Disclaimer: I do not own the video game series Halo, or any of the contents of its universe. I only co-own the central characters.
Part 4: The Crash Site
Everything was black. There was no light, no sound. Only black. But that eventually changed. Ryerson soon began hearing noises, sounds, voices, and soon light came to his vision. He felt that he was lying on the ground. He was sore all over his body. The pain was good, it told him he was alive. He moaned and began stirring. Opening his eyes, he saw that his helmet was off.
"Nice to see you back in the land of the living, Corporal." Cardell said. He was crouching next to the sniper, his helmet sitting next to his feet. Then Merven was there, his helmet secure over his face.
"Don't move, I need to check you over." Merven said as he fumbled in his aid kit.
"I'm sure you do, Doc." Ryerson replied with a smirk before checking his surroundings. He was, as he'd suspected, lying on the ground outside of the Pelican. The bird itself had crashed into the ground in the shade of a mountainside. There was snow only a few feet away, but it gave way to the grass Ryerson was laying on. Defensive barricades recovered from the crashed bird had been set up in a perimeter around the crash site. Rowen and Steven were standing about, keeping their eyes open for enemy movement. In between them was a Heavy Machine Gun, mounted on its turret to cover the forward right flank. Just before the position was a large hill made of grass and stone, as well as some trees. "So what happened?" Ryerson asked in discomfort. He was only sore, and didn't think anything was seriously wrong.
"We took a hit to one of the wings. The pilots had to make a crash landing…neither of 'em made it." Sergeant Cardell said.
"Sucks for them." Ryerson said, rather coldly. He was of the type who believed the ODST's were better than everyone else, and thus didn't care much for those in other units or branches…especially Spartans. Cardell only shook his head at the corporal's narrow-mindedness.
"Alright, you're good." Merven finally said as he finished the exam and helped Ryerson stand. The corporal donned his helmet, glad to see his HUD functioned correctly.
"Where's my rifle?" Ryerson asked. Steven turned and stroed towards them, stopping by a box to pick up the rifle and held it towards Ryerson.
"Here." he said. At first, Ryerson only stared at it. Then he snatched it from the Spartan, as best he could anyways due to the weapon's size.
"So…now what?" Rowen asked, his Rocket Launcher on his back, and his Assault Rifle in his hands.
"We need to move out. I did some scout work earlier and saw a structure off to our right, it's by a large lake," said Cardell. "I'm willing to bet my next paycheck and half my 401-k that our target's there." he said as he stood. "If everyone's ready, we should-"
"Wait." Steven said, his gaze fixed in the direction of the structure. He ran forward, past a cave Ryerson just noticed, and gazed around the corner of the rock. Plasma fire and burning spikes flew passed his head, and the ODST's heard a Brute roard in rage and challenge. The Spartan turned and ran back to the position, skirting to the side and mounting the Machine Gun. Sergeant Cardell placed his helmet back on his head and grabbed his Battle Rifle just as a hoard of Covenant soldiers rounded the rock corner and rushed the position. Automatic weapons and Ryerson's Sniper Rifle began sending rounds into the charging force, but more soon came 'round the mountain, so to speak.
"Ryerson!" Cardell called as he fired another burst into a Grunt. "Get on top of the Pelican, give us some sniper support!" he called.
"Roger that, Sarge!" Ryerson cried as he reloaded his rifle. Turning, he ran around behind the crashed Pelican and climbed up onto it. He was able to stand on the wing and crouch. He was a really big and exposed target, but the Covenant never got a chance to fire effectively at him due to all the fire coming from the other four. Ryerson proceeded to fire shots at specific targets, always aiming for their heads. His prey of specialty was the higher ranking Brutes, those who were giving the orders. His scope soon saw a river just before the hill, curving around to the other side. Moving along it were several Grunt squads. "Sergeant! We got tangos moving alongside a river, they're gonna flank us from the left!" Ryerson relayed through his comm.
"Dammit, there's too many." Sergeant Cardell grumbled as he reloaded his Battle Rifle.
"I'll clear a path." Steven said. He then stopped firing his turret, and did what the four ODST's considered to be impossible: he ripped the gun off its tripod. While it was possible for most MG's, this wasn't most MG's. No human being could lift it alone…save for a Spartan apparently. Holding it at waist level, Steven began firing in bursts as he began walking towards the charging forces. The sheer amount of lead simply mowed them down as Steven pressed onward.
"Let's go guys, follow him outta here!" Cardell called. Ryerson leaped from the wing to the ground and followed the others as they made their way out of the kill zone. They moved around the rock, taking down any and all Covenant who opposed them. They came to a large rock formation and proceeded around it. Soon, Steven's turret ran out of ammo. Dropping it, Steven swept up two Spikers and loaded them. Charging around into full view of the structure, the five charged forward and eliminated the Covenant there, with Steven doing most of the work, and the ODST's simply mopping up the leftovers. Soon the structure was secure, yet littered with the bodies of dead Covenant soldiers.
"Status reports." Cardell said into his comm. He was on top of the structure, watching two odd vent like system pushing airt away from it.
"Ryerson, green." the sniper replied.
"Rowen, green." the heavy weapons specialist said.
"Delgado, green." the Spartan said. Silence then followed.
"Merven? Doc, do you read me?" Sergeant Cardell said into his comm, concern entering and coating his voice.
"Yeah, yeah I'm here. You might wanna see this Sarge. I'm inside." Merven replied.
The five men stood inside the structure, gazing at the glowing green light in the wall. It was a long cylinder, and nobody knew what it did.
"Maybe it's like a Covenant electric chair for executions." Rowen suggested.
"Maybe the freak over here could test that theory." Ryerson said nodding towards Steven.
"Watch the lip, Corporal." Cardell replied. Ryerson remained silent.
"Maybe it's a teleporter." Merven suggested.
"No way dude, that's an urban myth, like the Abominable Snowman or Big Ben." replied Rowen.
"No, they're real." Steven said. "Covenant communications make several references to them."
"So it's either an execution machine or a teleporter to some unknown dimension that could very well kill us by simply breathing." Rowen said.
"You guys stay here." Sergeant Cardell said. "If I'm not back in five minutes, search somewhere else."
"Are you crazy Sarge?!" Ryerson exclaimed in a panic. "Send the freak! That way we won't lose anything important if the thing does kill people!"
"I said watch the lip, Corporal." Cardell replied harshly. The staff sergeant then turned to Steven. "Remember what I said, Delgado: your new number one priority." He said.
"Yes sir." Steven replied. Cardell turned to the green light and let out a sigh. Raising his Battle Rifle, he stepped in and vanished. Several moments passed, the four standing in complete silence. When what seemed an eternity passed, Ryerson checked his watch. Then he heard a noise and jumped in surprise as Sergeant Cardell emerged from the teleporter.
"Guys…you might wanna see this…" he said before turning and reentering the teleporter. The others glanced at each other and followed one at a time, with Steven entering last, and leaving the structure abandoned and lifeless.