The Halo RPG: RPG Thread (Story Arc 2, Sector 02)

[maxii1]

Captain Paul Nikon

Nikon nodded, looking over at Allison and spoke.
“You and your crew have done enough” he too finished his tea, he gestured to Layton and Gibson who where themselves consuming a hot beverage in their own Pelican.
“We’ll do any flying Sortie’s, I’m not risking anyone, now or later, your crew needs rest”
He pointed towards three set up camp beds and added “See to it Allison” with a smile on his face.

[Soulstep]

"Roger that, bringing her in." Sergeant Macready nodded at the pilot, who began his approach, and opened the rear hatch.

As Mich shook Edd awake, Scott stood and stretched his back, hostering his magnum and slinging his sniper over his shoulder. He looked outside, and saw the bridge, covered in tents and with marines and ODSTs milling around. "So where's the quartermaster in all this?" he heard Mich say.
"Dunno, maybe that guy next to the tent with all the guns?"
"Nahh, too obvious!" Mich grinned.
Edd groaned and looked out, and said, "Where are the barracks? I need sleep."
"Edd, all you do is sleep."
"Shut up Mich."
"Shut it marines!" The 3 men turned and saw the sergeant standing right behind them.
"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"

The Pelican touched down, and the 4 marines that now made up Indigo team dropped out, heading to the quartermaster's tent.

[jace]

The Covenant forces near the bridge had been gathering for some time. Of course, there weren't any actually in visual range, but the data from the returning Pelicans had indicated that the Covenant were planning an all out assault. Jace surveyed the bridge and realised they were up shit-creek without a paddle. Normally standard doctrine would be to blast the bridge apart, but there was no way to get the needed explosives on to the other side of the bridge without getting vaporised by the Wraith tanks that sat just out of harm's way. It was too thick for the tank or the rockets, but the missile pods of the Pelicans might be able to take out the bridge. Too bad the Covenant had finally cemented their air superiority, or at least it had according to the latest reports.

Doing some quick calculations, Jace tried to work out how much C-12 would be needed to blow the bridge. If 16 inches cubed of it could level a four story building, how much would be needed to blow the bridge? Maybe two or three kilograms of it. But then, didn't it have to be shaped to do any good? Damn, maths and physics had never been his strong point. Turning to Steve, Jace asked,

"How much C-12 do ya reckon we'd need ta blow the bridge?"

Steve was silent for a few moments and then he scratched his head. He honestly had no idea, not having been training in explosives at all and not knowing the equations and ratios that you'd need to work it out, anyway. There was a small chance that Jace would actually know those equations, but Steve decided that Jace’s knowledge of explosives was probably just as limited as his own.

"Not a bloody clue."

Jace nodded and lent back against the wall. Where was a bloody ODST when you needed them? Off trying to commit suicide by proxy, that's where, while the marines had to hold off the raging hordes of the Covenant. Without warning, he spat and muttered under his breath,

"Fucking ODSTs."

Steve looked over at his mate, slightly, puzzled, but saw that Jace wasn't really upset or disturbed, just annoyed that he couldn't solve the problem. There was also the fact that the ODSTs were the most arrogant S.O.B.s that Steve had ever met and that's means something when it comes from a former rich kid. He sighed out of boredom.

"Well, they're back now, mostly, so at least we'll have some backup."

"Nah, I reckon they'll wait 'til we're all dead and then come in to claim all the credit for the victory."

"Prob'ly."

There didn't seem like much else to say, so Steve leant back against the wall with Jace and stared out at where he knew the Covenant were gathering. They'd already been through Hell once this week, and it looked like they were about to go through it again. It was time to savour the calm before the storm, rather than bitch about the ODSTs, command and the Covenant.

[maxii1]

Captain Nikon had walked over to Lt. Jaxen and shook hands with the man.
"Didn't know if you wanted tea or not" he grinned and gestured towards Nikon's Beverage Table, as it was labelled.
As the Captain made Jaxen's choice beverage he asked his favour of the pilot.
"I'd like you to scout the area, see if you can find the rest of the survivors and Alpha Base"

The Captain took a deep breath.
"This is much safer than back at the Ship, but those Covenant will have searched for survivors, may have found the cave we escaped through. Hell, I think there was a small fire fight earilier with a scouting party"

He paused and looked at Jaxen.

