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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 2: Burdens

Liam trudged along, walking away from the site of the fight he had accidently participated in. It looked like he had unwittingly assisted one of these alien factions which's effects remained to be seen. But he tried to put that behind him, he still had a mission to accomplish, the crew of the raven needed extraction. He would just leave that little part out of his debrief. The ODST paused in his hike and popped the seals on his helmet. He slid it off his head and belted it to his waist, reaching for the canteen of water hooked to his side.

With a tired exhale, he twisted the cap and guzzled down some of the hot water, letting it trickle down his throat. With a semi-content sigh, he closed the canteen and returned it to his side, wiping his sweat stained brow with an armored glove and flicking the salty liquid onto the blistering hot sand. He would've much rather have ice cold water, but in this desert heat, that was a luxury he had to do without.

Belting his helmet to his side temporarily, he opened the casing for his TACPAD and checked how close he was to his destination. Liam gauged the distance and calculated how long it would take to arrive. By the looks of it, he was about a solid thirty to forty minutes out at his current pace. He would have made it far sooner but he took the detour. He slapped closed the TACPAD and slipped his helmet back on, grateful that it provided some protection from the concentrated light and heat.

The ODST picked up the rifle leaning on his leg and resumed walking, heading towards a small dune of dark golden sand and sliding down it carefully using his free hand as support. Liam just knew that sand would find a way in his armor and it would be a pain in the ass to remove. But he didn't become a soldier for ease and luxury. He became a soldier to follow in his father's footsteps and his father before him. His family had fought, bled, and died for the UNSC since its inception and he was not about to break the chain. He had immense pride for his duty, and was honored that he was able to do his part for humanity. Although his father didn't live long enough to see his sons enlist, he knew that he was smiling from up high.

Liam stopped sliding as his plated boots landed flatly on the sand below the dune, stepping away and resuming his journey. As he marched, he thought about how strange all of this was. He was still trying to get over the fact that they had unwittingly discovered an alien race, or maybe races considering the different species he saw so far. Yet perhaps what was the most surprising was that they were not something strange and unknown, but familiar. They looked, for all intents and purposes, like any other animal from earth and the colonies. It was just that they walked on two legs instead of four, and that was the part that most baffled the soldier. But then again he supposed humans were related to apes and most believed it was just natural evolution. So it was reasonable and not impossible to believe that the same thing happened for them.

Liam's brain was swarming with questions when he heard a faint scuffling from behind him. Immediately he brought the large sniper rifle into both of his hands and swerved to face his rear, scoping out the dune he slid down. But all he could see was a small side of the dune slide down, as if something had just disturbed it. His instincts went on alert and he fingered the trigger softly, ready to squeeze. He checked his motion tracker and boosted it from twenty-five meters to fifty. But it didn't pick up anything strange. The ODST stood in place for another minute before shrugging his shoulders and turning to resume his trek.

"Damn place must be getting to me." He muttered to himself.

Fox exhaled heavily in relief and leaned back on the dune. They had almost been discovered but it looked like they managed to avoid detection. His look of relief immediately turned to mild frustration as he turned to the one who had almost blown it for them.

Falco withered from all the angry glances. "Sorry, I slipped." He whispered softly and smiled cheekily.

"You almost got us caught bird brain!" Miyu hissed in annoyance as she flicked her ears in agitation.

"Well weren't we supposed to confront this thing anyways?" The avian demanded with a defensive tone. "So what if he or she or whoever the hell that thing is saw us?"

"Yeah..." Fox replied after a moment of consideration. "But there are better ways of doing that then literally falling onto them."

"We can't keep trailing them forever; they're bound to catch us eventually." Krystal informed worriedly.

"We're just going to do this until I can come up with a better plan." The vulpine assured his friends.

"It might be too late for that." Arden cut in quietly and with a hint of finality in his gruff voice.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked in confusion as he turned towards the wolf.

Arden pointed to the left and Fox turned his muzzle and froze in shock when he saw the black armored figure standing above them, aiming down with that incredibly large rifle. He hadn't even heard him approach!

"Well shit..." Falco muttered with a surprisingly amount of placidity. "What do we do now?"

"Looks like we have to introduce ourselves..." Fox replied as he slowly stood up, making the figure tense and point the intimidatingly large barrel at the nervous vulpine. "Uh...hi there...." He greeted weakly, doing his best to smile as friendly and unthreatening as possible. It would please the Fox greatly to not have his head blown off.

