October 20th, 2552
New Mombasa
Local clock: 1606 hours
( 8 hours prior to The Rookie waking up )
Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck could only watch as the corner of the easily-100- story-tall, glass walled skyscraper got closer and closer, looming like a gleaming, shiny spike in front of him.
Like it'd been spitefully dropped there only to get in his way. Or like his drop pod's trajectory was spitefully aiming itself that way.
His SOIEV was barrelling toward it, screaming inbound on the tail end of its 80,000ft fall from low Earth orbit. The egg-shaped metal pod's hull had entire sections of its outer armor plating gone, and what was left was heated white hot and glowing, with a tail of fire and smoke extending behind in a rippling tail. Its drag chute had deployed, but some of its fins had sheered completely off, and the pod barely seemed to have slowed past terminal velocity.
Lovely. That EMP screwed up my course real well
Inside, the ODST it was charged to protect was getting the usual royal massage experience: shaking and vibrating around hard enough to get the molars at the back of his jaw clacking, and sorely testing the strength of his crash harness. Spikes of cutting-sharp pain stabbed into him from every angle and direction, like some enraged acupuncturist was using him as a pincushion, as he was viciously bounced and jounced back and forth.
In his ears, he was treated to the thunderous , grating symphony of the roar of superheated air, clawing its way all around the badly abused SOIEV, as it plummeted to the end of its fiery trip through the African sky, still ablaze with an staggering blue glow from the Covenant supercarrier's atmospheric FTL jump.
That unique, pitfall sensation one would get from riding an amusement park roller coaster's downward curve had joined him the moment he'd been so forcibly ejected from the ODST deployment tube of Say My Name- except said sensation was doubled 10 times over ( at a minimum ), and had jacked up his pulse to where there was more icy adrenaline in his veins than blood, if not half-and-half. All his senses were magnified, even without the VISOR mode engaged.
Another day at the office ! I love my job
Doing his damnedest to ignore the deep set aching and stinging in his hands ( from how tightly they'd been grasping the now-useless control yokes mounted on either side of his knees ), Buck stated down the towering building that was very much directly in his way. There was nothing he could do to avoid it; the pod was every inch the proverbial " sack of rocks ", and it was falling exactly like one, as it was designed to do.
That's how it was for an ODST, though. More often than not, there was no controlling the descent of your pod. There was no choosing his DZ. The SOIEV would land where it would now, and that was that.
Yep. This will leave a mark- where on me is anyone's guess.
The skyscraper was getting closer, and closer. It was about 3 seconds away. In those scant few seconds, scenarios flashed through Buck's head, on their own volition, on how this could go:
Getting stuck in one of the upper floors. Great-are the elevators out ? Probably.
Ricochet off ? Could end up anywhere then.
Those thoughts all zipped by with immeasurable speed, as thoughts always do.
The wall of glass was a New York second away now. Everything slowed down for an eighth of a second, in that bizarre way it did in the exact last possible moment before a crash that you were about to experience happened.
The nonnom ( non-commissioned officer ) pressed the back of his helmeted head against the headrest, jammed his boots even harder against the floor, and carefully moved his tongue clear of his teeth, so it wouldn't get bitten-
- as the SOIEV slammed with all the force of a frieght train into the side of the skyscraper.
Son of a-!
A gigantic, invisible gauntlet punched him- wracking the ODST with impact force. Glass shards in the thousands exploded out in a cascade of reflective, sparkling confetti, as the SOIEV plowed and bulldozed its way into the building's flank, shredding and pulverizing its way through anything in its path too weak to stand up to it- which was most of them.
Agh !
The mountain of momentum it'd built up from its fall was shunted in a fresh direction in a half second. Buck found himself getting wrenched over one side hard enough to get a loud metallic screech of protest from his nearly-failing harness, as his pod hit something hard right beyond the glass windows, and proceeded to deflect away as it were a stone skipping across the surface of a lake.
More glass showered past, mixed with fragments of concrete and durasteel, in a swirling blizzard of debris that virtually blocked out everything Buck could see out the pod's front windows. He couldn't keep tabs on what was happening around him anymore, which was fine, considering he was still along for this ride.
That's all of us on the way down- !
It was then that he sensed his center of gravity altering; the pod was flipping ! Even with all the psychical forces playing havoc on the SOIEV and its passenger, Buck was aware of that much at least:
The pod was inverted now. Needless to say, it was still falling.
Oh, F- Firefly !
Tomato colored warning text flared on his HUD, ranting about STABILIZATION OFFLINE , over and over. The way he was getting that message now, as opposed to when he was careening like a drunken meteor on a beeline to the skyscraper, struck Buck as oddly humorous.
And it actually lasted for a comfortable 10 seconds- at his best guess.