"Bottom Line, we need a safer nest for these birdie's" Paul grinned and made himself another cup of tea.
Hell, he deserved one.

[monkeyjoe14]

I just sat down sipping coffee running our situation through my mind over and over. We were at a huge disadvantage to the covenant.

1. They have full control of the air thanks to banshees and AA wraiths.

2. Almost everyone in our sector is held up in here like a big ass target.

3. The covenant probably had a large ground force heading our way to take us out.

4. The bridge had Wraiths on it blocking our path if we do any thing.

I tried to figure out if there was something I missed, if anything. I sat there thinking when I figured it out. I punched the com,

"Fred you there"

"Sir yes sir"

"Good, listen come to me, I need you to grab me a few things and bring Ed with you"

"Sir"

I knew that if my plan worked we would have some chance of surviving this fight.

[Soulstep]

As they walked, Scott heard a couple of ODSTs nearby, who mentioned the Covenant were just about to attack. "Damn," he muttered, "I just got here and it's already going to be blown to shit. Are we a freaking jinx or something?"
"Quiet marine!"
"Yes sir."

After a few minutes they reached the quartermaster's tent, and the sarge saluted the gunnery sergeant on standby. The privates saluted a second after. "Indigo team reporting in."
The gunnery sergeant returned the salute. "At ease. So, what you got?"
Sergeant Macready inspected his team's loadout. "Not much, a sniper, 3 Battle Rifles, 4 M6Cs and Private Taylor here," he indicated Mich, "Has 2 frag grenades. I think we have 4 clips each for the rifles, and 5 for the magnums. We're a scouting and tracking team, sir, not a frontline unit."
"Well that's gonna be a problem, what with the Covies arriving in a few minutes."
Scott gulped and asked, "Permission to speak, sir?"
"Granted."
"Well, my guess is that this will be mostly close quarters fighting, right? My sniper is useless up close, and my magnum won't do me much good in a firefight. So, can I request a SMG, sir?"
The gunnery sergeant looked down the bridge, where the Covenant forces were massing. "Granted, private. Go grab one, and sergeant, you and Private Kowrop grab 2 frags each."

Scott yanked a standard SMG out of it's rack, while he saw the sarge and Edd grabbing their frags. Mich stood outside the tent waiting, and Scott placed his magnum on the table with the others. He put the SMG on his hip and walked out, Edd and sarge had already left. "So, uhh, do we just wait?"
"Affirmative, marine. Fall out!"
"Yes sir!"

[monkeyjoe14]

Fred came over to me carrying a large amount of items and Ed came from behind with just as much stuff. I looked over the items and counted off what I needed for my plan. One sniper rifle two shotguns, a couple of frags and three anti lotus tank mines.

"That's everything, sir", Fred said.

"Alright, now get the others here pronto, Ed stay here"

Fred went off to get every one else while I told Ed to take a sniper rifle and two frags. I grabbed a shotgun and two of the anti lotus tank mines. I ran my plan through my head a few more times, if this went without a problem we would be okay.Of coarse nothing has gone right for us yet, maybe we were due.

[Soulstep]

Scott walked alongside Mich as they discussed the Covenant races seen so far, and which ones they were supposed to shoot first. Edd had already found a bed in the barracks and the sarge was probably skulking off somewhere. "So, first it's Hunters, then what?" Scott asked.
"I'd say Brutes, Scope, they're fucking psycho."
"Either that or Elites, since they seem like better leaders."
"Uhh, how about we put those 2 at joint second?"
"Works for me, so then it's Jackals, if you can get a good shot on them."
"Then Grunts."
"Yup, if they havn't ran away by then." The two laughed, and then decided on another topic.
"So... how long till the Covies get bored of waiting?"

[monkeyjoe14]

My team and I were surrounding our hogs from our assualt earlier. The guass hog had some of the holes in the plating covered, but the winshield was still destroyed. I looked over the other hog witch except for a few scorch marks was fine.

"Alright, now you know the plan"

"Yeah, but are you sure this will work", Tim replied.

"Hey we might as well do something instead of sitting on our asses right"

I jumped in the guass hog's turret and prepared to attack the wraiths on the bridge. I looked at the men in the other hog who were obviously nervous and wondering if I lost it. Truth is, this might be the only way for us to suffer only minimal casulties.

