Dust in the Wind

[blackshot]

Private Jonah Hauser
ODST Trooper
153rd ODST Company
Epsilon Eridani IV

Jonah Hauser stood straightly as the Captain of the ship entered the Bridge. He, along with his team, saluted at him as a sign of acknowledgement.

"At ease, gentlemen." The Captain said as he nodded at The Leader.

The ODSTs and the Captain stood around a table that projects the hologramic image of one of the cities of Epsilon Eridani IV. The Urban Zone where they would be dropped off soon, was overrun by Insurrectionists. The buildings were destroyed, some were burning and some are abandoned. Both Civilian and UNSC vehicles alike were flipped off like toys. Dead bodies and signs of heavy fighting can be also be seen in the projection.

"Alright men," the Captain began. "The UNSC discovered a Forerunner structure in the Planet. This structure needs to be studied so they sent one of their very best science team that consists of six personnel whose name was censored from the intel. The Innies attacked and captured the science team while eliminating the escort team." The Captain paused for his speech to sink in. "Your mission is simple, recover the scientists before the Insurrectionists start executing them."

"Yes sir." They all chorused.

[blackshot]

The Fireteam walked along the corridor that will lead them to their Drop Pods. Jonah was shaken from the previous mission but his mind has gotten use to the gunfires and the smell of death in the battlefield.

Even though he have done this once, Jonah couldn't help but to get nervous when he found out that they will be 'Dropped' again from orbit of some planet. Now that it was seconds away before it happened, his heart was pounding much more faster and louder than it ever was when he faced the Innies on that island.

As The Leader pressed the access button, the door opened with a hiss, revealing the hangar bay. Their Drop Pods can be seen on the left, along with the other unused ones. All sorts of vehicles can be seen throughout the bay, being maintained by UNSC Personnel.

As they headed that way, Jonah couldn't believe that he signed up for this. He never wanted military life much less an ODST's but all he wanted was to help save humanity. He took his wish to a greater extent that he ended up being inside the Pod.

Jonah approached his own Pod, pulling a lever on the side. The canopy that covers the cockpit clicked open. He lifted it up, revealing a red seat trimmed in black inside a cramped, claustrophobic room.

He sat on the soft cushion of the seat. His hands were visibly shaking as his mind, filled with fear, protested every action his body made as it does things on its own like a machine, just following orders of the operator.

A loud 'STOP' echoes throughout his mind as his hand automatically closed the canopy in front of him, shutting it tight. He can hear his conscience, telling him to back out. Doubts and fear filled his mind this time. What happened on the two earlier missions were just won by luck. What if he runs out of luck this time? What if Death began reaping with his scythe and he happens to be on his list? What if they failed this mission? What if his Pod malfunctioned? What if he got shot down?

He derailed the train of bad thoughts that was formed in his mind. So what if it happens? At least his sacrfice was for the greater good of others, right?

His hand darted towards the console in front of him, putting the Pod's engines to life. On the Pod's HUD, the helmeted face of his comrades appeared on the sign. His heart pounded continuously as he waited for their drop.

Moments later, cold sweat trickled his face. Soon, a loud siren can be heard overhead, indicating that they will be dropped soon.

One by one, their Pods were sent below. As Jonah plunge to the atmosphere of the Planet, he felt his whole body floating even if he was strapped in his safety belt. Speaking of safety belt, did he ever strapped in?

As he looked down to the safety harness, his fears were confirmed. He wasn't strapped in.

"Oh my God!!" He yelled as he tried to reach down on his belt.

Just in time, one of the buttons of his console blinked. It has to be pressed or his Pod won't slow down and he'll be killed.

He pressed the button, making the Pod shake very hard. He hit the roof on his head, stunning him.

"Ah, shoot!" He yelled as he was having a hard time reaching the belt.

After a series of tries, he finally managed to grab on the harness. Dropping a thousand meters from a planet, not to mention without a gravity and also not to mention, with you moving at a faster speed, it just made things harder for Jonah.

As the belt clicked in, Jonah whispered a prayer, thanking God for surviving a seemingly bad luck.

He pressed another button as the Pod came nearer to its destination. He felt that his whole butt was being pulled by a strong magnet. He even felt that his body was being separated by a strong force.

Soon enough, the Pod reached the ground, crashing on the land below. The impact sent the concrete road debris flying in every direction.

[blackshot]

He pulled the lever above him, sending the canopy in front of him flying a few feet away from his Pod. He stepped out of the battle scarred city with a rifle at hand. He made a quick sweep of his surroundings to make sure that no uninvited guests were observing.

Seeing none, he studied his surroundings. What he saw on the projection was the same exact replica of what he was seeing right now. Burning buildings, flipped vehicles, dead bodies, etc.

Sounds of fighting can be heard almost everywhere. Every minute, people dies. The scarred city will definitely have a hard time recovering from what she was suffering now.

