Mission 3 Part 2: Setback after setback...

[Huka]

Til glared at the Kig-yar for his directness to Legra, but couldn't deny that he respected his upright boldness, even the lesser races of higher ranks knew to hold their tongue to a Sangheili officer. Still deadly silent, he heard a kig-yar chuckle in the midst of his fellows, but Til quickly found and stared him down back to silence.

After Legra and Legion Master Xet had their quick duel, he directed them to a locker full of weapons. Til went to collect a needle rifle and checked the ammunition. Good.

The Kig-yar announced they have entered the battlefield and quickly moved to it. As they jumped out of the phantom, Til walked beside his dear brother-in-arm and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, whispered, [yellow] Nevermind him, brother, but our focus is on the enemy. Let's show him how we show our skill on the battlefield, hopefully there are enough to appaise your fallen brothers. [/yellow]

Then he followed the Kig-yar and jumped out of the phantom to battle.

[Wax™]

//Captain Travis Jenkins 0-3//
//Task Force 77: ABLE Comapny//
//Location: Glasgow UNSC Radio Tower//

Jenkins walked across the lines of second platoon as passed Gunnery Sergeant Z just in time to hear he say that the regular marines need to see how it is done, the Captain turned around and slapped the back of the Sergeants helmet with a firm hand before speaking loudly over the automatic weapons fire.

"Stow that shit Sergeant! I don't want to hear any shit that ODST's are better than Regular marines, in the end, we are all UNSC and we are all marines... And besides if it were not for my Company Sergeant the radio tower would be gone by now."

Jenkins gritted his teeth slightly as he said that, before continuing to walk down the line of second platoon and Lunar Squad, the MG's that second third and first squad had continued to drain out on the Covenant as they continuously tried to make ground against the marines, besides for having to move back and forward a few times the marines here were really doing a top job.

Jenkins walked right down the end of second platoon's offensive line and gripped the collar of one of his marines, Corpsman Lucy Rodriguez, the Company Medic.

"Corpsman! I want you to move down the line and stick by Lunar squad, anything about reinforcements and evacuations is sure to go through the ODST's first, I want you to stick by a couple of our privates and listen in."

The soldier stood slightly hunched over to avoid being shot at, she gave off a small salute before running down the line and slamming down next to a Marine Private and an ODST private called Cox.

[z]

-Lucy-

When the hand met the back of her helmet Lucy's fist tightened and her ears began to ring, drowning out the Captain's talk before she got up, and as he walked away to put his back to her she flicked her cigarette at him before joining her squad.

After bringing down the Brute Lucy went to her COMM again.

"Alright listen here boys and girls, Gunny Grey here... Could use some help down at the Radio Tower about now, starting to get a bit tired." She looked up at the Captain down the line from her.

"Some more Spec-Ops would be nice about now..."

Her hand was still gripped until her knuckles went white as he whacked her helmet to shut off the COMM and clicked over to TEAMCOMM.

"I hate being stuck with the arrogant superior.. but I can't complain too much, love my job..." Jackson said, firing again.
Alex grumbled a bit, knowing better than to open his big mouth, as did Anders as the twins kept doing their jobs.

Lucy just growled under her breath and gripped her MA5C.

[kel]

OOC: Did the two elites I ws teaming up with disappear? They were escaping towards a hill, but have not arrived.

[kartoffelfogel]

Major Domo Legra 'Adantee

Legra lifted a Focus Rifle as he muttered to Til.

"To hell with this... I will not take such talk from a Kig-Yar... especially one who has obviously gained rank via arrogance and sycophantry."

He leapt out of the Phantom, and landed softer than last time. The forest surrounding the airbase was serene...but still the pops and flashes of steel and plasma sounded and flickered in the distance.

"Heresy. He accuses me of heresy!. The cheek! I shall be hard put not to kill the little chicken myself. I shall have to make do by issuing an accusation of heresy myself."

Following along the path the Kig-Yar were treading, he sped up slightly, ceasing when he matched the Legion Master's pace. He drew his Focus Rifle, eyes pricked for any sign of trouble.

