Mission Nine - A Hairline Fracture

[Huka]

Heretic-claimed Mining Facility, Sector E5
Under Assault

The sound of battle raged just outside, front line of the heretical security was preparing for whatever just dropped at their nearly conquered facility. There wasn’t a sound of ballistics, but a slaughter under the loud thunder of bombs. A rook in and the bulkhead door was burning through its layers of human metal before it blasted from the outside, its halves flung by the destructive force of plasma charges crashing against their surface.

A shout for cover, but the wet sound of a couple bodies crushed under the flying metal came a tick in. Nothing but the choking air of ionized plasma oozed its way in, weapons were up and the moment they saw a shape - the 12’ foot mass of Mgalekgolo - more firearms went off. It jerked from the sheer firepower with the wet splat of sizzling fluids and lekgolo eels flying, the mass kept moving closer. Beams of radiation zipped through, cutting through Unggoy combat harnesses and Sangheili energy shields.

One of the Sangheili majors hollered with the point of his energy sword, only to be hurled back by a javelin piercing through shields and spine. The warriors need him gasped in shock to this, eyes on the telescopic weapon as its speared tips spat and sparked with concentrated electricity. The quickly-faded life in their officer’s body spasmed and twitched with each pop. Looking back to their entrance, the Mgalekgolo stood out in the open, most of its body starting to collapse on itself from the sheer weight of its harness. On its back was a small number of Yanme’e, their wingcases splitting out and immediately taking flight at the weakened fortification.

Erratic flight patterns in evasions and reckless disregard of their own lives had the roaring Sangheili and their demoralized Unggoy at a mild disadvantage. Even more so, when one of these infiltrators clung to another officer and detonated itself by its implanted charge, taking a number more with them.

Through the chaos, bodies suddenly were hewed and sliced in twine. Falling here and there, bloodthirsty wraiths of holy retributions barely visible with their dedicated stealth and quick movements in the already thickened air. Another major trying to contact their leader - who no doubt had heard the explosions by now - but found his communications unresponsive. Shooting one Yanme’e out of the air with a quick aim of his plasma pistol, he turned around in time to see the barely visible appearance of something. Its green eyes met straight into his before choking on an upheaval of blood welling up his throat. Eyes cast down at the ghastly blade piercing through his battle-suit’s protection and no doubt jutting beyond his back. The heat was indescribable and Death wrapped its space-cold embrace around before finding himself falling on his back.

Suddenly, weight stamp down on his chest, causing a pained groan from his mandibles. The blade was lifting with the blood sizzling off and swung in a decapitating arc.

A painless death at least.

The Reticent Hunter and his hunting party left the chaos as it should, leaving the impression of Covenant-dropped Yanme'e caused their assault.

[Llau]

LT. CMDR Moretti, Michelangelo N.
ONI Tactical Field Officer
Inner Colonies // Panis Eterni System // Esperanza II // On board ONI Black Cat Subprowler, “Shadow Sky” // En-route to HVT's Location
November, 2551
Tag(s): SPARTAN-A120 , Faclan , охотник , Bippwatt , Wax™ , SuperCommando , Spartan 999



Once the fighting died down around the hospital in Lake Town, Moretti left with his unit and was picked up by Chen, after the Lieutenant Commander had his group of ODSTs and the two SPARTANs for reinforcements. He kept glancing at the map he had loaded on his TAC-PAD, making sure the annoying Shipmaster's beacon was still in the area of Sector E4. It didn't take long for Anansi to triangulate and zero in on the correct signal coming from the stolen DATA-PAD the Shipmaster was carrying, and once they locked onto it, it was now or never. They had to get to the alien's location. He had to more like. No one has pissed him off more than this Shipmaster, and he made it his obligation to get the bastard by any means necessary, even if it meant using others to get the Sangheili. It was very risky behavior, he knew it. Although, he didn't care, and didn't care if anyone else sitting in the Black Cat realized it or not.

He only cared about knowing that ONI would love to get their hands on a Sangheili Shipmaster, and not just a Sangheili leader who was against the Covenant. Well, against everyone really. Both captures would earn him a lot of respect and brownie points among those in Section Three. So, he had to see to keeping both of them alive, even though part of him really wanted to shoot the Shipmaster in the head. Oops.

Well...he grinned a little...accidents happen...

He pressed his finger over his ear piece, and spoke into his headset. “Gold One and Gold Two, what's your sitrep?” He asked.

He stood up from his seat to gradually walk over toward the front of the Black Cat, where Chen was piloting Shadow Sky. He sat down in the co-pilot seat quietly, and looked around.

“No change in the HVT's position,” He told Chen, “Keep going...it won't be long now.” He glanced over at him, grinning mischievously.

[blackshot]

ODST Private Jonah Hauser
153rd ODST Company
ESPERANZA-II, PANIS ETERNI SYSTEM
Some Random Street at Laketown
Blow Me Away
Tags: охотник MrKill


Jonah put his helmet on, finalizing his preparation to fight against the Covenant bastards outside. The sound of tension hasn't died down since he first arrived on the hospital. He already got used to the noise; the mixed cacophony of screams and distant gunfire. He checked his Assault Rifle one last time before walking out of the room that became a makeshift armory. The pavement were smeared in bloodied hand print. Puddle of blood could be seen on the ground that has accumulated from the dead soldiers being dragged around. Bandages littered around; probably a careless mess made by a Medic out of distress and confusion. He turned to the right and started walking.

"All Orbital Drop Shock Troopers within or in vicinity of A.O this is Lieutenant Colonel Clarks, all ODSTs are to report their current location and their combat effectiveness on this channel to allow for force evaluation. Any units immediately capable are to rally half click South East of Lake Town to prepare for synchronised offensive with Marine forces on Colonel Killinger's mark."

The comms soon echoed with constant chatters from the surviving ODST personnel who ended up in God-knows-where on this very cursed battlezone. Jonah chose to ignore it as he walked past metal trays abandoned by Medical Staff along the hallway.

He arrived at an intersection where a number of UNSC Marines could be seen, defending their positions. Sandbags are stacked up facing every direction. Many Marines has already fallen in battle and their corpses are already decaying due to neglect. Jonah couldn't blame them; they have to defend the Street or they will ended up being dead like them.

He walked further north and remembered the scene when he was shot. He vowed to never make the same mistake again as he crouched behind the sandbags and hid.

Jonah was glad that he was out of the Hospital. He have been walking around for hours to find the others. A big relief came to him when a higher-up has conducted a roll call for the surviving ODSTs. At least he get to regroup with them and fight altogether.

The ODST ignored the Marines around him as they do their own thing. He took a peek and saw a Covenant File that consists of three Grunts and a duo of Jackals. He aimed at the Grunt in the center and opened fire, releasing a volley of shots. He watched as its head popped in a gore of blue blood. Without pause, he aimed to the left and fired multiple times where he hit the Grunt's chest thrice. Funny to think that these methane sucking hippies were named after a Tagalog word.

"Unggoy, hindi naman kayo mukhang tao." He muttered, causing the two Marines to turned to him but he ignored them as the Grunt hits the ground, bloodied. He aimed at the last Grunt and fired thrice again. The suppressed bursts made its way towards its head and shoulder.

The other defending Marines were finishing off the other advancing Files. He let them do their work as he focused on his remaining targets.

He watched as the advancing Jackals raised their shields and fired. Jonah hid back as the plasma shots raced towards them. Sand bursts in the air as pure energy hits the sack. The second Plasma fire reaches its target with a muffled thud followed by a scream. Jonah almost shriek at the sight of a dead Marine on his left. His face was scorched by hot plasma. His eyelids were burned and his face looked as if it was steamed. The eerie corpse was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Dammit, F**K!" He yelled as he slid his rifle on his back; letting the magnetic harness catch it. He pried the Marine's sniper rifle from his hands, still clutched at the weapon's handle. He raised his aim as he muttered, "You mot*********s eat this." He says as he squeezed the trigger.

His shot rang across the area as it whiffed past towards its intended target. The sharp bullet drilled itself on the Jackal's head; its skull bursting in purple gore. He turned towards the last one and fired but the Jackal raised its energy shield and ultimately deflect the bullet away. He was lucky that the bullet did not ricocheted back to him.

He hides back to the sandbags as another plasma shot hits the cover. He walked around the sandbag as he steadied his aim once more and sighted the alien's head. He squeezed the trigger and popped its head open with a sniper shot.

He moved across the street in the direction of south-east, ready to meet the superior officer who'll be handling them. It was his first time to fight in a major engagement like this. He hopes he wasn't late, judging the amount of time he spent unconscious in his drop pod. He whirled behind him and saw another File advancing. He decided to give the soldiers a supporting fire before he leaves.

