An Assault on our Stars (Closed RP)

[Daenerys Targaryen]

               

_Welcome to Vinum_

Vinum is a world like no other! Founded during the first expansion from the Mid Rim, those seeking to colonize Vinum had gone there with a purpose! Most had been displaced from the overpopulated worlds they had once called homes, and all were seeking to make a life on something new, something more than what they had. They found this in Vinum. It's rich soil and nutrient rich waters provided a lush environment for crop plants, and most importantly, Vineyards. 

In the Year 2400, many Wine Producers sought out Vinum for its prized vineyards, and set up shop their as well. They industrialized Vinum's cities, bringing about modern metropolitan areas, bridges, docks, as well as an orbital elevator to better ship supplies. This brought riches to the people of Vinum beyond imagining! 

Our tourist hot spots include many of the Vineyards n the planet, where wine tastings are held weakly. Along with this, several 5 star restraunts and resorts fill our bolstering cities. This is truly the place to be!

Sergeant Felicity Nora
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Operation: Pop the Cork
August 6th, 2547

Felicity scraped a mud covered tourists pamphlet off of the bottom of her boot as she walked along. The paper curled up quickly and skidded along the cracked pavement of the bridge as a gust of wind carried it away. In the distance, the thundering roar of artillery could still be heard. The flashes of plasma fire illuminated the hills before them, on the far side of the river.

Around the Sergeant stood her squad, all in various states of agitation as they idly clung to their weapons. They had been assigned as one of two rifle squads attached to a demolitions crew. As boring as it had been, it was at least a relief to Felicity to be as far away from the battle as they had been. Though it felt like the ground troops were fighting hard, she was no fool, she knew that they were loosing. That is why they were there, after all, sent to cut off the only major way into the Capital city so police forces there had enough time to shuttle out civilians before it was too late. Right now, they were about mid way across the bridge, even with an entire squad it had taken them over an hour just to get to this point. 

"Alright. We are half way done with setting up the charges. The marines past the hills are holding the line for now, we should be done before anyone manages to break through." The cool and confident sound of her platoon leaders voice cut through her helmet and shook her from her dull thoughts. She didn't have tactical oversight beyond those hills, so she had no idea what 'holding the line for now' meant. Slowly, she glanced about the members of her squad until her gaze landed on Corporal Maxen Titus. 

He wasn't new to her, but he was still new enough to give her pause every time she looked at him. What type of soldier will he be? What type of man will he be? Those thoughts drifted through her mind like leaves on a lazy autumn day, and scattered at the first sign of a heavy breeze. He was new to her squad, but then again, most of them were. You don't know a man until you are elbow deep in the mud with him and fighting for your life, and she hoped she would come to appreciate the men and women serving under her now. 

"Alright squaddies. Just because the Covenant are over the hill doesn't mean we are in the clear, keep your eyes open for anything." Her voice hitched on the last word, and a dry cough rasped out of her throat. Whatever this place had been, it wasn't much of a paradise anymore. Gigantic columns of smoke rose in the distance, and the faintest flashes in the dark blue sky only hinted at the ferocious and desperate battle going on over head. 

Once again she found her gaze resting on Maxen, and this time she rounded toward him. Her boots slapped against the dusty bridge as she walked, and in a few moments she was standing in front of him. She lowered her MA5B slowly, and unpolarized her VISR. "You. How long have you served?" It was a random question at best, but she honestly hadn't had the time to look into it until now. She wanted to know exactly how green around the gills he might have been, before things got shittier. 

An audible series of gulps, gurgles, and splutters instantly cracked over her com, along with a screech that brought her hands to her helmets. From the look on Maxen's face, beyond his unpolarized VISR, she could tell that she was hearing the ungodly noise over the command channel alone. The screeching ended abruptly and the platoon leader barked over the same channel. "Shit, they had buggers waiting in reserves and those bastards just sprung them on us! Jesus christ. 54th, get thos charges down, Felicity, Tom, get ready for a shit storm." 

"You don't seriously expect us to take on a-" Felicity began. 

"Shut your god damned mouth Sergeant and do as you are ordered. You are the LINE between the bridge and this city." Her CO's order was harsh and blunt, she was either staying here or facing a court marshal back on Cascade. 

The entirety of Felicity's body tensed, and she immediately turned away from Maxen to look toward the hills beyond the other end of the bridge. The flashes of plasma had stopped, and a thick black haze hung in the distance. Soon after that, the thudding rumble of artillery ceased. That had caught the attention of both rifle squads, and Felicity once again found her voice. "All right squaddies, get behind the fucking barricades at this end of the bridge, we got drones heading our way!" The word drones had sent most of her men running toward the barricades as fast as their feet could carry them. 

She had heard the horror stories, and had even seen it herself during some battles. Those suckers had feet that would stab into a marine and carry them right off into the thick of the swarm. After that happened, they were pretty much done for, and absolutely no one wanted to end up like that. Felicity found herself running in the thick of them, there was no way in hell she would end up like that herself. 

