Mission 2: Crew Expendable (Ground Ops)

[monkeyjoe14]

Spartan 178 - Joe

Joe took aim at a patrol of grunts, firing two, three round burst at them. One grunt fell back and another sqeuled as the the rounds penetrated their bodies. The remainng grunts fired back at Joe, missing most shots due to their panic. Joe didn't have to worry about them, until he saw that a brute was among them. The Brute had been taking cover behind the grunts and fired it's brute shot at Joe. Joe rolled to the side and fired another three round burst into the grunts. One more grunt fell, leaving two grunts and the brute to contend with.

"You're kind of sucking right now", Churchill stated.

"Noted", Joe grunted as he fired another burst at the last two grunts.

The last two fell with that last burst and Joe took aim at the Brute. He fired two last burst before the clip was empty. The Brute, however had five shots left to fire. It took aim at Joe and fired. Joe rolled to the left and dogded the grenade. Joe got back to his feet and reloaded his rifle. Another shot was fired by the brute and Joe rolled again, foward this time. The entire clip was emptied into the Brute as it caught off gaurd by Joe's unexpected manuever. The Brute fell to it's side as the last of the rounds pierced the Brute's flesh.

"Ha, take that you hairy ape", Churchill roared.

"We're not done yet", Joe reminded Churchill.

No, they weren't even close to done yet.

ODST Sergeant 1st Class Jack Redsont

Redsont took position at the rim of the crater, providing cover fire for the spartans. His team took up position next to him and did the same.

"Damn, why do they get to have all the fun", Pat sighed.

"Just shoot the damn Covies", Desmond scolded as he took aim with his sniper.

"I question your sanity Pat", John openly stated.

"We all do" Ed joked.

They started firing on any covenant soldiers that poked out from cover or were in the open. Redsont noted the spartan fighting the Brute and took aim at the brute, but changed his mind after seeing the brute collapse from several shots to it's body. He had to focus on the ones the Spartans couldn't handle.

[commander7890]

Ogada and his bond brother stood in one of the many corridors of the Charity. It started with the reports of human attackers. Than, there was a series of large explosions and the ship itself felt like it was going turn over and collapse. That's when the Fisu brothers knew for sure, the ship was under attack. They made their preparations, standing around the corner of a long corridor. The corner would hide them, as soon as any humans would turn around the corner, they would more than definitely turn tail and run, as Ogada had never heard of a human brave enough to fight with a hunter pair in relatively cramped quarters. As they'd run the pair would follow and fire after the marines as they ran. They had moved away all cargo crates and other bits of possible cover to make the corridor a deadly killing zone.

Ogada's sharp spines bristled, he had yet to fight with the humans, and he was looking forward to his first encounter with them. He stood tall, out of his combat stance so he'd have the fullest coverage of all that was going on around him. The full circle of 1000 feet of feel would allow the pair to know when something was coming, and what would be coming too. The two waited, before this would end, there would be much blood.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad The Crater

Andrew smacked hard into a rock, knocking the breath out of him as he fell behind it for cover. Breathing heavily for a moment, he could clearly see Ben's corpse, his friend's blood mixing with the already red rocks and dust.

Sarah dropped down next to him, and Andrew pushed himself up. Peering around the rock, he got a good view of the approach to the Elite sniper. Spotting the alien aiming at him, he yanked his head back, the blue flash heating his face behind his mask as it past mere centimeters from his head. "Shit, he knows we're here," he panted, the near miss spiking his adrenaline.

"You got a plan?" Sarah asked, checking her ammo count.

"Yeah, I think. Not much cover between us, so we need something to even the odds a bit," he replied, tapping into the squad comm. "Tom?" he said to his squad mate.

"Sir?" the quiet man simply said, battle rifle bursts echoing in the comm.

"Toss a grenade as close as you can to that Elite, we need his aim shaken so we can move up on him and get him out of that cover," Andrew ordered, looking up at Tom and Adam.

"Roger."

Andrew watched the grenade soar through the air, kicking up a small amount of dust as it landed close to the Elite's feet. "Go!" he shouted, and he span round the rock, sprinting for the Elite. The grenade detonated, knocking the Elite off of its feet. Andrew started firing bursts from the hip as he ran, most of the bullets going wild, but having the desired effect on the alien.

