UNSC Cruiser The Long Way Home Hangar bay

Captain Sam Lasko sighed and pulled off his helmet waiting for the pelicans to arrive with his new squad, it would be his first fight since Reach and he aimed to pay the bastards back for every life lost there twofold. He had been briefed, they would be moving in to secure a ONI package, he read up on his squad, Admiral Harper had even let him see the black ink, he knew what he about to step into and he also knew whose secrets he had to keep. This mission had to be a success no matter the cost, we needed a win more than anything. After the incident with Bucks squad... Well just hoped they made it back without a causality like they did. He heard the hangar bay alarm sound, he stepped up greet the new squad, finally put faces to names.

UNSC Cruiser The Long Way Home Fleet Admiral Harper's office

Fleet Admiral Harper sighed then looked back up the monitor "I dug up the files on the troops you asked to brought in, most of them have ONI connections."

The ONI operative on the other end smiled. "Yes we needed trusted assets on board for this OP, you know what that package is worth."

Harper groaned "Yes I know, that why I'm not denying the operation, you'll get your way for now. Just know that I showed the good Captain everything I have on them" He smiled, that would get under the spooks skin.

With that the ONI agent frowned "That information was classified, you can't-" The admiral however cut him off.

"I am a Fleet Admiral Of UNSC Navy, only Lord Hood tells me what I can't do, do I make myself clear!" With that Spook growled and cut the line. Harper leaned back pulling out a bottle of whiskey and pouring himself a shot. "I should be giving one these to Lasko, he's the one about to try and lead this group." He said laughing a little he tipped back the shot before getting up and heading for the bridge.

As the fog cleared from the mirror Kensi almost didn't recognize the face staring back at her. She almost appeared to have aged a whole decade in the last few days. Worry lines creased her forehead, and her wet golden locks that were currently pasted it her face made the paleness of her skin stand out harshly. This war was murder on the woman. If only she'd died back on Reach with the rest of her squad. Mathers was never much of a religious person, but she figured any afterlife had to be better then this one. Kensi swiped more of the foggy vapor from the mirror and examined the rest of her body. Thirty-one years old. A full two thirds of her life had known only this bloody war. Leaving its marks on her body like a living history book. The newest, shrapnel scars along her right flank, were a reminder of Reach.

It was no use reflecting on the past. She had no past. Each day was new, yesterday and their memories forcefully removed from her mind like a virus. She had no need for them. They only served to muck up the present. The same for the future, she couldn't take her eyes off the mission before her for something that may not ever be. She finally snapped her eyes from the mirror, turning away from it as she ran the towel through her hair. All the while her mind was now running through the inventory within. 1 BR55 Battle Rifle, 4 magazines of 9.5x40mm rounds. 1 M6C/SOCOM sidearm, 5 magazines of 12.7x40mm rounds. 2 M168 Demo charges. 2 Frag Grenades. The demo charges weren't her standard issue. Then again they were going into Covenant controlled areas. Bringing down a building or two would be necessary.

With the charges secured in the rucksack portion of her armor Kensi pulled the chest piece and and finished fastening it to her body. She rotated her shoulders a few times to back sure the fit wasn't to tight. Part of her was a little nervous. This would be her first real jump since Reach. Two months of hospitals and physical therapy. Two months to wallow on the mistakes she made then. She couldn't continue to let that effect her. Kensi shook the thoughts from her head as she slammed her locker shut and turned for the exit. There is no past, no future. There is only now, and how many covies I can blow to hell.

Specialist Pella had cleaned -and re-cleaned- his weapons, making sure the grenade-launcher had fit snug under the barrel of his battle-rifle, even going so far as to get the EB-Green out and giving it a few more wraps. The scope was also quickly double-checked for zero with a boresight-indicator, and the smartlink on his M7S recalibrated. Only after being absolutely sure of a good weapons-fit did he lock his rifle back onto the wall-mount and holster his sidearm.

He was the youngest, and had since basic learned to at least try and keep his mouth shut, especially whenever he 'thought' he recognized someone of higher rank from previous missions. The only exception being Lance Corporal Björkgård, Anders. They were only Privates back on Arcadia, but their actions both resulted in promotions, of sorts. And then there was Jennifer, big girl, supposedly had been an ODST since forever based on her rank, but never heard of a single combat-drop she ever partook in. Definitely a spook, or a spook-puppet.