There wasn't much she could do in those moments. Idle reassurances would have sounded petty and uncharacteristic of the situation. She wasn't a woman for long, drawn out, morale boosting speeches, she hoped her actions made up for that. Though here, now, she felt truly intimidated at the black haze that approached them. The deafening drone of hundreds of wings hit her like a wall, and she wondered silently if they had enough ammunition between them to take on what was before them. By the time they had realized just how large the incoming swarm was, there was not much they could have done about it. The demolitions squad had dropped their objective long ago to take up positions behind the barricades as well, their own weapons raised toward the oncoming swarm. 

Eventually, they got close enough that as long as any ODST fired in that specific direction, they would sure as hell hit something, and that was when she gave her order. "Fire!" The other Sergeants did so as well, and soon the deep rumble of wing beats was broken apart by the report of human weapons fire. They needed to hit as much of those things as they could before they hit them. A swarm that size would overwhelm them with sheer numbers alone if they didn't just decide to melt them with their plasma pistols first. 

Many corpses fell from the sky as they unloaded into the cloud, but just as many came to replace them. Her MA5B knocked back into her shoulder with each controlled bursts of fire, and she was glad she had a helmet on to keep the smell of gunpowder from assaulting her nostrils.  "Jesus fuck!" She yelped as the first wave of green plasma launched out from the swarm. Tens of plasma pistols all firing at once toward someone was enough to make anyone piss their pants, and Felicity was sure she was about too as she ducked behind the cover her cement barricade provided. 

Screams echoed out over coms as bright green flecks of plasma splattered up and over the cement barricade she was now hunkered behind. There had just been too damn many of those bugs, she should have ordered her men to pull out while she had the chance. Though, there wasn't much time thinking about ifs as the first volley of plasma ceased. Felicity hefted her rifle over the melting barricade before her and fired and entire clip into the ever encroaching swarm. They were so close now that she could tell the individuals apart from the thick of it. 

There was no way they were getting out of this. 

Another green wave shot from the cloud toward their general direction, and she knew that even if they hunkered down behind the barricades once more, they would be swarmed before they could even shoot back. 

THWUMP. THWUMP. THWUMP. THWUMP. 

Screams from the Demo Sergeant sounded out over the radio. Valerie wouldn't risk a look over the barricade with a wave of plasma coming toward him, but from what she was hearing from the Demo Sergeant, someone had triggered the explosives on the bridge. Someone must have decided drowning was better than being melted by plasma, and though she couldn't argue with that logic, she still found herself cursing the unknown detonator as the massive explosion overtaking the bridge neared them. "Shit! Hold on!" She wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but it didn't really matter by then. The last explosion signaled that the explosives closest to their barricades had gone off. 

Her teeth and bones rattled as much as the bridge did, before the cement under them had finally given way to the sheer force of gravity. She was weightless for a moment, as she fell, and before she could even blink her body was completely submurged in the massive river beneath them. The only thing she heard was the sound of her own breathing, as current gripped her and sucked her through the wreckage of the bridge, and into the dark, cold water beyond. 

[Cheddar]

Corporal Maxen Titus
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Aug 6, 2547

The last thing he saw before the world exploded around him was Sergeant Nora being thrown to the ground. After that his world was a blur. One moment he faced the sky, a loathsome pall of smoke and bloodthirsty aliens blocked an otherwise pleasant view of the clouds above.

Then he began his fall.

He'd heard that events like this occurred in slow motion, their perception anyway. Maxen didn't find this to be the case as his body slammed into the collapsing pile of concrete and steel that was once a beautiful bridge. His armor absorbed some of the impact but not nearly enough to make a hit like the one he took feel anything but earth shattering.

He looked up in time to see the concrete slab he was on shift and slide into the river below. Chunks of bridge rained around him and a fist sized chunk of metal clanged off the back of his helmet. A moment later he hit the water.

Maxen tried to angle himself as he fell, but in his gear it was damned hard. He managed to not directly impact the water at a flat angle, knowing that hitting it like that would kill him, but instead managed to land in a way that saved his body more pain.

The river didn't care how he landed, its rushing tendrils of cold seeped through his plating and swept him along with the others downstream, uncaring of its prey. Maxen slammed into a submerged support and he cried out inside his helmet. He tried to Manuver around the things he was rushed towards, a few of them he managed to skate around, but most he slammed into with the same grace as a pinball in an arcade machine.

The Corporal tried to see if any others were near him as he was finally able to break his head above the churning water. He saw no one, just swiftly moving pieces of the bridge that was now quite far away. He zeroed in on a chunk near him and forced his waterlogged armor along with his battered body over to it.

The ODST wrapped his arm around the rebar riddled concrete piece and held on as it was swept onward by the fury of the river. He shook his head, trying to clear some of the fuzziness away. It was a moot point as more was soon added to it when his piece of flotsam slammed into a sunken boulder and jarred the Trooper lose.

His grip failed and the water claimed him once again, sucking Maxen down and spinning him around and around, further disorienting the man. Maxen felt a jolt as he was lifted bodily into the air again, he saw, to his horror, about a fifteen foot drop off a small set of rapids stretching before him. After several more crushing blows, Maxen felt the promise of unconsciousness calling him and he accepted.

