Down But Not Out (open RP)

[Vertickly]

The USS Safe Haven, a UNSC Frigate beloved by its crew for its past victories and reliability in space combat. It is in the middle of a firefight with the Covenant over the planet of Gallis (due to inability to find a good planet to use in the Halo Universe i made this one up). The planet of Gallis was brand new to the discovery of the Humans. A world with huge forests, long plains of tall grass, plenty of rivers and lakes. The UNSC had the Covenant outnumbered, but the Covie ships were much stronger and were quite obviously winning the dogfight. A tactical error made by an over-confident admiral. The UNSC Safe Haven began launching escape pods when its engines were blown and was left defenseless. All pods managed to escape but only 65% made it to the planet without being destroyed on impact or on its way to the planet. Among them were Marines, Corpsmen, and ODSTs. Before they reached planet side their beloved Frigate had been annihilated. But with smart thinking from a Captain of another Frigate that was losing its life, had sent down everything he had, pelicans carrying warthogs and scorpion MBTs. In total only 5 warthogs and 2 scorpions made it to the planet in working condition. Most pelicans were destroyed and 4 of them were forced into a crash landing on the planet.

Waking up...
45 minutes have passed since landing...

Sgt. Greene awoke in the escape pod, torn to shreds on the  edge of a forests trees and rough ground. He unattached the safety harness from his seat and stood up, at first dizzy and unable to regain his balance, he may have suffered minor injuries from the impact. He regained his composure and began to check the other Marines in the pod, one by one. It seemed like no one was moving but he managed to see a Marine's chest rising and falling. Greene didn't recognize the man but he unbuckled him and moved him onto his back. Quickly scanning outside the doors to see if there was any activity, an open field, they must've just missed a forest, seeing nothing he opened the doors and carefully moved the marine outside. He removed the man's armor to allow easier breathing, and reluctantly his eye's opened. He woke up and didn't seem to know what was going on at all.


"Glad to see you awake sunshine, name and rank?" Greene asked him once he got his attention. "Corporal Bennet, UNSC... UNSC Safe Haven." "Hmm, you might have suffered a bit of a concussion, take it easy marine, I'm Sgt Greene. Stay here and relax I'm going to check the rest of the crew." The corporal nodded and Greene headed back inside. There was a weapons crate set up but it only had 1 BR55 and 1 magnum. He grabbed both and scrounged up all the ammunition he could, 5 magzines for the BR55 and 3 magazines for the magnum. Greene saw a marine staring at him... he was alive and aware.


"Did you just wake up marine?" "Yes, what happened?" Greene didn't know how to answer he lost consciousness before hitting the tree line. "We, crashed, I don't now what else to tell you. Name and rank, who are you?" Lance Corporal Jennings" Greene shot back, "Good to see you alive Jennings, I'm Sgt. Greene, let's get you out of the pod and outside." "Sgt! We have trouble. Smoke rising from the tree line. If the Covenant see it, it will lead them here, if the don't already know we're here" shouted Bennet.

[Astro]

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Safe Haven, Orbiting Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2-Charlie

The Safe Haven was taking heavy fire, close to a drifting titanium carcass. The engines were FUBAR and the primary reactors were failing. A warning klaxon echoed through the ship's powerless passageways, with red warning lights painting the walls in an eery crimson. Every bulkhead groaned under the damage. No matter what marvel Captain Jewell pulled off at this point, the ship was going to go down. That meant getting everyone off of the ship, by means of Bumblebee, Pelican and SOEIV. Private First Class Jeff Fitzhugh was stuck with the latter; he was trained to drop from low orbit to the surface of a planet whilst sitting in a tin can and that meant his way off of the Frigate was in a Human Entry Vehicle. Lucky him.

A lot of ODSTs had died on drops where their courses were perfect; the ship was straight, the timings calculated exactly. Right now, dropping conditions were less than optimal. The Safe Haven was directly perpendicular to the planet of Gallis. In fact, it was nearly forty-five degrees to it. The HEV occupants would have to do some serious steering to not hit the ground at an angle and bounce a mile across terrain. They knew it was risky but they were willing to take the chance; their odds of survival were better getting off of the ship than staying aboard and crashing with it or, worse, getting obliterated by it. 

"Two mikes, guys. Get your shit packed and in your pods!"

Aztec 1-2, the second quarter of Aztec Company, carried on as the Platoon Sergeant encouraged everybody to hurry the fuck up. They were ODSTs: they'd been doing the same shit for years, some as NCOs in a past life. Then again, he'd been there years longer than even the LT. Fitz wasn't exactly bothered about it either; he was more or less ready to go. The seal between his helmet and his bodysuit hissed quietly shut, containing the PFC's vision in a yellow-orange border. He flipped his VISR on, testing that the transparent OLED layer functioned as it should; the dark deck and bulkheads of the HEV-bay were suddenly illuminated, outlined in dull orange. His fellow ODSTs gained green lines at their edges too, whilst weapons and other equipment showed up light-blue.

Fitz grabbed a BR55 from the weapon rack and slotted a magazine of 9.5x40mm into the empty magazine well. He racked the bolt and the ammo counter flashed from zero to a bright blue '36', indicating the weapon was loaded and fully operational. Then, he flicked the selector switch to safe; his ODST Drill Instructor had made it crystal-fucking-clear that they didn't want to end up like the guys who had gotten shot by their own rifle upon impact. Safeties-on for combat drops was now as SOP to Fitz as only pointing your stick of ranged death at stuff you wanted dead.

"Thirty seconds, c'mon!" hollered the Platoon Sergeant. Jeff jammed the BR55 in the weapon slot beside the HEV's seat and, before getting in, checked the safety of his M6. Satisfied that it wouldn't blow his head off, he reattached it to his thighplate and boarded the capsule. Seconds later, the hatch slammed shut. It hissed and the pod rotated one-eighty degrees, rocking back and forth as it went, to face outwards. The LT's face appeared on the left-hand screen, the Platoon Sergeant's on the right. Both had unpolarised visors. The Lieutenant went first.

"Safe Haven's coming in at a shitty angle, Helljumpers. Course has been set on all of your HUDs," he explained, not directly addressing the sheer danger of the drop. "We'll link up, establish a defendable position and hope to God the Covenant don't find us."

"What the El Tee said: follow the course and hit the ground screaming 'Oorah!'," followed the Platoon Sergeant. "What are we gonna scream?"

An audible morale-filled reply roared back over the TACCOM linking the Platoon, which Jeff joined in on. In all honesty, it was just making them feel less likely they were going to die. Marines were invincible. Oorah. He kept that at the front of his mind as the three low beeps and final high beep sounded, sending the bottom row of HEVs out. Moments later the same sound resonated through his pod. Then, its on-board thruster fired it out of the bay. Fitz couldn't even see the planet at first: it was scary as hell, like he was drifting through space to no goal. Luckily, he could see the pods of his fellow squad members to keep him from pissing his under-suit.

Out of nowhere, a telemetry indicator appeared on the ODST's HUD, a curved dashed line leading to a location some klicks from a location near the East coast of Gallis's biggest continent. They were probably headed there so they weren't running around in a forest looking at trees repeating 'haven't I already been here' whilst trying to link up. Fitz adjusted his course. Following the coast was a pretty easy way to navigate an unknown island. Left or right; fifty percent chance of finding some other brainboxes who were romantically strolling on the beach. The marker was most likely set slightly inland so the ODSTs didn't come out screaming 'Oorah!' at the bottom of the ocean. Fitz began to wonder if that had ever happened before, but was rudely interrupted by the sudden streaks of plasma glancing past his vision.

Great.

"Enemy fighters! Adjust course!"

Charlie Squad lost half of its men in a heartbeat. Alpha took similar losses. Seraphs whizzed past the arcing SOEIVs, the bulbous purple bastards of space. The ODSTs began to veer left, aiming more towards the centre of the continent. The sharp curve was an attempt to throw off the Seraphs. It failed, leading to another pod's fiery end, crashing into another one and sending it way off from the rest of them.

