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He always got the shakes before a drop.

Of course, Minor Ranger Endur 'Gibur had dropped before, quite a few times. He had experienced seven combat drops if he could remember correctly. A File leader with two battle honours to his name, he was no fresh-faced recruit just graduating from War College. He had completed all the simulations and the combat exercises and whatnot, impressing his superiors and emerging one of the top recruits in the academy, going on to see action on four different worlds. Three more combat drops and he would receive his second promotion.

But none of this prevented him from being scared silly.

Maybe it was his generation. After the end of the Great War, when the Sangheili had disbanded from the Covenant and the Alliance of Free Species had been formed with the Humans, the Sangheili race had become more open minded, embracing new technologies and even integrating Human customs into their own military forces. The generations born in the years that had passed became somewhat more sensitive. Endur certainly could not imagine any of his ancestors feeling in the least bit scared, even when faced with death. But that had been before the Great Schism. Before the Alliance. Before the Sangheili had begun to slowly abandon their warrior culture.

Of course, Endur had studied the broad history of the Sangheili when he was young. The species had been warriors from day one. It had once been an honour to serve in the armed forces, to fight alongside your "Battle brothers", and to die fighting to the last. In a way, those attributes still remained in current Sangheili blood. Except that instead of honour, you received privileges. Instead of battle brothers, you had your Lance-mates. And fighting to the last? Well, this was the one attribute that had not changed one bit as far as Endur could see. This was the way things worked. And they worked well in the Sangheili Army Rangers.

Endur had been a part of this elite fighting force for almost one galactic age (About 2 Earth years), and could honestly say that no other Infantry force in the history of the Sangheili could possibly match it. The Army Rangers had seen action all over known space, fighting on countless worlds and winning many battles. Part of its success was rooted in the powered battle suits each member was issued with. But most of its success came from the sheer dedication of its soldiers. From their first tentative steps into basic training, they had been taught and trained to be the most ruthless, dangerous and efficient warriors money could provide. And no member was left behind.

Endur snapped out of his thoughts as a blur of motion caught his eye. He raised his squat, reptilian head and blinked his luminous green eyes. He watched as a lance of sixteen Rangers quickly trotted across the Drop bay, formed into to ranks of eight and stood to attention as their Major readied for troop inspection. Endur watched them receive their mission brief, and then clamber into their assigned re-entry capsules, each of them donning the standard Defender-class powered battle suits. Their capsules closed up, and seconds later they were rocketing toward the underlying planet, and into battle.

Endur raised himself to his hooves and tucked his battlesuit's helmet underneath his arm. He loped over to the nearest weapons rack, his large boots clacking on the cold metal flooring. Inserting his helmet with a hiss, he surveyed the weapons at his disposal. A range of directed energy and ballistic weapons lay in neat rows on the rack. He wrapped his long fingers around a Series six Plasma caster; a directed energy weapon based on the older plasma weapons used by the Covenant, just twelve ages ago. The weapon appeared as a long curved tube with a pistol grip near to the butt. A dark blue in colour, a Plasma caster of any model could turn most man-sized creatures into a bloody pulp. It was a very powerful Infantry weapon. However, Endur had never been satisfied with the reliability of Plasma casters. They had an unnerving tendency to break, a lesson he had learned the hard way during his third combat drop. He put the weapon back on the rack and selected another.

Ah, now here was a weapon Endur liked. A Series ten radioactive projectile launcher. The Type ten Carbine for short. This was a lighter Infantry weapon than the Plasma caster, but it was more reliable, more accurate, and it sported an underslung model-eight micro fuel rod cannon. On the one hand, you could pepper targets with luminous radioactive projectiles. On the other, you could vaporise them with a small nuclear explosion. Either way, the enemy probably wouldn't last very long. Satisfied with his choice, Endur slung the weapon over his back and checked the time. D-minus eleven minutes. After making one last check on his equipment, he grabbed several magazines from the weapons rack, attached a few grenades to his waist and headed off to join his lance.

