Editing The Chronicles of ODS Steve

{{Title|''The Chronicles of ODS Steve''}}
{{Status|RealWorld}}
{{Fan made}}
{{Novel infobox
|image=[[File:ODS Steve.jpg|285px]]
|author=Deep Cee
|publisher=* Spirits of Fire.com
* Hawty McBloggy.com
* [[Halo Waypoint]]
|publication= November 12, 2008 - Ongoing
|media=Webcomic
|length=
|ISBN=
}}
{{Quote|ODS Steve. The man. The legend. The hero that knows no fear. Join him and Delta Squad for their comical adventures as they valiantly attempt to drop into enemy territory to take the fight straight to the Covenant.|The comic's weekly tagline.}}

'''''The Chronicles of ODS Steve''''' is a fan webcomic written by "Deep Cee" Deepak,<ref name="CE United">[http://ceunited.com/20questionsdeepcee.html '''CE United''': ''CE United presents: 20 Questions with DeepCee'']</ref> about a squad of [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] and various [[Covenant]]. Although the comic takes a humorous tone, it loosely follows the events of the ''Halo'' canon. It was inspired by ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', but was released before it. The events of the comic occur concurrently with ''ODST'' and will eventually lead into ''Halo 3''. ''ODS Steve'' is published by [[Jessica Shea]], first on her gaming blog Hawty McBloggy and currently on [[Halo Waypoint]].

==Plot==
'''Note:''' ''The comic is still ongoing and is not yet completed.''

During the [[Battle of Earth]], the UNSC ''Ownage'' deploys the ODST team Delta Squad into [[New Mombasa]]. While most of the team rides down in their drop pods, ODS Steve oversleeps and finds his pod is marked as out of order. Rather than stay aboard, his response is to leap out of the ship and freefall down to Earth.

The five man team, which includes "Sarge" and the English twins Jim and Jim, is tasked with heading to "point bravo", but unbeknownst to them, Point Bravo is actually a ruse by ''Ownage'' to keep them as far from a battle as possible. While the team prepares, Steve accidentally fires a pair of Spartan Lasers. The beams streak out into the sky and shoot down a Phantom and nearby Grunt. The Phantom's owner, Sunef 'Mhackphisthoee, and the Grunt's friend Dav Dav both vow revenge.

After some confusion, the team arrives at Point Bravo, which turns out to be the Mombasa Zoo. Finding nothing there, Sarge has the team build a defensive perimeter, but in the process is kidnapped by Covenant. The team calls the ''Ownage'' from help, and they send down Lt. Angel, an ONI officer who leads the team in Sarge's absence. She uses her personal AI ODYNE to track Sarge's IFF tag, which points to the New Mombasa Dairy.

Sarge comes to inside and realizes Grunts have kidnapped him and Sunef. Their leader turns out to be Men-Dhi, an Unggoy who styles himself as a Prophet. His Grunts have defected the Covenant to start living in "the temple of the sacred food nipple". They worship "the Oracle", which Sarge and Snuef discover is actually a Covenant antimatter bomb. The two try to disable it, but Men-Dhi threatens them with a fuel rod gun, just as they find the place is also full of HAVOK nukes.

Angel helps the team defeat several [[Kig-Yar Sniper|Kig-Yar snipers]], and in the process run into Dav Dav. The team captures him and makes him lead them to the dairy plant. Along the way, Angel explains that the New Mombasa Dairy hid an ONI bunker full of classified weapons, which she worries the Covenant might use to destroy the city.

The team arrives, and Steve distracts the Grunts guarding the dairy while the rest of the troopers head inside. But a Scarab arrives to attack the Grunts and troopers, leaving Steve alone to fight it. He holds it off with a Bubble Shield, but then finds his Spartan Lasers are out of ammo. The Scarab fires at him, melting the floor beneath his feet. Steve is sent falling down below, where the team is held up by Men-Dhi and his fuel rod gun. He crashes into Men-Dhi and continues falling, eventually landing in a deeper bunker.

Sunef teams up with Delta Squad to defeat the Scarab, since its attack could blow up the bombs. He charges at it with en energy sword while the ODSTs flank it with a Warthog and Mongoose, but the Scarab deal with them quickly. Just in time, though, Steve arrives in a mecha suit, and singlehandedly blows up the Scarab and its crew.

Delta Squad has defeated the Scarab, but the antimatter charge has just activated. Struggling to find a way to get it out the city, Angel calls the ''Ownage'' for help but the cruiser is being engaged by a Covenant assault carrier. Steve then suggests a plan: taking the bomb to the nearby [[Traxus Industries|Traxus]] [[Traffic Cone|Cone]] and [[Fusion coil|Coil of Fusion]] Storage. The explosion rockets the bomb into the atmosphere, where it blows up the assault carrier and saves ''Ownage''. Sunef has fled to regroup with his Elites, but the cones sent flying shoot down his Phantom again.

The ''Ownage'' radios in to inquire Delta Squad's status. The team reports that [[Truth's fleet]] has just arrived in New Mobasa, and is [[glassing]] the city to uncover the [[Portal at Voi]]. Pelican Schoony 237 picks them up to take them to the last forward operating base Angel knows of: [[Crow's Nest]]. However, there appears to be no one there, aside from drunken Grunts on the intercom.

