Unknown Planet, Suborbital trajectory
August 31, 2552
3.5 hours until atmospheric entry
Major Silva eyed the count down timer on one of the screens inside his SOEIV pod. Midnight had come and gone minutes ago, at least by Earth's time. It was one minute until deployment, and he ran through his checklist one last time. Harness secured, weapons stowed, airbrakes locked, guidance system set.
"30 seconds until drop." Wellesley's voice rang in his ear, broadcasting to the other ODSTs as well. Wellsley had already determined the optimal spread of the drop, plotting the pods to drop roughly fifteen meters apart over a wide area. Close enough to assist another Trooper if needed, but far enough that there was less risk of collision when near the ground.
That wasn't to say this was a safe mission. Dropping from ships like this always carried a risk of equipment failure, crashing into unstable terrain, and typically dropping into enemy air defense fire. He had no reason to think they'd be shot at, but he knew there was a good chance he'd lose at least a few good soldiers on insertion.
"Troopers," He began, speaking over the company channel. "How do we drop?"
"Feet first into Hell!" Came the thunderous reply. Even McKay and the rest of the ODSTs still aboard the Autumn joined in, despite taking the 'easy' way down. Silva grinned, clenching his jaw in anticipation. The count crept down to ten seconds, then five.
Three short beeps, followed by a single beep at a higher pitch, sounded. Silva felt his stomach leap into his chest as his pod launched first. He could hear the cheering of his Troopers over the company channel, and it was only his position as their leader that kept him from joining in.
Two hundred and sixteen SOEIV pods shot out of the Autumn's keel, arching forwards like a volley of missiles. The bridge crew would watch as the pods quickly outpaced the lumbering cruiser, hurtling towards the planet below. Keyes had never quite understood the thrill of riding through re-entry with nothing but a metal box to protect him, but he was glad he could count on those who did.
Silva could see dawn approaching at the distant horizon of the planet. The mission brief had estimated they'd be in the early dawn hours upon landing, with roughly half an hour until proper sunrise. It'd keep their arrival relatively under wraps to prepare for any surprises, though the Autumn's landing would be unmissable by anyone within a hundred kilometers. Still, any advantage they could get was a good one.
"Atmospheric entry in 30 seconds." Wellsley said in his ear. He glanced at the radar altimeter and nodded in agreement, bracing himself for the rough ride ahead. The Autumn had managed enough engine power to be able to make a single degrading orbit around the planet. They had a little over three hours to secure the LZ and hunker down before the cruiser hit the dirt.
On the company channel, heavy metal music suddenly blared out to every pod in the formation. Silva recognized it instantly, the Helljumper's Anthem. Despite the explicit breach of protocol, Silva grinned and let out a chuckle. Considering the circumstances, he'd go easy on the Trooper when they were on the ground.
His pod began to rattle, the exterior temperature shooting up by hundreds of degrees Celsius in a few seconds. The interior was heated to sweltering levels. Beads of sweat ran down his face even with the thermal protection of his BDU. Through the front viewport, he could see fiery plasma forming at the bottom of every pod as they tore straight down through the upper atmosphere. At roughly fifteen thousand meters, the pods began to slow as air resistance increased. Micro adjustments made by the pods' thrusters kept them all in formation, and so far not a single pod had fallen out of line.
At one thousand meters, the airbrakes deployed. A quarter of vented panels opened up like a four-leaf clover, releasing from the top of the pod and trailing behind it on a dragline. The pod jerked as it slowed dramatically.
As Silva kept his eyes on the window, he saw two pods hurtle past his towards the ground. He sucked in a breath, leaning forward as one of them ignited its boosters. The pod slowed as the other continued onwards, slamming the ground in a plume of dust and smoke, and giving a red status on his display. Silva winced as the Helljumper's Anthem cut out abruptly. The remaining pod suffered a rough landing, but seemed to be in one piece with a yellow status displayed.
At fifty meters, two hundred and eight of the remaining pods fired their boosters, slowing to proper landings while three others fired their boosters after a split second delay. Four more statuses turned red while two turned yellow.