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Sergeant Felicity Nora
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Operation: Pop the Cork
August 6th, 2547

Water slowly dripped in through the crack in her screen, but she wasn't worried, she could barely tell it was even there as the current continued to drag her along. The rebar and concrete had released her a while back, and she was sure she had gotten off better than some others must have. After all, that shit was sharp, and she was pretty sure she had a cut somewhere on her thigh that would remind her of that lesson for the rest of her life. She didn't know how deep the river was, never bothered to ask, but she was pretty sure she scrapped the bottom a few times, at least that was something. Well, it was something until her helmet met a boulder fast enough to send her straight into lala land. 

Felicity's eyes lazily slid open, and the only thing she could see was darkness. She actually considered if she was dead for a moment or two, but the annoying pain of a taught muscle in her lower back was enough to let her know that she wasn't. "Fuck." It was the only thing he could really say, the only thing that encompassed what had just happened to them all. Her men, the bridge, the bugs..

the explosion..

She blinked hard, trying to reign in her reserves and just sit up. Of course, that was when she realized she was still floating on the river. After a moment of panicked thrashing , she settled back into floating on her back and looked up past her cracked visor and into the night sky. Stars twinkled there, some peaking out behind the large billowy clouds that still rolled across the surface, even then. It was as if the world was asleep, and didn't know it was about to be glassed by a bunch of religious fanatics. She wondered if any of the little bursts of light out there belonged to Cascade.

Her HUD was dead, she was almost certain it was. These suits were good, way better than the shitty pieces of plastic they strapped to the regular marines, but they weren't invincible. If the water hadn't fried some things, the multiple impacts with the concrete and rebar probably finished the job. "Fuck." Again, there was just not much else to say. 

Eventually though, she had collected herself to start glancing around. At that point, she'd wished she hadn't. If anything, she was absolutely fucking lost. She was on a placid part of the river, close to the shore, surrounded by the chunks of bridge that had an easier time floating along with her. As far as she could tell, there weren't any bodies among the rubble, though she didn't go out of her way to check for them either. In the far distance, the haze of what she supposed was the city they were meant to protect lit up the sky. 

Without warning, she felt herself bump into something, no, bump into someone. Her stomach dropped, and she prepared for some gruesome sight that could only be brought about by such a disaster. When the body finally got into view, she noticed it wasn't a body at all, it was fucking Maxen. "Jesus Christ, Max!?" Her throat felt raw, probably from all the screaming she had been doing earlier. 

He didn't respond right away, but he sure as hell didn't look dead. Regardless, the sight of him had been enough to knock her from whatever stupor she had been in. Slowly, she submerged her sore body into the cold river underneath her, and hooked one arm around Maxen. The other she used to slowly drag them both toward shore. It had been a slow gain at first, but eventually she had managed to drag both herself and her corporal far enough onto the gravely bank that they would not be swept away by water alone.

As soon as her knees touched that rocky mud, she tore off her helmet, reached down, and unfastened Maxen's. No water came out of it when she finally managed to tear it off of him, so it hadn't been compromised, at least that was something. "Max?"

She gave him a not so gentle shake, before leaning her ear toward his exposed mouth. He was breathing. Slowly, she pulled away and gave him a rougher shake. "Max, get your ass up." Her voice rang out over the water, and suddenly she became very conscious of the sounds she was making. After all, there was still a war on, and attracting the enemies would only make her day worse. 

[Cheddar]

Corporal Maxen Titus
ODST
54th Shock TroopPlatoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Aug 6, 2547

"Maxen, get your ass up."

He groggily opened his eyes. Then he felt his body being shaken and his head bounced from side to side, worsening the headache gathering its forces at the base of his neck. He weakly pushed the hands that shook him, away.

"I just got blown up, fucking hang on." He opened his eyes fully and took in the night around him. In the dim light of the moon he saw who it was that shook him.

"I of course meant, hang on, Seargent." He put more emphasis on her rank as he propped up on his elbows. She smacked his shoulder and sat down next to him, looking around. He stared out at the water for a second before the full realization of what he'd survived hit him.

"Oh fuck, Sergeant, we need to-"

She silenced him with a hiss of words. "We need to shut the fuck up, Corporal, stop yelling."

He was taken aback for a second but then realized that he wasn't speaking loudly into his armor's internal radio system. That comm system was completely silent to the outside world unless he turned on his external speakers. No, he was yelling into the plain old air and space of the night, attracting every son of a bitch that wanted to put a couple plasma bolts in them. He nodded curtly and searched around for his helmet.

He noticed that she watched him, as if she was just waiting to see what he'd do. He scrambled around and became somewhat upset at not being able to find his gear. Then he saw it in her outstretched hand and almost snatched it away with a low murmur of gratitude. He slipped the helmet on and brought up the HUD.

"This is Corporal Titus to any UNSC personnel in the operational area. Anybody out there?"

Silence met his inquiry.

"Come on, somebody, respond."

Nothing.

He tried a different tactic, he switched on his VISR and scanned the water for other Marines. None were obvious right off the bat and he didn't see any IFF tags floating around either. He dropped back down to the ground, scooting towards where Sergeant Nora sat, still watching him in the dark.

He made to remove his helmet but something caught his attention. Maxen turned on his VISR again to get a better look and saw the outline of a Warthog LRV flipped onto its side against a massive rock jutting from the river not too far away.

