Mission Two: Belly of the Beast (Part the Second)

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

"Tell me when the Marines drop from space in pods with over 30% chance of death on impact and I will consider." Said Jakob with a laugh.
"I will go secure the next room and hall, then I will wait for the info to come in and I will move to the objective sir." Jakob saluted to the veteran and yelled at his men "Leave the wounded and dead we are moving out! The Marines will take care of them." Luckily only the two Privates were killed and the Corporal who lost his helm just had to get held back from the fighting for a while.

[monkeyjoe14]

ODST Sergeant Redsont

Redsont group moved through the distorted hallway. Portions of the walls were melted while others had looked like they were torn open. The usual purple light was faint and it was hard to see in some places. This passage way was perfect for a covenant ambush. Redsont kept moving foward when he noticed the flash of a plasma rifle.

"Contacts, get to cover", Redsont ordered as he stood behind a pillar.

His team scattered and took cover behind anything possible, crates, pieces of the walls that were ripped outward. Redsont saw the fir had came from an elite who was with several grunts, the usaul group. Redsont aimed his rifle and took out the first grunt quickly. Pat followed through with his own fire and his rounds bounced off the elite's shields.

"Get some you ugly son of a bitch", Pat yelled as he emptied his entire clip.

The elite ducked under a crate as two grunts provided cover fire with needlers. Desmond grabbed Pat by his shouldered and pulled him down as the shards zoomed over there heads. Fred and Redsont fired on the Grunts as Ed primed a grenade and threw it next to the elite's cover. The grenade's explosion sent the crate flying and decimated the elite's shields. The elite was stunned from the explosion as Desmond fired his BR and shot the elite in the chest. It dropped as the bullets entered it's body. The remaining two grunts panicked as there leader fell and Redsont picked them off quickly.

"Booyah! That's what I call a turkey shoot", Pat yelled.

Redsont slapped the back of Pat's helmet.

"You trying to get us killed or are you just being stupid", He barked.

Pat quited down and the squad continued on into the corridor.

[Oresus]

(Sorry for shitty post, will edit later)

Nha's shoulders slumped as he recognized the face behind the helmet. "Major, you're a sight to see in these times," he sighed, motioning for Jae 'Fulsamee to check the corridor again. The Sangheili saw that his comrade bore the signs of very recent battle, and breathed again only when the door closed quietly.

"What heretic has caused you trouble, brother?" asked 'Chavamee, coming close to scrutinize the other Major Domo. Just then, the gunfire resumed, seeming awfully close in the tight corridors of the carrier.

---

Door after door, Irbinus encountered only the dead or wounded. It appeared he'd missed the initial battle, but he could hear multiple skirmishes taking place somewhere close. When the Brute encountered a wounded human, he efficiently dispatched it with the handy blade on his Spiker before hurrying on, searching for a proper kill.

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Fireteam Alpha; Nova Squad

The firefight had left Jake stunned and confused. One moment he was looking down the hall, the next everything blew up in that same hall. Several men and women had died from the ruckus, and he had just barely gotten out of the way of a plasma shot. He held his fire, saving every round for when he would really need it. The contacts they had were just Grunts and an Elite Minor, worthless targets unless they had something heavy like the fuel rod alien, who was down before he even saw what happened. He had stood near the Elite before he went kamikaze and blew himself to hell, back, and down into it again.

When the flash and dust cleared, everything was strewn in every way possible except for the study walls. If fights were going to be like this, Jake wanted to get in and out as fast as he could. His Lieutenant was safe and had already made it back to another Sergeant while the team cleaned up and got setup. Jake looked around at those who were standing around and growled lowly.

“We’re in a god damned war zone! Get your rifles up and get a perimeter!” Jake growled and shoved a few soldiers around so they would get moving.

Other Troopers and Marines moved off as well, moving into the shadows and a few other bodies moved about. Jake hated this bull, this is why people were dying. No one wanted to fight and everything was a joke until the plasma comes raining down. Jake sneered a bit then overheard part of the Lieutenant’s and Sergeant’s conversation. They had to secure the Cargo and Holding, while the Spartans got to the bridge.

Jake moved forward to his team mates and looked at them, usually he would’ve avoided them, but that was back at the DZ. Now they were inside a Covenant carrier, in a place where standing around could get them attacked. Rich, Gordan, and Luther were watching a corridor and were setup to defend it. Jake doubted they would listen to him, but he had to try it out.

“Rich, Gordan, Luther. We’re moving out.” Jake said and moved through them, his rifle raised and ready to fire.

The other three looked at each other weirdly then at were Jake went down the hallway. Luther was technically higher rank but he was to confused that Jake had actually said something. Luther followed second, then the others went as well but very hesitantly. Jake moved quietly, ducking into the shade as a small group of Grunts waddled past towards gunfire. An Elite was right behind them, it stilled for a moment and sniffed the air. It looked towards Jake’s hall, but turned and continued on.

From the shadows, Jake peeked around the corner to see a damaged crate and several bodies strewn about. A soft tap on his pack showed that his three ODSTs were right behind him. Jake reached back and tapped the body behind him then slipped across the hall, through the intersection, and back into the shadows. He checked if anyone, or thing, saw him. And the Covenant that were in the hall didn’t even turn. Jake quietly waved his team and they swiftly moved across. The team continued down the hall, two on each side and in the blackness where they were invisible.

[maxii1]

Captain Nigel Lennox
Location: UNSC Forlorn Hope; Expeditionary Officer Support Sector
Status: Assigned as the New Commander of the Attack in Target Hades

As an Ex-Special Forces officer and a veteran Expeditionary Officer, Nigel Lennox seemed like a very capable and obvious choice for a commanding officer to lead the offensive in unfriendly territory.

However the Captain was a tainted man, he had been captured in battle, tortured, studied, used, dirtied, ruined by the covenant, he had spent two years in a UNSC Facility in order to try and right the wrongs that had affected him.

He himself had no real idea if it had worked, he’d written to his personal psychiatrist but had received no straight answer. The proof it seemed would be in the pudding.

A technician shouted from his seat “Sir, Request from Captain Hallam, He wants you to lead the assault in the AC, says he’s tied to the logistics on the ground”

Lennox rose from his seat and opened up one drawer of his desk, revealing a well-polished pistol. “It’s been a long time” he smiled and holstered the weapon leaving the room and heading towards a Pelican that would take him down to the battle, down to the fight.

Down, back into hell.

[Dufflepud]

"My lance and I managed to fight off a couple of spartans, and just like the rest of their kind, they fled." Maybe we should join up for the time being, so as to increase our chance of survival." Just then, the sound of a human assault rifle being fired rang out, much closer than the last few gunshots K'tas had heard. He looked at his radar, and already he could see that a human fire team was converging on their position. One of the oncoming marines hurled a grenade, and K'tas yanked Nha through the doorway, pulling him behind cover, just in time to avoid the blast.

[tincanhitman]

Damen crept down the hall with his team and him cloaked. all around them were the bodies of their comrades and of their enemy's. Damen ignored the bodies and continued down the hall trying to make as little noise as possible.

As he rounded a corner an ODST walked right into him. Materializing he grabbed the ODST and broke its neck. but he was spotted by the rest of his squad who turned and fired at him. He threw the ODST's body at his still living teammates and drew his plasma rifle and shot at the humans who had taken cover in rooms off to the side of the corridor. One of his lance moved to the other side of the corridor shooting the whole time.