What felt like a lifetime passed before the POD finally slammed into the ground, miraculously missing every tree of the dense forest. The hatch blasted open, firing forward and taking a chunk out of a tree, ricocheting off into another one. Fitz himself grabbed his BR55 and ejected himself from the pod by pushing off with his foot, flicking the fire-selector to burst. He shouldered the rifle as his boots splashed into a small stream a few centimetres deep and cleared the area muzzle first. Left, front, right: clear. He stepped out of the stream and quickly designated the area behind the HEV safe clear too. He sighed.

"Oorah." the famous Marine saying had lost its enthusiasm. A third of the platoon had just been wiped out on the way down and many of the others probably wouldn't have made it. PFC Jeff Fitzhugh was one of the lucky ones. Funny. He didn't feel very happy about it. Instead of celebrating, Fitz tried the ship-bounced COM, hearing nothing but dead-air and seeing an 'OUT OF RANGE' warning flashing on his HUD. He switched to shortwave radio. Even though the ionosphere was different to the other colonised planets, where shortwave was optimised, and there were a metric fuckton of trees, using the old-style radio was the only option he had. He feared he was going to produce more static than he did words.

"This is Private First Class Jeff Fitzhugh, Aztec One-Two-Charlie. Hailing all UNSC elements, break. Please respond, over."

//Added information (e.g. date) was discussed with Vert. Except for the callsigns. Deal with it, nerd ;D
//Didn't spellcheck either. I've been working on this post for waaay too long to go back and check it. It's 0830 here.

[Faclan]

(Hope this is all alright, I may be the only Covie bad-guy in this and that's fine, got lots of people to try and search, maybe get shot or nabbed up, and to possibly kill some of ya.)

Kael Gel - T'vaoan Champion, current Commander.
Directing the search.

Kael, flanked by her personal file of Commando's, overlooked the rather picturesque forest from the large plateau that lead down to it. While rare that a non-Sangheili would lead a ground operation Kael had the advantage of being the first force commander on the scene, and being Kig-Yar she had staked her claim on it as it were. The SDV Corvette Calm Savant floating above. Kael having been the commanding officer on the admittedly small ship as they had been tasked with landing and exterminating the Humans that had made it to the surface as the larger ships routed the remaining Human ships and made sure the system was secure. Kael didn't care much about what was happening in space as she smirked down at the smoke rising and the troops slowly moving down the hill or flying down to investigate as she heard the base being built behind her. The searching Covenant mostly composed of Kig-Yar and Unggoy, her Entourages T'vaoan deployed in sparse numbers as advanced scouts with the rest on other ships a few Sangheili (None happy with their current Commander), a few she couldn't care to remember, and a Yanme'e swarm as support. With more in the ship if needed, but Kael had faith in her Entourage's skill

"The Lances know their orders, and with the amount of smoke down there I doubt the Humans will have much equipment left to them. Let the forces know to be cautious and swift...but have some fun if they find some Humans all alone. May as well let them know that I care little about Honor or any of that Sangheili babbling."

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good, I trust them to do their job, but don't rest too easily or loose your bloodlust, once I make that accursed report to the Sangheili we'll be heading down there as well." Kael didn't have to turn around to know that her green armored and helmeted Commandos were grinning as they crouched down to watch.

(So about ten of Kael's T'vaoans(10), herself and her personal file(4), a few lances of Kig-Yar and Unggoy (~30), and a few Sangheili (~3-4), and a few 'others'(for our Jiralhanae friends or others if they want to join) for a total of about fifty five(55) troops against you Humans. Let me know if that's too many.)


Cad - Kig-Yar Major.
Slow searching.

As one of the Lance leaders that had been deployed by Mistress Kael Cad was moving through the heavy forest searching for the Human scum. Some of his lance were eager to be able to have some fun with the Humans when they found them rather than just shooting them, but Cad was intent on just killing them when he found them. Or capturing them if they were an important Human. He remembered the snow planet all too well and how he had nearly been strangled to death by a Human. Needed to be alert so they didn't have the chance of happening again...

His file and himself were searching with their shields off and trying to be as silent as possible. The light from the shields would be a dead give away if any Humans happened to be about and Cad wanted to be the only one that was doing any sneak attacks if sneak attacks were to be had. But he held up his hand to stop his file as he smelled charred wood. Slowing down even more Cad soon smelt metal too...Human something. They kept going until they neared a stream as well, the file of four Kigs slowly spreading out, but as Cad whispered for them to do, stay in visual range of each other, searching for the source of the smell.


SSA-012 - Yanme'e Swarm
Airborn scanning.

Unlike their allies below the Yanme'e had the advantage of being able to fly above the trees to head right toward the smoke. The Ultra leading the fly over as she clicked a few times, the swarm spreading out to visually cover more area as they flew with their weapons out and ready to fire. Scanning around and clicked back and fourth as they spotted possible Human vehicles and places where they could be found. But the Ultra had them stay near the front of the searchers so they wouldn't get too far ahead and be an easy target. Not that the Ultra was expecting much in the for of Human resistance from the few things she had seen fall to earth. But unlike the T'vaoan female she wasn't willing to throw away the lives of her swarm on a simple extermination mission.

Three of the Swarm soon spotted a clearing with a large trough cut through it. Clicking back and fourth they adjusted course and headed toward it, alerting the rest of the swarm of what they were doing. Their intention to scan the area from the air before going down to check on what caused the ditch in the field.


(Kael may only show up every few posts till she joins the search for real, and Eugine likely won't show up unless I can find a really good spot for him. Bugs for one and Kig's for the other :>.)

[Vertickly]

(Everything you posted Fac, I like haha, you got it damn close to how i am imagining the scenario)



"Move into the treeline, stay low, stay quiet, and when you get in a good position do not move. You both understand me? Not a muscle," ordered Greene. Both Bennet and Jennings replied with a low "Roger sergeant." Both of them moved to the treeline finding concealment, but no effective cover from plasma fire. Greene closed the pods door and moved to the treeline himself when the radio crackled to life.



"This is Private... lass Jeff Fitzhugh... Two-Charlie. Hailing... UNSC... break. Please... over."
Greene responded to the open channel "This is sergeant Greene, say again, break, if understood switch to radio frequency 101.12 SC PT over." He didn't need open radio chatter to easily be listened to by covenant forces. He knew what he heard though, 'private', enough to know he could be talking with a rookie, or a shitbag marine that can't get promoted.



Greene made it to his fellow marines. Barely any cover whatsoever, the trees, and great concealment with the camouflage blending into the wilderness. He handed Jennings the magnum, Bennet may not be able to handle a firearm at the moment from the impact. "Bennet stay awake" Greene whispered over to him, he wasn't looking so good. Bennet looked dizzy and winded from the run and didn't respond with words but with a nod and panting. 'This isn't good' Just as the thought crossed Greene's mind over the distance of the field using the scope of the BR55, he saw bugs flying across the sky, the covenant were already scanning this sector. "Jennings, watch our 6." Jennings not wanting to make any noise slowly, rolled onto his back, watching their asses. The marines didn't hear any movement near them, the only danger in sight, the bugs, Greene in his mind flipping out, hoping not to be spotted, but on the outside kept his composure, he had to do everything in his power to keep these two alive, till they ran into some friendly forces.

There was a smoke cloud coming from their escape pod, but it seemed like one was close by, just over the treeline. Bennet saw it earlier, and it seemed like the bugs saw that one at the moment, it was only a matter of time before they headed to them.

[Astro]

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Location Unknown, Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2-Charlie

The fact that ship-bounced communications were dead didn't instill much confidence in Fitz. That probably meant that the ships were out of commission. No back up for the Marine Corps. He questioned the logic behind packing Marines onto a frontline battleship. Surely it would have been smarter to keep bigger ships at the back housing a Battalion-strength units? Too many Marines had died just sitting around on ships, doing nothing. A lot didn't have a means of escape. To have a safe haven like Gallis to head to when your ship was getting kicked in the balls? Rare and lucky. Still, Fitz didn't feel lucky; he just cynically repeated the name Safe Haven in his head a few times. Irony.

It had been a while since he'd broadcast on the shortwave. At first, he'd been doing it in minute intervals. After five minutes, he got sick of hearing himself, upping the interval to every ten minutes. Heading East, where he knew the coast they were supposed to land at was, he'd lost track of when he'd last repeated the hail. As he stepped over a large tree root and braced his forearm against it for support, he switched to the COMM tab of his HUD and opened the emergency UNSC shortwave frequency.

