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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 8: Planetfall

The small office room was pervaded with an uncomfortable silence. Fara had led her guests through the ship without much difficulty. The only trouble had been the human scientist’s curiosity. He slowed the group down as he seemed intent on studying every little nook and cranny he encountered. It got to the point where the soldier had to literally grab him by the collar to get him to move along. That had been quite amusing for the fennec to see. Thankfully, Luke had been obedient with his instructions, remaining quiet as she had asked him.

Fara had relieved the squad of marines, letting them depart to the ship’s barracks to shift out of their worn gear and get some rest. But the Starfox team had insisted on staying, leaving the total party count with two humans and nine cornerians.

That left the small conference room comfortably packed. Once they had all been seated, that’s when the prickly quiet reared its head. Fara was not qualified to handle anything other than keeping the guests occupied, and since only one spoke their tongue and he seemed to be an individual of few words, there was the silence.

The human scientist was easily distracted by his electronic pad, scribbling away at it with a stylist as he muttered to himself in their bizarre language, occasionally glancing up to the table’s occupants. The soldier on the other hand seemed content with rapping his furless fingers atop the wood surface and keeping his gaze securely fastened to the oaken slab.

The dead air of the room itched under the vixen’s fur and she tried to think of a casual way to broker conversation with an alien.

Needless to say she was unsuccessful so far.

Fara lifted a paw to her narrow muzzle and coughed softly, fiddling with the rank pinned to her breast as she did so. The vixen glanced over to Fox and flashed him a pleading look for aid. His system famed charisma should surely lend itself to this situation.

The confident vulpine grinned at her and turned to the human warrior, tail wagging with anticipation through the hole in his seat.

“Hey Liam…” Fox called out across from the man’s seat.

The soldier looked up from his intense study of the wooden table and transferred his attention to the smiling vulpine, waiting for him to continue.

“What was life like back on your homeworld? It was called Harvest right?”

It was a good question, and the others turned to the human with interest. They were always eager to learn a little more about him. And perhaps it could help take his mind off the recent battle.

Liam nodded slowly and clasped his hands together atop the table. His stony grimace shifted to a slightly more positive air. Thoughts of home always cheered him up, although it had been years since he last set foot on his homeworld. Liam idly wondered how his mother and sisters were doing back there. The next harvesting period would be in a month or so, if he hadn’t lost track of the seasons. It would be hard going without him.

“That’s right, Harvest. As for what it was like, I suppose it was like any other life out in the outer colonies. Most of the worlds were dedicated to providing one service or another to the colonies as a whole. My planet was one of the main exporters of fruits, vegetables and grains. We farmed wheat. You guys know what wheat is right?” He seemed curious as to whether they actually did or not. He wasn’t sure if the gift of their language would have similar parallels in that regard.

His question was answered by Miyu, who nodded. “Yeah, we have wheat, corn, and apples, all that kind of stuff.”

“Hmm, interesting…” That was good to know. It meant that trade was a possibility and could be quite lucrative for both parties.

“What did you do on the farm?” Fay asked with a curious gleam in her eyes.

“I mostly just made sure the JOTONs worked properly. They were machines we used for agriculture. Ours was a small farm and so we used the series-2s. They were too outdated to have the assistance from the colony A.I and so I had to watch over them. They needed a lot of maintenance.”

“Colony A.I…? Like the holographic woman on the ship earlier?” Slippy pipped in. he had been interested ever since he saw the strange electronic woman appear out of thin air. They had their own artificial intelligences, but they were confined to simpler machines and thought algorithms, like ROB. The toad didn’t think that ROB would be able to do all that she could.

“Yes and no…” Liam replied smoothly. “There are immense differences between a military grade A.I and a colonial supervisor. Mack is a lower grade artificial intelligence, he can manage a colony and its agriculture, but not much else. Conversely, most of the military grade A.Is are extremely proficient multitaskers and assist military personnel in combat duties.” He chose not to elaborate further. Saying anything more would mostly like risk divulging UNSC secrets.

“Are they sapient?”

“Oh yes completely. All A.Is are capable of creating their own thoughts and some even say emotions. I tend to believe that from what I’ve seen.” Liam was reminded of the many discussions with Ash and Sir Warren. Both artificial intelligences were rather interesting conversationalists if you talked to them long enough.

“Amazing!” Slippy exclaimed. The UNSC’s advances in artificial intelligence were leagues ahead of any lylatian program. He knew his father would love to learn from them.

“When did you leave your home?” Fara asked.