One of the ODST shot a rocket down the hall forcing him and his lance to take cover. He popped out again and shot this time he threw a plasma grenade which landed on a marines shoulder. the marine fell back screaming. His screams were cut short as the grenade went off vaporizing him. The other two ODST stood up and opened up trying to slow the Sangheili down but were cut down by Hurth's Needler. They exploded covering the walls in gore.

[Oresus]

"Vile, godforsaken beasts!" howled the Major at the door as it closed yet again. "May your kind be doomed to damnation!" He looked both ways and shook his head wildly, mandibles flopping about the place. To K'tas, he said solemnly, "Your plan is an excellent one, Major. Forerunners be with us as we cleanse this vessel."

With that, the combined lances retreated down the corridor, aiming for a junction. They reached it as the door opened to reveal two heretics armed with the horrid assault rifles that seemed to be their standard armament just as the plasma rifle was for Sangheili. "Suppressive fire!" commanded Nha 'Chavamee as the pair advanced towards them. "To the walls! Burn their flesh away!" he called enthusiastically, firing a dozen bolts without regard for aiming. "Major, we must fall back and defend our prize!" he hollered into the other red-armored warrior's ear.

---

The Jiralhanae snarled into the writhing human's face, causing it to cough in discomfort as spit was sprayed onto its sensitive skin. "Who commands this attack?" he demanded again, before giving up and digging his bayonet deep into the muscles of the beast's stomach. As the human died, blood spurting from a terrible wound, Irbinus twisted and threw it into the other wall. He grunted in sadistic satisfaction as the clear sound of a spine shattering reached his ears. The Minor sauntered over and extracted the Spiker, bayonet and all, from the corpse.

He'd been granted his wish by the gods, having slain two intruders since leaving the vicinity of the grav-lift and learning that the battle was in fact several smaller battles taking place in the area around the chamber. The Pack was scattered as well, so the mere Minor wouldn't regroup until ordered by Sussius. This was what the Jiralhanae were best at: close combat with no objective to remember other than to kill everything that looked green.

---

As soon as he was away from that dreaded room, Jut's knees went wobbly and he leaned against a wall for support, using the Carbine to prop himself up. The Kig-Yar muttered his thanks to some higher being before continuing along the narrow passageway, taking care to step over the corpses. As he was going about this, the marksman recognized one of the corpses and got a fright when it sat up. "Fes," gasped Jut, "don't ever do that again, you fool."

Groaning, his friend tried to stand up but could only do so with Jut's assistance. "Grenade," he explained, pointing to several bloodstains on his armor. "I patched it up, but I can't walk well." The two Kig-Yar slowly made their way out of that section of the ship, using lifts and downward corridors to speed their progress. "Where's Tes?" asked a concerned Jut.

"Um," began his injured squadmate, "I think he's up at the top with a lance that needed his services." The other Kig-Yar nodded, satisfied, and placed Fes against a wall while he scouted ahead. The two hadn't seen any humans yet, and the anticipation made Jut a good deal more nervous than he would have been if they'd encountered plenty. Again, none obstructed the sniper's intended route and he returned to pick up Fes. As they moved on, muffled gunfire could be heard seemingly quite close, but no fierce battles erupted in front of them until two doors opened near the end of their journey and three humans moved into the corridor. Jut promptly released Fes, who fell to the ground whilst pulling out his Carbine, and the two fired a volley of shots. Several bright green blasts streaked through the musty air and entered the "too close for comfort" area. One of their enemies darted onward through another door, another followed him reluctantly while firing to put the snipers off, but the third jerked and slumped, scarlet blood pouring from a dozen holes. "Quickly!" Jut shouted, and Fes limped after him as they escaped the humans' wrath.

[SuperCommando]

SPARTAN-009 (Silas)

Inside Target Hades

En route to bridge

Silas was forced to break his suppressive fire as Joe’s grenade came back. Pivoting on his heel, he dived away for maximum distance as the spot where they just were exploded. Even as stray shrapnel pinged of his MJOLNIR armor, he hit the ground with his right shoulder, rolling to his feet, careful not to crush the weapon he carried as he did so. He followed Joe as the two Spartans fell back, but he kept his eye and his machine gun trained on the corridor behind them as they did, on the lookout for the vague, yet telltale heatwave-like shimmer of cloaked Elites as Joe had warned.

Joe flung a pair of plasma ‘nades behind them, just as they ran into Harry.

“Time to reroute eh?” he said.

“Affirmative,” Silas replied, still guarding the corridor. “Covies are everywhere. It’ll take us all day if we stop to fight them all.” It wasn’t the ideal tactical situation, he had to admit. Moving on too quickly would expose them to flanking enemies or ambushes. As a veteran soldier, Silas held no illusions that just because they were Spartans they were invincible. But that NAV data had to be retrieved ASAP. Who knew what the Covenant might do if they got desperate? They’d just have to trust the Marines and ODSTs to keep the enemy busy and keep their backs clear.

He let Even-247 finish speaking to Joe’s AI, Churchill, before speaking up again. “So what’s the plan, Gamma One? Once we reach the bridge, what do we do if we locate the data package?” Then, he added with a grim tone, “What do we do if we don’t?”

[Dufflepud]

Coar'the Tesamee blew the humans into pieces with a single round from his Fuel Rod Gun. The combined lances rushed around the next bend, to come face to face with a trio of ODSTs. K'tas grabbed one ODST by his neck, using the body as a living shield. He tore off it's helmet, and sunk his claws into it's neck, before ripping off it's head with a ferocity that was usually only seen in brutes. He hurled the corpse at the two remaining ODSTs, before lighting an energy sword, and gutting the second ODST. He watched as the other Major Domo, Nha Chavamee advanced upon the last of the poor, defeated creatures.

[jaden1985]

Miles hopped out of the pelican along with the rest of the crew near the grav lift. The roar of the pelican soon disappeared in back of them as it quickly ascended back away from them. He had always hated putting his team up for these types of missions, oh don’t worry you all run into an enemy ship, sure we don’t know what’s in it could be a whole army but don’t worry you’ll be fine oh and uh don’t die. Something was giving him a bad feeling in his stomach; it had been in his stomach the last time he lost a member of his fire team. He didn’t want to think about it now its game time.

Miles looked at all the dead bodies on the ground. The fighting seemed to be over already in the ground the UNSC was winning. “Looks like were late.” PG said as they continued walking before focusing on the huge grav lift. Miles dismissed PG’s comment and his feeling in his stomach as nerves and nothing else as he spotted a marine near the grav lift.

“You all heading up there?” The marine shouted immediately being swarmed by the fire team. Miles taped his helmet to unpolarize himself as the rest of his team stood behind him. Miles gave the marine a nod.

“We’re ordered to provide additional support to the teams. I’m guessing they’re up there already. What should we be expecting up there?”

The marine simply shrugged. “Beats me. Crews and fire teams had been hopping up there faster than a grunt away from a grenade. My guess is be prepared for anything.”

“Great…” Miles said as he proceeded past the marine into the grav lift, polarizing his helmet once more. Alien technology, he still didn’t know quite how it worked only that it wasn’t used yet by humans. As soon as he stopped moving he felt himself lift up for a moment before continuing ascension towards the massive ship. Miles looked down rechecking his rifle as looked up…

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Fireteam Alpha; Nova Squad

For them, everything seemed to be going fine. The screams of pain and death, along with the still echoing sounds of fighting, told Jake that the others weren’t as lucky. The four ODSTs had barely escaped slipping past several Grunts and a few Commandos that had come down the hall. Slow and steady was their pace, and stealth was their weapon. They needed to get as close as possible to where the Spartans were going and make a big enough distraction so they could get the package.