"Well shit, look at that. Sergeant, 'Hog at our 1. Laying on a rock next to the river. Might be worth checking out.?"

She looked in that direction and seemed to search for a second, trying to find it in the dark without the help of a working helmet. A moment later she nodded as she got her bearings fixed on it.

"Yeah, it's a start."

They got up and headed for the Hog, Maxen continued scanning the water for any other survivors but it seemed like all he was destined to find was detritus and twisted bridge scrap. Not even a body. He snorted in frustration and loped up beside his Sergeant as she reached the vehicle.

"Yeah, this'll do. Check if the radio still works."

Maxen nodded and crawled under the side of the Warthog, wriggling through the open space under it and up into the interior. "Looks like it works. Let's try to place a call."

"We pay extra for long distance, Max. Hurry up."

He snorted and tuned in on the channel they were using for the operation. He keyed the mic and called out. As before, silence greeted him. He got the frequency for the command channel from Felicity and tried that. Still nothing.

Max slammed the handset down on the frame of the LRV. "Not a fucking thing. It's as if everyone either died or up and left while we were out."

He heard Felicity sigh outside the Hog and he made his way back out, wiggling the exact same way he'd used to come in. He stood up and righted his pack. Just as he was about to say something two blips appeared on his HUD. Bright red. He tapped Sergeant Nora on the arm. She looked back and he motioned with his fingers how many contacts there were and how far away they were located. She nodded and motioned for them to get behind the flipped over Warthog.

Quietly, Felicity laid out their plan. "See what they are. If they're bigger than us, fuck it we hide out. If they're smaller, we take them down. Wait for one to get close and jump it. Then I'll get the other while you handle that."

"Got it."

They waited, Felicity never taking her eyes off of Maxen as he kept a constant update with his fingers as to how close the enemy soldiers were via his HUD readout.

Maxen cautiously peeked over the flipped vehicle, using his VISR to see what they faced. He crouched back down and whispered "Jackal sniper pair." She nodded and waited for him to finish his countdown. When he closed his fist, that was the signal that it was time to move.

Maxen watched as Felicity snuck around the nose of the truck while he climbed up on top, slipping down and directly behind the first Kig-Yar. It heard him, it was almost impossible to be silent in as much gear as he wore. But it moved slow, as though it were confused. Then it realized the trouble it was in, and the Lightning fast Kig-Yar reflexes kicked in.

It leapt back, just out of Maxen's reach and tried to level it's rifle at him. Maxen knew he could either get shot, or he could rush the avian alien. So he put his shoulder down and rammed it into the creature as it pulled the trigger. A bright bolt of plasma seared over his shoulder and put into the night air. Maxen bulled the thing to the ground and slammed all of his weight onto it.

The Kig-Yar let out a squawk and fought back, he was strong despite his size and Maxen knew he needed to end the fight quickly. With one smooth motion, he drew his knife and jammed it to the hilt in the sharpshooter's neck. It's thrashing stopped and soon, the Kig-Yar did too. He scooped up its fallen Beam Rifle and checked on his partner.

Felicity had fared better than him, taking her target while he was distracted with the melee between Maxen and the other alien. Her swift takedown had been ruthless and efficient, the trademark of an ODST. For the moment they were safe, but it wouldn't be long before these two were missed. They needed a plan.

Fortunately, now that they were armed with enemy weapons, their plan could involve a bit more violence than before. So they stripped the Kig-Yar of their useful gear and met back at the overturned LRV.

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Sergeant Felicity Nora
ODST

54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Operation: Pop the Cork
August 6th, 2547

The bright purple blood splattered across her VISR was the least of her worry. The fact that it had been knocked to shit enough to disable her HUD, however, was the first thing on her list. If it hadn't been for Maxen's proximity sensors, whatever was left of em would be smoldering on the dash of some overturned Hog. Thankfully, he had, and they had managed to deal with their first brush with the enemy since he drone swarm that sent everything to fuck all. 

"It's overturned, but is it out of commission?" She asked, in reference to the warthog that they now rallied around. In her hands she held a Covenant Carbine. The smooth metal felt unnatural in her hands, but it was something more than she had a few minutes ago, which was nothing. 

"Looks like it works fine. We just gotta figure out how to flip the thing over." 

Felicity snorted at that. Of course that was easier said then done, when considering the size of the fucking hing they now stood by. "Well, maybe we've been shit on enough today to ask the universe for a little favor." She scanned the shore of the river, grinding her teeth a bit as her gaze finally drifted back out toward the river. 

"Alright Corporal. My HUD is busted, which means I don't have eyes. You do, however. So you are going to stick here, and watch for anymore enemy movement while I comb the bottom of that river for rebar. We might be able to pry this bitch over, and I doubt that sticks are going to help us get the job done." The plan she had in mind was a bit dangerous, but then again they were in a dangerous situation. 

"Sounds good, let me know if you need any help. Otherwise I'll sit here and watch for assholes."

To Max's credit, he was the least nosy Corporal that she ever had. Whether or not that was a good thing yet, she hadn't decided. Felicity chewed that thought as she made her way back over to the LRV. She had no idea what happened to the Marines who had it before her, and she honestly didn't care to find out.

