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Halo: First Contact

Chapter 3: Stand

Liam activated the fuel reserve on his supply pod and managed to rocket it the few kilometers over the ravine closer to the crash site. From there he ferried the medical supplies, ammo, and extra weapons, setting up a small cache inside the ship itself. With that done, he managed to get the marines to work together with the cornerians to set up cover around the dropship. It was not exactly easy, but thanks to his rank the marines followed his directions without questions. He couldn't stop the dirty looks they were giving the aliens, but that wasn't his concern, what was however, was keeping them all alive long enough for extraction. He knew that the cornerians were being followed and more of those venomians were bound to find them.

He managed to get a hold of his ship, but the transmission was patchy at best. He informed Captain Strelkov of their situation as best as he could. And the captain was understandingly surprised.

"So only you can understand them?" Strelkov asked curiously.

"Yes, Sir, one of them did something to me. And after a really bad migraine, I was able to understand them. But before that I couldn't make heads or tails of their language." The ODST explained as he walked the perimeter of the downed Raven.

"Interesting....I'm sure the eggheads on The Immortal would love to get a scan of your brain." The captain's gruff voice muttered over the soldier's helmet.

Liam winced at the thought of having to go through tests. "I'm not compromised, Sir."

"I know Lieutenant, but all the same, you know you'll have to go through the usual medical screening."

He sighed. "I understand."

"Good. Now, tell me more about these aliens. What do their ships look like and what are their colors."

"I don't know about that sir. I haven't asked. Why do you want to know that?" The ODST asked as he stopped his patrol.

"Admiral Matthias is planning something big. The fleet has been mobilized towards that world."

"He wants to enter this fight!" Liam exclaimed in shock and realization. "I would have to advise against that, Sir. These aliens have access to powerful weapons."

"That may be correct Lieutenant, and I assure you the admiral has been made aware of this. But this war as you have explained it to me provides us with a unique opportunity to make an alliance with an alien species if we play our cards right. You know what the real motive of this mission is Lieutenant, find Forerunner artifacts and anything that may benefit humanity. And this might be able to do just that."

Liam shook his head sadly. He didn't agree with their decision, but he was just a Lieutenant. "What about the aliens I have with me. What do you want me to do about them?"

"I'll arrange for an additional pelican that will take them and you from the site and back to the Solace."

"So....we're taking them with us? What if they don't want to come?"

"I'm sure you can convince them, Lieutenant. Giving them back to their people alive will be a huge bonus in the negotiations for us, see that it happens." The captain cut the transmission.

Liam felt a rush of anger and kicked his right foot as hard into the dented hull of the Raven as he could until his foot went numb. "Mother fucker!" He snarled in a rage. His job wasn't to babysit a bunch of aliens, he was a warrior!

"Are you alright?" A concerned feminine voice inquired hesitantly.

Liam rotated his helmet to see the cerulean vixen standing a few feet away from him. She looked nervous just to be around him, wringing her blue bushy tail in her trembling paws. He couldn't blame her. Since they had met, he hadn't done much to give her reason not to.

"I'm fine." He grunted with a sigh and backed away from the battered metal. He almost stumbled but caught himself. It looked like his leg was acting up again. You were supposed to stay off a broken limb, but the soldier was not given the option to. Instead, he pulled out another painkiller and jammed it into his thigh. It was obviously not good either to repeatedly drug oneself, but again, he didn't have any other choice.

"You should rest." The vixen suggested softly, eyeing him with compassion.

Liam scowled. He didn't want anyone's sympathy or compassion. "I don't have the time to rest. Not until you and your friends are safe."

"Why?"

"It seems that my leaders have taken it upon themselves to commit our fleet to your fight."

"So you'll help us!" Krystal yipped happily.

"It looks like it." He grumbled and was surprised when moments later the vixen tackled him, wrapping her furry body around him and forcing him back a few steps.

"Thank you!" She squealed happily, tail spinning behind her energetically as she squeezed his bulk.

Liam froze with his arms hanging in the air, unable to figure out what to. He had never been hit with such a display of gratitude before, alien or not. "It wasn't my decision." He tried to explain to her and hopefully get her off but she was doggedly persistent.

"Thank you! With your help, we're sure to win!" She continued on, either oblivious or uncaring towards his explanation.