He bent over and spoke now to the Kig-Yar.

"Kig-Yar... my now extreme dislike of you nonwithstanding, I believe that we must talk for a moment, not as warriors, but as strategists. If you can curb your illoquacious tongue, I will do the same. For, regardless of rank or honor, the Humans are a threat all the same. And if your intention is to charge the airbase in an aesthetic, albeit suicidal, formation, we must reconsider."

"Now... our objective is not merely the felling of humans like so much grain, but it is to eliminate their artillery. Fighting our way through the killing field this airbase has become would be foolish... it would be better, I think, to strike at their artillery from the forest."

"Now, I have not led Kig-Yar before... nor am I a Legion Master, so I shall let you do the actual commanding. But do not forget... Neither I or my friend Til are your soldiers. Attempt to command us and you will find just how far your rank will take you when you are before the Council for charges of false accusations of heresy...and there are only Sangheili facing you."


OOC:
@kel: Sorry! I switched things around. Those two Elites are now with another batch of Kig-Yar, assaulting the airbase.

I'll use an NPC to pick you up and rendezvous with us if you want.

@duffle: BTW... a Covenant trial would be an AWESOME Secondary Mission. We'd have witnesses... objections... Council juries... inquisitors...

[kuran]

James fired another few bursts in conjunction with the other three at the window, dropping a few distant grunts and a jackal who had exposed it's side, uncovered by it's shield, to him. But it seemed as if more simply filled the space they had inhabited.

Slapping a new clip in his MA5-K, he took a moment to check his VSIR. It didn't take long for him to ascertain that they were, in a nutshell, screwed. They couldn't hope to hold the city for long, which was, he supposed, why they had been tasked to blow the command centre in the first place. The amount of red dots on the map far outnumbered the green.

His comms crackled into life, and he took a moment to open the channel.
"Alright listen here boys /crackle/ girls, Gunny Grey /crackle/... Could use some he/crackle/ down at the Radio /crackle/wer about now, starting to /crackle/ed."

Bringing up his map, James saw that the area between the command centre and the radio tower was, for the moment, seemingly clear of enemy units.

Opening the comms once more, he responded to the call. "Gunny, Fireteam Raptor will be happy to assist you. Requesting SITREP, over."

He then addressed the Captain outside. "Captain, it's been a pleasure, but Raptor is needed elsewhere. I don't suppose you see any vehicles lying around outside? We could use a warthog right about now."

And last, he switched back to Teamcom.
"Come on, let's go. We need to reinforce the radio tower."

Leaving the office they had used as a bunker, the team moved quickly back downstairs into the lobby, which was a good deal more crowded than in had been.

Taking cover behind the reception desk they had used previously, James and the others waited for a response from Lloyd, who by the sound of it was coming any second...

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Sierra Lloyd

The tempo of the fighting seemed to momentarily decrease once the rockets burst up ahead. Sierra risked a peek over the barricade but couldn't see much past the debris cloud. The hail of plasma and needle fire hadn't been reduced nearly as much as she'd hoped, but it would have to do. She rattled off a few blind bursts towards the enemy lines, much as the Covenant were doing at the moment, since she couldn't imagine they'd be able to see through the thick plume of dust.

"Marines, get those mines planted and then move inside!" she yelled.

The two men with the rocket launchers already took off to head into the building as Captain Lloyd covered them. In the meantime, the second pair of Marines from her heavy weapons platoon moved up in a quick but low crouch, and began placing the explosives just out of range of the entrance to the command center. They were almost finished and rushing back to the barricades when one of them suddenly let out a short scream and dropped like a fly. Sierra was scant meters away, so she saw the burst of blood coming out of the man's back.

"Shit," she said to herself, unaware that she'd spoken the word aloud. Her mind felt like it was going a hundred miles an hour, trying to take in every factor of the environment and situation and adjusting her mental plans on the fly with each slight deviation. "Conroy!" she shouted at the Marine who hadn't been hit. "Run your ass inside! Go!"

