Drop Zone

Off To A Great Start

Collin Shepherd : Colonel
I was asleep when it happened. I dreamed of home. The spacious canyons, exotic plants, and the death of my own Mother. I didn't tell my team to much about my past. If I did, they'd probably lose all trust in me. Oh yeah, by the way I should introduce myself. My name is Collin, Collin Shepherd. I was born on a colony on a planet that has no official name, just a serial number. I joined the United Nations Space Command about twelve years ago. By that time, the second ancient planet sized ring in space that could kill everything in the universe, or halo, discovered by humanity was destroyed. Around then there was tons of action including the covenant, an alien religious group, on multiple worlds, and frankly it was an enjoyable life. But then I was promoted to Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and since then I've been practicing the art of staying entertained by sleeping and doing routine check ups on the ship's navigational systems. Yep for all that time I have been enjoying sitting on my ass. That was until today.
I awoke to the sound of alarms and flashing lights. I had fallen asleep on a chair in the cargo hold rather than a bed. I immediately jumped up off the chair and navigated through the many halls of The Eccentric going past various entrances and flashing lights trying to get to the bridge. By the time I had gotten there everyone had already started investigating the problem. Teams of engineers and pilots as well as other members of the crew scurried around the room to check the multiple computers that lined the walls

"Hey what's happening?" I asked one of the crew members.
"Well, it's bad to say the least," a pilot I knew only as Bill said, "The truth is we aren't sure what happened but all of a sudden about five minutes ago, I'm not sure how to say this, the ship made a jump." For those less educated, slipspace, or a "jump" is when a ship bends dimensions in order to make accelerated travel across vast distances.
"What?" I responded bewildered, "But in order for the ship to engage slip space-"
"Yes, an executive crew member would have to authorize it, and I was up here when it happened," he quickly replied.
"Did you check with Timothy?" Timothy was the ship's Artificial Intelligence unit. Without him the ship would function at half the rate.
"You know he only really opens up to you and your squad. Why don't you go see what happened?" Bill concluded just as some other pilots and engineers called him over.
I walked over to the center console of the room. It would have looked like a table, if not for the giant hologram projection of the military vessel that I was on. In shape it greatly resembled the immediately recognizable USS INFINITY if not for a few minor differences. The engines, stabilizers, and cockpit were all lit up red, signifying that those areas were damaged. After assessing the damage, I searched the control panel while punching a few buttons. After that a blue figure appeared on a separate circular panel appeared. He wore armor typically reserved to Spartans; the physically enhanced super soldiers . He stood in front of a digital chalkboard as he wrote up calculations that would have looked like gibberish to anyone else.
"Hey Tim," I started calmly, "How are things looking?"
"Absolutely terrible," he responded, "we've been hacked, rerouted, and ransacked. Frankly speaking, this is my greatest failure."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up." I attempted to relax him, as I knew he would work better if he wasn't under pressure.
"No, this really is my fault," he corrected me. Now he had drawn up something that looked like a timeline. "Whoever hacked us, knew when to strike due to my necessary weekly reboot," he concluded with a kick to the leg of the chalk board. It was true that he did need to reboot his memory in order to run, and getting hacked while no one was on guard was a dirty, but smart move on whomever our adversary was. With Timothy now hunched over a small clipboard, massaging his temples, I shut of his monitor and returned to some of the personal. When I talked to the pilots who were seated I front of some consoles and a wall sized monitor said they said that they had no control over anything and only the involuntary systems like the oxygen filter and generator were functioning. We were still flying through the blue and black funnel that is slip space, so we hadn't the slightest idea of where we were headed. So we were basically soaring through space blindly. Not having much else to do I walked back to the barracks to check on my squad. These guys were the best of the best, highly elite, and very-
"Watch out Colonel!"-disciplined. I grabbed onto wall to pull myself up after being knocked down by a sucker punch to the chest.