Then there was their CO, an Army-grunt with ODST-certification and a chip on his shoulder going by the name of Lasky. Being the planet's 'bucket brigade' to put down fire-fights meant that this was going to be a mostly-army affair, allowing them greater free-use of pelicans rather than HEVs and trying to hitch-hike their way out. However, Pelicans were deathtraps. So he made sure to bring a parachute.

Sergeant Lee Mcgarren was on his way to the The Long Way Home Hangar bay in a Pelican filled with other solders who he assumed were here for the same thing. Well that's is what he thought, he was here to join and squad of ODST, who were going to work under Captain Lasko. Unfortunately Lee did not know what exactly they were here to do yet, he assumed that he would be briefed when they landed.

He raked his hand through his blonde hair, thinking about what he endured to get to this point in his life, the Insurrection that ripped his family apart, the battles that he went through, surviving while his comrades died, the glassing of his home planet, and now he was here, in a Pelican on his way to meet the new people he would be working with.

Not long after that the Pelican landed, making sure he had taken everything he needed, he fixed his armor, and did hair his hair, you did not want to make your first impression a bad one. Once Lee was ready, he exited the Pelican, walking into the bright light of the Hanger.

Lance Corporal Anders Björkgård sat in a corner in the Pelican with his helmet in his lap. Under his seat, his Sniper Rifle was secured in a green weapon box, already calibrated, cleaned and ready for use. He watched as Pella made sure his weapons were in order before placing them back where they should be. He remembered the man from Arcadia, didn't know him though. He waited for Pella to finish what he was doing before he spoke. "You didn't check your weapons beforehand?" he asked and expected it was a habit, something Pella spent time on to stay calm or something along those lines, but without asking, one could never be sure.

Anders was however, not as calm as he usually was. He had not been briefed yet, and he wanted information, he wanted to know what they were throwing him into. He got the name of the Captain as he was reassigned, but 'Captain Sam Lasko' told him nothing. Though to be fair, he was happy about getting back into action. There were scum, that were waiting for an order to be shipped and delivered. Bullets to be shipped to one address, 'Between their eyes'. Elites, brutes, grunts and of course, Jackals. Of course, they had to wait a bit longer, and so did he.

Jennifer missed her MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. At least she was able to keep her UGPS & TACPAD, over the years she customized and upgraded them to her liking. The Recon variant of the ODST battle armor was the closest equivalent to her MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, she wanted to combine aspects of the Recon with the Close Quarters but she didn't have the time to adequately determine which pieces would best serve her so she went with the standard Recon painted flat black. She never could figure out why she had to pretend to be an ODST if they just gave her real information out.

When she stepped aboard the Pelican she stashed her standard loadout in a weapon box. She placed each weapon in there with precision and care, they were her best friends, her life depended on them, and she treated them with the reverence that they deserved. She strapped each one down so they would not be jostled during the flight. She took her seat and strapped herself in for the flight.

She didn't care what the mission was, she didn't care what the purpose of the mission was, she was a weapon to be pointed and unleashed. ONI had already filled her in on the specifics. She knew this mission may take awhile, and that it would most likely be suicidal to sleep on the planet after it was taken over by the Covenant so she slept as much as possible on the Pelican ride to The Long Way Home.

Dorian answered by pointing at the large round protrusion at the bottom of his rifle, indicating the custom-mounted grenade-launcher; "Can never be sure nobody fiddles with it if I so much as turn my back to it, and with explosive ordnance like that, you HAVE to be sure." He snarked while noting that Lt Watters had a similar mount; but being a scattergun, friendly-fire wasn't of nearly as much concern for her, but all the same she treated those tools like they were her babies; very big deadly babies.

Being low-man on the totem-pole had the perk of not really needing to plan something more than a few clicks ahead of himself, then worry about contingency plans, and then have the nervous-breakdown of all of those plans going to hell in a handbasket within five minutes of a drop. He just had to make sure he was smarter and faster than a covvie grunt when his time came.

Lasko heard the comms in his helmet open up sliding the helmet on he spoke "This is Lasko, go ahead."

The Ships Smart AI Artemis responded in a icy almost hostile tone "Your time table is moving captain, get briefing going ASAP, also the Admiral has approved your requisition and even thrown in a bonus... A friend of mine" With that she cut the line.