"This is Private First Class Jeff Fitzhugh, Aztec One-Two-Charlie. Hailing all UNSC elements, break. Please respond, over."

He checked his mission clock; it read '+00:00:47:13'. Had he really been strolling about for three quarters of an hour? Where had the time gone? Jesus. Having not heard anyone for that long made his stomach drop. Was he the only survivor? Surely not.

"ZZKT- Greene, say aga-KKTCH, break. ZZZT-ch to radio-CHHHT-One-Oh-CHHKT-ver."

The voice scared the shit out of him. Whoever this Greene guy was, Fitz was sure as hell glad to hear his extremely shittily transmitted voice. He attempted a response.

"Say again, Greene. Signal's poor, break. Heading East to original ODST rendezvous, over." tried Fitz. He looked up briefly, double-checking his surroundings. He'd heard something beyond the static, outside of his helmet. Covenant? Maybe it was just the local wildlife. Maybe he was just losing it.

He continued East. 
 

[Faclan]

(Thanks, be sure to let me know if any of my posts need changing.)

Cad - Kig-Yar Major
A pod eh?...

The file had slowly continued to spread out, occasionally some foliage would block their view of each other as they kept going. It was unfortunate the forest was as thick as it was as the Kig-Yar's attempt to move quiet was nearly impossible. So a constant but quiet rustling was now happening around them. The sound unfortunately blocking out the movement of the lone ODST that was moving away as Cad found the pod. Giving a quiet bird like whistle the file started to close back up together. But wouldn't meet up before Cad had them moving again. But first the quick investigation.

Cad was the first on the scene of the sputtering pod, Needler out as he peaked around a tree at it, listening, and then moved in when he was sure he didn't hear anything. He still kept looking around to be sure the Human that took this pod down didn't leap out of the brush. It was clear that the Human didn't die in the landing as there was no blood and no body. The supplies had also been looked. Sticking his head into the pod Cad sniffed a few times until he got a good idea of the scent of the human before stepping back out, nodding at Pad as she arrived at the scene too. Both of them quickly working out what direction the Human had gone from the parted bushes. In an easterly direction from the pod. Nodding at Pad he called out to the others who still hadn't arrived but should be moving to his position as loud as he dared.

"The Human is one of their Black ones, so beware. It moved east, head in that direction!" He cheeped out, taking out his Needler again and moving out with Pad to catch up with the others and head East.


SSA-012 - Yanme'e Swarm
Searching the life boat.

The three Yanme'e that had broken off from the Swarm to check out the crashed life boat did a few aerial circuits of it before they swooped down to check it out. One landing on top of it and two by its door. The one on top with plasma rifle out as it scanned the trees, likely looking at the marines but not spotting them through the foliage as the other two peaked through the back doors. Empty. Clicking back and fourth for awhile they seemed to oddly get into an argument. The two on the ground pointing at the door a few times as the one on the top kept shaking its head and pointing at the forest.

This continued until a bright white Yanme'e swooped down and hovered above them, the other three falling silent as a few short whistles came from the white one before it flew off. The three that were still by the pod pulling out weapons and joining up on the ground. One of each of them heading toward a different section of the forest. None of them heading directly for the Marines, if they were still there, but the Humans would be in between two of the hopping bugs as they moved toward the treeline.

[Astro]

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Location Unknown, Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh 
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2-Charlie

"Jesus."

Fitz broke free of the forest, stepping into a clearing that looked like something out of a horror movie. Before him lay the mangled corpses of a Marine fireteam and two sailors strewn out behind a Class 3 Enclose Heavy Lifeboat. The circular maw of the Bumblebee's airlock hatch looked as if it had spat out the dead personnel in distaste, followed by a multitude of blood splatters. There were even a couple of detached limbs lying on the bloodstained grass. The scene was beyond grim. Fitz thanked the techs upstairs for designing a sealed BDU; he wasn't sure if he could take the smell.

As he got closer, it became clear that there was something odd about the craft: there was something sticking out of its dorsal side. Four grey things jutting out like a crown. It almost looked like... Oh god. It clicked. He was staring at an SOEIV. The realisation hit him like a brick wall, instantly upping his pace from a brisk walk to an all out sprint. One of his own could still be in there, alive. That thought propelled him forwards and, seconds later, he lazily scanned the interior of the lifeboat. Clear. He snapped his rifle onto the magnetic strips of his backpack and fiddled with the drop pod's exterior release mechanism. As he did, Fitz ignored the Marine in the corner of his eye that had quite clearly been crushed underneath the pod, his pained face staring at him as if to say 'Why?'. It was chilling.

With a hiss, the hatch shot out of the back of the Bumblebee's rear hatch, threatening to slice Fitz in half had he not already pressed himself against the bulkhead. He then approached the open pod, only to see a very dead male ODST. His unpolarised visor was red on the inside, the blood leaving visual identification impossible. Fitz's neural interface didn't pick him up either. Resorting to the only option of ID'ing the man, Fitz grabbed the bloody helmet and removed it. The guy's face was FUBAR: broken nose, mouth pooling with blood. By the looks of it, the impact had beaten the hell out of the guy's implant, which was probably why his IFF hadn't shown up on Fitz's NI. Though mangled, the chap looked like Corporal Hades from Alpha. At least it wasn't anyone from his squad. Was it bad to think that? Was he playing some feet-first Grim Reaper?

Fuck it. Nobody could hear him. This was the Human-Covenant war anyway, for God's sake. The rules of morality had changed drastically since those alien bastards had shown up. The shit that the UNSC had done to the Innies, and Humanity to itself these past few millennia, was nothing compared to the genocidal march of the Covenant; one little ODST thinking an unkind thought was a drop in the ocean of the war between them and the space-faring super Nazis. All that mattered now though was grabbing the tags of his fallen brother. Brothers if it came to it. He severely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Quickly, Fitz placed Corporal Graham Hades's dog tags in the compartment behind his breastplate. Along with that, he policed a loaded MA5 with six magazines, four extra M6 magazines and the Corporal's magnetic backpack. He emptied that, squatted and went through the contents: biofoam, spare magazines, a small datapad. Standard stuff. As he was attaching the extra can of biofoam to his belt, he heard a rustling. Then, a groan. He sprang to his feet and grabbed his Magnum. The barrel of the handgun followed the source, ending with the crosshair on Fitz's HUD pointing deeper into the Bumblebee, past the SOEIV.

"Who's that?" he called out loudly, attempting to intimidate a potential hostile. All he heard back was whimpering, as if someone was in pain. He nosed the M6 around the drop pod to see a young-woman, maybe in her twenties. She wore a white labcoat that was now bloodstained at the hem. Activating VISR showed what Fitz had feared.

"Hey, hey, you're alright. I'm 'ere. Let's er-" began the Helljumper. In all honesty, he had no fucking clue how to deal with the terrified doctor who had just lost her leg to Hades's HEV. Fitz holstered his pistol and began to decide how to deal with her.

He was going to need that extra biofoam. 

[RiddL]

First Lieutenant Alexei (Titann) Krevchenkov
105th ODST transferred 
Omega Team

Titan had had some pretty tough landings before, he had landed in the past of a Warthog before and stumbled out of that, he had even crashed into a building and gotten lodged in it.

But this was a first.

His team had all dropped as soon as the call was made, they had all made it past the covenant fighters when one was destroyed and clipped his pod, knocking it into an even more dangerous angle than it already was. The others all continued on their paths unhindered, while he was stuck in a pod, hitting the atmosphere and nearly vomiting as he spun out of control. As he was about to make contact with the ground and die, he pulled a last minute attempt to survive and pulled up to see if he could skim the ground and bounce to a stop.

Well it worked, he bounced about two miles and came to a stop as his pod got caught in trees. He popped his can and realised one more thing that slipped his mind, he mentally hit his forehead and landed on his stomach.