Because the next thing he was aware of, was a shuddering, jolting crash that brought the SOIEV to a halt so hard, he became aware of nothing at all.
Buck didn't know how long he'd been out.
Oww, jeez-!
He didn't even know if he'd been out, at all. There seemed to be a gap in his memory- a staticy, fuzzy section of it spanning from when the pod had hit the Earth, till right now. All he could recall, was an impact force that'd pummeled him with almighty strength.
His SOIEV had crashed from orbit upside down somewhere in New Mombasa. That was the extent of his knowledge at the moment. Through the visor of his helmet, and the fracture-line riddled glass of the SOIEV's windows, he couldn't tell anything about where in town he'd landed.
Only that he'd crashed into it from orbit- upside down. Undignified.
God- that was a crash
Of all the bad drops he'd had over his long career as an ODST, this took the whipped cream pie. It'd knocked him right to the knife edge of blacking out- that weird, floaty, middle of the road between them. Waves of dizziness and disorientation washed over him, staying to cling to him. On top of it, his whole body seemed to not weight much at all. He still could sense the solidness of the SOIEV's crash seat pressing into his back, and the weight of his battle armor settled over him, but otherwise-
Buck shook his head. He couldn't afford to sit here and wallow in his own discomfort. ODSTs were nothing if not resilient, and tapping into that unique brand of strength was what made them so deadly. They could push through getting hammered and pounded better than anyone- or at least long enough to accomplish the objective.
The Spartans had cheated their way there with all their fancy augmentations and powered armor. ODSTs didn't need any of that.
Buck willed himself to move, and was grateful to find his arms did as they were told. He tested his legs next, and they too responded, the tips of his boots tapping the back of the front hatch.
He dug through his mind, pulling up details of what he'd need to keep in mind moving forward;
Somewhere in New Mombasa.
Squad's pods were scattered all over the place after that carrier jumped to slipspace
Some spook commandeered us for a mission here.
It took less effort than he thought, which was encouraging.
Ok, then. Its all still working, then.
His mental facilities were functional, and the rest of of him did too. They were all sore, but that simply said that they still worked. And as for his head, it wasn't enough to stop him. Buck knew his limits; it'd take more than some vertigo to keep him from doing what an ODST was supposed to do:
Take the fight to the enemy. In the most violent way possible.
Nothing shattered, thankfully. Good. I can get back to business.
" Squad ?! Say status !"
Veronica !
No matter how dazed and confused he still might've been, Buck wasn't capable of not immediately recognizing that voice, sounding loud and clear though his helmet comms. It cut through the cobwebs in his head like an energy projector through a Marathon-class cruiser.
The blonde ONI operative Buck had fallen for ( unfortunately, he might've said ), was still talking down his ear. She sounded, garbled, though.
As if she'd been wounded.
" Alpha 9 ! Anyone on this net, respond if you are able. That means you too, Buck. "
How nice. She gave me a shout out, while bossing me around.
Women.
Giving his head a final shake, Buck chinned open the mic, and answered her:
" Missed me, Captain ? "
He wanted to say "Veronica ", but that wouldn't be proper over an official channel.
Veronica was ONI, though; she could get away with anything.
" What's your status, Gunnery Sergeant ?! "
Business as usual. ONI to a T.
Might as well respond in kind.
" Right now ? My pod's standing on its head. Not sure if the door still works "
" Well, I advise you find out. I can't raise the rest of the squad; I need at least one of you combat effective. "
Yes, ma'am. I will also sweep the streets with my hair as a brush !
" Sure, give me a second. "
Biting back the instinctive response that'd surfaced ( but hadn't been said ), Buck reached out, leaning forward to manipulate the explosive bolt primers on the inside of the hatch.
Great news ! Right. Like she actually thinks there's something busted over here
With a chiming breep, breep, breep, each of them flashed jade, indicating they were armed and ready. After a few seconds, Buck had readied all 4 of them.
With a press of his thumb, he hit the detonate button.
The charges worked perfectly.
Whump, booom !
The front hatch of the SOIEV shot clean off, soaring away to land with a metallic clattering racket several yards away. Outside light flooded the pod, bringing with it swirling particles of dust.
" Clear ", Buck succinctly reported. He promptly set to work on undoing his crash harness, releasing the clasps and shrugging the straps off his shoulders.
" Good. "
Veronica was no stranger to getting right to the point either.
" Soon as you're done messing about, RV with me at Tayari Plaza ASAP. "
" What's the rush ? "
Buck's harness came loose, and without it keeping him back, he immediately tumbled forward. Rolling heels over head, the noncom found himself flat on his back seconds later, on a concrete floor, staring up at a sky that was a brilliant shade of electrically charged azure.