With no other recourse, he awkwardly patted her back. "Yeah....sure." He muttered uncertainly.

She finally pulled back and looked up to him with a smile before walking away, her tail still beating a happy trail as she left.

Liam shook his head in bemusement and unslung his assault rifle. There were somethings he would never understand. He circled back towards the rear of the dropship. The cornerians were sitting outside around the side of the ship, where the humans didn't have to see them. Liam climbed inside where the marines and surviving pilot were. He stopped in the entrance and sat down on the bent rack where the LMG was usually locked into. But the crash totaled the gun and it was now a glorified butt rest. The ODST looked up and studied the survivors.

He had learned their names in the hour they had known each other. The sergeant was named Alphonse and he was currently brooding near the broken cockpit. He was still angry with his orders but Liam knew he would follow them whether he liked it or not. Then there was the silent sniper, Marcus, he was sitting near the front loading a fresh clip for his gun. The co-pilot Bess, who looked a little shaken up after losing her comrade, she was next to Marcus and the young red head Jane was talking to her. The last of them was Rico, a mountain of a man wielding a M739 LMG. Liam had heard of those, they were still in the prototype phase, but he supposed working for the Office of Naval Intelligence had its perks.

Liam sat for a few minutes before standing up and walking towards the sergeant. The young man looked up from his gun and grimaced when he saw the ODST standing over him.

"What do you want, Sir." He muttered scornfully.

Liam sighed and sat next to him. "I'm sorry about your people. I know what it's like to lose members of your squad...your family."

"Yeah how would you know? You're a recon trooper, you guys work alone." The man grunted disdainfully.

"Before I went recon, I was a part of a squad that took part in operation ANVIL on Sigmus IV." The ODST replied quietly. "I know what it's like to lose people."

The sergeant nodded slowly and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you would have then. How did you deal with it?"

Liam tilted his helmet to the ground and rubbed at the palm of his right hand. "You don't, but eventually you learn to live with it."

The sergeant frowned. Clearly that was not what he was hoping to hear. "I see..."

"You don't right now." The ODST replied sympathetically. "But you will."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes, each contemplating their lives so far and how they led here. Eventually, Liam sighed and stood up. "I contacted my ship and it looks like we have plans for this world. The admiral is going to commit the fleet to assist the cornerians, the aliens outside. It looks like we're going to war sergeant. But the bright side of this is extraction is on its way and should be here within the hour."

The marine nodded and stood up with him. "I'll tell my men."

"Good, now I have to go talk to our resident landlords." The ODST chuckled and turned away to walk out of the Raven and back into the harsh sunlight. Liam turned to the right and walked around the dropship to where the ten aliens sat, talking to each other. Liam walked up to them and noticed their conversation drop as they all shifted their attention to him. He was thankful at that moment that his helmet concealed his face.

"Krystal told me that you're people are going to help." Fox said as he stood up and walked towards the human.

"...She heard right." Liam replied slowly.

Fox nodded and looked down for a moment before turning his head back up, Liam was surprised to see the relief in his bright emerald eyes. "Thank you, I know that you aren't happy with the decision, but thank you anyways."

Liam shook his head. Where was all this gratitude coming from? He was just a soldier. It wasn't like he personally gave the order. "In any case..." He muttered, trying to move past that. "Our dropships will be here in a little less than an hour and it's been decided that we'll take you with us. I'm sure you would prefer that to being stuck in this desert."

Fox lifted his muzzle in a smile. "Yes, that would be much more preferable."

Liam nodded uncertainly and shuffled in his boots. "Alright then...I'll just go...patrol the perimeter." He replied awkwardly. He was still not completely comfortable with the cornerians and their alien appearance. The soldier turned to walk away and stopped when he heard Fox call out.

"Why don't you sit with us? It'll be nice to get to know one another better."

Liam looked back hesitantly at the vulpine and his cohorts. "I don't know..."

"Come on...you're the only human we can talk to." Fox gestured for him to come over and sit down next to him as he took his seat. "It'll be fun."

Liam was not so sure he should sit with them or how exactly it would be fun, but for some reason when he saw Krystal's warm and welcoming smile he shrugged and took a seat, leaning against the hull of the raven tiredly.