Out of the dust, the Elite rose up, its shields flashing as they recharged. It roared in anger, dropping the Beam Rifle and bringing its plasma rifle to bear. Andrew fired another burst at the alien, making the shield flicker. Suddenly, the Elite ran straight at him, swinging its gun at Andrew's head. Andrew reacted too late, and was smacked straight onto his back by the blow. The Covenant soldier sneered at him, as it leveled the plasma rifle at his head.

Andrew heard an assault rifle firing from somewhere behind him, and watched as the Elite staggered back from bullet after bullet hitting it. As blood began spraying from the chest of the alien, Andrew remembered his magnum and drew it. The gunfire abruptly stopped with an audible click, but as the Elite looked up in surprise, pain and anger, Andrew squeezed the trigger, blowing the brains out of the Elite.

"Come on, get up!" Sarah yelled at him, pulling on his free arm. Pushing himself up, he nodded at her before retrieving his fallen rifle.

[SuperCommando]

SPARTAN-009 (Silas)

Assaulting Target Hades

Grav lift platform

Harry’s grenade destroyed what little remained of the Brute force occupying the ditch, even sending one body flying out to roll away in the dust. Good, Silas thought. Now the support teams had some decent cover to move up to while the Spartans stormed the lift platform.

The Covenant defenders were giving way to the massive UNSC onslaught. Soon, the crater would be taken. One final push was all that remained. But it was surrounded by Brutes, and they weren’t going down without a fight.

Silas vaulted across the ditch in one smooth movement and kept right on going full tilt, mowing through a trio of Grunts who dared challenge his progress. He zigzagged through their fire and ignored the glancing shots, quickly gunning down two of them. As he neared the third, he pulled back the butt of his weapon in preparation to smash it into the Grunt’s skull, but something caught his eye. A flash. An explosive booming noise. A rapidly increasing shriek.

Silas pivoted to the side and flung himself out of the way… just as the grenade projectile screamed into the Grunt that was so close to him, blowing off a chunk of the alien’s side. Hitting the rocky ground with his shoulder, Silas rolled back to his feet, turned, and dashed the opposite direction as another detonation blasted the spot right behind him.

The Brute harassing him stood near the lift platform, snarling at his prey. He had to pause to reload his Brute Shot, giving Silas an opening. He sprinted for the giant ape, snatching a spike grenade off a fallen Brute’s bandolier along the way. He closed in just as it finished reloading. At this distance, the Brute roared and swung the massive blade along the bottom of its weapon at the Spartan. Silas ducked under the whistling blade, spun beside the Brute, and swung out with the spike grenade like a miniature club. It sunk into the side of its face with a wet smack, causing it to howl and stagger as its eye was pierced. Silas hammered out a devastating kick right into its side, knocking the unbalanced beast fully off its feet. Silas rolled away as the grenade went off, spraying shrapnel directly into its brain.

Just as Silas rose, another Brute, hidden behind one of the structures at the corner of the lift platform, came rushing up behind him, raising a Brute Shot of its own like an axe as it prepared to bring it down on the back of his neck…

[nex]

Crash had taken his time approaching the crater itself. He wasn't there for front-line warfare. He was there to make sure they left something intact for the guys at R&D. Examining the still smoking remains of one of the covenant shield barriers, he wondered if he should have come sooner after all. He looked up as the firefight continued to rage on in the distance.

He watched as Fire teams rained down a mass of bullets on the rapidly dwindling covenant forces. Soon, the Crater would be secure, and they could think about taking the ship.

As he watched, a Spartan vaulted a recently cleared ditch and plowed through a group of grunts, before diving to a side. He saw the brute harassing it with a brute shot. Before he could raise his gun to help, the spartan grabbed something and ran straight against the offending brute. He stood helpless and watched the Spar tan's almost suicide charge. It looked like it paid off, as the brute was kicked aside. And the spartan dived to one side as a grenade detonated. As the Spartan recovered and stood up, Crash watched as another brute stepped up behind it raised its own brute shot.

This time, without hesitating, he raised his own Carbine and fired a couple of shots at the brute. The first shot went wide, narrowly missing the Spartan he was saving, but the second shot bounced of the brute's Armour.
It was caught by surprise by the shot, and paused. It seemed more shocked by the fact it was being shot at with covenant technology. He gripped the rifle tighter and fired off another couple of shots. This time the brute abandoned the attack, and dived for cover.