Swirling patterns of the bright lights hung above the tops of the city's high rises, distorting the rays of sun. Everything around Buck seemed more, saturated in color than it would otherwise be.
Oh. The wonders of an atmospheric FTL jump. So, that's what we fell through
" Let me guess, because you sure as heck won't tell me. ONI secrets and all that. "
Clambering to a standing position, Buck took q quick second to survey his surroundings. Disabling VISOR mode ( it was hardly needed, with the illumination from the overly ionized air overhead ), he turned his helmeted head around.
His ungraceful landing had evidently brought him to the base of one of the many automated gates that helped to regulate the flow of vehicle and pedestrian traffic through the walled off sections of New Mombasa. Many of said vehicles had clearly been abandoned haphazardly and on the spot by their occupants, given the way the multitude of cars and commercial trucks were left crooked and crooked all over the road.
The gate that was towering over him right now- all imposing 30 ft of it, with its yard-thick sections that were built of steel-colored, military grade durasteel that slid on rails- was more tightly sealed than an ONI operative's lips when it came to speaking about their job. Red warning messages of STOP , and ACCESS DENIED glowed from their mounted signboards over the gate's arched top.
Stretching away from him, the rest of the road was littered with more left behind vehicles, along with the clear signs of heated recent combat; an abundance of plasma scorching, along with explosive residue effect of the exuberant use of UNSC heavy ordinance. Bullet holes had stitched themselves into the sides of the buildings and the ditched cars in utterly random patters.
That's going to the norm for this whole town. I know.
Impressively, the ubiquitous city billboards placed on the upper levels of buildings were online. Of course, none were running ads for new laptops or jackets, though. The only message they were displaying were things along the lines of , KEEP RIGHT , or USE CAUTION .
Seems the Super is still doing its job, walking folks out of the city as best it can.
Covenant haven't slagged that yet.
Having gotten a handle on this particular corner of NM where he'd been tossed into, Buck turned back to the pod.
He wouldn't be headed anywhere, ONI orders or not, without his weapon. It was still slotted tightly into place, in its resting cradle, beside the now-empty crash chair.
As he stepped back over to the SOIEV to retrieve it, Veronica spoke again. " How's this for a reason, Buck: My pod's door is jammed, and I can't get it open. Plus, we missed our DZ; hostile contact is likely imminent. "
" Missed our DZ ". That is the mother of all understatements. Where even was the damn DZ ?!
" I've set down in Tayari Plaza-"
As the ONI woman spoke, the ODST sergeant leaned back into the pod, and found his MA5C was exactly where it was supposed to be. Grabbing its barrel shroud, he yanked it hard, only to find it was stuck fast.
Great.
He pulled harder, and again. Somehow ( but not too surprisingly, ) all the crashing around had squeezed it into a viselike trap. The metal around it had formed into a tight fist, and wasn't letting go.
" Yeah, well- "
It was then that the rifle came free without warning.
-I came prepared for hostile contact. "
Buck quickly checked his weapon for functionality, and mentally expressed thanks upon finding it sound.
" What I wasn't prepared for was you leaving me hanging when I asked you that one, very important question on a certain morning. "
He proceeded to retrieve a magazine of 7.62x51mm rounds from one of his armor's front storage pouches, before deftly feeding it into the MA5C's chamber with a satisfying clack. He couldn't be bothered with caring that this really wasn't right moment to bring up the complicated romantic past he had with Veronica.
Buck had been literally burned before, and shot, but what had happened happened that morning with the woman he'd wound up loving hurt the absolute most.
" There isn't anything I can say about it, and we both know that. ". Veronica stated, letting some of that ONI unflinching nature enter her tone, as Buck yanked the MA5's charging handle.
" Did you want me to lie to you ? ", she continued briskly. " No. I was a straight shooter, like I always am. That book is closed. "
" Not to me, it isn't ", Buck retorted, his mouth forming into a slight but bitter scowl. He swore he detected a trace of resignation in how Veronica had said closed, but that didn't take much of the sting away.
Or any, actually.
His sullen mood shift was interrupted at that point, by a very clear reminder that he really needed to get his head back in the game, and focus on the objective of reaching Tayari Plaza:
The sound of a Phantom dropship approaching.
Buck reacted by nothing more than reflex: He turned to where the alien craft was coming from, double checking that the safety was off on his MA5, and bringing the rifle up to shoulder height. One finger fell to a resting position right beside the weapon's trigger.
" We'll finish this later ", he tersely informed Veronica. " About to get some company over here. "
" Finish- wait. How many of them are there ? "
" Depends on how many of the ugly suckers can fit into a Phantom ", Buck replied. He watched as one of the lumpy purple dropships smoothly glided into view from over the rooftops on the left side of the street in front of him.
