“Navy boys gave them a hell of a beating, even if they missed one.” Chauchat commented, looking down at the hologram of a Covenant carrier over the city of New Mombasa. The PFC was rubbing his chin as he watched, silently wondering what they were after.
“They left it for us, kid.” Frank patted his shoulder, stepping up to assess the hologram. “Or they got their asses kicked instead.”
“Always the optimist, eh?” Chauchat shook his head and went towards his pod, stopping to look over at the opening doors. Lieutenant Drumms and an unknown person stepped in, Drumms looking quite annoyed with the unusually armored male. “What’s going on, Lieutenant?”
“Prepare for a combat drop, we’re going to assault that carrier.” Drumms ordered, causing the several ODSTs in the room to quickly make their way to their pods, grabbing weapons and equipment. As the two watched, Drumms turned to the green and black clad man next to him. “Your pod’s going to be next to mine. Second one on the left, down at the end.” The man nodded and made his way over, stopping to grab himself weapons and some grenades.
“Who’s the suit?” The group’s medic asked, checking through her pack.
“ONI has several things they want done, so we get shackled with one of their ‘liaisons’ for this drop.” Drumms folded his arms, shaking his head. “He won’t tell me what they’re looking for, so I haven’t got a damn clue. Said he’ll debrief us on landing.”
“I take it that we’re not the only ones lucky enough to get tasked with one of them?” Zed remarked as she shouldered her pack, beginning to walk to her pod.
“Buck’s got one as well, unlucky bastard. We're working with them when we get down.” Drumms said, before grabbing his own gear.
One by one, the squad secured themselves in their pods and the doors shut, sealing them inside. Two screens flickered to life as the pods were moved into position.
“Twenty seconds to drop, we will be adjusting course in midair. Your squad will not be dropping in the planned LZ of the rest of your unit, copy?” The ONI officer instructed the squad, right before the pods were released and dozens of ODSTs were shot down towards the surface.
“Sir, we have a radiation spike coming from that carrier!” Zed called out over comms as the carrier began to move, seconds later creating a slipspace portal.
“Divert course now!” The ONI officer commanded, his pod jerking to the right, away from the others. As Drumms’ squad followed, the carrier jumped through, causing a massive shockwave to hit the dropping troopers. As they attempted to stabilize their pods, they were thrown around inside them, before the waves of energy of the slipspace portal collapsing blasted past them.
“Alright everyone, call out if you’re alive.” Drumms called out over comms several moments after he felt the last drop pod slam into the ground. One by one, the ODSTs called out.
“Chauchat up!”
“Frank here, pod’s stuck closed.”
“Zed up!”
“Allan, Freuski, sound off.” Drumms said as he activated the explosive bolts built into his pod.
“Allan here… I’m fucked up Lieutenant.” Allan’s raspy voice groaned out, causing both Drumms and Zed to make their way to his pod as fast as they could.
“Allan, pop the bolts.” Zed said once the two got on either side, making sure to stay clear as the door blew off. Zed caught Allan’s body as he fell forward, the medical officer immediately figuring out what was wrong as she eyed the interior. Blood and bits of uniform was splattered around the lower part of the space that was used to occupy the ODST’s lower legs, and Allan’s left leg was torn up, bone sticking out from his calf.
“You’ll be fine, trooper.” Drumms said, glancing at Zed and quietly questioning her. Zed nodded and Drumms slumped a tad in relief, helping move the man to a nearby rock.
“Drumms, help Freuski get out of his pod. I’ll help your MO.” The ONI agent ordered, putting a hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder. Drumms took a moment to glance at the injured man, before sighing and moving over to the last unopened pod. “I’ve got more medical training than he does.” He explained to Zed, who just nodded her head and injected painkillers into the groaning Allan.
“Freuski, open up!” Drumms called out, rapping the silent pod. After several moments, he grunted and motioned to Frank for the trooper’s assistance, Frank having been freed from his pod by Chauchat and ONI. Frank made haste over and began popping external bolts on one side, Drumms mirroring his motions on the other.