Lance number seven formed into two ranks of eight at their assigned drop station. Sixteen Sangheili Rangers stood to attention, waiting for their Lance Major to begin pre-drop inspection and mission brief. Armed with an assortment of different model Plasma casters and Type ten Carbines, and sporting Defender-class powered battle suits, they looked like the Sangheili gods of old - graceful and majestic, yet frightful and absolutely menacing. Their Major was conversing with another Lance Major. The two were undoubtedly discussing last minute battle tactics. Where this lance should be and what this File would be doing. The two parted ways with a short salute and headed back to their lances. Lance seven's major stopped and looked over his troops. He began to pace up and down the lines, making a thorough inspection of each soldier. The battle suits had been prepared for drop already, and were in perfect working order. The purpose of this last minute inspection was mostly to check that each soldier was fully kitted out and ready for action.

Endur watched the Major as he made another pass down the line. He had always admired Major 'Vororo. The Major had survived twenty-two combat drops. Twenty-two. That was the largest number of combat drops Endur had heard of. The average number of drops a Ranger was expected to survive was about twelve. Major 'Vororo had survived ten more than that. He was indeed a brilliant soldier. Utterly fearless and dedicated to the Alliance, he had never left any soldier for dead, Ranger or otherwise. He would put his best effort into making sure everyone came back alive. He was a fantastic leader.

A terrible shame. This would be his last drop.

Major 'Vororo, satisfied with his inspection, turned his back to his lance. After a second, he turned to face them.
"Soldiers" He said. "You know the scenario. And you know what to do." Endur knew this would be a short brief. The lance had been brought up to date on the situation not one hour ago, and as such there was little else to be briefed on. This would be more of a pep talk rather than a mission brief. But `Vororo liked to make sure that every trooper knew exactly what was going on.
"We have a heavy enemy presence in this star system," 'Vororo continued. "A large military force belonging to the Covenant Remnant has been detected, and intel suggests they are forming an assault fleet. Our ships have already engaged the enemy's naval force, and with odds standing at two to one in our favour, a victory is assured." He drew a sharp intake of breath and continued. "They are readying their defences. Our forces will drop to the surface and prepare a beachhead for a full-scale invasion and pacification of the planet. Our own regiment is dropping in just outside the planet's capital. After securing the outskirts, we will move into the city and eliminate all Covenant resistance. The enemy has a heavy armed presence in the capital, so stay alert and kill anything that moves. Acceptable?"
The Lance boomed their reply. "Acceptable, sir". They said in unison. Major 'Vororo was pleased.
"Man your capsules. Prepare for hot drop. They know we're coming."
The Lance split into teams of four, and clambered into their assigned Capsules. Endur climbed into his seat inside the egg-shaped pod, and the rest of his File followed suit. Endur shifted in his seat as the hatches closed.

Darkness wrapped around him like a suffocating blanket. Strapped into his section of the four-man pod, he couldn't move and could barely breath. This was the worst part of a drop. The wait. You lay there in total darkness, knowing that if something were to go wrong that you would be trapped. Unable to move. Unable to see. It was something that all Rangers feared. Endur suddenly noticed the countdown timer had started. D-minus two minutes. Endur laid there, thoughts spinning in his head. He had slowly abandoned his fear, and was now ashamed of himself. A Sangheili should not fear anything. His ancestors would have loathed him for that. Instead, eagerness now spread through him. Eagerness to get into the fight. To meet with the enemy. Endur suddenly realised he was excited. D-minus thirty seconds. His hearts were pumping. Would he be killed today? Or would he triumph? D-minus twenty seconds. If he must die, he wanted to die fighting. D-minus ten seconds. He braced himself as the countdown timer ticked toward zero…

