Welcome to Gaia! ::

Warren smiled under his helmet as he saw Seth brought Karr and Koles back with him. He had planned to pretend to go into a massive head ache like earlier and slow down the launch, looks like it wasn't needed. "Welcome back, sir" He said to Seth as he and the other's took there seats. Able was ready to move out and head to there objective.

The feeling from the station instantly ran into him, and his skin crawled. Time to know whats going on, whoever you are? warren thought to himself. It was a good thing he wearing his standard ODST helmet or people could see the look on his face.

Mendez sat in the Cargo bay of his pelican along with the other Marines. Sadly, he was the only one in this pelican wearing ODST armor. Leaning back, his helmet bumped against the bulkhead. It was a reasurring feeling, he didn't realize he had his helmet on most of the time. "Off we go..into the wild blue yonder...." It was the beginning of the United States Air Force anthem, one that hadn't been sung in a long time. He'd read about it in the history books, back when the Air Force hadn't been able to reach space. The Marine next to him tapped his shoulder. "Sir, what was that you said?" looking at the Marine, Mendez smiled behind his helmet. "It was good luck Son, good luck." Leaving the Marine puzzled, Mendez laid his head back on the bulkhead and held his rifle close to his chest. He didn't bother getting to know the Marine, he'd lost too many of them in the past.

Lee nodded. Everyone was coming at the last minute, just as he expected. Funny. He had the impression some of them were going to be stuck on kitchen duty for a while.
"Corporal Jackson, you're in H-231 with me. Get onboard, it's about time we got started."
The Captain began at a brisk pace towards his assigned pelican, running up the short ramp to the troop bay inside just in time to see a sleepy-eyed marine hop into the pelican next to his.
James Mitchell, huh? I'll have him peeling vegetables for a month.
Lee strapped himself in, leaning his battle rifle next to his legs in the spacious troop bay he was sitting in. A few seconds passed as green lights blinked on in his HUD, each of the 9 pelicans signifying troop and vehicle readiness. A few bay coordinators chattered with each pilot over SHIP-COM, and the pelican bay cleared immediately of personnel. Bolts slid out of position, locks clanked undone and finally the rush of acceleration hit the men and women of Able Company as they flew into the vastness of space.

About fifteen seconds after liftoff, everything still in the green, Lee initiated SQUAD-COM with all of the men in Able Company. A small green-hued version of the Captain's helmeted head appeared in each Marine and ODSTs HUD, signaling the beginning of the Operation.

"All right marines, today's mission is pretty simple. There's a huge installation out there, we have very little idea what it's doing in the middle of space and no idea whatsoever as to what could be on it.

The one thing we do know, however, is that Timmy's fallen into the proverbial well. We're receiving a distress signal, identifying a pelican that was on the Pillar of Autumn as being stranded on that hunk of metal. If the marines onboard are still alive, then they have answers we need. Their rescue is our primary objective, with for secondary objective the exploration and mapping of this station.

Everyone is to turn on their head-cams for this mission, so we can study whatever info we get ground-side later, comfy back on the Monterey eating that slop our cafeterias call food.

Alright, I want Platoon and squad leaders to sound out now. Deployment plans will be established when we hit ground."

"At this point, it doesn't matter what you do or don't know. We've detected bio-signals on the installation, and for all we know it's a frigging tropical paradise in there. So sit tight, strap in, and sound out like you got a pair!"
Xiang Hao played impatiently with his wrist cuffs. The titanium-A wristlets he had sown in were just a little too loose for his liking. Any tighter, though, and he'd have had to strap the wristlets directly to his skin, which was a bad idea by anyone's standards. He switched off the SQUAD-COM link on his camera and initiated the recording program. Squad leaders began to sound in as old Terran music began to blast the speakers.

"Sir?, may i request I'm on the secondary objective of mapping the station" Warren knew that was his best chance to look around the station."I have some navigational skills, so I could be handy for that job." The feeling was still lodged deep inside his skin, and he was starting to understand it, felt like something left undone.

Seth sounded off along with the other Squad leaders. He held his BR55 in his left hand -- his dominant hand-- letting it rest pointed upwards towards the ceiling on his shoulder. He shifted his legs, and tensed them and relaxed them. They got antsy whenever they were still for too long.

Seth chuckled inside as the old music began playing. This is how they went in.
"Hoo-rah." Seth added before activating his camera and began recording. He looked to his left, and looked to his right, making sure the camera recorded all the men and women in this pelican with he and Koles and Karr.
He just hoped the journey back would be just as packed.

Shifting his legs one more time Seth let his head rest against the wall. His eyes lost focus as he let his other senses take over. Listening beyond the music, beyond the roar of the pelicans into the emptiness and blackness of space. It was this kind of meditation that put Seth's mind in the right place for a mission, his face looked concentrated. Solemn.

Ashton turned to Warren Henry and motioned for a private channel.
"So, Henry, you still thinking of busting out and going all 'rogue'marine' on us, or what? My advice, stick to the mission, we'll all stay alive a lot longer if you do. You're a good soldier, and I'd trust my life with you, but only if your head is in the game. And I've got vitals stats feeding from your suit: I know when you're in the game, and when you're scheming."

He did not mean any of it as a threat, simply a logical worry. Would anyone put their protection in the hands of a sniper if they knew he was daydreaming? He wondered. Well, he knew he wouldn't. He'd seen too many people die horribly to just have himself die uselessly. He needed to die with a purpose, if he did.