Lieutenant Ethan Johnson was restless, he was in the UNSC Night Sparkle, sometimes nicknamed "The Twilight Boat" by snickering crewmen, Ethan referred to it as his "Personal Hell" because his life was terrible, he woke up, trained recruits, went to briefing, and went to bed. He was a ODST. One of the Zeta Team members, he was the last who survived. He had a prickling feeling in the back of his neck, and a needle withdrew from it, a few drops of a strange, oily liquid remaining on his neck. A female voice said, while Ethan's vision blurred "There...Jill, i need the AI Interface...Thank you.." A additional needle prickled the back of his buzz-cut head, then a slightly more painful pain. Ethan's vision managed to focus, and he was rewarded with the face of a elderly woman, maybe in her 60's, it was hard to tell, wearing glasses, and a labcoat, along with a gray skirt that matched her hair. She smiled, and said "Hello, well, i must go, Jill...Make sure Ethan gets enough training.." and got up from a office chair and walked outside. A younger woman, in her 40's walked over to the table Ethan was on, she smiled at him, and said "Alright..Let's get you on your feet.." and helped him up, she said "You are now the first Spartan-IV..Codenamed: Equine. Here, follow me." and she walked out into a dark room, Ethan reconized it as the hanger, he also saw various other people, a girl, not much younger than him (He was, by the way, around 31.) A guy about 5 years older than him, and a scientist that he couldn't make out very well. He also saw 3 suits of dark brown MJOLNIR armor. He saw his initals "E.J" written on the breast of one of them, he walked closer to it. He saw that it had a EVA helmet, with a titanium visor ontop of it. He liked the blue visor, he was startled to hear someone say "So, you ready to get in it?" Ethan jumped and said "Huh?..Uhh..Yes.." and shrugged, the scientist, whose name was Jackson Myers judging from the ONI badge. He whistled and a few people (In old Mark III "Loader" suits) started to load him in.
Ethan was impressed, he had to admit. His armor was stronger than..anything, really. He had to admit though, it was hot in it, and he was already sweaty from being on the ship. He was startled to hear a "ALERT! ALERT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! ALL PERSONEL REPORT TO BATTLESTATIONS! ALERT! ALERT!"
Captain Jackson was stressed, they were about to get send into a tailspin into their destination..And the large Halcyon class ship was NOT going to just land..Unless there were enough power to hold it..He heard his pilot, Thom say "Well...You've always wanted to go to paradise, right Bill? Well....I heard this place was good.." and he chuckled sadly. His other pilot, Bill, responded by sighing and went back to his duties. Jack said loudly on the bridge intercom "Crewmen, send Zeta Squad onto the bridge..We need 'em.."
Ethan was called into a dark, beeping bridge. He saw 3 other people in simailar armor as him. Confused, but eager to test his new enhancments, he went foward. The captain, Mike Jackson, was a man in his late 60's, with tangled, messy brown hair with strands of gray in it. He wore a angry expression. Ethan's hand snapped to his forehead and he saluted. The captain waved him down and said "At ease.." and then said "Spartans..You have been improved to be the new heroes of the UNSC, Ethan, you will be the squad leader.." Ethan opened his mouth to protest, but the captain said "No arguments, i know you have served at the battle of Delta Halo, okay? Oh and..You will be testing our new Squad Management software..Just came up from ONI this morning..It'll allow you to slightly control your squadmembers systems..Just be careful..You don't want to drain all of their oxygen..Anyway, your mission will be to scout out that planet." The captain pointed to a viewscreen infront of him and said "Codename EQ-G4, this planet will be the training grounds for the new Spartan 4 program..And your new home, so i encourage you to make sure it isn't going to kill you when you land..You will be assisted by Alpha Squad, a new ODST group, they may be green, but they are also deadly." The captain turned to the viewscreen sand said "Your pods will be by the back, becareful not to get killed in mid-drop..Please, that IS expensive armor." Ethan nodded and looked at his squad, at the very back, there was a short person, about half his size, standing in dark blue CQB armor. The nametag on his HUD read "Andrews, Kelly." He looked at the person in the middle, he was about a foot taller than him, his nametag was "Monotoli, Mike." He had dark red standard MJOLNIR armor. The last person, a very tall one in dark green standard issue EVA armor, was named "Jackson, Lake." He said to all of them "Alright, meet me at the pods in about 10 minutes, before then, get your gear." He then walked into the barracks, he grabbed a M7, a effective, but very short range SMG, and a BR55, a effective rifle. He pocketed a handful of extended rounds for both weapons, and grabbed two frags. He noticed a few packs that could be attached on his back, and read the box. It said "WARNING: ONLY FOR USE IN MJOLNIR ARMOR, ONLY COMPATIABLE WITH SPARTAN-IV AUGMENTATIONS" He looked at a small, jet-powered projection pack and slammed it on his back, it was a jetpack. He walked to the pods, saw his squadmates, as well at Alpha Squad, and entered a pod.
"Prepping Pod-193 for launch...Launc-" Ethan heard these words, but very faintly, as when the word cut off, a covenant plasma torpedo hit the ship, causing it to get unlodged on the ship. He cursed and was pulling on a emergency handle, then everything went black.