As for the functioning pods, Silva's was the first to touch down. The explosive bolts on the door to his pod primed and detonated, throwing it off and away from the pod. Silva was out in an instant, MA5B in hand. He could hear the rest of the pods landing behind him for the next few seconds.
"First squad, with me. Second squad, you're my scouts. Get to the Point Alpha and begin marking LZs." Major Silva called out over the company channel. "Third through fifth, check the downed pods and recover any equipment you can. The rest of you form patrols and follow behind Second squad. I was that hilltop secure by the time our flyboys are on approach."
He received a chorus of acknowledgements as First squad moved to join him. Already he could see the twelve members of Second squad moving towards the hill while the others rallied together for their assignments.
Over the next ten minutes, the squads had regrouped and gathered their gear for the short hike to Point Alpha. The patrols had been formed and were currently securing a perimeter around the hill. Second squad had given the all clear to proceed just after the crashed pods had been recovered.
A total of five ODSTs had died on impact, a sixth succumbing to his wounds before aid could be given. Two had minor injuries, with one of them unable to walk. The injured would move with the center of the formation to minimize their risk of further injury, while Silva led the group to rendezvous with Second squad at the top of the hill.
Sixth through Tenth squads had moved into the surrounding areas, with forests spreading to the north and east areas. Point Bravo to the south was settled in a shallow that would provide suitable landing zones for the eighteen Bumblebee lifeboats, provided they landed past the ODST drop zone. To the west lay gently rolling hills, decent for a camp but too uneven for a proper LZ.
The remaining teams not on patrol were setting up defensive positions, digging shallow firing positions where the four man-portable HMGs they had would be mounted, covering the north, east, and west in overlapping fields of fire.
"Hold on, got a contact." A Trooper reported, his comm identifying him as Corporal Young from Sixth squad. On his VISR, Silva could see that Sixth squad had moved to the northeast of the hill, into a wooded area that offered a defensive blind spot. The Major figured the local wildlife would have been encountered at some point, but he was sure his men could handle it.
Silence followed for the next few moments. Then the not so distant clatter of automatic fire sounded. It wasn't the short, controlled bursts of disciplined soldiers, but the panicked automatic fire of someone fighting for their very life.
"Get to the hill, people! Move! Move! Move!" Silva shouted to the hundred-odd Troopers with him. Their march turned into a fast jog as Silva flicked the safety off on his rifle. The jog turned into a sprint as Point Alpha came into view. To his left and right, IFF tags showed Seventh and Ninth squads moving back to the hilltop from their patrol patterns.
"All squads, fall back to Point Alpha!" Major Silva called out over the comms, as they neared the top of the hill. The defensive circle being formed was roughly a hundred meters in diameter, with troops rushing to finish digging the firing positions with their E-tools. The gunfire was growing closer, yet more sporadic with every second.
As he reached the crest of the hill, he activated the low-light setting on his VISR. He could see two members of Sixth squad break through the tree line three hundred meters distant, supporting a third between them. All three of them were highlighted in green like the ODSTs around him. Several men stood to go assist them, but Silva held up hand to stop them.
A helmetless Trooper sprinted out of the treeline before sliding to a stop. The man spun around and let loose a full sixty-round spread of gunfire from his assault rifle, yelling so loud Silva could hear it over the gunfire and distance. Something moved just past the range his VISR could ID targets.
What could only be described as a living shadow leapt from the trees, slamming the trooper to the ground. It's claws tore at him, the man screaming in agony as it ripped him apart. In seconds the man had gone silent, the claws and maw of the creature dripping with his blood. For the briefest of moments his VISR outlined it in bright yellow, until Wellsley hastily updated the IFF system to mark it in bright red.
"All squads, open fire!" Silva yelled out after a moment of shock. Disciplined bursts of gunfire slammed into the beast as it turned its attention to the three remaining members of Sixth squad. Silva dropped to one knee, holding his rifle at ready as he increased the magnification of his VISR to get a better look.
The beast was covered in pitch black fur, its head, shoulders, and spine covered in the same bony-white plates that its claws were made out of. It was vaguely wolf-like, but almost twice as tall as a full grown man. Despite the torrent of gunfire tearing into it, it showed no signs of pain as it charged towards the retreating men. However, as it closed in on them, it finally started to falter. It collapsed only ten meters shy of the Troopers, slumping mid-lunge into the dirt.