Liam stared down at the ten aliens crouched around the dune as they stared back up at him nervously. (Or at least he thought they were nervous, he couldn't really tell.) The soldier was glad that he was sufficiently paranoid enough to circle back and do a double check. Yet as glad as he was that he had done that, there arose a problem. What was he going to do now? He observed them all and saw that they were a variety of species. One looked like a frog or a toad, and looked about as out of place as one could expect. Then there was a wolf, a feline, and a pair of canines in some sort of dark green armor. Liam was most wary of them. After them there were the two foxes, one reddish orange and the other was blue for some strange reason with white tribal style markings forming a pattern in what he assumed to be her fur. The last three consisted of a red and blue bird, a pure white spaniel, and an orange and black spotted lynx with incredibly long ears.

One of the aliens moved, the same one he saw earlier, and he instantly sighted it, tensing up for a possible attack. Liam was not willing to take any chances with them, he was outnumbered, ten-to-one here. And at the moment he held the advantage, something he would very much like to keep. The alien curved its muzzle into what Liam perceived as a grin, or perhaps a snarl, and spoke in a mild tone. But whatever it was saying didn't register to him, it sounded like a combination of barks and growls, supported by an undertone of something he could not quite identify. But then again he wasn't a linguist and so didn't try to understand what they were saying. Instead he gestured his gun rather pointedly in an obvious order to sit back down.

"Get down!" He barked fiercely in an authoritative manner that he was sure the fox creature would understand. The vulpine like alien flinched a little and nodded. The gesture and tone crossing any language barrier they might have. The ODST was uncertain as to what he was going to do now. He couldn't sit here all day and baby them. He still had to finish his mission. And that was on a very short time frame. He supposed that he could always take them prisoner, but that would be a lot of work for a lone ODST to handle even one with the training and experience that he had.

Fox cringed and dropped his friendly smile at the obvious growl and sway of the figure's weapon. Whoever they were they spoke a language that he didn't understand. And now that he thought about it and got a better look at the person in question. He noticed that they were wearing bulky and foreign armor with weapons that he had never seen before. Its head was also concealed behind a full helmet with what looked like a black opaque visor and he didn't see a tail on its rear. It was quite possible that they were dealing with an alien. And yet...what the hell was an alien doing in the deserts of Papetoon? Especially considering that they were currently embroiled in a war. He gave brief consideration to the possibility that it was working with the venomians but dashed that after recalling that it had killed some just before this encounter.

The vulpine sat back down and tried to think of a way to get out of this situation. They could always overpower it, but after seeing that rifle in action and the accuracy of the shooter. He was not too eager to do that. Someone would undoubtedly get killed. Fox chanced a glance at his friends and saw that they were all sitting their uncomfortably, weapons close by and yet out of reach.

Falco looked about ready to jump the alien, and so did the marines, but Fox gave them a quick negative shake of his muzzle. He still wanted to solve this in a diplomatic fashion, but the language barrier was complicating and making that an impossibility.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in his brain and Fox looked to Krystal. The vixen was looking up at the alien warrior with both fright and intrigue. She was telepathic, so it was possible that she could maybe bridge their languages somehow.

The azure vixen turned to Fox and nodded, understanding what he was thinking. She stood up slowly and turned to face the alien, making it growl again in its strange language and aim its weapon at her. All the other watched, waiting to see what would happen next.

Liam felt a pang of uncertainty as the blue fox stood up and began to look at him intently. She walked towards him and the ODST found himself backing up slightly. As much as his instincts screamed at him to, he couldn't find it in himself to pull the trigger. And as the cobalt vixen reached her small paws out towards him, he felt genuine fear. And it took a lot to frighten the ODST. He couldn't move his arms; as if something was preventing his brain from carrying out the commands he wanted it to. If he had control of his body, he would have shoved her back and quite possible opened fire on her and the lot of them.

The ODST felt her paws as they planted themselves firmly and softly onto the sides of his helmet and she stared right into his eyes past the impenetrable visor. She spoke in a soft tongue that sounded as if it was in a completely different dialect. And almost instantly after she began to speak he felt a searing pain in his brain as he was overloaded with what seemed like a thousand strange voices barking and howling all at once. He finally managed to tear himself away from her and stumbled backwards, dropping his sniper rifle carelessly and cradling his helmet, screaming in pain as he fell to his knees. His mind was a roaring whirlwind of fiery agony. What the hell that alien bitch done to him?!

At last he felt as if he couldn't take it anymore, the helmet became constrictive and overburdening. Liam ripped the helm off his head, flinging it to the ground and holding his exposed temples as he tried to ride out the pain. As the pain receded, the animal like noises assaulting his mind began to fade and he started to understand them. Eventually, minutes later the pain and voices disappeared completely and he regained sense of where he was and found that he was on the ground.

Groaning, he clawed himself to his feet and swayed woozily. But that didn't stop him from ripping a pistol from its holster and shook the gun accusingly at the vixen, itching to pull the trigger. "What the fuck did you do to me?!" He snarled in rage, spittle flying from his mouth.