" Stay put. I'll begin making my way to your 20. "
" Got nowhere to go, remember ? Hatch's stuck. So don't die out there, Buck. "
" Nice to know you care. ".
The Sergeant closed his end of the line.
Somewhat grateful the conversation was over, Buck kept watching the Phantom, as it descended in seconds to roughly 20ft over the ground, halfway down the road from where Buck had dropped in.
Drives warbling loudly, it entered hover mode. A beam of pale light stabbed out from the craft's underbelly, and through it came the familiar menagerie of creatures that the Covenant always threw in waves at the UNSC:
A gaggle of Unggoy ( grunts ), with a Jiralhanae (brutes ) added for good measure. There had to be around 10 of the first, though thankfully the Brute was by himself.
The Unggoy weren't the problem; the short, squat-bodied aliens with crustacean-like skin were only about half as tall as Buck. Scurrying around on stumpy legs, the diminutive Unggoy balanced the weight of the pyramidal containers of pure methane that they required to breathe strapped tight to their backs, while their eerily beady red eyes searched for targets. Targets they could shoot with the iconic C-shaped plasma handguns that every Unggoy Buck had ever seen was always armed with.
Carried in their spiky, oversized forearms, the energy handguns didn't do much damage against ODST armor. They were essentially flashlights. But, although one of them did a diddly amount of damage, a lot of them did a lot of diddly.
The Brute, on the other hand, was the problem here. 7 ft tall mountain of bristly fur and heavily corded muscle, all wrapped up in a rock solid shell of cobalt colored armor, with a fang toothed mouth twisted into a viscous leer.
Icy adrenaline was injected into Buck's veins, and he sensed its chill as the alien squad leader snarled orders at his raggedy bunch. The Unggoy shrieked and gibbered, skittering about, aiming their weapons at nothing in particular.
Buck knew where to point his weapon, though. His MA5 was locked and loaded, with 32 high velocity solutions chambered inside it ready to go.
You're in my way, you overgrown gorilla. You and your merry band.
The Covenant squad had dropped between him and the quickest way to Tayari Plaza. That was their mistake.
Because Buck wouldn't let this one, or any of the others, stop him from reaching Veronica before it was too late.
" Nice to know you care. "
Half of Dare wanted to reach through the comms, and slap that smug bastard of an ODST sergeant who'd said that across the face. Or punch him. Or both.
How dare you.
The sheer amount of sarcasm that dripped from every word in that sentence made the ONI woman bristle, raising shark spikes of anger up and down her spine. Edward Buck; always thinking of himself.
For all the danger that Dare knew she was in- sealed inside an smoldering SOIEV, in a grid that was filled with masses of heavily armed Covenant- there was some of her that took a moment to rage against Buck. The man had it in his hollowed-out head that Dare had written him off completely.
That she didn't care about him, and that he was yet another tool that ONI could use and discard as long as it worked for their plans and agendas. He had no idea.
He has none at all. Its not over between us.
Does he think I chose he and his team only owing to their record ?! I wouldn't tell him so now; that will wait till we're face to face
She only had to get this wretched hatch off first, though.
Pounding a fist on one of the stubbornly-red explosive bolts that wasn't letting her hatch come loose, Dare swore that upon getting out of here, and finding Buck again, she would put things right with him. Preferably by beginning with beating some sense into him first.
Literally if need be.
xxxrp, xxxxxrp
Again, though, the bolts failed to respond. Something had been jarred loose, or outright broken, because they weren't responding.
Exhaling sharply, Dare nearly hit the malfunctioning bolt again, but stopped. If it hadn't done its job the last several hits, it wouldn't now.
Well, maybe, but that was literally the definition of insanity. Dare kicked the hatch, putting some actual force behind both her boots hitting it, but yet again, that method of getting the hatch off did nothing either.
It did indeed seem she was trapped here until her knight in Covenant viscera-covered armor arrived. If she knew Buck, he'd carve his way here. One way or the other.
Till then, this SOIEV's my home. One where I can touch the other side of by holding out my arm.
Off to a flying beginning, this op. Everything is proceeding exactly by the numbers
All she could do, was stare out the hatch's badly splintered glass, at the brilliantly blue, pale light that was filtering in through it- the oddly serene effects of the supercarrier's FTL jump. Her pod had landed in an amphitheater of sorts, so all she could see around her, through the limited field of view the windows granted, were soaring city walls, with high rise buildings stretching up even higher.
Holes yawed from where plasma bolts had struck home, but the building around them were still standing.
The ones the Covenant hadn't slagged yet at were a reminder that New Mombasa still stood.
Somehow, in a way Dare couldn't quite place, they were strangely comforting.