Halo: Guerrillas In The Mist (No longer being updated)

Chapter 9: Feet First

Saturday, November 27th

UNSC Nightingale, above Sojourn V

13:48 hours

Sunlight played through the buffed, shined plexiglass as Corporal Harrison Parker strolled the halls of the prowler. His steps carried a certain swagger only present in the best of the best. Just by looking at his physique and his walk you could tell he was an ODST. He began gaining pace, his grey urban combat fatigues rustling with every step.

He passed by ONI supervisors, surveying their agents work in the field. He couldn’t stomach having a job like that, working at a desk all day. Such a boring life. Navy crewmen too were going about their daily lives, checking the weapons systems and engines were in good working order. Though these guys were still cooped up on board a ship all the time, at least they were up and moving. And you had to admire their dedication, getting up at all hours to make sure everything was in order.

Only recently the ship had survived a close shave with a Covenant destroyer. If not for the heroic sacrifice of a nearby frigate, ramming into the destroyer and firing its MAC cannon at point blank range. It had torn the bulbous purple blob straight down the midsection. He quickly focused himself back at the task on hand. As he approached a double door, it parted with a hiss and he stepped inside.

His partner, Private Hanz Montoyez, was already inside, encased head to toe in shadow. Usually ODST’s worked in squads of six but these two were of an even higher calibre than that. A chosen few were brought out of their normal units for black operations, completely deniable assets. These two man teams, known as Hands, were named after an old Earth game called poker, were players play with two cards and bet on who has the better “hand” of cards. Designated a suit from a deck of cards, Parker’s hand was Joker. Often referred to as “ONI’s right hand”, they were the most secretive hand selected for missions involving high value targets.

Two other hands, Ace and King, were also getting suited up. They would most likely be deployed on the other side of the planet for another mission. ONI would definitely not want to draw attention by having two of their best units on the same mission. As he slipped on his body glove and boots, he glanced at his partners face, shrouded with a black visor specially designed for their unit. His kneepads gripped on with the rip of Velcro and he pulled his webbing and his torso and arm armour over his head. Everything attached, he tugged his helmet over his shortly cropped blonde hair and it nestled snugly against his neck.

His HUD system booted up instantly and he checked through all relevant mission data. Maps and locations were already downloaded into his VISR system and his partner, along with his objective, was permanently marked with a flashing strobe. He closed down his map and set about finding weapons suitable for his mission. At the press of a button, a weapon rack rose from the ground in front of him.

He knew he would be getting up close and personal in the urban environment and there would be a lot of street fighting but he wanted to be prepared for longer ranges too. He settled on an M7S sub machine gun for medium range and an M45 tactical shotgun for short. His M6C SOCOM pistol was always in his drop leg holster to his side to for if things got too hairy. He filled his webbing’s pouches with magazines and rounds for his weapons, and stuffed the remaining ones with grenades and rations. He would need everything he could gather to survive in the freezing cold.

Corporal Parker walked over, placed his weapons into a rack inside his drop pod and took his seat within its claustrophobic interior. Pulling a lever, the door slowly swung into position and sealed him in the airtight container. He keyed in his co-ordinates to the pod’s computer systems before lying back in his chair. He always tried his best to relax beforehand, lessen the risk of passing out on entry. The last thing he wanted was to wake up in five hours, miles away from his drop zone, and find his mission was already over.

As sirens whirred and lights blared, warning that the five second countdown had begun, Harrison took one last chance to look over his mission outline. First thing on his to-do list: find Knight Squad. The countdown hit one and the ship spat him out with a lurch into the cold, dark vacuum of space.

He hurtled towards ground at breakneck pace, doing his best to keep his breathing regular. If he lost his breathing pattern, he risked stopping breathing altogether. He flipped a small red switch and video communications crackled to life in his view screen. He briefed Private Montoyez on their situation.

“Heads up Montoyez, we are dropping in to a hot zone, filled to the brim with Covies. Our first objective is to extract Knight Squad to Forward Operating Base Gamma and get them ready for the next phase. We are to accompany a large assault force in a strike on the Covenant operating base and, along with Knight, break off and swing round the back to sneak in and nab a Prophet in the chaos and confusion. You clear, Private?”

Monteyez replied quickly with “Oorah, Semper Fi!” before cutting off comms. Harrison began to notice the orange glow of the pod burning up in the atmosphere. It rumbled and bounced under the heavy strain of the G forces. His face stretched and contorted and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead to his chin. He had dropped feet first into hell countless times before but it never got any less frightening or painful.

He swayed around, struggling to stay upright. A quick pull on a lever above his head and his parafoils extended like a parachute. They slowed him considerably but the force was still coming down on him like a ton of bricks. Hands clamped around the supports like vices, he braced himself for a rough landing. He felt the strain slowly fade before he thudded and jerked to a stop. Lying back, he rested knowing that if he exited too soon, they would see him straight away and be on him like a pack of rabid dogs. At least he had time to warm up and mentally prepare for the ordeal that lay ahead.