Major Silva zoomed in closer, clenching his jaw as he saw the creature begin to, for a lack of a better word, smoldered into a black puddle and wisps of smoke. He'd never seen anything like this across the two-dozen worlds he'd fought across in his years. There was something deeply unnatural about the beast's aggressiveness, and he felt a pit forming in his stomach.
The three Troopers didn't stop to celebrate, if anything they only moved faster. The trees behind them began to shake for a hundred meters in each direction. An ODST from Third squad fired a flare up into the sky, lighting up the open ground in a dull blood red. A horde of the same type of creature poured out of the forest, some howling like some kind of demented wolf. There were hundreds of them quite literally scrambling over each other to get to the mass of humans on the hill.
"Defensive positions! Aim for the unarmored sections of their bodies!" Silva ordered, raising his rifle and letting loose a burst of 7.62 x 51mm rounds. A half second later, a hundred assault rifles joined his in a chorus of gunfire.
A sharp crack sounded from his left, a vapor trail crossing the three hundred meters distance in the blink of an eye and striking one of the monsters right between the eyes. It dropped as more snipers opened fire. Every ODST was a marksman in their own right, but Helljumper snipers were, like every other specialist ODSTs, a special breed. They laid fire down with pinpoint accuracy, each shot nailing one of the beasts in the head or upper chest. One slightly larger beast reared up to howl, only for an anti-material round to remove its neck entirely.
The first HMG to be set up opened fire, ripping through the ranks of the monsters. The heavy round could pass through multiple targets, provided they hit the softer areas. Limbs were severed, chunks of flesh torn away and left to melt into smoke. The tide of black and white was slowed, but not halted.
Like the first monster, they showed no fear. In spite of the heavy gunfire and grievous wounds, they pressed forward with snarls and howls. Major Silva estimated that at this rate the trio of Troopers would be overrun before they could get back to the defensive line.
"Covering fire! First squad on me!" Major Silva barked as he charged forward, First squad hot on his heels. The ODSTs manning the second HMG added their fire to the mix as all focus shifted to clearing the way for the Major.
The firepower focused on the center of the horde forced it to split, giving the Major and the ODSTs some breathing room. But it was only a temporary setback for the creatures as they were corralled around the hilltop, slowly surrounding the Helljumpers.
"Wellsley, as soon as McKay is in comms range, tell her the situation! We need reinforcements and heavy ordnance now!" Silva ordered, firing off a quick burst into one of the smaller beasts as he ran.
"Yes, Major Silva. The ETA of reinforcements is six minutes." The AI replied. All the while, Wellsley had been recording every byte of data he could about these creatures. While he had a very limited capacity for emotion, even he could say for certain that they were quite unnerving.
As Major Silva reached the remainder of Sixth squad, he could see all three were sporting cuts to their armor and bodies. One had a cracked visor, while another was missing her helmet entirely. The Trooper between them was stumbling on his right leg, the left gone from just below the knee.
Two members of First squad, one of them a Corpsman, grabbed the heavily injured Trooper and began to fall back with the other two in tow. Silva set up a firing line with the remaining eight and began a fighting retreat. The gunfire covering them was forced to shift to prevent the horde from flanking the hilltop, and the mass of darkness grew closer as the pressure was let off.
All Silva could see was red. The red light of the flare, the red outlines on his VISR, and their eyes. Eyes that burned with nothing but bloodlust.
A taller beast, about half again as large as the others, lunged at the firing line Silva had formed. Three ODSTs to his right were swatted away, another to his left was slung screaming into the horde. Those remaining on their feet opened fire. It let out a roar as an ODST fired his M90 shotgun, a load of 0/0 buckshot peppering its face.
Corporal Vera, the last one on his right, was snatched up in the beast's jaws. She cried out in agony as her body armor was slowly crushing her chest. She pawed at something on her hip as the beast bit down harder.