The others had picked up plasma grenades and Rick had some extra C-12 in his pack. Just enough to make a big enough boom to piss everything, and everyone, off. Now the only thing they had to do was follow the sound of the Spartan’s fighting. They had passed through several junctions, but there was no sign of the trio anymore. The ODSTs had clambered inside of the walls of the ship into the mechanical ducts to stay out of sight for now. Luther and Rich were watching the entrances, but the darkness and stillness kept them covered while Jake tried to figure out where the ducts went. He didn’t have a PDA, but there was a little sign of the ships make-up for the workers that fix the ship.

Jake finally gave up after a few minutes, it was to dark to actually read it. Plus he didn’t understand the language it was in. With a tap, Rich leaned out and checked the hall. When it was clear, and another group of Covenant waddled past, The ODSTs continued. This time, once they reached a clear intersection, they turned to the left. Back at the beginning, the hallways showed that the Spartans were in the hallway on the Squad’s left.

With no sounds of fighting, either Gamma team was already dead, or they had moved past. Jake needed to know which one it was. There would be no need to continue on of the Spartans were gone. Jake and his team turned left in the intersection, keeping to the shadows and moved down the hall. It was clear, either the Covenant had left, or they never decided to defend the turn here. Jake and his team quickly moved into key positions at the entrance of the hall. Rick was in a small hole on the left corner of the hall that broke towards the intersection with Gordan on the other side. Jake and Luther hid in a crevice on the main path where the Spartans hopefully would run passed soon. Jake wouldn’t interfere, all he needed to know was that those three were alive and his sneaking wasn’t wasted. If it was, he probably had a few court marshals waiting for him, and he didn’t like that.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad The Crater

During the initial stages of the assault up the grav-lift, Indigo squad had been assigned the rather menial task of final patrols around the crater to check for any survivors from the Covenant guards. After finishing their last circuit of the carrier, they had marched to the lift and waited for confirmation

Andrew recieved the go-ahead to enter the carrier, and, despite seeing plenty of UNSC personel ride it up into the ship safely, tentitavely stepped onto the lift and shot up into Target Hades.

"About time!" Adam whooped as they emerged up in the lift room, and Andrew was inclined to agree with him. He had had enough of running across hot, rocky terrain to last a lifetime.

An ODST squad had just entered the lift before them, and Andrew nodded at their squad leader before turning to Adam, Tom and Sarah. "Alright, this is the kind of thing we were trained for, let's make up for lost time," he grinned behind the breathing mask, before racking the Assault Rifle and jogging down the corridor, as the sound of gunfire began to echo through the halls.

(OOC: INDIGO IS BACK IN ACTION BABEH!!!)

[maxii1]

Captain Nigel Lennox
Location: Entering Target Hades.

The Expeditionary Officer had upon reaching the Battlefield insisted that all data relevant to the fight be sent to the EOS back onboard the Forlorn Hope, this was grudgingly done and soon the analysts started to formulate a real plan of attack.

Lennox had shaken the hand of a busy Captain Hallam chatting tactics and hearsay before entering the ship with two platoon’s accompanying him, to strengthen the attack.

“We have to consolidate our forces and carve a way to that data” he stated as he entered the ship, quickly checking on his PDA at the positions of the UNSC Force, a lot of soldiers where already scattered around the initial area of the ship.

Nigel would need to start organizing his men.

[inhert]

Red Wing (SOG-A and Paula Santa Maria)

Target Hades

UNSC staging area inside Hades

The Pelican was making a slow deliberate climb away from Lethe’s surface and the Assault Carrier when the pilot turned the ship around toward the surface. The sudden change in direction caught the seven passengers in the back of guard; throwing them around in their seats. What caused the pilot to turn the Pelican around was unknown to the members of SOG-A and the two ONI Technicians. The Pelican violently shook as it reentered an atmosphere it was turning to escape only seconds ago.

“What is going on?” Murph hollered to the pilot over the Pelican’s intercom system.

“The attack’s started.” The pilot hollered back as he tried to concentrate on the reentry.

Murph could only make out the last word of the pilot’s reply through the noise that filled his helmet, but it was enough for him to understand the turnaround. At this point during their reentry getting out of the restraints was impossible, and if one could do it they would most likely be bounced around the cabin. Luckily the hellish vibrations stopped as suddenly as they began, and their ride became tolerable as the Pelican leveled out and streaked to a landing site underneath the Assault Carrier.

The members of SOG-A jumped into action during the approach, they removed all the extra kit they carried during their reconnaissance of the Carrier. Their bulky rucksacks were left on the floor as the men took magazines and explosives that would help them inside the massive Alien ship. Yellow and Axe put their BR55s on the floor and rotated their MA5Bs to their front on the guns three point sling. Jester, the team’s sniper followed suit and leaving his SRS99C.

As the Pelican dropped its rear gate the SOG-A team burst into a sprint to the Grav-lift, with the two ONI technicians that accompanied them keeping pace. The pace slowed as Murph spotted Captain Nigel Lennox entering the blue column of the Grav-Lift. At the base of the column was a Marine sergeant who served as an air-traffic controller for the lift. Initially protesting the sergeant let the special operations group cut into the order of Marines going up, from his position anyone going up was going to their death. Stepping into the blue light the group of seven felt nothing as their noticed their feet lifted from the ground, then the accelerated toward the bottom of the ship.

Entering the ship SOG-A could heard the cacophony of gunfire and explosions from rooms and corridors around them. Crowding the room were the forty-eight men that Lennox had brought with him, Murphy and his comrades had to push their way through the Marines to find Lennox.

When they came face to face with Lennox the four SOG-A men gave a salute, Murphy was about to introduce when Paula spoke first. “Puala Santa Maria, ONI; they are SOG-A; and the other guy is Crash, with me.” She pulled a TACPAD from her pack and showed Lennox the display which was an over lay of the ship’s interior, “We suspected the data is here.” A yellow blip showed up in a room two miles from where they stood, “And that’s were we and the SPARTANS need to be.” The TACPAD also highlighted a cluster of green stopped in the center corridor of the ship.

“That’s where the SPARTANS are, they are relatively close but they’re stuck. They can either continue down that hall, facing the bulk of the Cov on the ship but that would cost. But they can go this way.” A yellow line traced a circuitous route though the tributary halls of the ship, ending at a wall of the room where data core was. “They would have to breach the wall but they would avoid the bulk of the Cov.” She stopped and stared breathlessly at Captain Lennox, the magnitude of her action settling on her.

[monkeyjoe14]

Spartan 178 Joe

Joe listened to Silas about they should do.

"Then we use this guy in my head to upload and delete any trace of the data", Joe informed, "and as for not finding it, Churchill might be able to help us there"

Joe then tapped his com.

"Churchill, can you upload us a schematic of this ship and put a marker where the bridge is", Joe asked.

"Yeah give me a second", Churchill told him.

Shortly after a schematic appeared on Joe's heads up display.

"Alright, looks like we're heading the right way.", Joe stated.