Three Grunts and another duo of Jackals are advancing. He raised his rifle and fired multiple times at the easiest-to-spot Grunt. Its chest oozes out with blood as bullets hit it. He aimed at the second one and fired four times; it danced as bullets bored through its body. Jonah grabbed a grenade from his belt. He pulled the pin and hurled it at the remaining enemies. The grenade bounced across the pavement, towards the Covenant Aliens. It exploded shortly, sending sharp shrapnel at nearby enemies.

The blast obliterated the File. One of the Marines turned to him and waved as a gratitude but he immediately mouthed that something is behind Jonah.

The ODST whirled and saw an advancing Elite. Its enormous size is very intimidating. Its stare from its helmet pierced through his soul as if the creature was some kind of an Angel of Death out for his soul. It was charging with a plasma rifle from its hand. Jonah rolled backwards as he immediately switched to his marksman rifle. He ended up losing his grip at the Assault Rifle as he raised the other rifle. He sighted the Alien's head as he hit the ground very hard. He let out a groan as he finally squeezed the trigger. Its shielding sparked, indicating that it's dead. Jonah fired for the second time. The Sangheili hit the ground with a heavy thud very fast as the bullet crushed its head in a gory manner.

Jonah stood up. He approached his Assault Rifle and picked it up. He continued on in his journey to assemble with the other ODSTs. On his way, he encountered a duo of Jackals that has either strayed off from its File or the only surviving on its fireteam group. Either way, they are a goner.

The two were not aware at the ODST's presence because they are facing the other way. Jonah aimed at them and sprayed his bullets with a sweep of an arc; riddling them with holes. He continued his way further and decided to contact them."

"This is Private Jonah Hauser of the 153rd ODST Company. Lieutenant Colonel, can you copy me? I'll be heading to your position as soon as possible."

[Llau]

((OOC: blackshot , sorry, but you're going to have to edit your post. First thing is, there are no Covies in town currently, but the final wave are on their way to the fortified town. Secondly, you need to respond to охотник 's LT COL. )

[blackshot]

(OOC: Sorry )

[SPARTAN-A120]

Ensign Richard A. Chen
ONI Section III Tactical Field Operative "Panther"
Aboard Black Cat Subprowler “Shadow Sky”, In Pursuit of HVT-2
Esperanza II, Panis Eterni System, 2551
"Fanatics."
(Tags: Llau )

“No change in the HVT's position,” LCDR. Moretti told Chen, “Keep going...it won't be long now.” He glanced over at him, grinning mischievously.

Chen didn’t take his eyes off the sky, but he saw what looked like the ONI Superior Officer grinning from his peripheral vision. The Ensign replied, “This was pretty last minute. Honestly, I thought there was only one target. That DATA-PAD is carrying very sensitive intel and if it wasn't purged and the Covies get their hands on Earth’s location…”

The younger ONI Officer stopped speaking. He refocused on piloting the Black Cat and made sure he was navigating the terrain properly while flying at low altitudes to avoid radar detection. The aircraft was already being cloaked with its camouflaging system, but it didn’t render it safe. The distortion of the ship’s silhouette while it was in motion was a dead giveaway, but that was only if the observer was within 500 meters with or without any visual assistance. They were at a cruising speed, but if they went slower, they would be nearly invisible.

After navigating through a series of hills and ending up over a plain, Chen took a quick peek over at Moretti’s TAC-PAD before he addressed, “Is that a positive lock on HVT Two?”

[Llau]

LT. CMDR Moretti, Michelangelo N.
ONI Tactical Field Officer
Inner Colonies // Panis Eterni System // Esperanza II // On board ONI Black Cat Sub- Prowler, “Shadow Sky” // En-route to HVT 2's Location
November, 2551
Tag(s): SPARTAN-A120 , охотник , Faclan , Bippwatt

Moretti stared straight ahead, and kept silent while he listened to what Chen had to say to him.

“This was pretty last minute. Honestly, I thought there was only one target. That DATA-PAD is carrying very sensitive intel and if it wasn't purged and the Covies get their hands on Earth’s location…”

The ONI Officer scoffed arrogantly, glancing over at the Ensign. “I'll let you in on a little secret, Chen,” he smirked, “This never really was a last minute detail. The Covenant arriving here was certainly a surprise, but the Shipmaster? This second HVT? It's not a surprise.” He chuckled in amusement. “Well, for you, maybe, but not for me, it isn't.”

“So, that DATA-PAD you're so worried about?” He chuckled mischievously. “The only thing the device is able to do since January, is send messages and the locator device I activated in it remotely when I found it the HVT ended up being part of the Covenant forces that arrived. How? Because the wanker bloody told me.”

He laughed, amused before continuing.

“Once I was in contact with that stupid alien eleven months ago when it contacted me, in accordance of the Cole Protocol, all intel has been purged from the DATA-PAD - by yours truly, obviously.” Still grinning, he winked at him before returning his attention down to keep an eye on his TAC-PAD.

He glanced up every once in a while, looking out as they flew through some hills and eventually ended up flying over a plain when he glanced up again from his TAC-PAD.

“Is that a positive lock on HVT Two?”

Moretti nodded. “Yes,” he answered, “Anansi did clean up the signals, deleting all the fresh ones from our radar, to find the oldest signal, which was the real one.” A pause, as he grinned wolfishly somewhat, and pointed out toward where the Phantom's location would be at.

“Let's have a nice surprise party for the lovely Shipmaster, mate,”

The Lieutenant Commander seemed rather blood-thirsty, still pissed at what the Covenant Shipmaster did when it ordered waves of attacking Covenant Forces, instead of meeting him somewhere on this planet to 'talk' without any issues, where he would end up capturing the alien. The Tactical Field Officer was still contemplating on whether to just capture him, and bring him to an ONI Facility for interrogation and whatever else ONI decides to do to it, or just put a bullet into its head for everything it caused.

He turned around in his seat, gazing back into the troop bay of the Black Cat Sub-Prowler, where Gold Three, Four, the ODSTs, and his unit were waiting in their seats. He knocked on the thick steel wall section behind his seat that separated the troop's bay from the pilot and co-pilot section to get their attention.

Once he was able to gain their attention after knocking on the wall several times, and loud enough for all of them to hear, he raised his gloved hand up with his index and middle finger extended out in a 'V' shape for 'two'.

“Two minutes until we arrive at HVT Two's position. Ready up, ladies and gentlemen,” He mentioned, before turning back around in the co-pilot seat to face the front again.

“All yours, Panther,” said Moretti, “When you're ready, engage the Phantom's engines to disable it out of the sky. Then the group in the back can deal with any survivors, while both of the SPARTANs who are with us can help me capture the HVT...if the bloody idiot is still alive.” He smiled.

In the meantime, he decided to send the Shipmaster one last message as he typed away at his TAC-PAD. 

OMBRA>>"Oh, hello, Shipmaster. I have a question for you. What is 70mm, DU, and can rip you into lovely little bits and pieces?"

[SPARTAN-A120]

Ensign Richard A. Chen
ONI Section III Tactical Field Operative "Panther"
Temporarily Piloting Black Cat Subprowler “Shadow Sky”, In Pursuit of HVT-2
Esperanza II, Panis Eterni System, 2551
"Guns hot, ready to rock."
(Tags: Llau Faclan охотник Bippwatt Wax™ )

Chen grinned as Moretti literally gave him the green light to take out the Covenant Phantom that his commanding officer just pointed out.

“It’s about time that I’ve fired a weapon,” Chen replied to Moretti.

With a slight movement of the flight stick to the right and lightly pulling, the Ensign gently banked the Black Cat to the right to correct his course towards the objective location. When the azimuth on his Pilot HUD read 031, Chen centered the plane and followed the waypoint that was recently updated by the NAV officer. The Agent maintained a slow cruising speed to decrease detection and flew at a low altitude. With the guidance and imaging of his HUD, he was able to avoid trees or other possible hazards from colliding with the subprowler with a minor tilting or increasing altitude when necessary.

After a couple minutes of flying, he used the ship’s optics to scan for his target. With ten times magnification, he spotted the Covenant Phantom that reminded him of a purple bloated sting ray.

“Target in sight, 355 degrees, 800 meters and closing,” Chen reported to the occupants of the Black Cat.

After that, the Ensign switched off the safety of the ship’s M370 70mm auto-cannon which automatically opened a reasonably large window on his HUD that linked him to to the auto-cannon. The ammunition feeding the weapon was purposely loaded with Armor-Piercing Depleted Uranium rounds with every fifth round being an High-Explosive Incendiary round; a tribute to the ammunition feed style of the 21st century GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling mounted on the A10 Warthog which was also known as the “Tank Buster.” Although the single-barreled M370 fired at a slower rate than the seven-barreled GAU-8, its 70mm rounds compensated.