"It must be stuffy in there." Miyu stated as she stared at the human's concealing helmet. "Why don't you take it off?"

It was actually a fair bit better than the outside air, but he supposed there was no harm in taking it off so he twisted it and broke the seal, lifting the helmet off his head and resting it carefully on his lap and clasping his hands on top of it.

This was only the second time they managed to get a look at his face and so he felt a little uncomfortable as they silently stared at him. Eventually they were satisfied and stopped ogling him, at least openly.

"Tell us a little a little bit about yourself Liam. We're all curious to know what an alien is like. And when you're done we'll tell return the favor." Fox suggested sociably.

The man was a little opposed to speaking of his somewhat sorted past, but he was rather starved for non-militaristic conversations. And besides, it would pass the time until the dropships arrived. "Alright, I suppose I could talk some." He said with a shrug.

At the thought of being able to hear more about him, their ears perked up and they leaned in a little closer, their menagerie of tails flapping with interest.

"I was born on a small breadbasket colony world called Harvest." Liam started his tale.

"Breadbasket world...?" Slippy asked curiously.

"Yeah, basically it was a planet ideal for farming and agriculture. My family moved there from Earth, our homeworld with the first colony ships. Since then it has been the norm for the women to stay and tend to the farm while we went off to war." He paused to collect his thoughts. "At the age of seventeen I enlisted to join the UNSC marines and a few years later I tried for the ODSTs and joined them."

They could understand the marines as the CDF had soldiers of the same name, but they had never heard of ODSTs.

"What are ODSTs?" Falco asked Liam curiously. Although he never joined the military, he had an interest for it and all related topics.

Liam smiled in amusement. It would be an easy concept to explain, but it would probably be hard for them to understand. "ODST is an acronym for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. And to make it simple and easy to understand, we deployed from ships in small one man pods that would fall to a planet's surface."

"So let me get this straight..." Falco shook his beak in disbelief. "You fall onto planets in small pods for a living? That's crazy! Why would you do that?"

Liam shrugged. "I consider it to be an honor to be amongst their ranks...even if there is a small percentage of a chance that you could die during deployment.

"Die?" Fay gasped and clutched her tail in fright.

"Yep..." Liam replied rather nonchalantly. The pod could malfunction or the thrusters could fail and you would end up plummeting to you death. We call it digging your own grave."

"How could you take such a risk, every time you deploy?" Krystal asked as she looked to the human in amazement.

"We try not to think about it. Besides, you guys are pilots right? You take a similar risk every time you get in the cockpit. Mine just so happens to be different and more sudden." Liam refuted simply.

"You got us there." Fox chuckled ruefully.

"Anyways, a few years after I joined the ODSTs I was eligible to take additional training to become a recon trooper."

"What's that?" Slippy asked as he used his ragged cloth to wipe his head. Since the start of the day the sun had retreated somewhat but was still weighing heavily upon them.

"Basically the same thing, but we are trained to drop and complete missions on our own. It is a hell of a lot more dangerous, but you get double the pay. And when you die, they give your pension to your family."

The toad gulped. "Oh...I suppose that's nice."

That dropped them all into silence and Liam sat there, thinking about how strange his life had become. There he was, talking to aliens on an alien world as the fleet was about to drop in and attempt first contact, in the middle of an alien war. Yeah....they defiantly didn't pay him enough for this. This brought Liam's thoughts to the fleet. How many people were going to die? There was no way they could intervene between such a fearsome fight as he saw in the brief without sustaining some casualties. When he returned, how many of the people he knew would be gone? Liam had served aboard most every ship on the fleet at one point or another, and had made a few friends along the way. He dismally wondered which ones would be gone by the time this was all said and done.

"What are you thinking about Liam?" Krystal asked as she studied his vacant face. His mind was too guarded to read and so she had to figure out the way everyone else did.

The man turned his head from his observation of the cliffs to his left and towards the vixen. "Nothing...nothing at all." He replied simply and stood up. "I better get moving. There's no telling if and or when these venomians are going to attack. Hopefully we can get extracted before then, but that remains to be seen." Liam slipped his helmet back on and walked away.

Her eyes followed him and she sighed softly. Krystal wanted to try and get closer to him. He was the only human she knew anything about. But he was frustratingly hard to talk with.

