CHAPTER 3

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight

2425 HOURS, DECEMBER 25th, 2559 [MILITARY CALENDAR]

ZETA HALO

Moving northward through the tall grass between the embankment and the treeline where the Gun-Yak rested, Rukundo, Schattenstern, and Bravo took every precaution to minimize their presence. Fortunately, a steady breeze masked any imperfections in their movements as the grass swayed naturally.

Only Rig stayed behind closer to the embankment awaiting orders to rain death on their enemy.

Once in position, Rukundo marked the first Jackal patroller with his VISR but kept his status light red. Jackals were infamous for their quick reflexes, so eliminating both patrollers in rapid succession was crucial. After a few tense minutes, the first Jackal finally turned its back to the ODSTs. Rukundo switched his status light to green.

Bravo's light winked green in response. A muffled plink broke the silence, and the first Jackal collapsed with a soft thud. Its partner spun around, reacting to its comrade's fall, but a second shot sent a spurt of bright purple blood into the air as the remaining Jackal dropped lifeless to the ground.

The Grunt manning the Shadow's plasma turret jolted awake as one of the Brutes bellowed a command to fire into the grass. A distant thunk echoed from the embankment, and suddenly the turret, along with the Grunt gunner, exploded. The concussive blast from Rig's grenade sent the Brutes and Grunts scrambling for cover near the treeline.

The diminutive Grunts didn't make it far. Rukundo, armed with a suppressed M20 SMG, and Schattenstern with her SAW rose from the grass and opened fire on the fleeing alien warriors. One of the Grunts facing away from them found their methane breathing tank blown apart from the hail of bullets.

The second tried firing its plasma pistol and was picked off by Bravo.

Bleeding and in pain, the three Brutes nonetheless still stood and began opening fire with red-hued plasma rifles. Rig's status light fluctuated between green and red in Rudkundo's HUD, a signal to duck. Both he and Schattenstern hit the dirt and three thunks rang out. Three blasts lifted the Brutes into the air and tore the ape-like creatures apart.

One of the aliens' muscular forearms, detached by the explosion, landed close enough to almost smack against Rukundo's head.

Rig's light blinked green—an all-clear signal. The three ODSTs cautiously rose and advanced toward the treeline, scanning for lingering threats. The Gun-Yak's right side faced them as they approached. At first glance, everything appeared intact. The Banished had rifled through its contents though, leaving weapons, ammo, and supplies scattered near the rear deployment hatch.

As Rukundo and Schattenstern neared the hatch, Bravo shouted, "Boss, I just spotted a Spectre parked further back!"

Just as he and Schattenstern were nearing the hatch, Bravo shouted, "Boss, I just spotted a Spectre parked further back!"

Rukundo and Shattenstern soon found themselves face to face with the implications of that fact. A Hyena, one of the more stocky, raptor-like varieties of Jackal alien, leapt out of the Gun-Yak straight towards the lieutenant. He managed to unload half a mag into the Hyena, killing the warrior. Unfortunately, the corpse of the Hyena collided with him, giving him a face full of its ugly maw resting across his visor.

A second Hyena leapt at Schattenstern, catching her momentarily distracted. It grabbed her SAW with one claw, forcing the weapon's barrel toward the ground, while activating a wrist-mounted energy dagger with its other hand. It screeched in triumphant laughter, only to abruptly stop when a shot from Bravo obliterated its hand in a mist of purple gore. Clutching its stump and howling in pain, the Hyena was silenced by a burst from Schattenstern's weapon.

Rukundo slid the Hyena corpse off of himself and was about to accept Schattenstern's hand to lift him to his feet when her image was replaced with that of a Brute. A Brute, no doubt waiting for the right moment to strike, had punched her three meters back into the trunk of a tree. Her SAW broke from its harness and it, along with her helmet, tumbled into the shadows.

Now fully in view, he could see that this Brute was bereft of most of its hair and lined with red tattoos just as Hound's intel showed. Three shots rang out from Bravo into the hulking beast that hit their mark, but the beast simply shrugged off the pain. It then reached towards Rukundo, lifted the lieutenant, and tossed him at Bravo's position. Both men went down.

Rig was darting as fast as he could towards his fallen comrade, but in three titanic struts the Brute was already upon Schattenstern.

The alien warrior raised its fat fist high and brought it down towards the private. In desperation, Schattenstern pulled out her combat machete and connected with the Brute's incoming blow. The blade lodged itself between its index and middle fingers, well into its flesh. However, the momentum still carried its fist, now accidentally accessorized with a sharp edge, towards her.

Only by split second instinct did she move her head away enough to avoid the bladed fist. Roaring more out of frustration that pain, the Brute, it's hand now caught by the blade wedged firmly in the tree's bark, reached down and grabbed one of Schattenstern's legs as she tried crawling away.

Held upside down, she watched as the Brute yanked its hand free from the blade and shook off a bloody paw.

It was then Rig's voice pierced the night.

"Hands off my buddy, shit-for-brains!"

The Brute turned toward Rig just as the right side of its head and shoulder exploded. Dropping Schattenstern, it pawed at its mangled head in confusion and panic. A second shot from Rig's M6G magnum ended the creature's defiance, leaving its head a ruined mess.

Doubling as the squad's medic, Bravo gave Schattenstern a good once over and concluded, "Looks like a few broken ribs and dislocated hip, Katie."

Schattenstern nodded and winced as Bravo and Rig helped her to the Gun-Yak's front gunner's seat. Bravo gave her an injection of biofoam for her ribs and moved to the Gun-Yak's driver's seat. Rig took an open seat in the troop bay while Rukundo settled into the command center.

He was relieved when the vehicle's operating systems immediately sparked to life; savoring the powerful sounds of a rumbling engine. As the computer terminals came on, a small light blue sphere projected from an attached holopad.

"Hello, I am BADGER, Naval Intelligence personal artificial intelligence. Please state your name, rank, and serial number, trooper!"

"Rukundo, Abe, Lieutenant, serial number 16478-98021-AR," Rukundo stated.

"Identity confirmed! Thank you, Lieutenant Rukundo. How may I be of service?"

"Appreciate you holding down the fort, BADGER. Hate to make you move out, but could you remotely operate a Banished Shadow troop transport?"

"Certainly."

"I want you to take that Shadow and rendezvous with another squad of soldiers at the location stored in this chip."

Rukundo pulled a datachip from his wrist-mounted NAVPAD and held it in front of the AI. After a quick second, the AI winked out from the holopad and into the chip. He handed the chip to Rig to place into the Shadow then turned to face the haul of equipment recovered by Agent Dill and his fallen comrades.

It was a veritable bounty of arms and armor that could easily resupply a small army. Most was transferred to the Shadow to equip Osca' larger force making its way on foot to the Banished outpost, but Rukundo saved things he knew his team would need.

"Ho ho ho," the lieutenant bellowed as he went around the Gun-Yak clutching a small bag. "I've got some presents for you good little ODSTs."

Bravo received a new Sentinel scope and ammunition for his DMR, Schattenstern got additional SAW drums, and Rig's "present"—an SPNKr rocket launcher—didn't fit in the bag. Rig returned just in time to receive it, albeit dragging a wriggling Grunt in his grip.