Bump. The first capsule had been fired. Bump. The second one followed a second after. Bump. The third one went. Endur laid there counting the bumps as he waited for his capsule to launch. He was number nine on the launch rack. Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump. One more bump and it was his turn… Bump. For a moment, it seemed as if time had stood still. Then with an ear-splitting crack, Endur's pod was launched from the ship. The pod shot from the underbelly of the Carrier with a whoosh, and then… nothing. No sound. No pressure. No weight. Just you and your File in that tiny pod, zooming toward a planet at what seems like light speed. Endur felt the pod turn in space, twisting around like a bullet fired from an old human projectile weapon. The pod slid silently toward the planet, until they hit the atmosphere with a bone-shattering thud. The pod vibrated and shook violently. If not for the stasis field holding him in place, Endur would have been mashed to a pulp inside the capsule, despite his powered battle armour. The turbulence brakes unfolded from the pod, preventing it from breaking into a wild spin and dooming its occupants. They remained in place until the protective energy shield dissipated and the outer shell burned away and sloughed off. The capsule then broke through the atmosphere and the retro rockets fired. Endur hoped that no enemy ground forces were targeting the pod. Re-entry capsules were not heavily armoured. The retro rockets stopped firing, and detached from the pod. The only thing that would stop the capsule now was the ground. A few more seconds elapsed, the pod now very close to the ground – and then they landed.

The landing was not soft. Indeed, it felt to Endur as though his bones had shattered into a million pieces. Seconds after impact, Endur's hatch burst from the pod – and he could see. Both the planet's moons hung in the night sky. The cool air felt good after being in that cramped pod. Shaking off the impact, he leapt from the pod and landed with a clump. He turned back to his section of the capsule to grab his weapon, and then headed to check on his File. All the hatches had burst from their sections of the pod, but none of the Rangers had emerged. This could not be good. All Rangers were trained to immediately disembark from their pod after landing. Endur checked the sections. They were all dead. Their physical readouts showed that the sheer force of the landing had shattered them. The impact rods, designed to focus the force of the landing around the passenger compartments and into the "Ball" on the top of the capsule, had failed. As a result, Endur's soldiers had been mashed inside their suits. Endur checked the "Ball" on the top of the capsule and, sure enough, it was intact. A large crack ran from the bottom to the top, but it was still in one piece. Endur was extremely lucky to have survived such a failure. But despite the accident, he had no time to grieve. He had a mission to accomplish. He reached into the pod and entered the self-destruct access code on a small keypad in his own section. A purple light blinked to confirm that self-destruct was imminent. Endur sprinted away from the capsule and leapt behind a large rock as the pod ignited, then detonated. The explosion was small, but nevertheless enveloped the entire capsule in a flash of purple light.

Endur didn't stick around to watch. Enemy forces would have spotted the pod before it landed, and would be heading to the landing zone. And even if they hadn't seen it, the detonation from the self-destruct would have certainly grabbed the attention of any enemies close by. Endur had to make himself scarce, and fast. He stopped near a small rock and checked his position. According to his long-range tacmap, he was thirteen miles outside the capital city. He looked out over the city itself, the cliffs providing him with a brilliant view. It was positively awe-inspiring. Purple Towers reaching kilometres into the sky, the sprawling suburbs stretching away from the city centre in orderly lines, blinking lights as far as the eye could see. Endur had read about Covenant cities, but never thought he would encounter one, and he marvelled at this one in astonishment. The view was so astounding; he might have been there for hours had bolts of plasma not smashed into the ground near his feet. Instinctively, he rolled to his right and turned to face the threat, weapon at the ready. Three Brutes armed with Plasma Casters were advancing on his position. Endur returned fire with his Carbine, burying radioactive projectiles into the battle armour of one of the Brutes. The Brute pack now split up and each member headed toward cover. Endur did the same, jumping behind a large rock. Bolts of plasma whizzed past his head, blocking him from moving out in that direction. Checking the other side, he also found a stream of molten-hot globs of death blocking his exit. He was trapped.