Krystal was shocked that the gift off tongues had caused such an excruciating and violent reaction. She felt a wave of guilt and shame wash over her. It had not been her intention to cause such obvious agony. The vixen shivered as she recalled the agonizing cries the alien had uttered moments before. Her ears pinned back and her tail flagged as she took in its piteous state on the ground. The brutal side effects had not been her intention at all. She was tempted to go over and help the alien, but it started to move before she did.

The alien unsteadily clambered to its feet and she got a good look at its face. For some reason, she knew that it was in fact a he, and she was also taken back by his appearance. He was surprisingly handsome despite that he had no fur and instead was covered in tan flesh. He had a strong square jaw and rough features. It was as if his face was carved from a block of stone, and he had short blond fur atop his head and sprinkled on his chin and cheeks. And the fur on top of his head stopped just below his ears that stuck to the side of his head. He also sported a pair of icy blue eyes...that glared daggers intensely at her.

The alien whipped a large black handgun from a holster at his side and stabbed it in her direction as he shouted at her furiously. "What the fuck did you do to me?!" He snarled in perfect lylatian which meant that her gift had at least worked after all the pain it caused him. Yet it would be hard to explain all of this, but she would do her best to try.

"I gave you the gift of tongues." Krystal answered his fuming question with placid serenity. But on the inside she was swirling with emotions. She was afraid that he would just shoot her after all she caused him.

The alien went silent, staring at her intently as he realized that he had just understood her. "Gift of tongues..." He muttered to himself, lowering the pistol but a hairsbreadth as he looked down in confusion.

"It allows you to understand our language and I yours." She answered his unspoken question and tried to get a read off his mind. Krystal was surprised when her attempt was denied firmly, blocked by a protective wall that she had not been expecting to see. For some reason she could not read his mind, it was guarded heavily. He must have had a surprising amount of mental fortitude to passively resist her propping tendrils.

The alien looked back up with an odd expression. "So...you can understand me? And I can understand all of you? How is that possible?"

She smiled softly and curled her tail. "I am a telepath, and I went into your mind and gave it to you. Imagine that I downloaded a new software patch, it's kinda like that."

"Surprisingly adept analogy..." The alien grunted to himself. "But telepath...?"

"Yes." She affirmed, inclining her muzzle delicately.

The alien seemed to mull that over before shrugging and scoffing lightly. "At the moment after all that I'm willing to believe you. But don't think all of this will change anything." He warned and raised his handgun back up a fraction. "I don't care that you're aliens and I don't care what you did. I have a mission to accomplish and you are impeding that. Why were you following me?" He demanded roughly, a gleam of irritation and anger in his cold blue eyes.

Krystal gulped at his unbending tone and threating weapon and was quick to explain. "We were curious. You intervened earlier and we wanted to know who you were. And we happen to be on a mission as well."

The alien shook his head. "What I did was a mistake, I thought you were someone else and I made a quick and flawed decision."

"Either way, we are indebted to you for helping us." She replied with a small grin.

The alien scoffed crudely and leaned down to pick up his discarded helmet, making sure to keep his sidearm trained on the center of her chest as he lifted it up and clipped it on a hook sticking out of his belt. "Don't care. What I do care about is that you are interfering with my business."

"What is your business?" She asked curiously.

He glared at her as he slowly walked over to his large rifle and picked it up in his free hand. "What makes you think I would tell you? You and your friends are unknown variables. I know nothing about you and you know nothing about me. I don't know you and I sure as hell don't trust you. It's nice and all that you gave me this gift as you so call that traumatic experience." He scowled and slung the rifle onto his shoulder easily. "But that doesn't mean jack shit. The only reason that I'm, not killing you and your friends is that you haven't done anything to me yet. Now, since you all know who I am you can leave me the fuck alone." He muttered, holstering his sidearm as he turned turned, dismissively walking back from where he came.

Krystal watched the gruff alien depart and sighed heavily as she turned to her friends.

Fox and the others had sat in stony silence as the vixen and alien conversed and now that he was gone, they found their voices. "Well, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Fay murmured sullenly as her floppy ears sagged.

"I think that first contact went rather well." Falco said with a disparaging smirk. "I mean he said he wasn't going to kill all of us and basically told us to collectively fuck off. But I think it went well. So Fox...still dead set on following the pissed off alien?"

The dark orange furred vulpine pursed his muzzle in a frown as he looked at his antagonistic feathered friend. "Yes, we just made first contact with an alien and we can't just let him walk off. We have no idea what he's doing here and it might be the best thing for the moment. Unless of course you want to walk back and go tell the venomians that you surrender. I'm sure they would love to have a chat with you."