[Soulstep]

Scott and Mich strolled along the bridge, now with weapons out and loaded. They were going to have a peek at the Covenant attack force, just so they could get a chance to see what were most likely about to kill them. Before they could get a proper view, however, they came across 2 marine specialists ranting about ODSTs and how much C12 they needed to blow the bridge. Mich spoke up, unable to resist putting in his evaluation of the needed HE.

"Dudes, just use the lot."

[jace]

"Dudes, just use the lot."

Jace looked over at the two marines who had just arrived and grinned. They weren't much older than himself or Steve and didn't look bad sorts. They'd also voiced what was essentially his own opinion. the only way to be sure that you could blow the bridge was to use all the available explosives. Of course, the engineers would bitch later about not having enough to work with, so it wasn't really worth it. Besides, if any of the EOD techs ever found out about the plan, Jace would be gently reminded at every new posting that explosives were not toys. It linked back to an incident back in basic involving an EOD tech, a flashbang and Jace being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"That's a good idea and all, but you know how the engineers are. Use a kilo too much and they act as though you've just committed an unforgivable sin."

Steve snorted and added,

"They're almost worse than the EOD guys. Some stupid prick decided to play a trick on an EOD tech with a flashbang when we were in basic, and Jace here copped the blame. I tell ya, I've never seen anyone get so worked up about a practical joke."

They both laughed and then Jace stuck his hand out to the Marine who'd offered the solution to their dilemma. They still had some time to kill, so they might as well make some friends during it.

"Anyway, I'm Jace and that useless lump is Steve."

Steve muttered "Fuck off" to Jace under his breath, and then held out his hand to the other marine, giving him a friendly smile.

"'S good ta meet ya."

[monkeyjoe14]

My men and I rode towards the bridge when we some soldiers. We stopped by them.

"Hey what are you four doing down here?"

I was hoping that we might get a few more hands on board my mission.

[Soulstep]

Scott looked on chuckling quietly as Mich shook hand with Jace. Mich replied, "I'm Mich, and Mr laughing boy here is Scope," nodding at Scott. Scott turned as he heard a voice querying what they were doing. He turned and saw 2 warthogs, one of which had a sergeant on the turret. Scott quickly snapped a salute, and Mich followed a second after.

"SIR!"

[jace]

"I'm Mich, and Mr laughing boy here is Scope,"

Jace shook Mich's hand firmly, but resisted the temptation to try and crush it. That was better left for people like Steve, people who actually had the muscles to pull something like that off. He figured that his two new friends, whether they knew that they were his new friends or not, were probably from a scouting fireteam, because of their weapons and other marine's nickname ("Scope"). Then , just as Steve shook Scope's hand, two warthogs pulled up and a sergeant asked,

"Hey what are you four doing down here?"

Both Jace and Steve gave the man regulation salutes, and then Jace answered his question politely and efficiently, as he liked to do. He had a feeling that the sergeant was about to go on a another foray into Covenant territory and it was his job, as an off-duty bridge sentry and as a lower ranking marine, to try and stop the sergeant from committing what Jace liked to call "suicide by proxy", aka attacking the Covenant with no hope of actually beating them. He'd heard stories of men going nuts and doing just that and knew that it was generally a bad idea to get in their way, but he would be damned if he'd let anyone use two of the only vehicles they had left to do so.

"Just waitin' for the attack, sir. Steve an' me were on sentry duty for a few hours, but we're off now, so we just thought that we'd hang around here, save running all the way back to the battle when it happened."

Jace paused for a second, wondering how to tell the convince the sergeant, but then he decided that bluntness and honesty was probably his best and, to be honest, only way to communicating with people.

"If ya don't mind me sayin', sir, it's suicide to go out onto the bridge. The Covies have it zeroed in, so anyone who goes out there is gunna get roasted."

[monkeyjoe14]

"If ya don't mind me sayin', sir, it's suicide to go out onto the bridge. The Covies have it zeroed in, so anyone who goes out there is gunna get roasted."

"Heh heh, well this is the only plan I got to take out the covenant before they take us out, but if ya got a better idea I am all ears"

I wondered if he had an idea, if so it might work if not well then I go with my plan.