[maxii1]

Captain Nigel Lennox
Inside Target Hades; Gravity Lift Room


Lennox waved a greeting towards the recently arrived soldiers, ONI and Spec-Op’s, proper experienced and expert soldiers unlike a few of the more unpolished marines that had filled up the ranks of the first attack.

“Thank you Paula” he spoke, gazing at the information and interpreting it spoke aloud “We could follow the Spartan’s route but then what if we then took your suggested route whilst the Spartans and an additional force carried out a diversion attack?” he paused.

“This is the covenant’s ship, no chance of outsmarting them, they have a distinct advantage when it comes to tracking us down, however if the Spartans made enough noise, a task I’m sure they’d rise to the challenge to, then that might buy us enough time reach that data undetected, or at the very least decrease the amount of resistance encountered at the objective”

Nigel paused, wondering whether he really was ready to be returned to active, frontline duty as he awaited the views of the elite fighters that stood around him.

[inhert]

Red Wing (SOG-A and Paula Santa Maria)

Target Hades

UNSC staging area inside Hades

Paula gulped Lennox’s response, he had accepted it? the thought caused her to pause as a response formulated. “We only have the problem that the SPARTANs have an A.I., Churchill, who will do the heavy lifting on the hack. We can only get so far into the Cov system. The SPARTANs are better equipped to serve as a diversion, but once we getting into where the Data is there’s no point of a diversion.”

As he listened to Paula and Captain Lennox, Murph had drawn an idea, “Why not have the SPARTANs and those already on their way continue their push through the main hallway, and god knows they can handle it. While the new arrivals take the outer hallways route to the data room. Everyone should reach the room at the same time, or atleast we should hit it shortly after the SPARTANs.” The plan was a mad dash through a hostile and heavily damaged ship, it was Run and Gun.

“The Cov would be shifting all toward the fighting down the middle hall now, so we can take advantage of that and cover some ground before getting into a sustained firefight.” Murph added ending his idea.

[Dutch]

On the Assault Carrier, things were certainly in a dire state. It did not take a prodigy to figure such things put. Damaged, stuck over the alien world, the nearest reinforcements were hundreds of light-years away and a sizable portion of the vessels armed forces had been decimated in a fierce, bloody clash with humans that resulted in the blasphemous filth taking control of the gravity lift, and eventually, sending up their own warriors into the holy ship-of-the line.

Well, that would simply not do. No, it would not at all be adequate for the Covenant shipmaster, which was the reason that the Sangheili Major Domo San Falamee was rallying what he considered an inadequate lance, and preparing to head off and cause great distress among the human’s unholy ranks.

San wished he held command of his own kind, he wished for a minor Sangheili, at least one, to command, to lead into an honorable, glorious battle! However, as it was he had naught but three Unngoy and one Kig-Yar to take with him into paradise. Yes, paradise. For while battle was quite enjoyable, he knew that a greater paradise awaited him, an eternal bevy of rewards from the mighty Forerunners for his lifetime of dedicated servitude to their eternal glory.

For he knew, or at least he was quite positive, that he was journeying into a suicidal battle. A glorious last stand that would burn away his iniquities in the fire of battle, and make his holiness and honor shine forth like that of the purest and finest of refined metals! And from the blazing inferno of war, he would emerge, victorious, into the eternal reward, he would walk the path of the Forerunners, he would become a god alongside them!
He had doubts of the Unngoy and the Kig-Yar however, who’d exuded nothing but cowardliness and dishonor. While, except for one of them. The Unngoy Major, Sapap. He had exhibited loyalty, devotion, intelligence, skill and honor. Apparently he had been sired to one of the survivors of the Unngoy Uprising and had taught his heir the meaning of honor and loyalty, and above all devotion to the Hierarchs and the Forerunners.

If the stout little creature had been conceived a Sangheili, he would have gone far indeed. Instead he faced chiding and ridicule by his own brethren, being derided and called a lunatic, crazy and a fool among other insults. Still, his actions had been noted and commended by the Major Sangheili, and he now hoped to rise farther in the ranks.

San moved down the corridor, Lance behind him. His unit was one among several who were leading a surprise assault on the gravity lift entrance in an attempt to regain control. Behind him, Unngoy waddled nervously while Kig-Yar moved silently, letting out occasional hisses of fear and/or bloodlust. Sangheili moved as silent as space itself, making faintly any noise as their hooves carefully treaded over the purple metal.

San could hear the metallic rattling of the human firearms as the Covenant force approached the target zone. He could now hear his own heartbeats, and listened as they pumped nourishing blood through his veins, nourishing blood which would soon be spilt honorably on the metal deck plate. He waited, and then felt the two thuds of his hearts. One for the Forerunners and the Hierarchs, one for honor and glory. He could feel his heart rate increase and his excitement level increased and exhilarating chemicals flooded his bloodstream. He felt the surge of power sweep through him like a mighty wave. He would battle, and he would destroy these weed-eating apes, these creatures who dared desecrate the Forerunners sovereignty!

The sounds of battle were louder now, and San’s muscles now tensed with built up energy, destructive power ready to be unleashed for the cause for religious zeal. The Unngoy also grew more nervous, increasing their petty and fearful chatter. The aggravating sound grated against San’s ears. He whipped his snake-like head around and quickly growled out a warning. Their nattering fell silent, at least for now.

Noise! A human voice laced with fear and quickly hushed by a sound of authority. From San’s calculations, the humans were just beyond a turn which lead into the gravity left entry bay. Holding up a hand for absolute silence, he darted ahead, light as plasma on his hooves. He came to a rest with a clanking sound on the metal. There was a hushing sound from the
human leader, than the sound of their primitive rifles being brought to bear.

Taking quick action, San darted around the corner and tossed a plasma grenade which planted itself squarely on the chest of a dark skinned human. There was a gasp, and then San vanished amongst a sudden burst of screams, gunfire and a horrified gasp. These sounds were all enveloped by the sound of the bombs detonation, effectively exterminating the humans in the corridor.

San gave a quick command, urging all the warriors forward. They complied quickly, charging forward and around the corner, San in the lead. Their cover had been surely destroyed, blown apart by the grenade and weapons fire. Now, regardless of noise, the holy anointed ones came roaring forth, an unstoppable wave of reclamation! Coming to the door, he prepared to move forward when a voice stopped him. The voice of his leader, Jastu ‘Raramee.

“San, the demons are advancing on the bridge, they must be stopped! Turn your lances around and make with all due haste for the bridge!” the communication ended, leaving San stunned. The demons, the ‘spartans’ were advancing on the bridge? As his hearts rose, he realized the magnitude of the glory! He could destroy one of these faceless spawn of hell, or die trying dying with the honor of a warrior. He turned round and relayed the message to the Covenant behind him, his hearts leaping with joy!

Turning around now, they began to make with all due haste for the bridge, to destroy the vermin! Jastu had uploaded a navigation marker onto his HUD, and he used this to lead this artificial assistance to the source of the problem. Taking a quick shortcut through some maintenance ways, he quickly closed the distance to the quarry. He was in the lead, with all of the other Sangheili following him very closely, the longer-legged Kig-Yar trailing them and with the Unngoy falling behind, panting.