"Ah." She found what she was looking for right away, the winch at the front of the hog was completely intact and unobstructed. She made a grab for the clip hook at the end of the long spool of wire, and wrenched it toward her. It didn't want to budge at first, but eventually it relented and allowed Felicity to bring the clip up to her armor. After spending about a minute awkwardly trying to get the damn thing hooked to the small of her back, she succeed. "Now, if this thing snaps tight and you see some arms and legs flailing off in the distance, try to wrench me back in, ok?"

"If I happen to look that way, I'll see what I can do Sergeant."


With Maxen's reassurances in tow, Felicity began to slow and annoying tug back to the shore of the river. The cable snagged on some rocks a couple of times, but some gentle kicks from her corporal back at the LRV got things straightened out on her end. As soon as she made it to the rushing water of the river, she began to rethink her decision. 

Large chunks of concrete rested in parts of the river, but the metal in there would take hours to chisels out, and they didn't have the time. "Well, now you have to eat your words Felicity." Her mumbling was the only sound inside of her helmet as she took the first steps into the water. The river at this end was far more gentle then it had been under the bridge, and by the time she was waist deep in the water she couldn't feel the slightest tug. Her next step, though, sent her plunging into blackness. 

Panic struck her immediately, but when she realized she was sinking, rather than being tugged away by the current, she became slightly less panicked. With her HUD busted, and any flashlight on the side of her helmet knocked away long ago, there wasn't anything to accompany her but the murky blackness of the watery world she found herself in. Memories of space walks filled her mind as her hands and knees sunk into the silt of the river bed, at least this time she had ground to hold onto. 

"Alright. I'm at the bottom." She said it more to reassure herself rather than anyone around her. Both gloved hands ran themselves along the piles of silt in search of literally anything that could be useful to her. At first, she came up with squat, eventually though, her hands began brushing over chunks of concrete and metal alike. A single tug on the small of her back pulled her back along the silt a bit, and Felicity gave an indignant grunt inside of her helmet. As quickly as the water would allow her, she grabbed the cable at her back and gave two sharp tugs. Slowly, the line slackened and felicity was able to make her way toward the rubble. 

"Jackpot." She felt like a kid celebrating Christmas as her hands groped a specifically long and thick piece of rebar settled under a loose pile of debris in the river bed. The thing felt like an over-sized crowbar. A few moments later, she found what must have been its twin, settled in a large pile of concrete only a few feet away. Once more, she reached to the small of her back to give the cable a tug and this time jerked back three times. 

It took a lot of effort to tug both bars loose and then half haphazardly secure them to herself, it was a lot more difficult working in water than on land. Regardless of the difficulties, though, she considered her mission successful. She had made good time, and there was still enough oxygen inside of her suit to be comfortable with the fact that she was stranded at the bottom of a deep river. 

Two tugs on the small of her back almost made her loose her footing. Maxen was somewhere up above telling her to stop. Part two of the plan came into effect faster than she expected, when four sharp tugs wrenched her free from the silt before she was wrenched back toward the surface. A wave of adrenaline coursed through her veins, danger ahead. Somewhere along the way, the cable went slack, but Felicity had managed to claw her way to a submerged chunk of bridge and use that to guide her way tot he surface. 

Breaking the surface made her realize two things, one, that she was in the middle of the river now and nowhere near the shore, and two, that the Covenant had come looking for their patrol. 

A phantom flew low over the treeline, a single search light highlighting everything near the shore, including the overturned Hog. Maxen had made himself busy, apparently. The bodies of the big birds, their gear, and he himself where nowhere to be seen. The spotlight slowly turned itself onto the water and Felicity jammed herself back down under the surface. Frantically, she grasped for holds on the chunk of concrete and pulled herself down as far as she could before the spotlight hit her. She froze, praying to whatever force that she wouldn't be boiled alive by plasma. 

Eventually, the spotlight faded, though she kept herself underwater until she felt the cable tighten once more. A single, sharp tug once again on the small of her back caught her attention, and she response with a single tug herself. She barely managed to kick her way free of the mess of concrete and rebar as she was dragged to shore.

As soon as real, dry land, graced her boots, Felicity hit the ground. It had taken a lot of effort to do what she did, and she didn't realize how exhausted she was until now. Though as exhausted as she was, she doubted that would be the only time the Covies would come searching for the feathered freaks. A raged sigh escaped her lips, and with the help of Maxen who had appeared at her side, hauled herself up back to her feet. "Alright, now let's get this shit flipped."

[Cheddar]

ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Aug 6, 2547

Soon after Sergeant Nora made it back to shore, she unhooked the tow line from around her body and allowed Maxen to reel it in with the winch. When that was done they met and she handed him the long piece of metal she'd scrounged.

"Alright, now let's get this shit flipped."

"Nice."

They walked over to the Hog and looked around the vehicle and the Boulder it was up against to see the best plan of attack. In the end it appeared that good old fashioned elbow grease was the name of the game and they both got onto the rock.

They pushed their rebar pieces in between the Warthog and the Boulder and began to push. Their bars bent and warped with their effort and it took several tries but eventually the LRV came down on its four massive tires with a thud. They were in business again.