She was starting to feel the frigid atmosphere thaw and wanted to continue in order to prevent a relapse.

“I would still be on the farm, but dad was killed a week after I turned seventeen. The brass had discovered that surviving insurrectionist remnants from the Rain Forest Wars had been seeking refuge in the Romulus system since their defeat and he had been deployed there with Battle Group Meridian. Shortly after, he was killed when his whole unit was ambushed. Since our farm survives of military subsidies between harvesting seasons, I enlisted in the marine corps a few months afterwards, along with my brother, Calen.”

“So you have a brother.” Falco stated matter of factly.

“I…had a brother.” Liam affirmed slowly.

“What happened to him?” Krystal wondered.

“Sigmus IV happened.” The soldier replied with a careworn scowl. It was clearly a sore subject for the human. Liam returned to his downwards gaze and went silent, the whole room following shortly thereafter.

To all the cornerians, it was apparent that whatever Sigmus IV was, it had an unpleasant association with him.

Thankfully, no less than five minutes later, the door to the conference room hissed open and a brown and black marbled canine holding a cup of steaming liquid entered, decked out in a glittering blue and white crested medaled uniform, entered. Judging from the equally impressive cap situated between his pointed ears, he must be the admiral.

“Apologies for the delay, I was caught up in some important matters that I could not postpone.” The dog explained in a soft tenor as he quickly moved to a seat at the head of the table and placed his mug unhurriedly in front of him. The familiar bold fragrance of the drink made Liam conclude it was some sort of coffee-like beverage.

Liam nodded his acceptance. “That’s alright admiral. I understand that military matters often take precedence.”

The admiral returned the human’s nod graciously. “Good, I believe some introductions are in order although I also believe we spoke before. I trust you are Lieutenant Liam?”

“Yes, sir, and you are undoubtedly, Admiral Marcus.”

“Indeed, and I must say it is nice to put a face to the name.” Marcus studied the two humans curiously, intrigued by their alien appearances, forgive the clichéd adjective. “And who is this?”

The young scientist detected that words were being directed to him and he looked up with a timid smile.

“That is Dr. Xander, a xenobiologist and linguist. Considering the strange circumstances in which I received the ability to comprehend you language, he is here to study it and hopefully come up with some sort of translation device for the rest of my people.”

“If that is the case, we might be able to lend assistance later. We have many accomplished scientist in those fields who would be delighted to work on such a project.” Marcus offered.

“That would be most appreciated, Sir.” Liam amiably accepted his proposal.

The cornerian admiral took a sip from his drink before continuing. “Now, let’s get down to business. I and my fleet thank your people for your assistance. I fear that things would not have ended up as they did without it. I understand that you lost many lives and vessels in your efforts and for that I can offer nothing to make it better besides the gratitude of those who would have surely died without them.”

Liam found the admiral’s words somewhat comforting, easing the sorrows of his loss. “Thank you, Sir. I would like to think that’s all they would have wanted.”

The canine nodded softly. “We ourselves are no strangers to loss and so we appreciate it that much more. And since those sacrifices have been made, I can only assume your peoples’ intent here is peaceful?”

“Yes. Our fleet came here after many months of exploration. We left our colonies to explore the galaxy. We have no other objective.” Liam skewed the truth. Frankly, exploration was merely one of their goals. But the others would neither hinder nor harm these people.

“In that case, allow me to be the first cornerian to officially welcome you to the Lylat System. I just wish it was under better cirumstances,” The dog reached across the short expanse of the oaken table and Liam took his paw in a firm shake. The soldier released the admiral’s furred appendage and nudged his associate.

Xander looked up from his notes and saw the admiral’s paw hanging in front of him. The young man cautiously held his hand out and Marcus shook it.

It was a historic moment for all, Lylat’s first peaceful contact with an alien species and humanity finally had one of its greatest questions answered.

“If I may be so blunt, what do your people intend to do now?” The admiral inquired, leaning forwards and placing his furred arms onto the table. The battle in orbit was over. But there was still much to do. The venomian invasion force had made planetfall and the surface-side war was still ongoing. The very reason that Marcus had been due to the fact he was organizing reinforcements. At this moment CDF marines were being shuttled down to Papetoon. They still had to ensure that the planet remained under cornerian control now that they had fought so hard to keep the space above it.

Liam knew what the admiral would want. No doubt he was hoping for further assistance. If their roles had been reversed and a UNSC colony was under attack and defeat was a very real possibility. He would take any help he could get, even if it was from an outside source. Ensuring the continued survival of the UNSC would be his highest priority, everything else would be secondary to that.