“Heard anything out of him since we dropped, lieutenant?” Frank asked as they worked, frowning at a damaged bolt. “Not like him to stay in one of these damn things.”
“That’s why I’m getting it open now.” Drumms grimaced, the door ejecting onto the dusty ground moments later. Freuski fell out a moment later, limply hitting the ground as blood dripped from the shattered visor of his helmet. His legs were in much worse condition compared to Allan’s, bones shattered and sticking out of his armor in multiple places. “Ah, fuck.”
“Son of a bitch...” Frank muttered, kneeling down to place his hand over Freuski’s neck, checking for a pulse even if he knew it wasn’t there. “Dead, probably on impact. Or when we were hit by that slipspace portal’s collapse.” Drumms took his helmet off and rubbed his head, looking around with a frown as Chauchat came over.
“Alright, you two strip his pod of equipment. We’ll bury him in it.” Drumms said after a moment, kneeling down to roll him over. While he only got a brief glance at his front before Freuski fell, he still let out a grimace at the extent of the damage.
“Zed wouldn’t have been able to start fixing him up, even if he survived the impact.” Frank muttered, before getting to work on removing any useful equipment from the pod. Between Frank and Chauchat, the two removed several rations, a damaged radio backpack, and his weapons, an M45 shotgun, two M9 grenades, and a BR55HB, along with enough ammunition for several engagements.
“I won’t be able to do much else other than stabilize him and set up a splint.” Zed told the agent as she finished setting Allan’s leg. With a hiss of pain, Allen nearly bit through the glove in his mouth. Zed glanced down, but grimaced, “and I cannot give you anymore morphine.” Allan just glared up at Zed in response, something that she didn’t take to heart.
“He’ll recover on his own like this, though I’d much rather have a proper hospital work on him.” The agent finished strapping the splint down, filling the inside of it with biofoam, which just caused Allan to groan out in pain. “Wherever the hell we are.”
“We shouldn’t have gotten knocked too far off course, sir.” Zed helped Allan up, supporting his weight while throwing Allan’s arm over her shoulder.
“Oh we have.” Agent mused, looking up towards the sky. “We’re no longer on Earth. Maps aren’t showing up, there’s nothing in the sky but clouds. The air’s cleaner, and comms are down aside from short range intercoms.” He motioned towards the pods they landed in. “That slipspace portal took us along for the ride, though if we went to the same destination the Solemn Penance was heading towards, we’d be suffocating in space.”
“Okay… So we figure out where the hell we are and set up a beacon?” Zed tilted her head, looking towards the others. Agent just shrugged and helped her walk towards the others, supporting Allan from the other side.
“If only it was that easy. My comms aren’t picking up anything that isn’t outside a ten meter area, just the chatter from the others. We aren’t even in covenant territory, Zed.” Agent motioned to the other ODSTs. “We are the only space fairing race here. And I know we’re not alone on this rock.”
“How do you know that?” Drumms asked, looking over at Allan. “You okay there?”
“I’ve had worse injuries in boot, sarg’nt.” Allan mumbled, grunting as he gingerly put a bit of weight onto his injured leg. Zed hit him and kept him off of it.
“We’re being watched, I noticed after tightening Allan’s splint. Two flying creatures.” He explained, motioning upwards with his head.
“Why did I get picked to do this assignment?” Soarin questioned the pegasus mare flying next to him. Fleetfoot didn't answer, merely stared down at the dusty ground, which was almost two kilometers below the pair of Wonderbolts. “I mean, if this is about that incident with the loofah last month, I had already apologized fifteen times for it!”
“Its not that.” Fleetfoot quietly said. “Spitfire picked us for the scouting mission because we're some of the best scouts she has.” Soarin silently sighed and shook his head.
