"Alpha Company, we got a new mission." Major Steele announced.

The excitement and a few Hoo-rahs sounded through the bunker of the ODSTs of Alpha. They all love the sound of a mission.

"UNSC got an incoming distress call from the colony known as Ballast. Apparently, our alien buddies decided to pay a little visit and cause a little ruckus. By ruckus, I mean take over the colony."

Whispers spread throughout the Company. They all know what the Covenant is capable of, and they know how to stop them. In fact, they enjoy stopping them.

"Lock it up." The Major orders and everyone goes silent. "Intel shows that there are snipers located all around the colony. McKenna: we'll need you and your squad to clear them out before we drop. You'll be given 4 minutes tops."

I smiled on the inside of my helmet. "You can give us 2, Zack."

"That's Major Steele to you, Lieutenant." He informs me.

My smile turns into a grin. "You and I both know that there's nothing you can do to stop me from calling you, Zack."

A few chuckles and short laughs come from the Company. Zack barks them to quiet down again before giving his final orders.

"The Infinity will be over the drop zone in 10. Suit up and load your pods."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Everyone breaks off to suit and load up. I push off the crate I was leaning on and walked on over to him.

"You know I was just giving you a hard time, right?" I say, crossing my arms.

"I know. But it makes me look bad in front of the guys." He shifts his gaze towards his troops for a second before finally looking at me.

Zack and I go way back. We joined the UNSC when we first heard about the attack on Harvest and met at boot camp. During Boot Camp, we were paired up as a duo for many drop simulations, and we always came out on top.

Here we are on the ship, Infinity, with Zack as the commanding officer of Alpha Company and me as his second in command.

"They know that your the boss, and they respect you," I assure him. "And if I'm honest, I think they find it entertaining that I call you Zack, and you get worked up about it."

"McKenna, I do NOT get worked up about it."

"Believe me, sweetheart, you do." I laugh. "And the boys need a laugh now and then. Keeps their spirits up."

He just waves me off. "I'm assuming you want a map of the place?"

"Are you finally giving me one so that I don't have to go in blind?"

He tosses me a map reader, and I catch it. "It's not much, but it should give you a general idea."

"An idea is all I need." I put the map reader in my pocket and reached for my Sniper sitting beside him, and he grabs my arm gently. "Just be careful, Lindsey."

"I'll be fine." I open my visor and give him a reassuring smile. He returns a small smile and lets go of my arm. I proceed to pick up my sniper and close my visor. I headed over to my pod and stored it on the side of my pod's seat. I already had my pistol and extra ammo stored in case of an emergency drop.

"Drop pods dropping in 10 minutes." Ronald, the ship's A.I., announces over the speakers.

"My squad form up." I ordered. Four ODSTs form up and waiting for my orders. They are the best sharp-shooters in my company, and I've led them on countless successful missions.

We know what we're doing.

I took out the map reader and activated it. A map of the city appeared, along with 7 red dots on top of the buildings. A yellow dotted line marked out the pods' trajectory and landings.

"From the looks of it, we got seven Jackel snipers: two on the left and right buildings with three in the north tower." I look at two of my soldiers. "Walker, you take the snipers on the left. Hoffman, you take the snipers on the right."

Both of them nod in agreement, and I continued the plan. "I'll take the snipers on the north tower. O'Neal and Ryder, watch our backs."

"5 Minutes Warning Sniper 1. Get your squad into the pods!" Ronald says.

"Yeah, yeah, ok." I waved off Ronald and asked my squad. "We all know what we're doing?"

"It's not our first rodeo." Walker says confidently before heading to his pod. Ryder gives me a two-finger salute and heads to her pod, with O'Deal following behind.

"We got it." Hoffman assures me.

"I know, but it's my job to make sure." I smiled.

"We know."

We both headed to our pods and climbed in. I strapped myself to the seat and double-checked that everything was in check before signaling a marine to close my pod door. The giant windshield locks into place, and my systems come online.

"Squad, status." I ordered through comms.

"Sniper 2, ready." Walker says.

"Sniper 3, ready." Hoffman says.

"Sniper 4, ready." Ryder says.

"Sniper 5, ready." O'Neal says.

"Ronald, we're ready when you are." I told the A.I.

"Good to hear, Sniper 1, standby for the countdown."

A countdown clock appears in my HUD, starting from 30 and counting down.

30..
29..
28..
27..

"Hey O'Neal, make sure you have your barf bag ready." Walker joked.

26..
25..
24..
23..

"That was only one time!" O'Neal defended.

22..
21..
20..
19..

"One time too many." Laughed Hoffman. "He's not going to let you forget."

18..
17..
16..
15..

"You bet I won't!" Walker smirked.

14..
13..
12..
11..
10..

"Dude, come onnn." O'Neal pouts.

9..
8..
7..
6..

"I have no idea how I can put up with you two." Ryder says jokingly.

5..
4..
3..

"Alright, settle down." I laughed. "Get ready to drop."

2..
1..

In a lightning-fast motion, Walker's pod drops first. Then Hoffman's. Then Ryder's. Then O'Neal's.

Then finally.. mine.

