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Post by Daenerys Targaryen on May 31, 2015 12:17:20 GMT -6
[OOC tidbit for this thread] The Frontier Coast Sea Cave is a very small portion of the Frontier Coast in general, and is the data-dump site for Astronav employee's studying at the near-by observatory/research base. Lieutenant Jessica Mae CollinsONI Field OperativeEn-route to the Sea CaveColony World of FrontierOperation: NightmareThe minimal human presence and out-of-the-way status of Frontier, for an inner colony world, was considered a prime location for the specialized training of UNSC personnel. Founded during the heat of insurrection, it was a perfect location to be used without the worry of local terrorist cells forming among any disenchanted locals. It's location in the inner colonies ensured active security. For that reason, the original Maverick Observatory had been constructed. In its relatively secluded location, it acted as the way station for a good portion of the UEG's colonial exploration efforts, and allowed Earth to keep track on her colonies and plot courses for the exploration of new ones. Eventually, the UEG would begin to train a large portion of their Astronavigation division at such locations, allowing Frontier to grow and thrive. As the Maverick observatory became more popular among UNSC personnel, ONI took particular interest in the location. During the course of a year, they had gained enough funding to "update" the observatory with the latest technology produced in laboratory settings. Of course, ONI had used a majority of this funding to construct a subterranean research facility to work in tandem with the observatory above it. In such a place, experiments recording slip-space probes, the improvement of inter-stellar communications, and the general collection of star systems would take place. Upon the discovery of the Covenant Empire and the emergence of the Cole Protocol, ONI had taken a majority of the Astronavigation personnel off-world, and began focusing a majority of their efforts on other points of intelligence. Such stationary facilities like Maverick had been made defunct due to lack of funding and other vested interest, leaving it a shell of its former self. Though the facility itself still had the ability to launch probes, it had not for some time. Probes, telescopes, and mobile stations were very expensive to construct, and in danger of breaching cole protocol if captured. This waning interest and usefulness left the facility a simple data archive for the Astronavigation Division, long overlooked by ONI as their own data had been pulled from the place years before. Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins had been sent in soon after the disaster on the colony world of Hope. Moral within Humanity had taken a severe blow, and had severely hampered ONI's own interest in out-of-the-way, backwater inner colony worlds. Frontier, though it had grown considerably from its original founding, had remained a point on ONI's watchlist for months. Now, with the Covenant on the doorstep of the inner-colonies. The continued usage of the Maverick Observatory and Research Facility was deemed a liability. She had been sent in to oversee the decommissioning of the facility. It was meant to be run of the mill clerical work, and her entire unit had been caught completely off-guard when the Covenant had jumped in system. Though the Covenant Fleet was small, a scouting force at best, they still severely outnumbered the human presence on the colony. Maverick Research base was forced into lock down, and they remained that way as they remotely watched the citizens in the population centers around them get completely massacred by the Covenant forces. Their distress signal had alerted ONI, and they had received more than welcome reinforcements. The tides turned quickly, and the ONI forces inside the research facility were able to lift lock down and allow for some breathing room. Soon after, they had received orders gift wrapped and packaged along with the fleet. Very simple and to the point: This is what had got Alpha-4 shoved inside a Pelican flying at high speeds toward the body of water that this region bordered. The mission itself was easy enough, a simple torch and burn operation for a small data repository kept near the coast along with the other military installations. Astronav had gotten a bit lazy with where they kept their things, and now it was ONI's mission to clear it out before things got hairy on the planet. Unlike most marines, Jessica was semi-aware of the extremely precarious situation they now found themselves in. ONI probes had detected a large number of slip-space ruptures very recently, and she was sure that it would be only a matter of times before things went south. "Alright. I will let Gretchen do the talking." Jessica herself was fully outfitted in Recon armor, sealed tight for any possible hazardous terrain that might be found on the coast. Coastal caves, at least in the inner colonies, where known for their whacky features brought on by constant erosion from the ocean's constant weathering. She, and the ONI buffs above her, seemed to agree that they might run into the same features here as well. " Alpha-4." The sound of an elderly German grandmother's voice seemed to permeate the Pelican trooper bay, though most of the smart AI's voice could be heard over their unit's encrypted communication frequency. That way, anyone hanging back at Maverick Base would be able to hear the AI as well. "We will be touching down on a stretch of flat rock right on the coast of this Continent. You will find the data repository inside one of the cave's located there. Though it contains man-made structures leading to the entrance, steps, a door, ect. Do not let the appearance fool you, the cave beyond is indeed very dangerous, and very wet. For that reason, you have been provided with recon armor and climbing gear. The standard elevator used to gain access to this repository has been out of order for some time, and cannot be repaired due to the machines lying dormant within. You are expected to be efficient, as always, but retain caution on this operation, we have received reports of insurrectionist activity in the jungle." With that, the AI's voice cut out of existence and the bay was once again filled with silence, followed by a quick burst of static and the pilots voice. " Alright you spooks. We are coming in on our LZ. We are currently at low tide. You want to be inside of the cave before high tide, and back out before high tide happens again. I will be there waiting to pick you up." Jessica wished that she had been provided an ONI trained pilot, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. She offered a grunt into the comms as a response, and gaze around at her team. They all seemed ready, as ready as they would be. Two other agents accompanied her, along with a small three-man security team. That made 6 members in total for Alpha four, more than enough to complete a successful torch and burn op. WHUMP. The pelican took a bit of a sliding-land on the flat rock surface of the coast, which almost made Jessica piss her pants. While she might drown in some sea-cave, she hadn't planned to drown so soon inside the belly of a pelican sinking into the ocean. Thankfully, the pilot managed to keep the bird steady, and soon enough the bay door to the pelican opened, exposing the agents to a bright and active coast. White, misty sea spray entered the cockpit soon after, it was enough to leave her armor damp and sticky with salt. " Alright Alpha-4, pile out." Jessica hefted her silenced sub-machine gun, and made sure that she was the first to march out of the trooper bay.