Chen locked onto the Phantom with the guidance of his HUD and maintained the lock so that he was ready to engage when he was in a dead-accurate range. His trigger finger slowly inched towards the trigger of the flight stick that fired the M370 and maintained his trigger discipline until he was ready to fire. Maximizing the magnification of the M370’s optics, he trained the weapon on the engines of the Phantom. When the distance read 500 meters on his HUD, Chen warned, “Fire in the hole” before he fired short, controlled bursts into the rear of the Phantom with the intentions of disabling its engines. It was not long before the rounds impacted and bluish-purple flames ignited from the aft of the Covenant transport and it started to plummet down towards the ground. The Ensign smirked at his actions before he yelled out, “Thirty seconds! I’ll provide suppressive fire to cover your approach and maintain a holding pattern until notified!”

With that said, Chen decreased thrust and activated the ventral thrusters of the ship’s belly to prevent the ship from stalling into the ground. He multi tasked by keeping an eye on the ship’s speed and altitude and scanning the target area with the M370’s optics.

He then lowered all of the hatches to the ship to allow maximum and speedy dismounts for the strike team ahead of time before he lowered the landing gear and activating the air brakes. Making sure that the Black Cat was a proper speed, the Ensign tilted the front of the ship upwards slightly to rapidly decreased speed and lowered the tilt when the speed was slow enough for him to conducted a skidding landing on a grassy area roughly 100 meters from the objective area.

“Clear to dismount!” Chen advised the strike team while scanning for threats.

[Faclan]

SPARTAN-A120 Llau

Chris Hyde - ONI translator
ONI sneaky sneak ship.
Oo piece of candy message.

Sitting outside the main cockpit of the Black Cat as all the sweet commander-y things happened up there Chris was strapped into one of the less essential systems. At least for now. Its was the broadcast station. Or more accurately the listening station for enemy and friendly communications. So the ONI Spooks in the cat could keep abreast of the situations on the ground. But it wasn't super needed now since they all knew where they were going and it was a gun run not a situation they needed to command from. But Chris was back here mostly to be out of the way as the ship shook slightly from the guns being deployed then the muffled brrrrrrrrrt of them firing. They must have been close enough.

It was slightly irksome that they were going to gun down all these potential perfect information sources but from what he had spied over Mikes shoulder today made him see that this was something that had been planned for awhile. And with how cavalier Mike was being with the guns up there he doubted there would be anything left...eh - especially lately Chris had given up trying to get as much info as possible out of places and had started to just trying to stay out of the way and last through this.

But then his console beeped, it had got a message intercepted! Quickly sitting up straighter he clicked the button as a bunch of Covenant script popped up. The station starting to translate it but Hyde was already halfway through before it got the first word.

"Vessel flying toward Ado's last known position, know that joining him at this point would be Heresy of the highest order. And you will fall with him."
- Kael Gel, Commander.

Well that sure was a thing. But boots started to thud and run toward the back as it was apparently time to go...He would send it to Mike and if there was a good point later tell him as he was likely too busy to see it now. So with a few key presses the message was send to Mike and then once the main bulk of ONI Enforcers had exited the craft he followed at the back with his SMG and eyes alert as he dived into the massacre.


Ado 'Urgomee - Jelly Shipmaster (NPC)
Plateau with big target painted on it.
Oh no.

Having been enjoyinga nice refreshing drink as he watched his ship in the distance occasionally take shots at the no doubt cowering Humans down below Ado was loving today. The bitch Kael had stopped messaging him, Ado not knowing that Kael had blocked all communications from his Phantom, and his elite Bridge guard were keeping a good lookout. But he looked up when the distance sound of weird engines approaching. A good portion of the twelve Jellies, plus Ado for thirteen, also looking over as something sleek and black streaked over the mountains. And he had gotten no warning from his personal ship! There wasn't much he could do as the brrt-en-ing happened and his prize personalized modified vessel was struck many times per second, spouted flames, and was soon crashing to the ground. But with a few engines still working it then skidded right off the plateau and was soon falling down hundreds of feet to a fiery explosive end.

The screams and warcrys of the Jellies were soon lost under Human gunfire as the big black ship lowered down and started to poop the million cursed Humans out of its butt. Guns a blazing as Ado tried to flee. But soon found himself starting down at his smoking craft with no nice path down. All he could do was attempt to take out his sword, fumble a bit, and then turn to face the Humans as he raised up his wrist.

"Backup! Backup requested now! NOW! Save me!" But all that would come back would be static and the mental image of that bitch Kael smirking with feet up on a console.

(Feel free to have him act and weh in your post(s) 120 and Sheep.)

[roachman34]

Patrol Officer Jason Sorelson
Laketown Memorial Hospital,
A family meal....

     Jason sat and talked with his father describing the events leading up to him arriving at the hospital with the civilians and then the fight to hold it then holding it until Mark had arrived. It had been a gruesome battle and many of his friends hadn't made it. He finished his MRE and soda, and tossed them into a nearby trash can. "So Dad, should I stick with you or do you want me to stay here and help the civilians?" Jason asked as he loaded his rifle.


Corporal Connor Lawton
153rd ODST, 2nd Platoon, 2nd Division, Callsign Angel Two-Two, Fireteam Krieg.
Finally, someone to give us some orders...

    "All Orbital Drop Shock Troopers within or in the vicinity of A.O this is Lieutenant Colonel Clarks, all ODSTs are to report their current location and their combat effectiveness on this channel to allow for force evaluation. Any units immediately capable are to rally half click South East of Lake Town to prepare for synchronized offensive with Marine forces on Colonel Killinger's mark." A female voice said over the radio.

    Connor as quick as possible pulled his helmet back onto his head and spoke. "This is Corporal Lawton leader of Fireteam Krieg. We're still good to go only one casualty so far. We'll head to the rally point A.S.A.P." He headed off to find Xander and James, who he found eating their MREs. "Xander, James get your shit together we've got new orders meet me out front in five minutes." With that, he left the two to grumble and shove the last of their food down their throats and get their butts outside. He jogged off and then skidded to a halt as he found the type of man he was looking for. "Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt your meal but I was wanting to requisition a warthog." He asked after approaching and giving a nod to a police officer sitting next to the captain.

[Cabel]

[Inner Colonies: System: Panis Eterni Sector: Esperanza II: Current Location: Surface: Lake Town: Lake Town Hospital: Reinforcing Defenses: Captain Mark Seamus ‘Spade’ Sorelson]

“You did well, Jason. You kept these people alive, and that’s what counts. You’re still alive. I’m sorry about your colleagues, about your fellow officers. We all have lost someone, and it never gets easier,“ Mark began. “Do you want to know what keeps me going? It’s you, your sister, your brother, your mother, any grandkids that may be part of the clan now, my parents, and the men and women I have the honor of sharing the uniform with. You know this already. I wish you hadn’t had to see or experience the same hell I’ve had to put up with since you, and your siblings were little kids. I won‘t say I wished I‘d been able to keep it from you, as I‘d be jinxing myself. Some call it the baptism of fire, while some call it Lady Luck’s bad arm, while even more call it hell. You’ve now seen that. I wish I could tell you how to deal with it, but I can’t. We all deal with it our own way, but I will give you some advice. Keep your head on straight. Find something you can hold onto. An ideal, a dream, last night’s dinner menu, that last piece of pie, a loved one, a place you like, a car, a plane, a boat, or just that you want the night to be quiet for once,”

“Marines, excellent work in the last few hours,” filtered John’s voice over the MEU’s encrypted frequency, and over the com-unit in Mark’s helmet. “But the hard work ain’t over yet. I want all companies still combat effective to prep for a counter-offensive from Lake Town. A large Covenant unit is nearing the beachhead and the Frigates are going to be needed in space after they’re done deploying reinforcements,”

“When the Frigates do leave, the Covenant will undoubtedly attack, so I want to attack them before our literal big guns leave to join the orbital battle. All MEU staff and infantry officers with an O-3 or higher pay-grade, report to the hospital for an official briefing. Guardian Actual out,”

“Echo Actual to all Echo Callsigns, this net. Finish your chow, and prepare to assemble. Stock up on ammunition, grenades, other party surprises you might want, rations, and top off on water. I want each of you to be assembled, and ready for a counter-push. We’re going to take this planet back, boys and girls. Say again, we’re going to take the real-estate the Covenant believed in their righteous arrogance they could have. We’re going to shove that old crow down their throats, so far they’ll be shitting feathers for a month. Our objectives: Retake the real-estate, push the Covenant back before they can mount their own push, and liberate any civilians, first responders or UNSC personnel caught in the cross-fire,” Echo Company’s Captain issued, over the Echo Company-wide encrypted frequency. “Do what you do best and show these Covenant bastards what the Devildogs are made of. Echo Actual, out,”

“If I told you to stay here, I don’t think you’d follow that. I’m going to attend a briefing with my CO. I’ll pass what I hear, but I want you to prepare. I want you to gather any and all ammunition you can. Stock up, on ammunition, party surprises, rations, and anything else you may need. Get together with your fellow officers, the ones you can find. Get on your precinct’s frequency, or your department’s and get them to come here. The more rifles, the more warm bodies and the more eyes we have the better. I don’t think Colonel Killinger, my CO, would want the Lake Town PD, and First Responders to take part in the big push. I think he’d want our backdoor guarded and to keep the civilians protected. This furball’s not over yet,” Mark said, having turned to his son and found the man his son had become staring him back at him. “Find some good cover. Remember, when the plasma and brass starts flying keep on the move. Don’t let them get a bead on you,”

“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt your meal, but I was wanting to requisition a warthog,” came another voice, a voice that belonged to an ODST identified by Mark’s neural implant HUD as a Corporal Connor Lawton of the 153rd.

