" Benny asked.
"I think I was clear enough." she answered.
We broke through the first clouds a minute later, and my SOEIV was initiated every braking maneuver it had. Would it be enough, or would I just smash into the ground and die, forever deemed to be a spatter of blood and flesh on a planet already forgotten. Every ODST was prepared for death, it was hard-coded into our training, but none of us want to die like this. We want to die in battle, where we are needed. Tragic events like these are often called "digging our own graves".
My pod flew through a giant white cloud and as I existed it the ground floor was finally visible- and the city. It was fairly large for such a minor colony, at least 10 square kilometers- its skyscrapers poking out like sharp daggers and the large blocky ONI facility stood at its center, shining orange with the setting sun. Luckily, our LZ seemed to be just a bit of flat land- yellow desert dunes. If I would have landed a kilometer off I would fall into the sea and only god knows what that would bring. I never thought of drowning myself in a drop. I wonder what that would be called.
"ODSTs, prepare for combat. I detect a squadron of surveying brutes and grunts, some with Fuel Rod Canons, heading for your LZ. The carrier must have targeted an estimated LZ for your drop pod." Persephone said through the comms. I now regretted that we fell on flat land. There's nowhere to hide. The grunts' plasma canons will obliterate us and we will have no cover, then the brutes will finish us off. This will be a massacre.
"How many?" I asked.
"I am unsure, but it seems at least 15 enemy units were sent to pursue you." Persephone answered.
My HUD flashed red, yet another countdown. Ten seconds till we crash. Will I make it? Does it even matter if I make it now that an army of Covenant troops can just finish us off? Five seconds, I close my eyes but in my head the clock is still ticking. I take a deep breath, and then it all goes to hell.
An earth shattering boom sends me flying in my pod with such force I almost rip the U-shaped latch from its hinges. My ears ring from the intensity of the crash, I cant hear anything and my sight is slightly blurred. Lights flash red around me as I open my eyes. The latch raises and I straighten in my seat. I grip the Assault Rifle at my side and smash open the escape hatch and fling myself out into the sandy ground. My squad's pods crash around me- all at only a distance of a hundred meters or less from one another, within seconds of one another. I look up and see two very surprised grunts holding Plasma Pistols, only a few meters from my drop pod.
I hold my Assault Rifle up and unleash short burst of bullet-fire which hit the first bastard right in the face, bullets penetrating the creature's exoskeletal skull right between the eyes and unleashing a spray of blue blood. The second grunt then turned back and ran, its hands flailing like those of an excited child. I shot the creature in it's large triangular gas tank and it crashed to the ground, choking to death in this unfitting atmosphere as a green gas escaped the hole in its back. Before I could turn, I heard a roar coming from my right side, and something large lunged at me.
I hit the sandy ground hard, and the breath was taken from my lungs. The Brute began smashing me across the stomach repetitively as we both lay on the ground. Each punch made me feel more numb and tired, but even so I slid my arm to my right side and unsheathed my small army knife. I stabbed the Brute in the neck and black blood oozed all over my arms. The beast kept clobbering me, even though I had just slit the main artery of its throat, but then a bullet blew through the back of its head, barely missing my face on its continued path. It trailed white smoke, a sniper round.
The Commander pulled the Brute from on top of me and threw it aside as I regained breath. That was close. She gave me a hand and I took it. Lifting my Assault Rifle from the ground, I noticed we were flanked by a group of three Brutes- two holding Spikers and one a Bruteshot as well as twice as many Grunts wielding Needlers, Plasma Pistols and Fuel Rod guns. The Commander threw a grenade into the mess, blasting two grunts and sending a Brute flying. The air was thick with smoke and dust, and hardly anything could be seen- anything but the projectile plasma bolts flying through the air, and the blooming white heat coming from the barrels of weapons being fired. My ears were still in shock from the crash, but I could hear the bullets flying through the air, some barely missing me.
Snapping me out, another Grunt tried to take me by surprise of my situation, releasing a torrent of purple needles at me. I tried dodging but the needles homed on me. Damn. I slammed into the ground, but one needle manage to embed itself in my left shoulder. I felt nothing, not in the adrenaline of battle- my heart was pumping harder and louder than the bullets of my gun, and my vision became red with the fury of battle. On the sand, I aim at the Grunt and shoot- a head-shot.
I began shooting again, this time at the big Brute with the Bruteshot, with fully automatic fire. My clip ran out without making the Brute wince. He began shooting the small explosives at me, and I was forced to close our gap to avoid them. There was no time to reload, not after catching the Brutes attention, so I switch to my pistol and emptied another clip into the ape, hitting him in the stomach, the hands and once in the head. The Brute didn't seem to mind that I shot it, and kept shooting the grenades at me. The last explosive hit so close to me that I felt the heat of it, as it threw me backwards. My pistol was now out as well.
The Brute inserted another set of Bruteshot rounds and I did my best to reload the pistol, there was no time to switch back to the rifle now. I finished faster and shot the Brute's hand, attempting to free his grasp on the weapon, unsuccessfully. Fear gripped me. But then, just in time, his head blasted open with red flesh and black blood, Benny killed him at his left side with a Shotgun. The Brute's brains were spattered on the floor and his head was wide open. The ODSTs were now all around me, shooting the Grunts and the one remaining Brute. My heart was still thumping hard. Benny stood in front of me, like a bodyguard.
"Thanks." I told Benny, realizing the armor under his left armpit was melting and bubbling. Concern flashed through me, he must have been hit with a Plasma Pistol. A few more shots echoed, and then everything fell silent- except for the high pitched wailing of a terrified grunt in the distance. I turned around to see a corpse littered battlefield with only one living Grunt trying to run away. The Commander zoomed on him with her sniper and blasted the back of his head. The wailing stopped.
The dust settled and the smoke climbed high in the air. The ODSTs were now out around me. The Commander stood at my left and gazed at the view- the beautiful, sleek white city in the backdrop of a sun setting in the sea. A beautiful sight. The Commander stared at us, each in turn- she was counting. "We're missing one." she said and looked between us. "Where is Harry?" she asked.
As we searched the battlefield, I was hit with a burning pain coming from my shoulder, the needle. I grip it hard and pull, grunting with pain as the needle tore out of my muscle and my skin. It would leave a scar. Benny unhooked his chest piece, and held the side of his stomach where he was hit with the plasma bolt. The plasma burned right through the black under-garment and left a red burn in Benny's side, but it didn't seem to be too bad a wound. "Commander, I think I've found Harry." Benny said, pointing at a drop pod flipped on it's side. The escape hatch faced down and it seemed to be broken on the inside. The sand around it was wet with red blood. He must have been shot on his way down, only to crash face first into the ground. An unfortunate fate, and he had only just joined us. This was his first op. He seemed like a good man, and a promising soldier. God doesn't judge us at all, or maybe we're all guilty and this is our punishment.