A/N: Been a while! Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush publishing this chapter so... sorry if there are mistakes present. Next chapter will be some action if you've played Reach. You'll know what happens in the upcoming dates :) anyways enjoy!
July 23, 2552
Planet Reach, Aboard the UNSC Beacon's Legacy
-10:49-
"So… Merc? I can call you Merc, right?" Yang asked casually as she dumped her belongings into one of the many lockers in the ready room.
"Yeah? What do you want, Blondie?" The silver haired boy asked as he leaned against the wall; waiting impatiently for Yang and the others to finish storing their gear and grabbing their weapons to leave. "You do know we're on a strict time limit right?" He then asked with slightly annoyance seeping into his voice.
Yang chuckled nervously as she slammed her locker closed and walked over towards the weapons racks, whistling impressively. "Yeah yeah, time limit." The blonde stated absently before looking over her shoulder towards Ruby, who was still fumbling with her locker.
"Hey Rubes, don't look now but… They even have the M739!" Yang exclaimed excitedly as she quickly grabbed the hefty machine gun off of its rack.
Yang held the smooth and large light machine gun in her hand and already felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins at the mere thought of unleashing this beast upon someone unfortunate enough to cross her sights.
The M739 light machine gun or better known as the SAW was a squad automatic weapon with a large magazine capacity and high firepower. It was one of the UNSC's newest weapons that were just developed and Yang had only seen it once before. She already knew what weapon she was taking on whatever mission they were about to embark on.
Ruby finally walked over to the weapons rack along with the other two recruits; Schnee and Belladonna. As Yang was fawning over her new weapon and quickly grabbing its large magazine drums; stocking herself up on ammo, Ruby eyed another SRS 99 sitting prettily. She wasn't sure if she could take another sniper rifle since that pale green haired girl was the team's sharpshooter.
Sighing dejectedly and not wanting to cause conflict just yet, Ruby begrudgingly grabbed a BR85HB battle rifle off the shelf. Making sure to grab a few extra magazines and a couple of grenades.
She could still hear Yang cooing over her new weapon and couldn't help but smile as she slung her rifle over her back and secured her gear in place. The red haired girl lifted her full faced helmet with both hands and exhaled softly before placing over her head and fastening it into place.
Immediately her vision was changed. The gray metal room was lit up in a light blue and yellow heads up display or HUD with everyone highlighted in a greenish hue displaying their I.D. tags. No matter how many times she placed her helmet on, Ruby was always impressed with how much more technologically advanced ODST gear was compared to the standard marine. The HUD in the helmet outlined surrounding areas with a light blue hue; extremely useful for night time missions.
As she looked towards friendly targets she and the rest of her team would be able to identify them with just a glance. A simple text box would appear next to the friendly they were currently looking at and display their name, rank, and even current unit they were assigned to, all while highlighting their form in green. Although it worked both ways; the HUD was able to distinguish Covenant forces as well, highlighting them in red for easy targeting and marking.
With all her gear in place and ready to go, Ruby walked over towards the door and watched on as both Schnee and Belladonna grabbed their load outs and gear. It seemed as if Schnee preferred pinpoint accuracy and range as she grabbed an M395 designated marksman rifle, or better known as the DMR. Belladonna on the other hand opted for an M7S. Once all four of them were geared and ready to go; Mercury finally spoke up.
"Took you all long enough." The man muttered through their internal comms, letting all four girls hear him loud and clear through their helmet. "I didn't think women would take as long getting ready for a mission as they would for a night out." He finished angrily as he rounded another corner towards the ship's exit to meet back up with the rest of the squad.
Both Ruby and Yang shared a look as they jogged behind the boy but said nothing. But another voice spoke up as they all ran. "Aside from the poor attempt at offending us; are you actually beneficial to the squad?" A cold and detached voice cut in.
Ruby instantly narrowed it down to Weiss' voice as Mercury said nothing and just continued to jog back outside. He knew the Lieutenant was timing them and she didn't tolerate tardiness well. In fact she would probably berate him in front of the new recruits. Just what he needed as soon as he was no longer the FNG, to be reprimanded in front of them.
Though once they all exited the ship once again, Merc and the rest of the team quickly found Lieutenant Cinder and the rest of the ODSTs standing near the exit of the station, right next to two transport Warthogs.
Merc, Ruby, and the rest of the ODSTs stood behind L.T. Fall as she continued speaking with a taller man dressed in the standard olive green BDU uniform. Quickly glancing at him however, Ruby spotted from his identification tag that displayed he was First Lieutenant Buckman of Charlie Company, thanks to her ODST VISR tech.
"So, you FNGs ready to see how real ODSTs operate?" A voice suddenly cut in.
Ruby glanced around before noticing that it was the internal comms in her helmet that the voice spoke into. The redhead looked back towards L.T. Fall and noticed that her helmet was indeed off which meant that everyone else would probably speak freely without fear of repercussion from Fall.
"I've seen how ODSTs operate." A voice that Ruby narrowed down to Schnee cut in. "The one's I've seen are ruthless, savage, and downright brutish."
A collective laughter rang out through the comms with even Ruby giggling a bit before another female voice spoke up.
"Yeah, which is why I don't think a privileged girl like you would fit in, Schnee."
Ruby could tell that it was in fact Sustrai who spoke up. Even if she didn't really know Schnee very well, Ruby wasn't about to insult the girl like that, plus she could tell that the other girl was trying to get a rise out of her.