He groaned and laid still to recuperate,

[Vertickly]

Greene laid there, with Bennet still dazed and confused, 'useless, shit' and Jennings with the magnum watching the rear. They were a good 4 meters apart from one another, but with the bugs closing in, Greene knew the chances of getting everyone out this small mess, was damn near impossible. He controlled his breathing looking at the bugs, moving to his left and right. Third on the side with Jennings, it seemed like Jennings knew they are there, hearing them, but content on staying still not giving away their position. The bugs kept getting closer, Greene was getting nervous. They were spread apart, plenty of trees separating them. But they seemed to stay in eye contact with each other. 


Greene could feel the sweat on his back, He was drenched, he was hoping not to lose Bennet, but it looks so much like that's the only option to get Jennings out of this safe. The bugs, only 12 meters, away, They are getting lucky, but it was time to move, they were too close. Greene got up to his knee in a stable kneeling firing position,"Suppressing fire!" he yelled while quickly switching the selector switch from safe to burst and immediately opened fire on the middle bug, and sweeping left to hit the other, he began moving to his left. He fired three times and Jennings turned around. Greene had all the agro on him. Jennings opened fire on the closest bug. Bennet didn't move, he was shaking on the ground when the firing started, he may have been having a seizure. Greene stopped his movements at the cover behind a thick tree. unable to see what happened to the rest of his mashed together fireteam.

[AlphaWolf]

Gunnery Sergeant Michael "Mick" Nichols

Marine Force Recon

Spider 1-Actual

SPOILER: Click to show

6'0", 180 lbs, muscular.  Shaved head, no facial hair.  Tanned.  Blue eyes.  Been in Force Recon for eons.

    Mick sprinted down the corridor as the collision alarm sounded in his ears.  He was dressed in woodland camo instead of the usual flat green Marine fatigues, as was the rest of his four-man team.  Running into the SOEIV bay designated for Special Operations use, he quickly performed a check before making the circular mount-up motion over his head.  This ship was going down, he knew it, and he wanted to be dirtside before everyone else--particularly the Covies.  Another Force Recon team trickled in and started checking over their SOEIVs as Mick's team did the same.  His team mounted up and he waited for the ODSTs to launch, then went after them.  If all went as planned, the ODSTs would distract the Covenant fighters, and his team would make it through.

**********

    Mick groaned as he climbed out of his pod, grabbing out his silenced BR55 and his M6.  The insert had gone to hell in a handbasket, and he had lost at least one to enemy fire.  Surveying the horizon, he nodded, spotting several smoke trails.  Trying to use the ship-bounced COM, he was met with silence, and instead switched over to the SpecOps shortwave band.

"Spider 1 Actual calling any Spider units, report in."

"Spider 1-3 to Spider 1 Actual, I'm intact.  I saw 1-2 take a hit from a Seraph and I think 1-4 had a bad insert."

"Received, 1-3.  What's your location?"

"Actual, I'm about two klicks east of a large mountain with a gorge on the southeast side.  Can you see it?"

"Affirmative, 1-3.  Rendezvous at the base of the gorge.  1-Actual clear."

"1-3 received, base of gorge.  1-3 clear."

Mick smiled and checked his pack over, then started making his way towards the gorge.  One team member was alive, at least.  Now if he could rendezvous with some other Marines, he might be able to whip up a guerrilla force that could survive until help came.

**********

    Mick and Flick crept up to the edge of the treeline, taking a knee and checking the shortwave.  He had been sounding out pings every five minutes, waiting for another UNSC soldier to ping him back.  He glanced up at the horizon.  They were on a ridge, and just below them, there was an HEV at the bottom of the ridge.  He could see several other smoke plumes ahead of them, which made him pretty sure that the ODST rendezvous was fairly nearby.  Laying prone, he tugged his boonie hat down over his eyes a little more and crawled up to the edge of the ridge to see what there was to be seen.


((I'll post with a corpsman at some point tomorrow.  It's 0041 here and I'm going to sleep.))

[Faclan]

(This should make it easier, going to put what each group is near above their part. Kael and her forces/Sangheili/maybe Jiralhanae will show up later, the lesser dangers/you advantage at the start :3.)


(Astro)
Cad - Kig-Yar Major
Shush!

The trail was fairly easy to follow, the Human must have not been expecting to be followed as soon as he was as he wasn't working that hard to cover his tracks. Perhaps he through he could out-run Kig-Yar? Foolish Human...Tapping his scarf after his file had grouped up for a quick prayer to the Gods they set off after him. Weapons out but shields still deactivated as they kept going. Despite the advantage he suspected hios file had he offered a quick prayer to the Gods despite that for them to be safe in the Forest. So many places for the Humans to be waiting for them with weapons. But Cad hoped that for once he would have the drop on them.

Once they neared some more smoke Cad gave the signal for them to slow down as they slowly approached the tree line, the smell of blood soon starting to assault them as well. Going as quiet as they could they soon found themselves watching the Human from the shrubs and behind the trees as they watched him move around a Human ship escape pod. Kot started to speak up, but Cad was quick to reach over and clamp his beak shut.

"We should catch an eMMPH." Staring at him Cad slowly let go of Kots beak and put a claw to his own, trying to tell him to shut it as he pulled his Needler out and charged it to be ready as he moved back to watch the Human, ready to jump out and active his shield if the Human heard that...


(Vert)
SSA-012 - Yanme'e Swarm
Swarm! Maim! Kill!

The middle bug only had time to screech out in agony and a warning before it collapsed over dead. But the response was fast and nearly immediate as all the remaining eleven bugs turned toward the location where the gunfire came from and began the attack. The two bugs that were on the ground quickly hopping off the ground and starting to strafe in the air as they fired their plasma pistol and plasma rifle into the trees near where the fire came from. The other nine bugs turning from their own aerial reconnaissance and heading back immediately.

The Ultra clicking out commands as the reinforcements headed to help as she had some come in from all sides, intending to fly over until they could find out numbers before they would move in to kill the Humans for the crime of killing their Swarm Mate.


(BZRK)
(NPC) Tapdap - Unggoy Major
Where's the prize?

The Unggoy file that Tap led was nearing the Pod that was stuck in the tree when he told them to spread out. Tap by himself and the three minors with each other, hopefully so they would keep focused. Tap knew that he could do this by himself and he hoped they could find some Human to smack and then bring back to the T'vaoan, get them noticed and maybe promoted! Thankfully it wasn't that hard for them to make it to the pod and soon enough they found it stuck in a tree. So with the area found they split up and pulled out weapons as they started to scan around the area.

Tap had already given out the order to not kill the Human unless it was firing at them and otherwise disarm it so they could lead it back to the female T'vaoan. So they poked around in the bushes and moved around the trees, not being particularly stealthy but confident that the file could outwit and beat the one Human that would be in the pod as the single Major and three Minors searched.


(Wolf)
(NPC) Gal - Kig-Yar Minor
Climb into likely danger.

Soon visible to both ODST would be a Kig-Yar with a carbine over its shoulder stumbling out of some trees at the bottom of the clearing, tripping, and falling right on its beak. Quickly getting back up and dusting itself off it looked back into the forest and cheeped a few things back into it before making some kind of gesture, turning toward the hill it made what looked like an exasperated sign before starting to work its way up it.

Gal suspected he would be the one who had to try and crest the ridge, being the youngest and newest member to the file he was the least liked by the more veteran members and so they had shoved him out of the cover of the trees and told him to go up that hill and use the scope he had to look around for Humans. Thankfully because he was young and fit moving up the hill was fiarly easy, a good bit of work but for a Kig-Yar it was fairly trivial.

Some huffing would be head before the hand of the climbing Kig-Yar lifted over the top of the ridge, felt around for a hand hold, and then gripped on and started to pull itself up - likely right into the clutches or sights of the two ODST's.

(Ohhhh noooo.)

[Astro]

// Alpha, BZRK. Hey guys.

Just wanted to let you know about the situation of the ODSTs: the UNSC Safe Haven has twenty-four (24) HEVs available. The currently deployed platoon, Aztec 1, consists of twenty-two (22) members, leaving only two SOEIVs left. This means that the deployment of your FORECON and ODST Lieutenant, respectively, would not be able to drop from orbit.