"What the hell was she talking about?" He mumbled as he jogged down the hall moving to the ships undercarriage were the pods were located. He stopped opening up briefing room 3 that was just before there drop pods, he saw a AI on the holographic table going over the latest images from Mars.

She spoke in a almost to cheerful way that he knew was going to get on his nerves. "Hello Captain! I'm Spring Island, the AI Admiral Harper has assigned to assist you in this mission. Great he thought this was just getting better and better, but at least he wouldn't have to pray that old superintendent model down there wasn't rampant yet.

"Right Spring call down up all of the squad telling them to report for briefing" Lasko had already stashed his kit in his pod, but out of habit went over and began to check it. After doing a once over and re-securing the magnetic's he stepped over to the table and removed his helmet looking over there drop point on more time.

Every member of the squad heard there comms buzz and a suddenly a happy computerized voice issue's there orders. "Captain Lasko's squad please report to briefing room 3 with all gear immediately." The enthusiastic AI said giving a slight giggle at the end.

Kensi stood before her assigned pod, a hand running running along its scorched mark metallic flesh. Such a short relative time with the ODST and already she'd gained an affinity for the small capsule. Something about putting her life in its hands sparked a love. The same love she'd often felt towards her EOD kit. It was perhaps the one superstition she held. Show them your respect and they'd love you for it. A sickly sweet voice from Kensi's communicator startled the woman. She pulled her hand away from the pod like she'd experienced a jolt of electricity. "Captain Lasko's squad please report to briefing room 3 with all gear immediately."

Catching movement out of the corner of her eyes Kensi turned her head to see said captain several pods down. Now she just felt foolish and mumbled a few curses under her breath. Mathers secured her rifle in the pod holder and removed the armored rucksack from her back. With everything secure save for the sidearm still holstered to her right thigh Kensi turned with a squeak of her boots and moved past Lasko for the Briefing room

The Hanger was pretty impressive, although Lee had seen lots of hangers before, but none were as large as this one. Lee had to say the the ODST looked like they were ready to take on a hole Covenant Fleet, but the chances of the happening was 5 in a million, well at least with out back up that is. After snapping out of his trance, he began to wonder were the Captain was at, he was told that he Captain would meet them here, at the Hanger once they landed. "So much for punctuality." Lee mumbled as he readjusted his knapsack and his weapon box.

"Captain Lasko's squad please report to briefing room 3 with all gear immediately."

Lee assumed that was him, although he did not notice any of the other recruits get of the Pelican. One again making sure he had all the necessary items needed, he walked out of the large hanger and headed for the briefing room. Lee was kind nervous to tell the truth, he had just gotten here from vacation and was know sent on a mission. He would have to sure that the higher ups knew that his vacation time was not over, and was still expecting his paycheck.

"Better not turn your back on it then." Anders said to Pella and chuckled before leaning back and resting his eyes for the remainder of the trip to Long Way Home.

After their arrival he took a moment to check he had everything and put on his helmet before reaching for the weapons box. He exited the pelican, looking at the Sergeant who seemed to simply stand there. His comms buzzed, "Captain Lasko's squad, please report to briefing room 3 with all gear immediately." he heard the computerized voice say. An AI Anders thought, he disliked it already, it seemed too happy, too.. unpredictable or at least, that was the feeling he got from it. He headed for the briefing rooms near the drop pods, found number three and entered.

Jennifer was awoken by the Pelican landing. She took no haste in getting her weapons, eventually she did she leaned over and grabbed her weapons. As she was finishing up the ever chipper AI called her to briefing room 3. She left the armory and proceeded to the briefing room at a brisk walk.

Pella smiled, almost motioning to nod in agreement and approval before settling-in for landing, only to be jolted awake by a more-than-chipper AI. He scowled at the thought of having to deal with another rampant AI within his lifetime, at least this time he didn't have to trust this one with the air they breathed.

Looking back, he remembered the part about passers-by having sticky-finger-syndrome whenever they saw a new mod on a gun, and took his battle-rifle with him to briefing in addition to the standard-issue thigh-holstered burp-gun before also taking his helmet and a strip of tattered camo-netting. He tossed the latter at Alexander, "y'May want to use that to keep the sun off your visor. The glint tends to draw their fire."