As the distance quickly vanished, the sound of fighting grew and grew, the whining of plasma rifles exchanging death with human rifled weapons, the occasional explosions of grenades of both sides, plus the crackling of recharging energy shields. His motion tracker was now swarming with red dots designating infidels worthy of death, death which San was all-too happy to deliver. As he turned a final corner, he came face-to-face with two human special soldiers, the black armour clad warriors. They reacted to his sudden presence, though san reacted fasted. His rifle shot up and stuttered, flinging liquidly streams of fire into their masked faces. The first fell over, helmet and head fused into a molten mass. The second human fell, mask gone and face skin also. He had just began to scream in agony when a elegant pink needle shard went through his eye and detonated, painting San in grey matter.

He didn’t look to see the shooter; for there were other shooters to deal with, specifically the human demons. He fired another quickly burst and burnt down a human marine, rounder a corridor to feast his shark-like eyes on his target.

Nearly the size of himself, clad in fascinating drab green armour and with a fearsome looking mask over their debatable face, the human warrior was busy, appearing to be planning his next movement with his fellow hellspawn. Taking his opportunity, Sal let loose a long-built up war cry and fired his plasma rifle dead center at the demons exposed back.

(OOC: San’s target is Silas))

[Oresus]

An offensive with some decent effort put into it soon drove the humans back from the corridor, and Nha wasted no time waiting for them to return with reinforcements, which seemed to be an inevitability. He turned his head slightly to look at K'tas, while keeping one eye on the door. "Though my hearts race at the prospect of battle and glory, Major," he said reluctantly, "I fear it would be most unwise to pursue those stragglers." As he spoke, the rest of Vigilant Lance appeared around a corner, unharmed as far as Nha could tell. The Major waited for them to arrive before speaking again. "I propose that we retreat and attempt to recruit as many warriors as we can to protect the command center."

Taheri 'Mortumee stepped up to his commander's side and nodded his approval, displaying an arm dripping with a familiar red fluid for all to see. "I've spilled my fair share of blood so far, Major, I have no problem with retreating." One by one, those assembled showed their assent and the group, led by K'tas with Nha taking up the rear, moved off on a corridor that promised quick, easy access to their destination. After gaining some grim news from the other Major, Nha shouted out a warning and a rally. "Beware, warriors! Demons are aboard the ship, with the intent to desecrate the command center and make off with our prize! Destroy them, and your place on the Path is guaranteed!"

---

However blasphemous the technologies employed by the humans were, Irbinus soon learned to guard against them after a couple of close calls with the confounded "fragmentation" grenades. The Minor's blood was up, and all the knowledge and experience of his campaigns against the heretics came rushing back after a period of inactivity. Aim for the spine, or the vulnerable gut. Take advantage of reloading time. They're weak; overpower them. Tactics occupied Irbinus' thoughts as he made his way through the central section of the Charity, searching for a familiar face. Few foes stood in the Brute's way, and those that did were usually the inexperienced, weak pry-vits that the Jiralhanae had derived so much amusement from torturing back on Harvest. A smile played across Irbinus' face as he ducked and spun away from a burst of gunfire before shooting a few spikes in a human's direction. The Jiralhanae cursed at his racial inability to shoot with true precision, and advanced upon the human, who was fumbling with his weapon. Reloading time-

A second soldier lurched out of an alcove and jabbed at Irbinus with a knife, eyes filled with a cornered-rat desperation. The original human dropped his assault rifle and swiftly drew out a sidearm, casually sending a bullet to collide with the Minor's power armor. As the pair descended upon him, Irbinus chuckled weakly, a sound that struck uncertainty into his attackers' hearts. The one with the knife paused in mid-blow and said something which Irbinus couldn't understand, but he got the meaning: What's so funny? Following the alien's gaze, the Marine twisted in time to see his comrade receive four beams of energy to the back, slowly sinking to the ground. Iunus stepped forward and aimed his Carbine at the knife-wielder, but lowered it as his brother rose up and placed a hand on its throat. "You're merely another statistic on my record of glory, filth," he growled before tightening his grip, enjoying every moment of the heretic's strangulation.

---

After they'd reached their quarters, Jut had laid Fes down and encountered Tes in the shadows, armed with a Carbine and plasma pistol. Leaving their injured brother-in-arms with a supply of bio-gel and other medical equipment, Tes and Jut stocked up on ammunition and began heading along the length of the massive ship to join the battle near the command center. It took a long time, moving stealthily along the side of the ship, but the Kig-Yar Snipers reached what seemed to be a hotspot and set up to wait for prey. They were less than two minutes' walk from the entrance to the command center, in a choice position to kill any who dared approach to steal back what had belonged to them.

[monkeyjoe14]

Spartan 178 Joe

Joe heard them first and then saw them the next. A group of covenant soldiers at least twice the size of the elites they just faced. Joe immediatly jumped into action as he shoved Silas into cover. Several rounds bounced off his shields as Joe pushed Harry to cover as well. His shields were nearly drained as hid behind a crate. The rounds shook the crate as Joe watched his shields status flash red and the siren in his heads up display whined in his helmet.

"Dammit, they found us already", Joe said gritting his teeth.

"There are no doors between us and them", Churchill stated.

Joe listened to Churchill as he watched his shields slowly regain and his alarm quieted down. He leveled his rifle and fired at the covenant forces. He took down a jackel and two grunts before having to reload his rifle.

"Churchill focus on getting this door open ASAP!", Joe ordered.

It would be close, if the spartans could hold them off long enough they could escape through the door and Churchill could lock it down after they got in. It wouldn't stop the covenant from chasing them, but it would slow them down. He grabbed his last frag and primed it, this time waiting two second before the throw. It hurled towards the covenant and Joe fired his rifle once more. There were too many for them to manuever out of the way of both the gun fire and the grenade.

[commander7890]

Ogada and his bond-brother fired more and more of the heavy needler rounds, more of the human marines had arrived and begun to exchange fire with the pair.The heavy needler rounds bounced as they ricocheted off of walls, but continued to track targets, making no place safe for the humans.

Ogada felt the bullets ping off of his armor and couldn't help but give a deep laugh at the weakness of their weapons. A marine got stabbed through the shoulder by a large needle and fell to the ground, screaming in pain right before the shard exploded and completely tore open the major veins in his shoulder. Ogada heard the scream, and it gave him an idea. He shared this idea with his bond-brother in their own language.

Nafasu agreed, and they waited, slowly counting down. When they hit zero, they stopped firing and in unison, let out a loud screeching cry, mimicking the man's scream. The entire hallway shook from the vibrations of such a loud noise, and it was obvious that the marines felt it too, as Mgalekgolo could mimic the vocal-cords of other species through the vibrations of their bodies, making these languages more felt, as they were much stronger vibrations than what that language was usually spoken in.

The gunfire suddenly, and the marines peeked their heads out of cover, eyes-wide. They didn't understand how a mgalekgolo worked, they didn't know that they could vaguely mimic voices, let alone how they could. Ogada and Nafasu took advantage of the confusion, and charged forward. Ogada kicked a crate that a marine hid-behind, sending both the crate and the human flying backwards. Nafasu swung his shield in a horizontal strike, hitting an empty weapon container through the air, which than smashed into another crate a human was hiding behind. The marine yelled in surprise, and was crushed by the heavy metal.

Then the gunfire erupted once more, bullets flying through the air, only to ricochet off of the thick armor the mgalekgolo wore. The pair returned fire, this time getting a few more kills as marines tried to rush back to cover further away from the pair after seeing what they did to those in the very front. They were stabbed through the back by the oversized needles. There were six dead marines, leaving three targets left total.