Falco's smirk faded and he grumbled quietly to himself, one upped by the cunning vulpine.

Fox turned away from the bird and towards his friends and Arden's squad. "We really have no other choice."

"I know Fox." Miyu sighed. "But that doesn't mean we have to like it."

"We've got nothing better to do." Arden added as he scratched under his furred chin. "And I rather not let that alien walk around without supervision, especially since we're in the middle of a war."

"We could at least warn him about the venomians." Slippy pipped in with a squeak. "I know those slimeballs wouldn't hesitate to kill him, alien or not."

"Slippy is right." Krystal nodded firmly and picked her staff up off the ground. "We owe him a favor and should warn him."

Fox saw that they were all relatively on board (Falco excluded). "Right then, let's get moving before he gets too far away!" Fox jumped to his feet and climbed up the small indentation in the dune they had been laying in.

Liam strode diligently across the sands, boots crunching as he determinedly plodded onwards. He found himself conflicted with an almost incomprehensible flurry of emotions. He was still uncertain what to think about the aliens he had encountered. They were strange, especially that vixen. He was still unclear of what exactly she had done to him. What he did know was that it hurt like bitch and he was still carrying around a decently sized migraine. He had thrown his helmet back on a few minutes ago and set the polarization level high enough so that the sunlight wouldn't hurt too much, but that only worked so well.

But at least he didn't have to worry about them anymore. He left them to their own devices and went back to his mission. It was his hope that they would wander off somewhere else where they would not be his problem. True, they hadn't really done anything wrong, but that didn't mean he had to want them around. They were aliens after all, and as such, their motives were bound to be alien in nature. They could do anything for any reason. They were about as predictable as the ocean, and quite possibly just as deadly. What's to say that they wouldn't just come back and try to kill him? They certainly had the numbers for it he thought grimly.

The soldier took a moment to observe his surroundings. It all looked the same to him, kilometers upon kilometers of unending desert filled with mounds of dark auburn rocks and small tricky fissures. So far he had only seen one aspect of alien wildlife, a six legged dark green lizard that was sunbathing on a rectangular slab of stone. Thankfully it was only about the size of his boot so he wasn't overly concerned about getting attacked. Besides, it scurried off when he had approached it.

The wildlife however was not his main concern. Liam picked up his pace as fast as he could manage. The painkillers were starting to wear off and when they did, he would be slowed considerably. Already his limp was starting to reassert itself and he could feel a cold pressure seep into the broken bone. The drugs were only supposed to last for a few hours at most, long enough for the affected soldier to fight and get medical assistance. But he was presently far from the advanced medical facilities aboard the Midsummer's Solace. Liam wondered what the fleet was up to. Last he had heard before he went to drop was that they were preparing for something big. But they hadn't told him exactly what was happening, so he didn't know if they were getting ready to jump into slipspace or to attack.

Liam stopped for a moment to take a sip from his canteen and saw ten white blips on his motion tracker at about thirteen meters out. He sighed in annoyance and capped the canister of water. These aliens were doggedly persistent. The ODST grabbed the MA5B off his back, flicking the safety off and racking the slide. He aimed the barrel at the rock outcropping to his left, thirteen meters distant.

"I know you're out there." He called out loudly. He waited for a moment and was rewarded as the ten aliens emerged from their poor hiding place and walked down to where he stood. "I was certain that I clearly told you all to leave me alone in no confusing way." He muttered darkly, eying their strange weapons cautiously underneath his visor.

Just as before, the male fox in the strange white and green outfit was the first to speak, expect this time he understood him. "So you did...but we thought to at least warn you about the venomians, the apes and reptilians in the black and red armor you killed before. They would not hesitate to return the favor." The vulpine warned.

Liam shrugged his shoulders. "Hazard of the job, I don't really care. If they try to kill me, I'll put them down, hard."

"And what exactly is your job?" The ginger furred feline with the black spots demanded with a slight growl. "You are on our planet. The least you could do, is tell us why."

The ODST scowled, but the cat did have a point. He was technically intruding on alien territory. And while he knew nothing about these strange creatures, he was on their planet. He was just a soldier. They didn't pay him enough to have to deal with all this crap. It would be so much simpler if he had never encountered them and got to the raven. Liam was conflicted, he didn't know what to do in this situation, and there sure as hell hadn't been any training courses on how one would deal with extraterrestrials.

To hell with it he thought to himself. If they wanted to know, he would fucking tell them. "Fine...." He grunted and tightened his hold on the assault rifle's foregrip. "One of our ships crashed on this planet, shot down by one of your kind." The ODST growled pointedly. "And they sent me down here to retrieve the crew if they were still alive. We lost contact with them before the crash and so I was assigned the task of finding them or their bodies and calling in for extraction." Divulging his mission had the sensation akin to pulling teeth. "Are you satisfied?" He asked scornfully.

