ODST: Shock and Awe

"ODST troopers to pods in five minutes!" Captain Alex Fangheart voice rang out inside of my helmet. I flicked my green light and continued preparing my equipment silently. I grabbed a few clips for a M7S Caseless Submachine Gun, M6S pistol, and a few pods for my own personal Type 51 Carbine I pulled off of a Sangheili when I ran out of ammo for my M7S. I put the guns to my pod, securing each weapon in the pod. I finished securing every weapon and equipment with two minutes to spare, so I sat in my seat and closed my eyes. Someone tapped me with the tip of a gun, jolting me from my dozing state. I opened my eyes and saw the captain eyeing me.

"You okay?" He asked. I flicked my green light on. "We leave in thirty seconds." He walked off, securing his battle rifle into his pod and closing the door. I closed the door, strapping myself into the chair and closing my eyes once more. Thirty seconds later, the pods launched and I closed my eyes tighter, waiting for the inevitable pulls and the impact. The pod started heating up slightly, signaling it was hitting the atmosphere.

"Pull!" The captains voice said, the fans on top of the pods shooting out and slowing the pods down. The pods struck in a close radius, a few hitting buildings and other debris, while others simply landing in the street. My bod landed in the side of the building, the blow nearly knocking me unconscious. I grabbed my gear, then popped the hatch and jumped outside, luckily my pod landed near the ground and the jump was only ten feet.

My carbine strapped to my back and my pistol strapped in its holster, I made my way to the waypoint set by the captain. Ten minutes of jogging and hiding from covenant patrols, I made it to the waypoint, a small building with an electric door. I walked in, M7S at the ready, when I saw the squad. Ten ODSTs in total, all ready to clear the city.

"All here? Let's move out!" The captain yelled into his comms, getting green lights from all. We split into two groups and took opposite ends of the city, splitting the city into the north and south side. I was put on the south side, along with a Lance Corporal, Gunnery Sergeant, the captain, and a PFC. We walked in the shadows for ten minutes, not meeting a single patrol along the way.

"It's too quiet..." The PFC said nervously, only his second mission as an ODST.

"I sense an ambush nearby." The Lance Corporal said, gripping his gun tightly and watching the roofs.

"Lieutenant, go to that building and scout out the nearby streets." The captain said, getting a green light from me. I ran to the building he pointed to, stealthily making my way up. I made it to the roof and looked around warily, watching for snipers and squads alike. I made my way around the entire roof, spotting a few lazy snipers with their snipers on their backs.

I pulled out my carbine and sniped the snipers, each getting a 8mm caseless radioactive projectile to the head. There were no squads anywhere for another two clicks, and I flicked on my green light.

"Good job taking out the snipers, get back down here and lets get moving." I flicked my green light again and jogged down the stairs. I reached the rest of the group, and we got moving.

"No squads for another two clicks." I said into the private comms, getting a green light from the captain. We continued through the streets, meeting a few squads and taking them down easily. I collected the ammo from a few brutes for my carbine, and continued down the streets. A few hours went by as the sun dipped down.

"Alright, we can take shelter in the building there." He said, pointing to an apartment complex missing a few of the floors from an unknown explosion. Green lights went up and we hunkered down in the building, grabbing a few firm beds from the next room.

"First up is Felix and Rookie, then Daniel and Barrett, then me and Rookie, then Felix and Daniel, then me and Barrett, in that order. Two hour shifts, wake us when there's trouble." The captain said, grabbing a bed and laying down. I stood at the door, kneeling in the shadows with Rookie on the other side. An hour and a half later, Rookie called out a squad of brutes and grunts heading this way.

"Captain, we got a large group of brutes and grunts, twenty plus, making their way to our position." He called out.

"Alright ladies, let's get to work!" The Captain said, sneaking outside with the other two. The brutes and grunts continued walking in their general directions, getting close enough to the point where the M7S is effective.