One of the marines tossed a grenade, but the pair had begun to rush forward again, the explosive detonating to far away behind them to be of any threat. The pair moved up on the position of two of the remaining marines, firing their heavy needlers over their cover, impaling the two humans multiple times. The two didn't have time to scream as their lungs and organs were pierced, and then the crystal shards reacted to each other and the two humans disappeared in an explosion of crystal and pink gas.

The last marine cursed under his breath and sped out of cover, running away from the pair. Ogada took careful aim, and fired. The crystal sped forwards, hit a wall at an angle, and was pointed at the retreating marine, homing in on him and stabbing into his spine, an instant kill.

The pair laughed deeply and walked forward through their scene of carnage, corpses lay there all around them. Their laughter was cut short, as Ogada felt another human presence. This one was different from the others, there were three of them, heavily armored and matching the description of only one human force:

Demons.

the pair ran through the hallways and corridors, trying to find a good path to reach their targets. They would probably get there soon, within thirty seconds at their current speed and path.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Target Hades

Sweeping his Assault Rifle through the corridor, Andrew kept watch for any Covenant who might slip past the first wave and retake the grav room.

"Why not have the SPARTANs and those already on their way continue their push through the main hallway, and god knows they can handle it. While the new arrivals take the outer hallways route to the data room. Everyone should reach the room at the same time, or atleast we should hit it shortly after the SPARTANs.”

Motioning Tom into his place, Andrew turned and walked up to the ONI spec ops and Captain Lennox.

"Sir, permission to speak?" he asked, not bothering to salute. For one thing, they were in a combat zone, and for another thing, it would just reveal who was in charge to any Covies who might see.

"Corporal Deiran, Indigo squad. Me and my men are trained for this sort of op, requesting permission to take point."

[maxii1]

Captain Nigel Lennox
Location: Gravity Lift Room; currently under UNSC Control.

Lennox took off his hat and ran a hand through his black hair as he looked over the proposed plans and the lists of soldiers at his disposal.

He gazed back up at the soldiers around him, grinning towards the Paula “Don’t look so shocked Paula, you really have done well here”

He then turned to Lt. Murphy and nodded “Lt. Murphy I like your style, running and gunning will see us reach the objective quickly, I want you to take point with not only your team but Indigo Squad as well, you’ll have the assistance of the Expeditionary Officer Support Team, you’ll send all data through them so that the can analysis it and formulate an unbiased response”

He then keyed into his comm. That he wanted to address all soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the grav lift.

A nearby spook nodded, confirming that the connection was safe, with no covenant hackers listening in.

“All squads not yet engaged in battle will reroute and follow Red Wing’s offensive” He kept it short and sweet to avoid any complications.

The Sharpshooters from the Rifle Battalion; 95th Rifles would stay at the gravity lift to hold it for their return, whilst a crack team of engineers and other fighters would place traps and mines at strategic locations to aid in security.

Lennox smiled, it was good to be back in the game, he touched his pistol lightly, checking it was still good to go.

As he watched the soldiers move out, a song came to his head; Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, he smiled, this situation certainly was dire, and the men and women in front of him where defiantly his brothers and sisters in arms.

[Seraph]

Minor Ramia Sraomee Assault Carrier, One deck above Grav lift bay.

The corridors inside the ship may have been dark, but they were far from silent. The faint clattering and whines of small arms fire were the only things that Ramia could hear from her clever ambush spot. Currently she was suspending herself in a ventilation shaft above one of the dark corridors. She wasn't hiding but instead she was waiting for the right moment to strike.

After some quick scouting of the area around of where the this deck leads to the deck below. Ramia and her partner Soh'dri confirmed that the human vermin were now aboard the ship and slowly began to work there way through the ship. Battle net reports she had heard that the humans seemed to have been making an advance on the bridge. Surely to cut the head off the already dying serpent. But the battle net reports also confirmed that there was sufficient numbers of Covenant troops already on the way to intercept them.

Seeing that her and Soh'dri's numbers were quite few. They both agreed it'd be best to take a much more...subtle approach. At the moment no one had come by quite yet and Ramia's limbs were beginning to tire from holding herself up in the shaft. She was also beginning to slightly regret this idea as well. Just when the Minor was about to reconsider another plan, there was the hissing of a door sliding open in the hallway underneath. She tensed and her hearts jumped in her chest.

"Soh'dri," she whispered quietly into her comm. "Confirm, what's down there?" There was no answer on the other end. She must have spoken to softly so she tried a little louder. Still no answer. Then came the sound of many foot falls that clanged lightly on the metal floor. She saw them next as faint red dots on her Motown tracker. This was it she thought to herself, and where the hell was Soh'dri?

Looking down she could see the first of the vermin scanning the corridor with it's gun raised. Ramia held her breath to keep deathly quiet and she could feel her limbs begin to burn from strain. The humans were clad in the humans standard sickly green uniforms. There were five dots on the motion tracker an not one of them was the yellow one that would indicate her brother was nearby. The human squad was proceeding agonizingly slow beneath her. Ramia only saw the third one go by. There was no way she could remain undetected for much longer since the burning in her limbs was beginning to grow almost unbearable.

Cursing, Ramia shifted as quietly as she could so that her legs alone were holding her up. She would have to have carry out the trap by herself since she couldn't afford to stay there any longer. Taking two plasma grenades off her belt and took one in each hand. Priming them the holy flairs illuminated the shaft for but a moment before she let them go and down they fell. One fell right behind the third human in line and the second landed right on the face of the forth when he looked up.

The Minor braced herself and shielded her eyes with the other arm. One of them gave a cry of alarm as raked at his helmet and then came a bright blue flash and the concussive wave as the grenades exploded. She laughed hardily to herself but was soon cut off when her foot slipped and she fell out of the vent and down into the center of confusion. Ramia grunted loudly when she landed and her legs buckled. The wind was also knocked out of her for a moment as she fell to her side.

Breathing hard she looked up to see the spot where the one human who got stuck in the face. Needles to say his bio-matter now decorated the hall. Another human lay dead and charred in front of her and two others beyond that were already getting to their feet. Instinctively reaching around for the carbine on her back-

"Damnation!" she exclaimed, it wasn't there! Scrambling into a crouch she looked only to see it laying near by where the two humans in front. There came a cry from behind her where a single human lay on his buttocks pointing a sidearm at her. The clicking of guns was her only warning before the two behind her began to open fire. With that Ramia sprang into motion toward the one marine who began to fire. A myriad of bullets were bouncing off her shields as she ran, draining them quickly.

Ramia delivered a swift kick to the humans chest when it tried to crawl away. There was a sickening crack that accompanied the impact. Ramia threw herself into cover behind a door panel breathing hard and her adrenaline rushing now. Her shields were nearly gone and it would have only been seconds before bullets would have begun to Peirce her flesh. The gunfire stopped moments later and she dare sneak a peak from cover. They were reloading at the moment.

I must do something otherwise I'll be pinned here and I'm sure more are not far behind. At this Ramia made a split second decision. Taking the plasma pistol at her side she noticed her shields were starting to charge up. It was a risky gamble but it was a perfect opportunity. Letting out a war cry of her own own she charged from her cover with her pistol up and ready to fire. But she stopped mid-stride and her cry died in her throat. There standing over the two humans was another Sangheili Minor who was in the process of dispatching the second human.

Soh'dri...