When the vehicle settled, the ODSTs gave it a once over, making sure everything was in order. Maxen climbed up into the bed of the vehicle and looked around at the gun mounted there. The rotary cannon appeared to be in working order, though part of its gun shield was bent away from the gun itself. he tried to bend it back but the piece of metal didn't’ budge.

“Worth a shot.” He mumbled to himself.

Next he checked out the action for the gun. Its ammunition canister, mounted to the frame of the turret, looked undamaged. The belt that fed the linkless ammo into the gun appeared in good shape as well. He pulled one of the triggers, just to ensure the electric motor would spool the cannon up before they took off. It whined to life and dutifully spun the barrels around.

Maxen was satisfied and he stepped onto the rotating base of the gun, planting his feet on the hydraulic pedals that would turn the gun independently of the LRV if he pressed hard enough. The Corporal bent the gun forward and slipped into the shoulder rests before pulling it back up and getting comfortable.

“All good back here, Sergeant. Ready to roll whenever you are.”

Daenerys Targaryen

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Sergeant Felicity Nora
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Operation: Pop the Cork
August 7th, 2547

Felicity climbed into the driver's seat of the hog as Maxen took it upon himself to climb into the bed of the truck that handled the fire power. Though Nora would have preferred the spray and pray method of traveling in the back, she was no stranger to the steering wheel and assorted levers and dials that now sat in front of her. Everything seemed to be in working order, if not a bit muddy from its time spent turned over, but that was a small annoyance considering the fact that her previous form of transportation was a river carrying a lethal amount of sharp metal and heavy concrete. 

"Everything in working order Max?" She called back, but she didn't need an answer. The spinning of the rotary canon and the methodical whirring of the hydraulics kicking into gear was all she needed. 

With a quick jab, the Sergeant thumbed the ignition. After just a few sputters, the large piece of machinery roared to life and all electronics within it flicked on. She spent a few moments glancing about the dials and gauges for the basic read-outs on the hog. The hydrogen engine was running on about a quarter tank, but with the amount of fuel this beast ate up she wondered if there would be enough of it left before they got to wherever the hell they would be headed. "Alright. Everything up here is good. Tank is a little low though, you stick back there and watch for shit." 

She got a grunt from Maxen as she climbed back out of the driver's seat. Though her words were calm, her actions were anything but. After almost tripping due to the Warthog's sheer drop to the ground, Felicity jogged to the back of the vehicle. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she spied two jerry cans connected to the back of it. After fiddling with a length of metal strapping, the Sergeant managed to free the jerry cans up enough to yank them from the back, the sound of plastic scrapping against metal reverberated along the otherwise quiet riverbank. 

A bead of sweat trickled from her forehead and slid down her cheek, that suit was damn uncomfortable after her dive and even more physical activity did not help that. Regardless, she made her way back down to the river bank, and quickly filled both jugs as quickly as she could. A phantom had flown over before, and nothing stopped it from coming back. In under a minute, she was back in the driver seat of the hog and ready to go. She might have said something, told Maxen her plans, but she was pretty breathless at that point, and by then she was sure she already knew where they would be going. 

--

The digital clock set within the dash signaled that the current time on Vinum was 12:01 am, and that brought a smile to her face. "Guess we've lived long enough to see another day Corporal." Her otherwise useless helmet still held some night vision capability, so thankfully, they could drive without the need of headlights. Above them, the spray of stars and other celestial bodies stayed the only constant backdrop to their quickly changing surroundings. 

"Huh, I guess so. I'm just happy not to be walking anymore."

"I guess I didn't realize standing was that much better." She had once stood in the back of a hog long enough to feel fire in her calves, and she was sure Maxen had done so as well. Though instead of asking, Felicity eased up on the gas and pulled the warthog to the side of the path. The first real road she had seen since the bridge disaster sat in front of them, and from what she could tell, it might very well lead them back to where they both wanted to go. Though it was their duty to check for survivors, they would be making themselves a target going back there in a hog. "I suppose to don't have to worry about standing anymore." She grumbled, coming to a decision that she knew both Maxen and herself would dislike. 

--

The road had been short and had been sparsely populated with Covenant troop movements, much to her surprise. Though she soon supposed that it was pretty useless guarding a bridge that provided entrance to a city when they had already gotten access. That thought stuck with her pretty badly, and her thoughts briefly wandered to the civilian shuttles that their bridge operation had been put in place to protect. She shoot her head, casting out those thoughts as quickly as they had entered. 

Eventually, the two reached reached a corner that upon turning would allow them a perfect view of the bridge. Signalling for Maxen to hold his position, Felicity took it upon herself to be the first to creep around the corner. 

Nothing, quite literally nothing awaited her and she took her first peek. What had been a massive architectural feat was nothing but a few spires of concrete sticking up out of a rubble clogged river. Where they had been had long folded down the bank and been submerged. Closer to their location, UNSC fortifications were in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Bodies littered the concrete and it was very obvious that whatever battle had happened after the explosion had been very short. 