“I know, Fleets.” He said, looking at her. “I just think that we need more cadets in our Academy, you know? The last graduating class only had three pegasi in it!” He exclaimed, throwing his hooves out to the sides. Fleetfoot nodded to acknowledge that she was listening, not taking her eyes off of the landscape below. Spotting something out of place, she narrowed her eyes and peered closer.
“Wait.” She suddenly said, throwing out a hoof and nearly hit Soarin across the throat. “Do you see that?”
“See what?” He blinked and looked down at the ground. “What's that?”
“Don't know.” She looked at him. “You want to go back and report, or stay and watch it for a while?”
“Let's stay.” Soarin said after a moment. “We don't know if they’re dangerous or not and we'll need more information on them.” Fleetfoot nodded and looked around for a pair of clouds for them to hide on. She could only spot one, but the two pegasi were trained to not be uncomfortable with having to share clouds together for reconnaissance missions.
“Let's hope they don’t notice us...” Fleetfoot muttered, shifting a bit as she lay down next to Soarin. The two were certain that the beings below wouldn’t spot them, being so high up.
“So, what’s our plan sir?” Frank asked, glancing between the ONI agent and his lieutenant. The two officers had spent several minutes talking away from the squad, letting them work on securing the area around them. Freuski’s body had carefully been put back in his pod after it was pulled onto its back, and sealed shut. It was the least they could do in such a short time.
“We’re going to start heading that way,” the agent started, pointing a hand towards the east, “and continue moving until the locals decide to come down and figure out if we’re a threat or not.” The hand pointing went upwards towards the cloud that he noted the flying creatures settled behind, presumably to watch them.
“So we’re really not on Earth.” Chauchat muttered, taking off his helmet and rubbing the back of his head. “What’s protocol about first contact again?” The agent just snorted and rolled his eyes behind his helmet.
“Doesn’t matter, we’re not going to kill them unless I figure out if they’re working with the Covenant. Just don’t be aggressive.” He explained, before motioning towards Allan. “We’ll take turns carrying him on a stretcher, with one forward and two rear.” Zed nodded and began unpacking the stretcher in her pack, despite Allan’s weak protest.
“I can walk, sir!” He tried getting out, but grunted as his leg moved. “Honest.”
“No, you can’t. You’re lucky your leg didn’t shatter on impact.” Drumms responded, putting a hand on Allan’s shoulder. “We’ll be following the agent’s lead on this.” He paused and looked at him, tilting his head.
“Well, since we’re not exactly doing a simple grab OP anymore, I suppose I should introduce myself.” He stepped forward. “You all are under the command of agent Mare.” They snorted as he shrugged. “Buck’s squad got assigned agent Dare. ONI went through a phase in giving agents animal code names, I’m one of those lucky ones. If we turn out to be stuck here for more than a few weeks I’ll entertain the idea of letting you guys get to know more about me.” He didn’t need their visors to be transparent to see the eye rolls at his sarcastic tone.
“Fair enough. Hopefully we won’t need to, spook man.” Frank smirked and got off his rock. “So, who’s helping Allan first?”
“Chauchat and Zed.” They nodded as Allan was moved onto the stretcher, grabbing the ends of it once he was in place. “Let’s see how long it’ll take for them to get off their high horses and consider helping us.” The squad snorted as they gathered their gear and set off.
“Okay, I’m pretty sure that one knows we’re here.” Fleetfoot said, ducking back behind the cloud after the off colored one pointed up at them. While she had no clue what they were aside from looking like insectoid minotaurs, she figured the one that had dark green colors was either a different gender or ranking compared to the all black and grey ones, or the one with a single blue stripe. Possibly the latter, since the others seemed to pay attention to it and the one with the stripe.
“Any clue on what we should do then?” Soarin asked, carefully poking his head over to watch them.
“Well, aside from reporting back?” Fleetfoot hummed and rubbed her chin, sighing softly. “Just continue observing.”
“I think we should report back.” Soarin frowned and peered closer. “One’s injured. We could get them some help from the base.” She jolted a bit and looked down as well, watching as they eased one onto a stretcher of some sort. “Want to keep an eye on them while I go back?”