Or so it would seem.
He checked his motion tracker. It showed the Brutes to be still firing, but holding their position. They obviously had little intent of advancing right now. Good. That suited Endur just fine. He crouched, and then jumped into the air. His power armour flung him several metres upward, a move that the attacking Brutes did not expect. Endur then activated his jump jets using his neural implants. This move took him even higher, giving him a brilliant firing arc on the Brutes. He fired a round from his micro fuel rod cannon, and two Brutes disappeared in a ball of blinding green-white light. He touched down onto the sand with a crunch and opened fire at the remaining Brute, the radioactive projectiles easily piercing his armour. The Brute yelped in pain, but continued to fire, sending several bolts of Plasma into contact with Endur's energy shield. Endur cursed and dashed for cover, pumping another round from his Carbines' fuel rod launcher. The projectile whizzed past the Brute's head, leaving a green smoke trail and smashing into a distant cliff face. The Brute then leapt out of its cover, rushing Endur's position while blasting away with its Plasma caster. Molten rock and plasma flung over Endur's head as he readied himself for close combat. The attacking Brute vaulted over the rock to face Endur, who immediately struck out with the butt of his weapon. He dealt the Brute a good blow to the jaw, stunning it. He then grabbed the Brutes arms, and with a roar he tore them from their sockets and away from its torso. The Brute screeched in agony, it's crimson blood spurting from the exposed arteries and muscle tissue. It fell to the floor, writhing and squirming, until Endur permanently silenced it with a shot to the face.

He coolly reloaded his Carbine, and inspected the carnage. This Brute was dead, and the other two had been radioactive veneers for several seconds. As such, Endur assumed that he was the victor of the fight. However, other Brute packs were certain to be nearby. It would help greatly if he moved out and met up with friendly forces. By the sounds of things, the battle had already started to heat up. The distant popping of weapons fire sounded across the cliffs, and the night sky was alight with the flash of a thousand rifles. Air units were engaged in countless dogfights all over the city, and plumes of smoke reached toward space as towers burned. More drop pods landed in and around the city, indicating the arrival of yet more Rangers. Endur looked away from the spectacle, ignited his jump jets and ascended into the air, searching for any friendly forces he could join up with. He landed with a crunch and allowed the jets to cool down before jumping again. He soared over a rocky outcrop, and landed at the edge of another cliff. He continued jumping until he was a half-mile outside the capital city. A Large plain stretched out ahead of him, ending at the small buildings that formed the edge of the city. A low rumble sounded to his left, and he searched for the source of the sound. Whatever it was, Brute forces were quickly forming a defence on the nearby outskirts, setting up anti-vehicle turrets, support weapons, roadblocks – and also three of the old Wraith mortar tanks. But they were ultimately interrupted in their actions by a large, quite unfriendly explosion, which completely annihilated one of the Wraiths. The source of the low rumbling, and of the explosion rolled into view. Five human Heavy Assault Tanks (known as HATs) rumbled past Endur's position, the crack of their weapons creating a deafening racket. Human infantry units followed in their destructive wake, and Endur watched as they pulverised the Brutes' defensive position and rolled into the streets of the Covenant city. He went to move on, but was interrupted by a sudden loud crackling over his TEAMCOMM unit. The voice belonged to Major 'Vororo, a voice that Endur was infinitely happy to hear.
"This is Major 'Vororo to all members of Lance seven; File leaders report in."

Endur listened as each File leader reported their situations, then activated his voice unit and spoke into the mic.
"This is Minor 'Gibur, File three." He paused, waiting for a reply from the Major, who spoke almost immediately.
"Good to hear from you, 'Gibur. How are you faring so far?"
"Badly, sir. File three reports three casualties. Minors 'Ahtahd, 'Liwum and 'Jnuut were killed by an impact rod malfunction." It took a moment for 'Vororo to respond. Endur hoped that he wouldn't receive the blame for the incident.
"Understood, 'Gibur. Meet up with my team. Tacmap shows we are three-hundred units from your position." The Major's voice was blank.
"Aye, sir. I shall meet with you soon." And with that, the comms line went dead. Endur activated his jump jets again and headed in the direction of File one. It took him just four jumps to reach them.