The coastal jungle looked like something out of a colonial swamp monster movie flick. Massive roots trailed down rocky cliffs to end up shriveling near the salty water lapping against the rock. Massive tree's almost entirely blocked out the rays of the sun as they loomed over them. Thick mats of algae or something else entirely coated a long of the rocks around them, and Jessica herself could feel the physical squelch of it as she stepped into it. As soon as the sights stopped distracting her, she lifted her weapon and scanned the area for hostiles. There was absolutely nothing, and the entrance itself seemed to indicate that the place was completely abandoned. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching the group. " Agent Six, you take point. I don't expect anything but I want yu to make sure that entrance is clear. We are doing a standard sweep before we let out guard down, understood?" The last part was directed more toward the others, if anything. |
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Post by Cheddar on May 31, 2015 15:35:28 GMT -6
Lieutenant Gabriel Sixtus
ONI Field Operative
En-route to the Coastal Sea Caves
Colony World of Frontier
Operation: Nightmare
Six dropped down from the pelican behind Collins. His boots hit the coastal marsh and immediately sunk several inches into its soggy embrace. The ground beneath him sucked at his feet as he pulled free of it. Each time he lifted a boot, the muck falling from is spattered wetly to the ground behind him.
Roots, and slime covered vines wrapped sinuously around their legs as the team moved, threatening a fall if they were careless. Six grunted at the conditions. He would be glad to get up onto some firmer land. His musings were interrupted as Agent Collins called for him to take the lead.
He nodded an affirmative and trudged ahead of the woman. As they passed he looked in her direction.
"Nice place. Think I'll bring my kids next time."
She glanced over at him "You don't have kids."
Six made a gesture of mock surprise. "Oh. Guess I'm not coming back then. What a shame."
In his periphery Six saw the Agent shake her head and a corner of his mouth twitched up in a short-lived smirk. Then he got his mind back on the job. The bunker door loomed close and he motioned for the team behind him to slow down. Like Collins, he wasn't expecting anything. But he hadn't survived this long by being careless.
He crouched near the door and checked it for traps. The fact that it stood wide open was not inherently concerning, the place had been abandoned for years. It was to be expected that someone would crack the outer door open and venture inside. Six knew the really important stuff was housed safely, much deeper in.
He finished his search and came up empty handed. "Don't see anything. Let's move up. But keep those weapons ready just in case."
They moved into the bunker proper and took a look around. The small space directly beyond the door was sparsely furnished. In fact, upon closer inspection nothing adorned the walls, floors, or ceiling. Even the light fixtures were gone.
Six could see an alcove just to his left when they stepped inside. The place where a desk may have sat at one time. Now, like everything else so far, it sat open and empty.
He led them on. The hallway became darker as they moved away from the feeble light at the entrance, it seemed that the farther they went, the more darkness encroached. It was an unattural sort of darkness, the kind only long abandoned places could create. It was as much a feature of the place as the ancient stains or barren walls.
Six passed through a door at the far end of the entry corridor and suffered a sensation that felt as though all of his senses had been shut off all at once. The Agent's perception extended only to the ends of his fingertips, after that he was blind. With a sigh he tried activating his VISR. For a moment, a slight outline of the world around him appeared, so he motioned for them to continue. Then, even that faded and he sighed once more.
"Alright. VISR is useless in here, I'm turning on my light."
Six turned his helmet light on and nodded, happy to have some illumination. The light had a red cap over the lens, he kept it around specifically for pitch black situations. It cut down on the intensity of the light but also made the beam red, a color that didn't interfere with night vision. Satisfied that he could see again, Six played the flashlight over the nearby walls and floor before looking down the hall and trudging onward.