She motioned for Max to move up to her once more. "There's nothing there. Bastards or humans.. but there are weapons lying around that I am sure they won't be using." The words came out bitterly, and though it would be morbid work to pry ammunition and weaponry from the melted dead, it would be something they would have to do. "After this, we can head back to the hog and get into the damn city. You want a turn driving or are you fine in the gun?"

[Cheddar]

Maxen Titus
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Aug 7, 2547

He leaned heavily against the gun. Maxen had taken weapons from his dead comrades before but it was never easy. He could never get used to prying things from the crablike hands of those killed in a fiery death. And the stench was horrible. But, they needed weapons and even though they had Covenant ones, Maxen and Felicity both were eager to be rid of them.

"Alright, yeah, let's got see what we can scavenge."

They left the Hog in a covered position, out of the way of searching eyes, and made their way from the road to the bridge. It wasn't a terribly long walk, just a very exposed one. They constantly searched for signs of someone watching them, even though it was probably a moot point. If someone wanted them dead, there was no cover here to hide from them.

The trek took them further into the sea of carnage. Looking at it now, Maxen found it hard to believe anyone could have survived all of this. First there was the thick ring of Drone corpses, littering nearly every inch of ground for almost fifty feet. Then they began seeing ODSTs mixed in with them. Maxen stopped at the first one.

He couldn't tell who it had been, he didn't want to know. But he did retrieve the man's sidearm. It was a little scorched but otherwise appeared to work fine. He picked it up and then began rummaging through the man's ammunition pouches only to find that they were missing.

Maxen looked closer and discovered that they had been forcibly ripped off. The Corporal realized then that the intense heat of the explosion had likely cooked a lot of the ammunition off, causing it to explode. He grimaced at the added snag to their search. He patted the dead man on the shoulder as he left, mouthing a silent thank you.

For fifteen or so more minutes the duo searched through their dead, finding armaments along with extra weapons and ammunition to store in the vehicle. They knew that for the time being, the Warthog was their best chance of survival. They'd pretty much be living out of it.

Since they'd been posted on the bridge, it wasn't only a collection of men and sandbags that they'd been sent with. There were crates of food, ammunition, and various other equipment as well. While they searched their friends for guns, they also kept an eye out for rations. Maxen found a crate flipped over into the rubble nearby, he went over to it.

The MRE crate was a mess. The meals were scattered everywhere and the box latches were broken. He crouched down and began scooping the packages up, flipping the crate over and stuffing them back inside. When he was done he had acquired nearly sixty meals. If they ate the recommended three meals a day, they had enough food to lest for about ten days.

Maxen lifted the box. It wasn't terribly heavy, but still a sizeable weight, and moved it back to their staging area. This was the place they put what they'd gathered. He got there as Felicity was finishing up her counting.

"We've got four AR's, a couple of BR's, several pistols half a dozen grenades, a full box of flares, and not a lot of ammo.most of it either got cooked off after they died or was used up in the fighting. I found enough to replenish our own, personal, stock but not much extra."

Maxen set the crate down. "Well now we have food too. This crate will fit perfectly in the passengers side floorboard."

With their loot gathered and put somewhere easily accessible, it was time to bring the hog in and load it all up.

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Sergeant Felicity Nora
ODST
54th Shock Troop Platoon
Outer Colony World of Vinum
Operation: Pop the Cork
August 7th, 2547

Faint green light painted her tanned features and allowed the skin of her face to take on a ghastly green glow, as she pressed her forehead into the steering wheel of the warthog. The small lights themselves showed the status of the various pieces of machinery within the vehicle. It was a well oiled tool given to marines by the corps, far better than what most civilians drove when one considered the sheer dependability of the hunk of metal, when compared to the luxury cars seen in many of the large colonial cities dotting human space. Much like how the corps took care of their marines, the ODST took care of their own, and that was the problem. 

The idea of searching for survivors had been in Felicity's mind ever since she had seen Maxen floating, but the swarm of drones she had encountered with him hours earlier had most likely all but destroyed their chances of that. She was lucky to have survived both the explosion, the fall, and the currents with little damage to herself all together. Luck like that only often happened once, in her experience, and if that was the case then her ticket would be up seen if she didn't take extra caution. Of course, the thought of saving her own skin brought forth a mixed bag of emotions, one that she dared not share with Maxen. "God damn..." Her mind drifted to simpler times, at least when she was dying from self starvation it had been by her own hand rather than that of some creepy giant alien fucking beetles. 

Pull yourself together... 

A small ragged sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her forehead from the wheel, the skin of her forehead now numb and white from the pressure. If she didn't head back now there was a chance that she might risk spooking Maxen. She didn't dare try the communicators for fear of her communications being picked up. Regardless of weather or not the messages themselves were encrypted, the knowledge that they were still being relayed would be enough to warrant a search of the area, at least in her mind. With that thought fresh in her mind she put the hog into gear and pulled out from the bush that they had parked it in. 

_____

Pulling up to a pile of supplies and an awaiting Corporal was one of the high points in her night, the fact that he was still kicking seemed to put her mind at ease a bit. "Corporal." Offered Felicity in greeting, as she pulled the hog up right next to the pile. She would have enjoyed to haw around for a little bit as they loaded supplies, but keeping a warthog out on the middle of an open bridge was far from a good idea, especially with the knowledge that patrol phantoms were moving through the region. 