Silva shifted his aim and fired into its abdomen, not letting his finger off the trigger as he yelled in anger. At point blank range, he didn't need to aim for every bullet to hit its mark. A glint of metal caught his eye in his rifle's muzzle flash. It took him only a moment to recognize it for what it was, and he instinctively turned his body to shield his face.
The grenade on Corporal Vera's waist detonated as she let out a final war cry. The blast killed both her and the beast instantly, leaving two mangled corpses in its wake. Major Silva was thrown off his feet, losing his grip on his rifle as he landed several meters away. He blacked out for what felt like a few moments, though he had a distinct feeling it had been longer than that.
Silva awoke to a painful ache across his whole body. His ears rang as he fought fruitlessly to stay conscious. The two surviving members of First squad were dragging him back to the hilltop just as dawn began to break. His visor was shattered, and he could just barely see the beasts' numbers thinning under a torrent of tracer rounds from above. A roar filled Silva's ears as he could just barely make out Wellsley's voice alerting him that McKay had arrived.
Major Silva would pass out before he saw it himself. Their reinforcements had arrived just as the horde had been broken. Those that weren't gunned down fled back into the forest, leaving only human corpses wisps of smoke trailing from the beasts' remains. The beasts had nearly reached the hilltop, but had finally been fought back.
Unknown Planet, Point Alpha
August 31, 2552
One hour after ODST insertion
The surviving ODSTs secured the area, retrieving the wounded and dead of First and Sixth squads. Warthogs and Scorpions were dropped and both ODSTs and Marines were disgorged onto the battlefield to solidify the UNSC's hold. Six of the Pelicans had settled around the hill as temporary fortifications were set up in a wider perimeter. Five more of the dropships were circling above in a wide patrol, chain guns swivelling in search of targets.
Melissa McKay was one of the first on the ground and immediately took charge. Wellsley had informed her of the situation on approach, as well as Major Silva's status. At the moment, she was the highest ranking UNSC officer on the ground, so command of Point Alpha had been passed to her. Until Captain Keyes joined them, or when Major Silva was well enough, she was responsible for the safety of all the remaining men and women in the camp.
Mckay walked through the makeshift camp, making her way back to the command tent that had been set up at the top of the hill. She'd just visited Silva in the temporary infirmary located inside a parked Pelican. His injuries weren't as serious as most of the wounded, but the medical officer suspected he'd suffered a concussion from a point blank frag grenade. His armor had been a wreck, but it had served its purpose well enough.
She opened the flap into the command tent, greeted by the sight of a man in a plain black uniform speaking with Wellsley at a series of terminals. The largest of the screens had a picture of one of the beasts, taken from Silva's helmet camera.
"The creatures' intensely aggressive behavior seems abnormal. Patrol craft have confirmed them completely ignoring local wildlife and focusing solely on our forces." Wellsley spoke as the man rubbed his chin.
"And the way they seem to dissolve upon death... battlefield footage showed no signs of any truly vital organs besides the head. It takes dismemberment or otherwise catastrophic damage to put them down." The man muttered, his dark eyes studying the footage. He almost sounded impressed by the creatures, though his opinion of them was soured by the fifteen men and women slaughtered in a single engagement.
McKay cleared her throat, helmet tucked under her arm as her jade green eyes looked over the man warily. The only identifying mark he had on his uniform was a simple emblem on his shoulder and the name 'Lt. E. Haverson' on his left breast.
"I wasn't aware an ONI officer was in the camp. I see you're interested in our new friends." McKay said, a slight edge to her voice as she joined him at the terminal.
"Interested is one way to put it, Lieutenant McKay." Haverson replied, his eyes never leaving the images. "So far, we've only seen small packs after they retreated. More importantly, our birds spotted others like them."
Images taken from the nose mounted cameras on the Pelicans showed several species of creature with the same black hide and white plates as the wolf creatures. There were bears, wild pigs...
"Is that a scorpion?" McKay asked incredulously, seeing a black and white specimen that looked like a monstrously sized earth arachnid.
"Yes, it is. Our birds have been watching them from a distance, there's no need to pick fights until we know what they can do. We haven't noticed any patterns in their movements, other than once they come within a kilometer camp they will beeline straight for us." Haverson's point was proven as an airborne Pelican let loose a burst of its 30mm nose cannon, shredding a creature before it could threaten the camp.
