(Jenkins Pov)
'Oh my God, the rumors were true,' I thought as the pack of giants made their way from the far door.
Was the room completely silent except for the clanks of their metal armor? I was unsure what exactly it was because the metal around their feet looked nothing like boots.
Everyone moved out of the way, clearing a path, and each set of eyes was watching the five in front of us.
I swallowed hard as I realized that the pack was headed right toward us. As they approached, I took small steps backward to move away from them, but stopped as I glanced at Johnson.
The entire platoon seemed stunned by these guys, but Johnson just looked amused. He had his confident smirk as he watched the scene.
When the group finally stopped at a spot beside us, there was complete quiet in the room. One of the members leaned against the wall while the others stood, but they were all concentrated on the second-tallest of the group. From where I stood, I saw that his shoulder armor had a Greek Alpha painted onto it, and a number in white on his chest.
003
"Don't mind us," a female voice suddenly said, grabbing my attention. Looking closely, I saw one of the things turned around, "Continue your conversations. We don't bite,"
With some maneuvering, I spotted the number on the female's armor:
065
Slowly, noise returned to the room as conversations picked up where they left off, but there still remained a wariness in the air.
"That's better than last time," another member of the fire team said, "Last time they all watched as we spoke in a corner," another male member said, and I caught his number:
052
"Who cares its better that they stay out of our way anyway," a brash female voice said from her position against the wall of the briefing room.
023
"Don't be too hard on them, Daisy," a calmer feminine voice spoke, "We are on the same team after all."
141
A snort came from the woman designated 023, "Then they need to pull more of their weight. What do you think, Dave-?"
They turned to the one closest to us, and my heart jumped as I noticed he had been staring in our direction. Specifically, he seemed to be peering down at a tag on the Sergeant's BDU.
"Johnson," he said before lifting his visor to what I could only assume was to look him in the eyes, "Are you Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson? The one who took part in the first battle of Harvest and the battle of Zhoist a few years ago?"
The Sergeant half laughed in amusement, "Last I checked, and who are you if you don't mind me asking?"
My eyes slightly widened as the giant lifted his hands up to his helmet before removing it. Behind the helmet was… a face younger than my own. With pale white skin, the kind that had never seen the sun, and dark brown hair, the "giant" in the armor looked like he was in his late teens. His hair was short, but a tad bit longer than a regular high-and-tight.
His green eyes seemed to bore holes through whatever they looked at. It was like watching a machine analyze its surroundings as it formed different strategies and battle plans.
He stretched out a hand to which Johnson accepted, forming a handshake, "I am Sierra Zero-Zero-Three (S-003). You can call me David. I'm Alpha One." he turned around, pointing to the female across from him.
She took her helmet, revealing aristocratic features and platinum colored long hair, "That's Cal, Alpha Two,"
He nodded to two other females, one with slightly shorter golden blond hair, and the other with auburn hair tied into a ponytail, "Daisy, Sheila, Alpha Three and Four."
Lastly, he motioned to the tallest of the group, who revealed a buzz-cut head and a long scar that ran down his right eye in a diagonal, "And that's Jorge Alpha Five."
Surprisingly, arguably the scariest one gave a small smile and nodded in our direction.
He turned back to Johnson, "I heard you worked well with John back above Zhoist. I am glad to have your experience for this mission."
"You mean Master Chief Petty Officer John One-One-Seven?" he asked, nodding to himself, "Yeah, he had a good head on his shoulders, and now that I think about it, he mentioned you,"
"Wait, John's a Master Chief already? Wasn't he only a Petty Officer First Class?" the one called Sheila spoke up.
"He got a three rank bump by Colonel Marmon Crowther, I was there," Johnson confirmed.
That drew a set of looks from the other soldiers, "He passed you, Dave," Jorge said with a slight smirk.
"He's right," Sheila said again, "You really gotta step up your game."
Another snort came from Daisy against the wall, "As if he cares. Dave would probably turn it down anyway."
"Actually, unlike with John's case with the NAVCOM ranks, there has never been a three rank bump in UNICOM-" Cal began to clarify
"Cal?"
"What?"
"No one likes a smartass,"
Sheila snorted and shrugged, "I don't know Daisy. Maybe John's just a better leader,"
Jorge chuckled in a deep tone, "There hasn't been anyone in the Navy to get a three rank bump to E-9 besides John, too."
Whether David was embarrassed or not, his face didn't show. "Knock it off, you four," he said over his shoulder.