Without another word she climbed out of the hog and landed close to Maxen, helping him with supplies while keeping watch on their surroundings. At one point, she though she heard the distant whirring of engines, but brushed it off as a distant patrol. She had been given more than enough warning with the first phantom they had run into. The only good thing about the alien bastards known as the Covenant was that they were pragmatic enough to simply beam a spotlight about the place, giving any soldier with a good head on their shoulders enough time to dive behind some cover before they were spotted and things went to hell. However, hiding a warthog that wasn't in the area before from a spotlight would be more trouble than it was worth. 

With that in mind, Felcity quickly yanked herself back into the driver's seat of the vehicle as soon as things were finished. She took only enough time to brush some grime off of her hands, as well as for Maxen to get into the gunner's spot in the back of course, before she set the hog into gear once more and tore off into the night. Their particular destination had already been discussed before hand, they were headed toward the city where the battle surely would have carried over after the disaster at the bridge. 

Finding them a way in had been easy enough, as all they had needed to do was follow the trail of destroyed UNSC equipment and downed soldiers. There were more than what had been at the bridge, that was for sure, and Felicity cringed every time that she couldn't swerve out of the way of a corpse in time. She hated the noise and the feeling of rolling over one. "We can't do worse than what has already been done to them." She said aloud, to no one in particular, as the hog continued its gruesome trek right up to the city limits. 

Small barriers that had been made to hold off the Covenant onslaught were either melted under long extinguished plasma, crushed, or simply tossed out of the way like a children's toy. It was obvious enough that whatever had occurred here had been gruesome, but annoyingly there were still no signs of exactly when it all occurred. Felicity knew how much time they had lost, the warthog had given them that much, but the idea that the entire city might have fallen before sunset hadn't particularly crossed her mind until that moment. Still, they continued on through a gap in the broken  defenses. 

By that point, they began to pass empty suburban homes, out of the way rest stations, and other semblances of normal civilian life that made the back of her next stand up. Children's toy's sat in the yard, and she could even see that some of the houses still had their porch lights on, as if they were waiting for residents that would never return to reclaim them. There were barely any bodies to be seen at that point, and the ones that she did find seemed to be more gruesomely slaughtered than those at the bridge. When the Covenant had the time to kill, she knew some of the fucks did it a lot more slowly.

The engine of the hog began to grumble a bit, forcing her eyes to tear away from the road to the various dials and readouts on the dash of the hog. "Max, we should take the time to refuel this while no one is around. I don't know what things are gonna be like in the city and I am not going to rely on a hydrogen converter to get us out of a tight Jam." She got a small response out of him, though that was expected considering how eerie the whole situation was, the fucker was probably white knuckling the gun even as she pulled into the parking lot of a relatively undamaged gas station. 

A single car sat near one of the refueling areas, but the Sergeant payed little mind to it as she pulled herself from her seat and lowered herself onto the pavement below. "Get down from the gun Max, there isn't much you can do if you are spotted in that thing, besides attract every phantom in the region to this street. Let's go in and see what this place is about." She knew outer colony corporations better than most people. There was little chance they would be able to pull up to a fueling center and get some gas before they payed up front. For that, they would need to get some sort of key or perhaps even a credit chip to even interface with the machine. "Ill take point." 

The place seemed abandoned, but she wasn't about to risk the chance that it wasn't and get blindsided by a pack of grunts, or something far bigger and deadlier. It took the two little time to sweep into the front of the place, revealing the inside of the shop to be in that same eerie state of sudden abandonment that seemed to strike the rest of the city. She brought her gun down for only a moment, but it proved to be a stupid enough move to warrant the universe shitting on her once again in the same day. Upon the lowering of her rifle, four relatively well armed civilians pored out of a storeroom at the back of the station, all carrying civilian weaponry directly pointed at them. 

"Don't shoot!" Felicity called out, but as soon as she saw their faces she knew that her and Maxen where in for some trouble. They did not gaze upon the ODST as saviors come to rescue them, instead, their eyes were filled with the hatred that could only be found deep seeded in the heart of the UNSC's former enemy. Insurrection had apparently found its way onto the Colony world of Vinem. Slowly, Felicity tried to raise her battle rifle, but she was quickly rebuffed by one of the men offering a warning shot into the air. 

"Drop your fucking weapons." Screamed one of them, a woman a bit on the petite side with an outrageous brown hairdo filled with clips and ribbons, most torn and dirtied by wear and tear. Felicity almost burst out laughing as she realized the woman was dressed in a waitress outfit for a well known colonial restaurant chain, famous for Moa Burgers. The fact that she had a shotgun pointed directly at Felicity's face caused the laughter to die in her throat. 

"Alright." She stated, almost calmly as she lowered her own br to the floor, taking extra measure to continue facing the traumatized civilians, as so to keep the magnum strapped to her back from view. 

"Your buddy too." Offered an older man, middle aged, with blonde hair and a distinctively welsh accent. His face was weathered with wrinkles that signified laughing lines, and Felicity began to feel like she was risking a shoot-out with some random family rather than rebels looking for some mints and gas.