I would suggest to you, Alpha, that you either phase your guys in as ODSTs part of Aztec 1, since FORECON is one of their MOs anyway (Gunny’d be good for Aztec’s Platoon Sergeant), or change them to normal Marines and have them as Division Recon.

Your Lieutenant, BZRK, is free to head up the currently active platoon. His callsign would be Aztec 1-Actual.

---

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Safe Haven, Orbiting Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2

Marie. He’d learnt that her name was Marie. She was a medical doctor, the Chief Surgeon, second to the Haven’s Chief Medical Officer, and she specialised primarily in high-level surgery. She was thirty-two, born on Jericho VII and had a cat ironically called Fido; Fitz had been keeping her talking in order to distract her from the severity of the wound. It was working so far, sort of. The pained moans had decreased in volume at the feel of the ODST’s hand closed around hers, but the medical side of her was screaming at her to tend to the wound.

“You know we’ve gotta, Marie.”

“I know.” she nodded, fearful.

As a result of the HEV’s momentum, Marie’s left shinbone had been crushed to what was probably now powder. That had to go. The two of them had been going over this decision for the past few minutes. It was Jeff who was more concerned than she was, however. Being a medical professional meant that she knew the best thing for her right now was lower-limb amputation, even if it was going to hurt like hell. She’d seen the patients, even carried out amputations before in the past. They were terrified but also cherished the fact that the UNSC’s medical capacities were way above menial things like lost limbs.

Fitz went to her MedKit while Marie bit down on some folded bandages and began to distract herself with what life would be like with a prosthetic leg. Bionic? Robotic? Grown from tissue? She was so lost in the idea that the sudden heat and feel of the large plasma-cutter that Fitz had taken to her leg happened painlessly.

That didn’t last.

The bandages muffled most of the screaming, helping her not to bite off her tongue or swallow it. Fitz winced at her pain, the sound of her agony raising thousands of goosebumps all over his body. The plasma-cutter went through slowly, cutting away the flesh and cauterising the stump at the same time. Her eyes rolled backwards and her body went limp. Fitz panicked. He severed the rest of the limb clean and, after the quickest clean-and-wrap he’d ever done, tried to wake her. As he did, he raised her footless thigh, so as to stop the bleeding. She came to and dropped out of consciousness several times, before managing to utter the word ‘biofoam’.

Of course! The healing foam from the heavens was synthesised with a local anesthetic. That’d help numb the pain at least a little. Pulling back the bandages, Fitz inserted the nozzle of Hades’s biofoam cannister into the largest of the areas of the stump that hadn’t cauterised fully. Pressing down the release, the wound expanded and the foam sealed. He did the same in a few more areas before replacing the bandages.

The sigh of relief told Fitz that Marie was alive and in less pain than before. Her breathing was still erratic, though, and she shook and whimpered like a starving pup locked out in winter. There was nothing he could do about that, though. She’d have to tough it.

“We should go. If we don’t--” the Private First Class was interrupted by Marie’s attempts to stand. “If we don’t, the Covenant’ll be right on us. If you use me, can you hop?”

She seemed hesitant to answer but, as Fitz peered around the side of the airlock hatch, he realised they had a much bigger problem. Jackals. Fuck. He didn’t get the chance to count how many there were before slamming himself back into cover.

“Looks like you’re hopping.” the Helljumper confirmed, grabbing his BR55 and shouldering it as he moved out of the craft. He fired a few shots before disappearing behind the Bumblebee with his new companion, practically carrying her as they broke for the treeline.

---

// Shitty, rushed post is shitty and rushed. Sorry about this guys. Got something on my plate at the mizzle. Apologies in advance if there are a billion mistakes. ;D

[RiddL]

First Lieutenant Alexei (Titan) Krevchenkov
105th ODST
Contact with... Fart Breathers...

Alexei had grabbed his weapons and heard the ground crunching under footsteps. Making him perk up and kick in to tactical mode. He calmly moved back picked up a relatively large rock and threw it to the trees to his left as a distraction, as he pulled his silenced SMG out deal with whatever was there.

He peeked out and saw the familiar triangle that showed a Grunts location.

Titan sighed and rolled his eyes. He was hoping for a challenge and replaced his SMG with a shotgun and loosened the knife that was situated on his shoulder.

He placed his finger on the trigger guard and let out a maniacle laugh, before turning and firing at the first triangle he could find.

[Cute Huragok]

First Lieutenant Ryan Willis, Pelican Apocalypse-666

Ryan coughed out of the dented Pelican, as he was forced to crash-land it on the beautiful planet Gallis.
He then walked back inside of the damaged Pelican, and shook Alton awake in the co-pilot seat. Alton groaned, and pushed himself up with all of the strength he could muster. "You all right Al?" Ryan asked his old friend, and Alt just shook his head and replied with "Yeah, I just got some bruises and scratches, that's all." Ryan almost forgot about his crew chief and the 5 Marines that the Pelican was carrying due to the escape pods running out on his ship that he was on, a Frigate. The Marines seemed fine, just a little shaken up.

He looked at the unconscious crew chief, and saw a bleeding wound on his knee, since he was probably standing before Ryan used a lake as a cushion, and then slide onto a flat tract of land. He took some emergency bandages, and some reserve water that they have for situations like this. He cleaned the wound, and wrapped the bandage around his knee, but then stopped to go outside and get a tree branch. He walked back inside with said tree branch, and placed it behind his knee to help support him walk when they needed it. (unknowingly, that he was dead.)

Ryan walked back to the cockpit with a slight limp on his left leg, and engaged the radio with all frequencies to ensure that all armed forces could hear it, though with the risk of the Covenant also hearing it. "This is first lieutenant Ryan, of Apocalypse-666, if any armed forces or civilians need Evac, repeat, Evac, please respond." He waited a couple of seconds, then continued "All armed forces should also come to this huge canyon I found near a large lake, it's very defendable against ground forces, but I don't know about Banshees." He stopped the broadcasting on all of the radio frequencies, for all of the damned Covenant to hear, and tuned into a more secure frequency. I will post all of the coordinates on your waypoints, meanwhile, for those of you who's helmets are missing or broken, the coordinates are X 8-7 Y 9-2. Ryan repeated this several times, and then turned off the radio.

He turned to the squad of Marines and ordered them a little also. "Go check the perimeters, and kill all Covenant forces, warn everyone if there are Hunters or Sangheili, repeat." The Corporal nodded, and so did his squad; "Yes sir." They all barked in unison, and marched out. "Alright Alt, let's start this rugged beast up again and air recon for them." Alt nodded, while Ryan looked at Jake in sympathy. "We have to be careful for enemies on our tail, too bad we don't have one of them sharp A.Is to shoot the M247 for us.."

Alt nodded again, as he talked sometimes but not all of the time. Ryan checked all of the gauges, and they seemed alright. Other than some dents, she was fine. Ryan started the take-off procedure while Jake unlocked the weapons. Ryan knew this was going to be a long battle, but was afraid for his fellow air-men, as he never heard their replies on the radio. Ryan sighed as Jake thumbed him up, and they took to the sky.

Is what Ryan wished happened, but the engine whined and sputtered, and smoke came flying out of the engine. "Well Jake, we need to repair the engine on this beast, but I don't know where we can find parts or the emergency tool kit since I never needed to use it." Jake sighed, and nodded, and helped Ryan start rummaging through every corner, albeit unknowingly, that they needed a weapon soon.

[Vertickly]

SGT Greene
Incoming... might want to move...


Greene was behind the tree, panting. He peeked around it and saw Jennings behind a fallen log. He wasn't wasting ammo, he's smart. Greene was relieved, he was only placing shots where it counted. Greene already knew he would need to do the same. Bennet was on the ground, no longer moving, He couldn't help but feel bad for him. Greene moved back into cover, he could hear the bugs, there had to be more of them moving closer. He peeked at them , the herd was on its way over and he didn't see a way out for Bennet. He pulled out his rifle and zoomed in on them. He fired aiming his cross hairs carefully into the crowd of bugs in the distance. He fired four times before moving back behind cover. '12 shots, got to have a few kills or wounded in there' he didn't have time to think of a strategy, he knew there was one unaccounted bug flying around.