Schnee however sniggered before replying, "I'm only here to provide some much needed class to this unit. Don't worry about if I'll fit in or not, cause I'm sure you won't even be able to come close to me and my skill in battle." The white haired girl answered back with a sneer.
What happened next however was so fast that Ruby couldn't even turn to face it in time. LCPL. Sustrai trotted over to Schnee and butted her helmet violently against Weiss' own, causing the shorter girl to stumble backwards but lunge back forward with her own head butt.
The violent clash caused everyone to look at the two, including both lieutenants.
"You must think you're hot shit, huh Schnee?" Sustrai goaded through the comms still as she pushed the other girl away from her.
But just as Weiss was about to retaliate with her own shove, Fall's voice stopped everyone cold in their tracks.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing?" She demanded more than asked in a voice that sent a shiver down Ruby's spine.
Sustrai and Schnee both stopped what they were doing but still held each other's gazes.
"Both of you stop fucking around and mount up. You can play grab ass later." Torchwick's voice cut in through the mic then, slicing through the tension to which everyone climbed into the transport 'hog. Ruby couldn't help but notice how both Schnee and Sustrai sat as far away from each other as possible with the latter at the edge of the truck and the former sitting towards the front.
Ruby felt Yang elbow her as they were sitting down in the bed of the warthog and glanced over at the other girl, noticing her ID tag and how it had updated to show that she was now a part of 105th ODST Division / 13th Shock Trooper Battalion on her VISR.
"What is it, Yang?" Ruby asked; she no longer felt the joy she had earlier when she was waiting for her new squad to meet her. She could tell that certain members of this new unit she wasn't going to like one bit, Sustrai in particular.
She watched as her sister took off her helmet and shook her golden locks free by shaking her head. Yang still wore her trademark smile and winked towards her. "So, where do you think we're goin'?" She asked casually.
Ruby only shrugged her shoulders as she spotted both Fall and Buckman mounting up in the front seats of the warthog with the male marine taking the wheel. She spotted Fall placing her helmet back on just as the engine roared to life, swiftly prompting Yang to place her helmet back on as well.
"Okay listen up, Troopers." Fall started to which Ruby felt herself becoming anxious all of a sudden at the sound of the other woman's voice. "We're off to assist Charlie Company in the guarding of a facility housing some kind of new weapon that was being developed."
Ruby felt her heart drop at the hearing of a sit and wait type mission ahead of her. She almost voiced her complaints as well but quickly swallowed them in fear of receiving any negative attention. She was in fact an FNG again now.
"When we get there Roman, I want you to-" Cinder started before she stopped speaking abruptly.
"Want me to… what exactly, El tee?" Roman asked but getting nothing in response.
"She wants you to find some purpose in life is what she was going to say, Gunny." Black interjected, and earning a giggle from a few others.
"Ha. Ha. Real funny for someone who's gonna be doing some combat rolling drills once we get there." Torchwick responded to which Merc groaned in annoyance through the mic.
The mood lightened up a bit from before it seemed but then the L.T.'s voice was heard once more through the internal radio.
"Change of plans, ladies. I've just received word that we're being picked up once we get to our destination by a couple of Falcons. Looks like we're being deployed Sword Base now."
Just as the warthog started moving though, it was Neo's voice that spoke next. "Sword Base?" She asked innocently.
"Yeah. Seems like we're going to be getting real comfortable here on Reach. They're already passing us back and forth and we've only been here for forty-five minutes." Fall uttered with a hint of amusement in her voice before she turned serious once more. "Belladonna, tell us about Sword Base."
The way the El tee asked seemed more like an order but the Private still insisted on talking back to her superiors.
"What makes you think I know anything about a Sword Base?" Private Belladonna asked with a sneer.
"Countless infractions and disciplinary actions for hacking and snooping around files you have no reason for being in tell me otherwise. Don't play stupid with me, Private; you won't like the end result." Cinder answered neutrally.
The ebon haired girl sighed. "Sword Base is an Office of Naval Intelligence, or better known as ONI facility located near the Babd Catha Ice Shelf. It serves as a research and command base and contains its own airfield while being surrounded by several smaller outposts." She explained with a huff before falling silent once more.
"Is there anything particularly of interest there?" Cinder asked to which the other girl shook her head slowly.
"Nothing that I was able to find out." Blake answered before glancing up from her seat and sounding almost hopeful. "I could find out more if I can get my hands on a TACPAD or something."
Ruby then heard the Lieutenant chuckle. "Glad to see you're deciding to be a part of the team now." She answered. "We'll see if we can… requisition some when we reach Sword Base. It's an ONI facility, I'm sure they'll have tons of toys that could be put to better use in our hands."
"No complaints here!" Yang giggled out as she cradled her SAW lovingly. "I'd love to get my hands on some attachments for my baby here."
"Oh! Me too! Hopefully they have a weapon's bench there. I want to tweak my launcher." Neo quickly spoke up as well.
Ruby could hear the others talking about what to expect in this change of plans, but for her however, the young ODST leaned back against the uncomfortable seat in the bad of the warthog and looked up towards the sky. The auto-dimming feature of her ODST helmet's lens polarizing instantly to allow her to look at the sun.
She couldn't wait to see what kind of missions she was going to partake in with her new squad but hopefully with this change of plans from guarding a facility to being stationed at a major ONI base… maybe things were going to get interesting soon.
If only she knew what she was hoping for…
July 23, 2552
Planet Reach, Location Unknown
-13:00-
"Ensure that your team is ready to go, Noble one. Spartan-B312 is now assigned as your new Noble Six and will be meeting you at the outpost tomorrow morning. I'll be in touch, Commander."
…