"Once the Autumn is on the ground, we'll have a proper base. Then we can see about studying the creatures. For now, we should focus on getting everyone to safety." McKay pointed out. She and Haverson were the same rank, no to mention from different branches. She couldn't issue him an order, but she wanted to make her priorities clear.
Instead of any kind of argument, however, Haverson simply smiled and nodded. He saved his work so far, transferring the files to a data chip that he'd slip into his pocket.
"Of course, Lieutenant. I'll save my report for Captain Keyes. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance." He said as he walked past her and out of the tent.
McKay sighed, and turned back to the terminal. ONI spooks always gave her a bad feeling, especially when they seemed all too happy to agree with her.
"Wellsley?"
"Yes, Lieutenant McKay?"
"Keep an eye on Lieutenant Haverson."
Kingdom of Atlas, Atlas Military Command
August 31, 2552 (UEG Standard Calendar)
"Sir, I'm picking up more of the signal sources. Telemetry suggests it's more from the same origin." A technician called out. General James Ironwood clenched his fists as he stared at the massive screens lining the far wall.
The command center was in chaos. Specialists rushed around, checking and triple checking data as they tried to pinpoint the source of a growing number of strange signals. The signals were indecipherable, the encryption based around a fundamentally different structure than anything that they'd seen before. And the sheer number was alarming to say the least. Already, three dozen unique signals had passed through the range of their sensors.
All of this alone would set anyone on edge, especially the largest military on the planet. But Ironwood had learned something that had made his blood run cold.
Each and every one of the signals was passing approximately three hundred kilometers distant from Atlas... from straight up in the sky.
Then they found the photo currently circulating the social media sights in Vale. An amateur stargazer had taken a series of photos of the moon through his telescope. 'Proof of aliens?' read the headline, likely in an attempt at humor.
"So that's it, then. I'm bringing us to high alert." Ironwood spoke evenly, pressing a button at his command console. Klaxons blared as the entirety of Atlas' armed forces prepared to mobilize.
"Sir, are you sure this is wise? We still haven't heard back from the other kingdoms." His second in command, Winter Schnee, asked from beside him. Her ice blue eyes were looking at the same images he was, and he was sure she was thinking the same thing he was.
"Winter, our sources in the other kingdoms are reporting seeing the same types of signals. Their predicted paths have them all converging at one point. That." He growled, staring at the photos taken of the broken moon.
The blurry images weren't professional quality by any means, but they had been confirmed as legitimate. A single black shape obscured a small portion of the moon, growing a little larger with every frame. Winter cleared her throat and let her thoughts be known.
"We've been wondering if there was anything out there for so long, Sir... I never thought the answers would come to us like this."
Unknown Planet, Suborbital Trajectory
August 31, 2552
Five minutes until atmospheric entry
"Captain Keyes, all remaining crew are aboard their lifeboats. Beginning launch sequences." Cortana's voice spoke through his headset.
Keyes was situated in the bridge lifeboat, only a few corridors from where he had commanded the vessel for a few short weeks. He slipped his pipe into his pocket, letting his head rest on his crash seat.
Once they launched, the Autumn would proceed on its flight path down to the planet. Keyes had little doubt the ship would come to rest in one piece, though he certainly didn't want to experience it personally.
Once they were on the ground, Cortana and the Master Chief would rally the lifeboat occupants and proceed to Point Alpha. That was the plan, anyways. Any number of things could go wrong, and almost every one of them resulted in dead men and women under his watch.
Keyes sucked in a breath as he heard the lifeboat pilot preparing for launch. He reached up to his collar and keyed the mic for his headset.
"Captain Keyes to all crew. Good flying, and I'll see you planet-side." He spoke to the rest of the lifeboats, closing his eyes as the Bumblebee pod shot out its tube.
Thank you for reading this chapter! I've been sitting on this story for a while, so I was able to get the first and second chapter done in a couple of days. From here on, I plan to release new chapters every 2-3 weeks, with a week or two extra for longer chapters.
Thank you again, and I'll see you next time!