The question was. Should they continue to offer their support? They had already done enough. The cornerians would win this battle. However, without UNSC assets, causalities were likely to be high. All it took was one look at their fleet and Liam knew that they had been severely weakened by this engagement. From what he had heard Krystal say, this fleet was most of what was left of their naval forces. And seeing the ragtag remnants…it did not look good for them. This Venom assuredly had them outnumbered and outgunned. They could not afford to have a long drawn out planetary battle. All that would do is give the venomians more time to bolster their armies and plan another more successful assault.

The UNSC had already given lives and resources to help them. To stop now would make everything they had done meaningless. And Liam could not stomach the thought that the Midsummer’s Solace and its crew had been sacrificed for naught and he knew that Admiral Matthias would feel the same. His uncle…would feel the same.

He came to a decision.

“We are prepared to offer additional assistance in securing your world. We have a sizeable muster of military forces on hand that we would be willing to loan out for a brief interlude, granted that they would be allowed autonomous sovereignty for their operations.”

Marcus was stunned that they had plans for further support. The optimist inside him was thrilled to hear that, but the cynic wanted to know what their intentions. He had been hoping they would, but that did not mean he was curious as to why.

“Why would you help us once more? What is in it for your people?”

“What’s in it for us is simple. To put it bluntly, we have already put lives and effort into helping you. To quit now would mean it was all a waste. And we do not waste our soldiers’ lives.” The human’s tone suggested he was fairly insulted by the query. Liam was aware that the admiral’s question had been a valid one. But he did not like when people searched for ulterior motives.

Marcus twisted the mug of self-styled coffee in his padded grip. “I did not mean to offend, Lieutenant.”

“I understand, Sir. Nor did I intend to suggest you did. I am simply stating my point. We are willing to help you here, but that is merely to validate our sacrifices. If you accept our help, that will only extend until you have retaken your world. Anything after that will be up for further deliberation. I am merely a soldier, Admiral. I do not have any authority to go past this measure. An official declaration of peace will require more noteworthy individuals from our government and no doubt yours. We hope to hear word from them soon. They will be able to handle the more tedious aspects of this, by the time it comes to that we will hopefully have broken past this barrier of speech.”

Liam had no intention of changing his vocation. He was a warrior, not a peace bringer.

Marcus nodded, his curiosity sated.

“Very well, in that case I am willing to accept your people’s generous proposal of further aid.”

“Now that’s been settled, we should go over the deployment details. Considering that most of your forces groundside will most likely be unaware of our existence, I believe it would be wise to deploy our forces in locations where CDF elements are not present. That will make it easier for both my people and your own.”

“Yes, I believe that would be best. I can arrange troop movement around that. How do you intend to proceed?” The admiral was interested in their combat methods.

“Once this meeting is over, I will confer with my admiral. But standard UNSC combat doctrine suggests ODSTs to soften up positions and secure landing zones for the main force.”

“What are these ODSTs?” The canine inquired, his interest peaked by the foreign designation.

“They, and by extant myself, are Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Using single occupant exoatmospheric insertion vehicles, or SOEIVS, we descend to the surface of a planet.”

“Is that safe?” To Fara, it certainly did not sound like it.

The fennec had been listing to their dialogue and was still a little skeptical of these humans. Here they came out of the vastness of space and seemingly decided to offer their help out of the kindness of their hearts. So far they had not asked for anything in return, and she wondered what they would ask for when they did. No one would go through all this trouble without an incentive in mind. What would theirs be? What would a race of aliens like these humans want?

Liam was unware of her thoughts and continued to explain. “ODSTs sacrifice safety for speed and shock value. The pods are small, making it hard for ground based anti-aircraft batteries to get a lock and take them down. Although it is almost always a certainty that some will be lost. And since there is only one occupant per pod, initial deployment casualties are kept to a minimum. The pods themselves can occasionally malfunction, resulting in operator death or disfigurement. Even with the higher chance of death, ODSTs are vital to the UNSC. There is nothing more demoralizing for the enemy then seeing a battalion of ODSTs deploying.” The human grinned slightly.

Fara held back her disbelief. Such a unit as he described seemed insane. Why would anyone willingly sign up for such a dangerous and possibly suicidal subdivision?

*****

The admiral and the ODST spent the rest of the meeting deliberating on where to allocate the UNSC forces. The CDF had pulled back from most of the northern hemisphere since that was where the highest concentration of venomian units had hunkered down. The broad sandblasted plateaus and kilometers of flat rock formations made it a prime location to land for an invasion, or in this case a reclamation. Admiral Marcus promised to withdraw the remainder of his forces, reducing the chance of incidental friendly fire by a huge margin.