As he turned to his right, he saw the Planet's sun. Its rays hit his visor. The sun itself reminded him of how his ancestors took back his country from the Spanish Invaders. If he was to fight them with dedication, chances are, he could liberate this Planet along with others from the Insurrectionists.

Looking at his motion tracker, his teammates were not far behind from him. All he need was to track them down before the Innies could.

Setting out on Carmichael's direction, Jonah raised his weapon, gripping it tight as he walked along the destroyed road. Jumping over building debris and crushing rubbles beneath his boots, dead bodies came to view. Their blood were splattered everywhere. He felt that whatever he ate earlier left him.

As soon as he ran past a flipped Warthog, he heard chatters in a distance. His motion tracker indicates three red hostiles coming towards his direction from the intersection ahead of him.

Hiding in the Warthog immediately, the armed men walked past, laughing and chatting as they went. This made Jonah angry. They killed hundreds of people but they get to laugh and chat.

Jonah, not thinking straight, took aim. He had on his corsairs the head of the loud one. With three short round bursts, his head exploded in a gore of plume. The remaining two turned to his direction to open fire but Jonah immediately ducked, avoiding the bullets that will kill him. His combat adrenaline rushed in his body once again as he heard gunfires and screams. He walked around the Warthog, spotting an Innie who was facing at his previous direction. He fired at him, catching him off-guard. He dropped on the ground below, bleeding. Jonah fired another shot, killing him.

He glanced at the other side of the street where the last Innie should be. He can see him hiding behind a trash bin, hoping he wouldn't be found.

Jonah tossed a frag grenade inside the bin. If the Innie stepped out of his cover to run away, he would shoot him, but if he didn't leave his cover, he'll get blown up.

But either way, he'll be dead anyway.

The Innie didn't left his position, rather put his faith on the trash bin that was protecting him. He made a wrong and stupid mistake of choosing that direction as the grenade inside exploded, blowing him up with it.

Jonah continued his way towards Carmichael's direction. He was nearing his current position when a quartet of armed Innies came to view. The smoke from everywhere has concealed them.

Cursing, Jonah ran towards a vehicle he walked past by earlier. Jumping behind it, he gulped as he prepared for his next move.

[blackshot]

Jonah unclipped a grenade from his belt. He heaved a relaxed sigh as he heard the sound coming closer. He knew that if his luck do runs out, that'll be the end of it. There was never a chance that he could get out a firefight against three men face to face, much less four of them.

Tossing a grenade at their direction, the Innies yelled to warn one another as they rolled away from the thing.

Jonah saw a duo of Innies hide near him. He have a clear shot and he could take them down easily.

As he took his chance, raising his rifle and aiming at their heads, he opened fire at the nearest one, taking him down. The other one whirled to his direction and began firing.

"He's over there!!" One of the Innies yelled.

He heard the Innies jogging to his direction. The bullets in their armamenrs were clanging, colliding with one another as they go.

Without a thought, Jonah tossed a grenade at the Innies, then charged at the other one, who have called out his location.

He strafed forward, firing at the Innie's direction while the Innie himself fired back. He knew the consequences of his action. He managed to hit the Innie on the head and on the chest but in the expense of being hit in left shoulder and chest.

He dropped down on the ground with a thud. He coughed up a few amount of blood that stained his HUD. On a distance, he heard an explosion with a couple of voice screaming. He felt great for performing such feat of taking down four men at once.

Standing up, he used his gun as a walking cane as he take his first step. Weirdly enough, he didn't felt anything. Maybe it's because of the adrenaline? Trauma, maybe?

He ignored the whole thing. As long as he continued walking before the pain started to take in, he finally found Carmichael, wielding a Sniper Rifle from a dead Innie.

He scoped at an Innie then fired a shot, taking him down successfully.

"Carmichael!" He yelled. "It's Hauser, don't fire at me!"

"Come on out!" He yelled.

Jonah ran towards his direction. As soon as he was near enough, he dropped his rifle and then fell down on the ground, face first.

Sure enough, the whole thing didn't hurt but his legs felt numb that he lose his control over it.

Carmichael flipped him over. He saw the bullet shots on Jonah's armor. He returned back to his Pod as he searched for something. Returning back, he had a medkit on his hands.

"Buddy, you are lucky that the bullet didn't go deep. It was only lodged on your armor, though the first and second layer of your skin was penetrated based on the bleeding. Your left shoulder, however, was fine."

"Wow, you should be a medic."

"I was." Carmichael replied as he retrieved a biofoam from the medkit. "Hold still."

"Ah shoot, not those!"

Carmichael began pouring his wounds with the antibacterial liquid.

[blackshot]

As soon as Carmichael patched him up, Jonah stood up, feeling worse than before. Being hit in the chest with a bullet from an Assault Rifle was much more preferable than being poured with those biofoams in your wound.

"So what's next?" Jonah asked.

"I say we wait here. Those guys were not far behind."

"What if they are waiting for us?"