The pod slips away from the ship and starts to plummet towards the planet's atmosphere. I can feel it shaking as it entered, and orange begins to appear at the bottom of the glass door.

"Release the 'shoot on my mark. Sync?" I ordered while judging the area around me.

"Sync."

I waited for the orange to become darker, more towards a reddish-orange. Once it did, I gave the order. "Mark!"

All five of us pull a level on our left, and a metal rod sticks up. A small plus-shaped "parachute" folds out, slowing our descent before breaking off.

"T-minus 10 seconds to surface." Ryder reports.

"Ready your weapons. Let's make this quick and easy." I ordered.

The city came into view, and seconds later, my pod lands heavily in the middle of an intersection. I quickly pop open my pod, sending the windshield down to the ground. I grabbed my Sniper and jumped out. I focused my Sniper's sights on the North tower as planned.

But there was nothing.

"What?" I zoomed in on the tower, scanning for any signs of life or movement, but there wasn't any.

"Did any of you find your snipers?" I asked, turning to my team.

"No." Walker answers.

"Was the intel wrong?" Hoffman asks, lowering her sniper.

"Possible.. but they also could have gotten a change of orders by their higher-ups." I replied.

"So.. what now?" O'Neal asks.

"Ryder, radio Infinity that the coast is clear, but the Covenant is up to something, and we found no snipers." I ordered. She gives me a nod and puts two fingers on her helmet comm. "They're prepping the Company." She reports.

I pulled out the map again and activated it. The seven sniper dots appear, and I looked at the area around us. There's something wrong here.

"It doesn't make sense," Hoffman says, walking up beside me. "If the Covenant has taken over the colony, they would want to protect their claim, right?"

I nod my head. "Yes unless-"

"CONTACT."

A sniper round goes off. Hoffman and I turn out attention to its source, our own snipers up and ready to fire.

O'Neal had his sniper raised at an Elite, whose shields were depleted by the shot. He fires a second round to its head, and the alien falls to the ground dead.

"What the- where did he come from?" Walker asks as he scans the area for any more Covenant.

I start to pick up red on my motion trackers. It circled all around the 5 yellow dots...

"No..." They didn't take over the colony just because they were weak. It was to make it a trap for us.

"Tight circle. Now." I ordered. They do as I say, and we had our back to each other, watching for any movement on our side.

"Contact! 5 o'clock!" Sniper shots from Ryder and Walker sounded. I dared to look over my shoulder at them and saw a mass of Covenant marching towards them.

That's.. not good.

"Infinity, this is Sniper 1. We need those ODSTs on the ground now!" I commed, but all I get is static. They're jamming the radios.

"More Covenant, 11 o'clock!" Yelled O'Neal.

I raised my sniper in the direction and saw an Elite Zealot with an energy sword charging towards us with an army of Grunts and Jackels behind it.

I unclipped a grenade from my utility belt and pulled the pin.

"One Mississippi... Two Mississippi..." I counted to myself before throwing the grenade. It exploded as it makes contact with the ground near a pack of Grunts, making their bodies flying through the air.

O'Neal focused on shooting the Zealot in an attempt to break its shield, but it doesn't work.

Instead, the Zealot lunges at me with his sword. I ducked under the swipe and pulled out my knife. I attempt a swing towards his side but the Zealot dodges and delivers a powerful spin kick to my chest that sends me flying into a cement wall with so much force that it cracked.

I feel the pain growing on the back of my head. A concussion from the impact, I presume. I dropped down to my hands and knees on the ground and clutched my side. Pain spreads throughout my body, mainly my side. I must have also gotten a few broken ribs from the kick.. this can't be good.

I hear a scream and lookup. I watched in horror as the Zealot had its sword through Hoffman's body and then threw her to the ground like a Ragdoll.

"HOFFMAN NO." I screamed. I struggled to get up, but I only fell again.

"ALL OF YOU RUN!" I ordered, but they were too busy trying to escape the Zealot and the rest of the surprise party.

I watched with tears flooding in my eyes as Walker falls after wrestling with an Elite, Ryder getting blown to bits by a group of suicide Grunts, and O'Neal getting sliced with the Energy Sword.

My team.. is gone.

I take my Magnum from my side holster and try to stand up. I managed to get myself on my feet, only to be forced against the wall again. The Zealot tightens his grip on my throat, causing me to choke. I tried to claw away it's hand, but I was too weak.

The Zealot studies me closely then lifts his sword to finish me off. I closed my eyes in fear.

This is it. This is how I'm going to die. Leading my team to their deaths.. and mine.

Loud crashes sounded behind the alien, and he looks back to see what it was and loosening the choke it had on me. I used the wall as a support and kicked it right in the stomach area with both of my feet, causing it to stagger back and let go of me.

I gasp and fell back to the ground. I tore off my helmet and coughed up blood. My vision starts to become blurry as I hear gunfire all around me.

"Lindsey? Lindsey! Can you hear me?" A voice yelled as I feel myself start to drift off. My body gives up, and I lay flat on my stomach as my head spins from lack of blood...

"Lin, stay with me." I felt a hand touch the back of my head and then pull away. "Crap. Infinity, I need a medic NOW."

That's when everything goes black.