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    Chapter 1: Reach

    Petty Officer Mays board the pelican with five other spartans. Every spartan was wearing the same armor variant of the Moljinir Mark VI except Mays. Mays was wearing the Ghoul armor variant which IONI Director granted to him for his service with RedWatch. It was painted black with red vinyls across the body and face of the armor. There was also damages in the armor from battle, and a long deep cut across the helmet. He received this cut from a battle between a shangheli.

    The pelican thrusters ignited as it began to lift off the deck. The wings aligned its trajectory toward the large plasma corridor. One of the pilots flipped a switch and the lights transited from red to yellow. Informing the spartans to lock themselves in. Each Spartan grabbed hold of a bar near their seats and used the magnetic locks on their feet to stay put. Few minutes after the pelican adjusting its trajectory, the engines roar louder and louder as the pilot pushed the thrust handle forward.

    Flying out of the cruiser, the pelican cruises through space. Reach is just a few moments away and the pilot readjusted the engines thrusts and contacted cruiser. "Tango-4 to Motherland...we are about to enter the atmosphere and engage planetary drop. Will radio again once we land.", radioed the pilot. "Copy Tango-4.", said one of the navy personnel's.

    As the pelican dived closed into Reach atmosphere, the pilot disengage the engine thrusts and allow Reach's gravity to do the work. With the pelican free-falling into Reach, squad Omega-01 begin to discuss their orders. 2nd Lieutenant Yuno, leader of the squad, "Alright team, Captain of the Motherland has given us orders to establish a home base for the Empire on Reach. We are to make sure that there are no threats, no combatants, no insurgents, and especially no Brotherhood soldiers stationed on Reach! If there are any, we are to capture and detain. Only eliminate if ordered to. Do I make myself clear spartans?!". "Yes sir!", shouted every spartan.

    The pelican finally reaches the Mesosphere and re-engages thrusters but in reverse. As it gets closer to the stratosphere, the pelican slowly regains control and balances out. Once it balanced, the pelican flew forward toward the ground and hovered above the ground.




    "Alright Omega-01! We are approaching the LZ. I will stay at the LZ until you have successful discovered a location for HQ. Please be sure to radio in on my frequency 112.7. ", said the pilot to Omega team.

    "Understood, we'll buzz in at 1600 on the dot. If you don't hear back from us, send reinforcements.", replied Yuno.
    The spartans, one by one, disembarked from the pelican and planted their feet on the hard ground. The area surrounding them seemed to be an endless forest. Birds chirping, cicadas buzzing, and the trees leaves ruffling due to the wind.

    Mays un-holster his battle rifle from his back and held it facing the ground. Yuno also did the same and take lead as the other spartans followed him further into the forest. "Alright team, keeps your eyes up and your motion tracker on. We don't whats around here.", said Yuno.

    Everyone formed a diamond formation with each spartan looking in each direction. Mays was in the back watching out for an subtle surprises or ambush. Time draws near, and Omega team reach the first rendezvous point.

    Waterfall in the distant and about 35 acres of land to build a base. Unfortunately, is known to some dangerous creatures. Yuno pulls out an old quarter from his waist pouch and asked Mays for help. He passed Mays the coin and Mays felt confused on why the coin was handed to him.

    "Heads or Tails?", asked Yuno. "Are we really doing this right now Yuno?", replied Mays with a sigh. "Yes this is necessary.". "Fine, I choose heads.".

    Mays flipped the coin in the air with his thumb. The coin flipped 15 times before landing back down into Mays hand. He clutched his fist on the quarter and looked toward Yuno. He opened his hand and looked to see what the quarter land on. Apparently, it was heads.

    "Looks like I win.", said Mays handing back the quarter to Yuno. "Well then, looks like this area will be headquarters.", shouted Yuno.

    "Was this what it was all about? We have other checkpoints to attend to Yuno." said Mays. "I agree with Mays here Lieutenant. We have to check out the other points before claiming this one.", agreed Samantha.