"Open fire!" The Captain yelled, doing so with his MA5B assault rifle. I opened fire with my M7S, using the entire clip to kill three brutes. Only two of the brutes remained, getting taken out by the rest of the ODSTs, then the grunts went crazy without their leaders and started running away. We quickly took care of them, the grunts armor no match for our armor piercing rounds. I reloaded the clip, putting the spare bullets into a small ammo pouch.

"Good job ladies. Finish up your shift then get some shut eye." The captain said, going back inside. I flicked my green light and went back to the shadows, watching the road intently. Thirty minutes passed by quickly, and we went back into the building. I took the firmer bed of the two, cutting the Rookie some slack, and was woken up an hour later to Daniel and Barrett calling out two large squads, each twenty plus each.

"Damn... Alright ladies, lets do this!" The captain yelled. I grabbed my equipment quickly, strapping it into the right places and came outside quickly.

"Use of grenades are authorized, but are only as a last resort." The captain said, pulling a grenade from his belt. He hooked the grenades ring and tossed it out into the street, it perfectly hitting a slope on the street and rolling under the feet of the first groups. The grenade blew up, attracting attention from the second group.

I emptied the clip into the group of grunts, killing nearly half of them. I reloaded quickly and turned around, seeing another group coming up on our side. Fifty plus with a pair of hunters.

"Captain, Fifty plus with hunters at six o'clock." I said, turning around and tapping him on the shoulder. He swore and finished off the second group, then hooked another grenade. I grabbed a grenade also and hooked the ring, and we both tossed at the same time. The grenades blew up under the feet of a hunter, killing it and a few surrounding grunts. The remaining hunter roared and charged us, firing it's plasma.

I hooked another grenade and tossed it behind the hunter, catching one of the brutes in the face with it. He caught it and looked at it, the grenade blowing up in his hands. It killed two brutes and most of the grunts, leaving a handful of grunts, a brute chieftain, and a few brutes. The hunter swung with it's large shield arm, nearly smacking into the PFC.

He turned around and fired at the captain, leaving him open to me. I hooked another grenade and stuck it into his back. He shuddered and the grenade exploded, sending orange blood and blue armor everywhere.

"Good job, now wipe the rest of the group." The captain said. I saw a sniper with his sights on me and I dived away from the shot, but not quick enough to dodge the shot fully. The plasma hit my shoulder, boiling my armor and skin, burning pain shooting through my entire body. I gritted my teeth and tried moving my arm, only to have slight movement coming from it.

"I'm hit." I said calmly, the pain residing slightly. I hooked my carbine in my good arm and aimed down the sights, my sights put onto the sniper. I fired and hit him in the neck, blood spurting from his neck and running down his armor. He squawked and fell off the side of the building, hitting the ground with a crunch. I looked for my M7S, only to find it behind a brute chieftain, a large grin on his face. He lifted his gravity hammer, bringing it back down.

I slid away, still catching a small fraction of it's power; Enough to send me flying and land across the street. I took out my pistol and fired, hitting his shield. I continued firing until the shield gave out and I ran out of ammo. I dropped the clip, then put the gun on the ground and took a new clip out. I slipped the new clip in and started firing once more.

The first few hit him in the chest, blood spurting out of him but only stopping him slightly. I aimed higher and fired, hitting him in the neck, stunning him slightly. I aimed a little higher and fired, hitting him right in his nose. He howled in pain and fell to the ground, dead. I got up and looked around, seeing my squad handling the group. I ran to the cover they had and fired the pistol, the shot piercing the methane tank of a grunt and causing him to explode, killing three other grunts.

"Nice work with the chieftain, but we got more trouble." He said, pointing to a group, another twenty plus with a few grunts clutching plasma grenades.

"Suicide grunts, a few brutes, and regular grunts, great." Barrett said, firing his M7S and hitting a brute in the face, the bullet piercing his skull and killing him immediately. The larger group wiped out, we reloaded and fired again, killing a few grunts and breaking the shields on brutes. The suicide grunts activated the grenades in their hands and started running towards us.