==Cast==
===UNSC characters===
* '''ODS Steve''': A mute Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who is the protagonist of the comic. His eyes and mouth are visible through his helmet, usually in a sort of grimace. Though mute and somewhat slow witted, he is capable of superhuman feats, such as surviving falls from orbit and using two non-dual wieldable weapons.His signature weapon is dual wielded Spartan Lasers, though initially he was terrible at aiming them. He is loosely based off of [[Mister Chief]] and [[the Rookie]].<ref name="CE United"/>
* '''Jim and Jim''': A pair of English twins. To tell them apart, one of them is promoted but forced to paint pink stripes on his armor. The other eventually adopts orange stripes. "Pink" Jim is very fond of Earl Gray tea, and gets very angry if anyone else takes it. A running gag with him is that he is frequently forced to be naked. He is based off of Deepak's friend "Jim028".<ref name="CE United"/> "Orange" Jim is much calmer than his brother, but also wants to be promoted.
* '''Sarge''': The sergeant of Delta Squad. Although he is very professional in manner, he is a very bad liar, which shows up when his tactical decisions go awry.
* '''A fourth unnamed trooper''': He is used whenever the comic needs a straight man or to respond professionally to orders.
* '''Lieutenant Angel''': An ONI officer assigned to Delta Squad. Although the most serious of the team, it is hinted she is fond of painting things pink and purple. She wears a Recon helmet that turns out to have been stolen from [[Veronica Dare]], and repainted purple. It is hinted she was once in a relationship with [[John-117|the Master Chief]], because she own his armor's codpiece and keeps it in her drop pod. She is based off [[Jessica Shea]], her name in reference to her username "BS Angel".<ref name="CE United"/>
* '''ODYNE''': Angel's personal AI, which is standard issue for an ONI Lieutenant. He provides the team with a map and tracks down Sarge.
* '''The crew of UNSC ''Ownage''''': A Marathon-class cruiser in orbit above Earth. It is responsible for deploying the team, and provides them with packages dropped from space. Despite helping them, the ''Ownage'' secretly is trying to keep them away from any area of importance, since Delta Squad's antics once cost them five Scorpions.

===Covenant characters===
* '''Sunef 'Mhackphisthoee''': A [[Sangheili Zealot]] who has sworn revenge on whoever shot down his Phantom. His arrogance frequently blinds his judgment. He usually wears the standard [[Combat harness|Sangheili combat harness]], but briefly trades its helmet for the large one of a [[Sangheili Councilor]], which he finds very difficult to move in.
* '''Men-Dhi''': An Unggoy who has styled himself as a Hierarch. He refers to himself as the Prophet of Discontent, and leads hundreds of Grunts by religious authority. He rules over "the Temple of the Sacred Nipple" and worships "the Oracle", unaware that they are merely a milk processing plant and an antimatter charge, respectively.
* '''Dav Dav''': An Unggoy who has vowed revenge for the death of his friend, who was accidentally killed by ODS Steve's laser shots. Despite his rage, he spends the majority of the comic blissfully hallucinating after drinking too much of Jim's Earl Gray tea, imagining he is talking with a purple Grunt. He later leads the team inside the New Mombasa Dairy.

==Production==
The comic was inspired in 2008 by a conversation with Deepak and several of his friends about how they missed Mister Chief from the [[Bungie Weekly Update]]s. Inspired to create his own, Deepak created ODS Steve and posted a doodle of him on the HBO and Hawty McBloggy forums. The character received positive feedback, including suggestions of a weekly series. As Deepak thought about how the story should go, Jessica Shea, the then-owner of Hawty, contacted him and offered to host the comic.<ref name="CE United"/> Deepak agreed, and later included a character inspired by her, Lieutenant Angel.

The comic is made up of both in-game images and drawn ones. For instance, Delta Squad is drawn, as is the Marathon cruiser they're deployed from, but the Scarab they fight is a Photoshopped image. Backgrounds are also usually made from in-game pictures.

The comic frequently spoofs elements of the ''Halo'' series, both canon and gameplay. In one strip, Jim and Steve mistake gorillas for Brutes, which were used as a real world reference. [[Traffic Cone]]s, which are notorious for accidentally killing gamers in multiplayer, are regarded by the characters as deadly weapons, enough that even a Scarab retreats upon seeing some.<ref>[http://spiritsoffire.com/steve/ods-steve/67-dual-wielding/ '''Spirits of Fire''': ''#67 – Dual Wielding'']</ref> Other spoofed elements include the finger-less gloves of ODSTs, [[Emile-A239|Emile's]] skull helmet,<ref>[http://spiritsoffire.com/steve/ods-steve/58-two-face/ '''Spirits of Fire''': ''#58 – Two Face'']</ref> and the idea that they might all be fictional characters.<ref>[http://spiritsoffire.com/steve/ods-steve/69-why-are-we-here/ '''Spirits of Fire''': ''#69 – Why Are We Here?'']</ref>

Occasionally ''Chronicles'' has "side" episodes where little plot advancement occurs for the sake of humor. In one such strip, "Pink" Jim hallucinates on Earl Gray tea and dreams that the entire team has been teleported into ''Gears of War''. In another, the entire comic is revealed to be a movie being filmed, with all the characters being played by actors who proceed to break out of character and put away the set.<ref>[http://spiritsoffire.com/steve/ods-steve/83-trouble-in-space/ '''Spirits of Fire''': ''#83 – Trouble in Space'']</ref> This latter strip was written in concurrence with Hawty McBloggy closing down, as Shea had just been hired to [[343 Industries]].

''Chronicles'' frequently references ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. Jim's dislike of his pink armor mirrors that of ''RvB'''s soldier Donut, comic #69 is titled "Why Are We Here?", and the Warthog playing Mexican music appears, with one of the troopers remarking that it's marked as the property of a "Simmons".<ref>[http://spiritsoffire.com/steve/ods-steve/75-locked-and-loaded/ '''Spirits of Fire''': ''#75 – Locked and Loaded'']</ref>

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

{{Fan Works}}

[[Category:Fan made]]