The flat and expansive geography would make it easier for ODSTs to make it planetside and clear the way for The Immortal to begin firebase deployment. With the bases up, they could coordinate a counterattack while having a secure foothold and possible fallback position. Resources would be ferried down and with a steady supply line they had a distinct advantage over their enemy.

They would also have to be cautious of noncombatants. The northern hemisphere was home to a few thousand civilians living in a decently sized suburban sprawl, who were most likely hold up in their homes and the admiral had stressed that the venomians would have no qualms using them as living shields. Luckily, he also had a suggestion on dealing with that.

“What do you suggest, Admiral?” Liam enquired.

“It comes to mind that the civilians would be frightened to see armed aliens role up into their city. Most can still clearly remember the aparoid war. I think it would be wise to use familiar faces. I believe Fox can help on this.”

“Me, Sir…?” The orange vulpine sputtered in surprise as he shook his muzzle. Fox had been half asleep, the tediousness of the conference lulling him into slumber. But he had been awake enough to hear the suggestion and was confused.

“Yes, you and your team, everyone in the Lylat system knows Fox Mccloud and the Starfox team. If they see you with them, they might react more favorably.”

Fox could not fault his logic. “You got me there, Sir.”

“Don’t worry. You and your team will be justly compensated with an additional ten percent increase to your original contract’s terms upon completion.”

Falco chuckled. “That sounds good to me.”

“There’s just one problem there, Sir.” Miyu raised a paw. “We don’t speak their language, well not all of us anyways.” She added, looking to the blue vixen next to her.

“Yes, I am perfectly aware. For this to work, we will need the assistance of Krystal…and you, Lieutenant.” The canine turned to Liam. “I know I can’t order you to, but your presence would be critical in ensuring the plan works. You have already helped us by bringing back the team and saving our fleet, I humbly beseech that you do so again.”

The ODST shrugged. “That depends on my orders. If the Admiral is willing to greenlight the op, then I would have no problem with it.”

“You would be doing our people a great favor.” Marcus added.

“I’m sure he would have no qualms with it. We value civilian life as well. I’ll talk with Admiral Matthias.” Not only that, but another favor wouldn’t hurt. It would give the negotiators more leverage. After all, he was still looking out for his people as well.

“All I ask is that you try.” The canine admitted.

Liam arose from his chair. “I’ll contact him right now, may I?” He gestured towards the door.

“Yes please, take your time. We’ll be in here waiting.”

The helljumper nodded and turned to the scientist, speaking to him quickly. The young man nodded after a moment and Liam departed the room, pulling a device from his uniform.

*****

Once outside, he activated the radio and contacted the admiral.

“Liam, how is are the negotiations going?” The curious voice of Admiral Matthias enquired.

The ODST pulled the device up to his lips and habitually scanned the hallway, confirming that it was empty. “It’s going well, Sir. As expected the want our assistance once more with taking back their planet. I agreed as I thought you would. It would be foolish to back out now. We have already invested too much here to do that.”

“I would have liked to be a part of that decision, Lieutenant, but I approve.” Liam could detect faint amusement in his tone.

Liam took time to explain the plans that he and the cornerian admiral drew up and Matthias was in agreement.

“That’s a solid outline. I’ll get the fleet ready for deployment. ODSTs will be ready to launch within the hour, the sooner we get this done the better. What about you, and the conference?”

“I’ve done all I have the power to do, Sir. The cornerians do want peace, but we’ll need word from back home before we can take that further.” He hesitated.

“And…the cornerian admiral has requested my assistance. There is a small city a few kilometers from our projected deployment zone. He would like my help with securing the safety of the noncombatants, along with the team I helped pull out earlier. We would have to coordinate with our forces to prevent civilian casualties.”

There was a pause on the line.

“…It is a reasonable idea, Sir, not without its merits. I can’t see any other logical way to deal with the issue.”

Matthias sighed heavily. “You’re right Lieutenant.”

“Do I have clearance, Sir?” Liam asked cautiously.

“Yes…you are cleared for the operation. I’ll allocate a small task force to provide air support and the main body will stop before the city limits. Taking the metropolis will be up to you. I will agree to the plan, but I won’t put any additional UNSC assets inside. That’ll just be a massive cluster fuck. They’ll have to supply their own troops.”