[caster]

Corporal Leon Carson - ODST - Echo Squad

Sector 2 - Alpha Base

Carson was still eating when Echo team, led by Samson came by. "On your feet, trooper." Carson miffed and grabbed his helmet standing up. He fell in behind the Sergeant with Renters on his right. Carson sealed the helmet over his head and made sure his visor was set to transparent.

Samson led them across the Alpha base near the mouth of the cave. They were standing near a group of Marine regulars. Samson recognized the other Sergeant, hearing them talk about leaving the cave. Samson turned and shouted out. "No one is charging the bridge. Corporal," Samson pointed to Carson. "Explain to the regulars why that's not a good idea."

Carson sighed. He didn't care. "What the Covenant have is superior numbers. The bridge creates a natural choke point. They're only going to be able to move down the bridge as a column. Once they get in close enough to the mouth of the cave, the tanks won't be too useful. Covenant tanks fire in arcs right? So, if they are stalled they will be shooting the roof which will melt, loose integrity and collapse around them."

Renters piped up next. "Yeah, yeah. So, the shit-heads are probably gonna send up Hunters followed by a Jackal line with the Brutes and Elites behind that."

Samson continued. "Form a horse-shoe ambush point around the entrance and hit them on all sides. Retreat is the last options since we would have to leave nearly all the salvaged gear we have, and all of us ground pounders will have to babysit the fly boys and Navy techs as we move. Not to mention we lose STARS and out ability to communicate outside line of sight."

Samson had turned and was looking at the mouth of the cave. Carson was still looking at the marine regulars. Renault, the team sniper piped up. "I wouldn't blow anything up personally. This bridge...Isn't a normal bridge. Looks live Covenant tech. Using energy pylons in order to support an unknown alloy bridge? Trying to detonate it might work.....But, if directed energy is what is stabilizing it...Then interrupting that flow might cause some kind of subsystem to destabilize which might kill us all."

Dennison, who was standing near Renault nodded. "Might as well just blow the ice formation around the bridge...At least the Covenant have to dig their way in before they get us."

Samson looked over his shoulder. "Last case scenario....Not a bad idea."

Samson turned to the marine regulars with the C12. "Three killos. One at nine, twelve, and three. One kilo each. Have it wired to trigger by high frequency E-band"

Carson looked over to the marines at this point. Carson was talking to them like they knew what the hell he was talking about. Samson walked away, he was already getting the base up to combat readiness. Carson, Renters, Renault, and Dennison were still standing near the marines.

Carson looked to Renters. "Prioritize targets, Hunters, jackals, grunts, brutes, then elites."

One of the marines behind them asked. "Why not the brutes or elites first?"

"Because....They're leaders, generally they're not the first charging in. Yes, they're rounds are more accurate...However, more numbers means more plasma flying towards you...M-" Carson was cut off by Renters.

"Accuracy by volume. If you have enough rounds going down range, you don't have to aim. Take out the easy targets first, they go down faster, and that's a lot less plasma coming towards you later. Then, take out the bigger ones."

"Except for Hunters. Those are the wild cards...." Renault stated.

Carson turned to the mouth of the cave and looked to the rest of Echo. It was gonna be tight...And if they didn't keep the pressure up, there was no fall back. They would simply loose the fight. That wasn't an option though.

Samson returned with half the total base in tow. Weapons had been emergency requisitioned, and Carson was sure he spotted a couple of Naval Intelligence junior officers packing rifles in the crowd. Samson had everyone starting to create contact-cover points around the mouth of the cave in a con-vexed pattern. Each hard-point was accompanied by a heavy machine gun, when those ran out, the hard points were issued rocket launchers. Behind those, the Warthogs that were left were loaded and brought up to the points that were staggered between the hard-points.

Carson found it was text book. But, it was the hope they had to make sure the Captain, Second Lieutenant, and Staff Sergeant had a base to come back to. Technically the top commander on the base was the Naval Captain - Nikon. Obviously though, this had nothing to do with air combat.

Carson looked around. "Hey...Where's Herons?"

Lieutenant Allison Westbrooke - "Super-Six-One"

Sector 2 - Alpha Base

Allison nodded to Paul, right before she noticed the ODST Sergeant she had picked up leading several people out of the staffing area towards the mouth of the cave formation. "Somehow, I don't think it's going to work out that way, Paul."

