Garret started to think back to his days on Reach, back when he had his first assignment. Then suddenly, West zoned completely out of the real world, staring off into space.
It was PFC Garret Hood's first day with his new regiment. He was incredibly excited to show off his new marksmanship skills to his teammates. His CO grabbed everyone's attention so he could introduce him. "Ladies, I'd like you to meet our newest recruit. A teenager fresh from his training, but apparently good enough to be assigned here immediately upon finishing training. Private First Class Garret James Zenith Hood."
His fellow marines nodded in his direction then went back to eating their meals. Garret got his food and wondered where to sit, since everyone seemed to have no room for him. He looked around and saw the computer specialist and the engineer he saw earlier. He went to go sit with them.
"Hello, private. Name's Cook." Responded the engineer.
"And I'm Poindexter. I know, cliché name for a computer geek like me, right?" Followed the computer guy. Garret smiled at these two and thought about how great it was to have people to openly let him into their clique.
"West Virginia. Agent West Virginia, I have your answer. You are to report to drop pod Oh-Seven Alpha for your deployment. You will be dropped out of range of the enemy's scanners. The Director also warns that stealth is of the utmost importance in this maneuver, but has the utmost confidence that you know what you're doing." Delta said.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. I just need to go g-"
"You're equipment has been transported to your pod for you."
"I was going to say pod, Dee. Sheesh." He said smirking.
"No you weren't. With all due respect, you were-"
"It's a joke, Dee."
"Of course."
With that, West got up off the wall. "Well, wish me luck, team. I'm heading on down to the red zone to set up." He said loudly enough so all could hear him, and he waved to everyone individually on his way out. He even gave Arizona a genuine, friendly wave as he walked past him to the door. Once he was all the way at his pod, he cracked his knuckles as Delta asked him if he truly meant to be friendly to Arizona despite the fact that both of them knew he hated West, to which West replied with a simple, "Of course. Why wouldn't I have?"
West climbed into his pod and braced himself in, harness and all. "Preparing for atmospheric reentry. Are you ready, Agent?" Asked a robotic, friendly female voice.
"Um, I've never done this before, but... Yeah. Let's do it." He said, and gave a two thumbs up.
"Excellent. Atmospheric reentry commencing in 10.... 9.... 8"
"Here we go."
"7... 6... 5..."
"I think the best advice to give would be for you to "Just breathe."
"4... 3."
"Thanks, Dee."
"2... 1..."
West looked over and saw his rifle, but with it was not the standard magazine size for most sniper rifles. This one was a small extended mag that held six .57 caliber rounds instead of four. He thought he was in heaven. "Oh my..." He reached out to grab it when the female voice cut him short.
"Firing Pod Oh-Seven Alpha."
The pod suddenly dropped toward the planet with such momentum that it caused West's arms to fly straight up into the air. "AAAAHHHH.... CRAAAAAP." He said, frustrated he didn't get to touch the beauties next to him. "COOOMMMME OOOONNNN!" The heat of reentry was starting to become noticeable, and he was sweating under his armor. "Delta! How much time to impact?"
"About one and a half seconds."
"Wha-?!"
And the pod hit dirt. After a few moments, he recuperated highly impressively quickly, and got out of the pod. He had a trip mine, two frag grenades, two smoke grenades, six mags of Sniper rounds and his personally chosen rifle from the armory, and he had his magnum and five spare mags for that, though they too had extended magazines. He checked to see if his guns were chambered, then he looked around at his environment. Dense forest. At least it isn't jungle. He thought to himself. He kissed one of the sniper mags and smiled at it, holding it as though he was genuinely in love. After shaking his head affectionately at it, he placed it with the rest and got to work.
West, after about an hour of hacking at underbrush with his custom knife, reached an already nice overlook that gave a good view of a good majority of the reactor complex. Guards were everywhere. None of them looked potent though. He glanced around at the outsides of the complex and saw an even higher point on which he could perch nicely. There. And with that one worded thought, he trekked up to the overhang.
When he got there, he realized there was a pair of armed guards approaching him. He quickly reacted, as they spotted his white armor in the small clearing he had found himself in amongst trees. Well, that and they were five yards from him. He had no choice. He flung himself at the closest guard and sliced his neck before he could raise his gun. Then, while still in full swing from the attack he made, he let go of the knife and threw it at the other, nailing him in the left eye, through his ODST visor. "Booyah." He whispered as he recovered his knife. "Did I stir up any commotion down there, Dee?" He whispered.
"None of them are any the wiser."
"Great." West answered, and continued on until he reached his destination. He put his knife away and pulled out his sniper rifle. As he went prone, he pulled some moss over him so as to hide his white suit color. "Alright, can we have a thermal view of the compound?" He asked. Delta didn't verbally respond, but instead simply activated his thermal vision. Forty guards outside. Two warthogs and a tank, he could see. Inside the complex wasn't much. It was all blocked out by the heat from the reactor. "Okay... X-ray please." After his vision was changed, he could see people everywhere within the complex. At the heart of it was a trio of guys at computer terminals, one of which had to have been the hacker.
West turned his enhanced vision off and looked around the outside some more through his rifle scope. Immediately, he picked one out of the crowd with a female body posture and energy sword. "And there's the dangerous one." He said. "Any secure comms I can use to radio home to Wash?"
"Scanning channel for any listeners... You're good to go. Speak."
"Okay, Washington. I've located two of the three high priority targets. Also, looking around, I can give you guys good areas to drop in right on them. I'll submit the data once you are ready for it so your AI can redirect your pods to the locations." He said, then laid there in wait for the cavalry.
"May as well get comfortable..."