[monkeyjoe14]

Spartan 178 - Joe

Joe took cover behind a rock to scan the field. He noted that the newest spartan, Silas, having trouble with a brute but saw that a marine had him covered. Harry was having no trouble with the battle. But the real trouble was that the grav lift doors were sealed. This was a problem since they had no mean of accessing the door controls. But there was one way to do it, Joe tapped the com.

"Harry, Silas, I need cover fire to the ridge of the crater", Joe said.

"What?!", Churchill screamed.

"Shut up and trust me", Joe yelled before switching the com's channel.

"HQ, I need a pelican ASAP, I plan to send Churchill into the covenant AC's battle net to open the grav lift doors by using the pelicans sensory ranged communications.", Joe asked.

ODST Sergeant Jack Redsont

Redsont fired at a group of brutes moving towards the immobile spartan. The brutes instantly took cover and halted their advance. The rest of the team open fired and one brute fell in his place.

"What the hell is he doing", Desmond asked himself.

"Going mad", Pat mumbled.

Redsont focused on the brutes, he knew the spartan had some kind of plan.

[Dutch]

Corporal Jonathan Fisher
Assaulting Target Hades
Gravity Lift Crater

Despite the fact they were winning, Fisher was getting very sick of this battle, namely the fact he was fighting in a bowl. It was a carter, with no available cover except for some scattered covenant supply crates which reminded him too much of the SOIEV he had traveled in to slam into the ground at breakneck speeds too many times before. To make matters worse, the bowl was full of aliens and humans shooting at each other. Tracers ripped bright paths through the air and plasma bolts scorched paths across the space in a counter attack.

And he was in the middle of the whole damn thing. Fisher had three magazines left for his assault rifle, but the amount of corpses around him assured him that ammunition and weapons would not be problem for him. Though by the looks of it, he probably wouldn’t have any troubles soon unless it turned out there was a god. This really sucked; he was trained to fight in a group dang it! Not in some crazy free-for-all battle like right now. The charge was stupid, no organization of fireteams or anything, a problem which Fisher had already had a problem with as Fisher’s entire squad had been skewered by an elite with an energy sword. The sucker would have got him too, if it hadn’t been for the jackhammer Fisher had blow it apart with at near point blank range.

That’s it, he needed someone to cover his back. He finally decided on this plan after a pair of needles glanced off his body armour, forcing him to duck behind one of the HEV-like supply crates. He made a quick check around him for another soldier with a low enough rank he could order. There, another ODST. PFC Shepherd, currently hiding behind another supply pod under fire by a jackal. Good thing the aliens shield wasn’t obstructing his aim. Thirty feet away, no problem. Raising the AR, he settled the reticule on the alien and fired. He fired several bursts, a large number of bullets cutting up the air and dirt around the jackal but enough hitting it to rip it open. It went limp and fell with a bird-like squawk. Fisher yelled to the PFC over his helmets mike.

“Shepherd, come ‘ere!” The ODST nodded, and quickly ran across the open ground, and skidded in next to Fisher.
“What is it sir?”

“Listen up private. You know we’re trained to fight together, not scattered around like this. So you’re my new fire mate. You cover my rear and I’ll do the same, got it?” The helljumper nodded rapidly. Fisher grinned. “Good, now get on my six and cover it ok? Now listen up again, I’ve got an idea. See those spartans over there? We’re gonna run over to them, they’re safer see? They handle all the big baddies and we mop up the grunts. You fast marine?”

“Yes sir, I’m pretty fast.”

“Good, ‘cause you need to run over to those two spartans and star provide covering fire with them. I’ll be right behind you, okay?” Shepherd nodded again. “Good, now go, go, go!” He motioned with his hand toward the two walking tanks. Shepherd hesitated a moment, then vanished, talking off in a full out sprint. He was fast, he making his way to the spartans in good time. Fisher got from behind cover, blasted down a grunt with a quick blast, and ran after him. The PFC was about ten meters ahead, doing real good actually. He was doing real well until the twin energy prongs of an energy sword in the hand of an elite sliced through his body armour and burned through his side in one quick swipe. Shepherd stopped suddenly and Fisher stopped even sooner. The elite were only about twenty feet away, and turned to him. Roaring the infamous deep throated roar of its race, it raced the blade and charged.