File one was sheltering in the blackened ruins of a Phantom dropship. The bodies of several Brutes lay mangled across the ground, accompanied by what appeared to be small lumps of smouldering flesh. By the looks of it, the Phantom had been downed before it had even landed, probably by the hands of Minor Ante 'Bubod and his Fuel rod cannon. 'Vororo stood to greet Endur as he trotted over to join them.and sloughed off. The capsule then broke through the atmosphere and the retro rockets fired. Endur hoped that no Brute ground forces were targeting the pod. Re-entry capsules were not heavily armoured. The retro rockets stopped firing, and detached from the pod. The only thing that would stop the capsule now was the ground. A few more seconds elapsed, the pod now very close to the ground – and then they landed.

The landing was not soft. Indeed, it felt to Endur as though his bones had shattered into a million pieces. Seconds after impact, Endur's hatch burst from the pod – and he could see. Both the planet's moons hung in the night sky. The cool air felt good after being in that cramped pod. Shaking off the impact, he leapt from the pod and landed with a clump. He turned back to his section of the capsule to grab his weapon, and then headed to check on his File. All the hatches had burst from their sections of the pod, but none had emerged. This could not be good. All Rangers were trained to immediately disembark from a pod when it landed. Endur checked the sections. They were all dead. Their physical readouts showed that the sheer force of the landing had shattered them. The impact rods, designed to focus the force of the landing around the passenger compartments and into the "Ball" on the top of the capsule, had failed. As a result, Endur's soldiers had been mashed inside their suits. Endur checked the "Ball" on the top of the capsule and, sure enough, it was intact. A large crack ran from the bottom to the top, but it was still in one piece. Endur was extremely lucky to have survived such a failure. But despite the accident, he had no time to grieve. He had a mission to accomplish. He reached into the pod and entered the self-destruct access code on a small keypad in his own section. A purple light blinked to confirm that self-destruct was imminent. Endur sprinted away from the capsule and leapt behind a large rock as the pod ignited, then detonated. The explosion was small, but nevertheless enveloped the entire capsule in a flash of purple light.

Endur didn't stick around to watch. Enemy forces would have spotted the pod before it landed, and would be heading to the landing zone. And even if they hadn't seen it, the detonation from the self-destruct would have certainly grabbed the attention of any enemies close by. Endur had to make himself scarce, and fast. He stopped near a small rock and checked his position. According to his long-range tacmap, he was thirteen miles outside the capital city. He looked out over the city itself, the cliffs providing him with a brilliant view. It was positively awe-inspiring. Purple Towers reaching kilometres into the sky, the sprawling suburbs stretching away from the city centre in orderly lines, blinking lights as far as the eye could see. Endur had read about Covenant cities, but never thought he would encounter one, and he marvelled at this one in astonishment. The view was so astounding; he might have been there for hours had bolts of plasma not smashed into the ground near his feet. Instinctively, he rolled to his right and turned to face the threat. Three Brutes armed with Plasma Casters were advancing on his position. Endur returned fire with his Carbine, burying radioactive projectiles into the battle armour of one of the Brutes. The Brute pack now split up and each member headed toward cover. Endur did the same, jumping behind a large rock. Bolts of plasma whizzed past his head, blocking him from moving out in that direction. Checking the other side, he also found a stream of molten-hot globs of death blocking his exit. He was trapped.