She pouted a bit, not really realizing she was. She pointed towards the infantry group near the mouth of the cave, as the Sergeant started setting up a heavy defense.

"Paul....What about the rear ice cavern we came in through? Why don't we just leave through that?"

Ultra Zuka'Zanzamee - Sector 2 Operations Commander

Sector 2 - Assault Staging Area

Zuka waited for Captain Rictus to arrive, the Assault would begin when everyone was ready. Zuka radioed out. "Specter, prepare your advance on my signal."

A deep voice echoed in return. "My lance is eagerly awaiting. It has taken you long to prepare your attack. My patience grows thin."

"That's the mark of a minor, act your rank."

Zuka knew the Special Operations teams would make their way. They always did, that's why he had requested them from the Prophet of Ideation days ago when this whole thing started. Zuka wasn't sure what to expect entering the cavern. Geothermal read outs were inconclusive due to the forerunner power grids and structures beneath the ice. None of the readings could give them any accurate depiction of what they were going up against. It could be, two humans, to their entire forces...There was no tactical data, no maps....He was at a disadvantage already, but....Brute force would have to be the solution now....That's why the Hunters would lead the charge, followed by the brutes.

Zuka looked over the attack force. Two tanks and twelve entire lances later. Hopefully it would be enough.

A minor approached and brought along several human bodies. The ones they had killed on their failed attack on the AA wraiths. Some of the bodies had large bite marks out of them. The brutes obviously couldn't contain themselves. Zuka dragged one body, the human sniper they found alone in the tundra with the characters "D - E - S - M - O - N - D" on the helmet. The human had been left by his fellow humans to die. Zuka dragged the limp creature by its neck out in front of the tanks, just where he was visible. He held the creature out in front of him then threw it out towards the bridge. He was hoping it would cause a human to come out to retrieve the body. Sometimes they were stupid like that.

[monkeyjoe14]

"Sergeant, take a look at this", Fred yelled peering through his sniper rifle.

I hefted it up to my level and looked through. I was both shocked and angered to see Desmond's corpse laying there. Those bastards were tempting us to come and retrieve our friend. I wanted to get the body but I did the next best thing. I fired at the Elite I saw near the corpse, I missed and took out a grunt instead.

"Hah even when I miss I hit" I said trying to cover up my anger.

I swore to kill that covenant bastard if it kills me as well.

[Soulstep]

As Mich grabbed a Kilo of C12 and rushed to the right to plant it, Scott opened a comm channel to the sergeant. "Sir, it looks like it's about to kick off, the Covenant look like they're ready."

"I'm aware of that marine," Scott turned to see the sergeant standing behind him. Edd was trudging towards them, mumbling and generally wanting to go back to sleep. He suddenly seemed to wake up once a gunshot pierced his ears, and a grunt fell dead in the Covenant lines. Scott closed his eyes and whispered to himself.

"Here we go."

[maxii1]

Paul nodded at Westbrooke’s idea.
“I’m liking that plan, god I must be tired to have overlooked that” he said with a grin, Allison gave him a roll of the eyes.
Hell, all of them where tired.
“Reckon we’re gonna have to evac here?” asked Layton as he moved towards the Beverage table.
“Better be ready for it” spoke Gibson who had joined the other members of Super Squadron.
“Coren, could you use one of the few remaining Gunship’s to help the defence, maybe give the covenant something to shoot at” grinned one of the Navy Techie’s: Fredrickson who winked at Westbrooke. “Give the females a change to climb the ranks”.
“Here, shove off” spoke Layton, he being a crew chief had the authority to speak to Fredrickson like that.
“What? He gets his birdie disintegrated and is rewarded with promotion, that’s just unfair, if I did that….” spoke Fredrickson who was cut short by Nikon.
“At least he did something Fredrickson, I remember your rather lax working attitude back at the bay, but this is in the field, don’t be stirring stuff up or you’ll be left behind”
Nikon had kept a jovial tone with his hollow threat, but it did the trick. Fredrickson left.
“Sorry about that” the Captain spoke.

