Everything is Fair in Love and War

Chapter 6 - Feet First into Hell

0725 May 10 2010 [Local Calendar]
Bridge, UNSC Full Moon
Dark Side of the Moon

As the light cleared from my vision I blinked and looked around, seeing my companions doing the same. "Alright move us to just be able to see the Earth, then we can pick up on the radio waves coming from the planet, and figure out when exactly we are." Receiving affirmatives from the bridge crew we slowly moved towards our destination. "Okay, any final questions? Speak now or forev-"
"Sir!" Serina interrupted, a look sitting somewhere between confusion and panic setting in as the ship ground to a halt. "I'm detecting an unknown landmass in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a roughly circular area measuring approximately 650 kilometers in diameter. There is also a space station in geosynchronous orbit above the island, connected to it by a pair of orbital elevators."
Giving a confused look myself I turn back to the holo-display. "Show me." I order. As the image resolves itself, my look of confusion slowly morphs into one of stony determination.
On the display I see a large island roughly the size of one of America's Midwest states that seemed to be brown, sandy and absolutely covered in an advanced cityscape with large swaths of buildings having collapsed and crumbling into rubble. Following the two thick cables leading from the ground up, I saw a space station about half the size of the island floating there. Among the silver and gray of the station exterior I saw a large amount of purple squirming biomass. If that wasn't enough to clue me in on what this was then the large hammer shaped hull that looked to be almost complete in one of the dry docks sure did. Why the hell is a Battlecruiser from StarCraft in Highschool of the Dead? It didn't make any sense the only crossover things should be this ship and everyone on it.
As I watch, the display updates showing that the station had some sort of IFF transponder. TC NEW GETTYSBURG STATION. Oh hell, this just keeps getting better and better. New Gettysburg was the place where Kerrigan was left to die by Arcturus Mengsk, and based on the spread of the creep it looks like the Protoss have already been dealt with.
At that moment the comms officer spoke up. "Sir, transmission coming in on the E-band!"
"Play it." I said simply, taking a moment to wonder how it was that we were picking up the signals from Terran tech before chalking it up to 'The Company'.
"Uh boys, how bout that evac? The Zerg seem to have gone docile for the moment, but I don't want to chance that changing." A beautiful, feminine, and all too familiar voice came out of the broadcast system. Just as panic once again started to set in, a familiar blue text box appeared.

NEW QUEST!
RESCUE FROM OUTER SPACE!
A NEW FORM OF THREAT IS HERE TO DEAL WITH THE INHABITANTS OF EARTH! SAVE AS MANY AS YOU CAN!
SAVE THE MAIN CAST OF HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD:
TAKASHI KAMURO - 0/1
REI MIYAMOTO - 0/1
SEAKO BUSUJIMA - 0/1
SAYA TAKAGI - 0/1
KOHTA HIRANO - 0/1
SHIZUKA MARIKAWA - 0/1
ALICE MARESATO - 0/1
BONUS OBJECTIVES!
SAVE SHIDOS GROUP:
YUUKI MIKU - 0/1
TSUNODA - 0/1
KUROKAMI - 0/1
MIURA - 0/1
TANIUCHI - 0/1
KAWAMOTO - 0/1
SAVE THE TAKAGI ESTATE SURVIVORS:
SOUICHIRO TAKAGI - 0/1
YORIKO TAKAGI - 0/1
CIVILIANS
SAVE RIKA MINAMI - 0/1
SAVE SARAH KERRIGAN - 0/1
REWARDS - ???