The male fox nodded. "I know that we cornerians would never shoot down an unknown ship for no reason. So it had to have been the venomians. But in recompense, we would gladly help you recover your missing people." He hoped to make amends and perhaps start fresh with the alien. After all, his species probably didn't start off with a favorable view of them and this might improve that. Neither would it hurt to make some friends at the moment. They were stranded in the desert being hunted by venomians foot soldiers and some allies could be what they needed.

Liam eyed the bunch uncertainly. "Why the hell would you do that?" He was cautious of any tricks they might be trying to pull.

"We owe you a favor for helping us out earlier, intentionally or unintentionally." The blue vixen responded as she stared at him in a way that made him uncomfortable.

"I. don't. want. your. help." He clarified slowly

This time the snowy white spaniel jumped in feistily, although there was a slight hint of hesitation in her voice. "We're going to tag along anyways!"

The ODST narrowed his eyes and considered tossing a frag at the whole lot of them. But he didn't have time to argue, he had wasted too much of it already on this pointless banter. Instead he turned and walked away without another word. If they followed, they followed, if they didn't, all the better for him.

Fox watched as the alien turned and started to walk away, something he seemed to have a fondness for. But since he didn't say no, and didn't try and kill them, he supposed it meant that they could follow. He shrugged at his friends' confused expressions and jogged to catch up with the alien. As the vulpine tried to keep pace with the alien, he noticed a few things. He was tall, a lot taller. Fox was a tall cornerian, standing at a little more than five feet. But this guy was probably six and a half feet tall, discounting the thick soles of his armored boots. He was also fitter than Fox. The alien's forearms were almost twice the size of Fox's and his shoulders were thicker and broader, add that with the fierce hulking black armor and he cut quite an intimidating figure. Fox was a little daunted by his stature and muscle mass, but didn't let it get to him.

"So..." Fox voiced to the air conversationally, staring at the alien's impenetrable visor as he marched unwaveringly towards wherever it was they were heading. "What's your name, and what are you?"

The alien's stride faltered slightly as he swiveled his helmet downwards to the shorter vulpine and stared at him without a word. Fox felt the tension rise in the air and gulped down a breath.

"Liam, Lieutenant Liam Callahan of the ODST core, in the service of the United Nations Space Command navy." The now identified soldier listed off with a hint of pride in his voice. "Seven years of faithful service. And I am a human of the human race."

"Liam...nice name, my name's Fox Mccloud, leader of the Starfox mercenary team for the last few years." Fox replied proudly, extending his paw for a friendly shake. "Can't say I've ever heard of a human before but it's nice to meet you nonetheless."

"Mercenary huh..." Liam muttered, staring at the proffered paw silently.

Just before Fox thought he would ignore the gesture, the man brought his larger armored gauntlet and wrapped the vulpine's paw completely. Fox felt the power in the larger man's hand. "Can't say I like mercenaries, haven't been able to find one I can trust. I hope you and your friends won't disappoint me. And what may I ask, are you?"

Fox smiled, glad that he had made some headway with the stony man. "Well, my friends here are Miyu Lynx, Fay Spaniel, Slippy Toad, Falco Lombardi, Krystal, and this is Arden and his men. He's the commander of the local Cornerian Defense Force garrison. And we're cornerians, well most of us are." Fox introduced them all, looking to Krystal when he said that last part.

He filed that little thing for later and moved on. "I didn't see any bases around here." Liam remarked offhandedly as he looked to the warriors and gave a respectful nod, one soldier to the other.

"Our base was overrun when Venom launched a surprise attack on the fleet in orbit." The grizzled wolf replied in a not to happy growl. He was clearly not pleased with that, no soldier would be.

"I would wager that these venomians are from Venom?" The alien asked as he crested a rocky hill and took the winding path down to the ground. Liam was surprised to find that he was speaking with these aliens. But he couldn't hold back the curiosity he felt, they were aliens after all.

"Indeed, we have been at war with them for the last ten or so years, and it looks like there is no end in sight.

Liam nodded at the wolf's explanation. It seemed that even aliens were plagued by war. "So that's why you are all out here? You're being pursued by these venomians?"

The creamy furred female canine nodded her muzzle. "Yeah, they managed to separate us from our fighters and so we were forced to drop everything and run. We have been for a long time." She added with a sad frown. "I'm pretty thirsty, we don't have any water."

Liam nodded and reached for the canteen at his side, popping it off and tossing the container of water to the sad looking canine. "Keep it. It's warm, but it's better than nothing." He offered indifferently as he continued to walk.