[jace]

"Heh heh, well this is the only plan I got to take out the covenant before they take us out, but if ya got a better idea I am all ears"

Jace honestly wondered how this man had survived this long, let alone become a sergeant,. He showed very little concern for the lives of his men and was just about the most reckless person Jace had ever met. Even thinking that he would be able to execute whatever plan he had was insane, and Jace unconsciously took a half-step back from the warthog as he started to explain that the best course of action was to wait for the Covenant to come to them. He hoped that the sergeant was willing to listen to reason, because he really didn't want to have to be insubordinate in order to prevent the sergeant from destroying vital equipment. With his luck, an action like that would reflect badly on him, despite the fact that he had done the right thing. Luckily for Jace and Steve, who would have backed his friend up, some of "those fucking ODSTs" showed up and made it clear that there was going to be no suicide run. They also ruled out the idea of blowing up the bridge , which Jace had never really contemplated anyway, and effectively took command, something that Jace welcomed.

"Three killos. One at nine, twelve, and three. One kilo each. Have it wired to trigger by high frequency E-band"

Jace gave the ODST sergeant a quick, smart salute.

"Sir."

Mich and Scopes were already busy, so he nodded to Steve.

"You take the high road, and I'll take the low one."

"'Course, we can't have a littl' shrimp like you trying to get the ceiling."

Jace grinned briefly and then turned to get his kilo of C12. As much as he bitched and complained about the ODSTs, Jace did want to join their ranks one day, and he did feel a little bit of a need to show off, so he decided to shape his charge. He scrounged around the crates that had held the machine guns now guarding the entrance to the tunnel and eventually found three pieces of cardboard that suited his purpose. Steve saw what Jace was trying to do and decided to do the same. They moulded their blocks of C12 so that it formed two sides of a triangle. They supported these two sides with some cardboard and, after attaching the shaped charges to the tunnel wall and ceiling, inserted the third piece of cardboard to stop the triangle from collapsing. The detonator was then placed in the centre of the ridge line of the charge and tuned into a triband detonation unit (TDU), allowing for the three charges to be detonated individually or all together. Of course, he had to tune the other detonator into the TDU, but that was quickly done and he handed it to the ODST sergeant.

While all this was happening, Jace had missed the whole bringing out of the dead marine to taunt the humans. He'd heard the sniper rifle, but a quick glance in the direction of the enemy had revealed no massed attack, so he'd kept working. By the time he'd finished, everyone was ready for war. He and Steve found a gap where they could squeeze in, partly protected by a couple of wooden crates. It wasn't much, not at all, but it was better than being shot with plasma. In position and lying prone, Steve training his LMG on the enemy and Jace placed a box of ammo and half a dozen SMG mags where he could reach them easily. IT was time to fight.

"You ready, Jace?"

Grinning slightly at Steve, who looked just about as nervous as Jace felt, he slapped Steve on the shoulder.

"I was born ready, mate."

"Then let's do this, together."

"Hey, what are mates for?"

They shook hands, grinning and then focused their attention on the other end of the bridge.

[monkeyjoe14]

I had my men in the one hog positioned to the right of the main forces. That way they could fire on the enemy and provide additional cover for troops who joined in. I had the turret of the gauss hog aimed at the cave entrance and Ed laid the sniper rifle against the front of the hog.

"Hope we can hold position here", Ed said.

"Have to, at least long enough for people to evacuate the caves", I replied.

"Um, sir by the way what you do with the mines we had"

"Well if that sergeant is right, then the hunters are our first problem. So I buried them by the entrance, deep enough not to set off the C12, but able to take out a hunter.", I said looking for a silhouette of a covenant soldier.

[Soulstep]

Mich soon returned, and after a glance at Jace and Steve, Scott knew the C12 was ready. The 4 marines looked for cover, but finding none that wasn't taken, lay on their stomachs, and waited for the signal to open fire. Sergeant Macready quickly outlined his plan: while Scott worked on getting shots on exposed Jackals, the others would concentrate their fire on the grunts. None of their weapons would do much harm to hunters, they would leave them to the big guns.

Scott flexed his fingers as he settled into the snow, sliding the scope in front of him and scanning the Covenant lines. "Bloody hell..." he breathed, as the vastness of the alien horde became clear. "How are we gonna beat this lot?" He heard Edd exclaim.

"Just shoot 'em till they're dead, marines."

"OOH RAH!"