“You want me to go in alone?” Liam did not like the sound of that at all. There would be miles of urban sprawl with an unknown number of venomian soldiers and vehicles. “You gotta give me something better than that.”

“The most I am willing to give you is a platoon of tanks and a detachment of marine support.”

He would have to work with what he had. “Better than nothing I suppose. Where will we rendezvous and what do I do with the scientist?” He referred to Xander, that man was definitely not suited for active combat.

“Once we get a scan of the zone and map out the attack I’ll have more information for you. Until then, sit tight with the doctor. Oh…and congratulations on the promotion Major Callahan. Keep up the good work.”

The call ended, but Liam would not have noticed.

‘Major huh……Major Callahan. It has a nice ring to it, dad would have been proud.’

Liam had not been expecting to get promoted. It came off as a pleasant surprise at an odd time. With a shrug, the newly christened major returned to the conference chamber with a slight swagger in his step.

‘Major Liam Callahan.’

*****

The UNSC’s involvement in the planetary conflict began with a hail of blazing assault pods sent crashing down to the oblivious venomian occupiers. Wolf Battalion had been swiftly briefed and given their objective, minutes before drop. The 300-man unit had orders to secure a hundred kilometer radius in order to prepare for the greater force coming in after them. A prior scan of the area revealed that the venomians had a significant presence, stolen bases with anywhere from five hundred to a thousand soldiers with armor support.

Digital imaging systems allowed them to get visuals on most of the enemy forces and vehicles. They were entrenched in the appropriated bases with squads patrolling their outer perimeter, all standard tactics they had seen before against the insurrection. So far there were no signs of aerial assets but that was liable to change once combat commenced.

The ODSTs were going up with an overwhelming numerical disadvantage and a heavy enemy armor presence.

In other words it was a standard op.

The company was split into fireteams in order to reduce the possibility of detection and increase the chances of survival. Each would drop in their five man cluster, spread out across the vast field of operations and scavenge supplies from their pods before rendezvousing on their front-runner. From there, each had a specific assignment to carry out, eliminating enemy armor, assassinating leadership, sabotaging or commandeering caches, and other high risk high gain priorities.

Lieutenant Colonel Miles was for once appreciative of the Intel they received. It had come from a fellow ODST and so he knew it was utterly reliable. They had been allowed access to the trooper’s HUD feed, a one Lieutenant Callahan. This enabled them to get a look at their enemy and their combat abilities. Admittedly, their energy weapons looked disquieting, but he was confident in their odds of success. It was comforting to know that they could be killed by a burst of rifle fire like any other enemy they had faced before.

If necessary, he had been given a small unit of longsword strike craft. The interceptor squadron was waiting in orbit to be used in rapid surgical strikes.

As custom demanded, the colonel hit the dirt first.

The pod shuddered as it crashed into the thin layer of dirt and burrowed into the thick rock beneath the plateau. He pounded the release and blasted the SOEIV hatch into the air. He ducked out, snatching his BR55 from its anchor to the side and crawled out of the shallow crater. His newly painted tan armor seamlessly blended in the environment, rendering him almost invisible.

Miles watched as the four other pods in his fireteam made their way to the surface. Judging from their positions and speed, his men would land slightly off course, an expected variable.

He keyed into the squad comm and designated the rally point, a kilometer from his pod. Before leaving, he salvaged the contents of his command pod.

“Charlemagne, how’s the drop fairing, any casualties?” He slipped a medpack onto his thigh and reached for an extra mag.

“The drop is successful, no causalities and it appears we have slipped through without detection. It is entirely possible that the enemy has never encountered this method of deployment. It is safe to assume would not be able to detect us.”

The heavily Germanic voice that responded belonged to Charlemagne, the battalion’s class-C “Dumb” A.I. Not as advanced as a “Smart” A.I, he was more than suitable to assist Miles in governing his battalion. Charlemagne was not very talkative for an A.I and for that reason he was Miles’ favorite.

“Excellent, contact the rest of the battalion and hand out orders.” Miles stuffed the last ration pack into a slim duffle bag and synched it to his back. “And make sure to alert me to any change in the enemy’s positioning.”

“Already done, the individual fireteams have their orders and I am still connected to The Immortal’s digital imaging system.”

Miles nodded and shouldered his rifle, already set on a light jog to the rally point. “Keep me informed.”

“I always do, Colonel.”

_ _

*****

Corporal Delvin hated his life.

Things had been fine and he was even pumped for the invasion. Venom was finally going to enact the killing blow on those conceited cornerian bastards and just after they were about to win, all hell broke loose.