“We were just finishing up,” Mark said. “You didn’t interrupt anything. As for the Warthog, consider it granted. We have more than enough laying around, but do bring yourselves back in one piece if you can. Take it easy, Jason. I'll be back when I can,"

* * * * * *

[Hospital: Briefing Room or Rather Acting Briefing Room]

Finding the room that had been designated the Briefing Room or rather doubled as the briefing room, Mark stepped inside to find a few other officers ranking Captain or above had been present. He hadn’t been the first, but he’d had other matters to contend with including a meal with his son. The act of a meal may have been trivial, even minor in the grand scheme, but Mark had spent many nights away from the dinner table where his family had sat waiting patiently for him for nearly four decades while he’d set foot on distant balls of mud to humid jungles where in one instance at least he’d been taken airborne by a giant grasshopper. The notion, the act of having a meal with his son had been something he’d longed for even if he hadn’t outright admitted it to his fellow marines, and he’d enjoyed it. He’d enjoyed talking with his son, even if it had been about the loss of his fellow officers, the recurring engagements, both running and stationary during the operation on Esperanza II and in the defense of Lake Town.

“Captain Mark Sorelson, of Echo Company, reporting in,” Mark said, careful not to give a salute given that the area of operation had still been a hot zone.

[MisterSir]

Corporal Matthew Lyons
153rd ODST Company
Esperanza-II, Panis Eterni System, Lake Town

Matt stepped over Ollie's massive outstretched legs and tapped the side of his helmet as he did so. "Wakey, wakey. Nap time is over, sunshine." Give a Marine a moment of down time and he’ll find a way to squeeze in a nap, no matter how uncomfortable he is.

Ollie dimmed his visor and stretched out even more. Vivian, following closely behind Matt, stepped past the lounging ODST and dropped an M280 drum magazine into his lap causing a grunt to escape from him mid-stretch. “A present for you. Try not to use it all in one place.” She said.

"All Orbital Drop Shock Troopers within or in the vicinity of A.O this is Lieutenant Colonel Clarks, all ODSTs are to report their current location and their combat effectiveness on this channel to allow for force evaluation. Any units immediately capable are to rally half click South East of Lake Town to prepare for synchronized offensive with Marine forces on Colonel Killinger's mark." They all heard the radio transmission as it had been broadcasted.
Lyons waited a few moments for the air to clear because just a moment later units were already reporting their location and strength. “Corporal Lyons, my team is up and we’re en-route to the rally point.” A second after he’d transmitted, more units continued to call in. They’d been hit, but it sounded like they weren’t in too bad of shape in Laketown.

In less than a minute, the team was moving. Chandler took point and set the pace for them, which was considerable. Ever since he’d taken the hit on the Unto the Breach, it seemed like he was even more willing to fight and prove himself. If that was out of anger at the Covenant, or out of embarrassment for being hit on his first deployment as an ODST, Lyons couldn’t tell. Either way, the man was eager to kill and Matt liked it.

[Bippwatt]

Petty Officer SPARTAN-077
Gold Four
Inner Colonies, Panis Eterni System, Esperanza II
On board ONI Black Cat Subprowler, “Shadow Sky”
En-route to HVT's Location
"Fecal matter hits the rotary impeller"
(Tags: Llau SPARTAN-A120 охотник Faclan )

Siobhan sat silently on the Black Cat, simply waiting.

The trip down, while perhaps mildly tense, had been uneventful, getting them down to the hospital as the navy had managed to force a withdrawal of the Covenant destroyer. That had been fun to watch.

But now, she was thoroughly bored. Maybe a small itch on her nose. But that was it.

The Spartan reached over her left shoulder and pulled her shotgun from her magnetic backplate. Her HUD automatically detected the weapon in her hands and displayed the appropriate ammo counter in the corner of her vision. The ammo counter software, which, with some help from a couple of codeheads, she had modified to display her ammo in a fashion that worked for her particular situation, displayed the twelve shells in the M45E slightly differently. First, they were slightly larger icons on the HUD. Second, and more importantly, they were color coded. Blue was standard pellet shots. Red was the unofficially named "Dragon's Breath" shells. Green were flechette shells. Brown was solid slugs, while orange was solid slugs with a high-explosive core, designed to explode a fraction of a second after impact. Finally, she had grey, which was non-lethal and purple (her personal favorite, given how much she liked being on point and mixing it up with the enemy close and dirty.) which were actually her own creation, which meant she didn't have many of them. But they were effectively breaching rounds...that also could fuck someone up on the other side of the door.

She inspected the line up of shells in the weapon right now and pondered her options. She had two flechette rounds at the front, which would be useful against hoards of Grunts. Then she had a pair of dragon's breath rounds, which was also useful against lightly armored targets, but also handy versus split-lips and their personal shields. Jackal wrist shields...not as much. But that's what the solid slugs were good at. They popped those solid shields like water balloons. And she had two of those following the dragon's breath. But as she thought about it...this damn jelly wasn't likely to have many Grunts or Jackals with him...his "elite guard" would be what he would have with him, pun intended. And that meant a reload was in order. So, she pumped the slide twelve times in rapid succession, catching each round as it flew out. And then she reloaded, pausing every two or three shells to think about the lineup.

When she was done, she nodded, liking this set up much better. Her first six shells were standard pellet shot. The next four were solid slugs. And then the last two were non-lethal, ideal for live capture. Much happier with this setup, she slung it back over her shoulder and pulled down her MA5B. She gave it slightly sour look, which, admittedly, no one could see, but still inspected it, ensured that the magazine was fully loaded and seated properly. She gave the charging handle a quick yank and it snapped back forward, chambering the first round.

The pistol got a similar inspection, if slightly less sour. And then she moved on to her pride and joy...she was glad she had brought this along on this mission. She pulled the wakizashi from its scabbard. She took half a second to admire its matte sheen, perfectly attuned to be menacing in a clean, clinical, no-nonsense sort of way.

She pulled a small handheld honing stone out, specifically designed for honing a blade of Titanium-A.

She carefully ran the stone down the blade, held at a specific angle. First one side, then the other, then back again.

Sssswing. Sssswing. Sssswing. Sssswing.

She continued this, keeping a steady, easily tuned out rhythm, continuing until the El-Tee-Cee knocked on the wall, grabbing their attention. Siobhan paused after finishing a stroke and looked at Moretti, who was giving them two fingers.

“Two minutes until we arrive at HVT Two's position. Ready up, ladies and gentlemen,”

She nodded once at Moretti, then turned back to her blade and raised the blade close to her face plate. The Spartan gave it one last stroke with the stone and then stowed the stone and sheathed the blade.

Siobhan stood and walked down the isle, "carelessly" tapping her toe against Gold Three's boot. Of course, careless wasn't in the dictionary for a Spartan, so really it was both a signal and an encouragement. Basically like "We got this."

Which, of course, she probably already knew...but it's always good to "hear" it from others.

As 077 neared one of the departure ramps, she pulled her shotgun off her back and half pumped the slide, checking the chamber, making sure it was loaded and with the right shell. She slid it back forward and then reached up to grab an handhold as the craft trembled. She knew that feeling. That was Chen unloading some seventy mike-mike delta-uniform into the enemy. Wouldn't be much longer.

“Thirty seconds! I’ll provide suppressive fire to cover your approach and maintain a holding pattern until notified!”

Siobhan loosened herself, ready to spring and roll with the punches. The hatches opened and then the ship hit the ground, the deck jolting under her boots.

“Clear to dismount!”, came Chen's voice over the comms. But before he'd even finished the first word, Siobhan was already on the move, shotgun up, stock in her shoulder, eyes front and scanning for enemies.

[MrKill]

Colonel Johnathon Killinger
120th Marine Expeditionary Unit
Lake Town

John sighed quietly as he gazed into a garden across the street from the hospital, eyes following as the trees and flowers swayed slightly with the breeze; in a brief moment the chaos half an hour ago seemed to disappear, serene peace had reached his soul, and seemed to match the calm sway of the garden. Above, the Marines medium and heavy transports raced towards landing zones and rendezvous points; the chaos of the battlefield that once raged half an hour ago was warily calm now. No sounds of distant gunfights, no explosions, just the whine of engines and the mumble of the officers John had assembled behind him.