    "We'll check the other points, but for now lets place a marker here.". Yuno reached into his back pouch and pulled out a device that looks like a pod connected with three legs. He slammed the device into the ground as the legs spread apart diagonally with an antenna raising from the top. A green light pulses on top of the antenna and Yuno radioed the pilot on his frequency.

    "Omega-1 to Corporal Hughes. We placed the first marker on the checkpoint. We'll be moving on to the next checkpoint. Radio back at 1600.". The pilot grabbed his radio and replied, "Copy Omega-1. Pelican will stay at LZ."

    "Alright team, let's move out to the next marker."




    Few Hours Later...

    Omega team finally made it to the second checkpoint but something was off about this area. Omega-2, Mays, went to go check out damages on the trees. Mays approached one of the damage trees and noticed slash marks from an animal and bullet penetrations in the tree bark.

    Mays looked back to one of the spartans and called him over. The spartan pulled out his shotgun and quietly rushed over to Mays. Mays asked, "You're our hunter expert. How old are these markings?". Spartan-287 holster his weapon used a special component installed in his helmet to scan the markings.

    A screen appeared on Spartan-287 visor showing an analyze of the markings with their date and speculations. "The markings are dated 3 days ago. The bullet is more than likely ammunition for a magnum. However, the scratch marks can't be identified by IONI or R.E.D.D local files. This can be a major issue, if something unknown is running around in this area."

    "Which is a sign of bad news. I couldn't see any signs of blood, but its a wreck around here.", said Spartan-287. Tree's in the area was horribly damaged by the same markings. It looked like a battle happened here, but no bodies are in sight. Whatever happened here looked like whoever was fighting the creature manage to escape; yet, they have no lead of where the missing person went.

    Mays radioed over to Yuno while walking with Spartan-287 back to the team, "Time to leave this checkpoint. There seemed to be a battle that occured here three days ago and it looked like they got away." "Then what is the issue?", replied Yuno.

    "The problem is that the creature or thing fighting whoever is unknown in our systems. We don't know what's around here or how dangerous it can be. Best we move back to the first check point.". "Agreed", replied Yuno as he ordered his team to move back to the first checkpoint.




    Omega team walked miles and passed several more damaged trees in the area. Every spartan had their guard up, aiming their weapons in every direction and watching their motion tracker. The birds continued to chirp and the wind speed died down. The sun was beginning to set and it was getting close to the radio time.

    The birds slowly stopped singing and there were ruffles in bushes and trees. Deer-like animals appeared out of no where and ran past the spartans. Like they was fleeing from something. "Something spoked them. Keep eyes are your trackers and keep a tight formation!", shouted Yuno over the comms.

    Omega team paced their steps slowly keeping watch on every tree, bush, etc. Time speeds as it reached the time to radio in to the pilot. Yuno alarm goes off as he looks toward Samantha to make the call.

    Samantha lowered her weapon while radioing the pilot, "Come in Corporal. We're heading back to LZ.". A few minutes passed and Samantha radioed again. "Come in Corporal, did you copy my last? Please respond!". Silence bestowed on the comms. Something felt wrong. Why isn't the pilot responding? Omega team sprinted to the LZ.




    We finally arrived at the LZ, but the pelican is still there. Yuno raised his fist which told us to hold our position. Yuno looked toward me and ordered for me to push up and check out the pelican. I did what I was told and carefully placing one foot infront of the other, walking over to the pelican.

    When I arrived, the back door was opened and the inside was dark. The helmet LED's activated and I could clearly see inside the ship. Each step I made I shivered in fear. Not knowing what to expect. I reached the cockpit and aimed the weapon at the pilot seat. Slowly creeping toward the seat, I quickly switched to the right of the seat to notice no one was there but the radio.

    Confusing to find out that the radio was left alone in cockpit, but we all know Corporal Hughes is not this irresponsible. Something must have happened. I exited the pelican and radioed in to Yuno. "The pelican is empty sir. No sign of Corporal Hughes, only his radio was left behind."