"Take them out!" The captain yelled, firing his assault rifle at them. I aimed the pistol shot the first in the face, causing him to drop the grenades and fly backwards into the second grunt, causing him to start rolling back to the group with the other one. The grenades grew brighter and exploded, the last of the three grunts stepping on them and being sent skyward. The two grunts continued rolling to the group and exploded, killing most of the group in a green and blue explosion. We finished off the rest of the group and reloaded, pulling back into the apartment.

"That firefight probably attracted every squad within a three mile radius, so lets lick our wounds and restock." The captain said, pulling out a biofoam canister. I walked forward and pointed to my shoulder, getting a plentiful bounty of burning biofoam in my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and growled in pain, the biofoam feeling like a thousand knives were being stuck in. He patted me on the shoulder and I walked away, nobody else getting biofoam for their minor wounds.

"Looks like Felix was the only one injured." Barrett said, checking his weapons. I flicked my green light and started checking my weapons, feeling returning to my arm. I moved my arm a few times, getting a feeling of it before I started working it. I checked my weapons quickly, running outside quickly and grabbing my M7S quickly. I checked the weapon, finding the clip missing, I reloaded and strapped my carbine to my back, then holstered my pistol.

"Rookie, go to the roof and keep an eye on the streets, and watch for snipers." The captain said, getting a green light from Rookie.

"Today is not your day Lieutenant." Daniel said, patting me on the shoulder.

"Yeah, some reason today all the covvies are after me." I responded, sitting next to the door. Five minutes past before the radio started crackling.

"Six squads converging on the apartment!" Rookie yelled into a radio, then silence.

"Damn it! Barrett, go check on Rookie." The captain said. Barrett nodded and walked upstairs. A few minutes later, the radio started crackling again.

"Rookie's down, sniper got him. Six squads, each fifty plus with a couple of ghosts, hunters and chieftains each." A shot rang out on his end of the comms, then a few steps.

"All ways are blocked, and either by the squads or the snipers littering each building. They knew we were coming the entire time." Barrett said.

"How do you know?" The captain said.

"Because, they're carrying the others with them." Barrett responded.

"Four of us versus an army of covvies... It's been nice knowing you all." Daniel said, looking out the door.

"We don't have a chance at surviving this shit, so rig the few entrances with explosives, then set some throughout the main room here and blow this place to hell." The captain said. Daniel pulled out a large set of explosive charges and started setting up charges along narrow spots in the room and at the doorways. I started helping him, sticking a few here and there. We were going to blow this place all in one go, so let them in the front door.

"Meet you on the other side." The captain said, pulling out a couple of cigars. He gave each of us a cigar, each of us lighting it. The captain pulled his helmet off, revealing a heavily tanned, and scarred, face. He took a puff and blew it out, relishing the smell. Barrett took off his helmet, revealing two different colored eyes and a pale face. Daniel took off his helmet, revealing a small stubble and an evenly tanned face, with a strong jaw.

I took off my helmet, revealing an equally even tanned face with a large scar running down my face. I took a puff and released the smoke through my nose, placing my helmet on the desk sitting in front of the room. I left the cigar in my mouth and accessed the "dumb" AI running the building, and locked all of the doors.

"Should keep the bastards at bay while I enjoy this." I said, leaning against the desk. They all nodded in agreement, while we heard some grunts and growls from outside.

"Here already? They are just asking to die!" The captain said, walking down a narrow hallway barely large enough for a hunter to fit down.

"We could use this hallway as a small choke point until we need to fall back, then we can fall back into this next hallway, and after that this room." The captain said, pointing down a hallway with one door down it.

"I'll keep an eye on the doors and tell you when to blow this place to high hell." Barrett said, walking down the first hallway. After a minute, all the doors burst at once with brutes running in with grunts closely behind. They were confused for a second, and grunted a few times, pointing down a hallway. A good portion of the main floor was occupied by the covenant, so Barrett gave the signal and Daniel blew the explosives. They went off, killing every grunt, brute, and hunter in the room and knocking down the walls quickly.

"Perfect." The captain said, puffing on the cigar. The debris exploded outwards as the next wave of hunters and brute chieftains came through, knocking aside pieces of debris.