Despite trying to reject the familiar garden, John couldn't help but be reminded of home, and he imagined his garden ablaze as the Covenant glassed the planet from a high orbit. Reach, one of the few military strong points humanity had left, was getting closer and closer to the front lines. It was twenty-five-fifty-one now and John knew ONI's predictions on how long humanity had left to survive if something didn't change. There never was a war of attrition, the UNSC never knew the industrial capacity of the Covenant on a full-scale intel report, so humanities war against the Covenant was fighting to stop an extinction-level event.

"Sir, we're still missing some personnel." Major Thomas reported. Thomas was a replacement for the now deceased Captain that John saw earlier at the command and control Albatross - which had also been destroyed after John left for the hospital. There used to be a saying, 'that's just how the cards played', but John hadn't really heard it in a while. He felt like his hand right now has a full-house, but then again you ask any Marine if he felt lucky to be alive, and the humble ones would agree.

"Who's missing?" John asked.

"Bowers, Duncan and a few others... Sorelson is downstairs and on his way, a Corporal reported in to your security team at the door about half a minute ago." The Major said.

John nodded. "Thank you, Major." John said.

The Major returned to his task, while the Colonel resumed watching the garden across the street, but his gaze was diverted as a Marine officer walked into the briefing room.

"Captain Mark Sorelson, of Echo Company, reporting in."

John smiled as the O-3 arrived.

"Glad you could make it, Mark." John said, genuinely pleased that his long-time friend had survived the brief ground engagement. Mark and John had known each other since the twenty-five thirties, where Mark had been his then-platoon sergeant back when the Colonel was a mere Second Lieutenant. The two had always served together, even John pulling some strings to keep him in his unit, and had pushed for his promotions after he achieved Second Lieutenant back in the day.

Marines would know Sorelson as a 'Mustang', or a NCO that eventually became an officer, and those same Marines were more likely to follow an officer that used to be a NCO; experience was the name of the game for a Mustang, and Sorelson had that in droves.

Meanwhile John's XO, Clarks, was regrouping with the ODSTs. John would fill her in later, but he was hoping the O-5 would make it to the briefing anyway. If not, he understood, as she had quite the task with reorganising an ODST force that John believed had no officers present until reinforcements arrived.

"So," John started, walking calmly towards his friend. "Enjoy your stroll around Lake Town, eh?" John joked.

[Cabel]

[Inner Colonies: System: Panis Eterni Sector: Esperanza II: Current Location: Surface: Lake Town: Lake Town Hospital: Reinforcing Defenses: Acting Briefing Room: Captain Mark Seamus ‘Spade’ Sorelson]

“Glad you could make it, Mark,” John said, before drawing closer respectively to the aged Captain. “So. Enjoy your stroll around Lake Town, eh?”

“I did. It’s a nice town, but I wouldn’t want to make it home. The Covenant in their infinite wisdom or lack thereof are, I'm certain, scratching themselves bald wondering about the size thirteen boot print embedded in their backsides and how we managed to stencil their names in the pineapple salad air-delivered,” Mark said, with a smirk. He’d visited Esperanza II before eighteen years ago on a SpecOp authorized by ONI to break up, disrupt and neutralize a known human trafficking ring on the planet, and while the operation had been a success for the longest time Mark had known deep down that the vile practice the lowliest human beings if they could have been called that treated others of their species had been part of the specie’s memory since antiquity. "I'm glad you survived too, John. Things were getting hairy, and even threatened to become a hairball out there. I'm glad everyone here survived too,"

For one reason or another, be it greed, power, a need to exact revenge, or some other longing, Mark knew such acts wouldn’t stop. He’d been right, when another SpecOps he’d been requested for had taken place on another planet where others had been held by the same trafficking ring with different faces of course. That operation had proven a success, and he knew there had been even more such foul acts carried out by the lowliest of humans if they could have been called that that tried to exist in an ever shrinking sphere of humanity’s interests in the galaxy. He’d visited the planet to have found it beautiful, even serene, but he’d missed the countryside of Washington State. There hadn’t been any motivation on his part, or inclination to have packed up from the Corps to settle down on some breadbasket planet.

His youngest son had found a place here, but if he’d had his guess his son hadn’t been on the planet for longer than a few months or a year at best.

“I shared two MREs, and two bottles of soda with James my youngest. He’s a local beat cop, a patrol officer with the Lake Town PD, and looks the spitting image of his grandfather…my father the Old Detective. I will admit, I hadn’t known he’d be here. I’m sure his mother knows, but a lunch seemed in order given that we were in the same place. He’d had orders issued from his precinct with the other first responders in blue to have set up barricades, take up positions and to fend off the Covenant or fight them off to protect the civilians. He lost a lot of good people, and friends. It’s something we all share by now. I do apologize for taking a little longer than usual to report and I hadn’t intentionally ignored the order for a briefing, but a lunch with one of my children was something I felt had to take place,”

“On my way here, I checked the barricades, gun emplacements and more our boys and girls…pardon that, our marines have set up in and around this building. I haven’t had a chance to look outside yet, but knowing the marines in the One-Twentieth MEU the defenses are as good as they’re going to get. The civilians have been given instructions to find protection, and to hunker down when the fighting resumes. We’re holding good ground, very good ground. I‘ve sent word to the rest of Echo Company to stock up on ammunition, grenades, rations, water, field kits and anything else in order for a big counter-push. They‘ll be ready. Just give the word. A few ODSTs, including a Corporal Lawton requested a Warthog to gather his people I‘d imagine. At least, I know the ODSTs itching for a fight are about to get that fight,” Mark reported before having nodded in respect to the other commissioned officers present before having taken an empty seat. Deciding not to remove his helmet given that while the Hospital and the land surrounding Lake Town had been witness to a lull in the fighting, he’d known it wouldn’t last and with news the Covenant had been mobilizing to retake real-estate taken from them from the marines which had originally been a human settlement had meant his noggin had been safer with the helmet in place.

[Llau]

Lieutenant Commander Moretti, Michelangelo N.
ONI Tactical Field Officer
Inner Colonies // Panis Eterni System // Esperanza II // HVT 2's Crash Site
November, 2551
Tag(s): SPARTAN-A120 , Faclan , охотник , Bippwatt


Lieutenant Commander Moretti gleefully watched as Ensign Chen fired the Black Cat’s M370 70mm auto-cannon into the back of the Phantom to disable its engines. The sight of what was happening, made him grin from ear-to-ear, placing him in such a fantastic mood. The more Chen fired, the more the ONI Officer happily grinned. Once the Phantom's engines were disabled, the Tactical Field Officer let out an amused chuckle as he watched the alien ship fall to the ground. Now, things were starting to feel nearly perfect to him. All he needed was the rest of this mission to go well, and he could call it a day...especially when he decides on the ship master’s fate.

“Clear to dismount!” Moretti heard Chen give notice to the strike team.

“Great job, Ensign,” The ONI Officer complimented the younger field operative, while he heard the others start to jump out of the back of the Black Cat. gazing around for threats too, he ordered, “Keep a low profile around the crash site, while we clear the AO. If no other alien wanker shows up to help this stupid bloody fucker, then you can find a good landing spot for the Black Cat near by.” A pause when he glanced over at him. He smiled. “Happy hunting.”

With that, he unstrapped himself from the seat's safety harness, and then headed into the troop bay, where Petty Officer Taylor was still standing around. She was obviously there, waiting for him, so she could speak directly to him off of the comms. She motioned for him to turn off his headset, and after he did, he gazed at her questionably.

“What is it?” He whispered, shouldering his DMR.

“Sir. Agent Hyde dismounted with the others.” she answered quietly.

Moretti glanced around, realizing what she said was true. He exhaled an irritated sigh. “Bollocks...”

“I don't feel comfortable having a civilian with not much training on the battlefield. Arriving groundside earlier was one thing, since we needed the extra gun as we headed to the hospital, but this is completely different.”

“i know,” He nodded, muttering, “I'll handle it then. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.” With that, he turned on his headset again, and started to move out to help the others dispatch any survivors, and to oversee the SPARTANs as Gold Three and Four capture the HVT.

She nodded, barely smiling at him, and then followed him to jump out of the troop's bay.

When they were on the ground, Moretti went right over to Hyde after spotting where he was at, snatched the Section One agent by the back of his armor he was wearing, and pulled him back. The pull was rough as he forced him to turn, and had him kneel down with him to keep low and out-of-sight from the surviving enemy combatants. He roughly grasped at his arm, and scolding the linguist, as if he was some child.

“You are not a soldier, Agent Hyde,” he went on, “Knowing how to fire a sidearm somewhat after a couple of firearms training from me does not make you one. You are a civilian attache, and one who is untrained to fight, and one who has no business on the battlefield until it is cleared of hostiles. You, being here, isn't going to help anyone.” Frowning, he added, “Now, stay down, and keep from getting hit in the face with the plasma fire. It'll burn more than that beard of yours off.” He smirked, angrily and arrogantly at the Section One Agent. “You know...hide, Hyde.”