"T-thank you, Liam!" Fay exclaimed happily as she plucked it out of the air and twisted the cap in her silvery paws, dumping the lukewarm water into her parched muzzle, tail wagging promptly in appreciation.

The alien offered no response and continued to walk. The pain in his left leg was starting to trouble him and his limp was now noticeable to the others, as were the deep red stains on his injured limb.

What happened to your leg?" Krystal asked in concern, being the soft hearted girl she was.

Liam shrugged and unslung the sniper rifle, using it as a makeshift prop once more. "Leg broke when I landed." He answered apathetically.

"Your leg's broken!" The vixen whined with sympathy in her soft emerald eyes. "You shouldn't be walking on it."

"It's fine." The man grunted dismissively. "The painkillers are still working." But the limp didn't get any better and as time passed it only got worse...to the point where he was almost hobbling forwards.

At last the kind hearted vixen couldn't stand and watch his suffering any longer and walked over, pushing herself against him and wrapping an arm around his waist for support.

The touch of the female vixen's alien paws around his waist and her shoulder slipping under his own made the man's skin crawl and he almost lashed out at her, but his leg chose that moment to give out on him completely and he fell heavily onto her. Her petite and slender body contained a surprising amount of strength, managing to hold his immense weight up.

"Thank you." He acknowledged her efforts grudgingly. "But I can manage fine on my own." He told her and moved to separate himself and recover his wounded pride.

But she shook her muzzle adamantly and held him to her. "Nonsense, there's no shame in accepting help when you need it." She chided him with a kindly smile.

Liam could not fault her on her logic and acceded to her assistance with a grumble. With her help, his speed was not as hampered as if he walked alone. The feeling was strange, his left arm was draped across her shoulders and she was pressed up against his side, helping him move forward. He could feel her fur through his gloves and her fur was warm, baked by the heat of the alien sun. The man absently found himself stroking her furred shoulder, examining her downy coat. The action was oddly calming, and the sensation was pleasant, even through the thick gloves.

Krystal could feel his large hand gently kneading the muscles under her fur and she almost groaned in pleasure. His strong and gentle motions did wonders to ease the dull aches she accumulated from the last few stressful hours. She could feel her tail thumping against his thigh as it was pushed into gear and she found herself leaning her muzzle against his armored chest.

Liam soon realized what he was doing when he felt a pressure on his breastplate and saw that she was leaning on him. Immediately, he stopped what he was doing and moved his hand away, a faint flush crossing his face. What had possessed him to do that? She was an alien for god's sake! Liam distanced himself as much as he could without abandoning her support and hopefully not letting her know of his emotions. He remembered that she was a telepath and hoped that she was not reading his mind at that moment.

The vixen frowned reflexively when he pulled away and felt a little empty. She had been enjoying the intimate touch and was a little upset that he stopped. She looked up and saw that his helmet was facing forwards as he intentionally tried not to make eye contact. She could feel the lingering embarrassment and confusion that had seeped out of his guarded mind.

With a sigh, she turned backwards and saw that Miyu and Fay were looking at her with devious smiles and the vixen rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at them. They could be so childish at times.

Her teeth slammed onto her tongue when she was jerked to a sudden halt. Wincing in pain, she grabbed her muzzle and looked up to the alien and saw that he was standing stock-still. The whole party stopped and they were all staring at him. The alien bobbed his head slightly, as if he was talking with someone and she felt him tense up.

"This.....Raven-1...to all UNSC assets...w...pinned down inside the....unknown hostiles!" A young panicked male voice screamed its way through Liam's comms system. "If anyone.....this, we need help!"

The ODST tried to unscramble the garbled message but was unsuccessful. "This is Lieutenant Callahan of the 15th Blood Dragons. I am near your position, do you copy."

"Call...an... this is Raven-1......hostiles. Do....copy over?" The young voice asked desperately.

"Your transmission is scattered Raven-1 But if you can hear me, I am on my way how copy?"

"Copy....an pl....hurry!" The voice added before it cut out and filled his helmet with static. Liam snarled in frustration and turned off the inner comms system.

"Son of a bitch..." He muttered.

"What's wrong?" Fox asked from his left.

"They're under goddamn attack!" Liam snarled and tried to quicken his pace. But he only hissed in pain and would have fallen if Krystal was not there to help.

"The venomians must have found them!" Slippy said worriedly. "That's not good."

"You think?" Liam asked sarcastically as he righted himself. "I need to get there now!"

"Well you won't be getting anywhere without our help." Krystal scolded the impatient man.

Liam's frustration began to compound itself as he felt helpless, relying on a bunch of aliens for help. He was an ODST, he was supposed to be the best of the best, and he couldn't even walk unaided!

Krystal could almost physically feel the frustration festering inside, flashes of bright red anger and impotence. "We better get moving." She announced, moving forwards and helping the injured human walk faster.