"So what did you guys think of this Liam fellow?" Fox asked as he turned to Arden, his team, and his friends.

"Looks and acts like just about any soldier I've ever met." Arden replied as he tried to dust the sand off his armor.

"He seems like an ok guy." Slippy added with a cheerful tone.

The general vote was that he was alright, even if he had been confrontational in the beginning. At least he seemed to have calmed down a little since their original encounter. Over all he seemed to be a descent, if decidedly moody, sort.

"He reminds me of Falco..." Miyu said with a playful smirk as she looked to the avian. "...but way less of an ass."

The avian began to splutter and glared at her angrily but before the opening shots of a verbal war that would never end could even start, Fox rung in. "You guys can fight later." He stated authoritatively.

"B-but, she, agghh!" Falco grumbled and folded his arms grumpily, glaring at the feline who eyed him back with a conceitful smirk and stroked her tail victoriously.

Krystal rolled her eyes at her friends' seemingly unending rivalry and stood up, grabbing her staff.

"Where are you going?" Fay asked as she watched her friend.

"I'm going to walk around." The vixen replied simply.

"Going to schmooze up Liam more like..." Miyu jumped in with a knowing grin.

"What are you talking about?" Krystal demanded heatedly, although her creamy white fur around her muzzle was flushed with mortification.

"We saw you cozying up with him earlier." Fay explained with a grin as she wagged her tail softly. "Don't worry; I think its kind a cute!"

"I am not cozying up to him or anybody!" She denied vehemently, stamping a foot in the sand in frustration. Her hackles rose as she let loose an unfeminine growl.

"Don't deny it!" Miyu retorted with a giggle, nudging Fay. "You're falling for his alien charm!"

"Yeah right, because he's been so charming." Krystal countered with a sarcastic tone.

"In his own way..." Fay nodded simply.

Krystal could not take her friends joking, (perhaps because they were not completely wrong), and stormed off in a huff.

Liam stood in front of the Raven and scanned the surrounding area, routinely checking his boosted motion tracker. The last thing he wanted at the moment was to be caught by surprise. He had enough of those for today. He toyed with the rifle in his hands and tried to not get lost in memories. Talking about his past had dredged up some...unwanted recollections. Living seven years as a soldier was bound to give anyone things they would rather leave forgotten, or lost.

With a forlorn sigh he pulled a photo out from a compartment on his breastplate. Liam stared at the picture of a younger version of himself, arm draped around a man that had a surprising resemblance to him. Both were smiling nonsensically as they held out badges with a HEV and a flaming skull on it. That had been a happier time in his life, before the events of operation ANVIL and his two year collapse into depression. The picture was five years old.

"What's that?"

Liam turned to see the azure and white tattooed vixen standing next to him, looking at the photo curiously. In response he dragged the photo out of sight and hastily stuffed it back into its container. "Just a picture, nothing you should concern yourself with." He replied quietly.

She looked about ready to press the issue but thankfully decided against it. Instead she simply nodded and looked out to the rock-strewn scenery in front of them.

An unexpectedly companionable silence fell between them. Liam was surprised that her presence didn't make him feel uncomfortable or out of place. Rather it soothed him and gave him a sense of peace that he had not felt in years. Curious about the women that could do this to him, the ODST tilted his head fractionally in her direction.

This was the first time he allowed himself to truly see her. The vixen was wearing a sort of blue and black armored tank top that clung to her slender frame in a way that seemed to enhance her exotic alien attractiveness. The armor left her shoulders and arms uncovered which he supposed would be desirable in this intense climate. Her legs were similarly armored and she was wearing a pair of thick soled boots. In her paw was that strange staff weapon that had so intrigued him earlier. It was elegant and beautiful, much like its owner, weaved and inlaid with dark blue and shining gold and a large stout and narrow golden cap that held a softly glowing azure gem in the center. Her tail was probably a little more than half the length of her body and looked bushy enough to be used like a pillow and was peaked with a creamy white.

Her muzzle was short and narrow, filled with shiny white needle-like fangs. Her slim snout was a snowy white that had a fringe of blue, accentuating her warm emerald eyes. The pair of triangular ears on top of her head twitched every few moments, as if they had a mind of their own.