The female started to grow furious and growled lightly in her throat. She stalked over to him and just as he looked up to greet her Ramia forcefully conked him on the head! Soh'dri reeled a bit backward with a look of shock on his face. "Ramia wha-"

"IDIOT!" she yelled cutting her brother off. The furious Sangheili went to cuff him again, but Soh'dri was ready this time and blocked her. She was going to say something else but he quickly moved to silence her. Ramia pushed him away and poked him in the chest with her sidearm. "Do not ever abandon me like that again." she scolded him a little more quietly but just as forceful.

"I had to move and go around otherwise the heretics would of discovered my position." he said in his defense.

'I could have died! Inform me when you deviate like that."

"Then do not come up with such childish schemes! This is not a game, this is war and your life and honor will be at stake." Ramia could not help but feel slightly hurt by her brother's words but her logical reasoning could only agree, despite her anger. "Now come, we must find others and defend the bridge."

"There are enough of our forces en route, what about side paths that-" Ramia began argue but Soh'dri stopped her.

"We are but two against whole lances of human vermin. And you are still young and inexperienced. We will Randee with other ally lances in the area and proceed to where we are needed." With that the young female was silenced, reluctantly nodding in agreement. The duo began to move swiftly and silently down the corridor and headed down toward the last known location of a few lances. Hoping to find allies along the way.

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Fireteam Alpha; Nova Squad

Cramped inside of the small hole in the hull of the ship, Jake was beginning to get impatient. Time was of the essence, and the Spartans were no where in sight. The muffled sounds of movement along the corners showed that the others were getting uncomfortable as well. By now the covenant were probably preparing to counter the UNSC forces. Jake didn’t want anyone else to die, and if it meant for him to die, he didn’t care. They had enough explosives to rip a hole in the ship and make a loud enough noise to shake the ship. That is, if they found a good place to set off the charges.

Before they turned out of the intersection, Jake had seen a few Covenant forces leaving with new weaponry from another room further down the hall. If they could blow that up, it would make a nice enough boom to get the attention of everyone in the whole ship. The problem was getting there unnoticed. Luck was on their side and they had not been found, but that would change fast if they moved to fast. It was now or never, so he decided to act.

Jake poked his head out a little bit and took a quick look around. There was no movement at all. Nothing had changed since he had slipped inside of the hole a few minutes ago. Slowly, he wiggled free and crawled across the floor back into the opposite hall where he could hide in the darkness. Luther had gotten the message and was moving into the black on the other side as well. Rich and Gordan were already down the hall at the intersection watching the corners. Jake moved down the hall next to Gordan and tapped his shoulder. Gordan gave a slow ‘all clear’ signal. Jake took that and moved into the left hall which lead to the armory farther down. He looked forward down his night vision scope on his rifle to make sure the hall truly was clear.

A tap on his left shoulder signaled that Gordan was behind him, and shuffling on his left showed that Luther and Rich were still there and were also ready to go. Jake took his time and began to move down the hall. Swift and silent the team moved through at least 2 other intersections, sneaking behind a few groups of Grunts and Kig-Yar that were preparing some defenses. As the group turned right and moved towards the armory, it was surprisingly clear. No signs of Covenant except for the marks of blood from wounded walking up and down the hallway.

As they came up on the door, Gordan and Luther took point with Jake and Rich back a little. Rich watched their rear and awaited a tap from Jake. When the door opened from the movement, three grunts were sleeping inside in a far-corner. Silently they were eliminated by the combat knives of the Troopers. As the grunts were eliminated, Rich put some small C-4 traps along the outer-hall in the corners and crevices to keep them hidden. Gordan put up a tiny camera above the door in a high, dark corner to keep an eye on the hall as they shut the door.

The door was locked and sealed with Luther and Gordan hiding near it just incase something got through. Rich and Jake began to unload the C-12 in all of their 4 packs. They wouldn’t have long before someone would come walking up on the door so the two had to work fast. They began to put up the explosives all around the room, in specific positions that would set off everything in the room. The decent-sized room was perfect, a lot of fuel rods and grenades were inside as well so the two moved them around to help with the upcoming blast.

Jake decided to forward a quick warning to his Lieutenant and the Commanding officer, Nigel Lennox, of the coming explosion. He kept silent and whispered the message incase if any Covenant were in the rooms above or around him. Quickly he muttered his message so he could focus on the bombs.

“Nova Squad, Fireteam Alpha. Infiltrated Covenant Armory deep inside the ship. Setting up heavy explosives to cause a distraction. Will distract Covenant long enough for other teams to get to the package. Sending Coordinates of position. Pick us up only if you have time, do not risk anyone else. We will make our way out if we can. Godspeed.”

Once it was sent, he felt his stomach tremble a little at the thought of death. Yet, if they could keep the Covenant busy long enough for the everyone else to get the package and get out, he would die a happy man. A soft touch on his shoulder made Jake look at his friend Rich. The two nodded and ferociously worked on the explosives.

[inhert]

Red Wing (SOG-A and Paula Santa Maria)

Target Hades

UNSC staging area inside Hades

The conversation between Murph, Paula, and Captain Lennox was joined by a daring corporal form Indigo Squad. Corporal Deiran’s suggestion was agreeable for the SOG-A Lieutenant, and he was glad to see the plan finalized by Captain Lennox.

Lt. Murphy I like your style, running and gunning will see us reach the objective quickly, I want you to take point with not only your team but Indigo Squad as well, you’ll have the assistance of the Expeditionary Officer Support Team, you’ll send all data through them so that the can analysis it and formulate an unbiased response.” Lennox made his decision, one that Murph himself would have made. The Corporal already gathered the three members of squad as Murph began to look for them.

“Deiran, you and your squad take the point. We’ll follow you, and Paula and Crash will be last, followed by the rest of the .” Murph eyed all surrounding him through his now translucent visor. “Remember keep moving forward; don’t get bogged down for to long. And stay on the route.” He looked to Paula who was typing away on her TACPAD, her looking up was in time with a waypoint that popped into Murph’s display. “Lead on chief.” Murph patted Deiran’s shoulder plate before the Marine lead the group of ten out of the Grav Lift bay.

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

Jakob walked away and walked over to Aborn, who was inspecting his rockets on top of a ammo crate. Jakob noticed his shoulders were less slumped then usual, he was also more quiet and Jakob saw a faint shudder that indicated he was sobbing. Of course no one noticed because he was just another Hell Jumper in the room. He hopped up with him and asked,
"What's wrong? You seem a lot more tense then usual"
The Sergeant shook his head a little, and turned to Jakob, his visor was unpolarized and he saw what looked like tears.
"I just lost a fire-team out there, I knew each one of them sir, they were all great people, always talking 'bout there families and such."
Jakob was more or less surprised, Aborn always seemed the emotional type, he was a bit of a veteran and had been in the military nearly as long as Jakob, but he knew that Aborn was not used to losing men, he had always kept good care of them, he also noticed that out of all his Sergeants that Aborn seemed to care about his men the most.