"Nah, don't think so." Carmichael says as he pointed at ahead.

They saw The Leader and Private Lynch on a Warthog, heading towards them. Jonah couldn't help but to grin which formed into a smile.

"Hop in, boys!" The Leader yelled.

Jonah and Carmichael hopped aboard the vehicle. Jonah took the gunner seat, beside Lynch while Carmichael took a seat beside The Leader.

"Alright, let's head off to the location of the hostages. Lucky for us, it's not far from here."

"Just a question, sir. Where is the extraction point?" Carmichael asked.

"It was already given to me. It's not that far from here either."

The Warthog came across an intersection towards another road but the scene remains the same with rubbles scattered every where, burning buildings, etc. It's just like living in an apocalyptic world that has been ravaged by a strong disaster.

The Warthog came across three armed men, aiming at them. Reacting quickly, Jonah aimed at them and fired.

"Contact!" He yelled as he downed an Innie.

Aiming at the next one, he fired at him endlessly before the Innie could react against them. Aiming at the last one he nailed him with multiple bullets from a Warthog's chain gun.

As they continue, The Leader stepped on the brakes all of a sudden. Jonah felt that he was on a drop again as the force threatened to throw him off his balance.

They stopped in front of a three storey building. One by one, the ODSTs unloaded as they hid behind the Warthog.

[blackshot]

"Alright team," The Leader began. "Line up in a single file. We are going in. Be sure to be quiet so that we wouldn't be able to alert the enemies. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir!" They all chorused.

"Feet first into hell!" The Leader says as he began their attack.

Entering the ground floor, they saw two Innies guarding the staircase to the second floor. The team immediately spreads out to find any suitable cover.

The men, upon spotting them, raised their weapons and fired at the direction of Jonah while frantically searching for a cover. Now that gunfires broke out, they heard footsteps coming down to the ground floor.

Jonah risked a peek. He spots an Innie, who was stupid enough to be in the open. He aimed at him and fired multiple shots, hitting him on the chest and on the head.

He ducked behind the box again as the other Innies fired at him. He saw his comrades as they fought for their lives.

Crouching, he walked towards another box and dove for cover. He risked a peek again as he saw another Innie in taking a peek behind a flipped table.

He firednat him but most of his shots were caught by the wooden table. He grunted as he ducked again for cover.

He saw the staircase on his right. It was a step away but he knew that it wasn't worth run because he'll get shot on the back. Thinking cleverly, he grabbed another frag grenade and tossed it at the Innies.

"Who threw the frag grenade?!" The Leader asked.

As the explosion errupted, two Innies were blown away. The first one was the Innie whom Jonah missed and the other one near the Innie, who didn't do anything but to duck.

As the explosion racked everybody, Jonah sped towards the staircase. He reached the second floor, seeing it being guarded by two more Innies, who didn't saw him.

"The friggin UNSC are here!" One of them yelled. "We're already dead!!"

"Relax man, we're not gonna die, alright?" The other Innie tried to calm him down.

As the firefight errupted once more below, Jonah was seemed to be unnoticed by the two. He carefully slid his rifle on his back so not to make a noise. He snatched his M6D Pistol from its holster as he snuck behind one of the Innies.

He felt his heart pounding as his action could only be determined by luxk. Is he going to get out alive? Is he going to get shot? He doesn't know but he has to take the risk.

One little risk could have a big outcome. It can be a victory to a war or a salvation of an entire race which in case, humanity.

And of course, if the risk backslides, it could mean the entire devastation of this war from the hand of the enemies.

As he put the nearest Innie on a headlock, he pressed his pistol on the Innie's temple and warned his comrade.

"Don't do anything stupid. Drop your weapons now!" He yelled.

The other Innie complied, dropping his weapon on the ground. Jonah shot him on the head, then executed the Innie he was holding with a shot on the temple.

He dropped the corpse on the ground with a thud as he switched to his rifle. Blood covered his suit.

As he ran up stairs to the third and final floor, he saw the six scientists tied around together. The sack on their heads acted as a blindfold and a gag as they scream with a muffled voice.

Weirdly enough, there's a single Innie guarding them.

Jonah crouched as he aimed at the Innie. He was so careful not to jeopardize the hostages.

With a single shot on the leg, the Innie fell down with a scream. He fired once again, hitting his face.

Jonah sprang to his feet as he began untying the scientists and removing the sacks on their heads. Each of them had a sock on their mouths that prevented them from speaking or screaming.

Two of them are visibly women while the rest are males. They all stood up and thanked Jonah.

Hearing their praises and thanks, all his efforts contributed in this war, the fear he felt, the drop of course, and anything in-between were all worth it. He escorted them to the ground floor, where the fighting had stopped that leaves all Innies dead.

The ODSTs escorted the science team outside where a trio Falcon was waiting them. One by one, they boarded the Falcon. Soon, they left the city as the mission was accomplished.

--END--