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SPARTAN-A120
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The One Who Vanishes
Moderator
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Post by SPARTAN-A120 on Jun 1, 2015 21:17:19 GMT -6
Petty Officer 1st Class Richard A. Chen
ONI Section III Field Operative "Panther"
Coastal Sea Caves, Planet XVB 2476 - Frontier
Operation: Nightmare"First the shoes. Now the lights..."
Chen was glad he was no longer sitting behind a desk to watch the action take place before him. He was more of the hands on kind of guy. Except, he was not just a guy. He was an ONI Field Operative; part of an elite group of personnel that conducted operations blacker than the dark side of Earth's Moon. Chen was teamed with ONI's, Alpha-4, for a torch and burn operation of an abandoned sea cave observatory located on an inner colony planet designated as XVB 2476 which was known as "Frontier" by the local population. The solitary Agent was never fond of teamwork, but orders were orders. He did not want to receive a insubordination and kill an opportunity to get back on the field so he accepted without verbal questioning. He certainly didn't want to piss off his superiors either. Although Chen had worked as a team in his past career with the Marine Force Reconnaissance, ODSTs, and prior ONI Teams, his cynical views of teammates may place the operation in jeopardy. On the contrary, Chen knew that this team needed his skill sets. He was fast on his feet and was a deadly opponent in a close-quarters environment which made him well suited for the mission parameters. Chen hadn't spoken to either Agents or the security team that was accompanying them. He only gave them a curt nod and boarded the Pelican without a word spoken. That was his way of greeting individuals and he intended to keep the chatter to a minimum when it was not necessary. He remembered hearing one of the security team members ask, "What's his problem?" when Chen took a seat in the Pelican's blood tray. " You," Chen had muttered in response to the question, but it wasn't audible to the ONI Team because he didn't activate the speaking port on his Recon Armor Helmet. Chen had already gathered a brief summary of each Agent that were in Alpha-4. Being the newcomer of the team, he wanted to understand how they operated before he would end up dead because of something he should've knew beforehand. PTSD, psychotic breakdowns, anxiety, claustrophobia, or anything that hindered mission performance was not what Chen wanted. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to gain access to their dossiers, but he did have access to after-action reports that were declassified for ONI personnel only. First Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins was the team leader of the operation. Surprisingly, she was similar to Chen in many ways. They were both were skilled in hand-to-hand combat, agile, and had tempers. What really intrigued Chen was the photograph of 1LT. Collins. She was a strikingly beautiful woman with obvious Indian heritage. Her green eyes resembled a cat's, but it was a perfect fit for her. Collin's limited mission history that was available gave Chen enough information to conclude that she meant business and she was willing to take risks for the sake of the mission. Chen just hoped she wouldn't risk her teammates lives for the mission. The other ONI Agent was First Lieutenant Gabriel Sixtus. 1LT Sixtus was a generalist according to his reports. He was practically the jack-of-all-trades since he has experience in most combat positions within the UNSCDF. Chen was approved of the Agent's skills with any task that a mission may throw at him which was what Chen liked. Though, it was Sixtus' mouth that got him in trouble. There were a few minor reports made about his arguments with superiors which put Chen a little on edge. He hoped that Sixtus wouldn't be insubordinate to Collins' command even though they were on the same level in the chain-of-command. ***** Due to time constraints with the presence of a Covenant Scout Force on Frontier, Alpha-4 had to be briefed on the Pelican transport to their LZ. Gretchen was the Smart A.I. that was supplied to Alpha-4 for the operation. While the A.I. was briefing the team, Chen was conducting a second weapons check of his MA5K Carbine and M6C SOCOM Pistol. He had checked his weapons prior to boarding the Pelican, but it Chen had to ensure that his weapon was in good condition before an engagement, especially the MA5K. The carbine was requisitioned from the ONI Armory where he was stationed and the gunsmith stated that it was in mint condition. What mint condition meant to Chen was a weapon that had been sitting in a locker, catching dust, and had not been serviced or cleaned until it is requested. Chen knew how the Armory operated and it was not going to cut it for Chen. Indeed, the MA5K had better stopping power with its 7.62mm round than the M7S's 6mm, but if Chen knew this would happen, he would've brought his personal M7S that was issued to him. For the six minutes he had before he had to deploy with Alpha-4, he conducted a limited fieldstrip of the MA5K and did his best to clean and lubricate the internals. He just hoped a malfunction wouldn't occur when he pulled the trigger. When Chen was finished with the weapons check, he took out a suppressor from a utility pouch on his left drop-leg pouch and applied a suppressor the the barrel of his MA5K. When the A.I. with the German accent concluded her briefing with her assumption that Insurrectionist activity was present in the jungles angered Chen. He had expected the Innies to be present, but just the thought of them sparked the fire with Chen. The pilot of the Pelican alerted the