[HALO] Out of the Frying Pan and into The Fire

[sgtkill]

Shifty walks over and gives the warrant officer a nod."Okay we got here a-grabs crate-SRS99C-S2 AMB Sniper Rifle with 8 clips of ammo, M7S Caseless SMG with 5 clips of ammo, a Topographic map, 2 frag grenades, 1 stun grenade, Your special PDA, All purpose Sniping scope, and a Flash-and-suppression barrel."He gives shifty the crate and grabs another."Now its Private Alex "Tech" Hartman's turn."Tech walks over and asks"What kind of explosives do I get?"The Warrant officer smiles and replies"You get a MA5B with 8 clips, a M7S Caseless SMG with 5 clips, 5 Frag and 4 Stun grenades, a half a kilo block of C-12, 2 Lotus Anti-Tank mines, detonator caps, and a detonator remote."Tech laughs and grabs his crate. The warrant officer struggles with his next crate, must be Tiny's crate."Private First Class Tim "Tiny" McKinsley, come on down!"Tiny comes over nd gives a slight nod followed by a grunt."Military says, you get a XBR55 with 8 clips, a M6C with 5 clips, a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher with 7 loads of rockets, 2 frag grenades, 1 stun grenade, and your armor has additional recoil dampeners."Tiny lifts the crate as if it were light and walks away. The warrant officer brings up the last crate."Last but not least, we have Corporal Jimmy "Dragoon" Marshal."

[Nightmare Zero]

"Hey Jim, hows the family?" I say as I pass over a bottle to him. "Chardonnay 2410. A good year I hear."

[sgtkill]

"Doing good, me and my wife's 25th anniversary is next week and I got shore leave."He leans over and whispers."Every HEV has an extra layer of lead foil and Ceramic plates. Everyone got an extra 3 clips of main weapon ammo and 2 clips extra of secondary weapon ammo, and an extra frag grenade. Tiny got an extra load of rockets and Tech got 2 more stun grenades."He slides the crate."You got a MA5B with 8 clips of ammo, a M6D PDW with 5 clips of ammo, 2 frag grenades, 3 stun grenades, a hotwire kit, and a mechanics tool kit."

[Nightmare Zero]

"Excellent, I'll try to get that Chardonnay 2015 you like so much next time, so keep that battle ship armor warm for us." He turns to the lieutenant and says, "You have to know what to get to get what you know."

[sgtkill]

The Lieutenant laughs."That violates so many regulations. But I think I can say I never saw a thing since you did it for the whole team."After gathering all the gear, they suit up in your standard ODST body suits and head to the launch room. When they get there they hear over the intercom."Five minutes until we drop out of Slipspace. All hands are to report to their stations, combat status Alpha."The lieutenant smiles."Its party time gentlemen. check your HEVs, I want to make sure everything is in there."

Now your HEVs have 2 extra clips of your main rifle ammo, 2 days worth of rations, and a short-wave radio stored in it already. There are also compartments to store your gear during the drop. If you drop into a hot zone, the HEV can be used as a modified cover. Once in decent, you are to lock onto the Lieutenants trajectory and adjust your course so you land relatively near him.

[Nightmare Zero]

I drop off my gear and do quick system check on all of the HEV's transponder radios and tracking radars and help make final launch checks on all HEV's he has time for, before locking himself in my own. (I figure I have a better chance of finding something wrong than any of y'all do, and I'm probably the one who can stay the closes to the target with out them.)

[sgtkill]

A panel comes to alive next to the door. Its an image of a Young man, the insignia on his shoulder is one of a Ship Commander."ODSTs, we found a safe zone for you to drop in. ETA until we are in position is in two minutes. Get strapped in and ready to launch on my cue.The panel turns off. Everyone gets into their pods and straps in. The Lieutenant barks over the Squad's comm."Alright gentlemen, its show time. Any last words?"Everyone says in unison."Feet First into hell!"The COMM channel spurts a burst of static and then the same man's voice barks into everyone's ears."Okay we are in position, launching pods. Good Luck down there and God speed."The pods shudder and the g-forces increase as you are shot several hundred mile per hour to the Planet's surface. The Lieutenant barks over the COMM."Okay everyone, align to my trajectory. Lets not get split up in the first minute of this mission."

[Sutton]

Aiegh! That's loud.

He adjusts his headset volume as he begins inputting the trajectory calculations.

"This is Bones - trajectory is locked in, over. Detailed vector data should be on your console, over."

Okay, now I need to just calm down and wait for the ride to end - DAMN that's bad phrasing. Just stay calm, you'll be on the ground in one piece soon. Save the worrying for the field, soldier. This is just a skydive, through Hell though it may be.

You've done this enough before you shouldn't be worrying... and yet, you do every single time. I guess I'm just like that.

[sgtkill]

There is a load pop as the parachutes and ceramic brakes open. The Lieutenant says."Looks like everyone isn't in danger of burning up. All chutes and air brakes deployed nicely. Look like we are in for a soft landing. 100m to the planet's surface, decent seems normal. Flawless jump ODS-"You can hear a loud snap over the COMM channel and recognize the Lieutenants voice."My parachute snapped. Air brakes are holding though."A loud thud can be heard, but over the come there is only static. Each pod hits the earth with a lesser thud, a good sign that everyone else had no troubles. Each member quickly grabs their gear and blows the door. They landed in a grassy field, about 20 ms long. Everyone can see 5 other pods in the field.

[Sutton]

Okay... you're safe, nothing to worry about. Now let's get ready and take this war to- shit.

"Lieutenant! LIEUTENA- No response. This is Bones - Dragoon, Shifty, Tech, I need you to fan out and secure the LZ. Tiny, I need you to meet me at the Lieutenant's pod."

He slings his rifle over his shoulder and grabs his medical kit, taking off towards where the lieutenant crashed at a dead run.

[Nightmare Zero]

I dash over to the Lieutenant' HEV and hit the emergency panel then hit the override switch and pop it open.

[sgtkill]

Tiny sees Dragoon pop the door then goes off to secure the perimeter. By the time Bones gets there he hears over the COMM from all three."Perimeter secure, Sir."When Dragoon and Bones looks into the pod, the Lieutenant looks limp. But a quick glance at his PDA confirms hes alive, probably unconscious. He is in shock, however.

Bones will need to use his hand-held MRI to figure out what exactly is wrong with him.

[Sutton]

Okay, he's in shock - need to scan.

Bones grabs the scanner out of his kit and then begins taking measurements, focusing first on the head and torso.[/i]

[Nightmare Zero]

I scan the HEV to try and determine what went wrong and figure out what caused the malfunction.

[sgtkill]

You see that his neck has suffered a case of whip-lash, probably because he was hurtling towards the ground at 30m per hour. He has very slight internal bleeding in the back of his head. Nothing to worry about for the most part. Seems like his helmet saved his life. There is some internal bleeding in his stomach area, extreme slowing down does that too you. His left forearm has a hair line fracture. Seems the suit took most of the impact. Without it he would have been dead.

As for the HEV, it seems that the malfunction was the parachute. 1 of the 2 lines snapped. A very rare malfunction since the cables are solid titanium-A.