Liam shook his head and looked away quickly. What was he thinking?! She was an alien?! He couldn't be falling for her, he barely even knew her. The man tried to clear his mind of thoughts of the vixen but her close proximity made that all but impossible. He decided that conversation should be a suitable distraction.

"Where did you get that staff? I haven't seen anyone else here with a weapon quite like that."

The vixen turned her muzzle towards him with a welcoming smile. She was glad that he had been the first to talk. "It was given to me by my father after I passed the trials to become a guardian of my people."

"Sound like a momentous occasion."

"It was, a banquet was held in my honor and all the people of the city were allowed to attend."

"Yeah, defiantly momentous." He nodded his head firmly.

She giggled and moved a little closer to him. "It was a wonderful day. But a week later my home was destroyed." Her smile dropped, replaced by a look of utter sadness.

Liam didn't know why, but his heart took a heavy blow at her miserable muzzle and he found himself placing a hand on her shoulder. "What happened?"

"Andross..." She replied with a faint growl. "...the deceased emperor of Venom. He wanted to test a weapon and chose my homeworld as the target. I was the only one who managed to escape." She whispered.

Krystal felt tears threatening to emerge as the memories began to return but they were stopped when she felt the human's large arms wrap around her as he brought her into a comforting hug. She was startled that he would do such a thing and allowed herself to sink into his warm embrace with a contented whine. She pressed herself sincerely against his armored chest and nuzzled under his armpit as she hugged him back fiercely, claws scratching against his armored back. No words were shared as he held her until she felt the tears recede. And just as sudden as it started, it ended, as he pulled away. He offered no explanation for his actions, choosing to stay silent.

Krystal felt immense gratitude and looked to the silent human with a glowing smile. "Thank you." She choked out, almost coming to tears again at the thoughtless helping gesture.

The human simply nodded staunchly and returned the rifle to his grip.

What he had done made her feel better, better then she had since her home had been destroyed. And she could not help but want more of that same affection. Krystal skated up to his side and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her muzzle on his chest. She felt the human tense up under her, but after a while he relaxed and let her hold onto him. Krystal basked in the feeling of warmth and security that holding onto him brought her.

Liam didn't know what possessed him to do what he did. He saw here on the verge of tears and suddenly he was hugging her. He just couldn't bear to see her cry. Something about this alien vixen triggered his protective instincts and it was almost compulsive. Perhaps it was her sob story? He understood depression, having been a victim of it himself and having to take a year's mandatory leave of absence from the military after operation ANVIL. From the months of rehab and military psychiatrists, he leaned that the best way to counteract depression was to be with friends. And while he wasn't her friend, he could at least act like it for her benefit.

After he let her go he was startled when she latched back onto him and snuggled up to his chest. But he willed himself to relax and tried to not think about it too much. Instead he focused his attention onto his surroundings once more and was instantly alarmed when he spotted several red contacts closing in on their location. Liam saw the flash from a scope and looked down to his chest, seeing a small red light creeping up her body and centering on the vixen's muzzle. Liam's mind went blank, running on instinct as he threw Krystal to the side, moments before he felt a searing lance of pain burrowed through his chest, dropping the ODST to his knees.

In retaliation, he fired his assault rifle in the direction of the shooter and leaned down to grab the fallen vixen roughly by the shoulder with his other hand, dragging her towards the safety of the Raven. The sound of his weapon alerted the others and the marines streamed out of the Raven, firing at the emerging venomians.

Liam switched his hold so that he was carrying Krystal in one hand as he climbed back inside the dropship and set her gingerly onto one of the seats. Once he put down the vixen he collapsed onto the opposite side and clutched at the sizzling hole under his right pectoral plate. As soon as his gauntlet touched the heated metal he hissed in pain and leaned back, smacking his helmet onto the hull.

Krystal gazed at the suffering man.

He had taken the shot meant for her. She was surprised that Liam had placed her safety before his own. The vixen was just an alien to him. Why would he do that?

"Thank you for saving me." She mewled gratefully, ears flicking as she heard the sounds of battle outside.

"My orders were to keep you and your friends alive." The ODST snarled through the pain and turned his helmet in the direction of the vixen.

She frowned sadly. Was that the only reason he saved her? Liam gasped in pain, making her shift her frown into a look of concern. She stood up from her seat and walked over to him, staring at the small cooling hole in his armor. "Do you need help?"