team that they were approaching the LZ and mentioned the dangers of the high tides and how speed was of the essence. To Chen, the pilot sounded like a smartass. After the pilot spoke, there was a large jolt that occurred throughout the Pelican that Chen assumed was an Anti-Air round from Covvie or Innie forces, but he was relieved when the Pelican's ramp opened to reveal the coast of Frontier. Agent Collins was out of the Pelican first, followed by Agent Sixtus after Collins declared it was clear. Chen was the third to exit the blood tray and his visor immediately polarized to the maximum in response to the bright rays of the sun. The visor soon auto-adjusted to the correct polarization and he switched the selector from Safe to Semi-automatic on his MA5K while taking aim around the terrain inland. He cleared a space for the rest of the team to disembark from the Pelican, but noticed that it was difficult to move. Chen took a brief moment to glance down at his legs and found his feet submerged above the ankles. "Great..." he muttered in reaction to the mush he landed on and tried his best to move along with Collins and Sixtus. Chen heard Collins order Sixtus to take point so Chen trailed behind Collins, ensuring that there were at least a five-meter spacing between him and her. " We are doing a standard sweep before we let our guard down, understood?" Collins said. Chen gave a thumbs up to acknowledge her orders. Chen was relieved when they reached solid ground, but the rocks were covered with slippery moss. Chen heard one of the ONI security personnel slip from behind, but Chen didn’t bother to look because he was keeping his carbine aimed at the jungle to the left of the caves. When Alpha-4 arrived to the cave entrance, Sixtus made sure the entrance to the cave was clear before the rest of the team filed in. Chen activated his VISR mode when the darkness within the cave made it difficult to see with the ambient lighting from outside. His VISR struggled to outline objects as the ONI Team went deeper into the cave which caused Sixtus to activate his helmet mounted flashlight with a red lens and addressed that the VISR was useless. Chen didn’t activate his flashlight on his helmet nor on his MA5K because they would be too bright and risked exposing their position and compromising the element of surprise. The amount of light emitting from Sixtus' was enough for the VISR to pick up and use as a source for low-light enhancement. Chen continued following Sixtus and Collins with his carbine aiming wherever he looked while maintaining space between the Agents. Chen was also keeping a keen eye for traps and things out of the ordinary. Even if his naked eye couldn't spot it, his VISR would. But, there was something wrong with cave. The emptiness of the cave gave Chen a bad feeling in his gut.
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Post by LaxKnight on Jun 5, 2015 22:11:05 GMT -6
‘Rainbow Black’ - Team Lead
ONI Security Team Rainbow - NPC
Coastal Sea Caves, Planet XVB 2476 - Frontier
Operation: Nightmare
While ONI had many operatives and had the power to requisition assets almost at will, sometimes agents weren’t enough and they needed men, soldiers, who were reliable, expandable, and asked no questions. Hence the need for the ONI Security Team, ranging from the run of the mill door guard to elite teams that some would say even rivaled the ODST. ONI Security Team Rainbow was exclusively made up of prior Special Forces personnel. The group was not only dedicated to counterterrorism and security but also specialized in assisting agents when they need a little extra firepower or in over their heads and needed an out. They were nearby the planet after finishing a raid on Insurrectionists when the assignment fell in their lap calling for three volunteers.
The officer known as Rainbow Black sat next to the cockpit and eyed the rest of the group. Along with the three agents, there was Rainbow Red taking the seat in front of Agent Panther and Rainbow Blue at the rear. In this torch and burn op, they brought the fire. Rainbow Red is the EOD and demolitions expert. If it goes boom or burns, she knew both how to disable it and how to make a greater effect. She was a former ODST EOD tech with an excellent track record before a tragic incident where she almost defused a device when someone remotely detonated it. When she woke up she was missing both of her hands and half her forearms. While they medically retired her, she kept trying to get back in with requests for prosthetics. While the ODSTs wouldn’t take her back, ONI took advantage of the opportunity and offered for her to work for them. Given state of the art prosthetics, she eagerly applies her trade to wherever ONI directs. Some say she has nerves of steel while others say that explosion knocked enough marbles out of a pretty loose skull that she was too crazy to know but she proved reliable in a fight, even if she was considered the team psycho.
Rainbow Violet is regarded as the team’s tech specialist, a part of the UNSC Marine Recon forces before joining. While ONI had many tech personnel, she was chosen for her cool attitude and extreme calm under the most horrific of circumstances such as enacting Cole Protocol while a planet was being glassed. She managed to escape by using signals and code to confuse a Phantom, sneak aboard, then dump its passengers and pick her team up. While ONI wanted her as an agent, she wanted to be part of a security team and joined Rainbow. She liked being on the field supporting the team. Not everything can be destroyed physically so she was here to pick up the data and electronic end, using ONI access codes and her technical know-how to get them into places normally off limits to intruders like them.