Or so it would seem.
He checked his motion tracker. It showed the Brutes to be still firing, but holding their position. They obviously had little intent of advancing right now. Good. That suited Endur just fine. He crouched, and then jumped into the air. His power armour flung him several metres upward, a move that the attacking Brutes did not expect. Endur then activated his jump jets using his neural implants. This move took him even higher, giving him a brilliant firing arc on the Brutes. He fired a round from his micro fuel rod cannon, and two Brutes disappeared in a ball of blinding green-white light. He touched down onto the sand with a crunch and opened fire at the remaining Brute, the radioactive projectiles easily piercing his armour. The Brute yelped in pain, but continued to fire, sending several bolts of Plasma into contact with Endur's energy shield. Endur cursed and dashed for cover, pumping another round from his Carbines' fuel rod launcher. The projectile whizzed past the Brute's head, leaving a green smoke trail and smashing into a distant cliff face. The Brute then leapt out of its cover, rushing Endur's position while blasting away with its Plasma caster. Molten rock and plasma flung over Endur's head as he readied himself for close combat. The attacking Brute vaulted over the rock to face Endur, who immediately struck out with the butt of his weapon. He dealt the Brute a good blow to the jaw, stunning it. He then grabbed the Brutes arms, and with a roar he tore them from their sockets and away from its torso. The Brute screeched in agony, it's crimson blood spurting from the exposed arteries and muscle tissue. It fell to the floor, writhing and squirming, until Endur permanently silenced it with a shot to the face.

He coolly reloaded his Carbine, and inspected the carnage. This Brute was dead, and the other two had been radioactive veneers for several seconds. As such, Endur assumed that he was the victor of the fight. However, other Brute packs were certain to be nearby. It would help greatly if he moved out and met up with one of the other squads. By the sounds of things, the battle had already started to heat up. The distant popping of weapons fire sounded across the cliffs, and the night sky was alight with the flash of a thousand rifles. Air units were engaged in countless dogfights all over the city, and plumes of smoke reached toward space as towers burned. Endur looked away from the spectacle, ignited his jump jets and ascended into the air, searching for any friendly forces he could join up with. He landed with a crunch and allowed the jets to cool down before jumping again. He soared over a rocky outcrop, and landed at the edge of another cliff. He continued jumping until he was a half-mile outside the capital city. A Large plain stretched out ahead of him, ending at the small buildings that formed the edge of the city. A low rumble sounded to his left, and he searched for the source of the sound. Whatever it was, Brute forces were quickly forming a defence on the nearby outskirts, setting up anti-vehicle turrets, support weapons, roadblocks – and also three of the old Wraith mortar tanks. But they were ultimately interrupted in their actions by a large, quite unfriendly explosion, which completely annihilated one of the Wraiths. The source of the low rumbling, and of the explosion rolled into view. Five human Heavy Assault Tanks (known as HATs) rumbled past Endur's position, the crack of their weapons creating a deafening racket. Endur watched as they pulverised the Brutes' defensive position and rolled into the streets of the Covenant city. He went to move on, but was interrupted by a sudden loud crackling over his TEAMCOMM unit. The voice belonged to Major 'Vororo, a voice that Endur was infinitely happy to hear.
"This is Major 'Vororo to all members of Lance seven; File leaders report in."

Endur listened as each File leader reported their situations. So far, only Endur had experienced any sort of combat. He activated his voice unit and spoke into the mic.
"This is Minor 'Gibur, File three." He paused, waiting for a reply from the Major, who spoke almost immediately.
"Good to hear from you, 'Gibur. How are you faring so far?"
"Badly, sir. File three reports three casualties. Minors 'Ahtahd, 'Liwum and 'Jnuut were killed by an impact rod malfunction." It took a moment for 'Vororo to respond. Endur hoped that he wouldn't receive the blame for the incident.
"Understood, 'Gibur. Meet up with my team. Tacmap shows we are three-hundred metres from your position." The Major's voice was blank.
"Aye, sir. I shall meet with you soon." And with that, the comms line went dead. Endur activated his jump jets again and headed in the direction of File one. It took him just four jumps to reach them.

File one was sheltering in the blackened ruins of a Phantom dropship. The mangled bodies of several Brutes lay scattered across the ground, accompanied by what appeared to be small lumps of smouldering flesh. By the looks of it, the Phantom had been downed before it had even landed, probably by the hands of Minor Ante 'Bubod and his Fuel rod cannon. 'Vororo stood to greet Endur as he trotted over to join them.

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