The fleet had abandoned them, trapping thousands of soldiers on the planet as the beat a hasty retreat back to Venom. What terrible luck, what were the odds that an alien race would choose that time to stumble on them. And what better luck that they decided to help the cornerians!

Shit…it was a real cluster fuck now.

Delvin hadn’t heard much about them so far, just that they kicked ol’ Admiral Perseus’s scaly ass. Now, it was only a matter of time before they came down here too. A few of the men had suggested surrendering, but the older hardcore veterans had stomped that idea into the dust.

The young simian shook his head ruefully and muttered mockingly as he finished his third patrol rotation. “We are loyal soldiers of Venom. We do not surrender.”

What a load of garbage.

Delvin scoffed and turned back to his companion.

“Hey Johnny, do you think we should just desert…Johnny?” The simian looked for his reptilian friend. “Johnny….don’t tell me you ran without me man.”

The ape backtracked along his route, if Johnny really did desert, he would have to report it to his commanding officer.

“And no doubt he’d blame me.” Delvin groaned as he muttered under his breath. “As if I would let that bastard leave without me...”

He stepped onto the worn pathway. “Johnny, so help me if you ran. Where are you, you stupid fuc-”

The ape stumbled over something and smashed his snout into the rock wall to his left. Hissing in pain, he scrambled to his feet, clutching his bleeding nose and looked searched for what tripped him.

“Damn it Johnny, if this is another one of your stupid pranks I’ll kill ya!” Yet his anger was flash frozen when he realized what he had tripped on. “J-Johnny?”

The gecko was propped against the rock wall, a thin grotesque red slit running across his throat, leaking the lizard’s vital fluid to soak the sands beneath him.

“Oh shit!” The ape lurched away from the horrid sight and turned to run, colliding with a tall shadowy figure and falling to the ground. He gazed up at the tan figure and into the barrel of a weapon, seconds before it coughed. The ape’s last thoughts would have been bleak to his killer, if she had been able to read minds.

‘You know what, fuck it.’

_ _

*****

Mary watched as the strange ape-like alien sagged to the ground, a neat circular hole in the center of his forehead. For some reason, she felt a little depressed.

With a shrug, she reached down and hauled the simian and propped him alongside his dead friend.

“Hey sarge, the targets are taken care of, the path’s clear.”

Her helmet buzzed. “Good, Vasquez, Barbados, bring it up.”

Moments later, three figures in similarly colored armor appeared. The one with the massive sniper rifle moved forwards and looked down to the bodies.

“No matter how many times I see them, I still can’t believe it.”

“Yeah, strange fuckers aren’t they.”

The sniper looked back. “Vasquez, police their weapons and make sure the bodies are out of sight. The base is close by and they’re bound to send someone to find them once they don’t report in.” He shifted his helmet. “Barbados, see if you can contact Charlemagne, let him know we’re close to our objective.”

“Right, sarge.” Both nodded in sync.

“Mary, good work, scout out the area and make sure there’s no more of these guys and report back.”

“Already on it!” She turned and moved to climb the rock to her left for a better scan of the area.

Sergeant Cullen watched as Vasquez dragged a corpse off to the side, throwing it down a deep ravine, so far so good. They had not been noticed by the enemy. He hadn’t heard from the other squads, standard communications blackout during ops, squad radio only. But, since they were not neck deep in alien soldiers, it was safe to say that the others were just as successful.

At least he hoped so. Cullen had no desire to know what it felt like to be shot by a laser. Did you even get shot by a laser? Wouldn’t it be called getting lazed or something? No…that sounded stupid.

He shrugged. ‘Meh…whatever.’

He heard the last body hit the bottom of the ravine with an unpleasant splat and turned to Vasquez. “Go help Mary.”

The other ODST nodded and turned to leave.

“Hey, Barbados, you contact Char yet?”

Barbados was sitting on a small outcropping of rocks. “Not yet, Sir, the secure lines probably in use.”

“Damn….” He muttered. “Never mind that, we’ll proceed as planned and hit the base. We’ll just have to hope that the other two teams will be ready once the fireworks start. I really don’t want to have to do this solo. I’m partial to keeping my blood inside my body where it belongs.”

“But Sir, you aren’t going in alone. You have us.”

Cullen eyed his subordinate through his visor. “I’m gonna get shot aren’t I?” ‘Or gonna get lazed…..nah doesn’t have that same ring to it.’

“Man, you’re always such a downer sarge.”

“Only with you Barbados…only with you.”