“Might be a good idea.” She accepted, nodding as she nudged him with a sly smirk. “Besides, we both know I have better eyes for the task.” He just snorted and took off, flying eastward. She shook her head and resumed watching, settling in for a long observation.
“So, that’s what we’re dealing with? Fliers that can… sit on clouds? I thought they were just behind it.” Mare mused, rubbing the bottom of his helmet idly as he watched one of the creatures fly in the same direction as they were heading. “At least I picked the right direction.”
“And its not a Drone.” Drumms sighed softly in relief.
“Yanm’e. But yes, they’re not Covenant. ONI has no information on creatures of that appearance aside from equines back home.” Mare cradled his M319, with his M7S hanging off his hip. Freuski’s weapons were strapped to his back, and the ammunition placed around his body. “Sapient or otherwise, so this’ll be a fun experience for all of us.”
“Playing around in the badlands and watching the locals. I almost wish we were on that goddamn carrier.” Frank mumbled, shaking his head. “Think we should call the other one down?”
“It might be a good idea. I wouldn’t be shocked if that one turned down the offer, though.” Zed added, shifting her grip to keep her hands from aching too much. While sharing the weight of Allan’s load with Chauchat, the ODST was still pretty heavy with all of his equipment on.
“Worth a shot, I suppose. We’ve had worse first contacts.” Mare chuckled and waved up at the flyer, motioning for it to come down, before continuing on their course. If it wanted to meet them, it’d come down in time.
“Horseapples…” Fleetfoot frowned, watching as the green and black one waved up at her, then made a beckoning motion. Or what she assumed was, due to the way it was waving back towards itself. Should I go down there? I have no clue what they are, or if they eat ponies. She thought to herself, resting her head against the cloud. Spitfire is going to murder me if I screw this up.
With a grimace, she got up off of the cloud and glided on down to the ground, landing and kicking up some dust a short jog from the group. Ears and tail flicking in nervousness, she approached the still moving group, clearing her throat of more than just dust.
"Uh... Hello there!" She called out after a moment's hesitation. Oh I'm such an idiot! Who simply says hello in this situation?! She screamed internally. Not really to her surprise though, the two in front, holding some kind of weird objects she noted, looked at each other in possible confusion before shrugging.
The two creatures seemed to silently communicate to each other for a moment, Telepathy, perhaps?, before turning to the group and motioning them to bring up the wounded one. Fleetfoot could only grimace at the sight of an obvious leg break, though glancing over its body revealed that they were wearing armor. Okay, so I'm dealing with soldiers, maybe? Which... makes those objects some sort of weapon.
The idea of bringing armed alien soldiers to their outpost didn't exactly fill Fleetfoot with confidence, but she wasn't going to just sit by and ignore a wounded being. Taking a deep breath, she pointed at the group and then the ground, before motioning to herself and then towards the outpost.
"What do you think its trying to say?" Drumms asked, glancing between the horse thing and Mare. The ONI agent hummed for a moment, before squatting down and motioning to it with his hand. Nervously, it took a few steps forward, only to relax as he began drawing crude figures in the dirt.
"Let's see if they're friendly. Or understand pictures." Mare muttered, drawing a crude representation of Allan and the stretcher, then a equine helping him, before pointing at the blue creature. It studied the drawings for a moment before nodding, once again pointing at them and then the ground before taking off. "It wants us to stay put, probably going to go get help."
"Probably going to get help?" Zed questioned, her eyebrow raising behind her helmet. "Or going to get a bunch of Brutes to smash us into paste." Mare just shook his head and stood up, adjusting his pack.
"If these things are working with the Covenant, it wouldn't have come down here Zed. Put Allan down, take a breather and eat a ration bar or something. Might as well see what they'll bring to bat." He glanced at the others. "Consider it an order. Rest up for a moment."
"At least he's not trying to get us killed to capture a grunt or something." Chauchat muttered to Allan, causing him to snort.
Author's Note
I live