His smirk faded as he glared at him for a few seconds, before quickly moving away, keeping low to avoid any incoming plasma fire from the surviving aliens who were on the Phantom. He meant what he said, but he also meant well in his own way. Of course, he probably shouldn't have said it like that, but this was Moretti. Always the asshole to anyone. He could be happy and joking around one moment, and then cold and harsh the next. Although, he seemed to be particularly more harsh to Hyde than everyone else since this mission started. It's a wonder what Hyde did to upset the Italian-Englishman so much.

Not far from where the other ONI operatives, ODSTs, and Gold Three and Four were at, Moretti stopped and knelt next to Taylor. He glanced around, surveying his surroundings of the crash site and the fight against the Phantom crew who were still alive after the crash.

He glanced behind him, looking at Hyde to make sure he was still where he left him, and hoped the man would stay put. He slowly turned back around, focusing his attention, when Taylor spoke to him again.

“So, LC,” she wondered, “What are your plans for this Shipmaster exactly? Are you going to treat it like the Holy Grail, or did it piss you off so much, that you're just going to kill the damn thing out of spite?”

“Haven't decided yet...” He trailed off, staring at the wreckage and the firefight for a few moments as his facial features relaxed as his anger washed away when he disassociated.

He glanced around to see where the Black Cat that was being flown by Chen was located, and then peered down at his TAC-PAD. He started to work intently, becoming busy with whatever he was working on, which was probably reading battlefield updates from Anansi, and communicating with her via text messages. The typing eventually stopped, and he started to slide his fingertips over the surface of the screen, as if he was surveying a live video feed from the Prowler above. Taylor kept her watchful gaze on her commanding officer, as well as glancing around to make sure they were still in the clear. She even glanced back at Hyde a few times, to make sure he was still where Moretti left him at, or not. Red Dragon looked innocent enough, almost caring, but there seemed to be a sly, malicious intention to whatever agenda she had.

“Ensign Chen,” The Tactical Field Officer spoke to the Tactical Field Operative. “Status.”

[tento125]

ODST L.Cpl Chatchai Buabaisri
120th MEU, 153rd ODST company
God knows where on Esperanza II// Near covie crash site
ONI why.....
Tags: Llau SPARTAN-A120 Faclan (and whoever else is with Mike)

"Clear to dismount!" he heard the pilot yell out to the small strike team.

Chatchai quickly unfastened his harness, grabbed his MA5C and rushed outside, taking up position behind a rock and training his sights on the downed Covenant craft.

This has got to be good.... Chatchai thought to himself as he waited for any movement coming from the Phantom. Due to a clamp malfunction on the Iowa that caused his pod to not drop with the rest, Chatchai was forced to wait on board the Cruiser as his squad mates were fighting ground side. He was given the green light to go planet side a few hours later, albeit in a Pelican.

Once the Pelican landed at the Lake Town LZ, the Saensuk-born ODST then started to search for his squad, but to no avail. From what he can gather, the ODST's have dropped all over the god damn place and there is no coherent command structure. It was then when he heard an ODST sergeant calling for any ODST's nearby to volunteer for a highly classified op, itching for action, he immediately accepted, and got whisked into an ONI operation to secure a high valued target.

He glanced around to the other members of the hastily formed spec-ops team. All of them were taking up positions around the Phantom in the same manner as him. Together, the strike team has formed a somewhat semi circle, a perfect cross fire if any aliens dared enough to venture out.

A bolt of green plasma splashed 4 meters away from where Chatchai was taking cover snapped him out of his thoughts. He fired a burst from his MA5 in the direction of the Phantom, hoping to suppress whatever had fired that plasma shot from.

"CONTACT!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he saw a grunt emerging from the wreck, arms cocked back with a bright blue light emanating from its hand. Chatchai didn't wait for the order to engage as he instantly fired another burst into the gas-sucker, quickly killing it, causing it to drop the plasma grenade which detonated a few seconds afterwards.



(OOC: sorry it took a LOOONG while to post. Real life can be quite annoying. Also apologize if this isn't really well written or anything. Kinda rushed it)

[Faclan]

SPARTAN-A120 Llau tento125 Bippwatt

Chris Hyde - ONI translator
ONI sneaky sneak ship.
Yay but like...wow rude.

Staying near the back of the pack of soldiers as the explosions, pews, and gunshots rang out Chris was just trying to keep his head down for the most part here. He got out cause he thought it would be important to show the non ONI in the group that they were here to help. Sure Mike would get out eventually but he was probably going to just posture and order around like he had been doing this entire mission. Maybe a soldier looking individual would help? Well and because his job was done so may as well help a bit more. And is possible try to bring in the shiny gold guy over there flailing in panic of all these Humans showing up.

But Hyde haddn't even been able to fire a shot before he felt a grip on his arm. Giving him just enough time to turn and see Mike that had grabbed him. Of-fucking-course. The reaction to him doing what Mike told him do to in these situations, stay back and keep watch, was just being re-iterated to him while it also also shoved in his face again and again that he was useless. Just a civilian who had no place here. Fine, fine then.

Flipping the safety on on the SMG he was holding Hyde seemed like that was the last straw from him today as he bodily tossed the weapon on the ground between Mikes feet and raised up his hands to shoulder level.

"Fine, fucking fine Mike! Fuck me for helping and fuck me for being here at all right? I mean Aecor its not like the situation is pretty well in hand," with only a few jellies left and the ones that were still active cowering at the edge of a cliff behind a shield it sure seemed in hand. And he got to use one of the new words he had recently used finally, though that was just an automatic thing rather than anything planned for this outburst. "Here, take that and shit take all of this," next to be tossed down was the magnum holster and the belt with his radio and knife in it. "There, enjoy making great use of all this stuff since I clearly cant be trusted with anything more than scissors!" And with that he stormed back up into the Black Cat and moved to seclude himself in a storage closest or something equivalent.

Seems he didn't take well to being reminded that he wasn't needed on a battlefield, that he was useless, or a liability no matter how hard he tried. And being told by one who he used to call his friend didn't help.


Ado 'Urgomee - Jelly Shipmaster (NPC)
Plateau with big target painted on it.
Last hurrah.

As pointed out Ado and his quickly dwindling forces were now mostly just himself and three other Sangheili bridge officers behind a deployable shield with their backs to the cliff. Ado with his sword out but not activated as they didn't have much room and the others with plasma rifles. It really didn't look good for them as more and more Humans poured out of the craft. But they wouldn't take him for nothing! No sir!

So attmepting to use the two in the front as cover Ado and his second in command were busy working on placing the plasma grenades the four had on them at the time, totaling six, into his second in commands helmet and wedging them in so they wouldn't fall out when it was thrown. It would take a good chunk of the Humans out and then they would fight like true warriors to the end!

(Feel free to have the bomb be thrown in the next post)

[SPARTAN-A120]

Ensign Richard A. Chen
ONI Section III Tactical Field Operative "Panther"
Temporarily Piloting Black Cat Subprowler “Shadow Sky,” Engaging HVT-2
Esperanza II, Panis Eterni System, 2551
"What goes up..."
(Tags: Llau , Faclan , охотник , Bippwatt , & tento125  )

Chen didn’t have a target to fire at which gave him time to briefly check the exits of the Black Cat to make sure he was clear to go airborne again. He took a quick glance at the cameras that provided him a view of each of the Black Cat’s exits and scrolled through each of him through his neural link connection. He was about to raise the ship’s hatches, but the sight of Agent Hyde and Lieutenant Commander Moretti made Chen stall. They looked like they were engaged in an argument. The Ensign wasn’t going to wait for their chit-chat to finish because every second he was ground was another possible second when he’ll get hit by a heavy weapon or a Wraith mortar. His left index finger was touching the toggling switch to close the first hatch which he did since it was clear of personnel and he was about to do the same with the second hatch, but Agent Hyde started stripping down his gear and tossed each one of them at Moretti’s feet.

“Oh buddy…” Chen said quietly with a sigh immediately after.

As soon as he saw Hyde board, Chen closed the last hatch and increased vertical thrusting to lift off. He raised the pitch slightly so that the aircraft could start to reverse backwards slowly, but he was still able to provide fire support from the chin-mounted M370 if necessary.

While he was gaining distance from the hot zone, he located the the Gold Armored Elite who appeared to be cowering behind the last of his personal guards. The Ensign maintained a his targeting reticle on the general location of the target as he lowered the pitch to return to the Black Cat to a balanced position at zero degrees and maintained a stationary hover by decreasing the vertical thrusters to 55 percent.

“Ensign Chen, status,” the Tactical Field Operative heard Moretti say through his pilot’s headset.