Jakob felt bad for his friend, but knew he could not have his Sergeant looking like this, he looked at him and slowly shook his head,
"Sergeant if you blame yourself for this then your going to get more people killed, I know you don't want to do that, and you don't believe that you caused that."
The Sergeant let out the words in a choked voice, with a look on his face that reminded Jakob of a puppy dog.
"If I had took point, or if I told them to crawl, then Private McKenzie would still be alive, if I had told Jenkins to keep his head low he would not be treated for lack of oxygen and damaged lungs, if I had told Corporal to stay in cover when he was with you then he would not have been mowed down by the bastards."
Jakob hit him over the head with the back of his hand, beginning to be annoyed with his Sergeant.
"Aborn if you think things like that how do you expect to feel? It was things that no Commander could of thought of, who would of known a plasma grenade would be thrown? Who would of know that they would be waiting in THAT hall, who the fucking hell would have known there were Grunts behind the corner, NO ONE, you can not do this to yourself, there is always the risk and they knew about it, it was not your fault."
The Sergeant looked up and nodded, coping with the sadness and realizing his CO was correct, he loaded in a rocket into the SPNKR and jumped up,
"Your right sir, lets get everyone and move out, I am getting pay back."

Jakob started walking with him towards one of the Corporals when he noticed something,
"Sergeant where are my men?"
The Sergeant looked around, Jakob was sure under his now polarized visor
was a look of pure confusion.
"Aborn, where the hell is Fireteam Alp..."
“Nova Squad, Fireteam Alpha. Infiltrated Covenant Armory deep inside the ship. Setting up heavy explosives to cause a distraction. Will distract Covenant long enough for other teams to get to the package. Sending Coordinates of position. Pick us up only if you have time, do not risk anyone else. We will make our way out if we can. Godspeed.”
The two looked at each other then slowly moved there palms to there visors.
"Private you son of a bitch what the fuck are you doing god damnit?!"
Jakob had turned on a private com between fireteam Alpha, the Sergeant, and himself.
The Sergeant whispered,
"God damn, you are so dead kid."

[Dutch]

Talk about a bad day.

Private First Class Riley Mackenzie and his unit, Fireteam foxtrot, had been sent down one of the corridors that led to the bridge. Their mission was supposed to be to help out the spartans accomplish their own objective. Although right now, it seemed more and more like their current mission was to survive this particular firefight.

Mackenzie hugged the wall, his MA5B clasped in his cold, vice-like hands. He was breatihng heavily and was coated in a layer of cold sweat. Strange he was so cold, what with all the firing and plasma bolts searing the air, he should be quite hot. But this was just one of those things that happened when one got really freaked out. He whipped his head with his likewise sweating, cold hand and prepared to dance with death again.

At least he wasn't alone. the rest of his fireteam was alive, at least for now they were, and they also had fireteams tango three and Zeta nine to back them up, though about half of the back up was dead, laying on the oddly purple metal deck, giving off the horrible stench of scorched human flesh. The ranchous reek had initially caused Mackenzie to rapidly loose his MREs, but he had grown to handle it. How sad that was, that he had become accustomed to the heinous sight and smell of death and scorched humanity. Taking one more deep breath, it may be his last, Mackenzie whipped around the corner and immersed himself into combat once again.

Fireteam Foxtrot had been ambushed, no, more like ran into a sizable Covenant force seventy nine meters from their objective, the spartans. probably twenty grunts and jackals, plus five elites, no red ones thank god, just the blue ones. Still, five elites was nothing to sneeze at. They were something to shoot at, which was exactly was Mackenize did, he shot at them. Squeezing his almsot nmb finger on the trigger as he lined his HUDs reticule on the mass of Covenant, he abosrbed the constant recoil and tongues of flame spat out of the gray barrel, sending burning metal death at the packed covenant.

Two grunts took this metal death and flipped right over, well, as much as they could flip over with their cumbersome breathing apparatus's on. They lay lifeless, bizarely blue blood gushing out of the neat little bullet holes with riddled their apparently insufficient armour. More bullets hit the upraised jackal shields, causing to flare colourfuly as the bullet made a vain attempt to breach them and reach the soft alien flesh behind. A decent smattering of bullets hit one of the elites, bouncing off its personal overshields uselessly. It did attract the mammoth aliens attention, which Mackenzie didn't want.

With a roar and a stuttering whine, a series of plasma bolts darted at him. Instinct took over he dropped, armoured chest clanking on the deck as the firey plasma burnt over him. Blisters formed and popped on his back and his neck-hairs wilted and blackened. His winced in pain as his back armour heated, singing his blistered skin. The heat passed, and he let loose a brief sigh of relief. He peeked his head up, daring a look over the supply crate which had shielded him form both harm and view.

The elites were getting ready for another counterattack, their initial shock of the humans over. With a growl, they charged forward, roaring recklessly. Mackenzie started to retreat quickly, firing off the rest of his clip in short bursts. Bullets from hi weapon along with others all glanced off the aliens draining shields which protected them form such harm. It was a pity the marines had no such shields to protect them from the hail of energy.

Two marines fell, burnt down by plasma rifles while three others had their brains liquidfied by radiation bolts from covenant carbines. Mackenzie turned to run with the surviving marines, namely his fireteam, and dodged around a corner and through a door which closed behind them. As the door hissed shut, the heavy weapons expert, Andrew MacCullum or 'Mac' stopped and placed a pair of asteroidea Anti-Personnel Mines at the foot of the door, set them to go off on contact, then took off chuckling wickedly.

As they continued their retreat, Lance Corporal James Connor keyed his helmet microphone and began talking on the open UNSC channel.

"To any UNSC forces, this is Lance Corporal Connor of fireteam foxtrot, do you read over? I've got an ass-load of covenant on my six and I nee immediate support over!"

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Fireteam Alpha; Nova Squad

The small team all looked to Jake to see his reaction. Jakob was frozen as he listened to the Sergeant and LT yell at him for a response. The LT had lost men already, and he was about to lose another team, Jake knew it. Jake closed his eyes and thought quietly of what to do. The air had become still as it seemed to wait for him. Quietly, he put his palm to his helmet and disconnected all communications to the his Officers. Jake looked to his three squad mates and they nodded, doing the same.

Rich stood up and moved to another place in the room and began to set up the explosives there. Jake remained in his own area and started to prime the explosives, connecting them to one main-trigger. Hopefully they would be able to hide near the door and set everything off without killing themselves. The explosives were all in the back of the room but there were so many things that could go wrong; chain reactions, a package could malfunction then blow up later, they might even have to manually set everything off.

The risk was worth the reward though, so he had no choice but to continue. Jake finished with his explosives and moved over to Gordan who was monitoring the camera near the door. Luther nodded from the other side and stayed quiet. Jake walked next to Gordan and sat down against the wall. He took a deep sigh and closed his eyes. The echoing sounds of fighting continued to echo, even with the doors shut.

“Something on your mind Jake?” Gordan whispered.

“Just thoughts of what we’re doing…” Jake muttered, looking down at the ground where his rifle lay next to him.

“As long as they can get the package, what we are doing is fine.” Gordan said, looking back at his buddy.

“But I mean leaving without word… I think we should had waited or something…” Jake muttered.

Gordan reached over and grippe Jake’s suit tightly, pulling Jake to his face.

“We are to deep to get out now. We got court marshals waiting for us if we go back now. It’s either we hold out, or we get kicked from the troop. Now, pull it together and let’s finish this.” Gordan shoved Jake back to the wall and went back to looking through the camera on his visor.

Jake sat quietly against the wall and stayed there. He quickly remembered why he had joined the troopers, then looked to his right forearm. His tattoo seemed to pulse as he started at it. His family was why he joined up, they were why he wanted to get feet first into hell, they were why he was fighting. Jake gripped his hand tight then stood up. He walked over to Rich and went back to helping him setup the charges.