She even had a specialized backpack on the chance that someone forgot to mention if there was a Smart AI there, that way she could carry it with them.
Then finally there was Rainbow Black. The designation is always given to the team leader for black was the blend of all colors. As one would expect, he was the very image of what a veteran was. The oldest on the team with salt and pepper hair, he has served the UNSC for twenty-five years first as a Marine then Force Recon before retiring as an ODST. However after retiring he didn’t seem to have enough for he began working for private security firms. The old grizzled veteran captured ONI’s attention when he gathered a team of simple guards and private security officers and lead them in the defense of the evacuation building for a week against Covenant forces before the UNSC arrived. A small unit tactical genius, he is the one who recruited the team and lead them through a plethora of successful missions.
Rainbow Red looked to the agent in front of her, Agent Panther, and saw him giving a curt nod to her. Her face was hidden by the fully polarized visor of a red Recon helmet. The armor they wore was a little more armored up than the standard variant with actual shoulder guards. On her right shoulder was the Rainbow Circle, the colors of the rainbow going in a circle with a black center where the ONI logo stood. Unlike the rest of her team however she wore no gloves nor armor up half of her forearm. In its place were her metal prosthetics. Her suit retained the seal and she can still survive in vacuum since it was all metal. She kept it the gloves off for she said it added to her dexterity and she loved to freak people out with them. After a moment she gave a slight turn to her head in Black’s direction and said, “What’s his problem?”
“I don’t care how much he mean mugs you, play nice Red,” he said over a private channel. She raised her hands defensively then leaned back in her seat with legs outstretched and hands behind her back. The briefing given by the AI explaining how dangerous the mission was and that there were Insurrectionists in the area. Nothing they haven’t handled before. Then she cut out and the pilot explained that there was the potential for a swim if they don’t make it out of the cave in time. All in a day’s work. Suddenly the Pelican dropped to a bone-jarring halt, unsettling the team except for Rainbow Red who remained in her relaxed pose until the door dropped in which she readied her weapon. Rainbow Violet stayed in her seat in the rear providing overwatch with her silenced DMR while the rest of the team piled out. Rainbow Black followed behind Agent Panther and quickly moved to the left while Rainbow Red took position near the middle, taking a moment to swear from almost slipping on the slick rocks then kicking the culprit who almost snagged her. When everything seemed clear Rainbow Violet hopped off and took their six. The two most essential to the actual op stayed to the back. The team acknowledged Agent Collins’ orders with acknowledgement lights that lit up in her helmet.
Like professionals they dispersed into a sweep. As they entered the caves and the light got devoured by darkness the team turned on their VISRs. “Innies hope they aren't here today,” Rainbow Red quietly sang said over the com, “The ONI spooks are out and here to play.”
She turned on the red light on her shotgun to add to the light, adding to the effectiveness of everyone’s VISR as they ventured further into the cave.
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Post by Daenerys Targaryen on Jun 11, 2015 14:07:18 GMT -6
OOC: Alright, overdue post time, this was suppose to come out this morning but I got called into Subway to help out with the lunch rush! Gonna crack this one out before I go back in a couple of hours for my evening shift! Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins ONI Field Operative En-route to the Sea Cave Colony World of Frontier Operation: Nightmare The mouth of the cave was something new to her, she had been in a lot of places, but never something so dark and wet. Well there was that time Biko.... that thought quickly fled from her mind as Agent Six moved to take point. While this place might appear to be another shit hole on an especially shitty "frontier world", it offered a lot more than what might be readily apparent to the others in Alpha-4. In her experience, during a Covenant glassing, places like this shit hole in particular would be the first place that people would flee too. Obviously, this planet hadn't been glassed, yet, but that didn't mean there hadn't been any pre-planning during the first assault on the colony. "Alright. VISR is useless in here, I'm turning on my light."