He shook his helmet. "No, it's not that bad. One thing about your lasers is that they seem cauterize the wounds, so at least I don't have to worry about bleeding out." He chuckled grimly, the action making him cringe.

"You should rest here, the others can fight!" She suggested anxiously, placing a paw on his knee.

"No can do, I won't sit here while they do all the work." The ODST collected his strength and forced himself to stand. "Stay inside the ship, I don't want you to throw your life away so soon after I saved it." He ordered her firmly and moved to head outside.

"Be careful...." The vixen called out with more worry then he expected her to have for him.

Liam smiled underneath his visor as he glanced over his shoulder with an amused tone. "Sorry, careful isn't in the job description." He turned away and stepped down the twisted ramp and was instantly immersed into the broiling conflict.

The ODST took a split second to get a feel for the battlefield as he dove behind a sheet of metal they had pulled of the Raven and used as cover. The two others occupying the space were the sergeant and Fox Mccloud. Any differences they may have had seemed to be put on hold for the moment as they worked together to keep the overwhelming force of venomian soldiers from storming their positions.

The sergeant fired a salvo from his rifle and ducked down to reload. "Are you still good to fight?" He asked the injured ODST.

"I'm always ready to fight sergeant." Liam affirmed determinedly as he popped out of their flimsy cover and let loose a long controlled volley of rounds that flew across the field and slammed into an approaching venomians legs, sending the reptilian crashing to the ground.

The sergeant nodded and smiled, racking the slide for MA5B. "Good, we could use an ODST about now."

"What's the situation?" Liam asked as he killed another attacker with a well-placed burst.

"My team's spread out helping the sergeant's men and Arden is trying to secure the hill to our left." Fox replied as he used his hand blaster, landing his hot right between an ape's eyes.

"I don't know what our furry friend here just said, but my squad is spread out across our defenses, and his group seems to be helping." The sergeant added.

The ODST took that information in and saw that Fox was an accurate shot but his weapon was insufficient for this battle. "Mccloud, take this." Liam shouted over the sound of combat tossing his assault rifle to the vulpine and pulling out his SMG.

Fox turned and caught the weapon in his paws and looked at it in confusion. "How in the hell does this thing work?!" He exclaimed, looking up to the ODST.

The soldier's weapon coughed as he dealt silent death. "Just aim and pull the trigger, when the gun starts clicking it means you're out of ammo. When that happens tap Sergeant Alphonse on the shoulder and he'll show you how to reload." Liam explained as he slipped a long and thin rectangular magazine from his weapon and slapped in a new one.

Fox nodded grimly and hefted the weighty weapon in his paws. The alien rifle felt strange in his paws, but as he held it he could feel the deadly power it contained. Fox placed the stock on his shoulder and leaned out of cover, looking for a target to test the weapon out. There! He spied a venomian crouched behind a small boulder, holding a long range blaster in his simian mitts. The vulpine was not sure how to aim with the weapon since there were no sights so he had to do it by eye. But thankfully his eyesight was sharp and he managed to get a feel for where the bullets would go before he squeezed the trigger.

Fox flinched when the gun erupted into a bestial roar and the recoil threatened to send the rifle flying out of his paws. Thankfully he was a stronger than he looked and he managed to get the fierce weapon under control. Fox nodded in satisfaction when he saw the ape he aimed for fall, blood spurting from numerous holes in his armor. The vulpine easily picked up on how the gun worked and managed to down three more venomians before it started to click instead of shooting out hot lead. Fox went back into cover and turned to the sergeant, tapping a paw on his shoulder.

The marine turned and saw the fox sitting there with the rifle and fished around his combat webbing for a spare mag. "Here take this and press the button on the side of the grip, near the trigger." Talking was useless since they could not understand each other, but the sergeant did it anyways as he mimed the correct way to load the gun.

Fox did what the human did and watched as the empty clip slid out of the gun.

"Good, now take this and drive it inside the slot, but make sure you have the right side facing upwards." The sergeant drilled in his command as he loaded his own gun.

Fox slammed the new magazine into the weapon and watched as the human pulled the small metal rod on the side of the gun and nodded.

"Last part, pull the charging rack on the left side of the gun and you're good to go."