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This whole situation has just gone to shit and we hadn't even been in universe for more than 5 minutes.
"Commander? Jim? What the hell is going on up there? Was that flash the Confederacy setting off nukes?" The transmission from the ghost was still playing over the radio.
Reaching out psionically, I look to the communications officer. "Open a channel on that same frequency." Giving a nod the man turned and pressed a few buttons before he looked back to me and gave a thumbs up. "Attention Sarah Kerrigan, you don't know who I am, but at the moment I'm the only friend you have anywhere near here. We're in orbit and are moving in. The Hyperion, James Raynor, and Arcturus Mengsk are not here. I can't explain everything now as we don't have enough time, we will have boots on the ground within the hour. In the meantime I recommend that you take cover, it's only a matter of time before-"
"Sir!" The sensor operator shouted for my attention. "We're detecting a large number of biosigns being ejected from the space station; points of impact put them landing all over the globe." An alert sounded from his station. "Multiple hostiles are now on an intercept course, time to contact; 17 minutes."
"Damn, okay. Kerrigan, it looks like the Zerg have shaken off the cobwebs." I say, feeling two separate brushes against my psionic presence. One seemed massive, widespread, and... arrogant? The second was smaller, more focused, frightened, and felt distinctly human. Trying to show the human my honesty I felt them withdraw into themselves.
"... Well you'd better hurry if I'm going to get out of here in one piece." She said before the line went dead.
"Kasumi, change of plans. Follow me." I said, turning for the bulkhead without checking to make sure she was following. "Serina, get my armor down to the ODST drop bays along with Perfectly Adjusted. Oh, and one more thing, Serina." I said before exiting the room. "Defend this ship."
As I lightly jog towards the drop bay I mentally access my Catalog app and quickly add three companions to my shopping cart before I hit accept on the purchase prompt, crossing my fingers that what I was hoping for would come to pass. With twin flashes of light two massive armored figures appeared five meters ahead of me. "Fall in, no time for introductions right now." Moving past the two as I heard them fall into formation with me. "Here's the plan, Chief: you and Cortana are going to lead second and third ODST squads in dropping onto a space station and capturing a ship that seems to be in dry dock. Cortana, liaise with Serina to get details on the target." I tell the SPARTAN running behind me.
"Understood." A deep and gravelly voice said behind me. The part that made me miss a step and almost take a tumble was how... feminine the voice was. Glancing over my shoulder I saw that yes, this Master Chief was in fact female.
Clearing my throat I continue. "Kasumi, break off and get all of our pelicans groundside. Go for Fujimi city. Grab as many medics as possible and only take two platoons of marines, you're going to need the space." Hearing the panting of the unaugmented woman turn and run down a side corridor I turn my attention to the SPARTAN III behind me.
"Six, you're going to take fourth, fifth, and sixth ODST and drop in ahead of Kasumi. Your job will be to gather survivors and move them to the airport. Do you want an AI to accompany you?" I ask, realizing that with all of the discounts I got from these three, I may as well have gotten them half off, and so had plenty to spend on another AI.
"Negative." She answered immediately. "I don't want to bring an unknown relationship into a combat situation."
Nodding, I continue. "Your call. Just so you're aware, the main threat you should face down there are humans who have succumb to a virus that is transmitted through the exchange of fluids, normally saliva to blood. The infected will become a shambling mess and will be dead for all intents and purposes. The only thing that will stop them cold is destroying the brain, limb and torso shots will only slow them down. Check every survivor for injuries if they have so much as a scratch, detain them for secure transfer to the medical center here. Any questions?"
"No Sir, I will follow my orders to the best of my abilities." Was the instant response.
"Chief, your threats are likely to be other humans and a set of creatures that are very beastly in appearance. Any humans you encounter, you are to offer them surrender. If they refuse, eliminate them. Should they accept secure them in the ships brig."
"Sir." Was the only response I got.
Running into the drop bay I see many ODST squad leaders looking towards us, as well as an expectant huragok floating next to a crate. "First squad, on me. Second, third, go with the Master Chief, she knows what to do. Fourth, fifth, sixth, you'll be supporting Noble Six. Move people!" I bark my orders, moving to Perfectly Adjusted to get my armor on.
After I quickly pulled on my black undersuit, I took a standard T-pose position to allow the Huragok to do his job. The squad that was to accompany me gathered around waiting for their orders. "Alright, our mission is simple yet extremely difficult. We are going to drop in and extract an asset from enemy controlled territory, we're going to take SAWs, SPNKRs, and two SRS-99s, other than that pack light. I also want an extra rebreather and O2 tank packed, we're probably going to be leaving in vacuum. Questions?" Looking around at the shaking heads l nod. "Then prepare for drop, we're out the tube in five." I say as the final piece of my armor is affixed to my back and I feel the fusion reactor activate.
As Perfectly hands me my helmet I finally stop and take a look at it finding the smooth contours of a standard MK VI MJOLINR looking back. Looking at my chest plate I see that once again it's standard MK VI with the only personal touch being the 104 on my left breastplate. "Thank you Perfectly Adjusted, I'm sure that that was some kind of speed record for armoring up a SPARTAN. Perhaps you should make a team of Huragok that specializes in the upkeep, assembly, and disassembly of the MJOLINR armor sets." I say to the floating miracle worker.
The engineer simply tilts his head in thought before he nods and drifts off. Those guys are great. They just wanted to be left alone to work on their projects.
Moving quickly, I get into my pod alongside the rest of first squad. As I check over things in the pod it swung free for a moment before it turned to look inward. Directly across from me I could see Six wedged among fourth squad. Seeing her give me a nod, I return it as Serinas voice came over the radio. "Attention Hell Jumpers, today you will be deploying on Earth herself, terra firma. The order of launch will be as follows: fourth squad, sixth squad, fifth squad, first squad, third squad, and last but not least second squad. Have a nice trip, thank you for traveling with SOEIV airlines, always remember to mind the bump, and don't forget to tip your waitress."
Well isn't she just full of jokes today? I think to myself as Sixes squads fly into the atmosphere. Bracing myself I feel just a moment of weightlessness before I was sent hurtling towards the ground at higher than terminal velocity.