Thankfully the trees were thick. It seemed to be a forest that goes on forever. With a small bit clipped apart from the bumblebee escape pod. Greene wasn't coming out of cover again. He had to find this damn bug. He surveyed left to right and back again, not seeing him. The bug wasn't behind him, not yet at least. He could still hear Jennings firing his magnum. Still there firing at the bug in front of him. Greene poked his head around the other side of the tree and saw the bug, he was careful to not let the bug see him, it was flying left and right firing on his position. The tree was excellent cover but Greene wasn't naturally left handed. He switched his grip on his rifle and reoriented his firing stance to compensate. Following the bugs movement he came out of cover and fired twice at the bug, he didn't know if he hit it, he had to quickly move and get what wasn't covered back behind the tree. 'We can't stay here, we need to move, I need to move.' Greene hated the thought of leaving his men behind but it may be his only option when the time arises.

[Faclan]

(Astro)
Cad - Kig-Yar Major
Well back to the default plan.

With his file quieted down Cad and the other Kigs returned to watching the Human. The smell of blood was getting pretty evident as well as screams as Cad assumed the Human that arrived on the scene was doing something medical as he had never seen them cannibalize their dead before. But first time for everything as he kept watching - somewhat hoping that this would be the first time cannibalize, then he would know of another way to distract the Humans. But he soon heard two different voices and then the male poked his head out and looked right at them before ducking back inside.

Well there goes that.

Squawking out an alert the file leapt from the trees with shields active as the battle rifle volley bounced off his bright red shield as the rest of his file moved into position as the Human dragged its fellow behind the craft.

"Move in...shoot to cripple." He said, starting loud but then muttering out the last order as they nodded and moved, Kot staying behind Nas as he had no sheild as the File began the chase after the two Humans. Cad highly suspected he would regret not just ordering them to kill as they jogged, shields held in front as they were about to round the corner of the transport.

"Just stop running Human, you can't outrun Kig-Yar!" Pad shouted after the Human as they turned the corner to continue the chase, though it would just be cheeps and squawks to the Humans as they waited for a clear shoot before they started firing.


(Vert)
SSA-012 - Yanme'e Swarm
Presents for you all.

The nine flyer bugs arrived just as another fell from the Humans fire, still alive but injured badly as it tumbled to the ground. Bleeding rather badly as it curled up and closed its wings in pain. The swarm would assist their fallen brother once the Humans had been eradicated...The swarm beginning their assault

With the recent gunshots it was easy to determine the Humans location in the trees, four bugs swooping down as the Ultra remaining high to oversee the operation and command. Two of the divers carrying grenades as they slowed down when nearing the trees and fell into the tree canopy. The calls back revealed them to be as thick as originally feared but they started to clamber down so they could safely drop the explosives onto the Human group without them sticking to the tree branches. The bug not carrying a grenade taking shots where it could with its plasma pistol to try and keep the Humans pinned. The remaining five in the air bugs flying a bit always in all directions to try and climb through different parts of the trees to cut off the humans escape. The last flying of the original three just taking shots at the Humans where it could, making lots of charred wood and hopefully charred skin as the swarm worked its way toward the Humans.

The hornets nest had been throughly poked - talking likely not an option now.


(BZRK)
(NPC) Tapdap - Unggoy Major
Not today!

Prodding bushes with his Needler Tap kept his ears alert for any noise so he could round on it and fill it full of explosive pink death. And he didn't have to wait long before he heard rustling and then a laugh. Immediately leaping to the side as the shotgun pellets filled the air when he used to be standing Tap slid on his chest a bit before shifting up onto one elbow to point his Needler in the direction he heard the shot from and began firing a flfufry of Needles toward it, calling out as he did.

"Human here! Get him!" In the Unggoy tongue as the three minors squeaked and worked on moving over toward their leader.


(Dale)
(Not sure a Pelican would survive a crash like that and still be flyable, and been told its being edited so waiting for the edit before I reply to Dales post.)

[AlphaWolf]

Gunnery Sergeant Michael "Mick" Nichols

Marine Force Recon

Spider 1-Actual

Mick watched through his spotting scope as a Kig-Yar stumbled out of the treeline below him.  The alien turned back towards the trees and seemed to say something, and Mick groaned internally.  There were probably more of them in there.  As they watched, the bird-like alien headed towards the ridge and started to climb.  "Flick, let's get back in the trees before that bird gets up here," Mick muttered as he grabbed his rifle and started to crawl backwards, until he could stand without being profiled on the ridgeline.  He hurried back into the treeline, taking cover behind a tree and watching through a fork in the tree as he waited for the Kig-Yar to appear.  Flick was crouched behind a tree, not watching and staying concealed.

[RiddL]

First Lieutenant Alexei (Titan) Krevchenkov
105th ODST
Going through the motions.

Alexei got into cover just as the needles hit the tree he was behind. He kept on laughing as the pink needles flew aroubd him, hoping that the laughter was unnerving.

All the while his brain was kicking into high gear, he turned, laughing as he did so and fired, noting the blue blood as he turned back into cover.

'Compartmentalize' he started thinking.

'Enemy objectives.'
'Kill him and any other survivors on the area'

'What the fuck are you going to do'
'Whittle down the numbers and take the fight to them'

He finished his mental instructions and let out a louder, almost crazy laugh, as if enjoying himself

Truth was, he was enjoying himself immensely. He loved a good fight and had brief hand to hand fights with opppnents like Elites so that others could take it out.

He concentrated and stopped the laughing for a second.

"All UNSC callsigns, this is Lieutenant Krevchenkov, Callsign Titan, Im in a spot of trouble and will be en-route to the rallypoint. Titan Out."

He called before switching to a sub channel, that of his team, Omega.

"Omega team, how far away are you?" He sent.

"8 clicks from your location, Alexei" came Sergei's voice.

"Follow the laughter, Out" Alexei replied.

He renewed his laughter and turned and shot once more.

[Astro]

// Not sure if you read what I was on about before, RiddL, but there isn't an Omega Team currently deployed amongst the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.

---

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Location Unknown, Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2

They were being hunted by birds. The advantage the Kig-Yar had over the two fleeing humans was immensely unfair. Jackals were faster and could navigate varied terrain much more skilfully, which meant running wasn't going to get Jeff and Marie anywhere. They had to either hide or fight and, with noses like those Buzzards, it was likely they would be found within an instant. If they wanted out of this, Fitz's rifle needed to come into play.

He had Marie over his shoulder at this point, figuring that an increased weight on two legs was faster than three legs, one of which would be hopping. Besides, the Doc wasn't all to heavy. Maybe that was due to the missing limb; he'd read somewhere that a person's legs made up forty percent of their total mass. Instead of devoting his brainpower to potentially bogus medical journals of the past, Fitz concentrated on finding a decent position to combat their pursuers from. Thirty seconds of heated running rewarded the two of them with the desired location.

Up a slight slope, around two metres higher than their current ground, was a thick fallen tree that could have easily reached ten metres up when it was in its prime. The top-end of the tree, now mainly just a cluster of dead leaves and bare twigs, hung over the right side of the position, where the dirt sloped steeply downwards towards the bank of a river. At the other end of the horizontal timber were the upturned roots, which looked to have been forced out of the ground by the other tree that grew there. This was one just as big as its dead cousin, only at ninety degrees, making the trees form an L-shape.

"There," Fitz said to Marie, despite the only thing she could see was the ODST's upside-down armour-plated ass. "We're better off fighting those feathered Speedy Gonzales fuckers."

With Marie's mumble of acknowledgement, Fitz climbed the gentle incline. He set her on the trunk first, vaulted it himself and then helped her over. She sat in the dirt with her head a few inches under the the trunk. This was a big ass tree. Would it stop plasma though? If it did, it wouldn't be for long before the forest burst into flames. Plasma was around three thousand degrees and it still fucked Titanium-A over, which had a melting point of over around thirteen hundred degrees.

God he hoped they used more Needlers than they did Plasma Pistols.

"Marie. Hey, Marie? Can you shoot?" Fitz asked, to which the Doc shook her head. She was busy enduring the pain of the burnt stump where her knee had once been. "Okay. C'mere, it's easy."