Fox nodded in return and pulled the slide, loading the rifle. Before he peaked out of cover he looked over to Liam and saw the ODST with his back pressed against the wall. His breastplate was rising and falling as he breathed, but the gaps between each were longer than Fox would have liked. "You okay there Liam?" Fox asked worriedly.

At the strange tone in the alien's voice the sergeant stopped shooting and looked to the trooper.

Liam shook his head as if suddenly awoken and nodded irregularly. "I'm okay, just a little combat fatigue." The man brushed their concerns off and tried to stand, but he faltered and dropped back down with a cry of pain.

"Fuck." Alphonse growled and shimmied over to ODST. The marine unbuckled the man's armor and took it off, discarding it to the side. "Shit...." He hissed as he saw the problem.

Liam's black fatigues were stained several shades darker with his vital fluid and it was all seeping from the ugly circular wound sitting just under his right pectoral. The sergeant scowled and reached for his helmet. "Jane come in, yeah...the ODST's wounds are worse than we thought, go back to the Raven and grab the trauma kit!"

Alphonse looked over his shoulder and saw the vulpine staring. "Keep shooting!" The man shouted and mimed the action.

Fox nodded reluctantly and turned away from the sergeant. As he fought, he heard another approach and turned to see the red headed female come in with a large bag. He didn't know what the two were shouting to each other but it didn't sound good. He occasionally snuck looks as he continued to fight and saw them putting some sort of strange tube into the soldier's arm. Shortly afterwards they became panicked and Fox saw small screen in the female's furless hands, the vulpine suspected it was a life sign monitor of some sort. His assumption was justified when he saw the little line on the screen switching between erratic scrawls to the ominous flat stripe and his ears could pick up a harsh grating tone. The female snatched a pair of pads from the bag as the sergeant ripped the man's fatigues open with a large blade. The red headed female wiped the copious amounts of blood from the man's chest with a cloth and spread a clear jell like substance. Almost immediately after it was applied she slapped the pads on and pressed buttons on the case the pads were connected to.

Liam's body shuddered as electricity surged through him and the small screen went from flat to erratic. It flatlined again, and so the female hit the button once more, shocking him. The fight for his life went back and forth as his vitals seemed to never stop in the norm. Eventually, their efforts succeeded and the small monitor emitted s steady relaxed beep.

The female sighed in relief and wiped a bloody hand across her sweat stained brow, saying something to the sergeant in their undecipherable language. Fox exhaled in his own relief and focused once more onto their current battle.

Before he could sight another target however, he noticed a slowly mounting noise in the air. Curious, he looked up to the bright sky and saw a pair of objects in the distance closing in rapidly.

Once they got close enough, he identified them as similar in appearance to the ship that was crashed behind him. It must be the evac they were promised. The two dropships dove towards the crash site and unloaded a swarm of missiles onto the venomian position. The volley or rockets exploded amongst the rocks the enemy was using as cover and showered the entire are in hot dirt and light. Fox could feel the ground tremble under his boots at the high yield ordinance and knew for certain that the enemy had been completely eradicated.

The defenders stopped shooting and waited for the dust to clear, revealing a craterous expanse stretching a hundred or so meters in front of them. The two ships hovered in space for a minute before circling back and parking on an untainted patch of ground, the bay doors cycled open and several armored soldiers stormed from the ramp, checking the immediate area.

Fox knew they were aliens, but the sight relieved him nonetheless. One of the soldiers from the drop ship marched towards the sergeant and they conversed quickly in their language. Moments later, the soldier, a dark skinned male, walked towards Fox and his emerging companions, motioning for them to follow as a stretcher passed by. The two stretcher bearers picked up the ODST and carried him towards the same alien ship.

Krystal took a seat near the front of the bay as her friends and the new soldiers climbed aboard, and when she saw Liam on the stretcher, armor removed and exposing the angry red gash in his chest, she felt a pang of horror.

"He's alright I think, whatever his friends did seemed to have leveled him out." Fox informed the distressed vixen after seeing her expression. Fox hoped he would pull through anyways, not just because he wanted him to. Liam was the only one they could effectively communicate with. It was true that Krystal could comprehend their language, but he would rather not have to make a new acquaintance among them. It had been hard enough to get the humans to tolerate them without having to start from scratch with someone else.