    "Weird but keep an eye out. We'll make our way over to you.", replied Lieutenant Yuno walking toward the pelican with the team. "Where the hell could he be? He wouldn't leave his post like this. Especially without his radio.", cried Mays. "Suspicious, is it not? There are no tearing or bearings inside the pelican. Everything is still intact. So what the hell happened?", said Samantha.

    I looked over to the team and I looked back outside. I can't believe there are no signs of Hughes anywhere. It's past the scheduled radio time and we have to contact Motherland soon. Yuno ordered us to stay put near the ship as he heads toward the cockpit to radio Motherland.

    A few minutes passed and nothing happened. It's dark out here and we have no proximity lights nor camp. I decided to leave my post for a short minute and walked over to one of the trees. I removed my helmet and took out one of my cigars with a lighter. Placing the cigar in my mouth, I flicked the lighter once at a time, trying to catch a spark. It was so dark it was hard for me to see. I flicked one more time and a flame burst out of the lighter. I held it toward my cigar as the tip of it was scorched. I inhaled once and puffed out the smoke.

    "This is one hell of a day.", I sighed inhaling the chemicals of my cigar. At that moment, I forgot about the mission and focused on myself for a change. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the disappearance of Hughes out of my head. Eventually, I snuffed out my cigar and placed it back into my pouch. Placing my helmet back on, I make may way to the pelican.

    In the time I was walking back, I tripped over a branch then pick myself back up. "Damn wildlife.". I dust the dirt off my leg and as doing so I stared at the ground and stopped. I reached down and turned on the lights on my helmet. I jumped back with fear in my chest to notice the body of Hughes covered in blood. I radio to the team, "Everyone to my location now! I found Hughes and its not good." I shouted over the comms.

    The team rushed over to my location and found me in shock as I stood over Hughes body. They looked over to see Hughes mauled to death. We could see his rib cage covered with his guts and blood. His helmet caved in with extreme force against the tree, and his left leg missing. A creature is the only thing I can think of to do something this horrific.

    Doc walked toward Hughes body and checked for a unlikely pulse. Placing both two of his fingers on his neck, he tries to feel for a pulse but he feels nothing. "He's gone. The blood is still fresh so this happened at least an hour ago. ", said Doc, one of the spartans on our team.

    "We could have noticed that.", I replied placing my hand on Hughes shoulder. I reached for his dog tags and snatched from his neck. "You'll be remembered Hughes.". Yuno walked over to me and patted my shoulder, "We need to leave this LZ as soon as possible. That thing that killed Hughes can still be here."

    "Yuno is right, we need to go.", shouted Mays gripping his rifle. Everyone equipped their weapons as we rushed past the trees to the pelican. By the time we got to the pelican, 5 red dots appeared on my motion tracker, circling our team. "We have contact surrounding us!", I yelled aiming my M122 LMG at the target location.

    More enemies started to appear on the tracker and started to make their way toward us as we ran toward the pelican. "Does anybody see them?!", yelled Samantha. "Negative Omega-4! I can't pick them up at all!", shouted Doc. Out of no where, four creatures fled their hiding spots and dashed toward Omega team from the front.

    "Contact!" yelled shouting unleashing a barrage of bullets toward the creatures. I opened firing in the direction behind Yuno, hoping to hit some of them. The others followed suit and shot in all directions in clear shots and not randomly shooting.

    One of the creatures broke through the formation and jumped on top of me. This creature was like a wolf with long sharp claws and four hinges for a mouth. It had four eyes as red as a scarlet rose and its teeth as sharp as my blade. It's claws was trying to dig into my ribs and it tried to bite my neck. I pushed it back by keeping my arm near its throat while reaching for my magnum. Doc turned around and notice the dog-like creature and shot 8 times into its back before it dropped.