'It's like I am watching a bunch of siblings,' I remarked internally as I stood in disbelief at the people in front of me.
I turned slowly to Johnson beside me. I exaggerated the motion to show my perplexity at the situation unfolding in front of me.
In the face of the absurdity, he only shrugged with a clear lack of concern.
"COMMANDER ON DECK!" A shout came from near the door as everyone stood at attention facing the direction from which the admiral walked in.
"At ease and fall in," the calm voice of Preston Cole said, beginning the waltz of shuffling boots. All members of the upcoming operation moved to their juxtaposed lines in front of a briefing board raised on a small stage.
When all was said and done, the soldiers were segmented. On one side, the five Spartans stood side-by-side with David (Alpha 1) on the left going toward Jorge (Alpha 5) on the far end. Beside the Spartans were the ODSTs standing similarly in shoulder-to-shoulder rows in a neat formation.
In front of the Preston, Cole had made his way to the stage, a naval crewman stood in the background of the stage as an assistant for the presentation.
'Let's see what suicide mission they have for us,' I thought eagerly as lights in the room dimmed for the holograms and images.
======================================================================
(3rd Pov)
"Pardon my lateness, but I was doing the last bits of preparation for my part in this operation," Cole led with speaking as he noted the ten-minute tardy showing on his wrist watch.
The board behind him flickered to life. Cole, a man noted for his to-the-point demeanor, immediately jumped into the briefing, "With that out of the way. Welcome to Operation: LAST RESPECTS, ladies and gentlemen,"
"Operation: LAST RESPECTS is straightforward but is of vital importance to not only Harvest but the larger UNSC and other worlds. The outcome of this operation could make or break us," Cole spoke stoically
He paused before gesturing to the soldiers in front of him, "That is why the Office of Naval Intelligence brought in the best in this quadrant to take part in this operation."
"HOORAH," the ODSTs collectively chirped out as they smirked with pride.
Meanwhile, the Spartans beside them remained emotionless. It was as if they hadn't even heard the compliment from the Admiral.
Preston held a hand up to silence the now eager shock troopers, "Now, the overall mission for this operation is that you, 'Task Force Eagle', will be destroying a series of sensitive facilities through torch and burn jobs. But not before you make sure all important data is eliminated from any and all systems,"
The board behind him flashed, showing a map of the surface of Harvest with five red circles scattered throughout the main continent, "Specifically, ONI has designated five installations to be terminated."
"For each of these, you will use locally sourced munitions from these complexes to put them out of commission, and before you ask, there will be no air support for this operation."
"Seriously?" A whisper from among the crowd could barely be heard as the enlisted members of the Marine Corps looked increasingly displeased.
"Each of these bases is deep underground with ratings to withstand any form of conventional bunker-busting bombs we might have. Thereby causing any help from shortswords to be useless,"
"For this mission, Alpha One or Sierra Zero-Zero-Three will be leading, however because of Alpha team's nature to move independently. Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson will lead the ODST strike force under the call sign Eagle-One when separated from S-003."
The board behind the Admiral died as the lights began to brighten back to their original light level. "The first of these facilities will be hit ASAP following the conclusion of this briefing."
"Are there any questions?" he asked as ODSTs began to speak among one another
A hand went up from an ODST in the back, "Uh, if all we are doing is effectively destroying the sites. Then why not just use a couple of nukes and save the headache?"
There was a pause from the Admiral as he considered what to say until he finally sighed, "What I am about to say is classified and does not leave this room. Otherwise, I will have whoever's ass that decided to leak it courtmartialed and in front of a firing line for treason. Am I understood?" his tone did not change.
There was a broad array of verbal affirmations from the ODSTs, while the Spartans simply nodded, not taking their eyes off the Admiral.
"The truth is that the UNSC is running through nuclear weapons faster than we can produce them. At current rates, estimates put us out of stock somewhere around mid 2535. Therefore, we must reuse whatever we can to make this mission work."
His words drained the color out of many ODST members. For all they knew, besides MAC rounds, nukes were the only thing capable of destroying Covenant ships. Hearing that one of their only two options was drying up like a puddle in a desert only intensified their unease.
With silence settling into the room and no more apparent questions, Cole looked back down at his watch, "If that is all, then report to the hangar for transport. During this mission, you will be moved with the use of S-117 Nightowls."
"To keep you all from being buried in the bases by Covenant naval assets, battle group X-ray will be engaging them and tying any ships they have out of orbit. And so do not expect any word from us while the mission is ongoing."
"If there is nothing else, then you are dismissed."