The following moments involved a series of confirmations and lights being clicked on, Jessica followed suit with her own, and soon the entire hallway/entrance of the cave was light. Agent Six, who had taken point, was in the process of slowly moving up the hall, to what seemed like an ever increasing concrete hallway. Jessica followed close behind, and though she scanned every bit of the hallway with each step, there wasn't much to pay attention to. The place seemed long abandoned, which wasn't surprising, as most of the traffic in and out of the cave happened through the elevator pad before it "ceased functioning". A sudden flash of light filled the inside of her HUD, scrolling up and down her VISR and ultimately her own slight reflection in the glass before flashing green. Her motions slowed as a large paragraph of text blinked into existence, along with some heavily encrypted frequencies crackling in on her comms. "The fuck?" Her words drifted over Alpha-4 comms, but if anyone responded she wasn't exactly aware. The crackling over her own channels had become far more intense than they originally had been, and somewhere in the background of it all she could hear Gretchen bickering about something, or someone.  Very abruptly, the scenery changed first around Agent Six, and then the rest as Alpha-4 moved farther down the tunnel. The solid concrete floor turned into wet gravel covered in trash from years of high tide floods. The walls around them shifted into roughly carved stone. The transition, along with the own interference in her own helmet forced the Agent to stop and call out to the rest of her team. " Alpha-4, Hold." With that out of the way, her eyes narrowed in on the text itself. With how erratically it was moving she could barely make our the first few lines of what she was seeing. Whatever it was, it was definitely from upper ONI Brass, but whatever the hell they were trying to tell her was lost to whatever other interference was going on in the cave. Something about Spartans, but she couldn't be sure. "Fuck, Gretchen, could you clear up some of this static?" If there was an update to her orders, and she missed it, she might very well get herself into some deep shit. "A-- R--- Alr-." Gretchen herself seemed far flung from their position as well. None of them carried a suit powerful enough to house an AI, that was left to the big sets of armor she wasn't suppose to know too much about, though she did wish that she had some with her right now, that was for sure. Instead, Gretchen had stayed on board the Pelican itself, relaying orders into what should be a shallow cave. There was no way their frequencies would be so scattered so suddenly without outside interference. "Alright, Alpha-4. Looks like we might be going in dark. Outside comms are scattered to shit." With that, she flicked off some of the main electronics in her HUD that were currently scrambling, and took a good look at the team in front of her. With a small sigh, she moved past Six to get in front of the entire team. "Alri-" As soon as she stepped on a old pile of rotting seaweed everything in her world went tits up. BAM. A small IED went off from inside of the wall next to her, sending the Agent flying into the wall on the other side of the corridor. She hit hard, but her RECON armor absorbed a majority of the shrapnel that had resulted from the blast. The pain in her side told her that it had been comprised in that area, but to what extent the damage was she had no idea. She would have checked, but from the other end of the hall came muzzle flashes and bullets headed right toward the rest of Alpha-4. The bullets themselves were low caliber, the rate of fire suggested an ancient automated turret. "Fuck! Agents, the opening!" From her spot on the ground, she jutting a gloved hand toward the section of wall that the IED had been placed, Through the ruble, a general entrance to a larger well lit chamber had been made apparent. She tried to pick herself up to move, and failed miserably as she face planted once again into the trash filled, wet gravel. The turret itself hummed bullets mercilessly their way and she knew it wouldn't be long before their armor was compromised and they were punctured by far worse than shrapnel. Whoever was in here had prepared after the Covenant invasion. Jessica needed to get out of there, but more than anything she needed to get up. Thankfully, before she had time to try again, she felt two thick arms wrap around her and yank. Before she knew it she found herself inside of the well lit chamber, with Six himself starring down at her through his helmet. "Just slippery gravel." She stated, knowing full well that she probably appeared more injured than she actually was, with the whole falling down thing. The agent just nodded and hefted the weapon she had dropped back into her grasp, before moving out of her field of vision.  Achingly, Jessica forced herself to sit up and slowly scan the area around them. "If they don't know we are here, they probably do now." Though her words could have been taken as a joke, the hard tone of her voice suggested it was anything but. Reluctantly, she keyed in the more advanced electronics of her HUD once more, and though it was marred with the same interference as before, she could make out their location inside of the complex with the Map provided. "There should be a hidden panel in the floor of that clerk's hut, over there." It was the only sort-of-building in the chamber, so she was sure her agents knew what she was talking about. "Once we get in there, it is astronav data territory." Slowly, Jessica forced herself to stand, waiting for her other agents to gain their senses before she continued. Technically, Agent Six was still on point, so she gave him a firm nod to go ahead and check the panel for himself. |
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Post by Cheddar on Jun 12, 2015 15:18:50 GMT -6
Lieutenant Gabriel Sixtus
ONI Field Operative
En-route to the Coastal Sea Caves
Colony World of Frontier
Operation: Nightmare
After making sure Jessica was situated and out of harm's way, Six turned his attention to the turret chewing up the concrete around them. He didn't have time to give his fellow Agent any more attention than that. If she said she was ok, then she was ok. Agent Collins was a grown woman, she knew how much she could take.
The turret still twitched back and forth, a guard dog sniffing out more intruders. In this case though, the dog had quite a set of teeth. Heavy caliber rounds would punch through even the thickest plates of their armor at this range. And judging from the view he had, the machine appeared to have some heavy frontal armor.
The turret had a commanding view of the room beyond the ONI team. It was perched near the back wall, partially obscured in shadow, where it sat atop several concrete slabs. Whoever had put it there made sure there was no cover between the entrance and the booth near the far left wall. An open killing field.
He looked to Agent Collins who was leaning against the wall clutching her side. She unpolarized her visor and glared at him, pointing to the turret while gritting her teeth against the pain. He nodded.
"Alright folks, we gotta take that thing out. I'm headed for that booth, I'll draw their fire while Rainbow handles the turret."