Liam looked down at her and saw the determined expression on her muzzle as she tried to help him and he couldn't find the words to say.

"...Thank you." He finally managed as he looked down at the cerulean vixen.

She simply nodded up at him.

The group focused on walking, and as the minutes drew by, the more sensitive cornerians ears started to detect the faint sounds of battle. There was the usual sharp crackle of blaster fire, but it was accompanied with a sharp repetitive barking and popping sound.

"It sounds like there's a party up ahead." Falco warned.

Just around the side of a colossal rock and down short knoll was the raven's crash site. The black dropship had dug a deep furrow in the rocky ground before coming to a rest in front of a pillar of stone. Faint trails of thick black smoke trailed slowly from the multiple tears in its hull and there were six figures crouched inside its broken bay taking cover as thirty or so venomians fired on them from a range of small rocks. Bright red lasers exchanged with tracer rounds as the desperate humans fought for survival.

Liam growled as he observed the heavily one-sided battle. These damn aliens had the audacity to attack members of the UNSC. The ODST unslung the sniper rifle from his back with his free hand and gently pushed away the vixen holding him up. "If you truly wish to help, now is the time to act." He told Fox as he lowered himself to the ground and began to set up his rifle. "I would caution you however, to not go down there. They would shoot you without hesitation."

"Right...." The vulpine muttered.

"I suggest you avail yourselves off the ridge here to get the height advantage on these venomian bastards." The ODST growled before they all flinched as the massive rifle barked with a sharp crack and expunged a shell larger than one of Fox's furry fingers. A vapor trail connected the gun's barrel with an unfortunate simian down below. The heavy caliber ballistic weapon tore the ape off his feet and tossed him violently to the ground in a geyser of blood.

The sight made some of them sick as they never saw gunpowder weapons before. The people of Lylat had stopped using them centuries ago, preferring the less brutal, and in their eyes, more efficient, energy based weapons. But it seemed like these humans had a fondness for them.

Fox shook his muzzle and looked away from the potent weapon. "Time to show him what we're made of." The vulpine pulled out his hand blaster and took cover on the ridge, picking one of the venomians in the rear as his first target. Fox sighted the reptilian and clenched the trigger, hitting the armored reptile in the shoulder and throat, killing him instantly. After Fox started, the others backed him up, adding their higher volume of fire and slowing the venomians advance on the survivors of the crash.

The long range gun battle was drawn on for what seemed like hours giving Liam time to study the fighting style of both his enemy and these cornerians. The soldiers of the group had two handed rifles that seemed to be more accurate and deadlier then the sidearm like weapons the mercenary team held. Suddenly, a fireball impacted amongst the venomians and turned a handful of them into walking pillars of flame. Surprised, Liam turned to the source of the strange attack and saw the blue vixen holding a strange staff. He had first discounted it as some useless stick, but he instantly reevaluated that quick assessment. The human was very curious about that weapon, it was certainly different. They were aliens after all.

These venomians were more regimented then the cornerians. They fought with unit cohesion and superior tactics. He studied their moves and saw that they deployed some sort of leap frog maneuver and were steadily advancing on the crash site, one half moving as the other covered them with a withering barrage of lasers. They even managed to effectively fight the survivors of the dropship, himself, and the cornerians up on the hill, dividing their lanes of fire appropriately. But he hazarded a confident guess that they would be unable to adapt rapid changes in the flow of war. For example, the rapid assault of a shock trooper.

Liam extracted his last clip of sniper rifle ammo and tossed the empty cartridge to the ground. He had used most of it on the last fight and never got the chance to restock his supplies. The man got up to a crouch and returned the empty weapon to his shoulder and switching it out for the trusty MA5B. He had been hoping to save the painkillers and stimulants in his medkit for an emergency, and this looked like a good enough time as any. The pack unclipped from his thigh and he popped it open, retrieving the dual pair of color coded needles, one blue and the other red. The blue needled was the painkillers and the red was battle stims. He stabbed both needles into his left thigh, just above the armored plates and waited for them to take effect.

It didn't take long before the pain in his leg vanished and he was able to walk again. Liam cycled the bolt on his rifle and jumped up to his feet, heart pounding and blood pumping as the cocktail of adrenal enhancing drugs surged through his system. Time slowed for the ODST as he leaped over the hill and stormed down towards the venomians at a dead sprint, MA5B stuttering in rage.

The cornerians were rendered awe struck as the lone human charged the remaining ten venomians with seemingly reckless abandon.