"Geez Collin, you should be more aware of your surroundings," said my right hand man, major Paul Adams. He was a nice guy when he wasn't screwing around. The reason I had been knocked down was because the soldier was doing his morning work out regiment, which did include many martial arts practices. For some reason, he and the other man in the room had put on all their equipment as if they were about to do a drop. So, instead of seeing his glasses and messy hair, I only saw his blue visor on his black and silver helmet. Sitting on the top bunk above him was 1st lieutenant Joe Stevens, who was laughing his ass off while watching ancient reruns of some Earth television on his personal holo display. He was also wearing his armor, except instead of it being black with silver details, his was arctic white with sky blue details. He was from earth, which makes him more human than most of us; Paul was from a small colony on the planet Reach. As he too was wearing his helmet, you couldn't see his pale skin and hair that went down just past his neck. It was frankly remarkable that he was able to get his helmet on, as hair can sometimes interfere with the helmet's systems. As I scanned the rest of the barracks, I noticed that the two other men of my squad weren't present.
"Hey Paul, where is the rest of our crew of scurvy space-dogs?" I said mimicking the old space pirates who would hijack cargo vessels and snatch their valuables.
"First off, shut the hell up and never speak like that again," he replied while sitting down on his bunk, "and second, why don't you just check your personal ship map?" It was now that I remembered that not only was I wearing my equipment, but also my helmet. As soon as I had realized this, it was no surprise to me considering we basically live in these suits and take them off rarely. The map referred to by major Paul referred to was a basic blue print detailing all the halls and passages of the infinity-class space ship. In addition to that, satellites could be deployed around a planet to show the surroundings of a foreign world. It also had the capabilities to mark allies and enemies. Using the previous feature, I was able to instantly see that my subordinates were all presently in the ship's rec. room.
"Alright thanks." I said to the two as I left the room, "Oh and by the way, head up to the bridge they might need your help." As I strolled through the seemingly identical paths, I wondered why there was no art hanging on the walls, I mean, it would really make the place look a lot more habitable. Making my way towards the stern of the ship, I took an elevator to gain direct access to the ships recreational room. As the doors opened up to reveal a large room, I was once again reminded that despite how 90 percent of the ship was steel and red lights, ten percent had velvet floors, pool tables, a hot tub, various arcade machines, and a couch large enough to seat thirteen stationed in front of a two hundred centimeter TV. And in front of said TV, sat two guys, viciously playing a round of CSGO.
"You know most people would be alarmed at a sudden shaking sensation within the ship, flashing lights, and a temporary power outage." I told this to them in the hopes they'd pause their game, but no such luck.
"Nah dude, we still playin'," said Leon Walker (private 1st class) who barely even missed a thumb movement on his controller. Despite his bland response, he was possibly the most intellectual member of the team. His strategies were impervious and his quick reactions kept him from getting shot whilst mapping out points. Next to him was Victor Williams aka Vic. Due to the goggles attached to his helmet (which I was certain he was cheating with) it was clear he was the teams sniper. Leon and him were always stuck together during our training exercises, in which one would watch the other's back while they did their tasks.

"Yep can't be bothered by nothin' till this round is over,-" in the game he spun around in order to shoot Leon's character in the face, "-which it is now," he concluded with a smile as Vic shouted multiple curse words in various dialects and languages. "So, what's up boss?." "Not sure yet. We're being jumped to another system by some sort of computer virus, or at least that's my guess. I sent Tim to work so in time he should have an answer for us soon, with luck it should be within the hour. In the meantime, head to the bridge  with the others. I'll head down to the deck in order to prep our stuff. I have a feeling that when we drop out, we're going to want to get off of this ship as soon as possible."

"Alright man, we'll head down to the armory and be up on the bridge as soon as possible bro," Leon said as he took his side arm magnum and shot ten rounds into the large flatscreen TV to blow off steam. I left them to go down to the deck where the Drop Pods were held and launched. I went there rather than the bridge in order to prep all of my squads equipment. I wanted to make sure we could get out of there in the clap of a hand. Because what I told Leon was right. I did have a seriously bad feeling. But at that point I didn't know just how right I was.