He looked back at the wounded Agent again, watching as she struggled to rise.
"And Panther, check her out. She's stubborn, but that'll only get her so far bleeding on the floor."
He caught another withering look but could tell she wasn't mad at him. She was mad at herself for getting hit, she just needed an outlet for her anger and He made a good target.
They'd worked together before. And due to them being the same rank it was always a coin toss as to who got to lead the Ops. However, if one of them was rendered unable to lead, the other could seamlessly step in for as long as it was needed. In this case, Six would only take over for a few minutes. Long enough for Agent Chen to plug Collins' leaks.
He readied himself, checking his gear to make sure it was all cinched down tight. When he was certain it was he looked up at the approaching Security Team.
"Turret's a present for you, got everything but a bow."
Once Rainbow started moving, the turret tracked them. It twitched in their direction giving Agent Six a miniscule opening to start his run. He was guessing that the swivel motor was corroded by the years It sat in the cave. Sea air played hell with machinery.
Agent Six slung his rifle across his chest and bolted out into the open. His boots slapped against the wet concrete, kicking up grime that was probably older than he was.
His destination was roughly thirty feet away. Thirty feet of open ground with a heavy caliber machine gun tracking him. His luck held only for only a moment or so.
The whirring of the turret's swivel motor told him he had mere seconds to get out of the way. It opened fire and kicked up chips of concrete at his heels. One round glanced off his armored rucksack and sent him sprawling.
His body was launched headlong into a graceless slide across the floor. At the end, he slammed into the far wall in a crumpled mess.
With a groan he sat up, alive and mostly intact. Six growled over the radio. "I'm green. Moving to the panel now ."
He peered around the corner into the open booth. Drawing his sidearm and leading in with it. He made small steps out, moving in a circle away from the entrance, exposing as little of himself as possible until he was sure the room was clear.
To his right, the turret went up in a blast and fell silent. He poked his head up to look and saw the smoldering remains. The Agent smiled and then went back to his task.
Six crouched over the panel and turned on his VISR. As soon as he did, blue phosphorescence obscured his view. He flicked the VISR off and it disappeared. he turned it back on, And the substance came back.
Puzzled, Six reached out and tried to sweep it away. His efforts were successful and he wiped the murky residue from his gloves on the nearby wall.
The panel lit up to his touch. The screen was milky with age and lack of maintenance but otherwise worked as it should. He poked around a bit before finding the option that opened the door. Behind him, Agent Chen approached and crouched next to him. Six looked up.
"When this opens, keep us covered."
He pushed the button and the hermetically sealed passage hissed with equalizing pressures. A small cloud of vapor wisped out and then the flat metal panels began their grinding movement. Six stepped back and allowed Chen to move ahead of him.
"Looks like we're in."
Collins limped over and stood at his side. Six heard a click and a small icon appeared at the upper left corner of his visor; a private channel from Agent Collins.
"Go ahead, what's up?"
She inhaled sharply, obviously still in pain."Next time, you step on the trip wire."
Six smirked "Why? Youre so good at it."
She snorted and broke the connection. Her next words were all business and spoken over the team channel.
"Alright, we're in. Lets move it out. Keep an eye out for traps."
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SPARTAN-A120
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The One Who Vanishes
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Post by SPARTAN-A120 on Jun 12, 2015 22:25:23 GMT -6
Petty Officer 1st Class Richard A. Chen
ONI Section III Field Operative "Panther"
Coastal Sea Caves, Planet XVB 2476 - Frontier
Operation: Nightmare
"Hasty Situation"
Chen’s gut feelings were correct. It was almost as quick as the snap of the fingers when shit had hit the fan.
1LT. Collins had ordered the team to halt which was what Chen expected. She must've spotted some sort of booby trap, Chen thought, but he didn't expect the team leader to activate the trap. Collins had slipped on something on the floor which looked liked grime, but the next moment was like staring at the gates of hell itself. When she slipped, it triggered a trap on the right side of the wall. Chen was already in a kneeling position when the explosion occurred.
Chen was glad he had maintained the spacing between Collins and himself. Unfortunately, he was still within the blast radius. The kinetic force from the explosion knocked Chen backwards on his back and his ears rung like school bells at the start of recess. His armor had took majority of the force, but a series of hot lead started impacting his ballistic plating. Chen swiftly rolled to the right and got into a kneeling position while taking aim at the shooters down the the dark corridor. While he was returning fire, he blinked his green light on his HUD to indicate his status for the team. Collins had also flashed a green light which appear on Chen's HUD to indicate her condition.
Chen fired a tight, but rapid grouping down the hall towards the muzzle flash with his suppressed MA5K, but the weapon kept firing, unfazed by Chen's retaliation. Three more rounds struck Chen's chest and knocked him on his rear. "The shooters must be firing from behind a fortified position," he assumed. He maintained suppressive fire in semi-automatic mode in a seated position.