“Eyes on jackpot,” Chen reported. “Target is two-two-seven meters away at three-four-four degrees near the edge of the plateau. I count four Alligators and a deployable energy shield.”

Chen maintained his observation on the four Sangheili combatants and he was lucky he was the strike team’s eyes on the sky who caught the Sangheili HVT in the act of subterfuge. “Strike Team, the HVT is preparing some kind of explosive in a combat helmet-”

That was all the Ensign was able to say before his pilot HUD flickered and powered off. Soon after, the lights to the display screens, buttons, switches, and levers powered off. Slowly, but dangerously, the Black Cat started to pitch forward and drop. Quickly broadcasting over the TEAMCOM and the ship’s PA system, Chen said, “Mayday, mayday! This is Subprowler ‘Shadow Sky.’ We have power loss and systems failure. Possible Covenant or Innie EMP. We’re going down. Mayday, mayday! Shadow Sky is going down!”

Chen stopped transmitting and tried to focus on getting the Black Cat grounded in a safe manner. He allowed the aircraft to pitch forward or any attempts to level it would result in a stall. “An altimeter would help right now,” Chen thought.

He never knew the sight of the green grass of Mother Nature getting closer as he stared through his cockpit windows would look so intimidating.

When he thought it was the right time, the Section Three Operative pulled hard on the flight stick with both hands and engaged the air brakes to get the Subprower in an angle and reduce the velocity of their descent. The amount of straining that he applied to the aircraft’s flight stick was nearly enough force to bend a lead pipe, but he was lucky it was crafted with titanium alloy and high quality materials.

“Come on, baby,” Chen muttered through clenched teeth. The crown of his head had physical contact with the headrest of the chair he was strapped to as he didn’t want to see if his method of saving majority of the Black Cat would be a success or failure. The all-too-familiar sensation of adrenaline flowed freely throughout his body and for some reason, he took a peek at his handiwork.

The artificial horizon gauge displayed that he was at a 37 degree incline which was what he wanted. The Ensign eased some of the pressure off of the flight stick and tried to level the aircraft as best as he could with the limited rudder and flap controls at his disposal. When the ground appeared to be close enough again, Chen pulled back with all his strength once more. The Subprowler slowly pitched upwards and when the artificial horizon gauge reached eleven degrees, he eased off the flight stick slightly and tried to maintain the flight path. He checked the air brake to see if it was still activated which was on... hopefully.

The descent was perceived to be slower than what Chen expected and it irritated him. When the aircraft finally touched the ground, the operative was jolted forward and immediately backwards from the whiplash. He was lucky again for wearing the pilot’s helmet which absorbed majority of the impact that stunned him momentarily. His vision recovered to a focus to the front of the ship and found it sliding into a delayed halt onto a nearby plain next to the plateau. The Ensign sighed heavily in relief that the Black Cat landed without sustaining critical damage (which would be deducted out of his paychecks from here on out) while he unstrapped himself from the cockpit and removed the pilot's helmet from his head.

Turning on his personal radio, he tuned into the correct secured channel and said over TEAMCOM, “This is Shadow Sky. We’ve touched down in one piece. Requesting CSAR and Recovery team to get this ship out of the AO.”

After reporting in, Chen connected a wire from his TACPAD into one of the ship’s access ports and started initiating the Cole Protocol. He remained seated in the pilot’s seat while the process was undergoing.

[BetaWülf]

Jiralhanae War Chieftain Garatus
En Route to Lake Town
Change of Plans

Given the recent debacle with the Sangheili Shipmaster Ado 'Urgomee, Garatus' plans had changed dramatically. No longer would he assail the Heretic front-lines, having seen their strength of arms it would seem a fools errand to fight them on their own terms. Instead, Garatus planned to redirect his Pack towards where the new mess had started. Lake Town.

He would not forget the Heretics, however, formulating a counter measure to make certain they weren't a threat at his back with a small horde of vengeful Humans ahead of him. The redirection went fairly smoothly for the Jiralhanae, as a number of Covenant soldiers were still engaging the Heretics to keep them from progressing further. Garatus took to marching at the back of the Pack until they were clear of the firing range of the Heretics, switching to lead them from the front once the danger ahead was greater than that behind them.

In retrospect, he regretted the casualties accrued in front-line fighting, but in the end the distraction it caused was of great value. With less of the enemy focused on guarding the Human's mining facilities it was far easier for the Covenant to capture them. While the wealth of Tungsten Carbide in the facilities was of little use to most of the Covenant species, it was one of the primary materials used in manufacturing Jiralhanae weaponry and armor. A great boon to Garatus' Pack.

Lake Town was still distant to the Pack, but not so far that the Humans were likely to be oblivious to the marching Jiralhanae and their War Machines; Choppers and Prowlers churning the dusty earth as they passed over. While he was unaware of the numbers of the enemy in Lake Town, he was prepared for a fight to the teeth(of which few to none could rival the Jiralhanae in that fanged regard). Garatus barked, and his Pack responded with a double bark and a short roar, with a Captain letting loose an inspired howl. The Jiralhanae cadence continued as they marched onwards towards the next fight.

[Bippwatt]

Petty Officer SPARTAN-077
Gold Four
Inner Colonies, Panis Eterni System, Esperanza II
Unnamed Plateau, HVT in sight.
"Bidh mi deireadh sibh uile ann as goirt an dòigh a ghabhas!"
(Tags: Faclan , Llau , SPARTAN-A120 , охотник , tento125 , Spartan 999 )

077 peeked around the boulder she was using for cover. Four split-lips. Versus two Spartans, five ODSTs and eight ONI agents. Those poor bastards. She almost felt bad for them. Almost.

"Agent Chen, Status.", she heard Moretti request over TEAMCOM.

“Eyes on jackpot. Target is two-two-seven meters away at three-four-four degrees near the edge of the plateau. I count four Alligators and a deployable energy shield.”

Tell us something we don't know, Chen., Siobhan thought, perhaps a bit uncharitably.

“Strike Team, the HVT is preparing some kind of explosive in a combat helmet-”

That's better..., she started thinking...and then bad things started happening rapidly.

She suddenly stopped hearing the low whine of the subprowler's vertical thrusters and looked up and back, toward where the craft was...and found it pitching forward as the TEAMCOM erupted with Chen's voice again.

“Mayday, mayday! This is Subprowler ‘Shadow Sky.’ We have power loss and systems failure. Possible Covenant or Innie EMP. We’re going down. Mayday, mayday! Shadow Sky is going down!”

"Bidh mi deireadh sibh uile ann as goirt an dòigh a ghabhas!", she cursed under her breath, not particularly caring if anyone heard her.

And then more badness happened. The jellies took advantage of the distraction caused by Shadow Sky's ersatz landing to chuck their improvised bomb at the UNSC forces coming at them.

Siobhan cursed a blue streak, knowing she had to act, or most of them would likely die. Admittedly, she and Courtney would probably survive, but it was unlikely anyone else would.

She rounded the boulder, sprinted across the distance and dove into a baseball slide as the helmet bounced, popping back up into the air. She snagged the helmet in passing as she slid under its arch. Pivoting up and around, she used her motion to launch herself into a swing that terminated with her releasing the helmet in a direction directly away from the squishier ODST's and ONI agents.

However, fast as she was, she wasn't fast enough. And she had made a "slight" mistake. She hadn't thought to check where the Black Cat had gone down.

She had opted for getting it as far away from them as possible, which meant pitching it over the side of the cliff, down to the plains below. But that meant, with her arm, even if it was weaker than most other Spartan's arms, she had quite the range, given how far down it had to go...

The improvised bomb landed about a meter off of the port wing of the subprowler...and immediately exploded.

And that's when she realized where the Black Cat was. She spared a moment's thought to hope she hadn't just killed Chen but was forced to push that out of her mind as plasma began to splash near her.

"Och, sonovabitch. Jethro's ne'er going to let me live this one down.", Siobhan muttered to herself, as she yanked her pistol from the hip magnetic plate and aimed toward the wreck of the alien ship, firing as she sprinted back to the small cluster of boulders the ODST's and spooks had taken for cover. A spattering of plasma fire returned, but her barrage of bullets made them cautious of peeking out too much to get a solid bead on her. A single plasma rifle bolt splashed close enough to take a slice off her shields, but almost immediately afterward, she dove into a roll, and then twisted sideways to get behind a boulder.



(OOC: Bippwatt , there are 5 ODSTs (Tracker's, Tento's, and 3 ODST npcs), and 8 ONI field operatives on the ground... - Llau )
(OOC: sorry Llau. I couldn't seem to find a straight answer on that, so I ran with some numbers. Fixed. Bippwatt)

[MrKill]

Colonel Killinger
Hospital
120th Marine Expeditionary Unit

(OOC: Map: imgur.com/a/cOYkR or

SPOILER: Click to show

)

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed your - er - little break from the action. Unfortunately it's time to get back to business, and I think you know what that really means." John replied after Mark had finished recalling his short - but likely pleasant - reunion with his son, among other items of interest as well. Even though Mark had a son here, he was reporting in as per his responsibilities, and John knew exactly how hard it was to just leave one of your own kids.