Lasko looked over the troops assembled before him nodding he knew they would do as they were told I guess the real question was for how long? What would they think of the package they were being sent to collect? Pushing those thoughts out of his head he looked at the display before them "Alright people, we got a job to do I'm Captain Sam Lasko ranking officer for this OP, you follow my orders and we all go home alive, got it? Now as for the job we are extracting a tier one asset from right out of the heart of Demeter city, now satellite imaging has shown three covenant super-carriers in low orbit outside the city, obviously they are burning through our intel trying to find out more about us. Now there friendlies on the ground but there scattered and without much leadership so you find someone bring them along we may go into hell but we walk back out. As for the mission well it's retrieval Section 3 has asset's on the ground and they want them out of there, now thanks to our resident resident AI." Spring appeared from the console as a young girl wearing a Sunday dress waving to the assembled troops. Lasko continued ignoring her. "We also have access to the factories that are looked down planet side, so you will be able to re-equip, now we headed to a ONI black ops site located in downtown, it's crawling with covenant, this drop will be at night so expect low visibility keep your VISR on at all times. Also the city Superintendent has contacted Spring they are currently mapping and setting up systems to guide us through the city. Now as for support, ONI has asked that the navy hold back as retrieving us will take everything they have. Now if any of you have questions ask them now." He said as he pulled on his helmet, he began the ejection sequence for Springs Islands AI chip slotting her into his command pod.

"Alright pods now, we drop in ten move it troops!" He yelled as he did one last check over his pod then watched his squad to make sure they all stowed there gear and got aboard. He wondered if he should have let them introduce themselves but pushed the thought out of there head they were on a tight schedule as it was, no time for pleasantries. Maybe after this he could be promoted to Major and get a desk job... "Yeah right, like I could sit behind a desk while covenant bang on the door" He thought then shrugged inwardly well it was a dream, climbing in to his pod he began the drop sequence as the ship close in over Mars.

"Awesome" Pella remarked as he strapped his helmet on, giving a nod at Anders "back to the die-pods we go."

At least he was 100% sure nobody else had touched his rifle.

(bad post, but not much else to do for me besides strap myself in and give some random technician the finger, I'd say give it 3 days before assuming everyone is smart enough to find a chair and sit down in it for drop)

Kensi's grimaced at the AI as she appeared next to the captain. It figures the voice that summoned them here was from an AI. The sergeant greatly disliked AIs. Every time she'd encountered one Kensi had nearly lost her life. It was always a bad omen for her when an AI was attached to the mission. "Great. I survived Reach just to die on a dust ball at the ass end of the galaxy." Mathers mumbled to herself as she stood at the dismissal and moved from the room to her drop pod.

Sliding herself into the confined space Kensi took a moment to peak out and look up and down the row. There had been other squads in that room. All told there was at least three dozen ODST dropping today. Logically Kensi knew the odds were against her. At most maybe only half would make it to the surface. Taking one final look at those around her Kensi sighed and leaned back into the seat, securing her crash webbing as the pod closed its self.

Jack really had nothing to say, he listened to the briefing, got all his necessary information and was ready to deploy. He walked into the confined space of the pod and waited for the mission to begun.

"Best kind of pods." Anders said in response to Pella on the way out to the pods. When Anders reached his pod, he opened the weapons box he had been carrying all this while. He took out the rifle and one of the four magazines and put it in the rifle, before securing the rifle in the pod. The three remaining mags for the rifle and one extra for his pistol he put in his ammo bag. He put the empty box away and strapped himself into his pod, pressing the ready button and letting the pod close. "Hey Captain. When you said crawling, did you mean crawling as in just a bit, or did you mean a dead dog filled with maggots kind of crawling?" he said over the comms. Anders preferred the first kind of crawling.

As Lasko's pod shut the he opened communications "Men, here's where we show those ape faced, squid-head, sons of bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race. We are going to blow the hell out of those dumb bugs until we don't have anything left to shoot 'em with! And then, we are going to strangle them with their own living guts!" He yelled into the comms as they dropped, his pod falling first, as he raced towards Martian soil. he could see streaks of plasma flying up towards them. He did his best to guide his pod through but it took a stray bolt, careening downward the last thing he thought was 'damn, well at least my grave will be dug for me' then it went black.