It was not until Collins had shouted something that was slightly inaudible to Chen because of his still ringing ears, followed by 1LT. Sixtus pulling her out of the line of fire, and entering the hole in the wall created by the explosion, which gave Chen enough time to see that there was no one shooting. It was actually a machine gun turret with a large shield covering its front. Chen got up from his seated position and gave a hand signal with his left hand to the Rainbow Team behind him to follow him. After that, Chen ran a couple of paces towards the opening in the wall before he dove through and finished with a shoulder roll to get him back on his feet into a kneeling position.
Chen scanned for targets within the surprisingly well lit room with his MA5K, but found nothing. The ONI security team came through the opening soon after. Chen noticed that Collins was in a seated position against the wall and was holding onto her right side. He saw a few streams of blood trickling down. Why did she flash her green light when she was clearly injured? "Stubborn," Chen said under his breath, inaudible to anyone in the confines of his helmet.
The turret kept firing at their position which was intended to suppress the ONI Team. Chen responded by popping a white smoke grenade between the turret's line of sight and the ONI Team to provide some concealment, hoping that the turret was triggered by laser targeting or motion sensors and not infrared heat tracking.
Chen’s hearing returned just in time to hear Sixtus order him to treat Collins' wounds. Chen reached for his First Aid Kit with his right hand on the 5 o'clock position of his torso armor rig while slinging his MA5K behind him after switching it to safe and made his way towards Collins in a crouched stance. From his peripherals, he saw Team Rainbow mobilizing to flank the turret while Sixtus examined his gear before breaking into a full sprint towards the guard booth across the hall. When Chen detached his FAK from his rig, he said to Collins, "Ma'am, keep still. I know you want to keep fighting, but you have bigger problems on your plate at the moment."
Chen activated his helmet mounted flashlight to examine Collins' wounds after lifting her hand from the wound. The wound was obscured by the blood so Chen sprayed some antiseptic from a needleless syringe onto it to flush out the blood. He smiled through an unpolarized visor when he saw the condition of the wound was not critical. "It's just a flesh wound. You were lucky the shrapnel only grazed your side, but it unfortunately breached your suit in the process. I'll try my best to seal it, but it'll only be temporary," he said to Collins.
"I'm green. Moving to the panel now," Sixtus said over the comms. Chen only took a quick glance towards Sixtus to see that he was in a prone position right next to the booth. "The Agent must've been running too fast that he tripped over his own feet," Chen thought.
With that said, Chen worked quickly to treat Collins' wound. He first took out a different needleless syringe containing saline to clean out the wound with his left hand and then transition to a can of biofoam in his right hand and inserted it into the wound. "This is gonna hurt in three... two... one..." Chen warned before he squeezed the trigger mechanism of the biofoam canister which broke the seal of the canister's tip and later inserted biofoam into Collins' wound. When the biofoam had settled and hardened, he cleaned the surrounded area with a sterile gauze pad and applied a Telfa non-adhesive bandage which had a water resistant non-latex exterior. Finally, the finishing touches were applied when Chen taped some duct tape to seal Collins' suit temporarily by covering the breached are and the bandaging.
When he was done with the first aid application, he checked her suit for any other injuries. When none were present, he helped Agent Pari to her feet and placed the discarded or used first aid items into a disposable black bag Chen kept for keeping belongings undiscovered during operations where operatives "didn't exist" and repacked his FAK with the partially used biofoam canister and other items he took out and weren't used. At the same time, he heard an explosion coming from the direction of the turret; an indication that Team Rainbow had successfully neutralized the threat. "You're all set. Let me know when you feel the wound again. That would indicate that the biofoam had reached it's effective limit and we'll need to reapply," Chen advised Collins.
He changed his focus towards Sixtus who was in the process of activating a panel in the guard booth. Chen turned off his helmet mounted flashlight, polarized his visor and activated VISR mode while he jogged towards Sixtus' location. "Moving," Chen said.
When Chen arrived, he took a kneeling position next to Agent Sixtus. "When this opens, keep us covered," Sixtus said.
Chen nodded in response and conducted a tactical reload with his MA5K with had 11 rounds left in the magazine according to the round counter on the carbine. After that, he took aim and switched the selector from safe to semi-automatic as Sixtus activated the panel to unveil a ground entrance to what seemed like a stairwell heading down. Sixtus cleared the way for Chen to pass through to check the stairwell, but there were no hostiles. His VISR didn't pick up anything either. Chen flashed his green light in his HUD three times to indicate "All clear" to Alpha-4 and stood by for further orders.
He heard footsteps from behind which was either Collins or Team Rainbow, but Chen didn't look back as he was maintaining security of the stairwell. When it seemed like they weren't going any deeper underground, this was the worst sight to see by Chen.
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