"That was short lived." Barrett said. One of the hunters spotted us and charged its plasma, only to hit a wall that was behind us. We ran down the hallway, looking behind us occasionally. The captain turned around at the designated hallway to retreat down, the rest of us quickly stopping next to him. The first few chieftains ran down the hallways, only to get gunned down by the four of us. We reloaded,  waiting for the next wave of covenant.

The lights dimmed slightly, and a sudden flash of blue came from the first hallway, bouncing off of the wall and hitting the floor, not even close to us. The grenade exploded, then a group of suicide grunts came down the hallway, all screaming like idiots. We gunned them down, the grenades sticking to a few hunters unlucky enough for the grunts to be killed quickly. The grenades blew up in a large blue and green fireball, taking out a large portion of the building itself. A sudden burst of plasma fire came from the hole, tearing into Daniel and Barrett.

"Down the hallway!" The captain yelled, grabbing my arm. I followed quickly, the plasma fire nearly hitting me.

"Two versus hundreds..." The captain said. I puffed the cigar, retreating to the end of the hall. The walls became white hot, the air around us getting very steamy.

"Damn it..." The captain said. I ducked, just as a large torrent of plasma tore through the hall and through him. I ran into the back room, pulling my grenades from my belt and chucking them out the door, the explosion ringing and killing a few hunters and brutes.

"Scarabs, hunters, brutes, suicide grunts, ghosts, banshees, wraiths I've fought them all! Ever since I was fifteen, I've been fighting against these damn covenant..." I said, a torrent of screaming grunts running down the hall. I fired my M7S and killed the first few, the grenades exploding quickly. I reloaded, only that I noticed my gun was glowing white blue and was growing hotter by the second.

"Well..." I said, puffing on the cigar and spitting it out as it exploded, and saw nothing but white.

"A soldier from another world, his comrades killed and he managed to take down a covenant super cruiser, survived the flood, taken out banshees, ghosts, wraiths, scarabs, brute chieftains, hunters, elites, and so on single handedly. What should we do with him?" An ethereal voice said in the complete white vastness.

"We should show him peace, something his kind hasn't known for twenty eight years. This human has done great deeds in battle, but we should show him there is always peace, and friendship in a land." An older version of the first voice said. I tried speaking, only to find my mouth, and body was gone.

"Well that's fuckin' perfect... A personal hell that'll drive me insane by boredom." I thought.

"Saddening that his parents died on his birthday... The same day he enlisted into this UNSC... Ever since that day, he has done nothing for himself." The older voice said.

"Can I get these fuckin' voices out of my head? Please, whatever god is watching over me?" I thought, knowing I wasn't going to get answered.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot he can still communicate with us. What would you want to become?" The older voice asked. I stopped in stunned silence for a few seconds.

"I would like to go back and win the war for Earth, then..." I couldn't think of what to do after Earth survived the war.

"From the deeds you've accomplished over the years of your military career, you have a very high value, maybe even high enough for an alicorn form in Equestria..." The younger voice.

"Alicorn? Equestria? The hell are those?" I asked, confused by these words.

"Alicorns are powerful beings able to use magic and fly, and are considered royalty in Equestria." The older voice explained.

"Actually, doing the math correctly, he has more then enough for his alicorn form." The younger voice said. then the sound of papers shuffling.

"Really, paper in this heaven, hell, or wherever the hell I am?"I thought.

"Actually sister, you're right. He has enough to get an alicorn form and more." The older voice said.

"Sure, I guess I can take this alicorn form. Whatever floats your boat, goddesses." I thought, shrugging my nonexistant shoulders. They giggled, hearing the word goddesses.

"Do you really want to become an alicorn? You will become immortal, have to deal with royal duties everyday, and will have females chasing you wherever you go." The older voice said.

"That will probably drive my ass insane from seeing people die while I stay a young age, plus corrupted politicians are something I hate. But, I can't really go anywhere else, so I guess I can accept." I thought.

"Great! Now think of a good name, since Felix can't be used here." The younger voice said.

"Fading Flare?" I said the first name that came to my head.

"That's... a name we needed for Equestria." The older voice said in surprise. There were a few pops, then the world went dark.