She shuffled over towards where the PFC was, at the place between the exposed roots and the upright tree. There was a small gap there wide enough to fit a rifle and, if any plasma came her way, it would hit the barrel first. Slowly, Fitz helped her into a prone position and held her amputated leg up whilst he rummaged around in his kit. He covered the wound with a thick dressing to keep the dirt out, securing it with medical tape. Half happy with the job, he took the MA5 from his back and handed it to Marie, placing a few spare magazines for it beside her.

"Press the st--- yeah, press that into the fleshy bit between your shoulder and your pec. Yeah," Jeff showed her. "Now, just point it at something you want dead and press the trigger. If the ammo counter reaches zero, hit the button there and slide a new magazine in. Then, pull the charging handle, that thing there. Once it clicks, you can fire again."

Guns in thirty seconds with Jeff Fitzhugh. Great. He moved to the middle of the tree and scanned the area with his BR55. 

[Cute Huragok]

(OOC): Fixed my post

[Faclan]

(Astro)
Cad - Kig-Yar Major
Ok this has gone on long enough.

Stopping just as the Humans leapt over the large log Cad quickly formed them into defensive positions as they watched. They would be able to hear if they kept running, and Cad wasn't going to leap over where he couldn't see them into their game. No, they would wait. They could pick out quiet talking from behind the log as a rifle barrel poked out at them, with a click the Kigs quickly dropped their hands fully behind their shields so the overlapping shields covered them nearly entirely, as the male Human stepped up and both opened fire. The Kigs merely had to brace as they had their hands and feet covered with the three overlapping shields. Or at least Cad through so as Pad beside him had a round sneak under her shield and nearly sever her left foots middle toe. Screeching in pain she collapsed on a knee, but kept her shield mostly up as the file quickly shifted to a two side by side staggered column as Cad moved in to defend Pad as she recovered, giving the signal to fire as well.

The tree was soon cracking and snapping from the intense heat and needle explosions, but it was proving to be effective if very hot cover as Cad growled and clicked at Kot to take the grenade off his belt and Pads and get rid of that tree. After a brief shift so Kot could get the two plasma grenades he primed them, crouched behind the shield wall of Nas, took aim at two different points, and threw.

The hopeful outcome would be one grenade in front of the tree, round about the middle, to split it, and one to land behind the tree to kill or maim the Humans. The tree grenade worked at least and the three still standing Kigs moved toward the now broken tree to move past the smoking and charred wreckage to get to those humans as Pad sat with her shield up as much as she could and tried to aim her pistol in the direction of the enemy's through the pain from her foot.


(BZRK)
(NPC) Tapdap - Unggoy Major
Firing back.

The Humans cackling did little to startled the Unggoy survivor of a good few scraps as he had already moved from his prone position to behind a good sized rock that he was currently crouched behind with his Needler ready. He knew his file was heading over, not that they would have a problem finding the Human with him laughing and shooting as shot sparked off the rock he was crouched behind. It didn't take long for the sound of plasma pistols to add to the din of the Humans weapon to show that his file had arrived.

But rather than jump out into the likely line of fire Tap just leaned his arm around the rock and fired a short volley of needles to try and hit the Human or make him move before he jumped out after his first volley and looked for the Human to fire again. Hoping that his file had got the Human surrounded so he could be killed quick.


(Wolf)
(NPC) Gal - Kig-Yar Minor
Nice view...

Clambering up onto the top of the steep hill Gal took a moment to get his breath before standing up and waving down at the Kigs in the trees at the bottom, a quick radio conversation between them.

"Look around the area then scout up there for Humans."

"And what will you three be doing?"

"Scouting out down here, what do you think Fluff? Specifically that smoke over there, head in that direction after you recon up there." Giving a wave Gal watched them disappear into the trees, in the general direction of the smoke as he hummed a pulled out his carbine. Sighting down the scope, down the hill and away from the ODST's with his back to them, as he keyed his radio again.

"From up here it looks like it was an aircraft, it crashed through some trees in a swath, be careful for survivors." Gel only got a confirmation click before he slung the carbine back over his shoulder and took a moment to admire the sun gleaming over the trees, taking a drink from his canteen before sighing a bit and starting to turn around. Intending to scout the location where the ODST's were hiding if they hadn't moved, closer or further from him.


(Dale)
(NPC)Yag - Kig-Yar Major
Heading for the smoke.

The three other Kig-Yar that Gal was a file with moved as a group out toward the smoke, knowing it was likely some kind of craft as they moved. Two with plasma pistols out and one with carbine out as they moved with shields off to keep their profile low. Once the smell of smoke got more powerful they slowed down and slunk lower as they approached the fairly obvious clearing now. They heard some rustling but when they turned to look it was gone, so they pressed on. Soon arriving at the clearing to the pelicans crash site as they saw a few Humans milling about. Staying as hidden as they could as they kept watching they quietly talked back and fourth about what to do as they also notified Mistress Kael about this. But unbeknownst to them they had been seen.

A Marine casually walked back into the Pelican, as to not arouse suspicion, and let the two pilots know that three Kig-Yar were watching them from the tree line, but weren't aware that they had been seen yet...

(Hopefully alright Dale)

[Vertickly]

Sgt. Greene
Time to Charlie Mike... in need of assistance...

Greene was trapped. He couldn't move left and right. Completely cut off from his fellow marines. His only option was to run. He hadn't fired for a few seconds and he could here the tree branches above him shaking. The grass in this forest was a good 3 feet high, a bit taller it looked the further you go in, and the trees seem to only congest it. This may give him a chance to escape. He took a quick glance to his fellow marines. Bennet was a pool of blood, dead for sure, and Jennings, taking heavy fire... he's been hit. He won't be able to escape this. 

Greene looked up. The branches began shaking rapidly, they were closing in, almost at him. He switched his grip back to his traditional right handed stance and began to run. He had no intention of looking back now. He switched his selector switch from burst to safe and ran as fast as he could weaving in between the large tree trunks in hopes of losing the swarm of bugs. 

His adrenaline was pumping, tunnel visioned, and listening to his surroundings carefully. He didn't realize he was doing all this till he felt moderately safe. He stopped behind a tree. He took lefts and rights in a zigzag formation... wide zigzags. He felt like he ran nearly half a mile to a mile. He was trying his best to control his panting and his movement, he needed noise discipline now more then before.

[RiddL]

(Ooc, Omega is my characters personal squad. End OOC)

First lieutenant Alexei (Titan) Krevchenkov
105th ODST
Reinforcements

Alexei stopped firing and pulled out his SMG and Sidearm and stopped his laughter, replacing it with sheer determination.

He turned and fired wildly at any Grunts in the open, not knowing if he killed any as he started moving to another place of cover, moving in a dissorienting way as he dodged plasma fire. He saw a grenade get thrown towards him and dived behind another tree and looked further back seeing three IFF signatures that identified as his squad, one moving behind the others at a slowler pace, Spider, by the looks of it.

His three men stopped and waited behind cover before joining him, suppressing the enemy as they did so, they looked in good nick, except for spider, who had a makeshift splint around his ankle.

"Sorry we're late, we wete blessed and found an ammo drop, so we grabbed what we could carry and kept moving" Sergei said in his gruff Russian accent he and Alexei shared.

"Ok then, Hellfire get some smoke out, Spider, your injured so throw out a flash, Sergei and I will move up and shoot what we can." He called and Hellfire and Spider both nodded and threw out a flahbang first, followed by smoke. 

Toombstone and Titan turned and fired at anything that moved, using their helmets visors to pick out the enemy and shoot them.

[Astro]

// Sorry for the delay chaps. Up to you which Jackal it is Fac. If I buggered it and you reckon I godmodded to hell, I'm happy to edit.

---

████ Hours, June ██, 2550 (Military Calendar) /
Location Unknown, Planet Gallis

PFC Jeff 'Fitz' Fitzhugh
105th Shock Troopers, 3/5
Aztec 1-2

A fireball of blue came between Jeff and Maria, a supernova of plasma. It sent Jeff hurtling over the fallen tree, towards the Kig-Yar. Ragdoll physics tried to disorient him as he flew through the air, but he battled with it. He landed on one foot, hopping to the other as he frantically tried to stay upright. He instead fell, turning his failed attempt to stand into a roll behind a thick tree. The ODST span around to the other side of it, putting a burst of 9.5mm into one of the Jackals. Then, out of nowhere, more gunshots rang out.