John had two on the planet: Travis, a member of the ODST attachment assigned to the one-twentieth; and Jennifer, a tanker assigned to the MEU's tank platoon. Truth be told John was worried, and as a parent he could understand if Mark worried about his own son as well.

The O-6 turned away from Mark, and even though not everyone was present, John had to start the briefing. All these officers on one room, even though it was the most secure room on the planet, one plasma mortar would change that in a heart beat. "Okay, Marines, here's the situation. Longsword flights have confirmed that a large Covenant formation is heading towards Lake Town."

"Fortunately, the Navy has them reconsidering that choice for the time being, but make no mistake it will only be a matter of time before the big guns on those Frigates are back in zero-gee. So listen up, I'm only going to say this once. We don't have time for questions later, so here's the plan:" John said, pausing for a moment to let the rest of the officers prepare. He would only be saying it once, and there would be no questions asked, they simply didn't have the time.

"We've have been reinforced by the Frigates, they've deployed the majority of their compliment planet side. We're working with five hundred additional Marines, alongside nearly two hundred additional ODSTs, as well as the full complement of tanks and vehicles from the Frigates storage and hanger bays. These reinforcements have been assigned to First Battalion as India and Juliet companies."

"We're going to split the MEU's battalion into three elements, and after that each company will report to their assigned 'box of responsibility'. First element is Echo and Foxtrot companies, they'll take the bottom left box; second element is Golf and Hotel companies, and they'll take the bottom right; finally, we have our reinforcement companies, they'll be taking the top right. All companies have also been reinforced, so sort your unit out and insert your new manpower into your platoons. Before we head out I want to be working at full capacity, so make sure your casualties - both wounded and killed - are receiving what they deserve."

"Please look at the map for more information as I continue, I prepared it in advance to the briefing. One-E is First Element, Two-E is Second Element, Three-E is third element and Four-E is the one-fifty-three ODSTs, which will be taking the top left box as their area of responsibility. Following engagement by the Covenant, each box can peel away platoons to assist another box if needed, but don't abandon your posts to respond to an overwhelming enemy presence."

"Our force multipliers, which are not listed on the map, will be split between the primary LZ and the Hospital. Our force multiplication unit consists of Scorpion and Grizzly tanks, Gauss and chain-gun warthogs, and fire support from Longswords stationed at a makeshift airfield in box 2E. Additionally, we have gunship pelicans stationed at the Hospital and the LZ. Finally, we have three quick reaction force consisting of two Gauss warthogs, a flatbed warthog, and two chaingun warthogs to deliver suppression and ammunition. These QRF units will be stationed at the Church, and both former Covenant staging areas we've since taken control of."

"Let's get to it, Marines."

[blackshot]

ODST Private Jonah Hauser
153rd ODST Company
ESPERANZA-II, PANIS ETERNI SYSTEM
Random Street at Laketown
tento125


Jonah took a quick glance in his surroundings. The scenery remained the same; homes were abandoned, roads were completely empty and the skies were simply filled with gray clouds. The ODST find it really odd that tranquility had settled. It was eerily quiet and it was the first time that he find himself surrounded by complete silence from the moment he get there, to that war-torn town. He walked, boots crushing the nearby rubble of the pavement. The worn out asphalt of laketown indicates that the UNSC vehicles or some civilian's had used it very frequently. The Filipino could not tell if this was prior to the invasion or not. It never mattered now as he tread across the surface of the town.

From the distance, he could definitely hear the low hums of the engine. He ignored it. So far, it was the only dominant sound in his ears. He walked across the street and was immediately greeted with a 3-way intersection. The road opens to west, north and east. The road continues to the north and east, with empty homes and vacated civilian vehicles set in front of him. To the west was much more different, as it leads to a clearing. He ignores the road towards west and began moving north instead.

[MrKill]

(( OOC: blackshot: I highly recommend reading the missions last few pages. The Covenant ship in your post above was driven off by two UNSC Frigates that are now hovering over Laketown. As for Covenant resistance, it's been mostly 'mopped up', and the town is secure for now. The only current threats are two formations of Covenant troops moving towards Laketown - one NPC lead, while another is lead by co-admin Betawolf. ))

[Cabel]

[Inner Colonies: System: Panis Eterni Sector: Esperanza II: Current Location: Surface: Lake Town: Lake Town Hospital: Reinforcing Defenses: Captain Mark Seamus ‘Spade’ Sorelson]

“Echo Actual to all callsigns, this net,” Mark said, having opened the encrypted company-wide frequency he knew each of his marines or at least their NCOs would hear. “All elements, link up in quad One-E -- First Element at coordinates…” he’d say, including the coordinates of each platoon and squad in his company to the part of the town that contained their first attempt at a landing zone at the community center. “We’ll be setting up shop in some of our old hangouts, the community center and more. We have blocks to cover, streets to wire and mines to lay,”

The aging Captain explained the battle plan, at least their area of operation that they had to hold and issued orders to the various elements within his Company including the heavy weapons -- mostly the machine gun crews to the mortar crews and rocket teams to triple-down on what they had and to find places where they could dish out enough trouble with an escape route in mind. He’d left the acting briefing room after John had dismissed them following a rather to the point explanation on their battle plan, and how they intended it to work. Stepping into the stairwell leading downstairs, Mark had known from instances in his past -- the experience most marines admired or revered that any battle plan regardless of how precise or detailed or well intentioned had the all-too-real possibility of tearing good marines apart.

Prior to his reassignment to first Task Force 77, followed by the 51st Regiment to the 7th Regiment and in its current form of the 120th MEU, he’d unfortunately witnessed first-hand the kind of bone-headed irresponsible, and ignorant planning by pen-pushers turned officers. Though, thankfully, his experience in the 120th MEU in all of its incarnations under highly disciplined officers with merit and real experience he hadn’t experienced such embarrassments. He’d been certain, and held no doubts there had been more than a few officers not of the 120th MEU that viewed him more as a pain in the ass and hadn’t felt his kind methods of leadership had been appropriate and he’d known there had been even more that had known a marine or Mustang of Mark’s kind had been better to serve in the line than in some office pushing papers.

Taking the steps two at a time, Mark kept his attention on keeping his marines, his son and the surviving civilians in Lake Town alive. He’d never really been one to have carelessly wasted the lives of his marines, and if some officer or some academic professor or even a journalist had gone over the many marines Mark had lost in his lengthy-career that he wouldn’t have allowed them to have even seen them as being wasted. Each marine had a purpose, had been valued, and Mark had learned the names and serial numbers of each of the marines that had either served alongside him or rather that he’d had the honor of serving alongside to those he’d led to where he’d been able to recall them even in his sleep. If one looked on the aging Captain in his motivated, upbeat nature, they wouldn’t have been able to have even considered the remote possibility of the enormous burdens he’d carried including those of the marines he’d lost. He’d felt being a father made him better at being a marine, and in being a better marine had made him a better father especially when he hadn’t reared an angry hand to any of his children. Mark had been of the philosophy that one didn’t physically discipline their children, as the child could grow and resent the parent or him if he had, and that forcing them to ask themselves whether an act had been right or wrong had been more inclined to build character. It hadn’t hurt he’d developed, and even mastered the voice children and even other marines had come to know or coined as the Captain’s voice and before that the Drill Instructor‘s voice. It only took one word spoken in that voice for his children, and other marines, or UNSC personnel or even bullies to have either soiled themselves or to realize they had blown it. If any of his children, and even grandchildren had been threatened or harmed, there hadn’t been any doubt he would have decked the poor bastard that had the ugly inkling to do so. The same went for his marines, in that they had been his family away from his family, and that while they depended on him he depended on them.

“All callsigns, this net,” he’d said, over the company-wide encrypted frequency never really having closed it. “Prepare any defenses you need to. Fox-holes, trenches, sand-bag lines, instacrete barriers. We’ve got to hold this ground. Once the heavies above your heads leave, we’re going to be on our own. Do what you need to, but hold this ground. Fox Company will be defending and fighting on our flanks in One-E -- First Element. Golf and Hotel Companies will be in Two-E -- Second Element. The One-Fifty-Three will be in Four-E -- Fourth Element to our north, and the reinforcements brought to us from the heavies from the Fleet will be covering the remaining element. I want whatever triple-A we have to be hidden until needed, to keep those damned Seraphs off our hides. Reinforcements, green recruits, find your NCOs or Lieutenants and buddy up. Echo Actual, out,” The frequency closed, but troubles or rather concerns weighed on his mind. Dismissing those, he’d realized that if he’d been more concerned about the what-if’s and the how-to’s that might happen that his marines and he would die in the process and he hadn’t been about to make that gamble.