Harvest Files: Arizona

Chapter 5: Ball of Glass

CHAPTER 5: Ball of Glass

One year ago...

Arizona walked through the locker room passing Agents Michigan and Vermont, who were prepping for a mission themselves. They didn't really care where he was going, and he didn't need to explain to them where he was going. He opened the sliding door to the armory and stepped in, closing the door behind him. He walked up and down the weapon racks, examining which weapons would be best for this mission.

When he made up his mind, he grabbed a duffle bag from the corner and set it down at his feet. He grabbed a sniper rifle off the rack and slammed a clip in, cycling the bolt. He clipped it across his back and put a few extra mags on his belt and put a lot more in the duffle bag. Next up was an MA5B assault rifle, grabbing an extended magazine with AP rounds and inserting the mag. He put a few on his belt and shoved a few more into the duffel bag. He grabbed two SMGs and clipped one to each thigh, loading in one magazine in each. He carefully positioned two mags on his sides for later. He tossed a few frags into the bag and clipped two to the back of his belt.

Satisfied with his choices, he zipped up the duffel bag and slung it over his left shoulder, casually holding his assault rifle over his right shoulder as he exited the armory. Mich and Vermont were both missing from the locker room, so Zona guessed they already left for their mission. Arizona opened his locker real quick, eying the dirtied and beaten up M7 Silenced SMG that he used as an ODST. He looked at the many tick marks he carved on the rifle, each representing a kill he earned while combating the Covenant during the war. He lost count after 40.

He shut the locker and walked over to the elevator, pressing the key and summoning the elevator to him. When the door opened, a few of the silver ODSTs on board stepped out and started jogging to the observation deck saying something about a new recruit who went by the name Arsenal. The name sounded weird to Arizona, but he figured it was just some temporary callsign. He stepped in and pressed they key for the hangar, walking to the back of the elevator and slinging his rifle over his right shoulder. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as the elevator started to move down.

The elevator dinged and opened up to the hangar. The spacious hangar was filled with three out of four Pelican dropships, numerous pilots and ODSTs sorting out various crates, and strangely enough, Agent California. She was one of Arizona's closest friends at Project Freelancer, mostly because both of them had lost family. Arizona lost his entire family on Harvest, but Cali had a few family members left...that she couldn't get a hold of. (( A/N Calizona or Arifornia ain't gonna happen. ))

He tried walking towards one of the farther away Pelicans, but Cali noticed. Of all people, he didn't want her worrying about him. She walked over and removed her helmet, revealing light brown shoulder length hair and caring hazel eyes. Arizona kept his helmet on as he adjusted the strap of his duffle bag.

"Got a mission, Zona?" she asked.

"Yeah, this shouldn't take too long. Just taking out an Innie outpost on Harvest. I'll be back in a day or two." She stepped one step back.

"How are you getting there? I know the Director won't move the MOI there to drop you, and a Pelican sure as hell won't get you there."

"My old ODST squad is bringing a prowler to pick me up. Like I said, I won't be long." He raised his hand up and smirked under his helmet. Cali smiled and high-fived him, putting her helmet back on and walking away to the elevator. Zona picked up his duffle bag and watched as a new Pelican landed in a vacant landing pad. The rear hatch opened and the ramp dropped, revealing 5 black ODSTs with the traditional grey-blue visors and white stripes dowm the middle of their helmets and chestpieces.

Arizona stepped up to the Pelican, and all the ODSTs started laughing.

"Captain! Got a fancy set of new armor, eh?" the one farthest on the right asked in an Irish accent.

"Yeah, O'Connor! Better than your plastic ODST crap." Zona started laughing along with the ODSTs as they all came and patted him on the back.

"Captain Sherman, it is good to see you. I heard we got to go and save Darren's ass on Harvest."

"Yeah, Richards, we do. And I hope you all brought your gear, because it's going to be the same assignments." Zona pointed to the middle right one. "Richards, you got long-range." Zona then pointed to the Irish one on the far right. "O'Connor, precision weapons to support Richards." He pointed over to the far left trooper, who wore a bandolier of grenades over his chestpiece and an enlarged ODST pauldron on his left shoulder. "Cutter, explosive weapons. Grenade launchers, rockets, and such." Finally, Zona pointed to the last two. "Kyle and Johnson, both of you still have those gatling guns?" They both nodded. "Alright, let's get going."

The ODSTs and Zona stepped aboard the Pelican and all strapped in to the troop carrier section. Cali watched from the open elevator as the Pelian took off and flew towards a prowler-class ship floating out near the Mother of Invention.

The Pelican landed in the very small cargo area of the prowler, callsign UNSC Apollo. It was a very tight fit, but they still had enough room to land. The squad of ODSTs and their Freelancer felt the ship transition to Slipspace. A female voice came over the ship's intercom.

"ETA to Harvest is five hours. Make youselves comfortable, gentlemen." The group stepped out of the Pelican and walked over to a few weapon crates near their ship, each crate marked with the name of the ODSTs in white spray-paint. They opened these crates and pulled out their gear.

Richards, the one Zona placed as the sniper, pulled out a 99CS2 Sniper Rifle (A/N Halo Reach variant) and a few mags for it, as well as a standard M6D Magnum (A/N Halo 3 variant).

O'Connor, the ODST on backup for Richards, grabbed a standard BR55 Battle Rifle (A/N Halo 3 variant. None of the weapons will be from Halo 4, as the events in this book take place way before the Chorus arcs from Red vs Blue) as well as an M392 DMR with several mags for both.

Cutter, who had tinted his visor black on the Pelican ride, grabbed an M319 Grenade Launcher with a classic M41 SPNKr Rocket Launcher (A/N Halo 3 variant) for good measure. He begins to load rockets in while he loads a few more into a hard-cased backpack.

Kyle and Johnson, the two he assigned to machine gun positions, were checking the status of their MA5B Assault Rifles (A/N Halo 3 variant) while the unmistakable tri-barrels of two AIE-486H Heavy Machine Guns (A/N Halo 3 variants) peaked out from the open crate.

Zona had taken his duffle bag with him to the observation deck to watch the multi-colored realm known as Slipspace while they traveled.

Five long hours later, the Apollo exited Slipspace and the planet came into view of the observation deck. Unlike Reach, which had been terraformed after it was glassed, Harvest was still a glittering ball of glass. It was left as a reminder to humanity after the war with the Covenant.

Zona was back on his homeworld, but he didn't know he wouldn't be leaving for six months.