Back in boot camp, Fisher had been trained to fire in short, controlled bursts as opposed to a lead spray. Obviously those instructors and never had an eight foot alien charge at you with an energy sword in its hands. Fisher decided on a course of action very quickly, and started backing up while holding the trigger down. The steady stream of tracers hit the elite, causing its energy shields to flare silver in defiance. It was getting close now, far too close. With a pang of terror, Fisher realized that it was only ten feet away and he was almost out of bullets. With a dreadful heaviness, his rifle bolt clacked loudly on nothing. To him it sounded like the laugh of death itself. He closed his eyes, and braced himself for the inevitable. Would there be pain? Or would it all be over quickly? Would his life flash before his eyes? He let out a whimper, and braced himself.

Nothing happened. Fisher opened his eyes cautiously, and saw the elite dead at his feet. He frowned in confusion. Was it one of his rounds? The fact that the head was opened up like a gruesome flower suggested otherwise. Raising his head, he saw Shepherd twenty feet away,, magnum in shaking hands, barrel smoking. A shaking voice came in over his helmet speakers.
“Covered your six, sir.” With that, Private First Class Shepherd died. Fisher moaned slightly, and then looked down at the alien. The sword was still activated, burning the dirt beneath it. Gingerly, as if it were a bomb, Fisher picked it up and looked at it. He tapped a small mechanism in the handle, and the blade hissed away. Now what? Should he take it or leave it? On one hand it was incredibly cool, and very dangerous in CQB. On the other hand it had never used one before. Still, it might prove useful for something. He gently clipped it on to his waist, then praying it did not turn on by itself and cut his leg off; he started off toward the spartans. From the sound of it, the battle was dying off, and they would be boarding the ship soon. Fisher hoped it would mean some more cover at least. He started to run over to the spartans, then saw a pack of brutes close to them. Deciding on the wisest course of action, he turned around and sprinted and took cover behind a supply crate. His instructors had told him not to be a hero and he didn’t plan to be. Why? Because most heroes were dead, and life as a coward was better than plasma charred death as a hero for a species which would probably go extinct anyway.

[elando]

Captain Andrew Hallam

Assaulting Target Hades

Crater Ridge

From his position situated on one side of the giant crater Andrew surveyed the battlefield as the cracks and booms echoed down the ridge from the two sniper teams near-by. "Looks like we're making pretty short work of the bastards." Andrew said to Sargent Pink. "I suppose we should at least make some kind of appearance in all this..." Pink replied. "You know, make it look like we actually did something." Andrew disengaged the optical zoom on his helmet and sighed. "The joys of being an officer..." Stepping up to the edge of the crater he patted one of the snipers on the shoulder, indicating a cease fire as his squad would descend the crater. The sniper nodded and gave him a thumbs up as Andrew turned and hopped over the edge.

He landed a few feet down on the steep slope and continued down as, infront of him, he could see the battle coming to a close. Explosions were still going off in the distance but he could see various covenant troops falling back. Grunts were furiously scrambling up the sides of the crater, attempting to escape as Elites and Jackals scaled the sides easily as they fell back. Those that took too long to climb the sides were cut down by the sniper teams.

"Clear up!" Andrew radioed over the comm network. "Covenant are falling back, I want a secure perimeter around that Grav Lift ASAP." As he approached the Grav Lift, his squad met no resistance, with most of the Covenant either dead or retreating at this point. Ascending the ramp to the Lift a number of Marines and ODSTs were on guard as one of the Spartans was hunched over the Lift's control console. As Andrew walked through the crowd of troops they each acknowledged him with either a nod or a simple mutter of "Sir."

"Whats the situation Spartan?" Andrew said, peering around the towering hulk of machine and man. The Spartan, numbered 178, didn't look up from the console as he spoke. "Sir, the immediate area is secure. I've been trying to get Churchill to interface with this console and override the Assault Carrier's lift hatch but we've had no luck. They must have locked this console out of the system when they sealed the hatch." The Spartan said. "Then we'll have to make our own door then won't we..." Andrew replied.

Opening up a secure channel to the Mirage fleet Andrew radioed in. "Grav lift and crater is secure but we have no entrance into the AC from here. Requesting reinforcements and a shit load of ordnance." A few seconds later the reply came in. "Roger that. Reinforcements are enroute with Det packs and ammo. ETA 20 minutes." Under his helmet, Andrew smiled.

"Here's where the fun begins..."