    I threw the creature off my stomach and picked back up my LMG and opened fire into the crowd. They came at us in a pack and it felt endless. It was too dark to tell how many of them were their. More and more waves came, and we was running out of ammo. Yuno shouted, "Cover your eyes!", and tossed a flashbang into the air. The flashbang exploded and blinded majority of the creatures as we rushed over to the pelican.

    Once we arrived toward the pelican, Mays immediately ran toward the cockpit to activate the engines. "Everyone hold tight! We're making an emergency EVAC!". I locked my boots into the hull of the pelican and continued to open fire into the crowd. Samantha and Doc was by my side firing at the unknown enemy.

    As the ship lifted off the ground, a loud roar was heard close to the LZ and I saw trees tumbling down toward us. I yelled toward Mays, "We need to leave now!". Emerged from the forest, was a tall creature with tusks across its mouth and stood on two legs. It looked like a dinosaur. It looked toward our pelican and rushed toward it, knocking over a few dogs out the way. At a close second, Mays pulled back on the handle and the pelican shot into the air, barely missing the giant creature.

    I sighed in relief but was scared shitless to see creatures like this roam in this area around Reach. I sat down into one of the seats and took off my helmet. I reached into my side pouch to retrieve one of my cigars, not knowing that my pouch was missing.

    What the hell happen to my pouch?. I had a quick flashback to the fight with the dog and guessed it ripped off my pouch trying to go for my ribs. Damn it! I paid tons of money for those boys.

    "At least we made out of there alive.", said Samantha with a sigh of relief. "Yeah, but we lost someone...", replied Doc taking his helmet off. Doc had a curly mustache similar to the old 70's or 60's macho man posters. He spoke with a deep accent, which he picked up from his youth days in Rome. Samantha released the pressure from her helmet and placed it right beside her.

    Samantha was one of our finest soldier's in our squad. She's more straight forward and honest instead of sugar coating anything. She was born in New Mombasa in the East African Protectorate on Earth. Native girl who only knew how to get the job done.

    Then there's Yuno, our squad leader, born on Mars and joined R.E.D.D military at the age of 22 after college. We got to know him personally thoughout these years but he loves his jokes and games. Especially that quarter of his. Mays is no different but he's new to the time. I got to know him as a hard ass and a true solider of R.E.D.D. To Samantha, he is just a replacement to one of our squad mates who was K.I.A on a mission. We don't know much about Mays, but he's a good help.

    I can't forget about 287 as well. He never gives us her name nor does his files as well. Samantha tried but everything dealing with her history was locked and hidden by the Imperial Office of Naval Intelligence. She won't even speak to us majority of the time, but we noticed she's sort of close to Mays. I wonder what connection they have.

    Rambling on and on about the history of my team is the only thing I can thing of to get the death of Hughes off my mind and those damn creatures who did it. If we return, I want to slaughter all of them.

    Doc walked over to me and sat beside to hand me one of his cigars. "I thought you needed it after losing all of yours.". "Appreciate it Doc.", I said grabbing the cigar then lighting it.

    "So what happens now since our location been compromised by those creatures?", I asked letting out a puff. "We'll know once we reach Motherland. Captain we'll hand us new orders.", said Yuno walking into the cockpit to check up on Mays.

    "Hopefully the next mission is something good..", I mumbled inhaling again. My name is Jerry Hughes, brother to Corporal Andrew Hughes. I want pay back for my brother's death and I'm going to get it! I hate I couldn't lay him to rest, but I hate it worst that we had to leave him there to those demon dogs. Thinking about this pisses me off.

    Doc pats my back, "It's okay my friend. We'll come back for him and give him a proper burial.". What Doc said put a smile on my face and made me a little bit happier. I chuckled and responded, "Thank you Doc. Glad to have a team with you in it.".




    End of Chapter 1: Unknown Contact
    Last edited by Breezy; 06-14-2019 at 02:57 PM.


    "Creativity is always a leap of faith. You're faced with a blank page, blank easel, or empty stage".

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