"We gotcha Fitz."

The Jackals dropped like sacks of potatoes, courtesy of the two ODSTs flanking them. Jeff's muscles suddenly got a lot less tense. He sighed as he stood up. Corporal Liz Ainsworth and Lance Corporal Francesco Alvarez, Dove and Taco respectively, were a sight for sore eyes. Before he could go to them and thank them, however, he sprinted back up the slope to the splintered tree. Charred bark lay everywhere, alongside the gory remains of the doctor. Jeff sighed and lowered his head

The PFC headed back to the two ODSTs in his squad. They were standing over the only Jackal alive, watching the creature deal with the gunshot wound it had taken to the torso. Taco kept his MA5B trained on the thing whilst Dove lowered hers and grabbed Fitz's arm. She pulled him in and they both wrapped their arms around the other's back. Manly hug complete, Dove's depolarised her visor.

"You good?"

"On and off," Jeff shrugged, squatting beside the Jackal and poking the bullet hole. "Just lost a civvie to these chickens. Cheers for the assist, by the way."

"Don't mention it." nodded Taco. Fitz returned it and stood up. He checked his rifle as he looked down at the pained bird at their feet. Would it be best to put it out its misery now or try interrogate it? Jeff had never partaken in an avian interrogation before. They didn't have any birdseed to make it any easier either.

"You wanna see if it knows anything or just kill it?"

"Go ahead and try talk to it," Dove said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "We've got your back if it tries to peck your face off."

Jeff depolarised his visor and smiled. He turned his attention to the Jackal and nudged its side with his boot. He racked the bolt of his rifle to seem more menacing before speaking up.

"Hey! Little Miss Turkey! Up here. We'd love to know where the rest of your mates are. Rough direction, y'know? North, South? East, West? Help us out here."

Taco grinned whilst Dove shook her head. Fitz could have sworn he heard her call him a jackass.

[Faclan]

(Astro)
Kop - Kig-Yar Minor
Oh Aecor no!

Nodding to Cad as they were told to move in Kop was surprised by one of the Humans flying toward them after the second grenade went off. Cad clicking at them to move in as Kop grunted a bit fron the ringing in his ears from the explosions. But then everything went wrong as he was about to make it to the tree the Human had ran behind.

Gunshots came from all around them as Cad and Kot collapsed without a sound as rounds tore into their skulls and necks, Cad providing a shield for Kot so only one round imapcted his side, his armor taking a chuck of the damage but purple blood still spurted from the wound as he squawked and collapsed to the ground. His plasma pistol falling to the ground with him as he moved his hands around to cover the wound, a few rounds that would have killed him defelcting off his moved shield as he collapsed. His feet kicked a bit as he quietly hissed while trying to keep his eyes open, glacing back at where Pad had been seated to see her slumped off too - purple blood flowing down her chest...he was alone.

Slowly shifting his head to look up at the Humans he saw himself looking up at the barrel of one of their rifles as the feared Black Human looked down at him past it. Slowly taking a purple stained hand from his wound he shakily put it between him and the gun, a silent plea for life. But then he was prodded in the wound, causing a chirp of pain, before one of the other Black Humans started to talk at him.

It was all gibberish...but he was still alive so they maybe needed something? Oh Aecor what was he supposed to do...The Kig-Yar's bright eyes shifted around at the Humans, spare hand still pleading as he lay there. The eyes moving to the slain squad as they lay dead with weapons held lightly in their hands as he gulped and slowly looked back at the Humans, cowering a little as he seemed completely lost in what to do. A little lost bird that never learned to fly.


(Vert)
SSA-012 - Yanme'e Swarm
Ceasing the hunt, for now.

The swarm had just finally managed to worm and dart their way through the canopy and around the trees to arrive at where the Humans were cowering! They had seen one of them run off, leave his fellow swarm members to die like a coward. A coward who abandons the swarm is worthy only of the slowest death! But the Ultra had called off chasing that one down, as they had wounded to deal with and Humans here to exterminate. Holstering weapons the swarm quickly disarmed the only still moving Human of its weapon and slashed down with claws and blades to end them both. Leaving the blood to soak into the earth as they all flew or walked back to the clearing to begin helping their two fallen comrades.

Getting the wounded bugs out of the constricting hold of the trees and tall grass they broke out the medicine they had to try and tend to the bullet wounds. One of them was unfortunately a lost cause, and so the Swarm made the passing as easy as possible as the second was stabilized. The Ultra letting them have a little time of grieving before they could turn their fresh bloodlust onto the Human that ran and his scent. All of them except the Ultra very in tune with the smell.


(BZRK)
(NPC) Tapdap - Unggoy Major

Oh Nipple.

Peaking out as the Human stopped laughing Tap was annoyed to see he wasn't dead yet, but now firing both of his weapons at him and his file who had finally arrived. Thankfully the aim was poor and besides frightening the Minors the volley did nothing to the file of Unggoy. Unfortunately the arrival of the three other Humans did get some things done however, none of them good for Tap or his troops.

The flanking fire brought two down nearly immediately, the smoke making the third panic as he screamed in fear and fled from the smoke. Tap trying to call out for him to fight before the flash erupted. Everything going white and ringing as Tap stumbled out of cover clutching his head, himself and the fleeing Unggoy now out in the open as the ODST's moved in.

(Let me know if I missed anyone, now feel free to go nuts BZRK.)

[RiddL]

Ok, I went through and made changes Fac, hopefully its better, if not, I will change it in the morning

[Faclan]

(Edited myself, nice edit.)

[RiddL]

First Lieutenant Alexei (Titan) Krevchenkov
105th ODST
And another one down, another one down, another one bites the dust...

Alexei saw his plan work and started moving up, shotgun blasting little creeps as the ran away.

He saw the one in charge, blinded by the flashbang and drew his knife, the blade gleaming in the little light that their was.

He approached the the grunt at a walk, appearing like a ghost as he raised his knife and buried it in the back of the grunt, he kicked the creature to the ground and took his massive boits and used his immense strength to drive his foot from the front of its face to the back of its skull.

The smoke dissapated completely and whatever Grunts were left had run away, his squad moved up to him and looked at the Grunt, Titans boot still buried in its skull as he bent down and retrieved the knife from its back.

"A little overkill Alexei..." Sergei muttered as he reloaded his DMR and placed it across the magnets on his back.

"This little shit has harassed me for a while, I have a right to a little overkill" Titan replied before adding another tally to the collection on his armor.

"Ok, lets go find some more survivors and get Spider up to one hundred percent efficiency, Sergei, your on point, Hellfire, watch our six, Lets move Omega!" He ordered.

They started moving towards the crashed Pelican.

(Ooc Fac, I know I godmodded the shit out of that... but it felt gooooood)

[Vertickly]

Sgt Greene
Have to find the other survivors


Greene was panting checking his surroundings profusely, but not seeing any of the swarm he had just escaped. He felt like shit, he wanted to throw up and just fire everything he had, up in the air in frustration. 'Leaving marines behind, what the fuck is wrong with me?'  He was pissed but he didn't stop watching his surroundings, trying to listen in to any noise he could make out to be footsteps, or wings flapping. But there was nothing. He had to keep moving if he was to make it out here, and maybe even get back some UNSC held planet... alive that is, or at least that's the plan. 

He calmed himself down and began to move forward. He opened up his comm link again, "This is Sgt Greene of the UNSC Safe Haven, if you can hear me, please respond, I say again, this is Sgt Greene, please respond." He spoke slowly and clearly. He had to reach out to the others.

He approached a hill and began to move slowly and cautiously, moving to a prone position and high crawling forward. Nearing the top he started to low crawl and peeked over the edge. He didn't see any covenant, just the top of tree lines in the distance, a large open field and large lake. There was what looked like a mountain or plateau as well in the distance, but without binoculars he couldn't see if any activity was going on, or even the distance but at a guess, 20 kilometers. Maybe. 

The sun began to go down, the darkness of night would definitely be used to his advantage to move, sleep will have to wait.