Liam's mind was racing at a higher speed, selecting targets with the assistance of his HUD and putting them down as fast as he could with hurried calculations. His assault rifle pivoted back and forth as he blasted enemy after enemy with prolonged accurate bursts. The gun clattered empty and he thumbed the button on the side of the grip, releasing the spent mag and reaching for a fresh one on his obsidian breastplate. A laser flashed by his helmet and the soldier ducked, avoiding two more deadly beams as he slammed the new clip home and pulled the charging handle. A tug of the trigger and the rifle resumed its baying staccato.

By the time he reached the venomian position, three of them were left standing. Liam continued his charge forwards and managed to take out one more before he entered close range, splintering its alien armor with a storm of heated metal. The last two managed to get a pair of shots in before he smashed into them, one of which grazed the ODST's shoulderplate for superficial damage.

Both aliens were tossed to the ground by the larger human shock trooper's bulk and he emptied the remainder of his clip into one of them. As the other tried to get up, he whipped the butt of his rifle across its face with a harsh crack and brought his boot down on its neck. The reptilian snarled and reached for a dagger at its side but the human gave it no time and twisted the heel of his boot sharply and snapped its neck, ceasing its wild thrashing.

The ODST took in deep breaths like the bellows at a forge and tried to steady his hyper stimulated heart. Using such stimulants had a drawback, making it hard for a soldier to settle down after combat ended. He dropped down on one of the rocks nearby and went through several breathing exercises he learned in boot camp. Combat stims were something the UNSC rarely used, as they tended to impede ones thinking during and several minutes after combat. But, as the ODST had just shown, they enhanced a soldier's combat effectiveness. There was also the matter of long term effects of stimulant, which had yet to be discovered. So for now, the UNSC was willing to have them available, at least until they were proven to be detrimental to a soldier's health.

There was a faint touch on his shoulder and the ODST tore his helmet to the left to see who was touching him and reached for one of his sidearms, still hyped on the drugs. But he stopped when he saw it was a UNSC soldier with a sergeant's chevrons on his armor.

"I assume you are Lieutenant Callahan." The marine stated factually.

Liam took an effort to calm down before responding. "Correct, Recon ODST of the 15th Blood Dragons. I'm here to get you guys home."

The sergeant's face visibly relaxed and he sighed in relief. "Thank god, we were worried that no one would come." The marine looked down to one of the corpses and kicked it violently. "Damn aliens. We lost someone in the crash and another to one of these bastards fucking laser guns." The man spit on the corpse in disgust.

"Who..." The Liam asked softly.

"Mack one of the pilots, and Harry our medic. He got blasted during the fight...laser cut right through his armor." The man replied sadly. After a moment of silence he looked up to the ODST. "So, what's the plan? We can't breach whatever's scrambling our radios."

"I can piggyback a signal of my HEV's comms system. That should allow me to contact my ship, The Midsummer's Solace."

The man nodded. "Good, otherwise we're fucked six ways to Sunday. Where's the rest of your team?"

Liam shook his head. "I don't have a team, I'm a recon trooper."

The sergeant frowned. "I could have sworn there were others." As he said that, the cornerians took that inopportune time to show themselves, walking in sight from the hill. The marine froze and started to bring his rifle up when the ODST clamped down on the barrel.

"What the fuck!" The other man cried out as he tried to lift his restricted weapon.

"They're not hostiles." Liam replied coolly.

The sergeant gave the ODST a glance of disbelief, thinking the man was crazy. "What do you mean? They're aliens. They could have been the ones that could killed harry goddamnit!"

Fox and the others halted a few feet away, seeing the clearly distressed marine and Liam holding his rifle down. They only one who could understand the heated words that were being tossed around was Krystal. And she looked a little worried.

"They couldn't have because they were with me." Liam forcefully told the other marine as he ripped the man's rifle out of his hands. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't try to kill them."

"How can you say that? They're fucking aliens!" The angry man shouted.

Liam could understand his anger, having lost men because of the venomians. But that was no excuse to let your emotions cloud your judgment. "You will do as I say sergeant." The ODST snarled, stressing the lower rank quite clearly. "They are priority one assets and are under my supervision. We've made enough enemies today...am I understood?" Liam asked with a slight cautionary tone as he held the rifle for the marine to grab.

The man's face went beet red and he visibly struggled with himself before nodding angrily and snatching the weapon out of the ODST's gauntlet. "Fine, but keep them the hell away from my men! I'll have a hell of a time explaining this to them as is, without them getting in the way." The grunted and stormed off towards the dropship where his men were hiding.

Liam watched him go with a sigh and shook his helmet. This was not what he wanted.

"Thank you...for doing that."

The ODST turned to face the cerulean vixen and her soft friendly smile. "Don't thank me." He growled and turned from her, heading towards the dropship. "I suggest you stick close to me, they aren't exactly happy to have you around." The man muttered over his shoulder to them.