The stunned Marine offered no reply as he quickly scurried off, reaching his destination without consequence. Sierra, on the other hand, figured she had a window of mere seconds before the Covenant would be able to see what the hell was going on on the other side of the smokescreen - and she had a wounded man to take care of. Without giving it another thought, she got out from behind cover and ran towards him.

Thankfully, the downed Marine wasn't that far, and neither he nor Captain Lloyd were more than twenty meters from the Command Center. Lloyd popped off a few more rounds from her BR55 when she reached him, then ducked over his body when a barrage of alien fire met her response.

There was a pool of blood already forming beneath the Marine's body. Sierra realized this when she glanced down to grab him by the shoulders, and saw that she'd knelt in his blood. She mentally shook off the sudden spike of disgust and raw fear and rose back up to a crouch, dragging him with her.

She opened a COM channel hands-free till she'd gotten the Marine behind the barricade again. It was as far as her muscles would allow without a brief pause. The injured Marine wasn't a big guy, but he weighed a ton in all his gear.

In the moment, Sierra didn't realize just how hard she was breathing as she hailed third platoon's commander. "Gavin, send out two more Marines, now! We need to get inside, and I've got one wounded. Ten seconds and we'll be fried!"

"On it, Captain!"

At the same time as Lloyd raised herself up from cover again to fire off another three bursts, she heard Sergeant Killinger's voice come through the COM.

"Ok, ma'am. What's the game plan?"

Not now, the captain thought. She gritted her teeth and let another burst loose as she heard the pounding feet of two more Marines behind her. Then her weapon clicked - empty. Fucking hell. She ducked behind the barricade and looked up at the newcomers as she reloaded.

"Get him inside right now! I'll follow!"

With the reload complete, Sierra quickly fired off several more bursts, covering both her men and herself. They'd barely made it inside when the first of the mines went off. Lloyd was blown forward from the force of the detonation, bowling over one of her men and hitting the floor of the lobby hard. She was a little dazed at first, but otherwise fine. She exhaled slowly as she realized the plan had worked.

The Marine beside her was already getting up on his own when Second Lieutenant Fortnight approached. He extended his hand towards his company commander, and Sierra gladly accepted it. He lifted her up back onto her feet. Captain Lloyd was still out of breath.

“Thanks,” she said. Then she turned towards the two men who’d helped get the wounded Marine through the doors. “Get a corpsman over here now, Lieutenant. He’s in bad shape. Got shot in the back.”

There was no time to dawdle. She still had to get her company evaced off the roof. Surviving long enough to make it inside was only half of the work. She did, however, take one brief moment to glance down at her boots. Her fatigues were stained with blood from the knees down – the wounded Marine’s.

Lloyd’s COM crackled again as she assured herself that despite the hairy firefight, she was indeed still alive and in one piece. It was Corporal Beaufort.

"Captain, it's been a pleasure, but Raptor is needed elsewhere. I don't suppose you see any vehicles lying around outside? We could use a warthog right about now."

Sierra braced herself against a wall in the lobby and replied, “No need, Corporal. We’ve got Pelicans waiting for us on the roof. If you want, you can catch a ride with us. Alpha Company’s headed to the radio tower next to lend a hand to our troops there.”

She opened a general channel while she waited for Beaufort's reply. "Alpha Company, new orders. Get yourselves onto those Pelicans ASAP. We're moving out and heading for the radio tower. This place'll go up in smoke shortly, and another objective awaits."

[milostsamis]

PFC Jake Rotan Task Force 77: Able Company Defending the Radio Tower

Rotan fired another burst at an incoming suicide grunt, and dropped the hostile with two shots to the chest and another in the head. The corpse hit the ground only a couple seconds before the live grenades did, and it disappeared once the explosion had gone off, killing another two Grunts in the process. The pink needle that was embedded into his bicep stood out quite obviously against his dull green attire. It wasn't very noticeable, but Jake could feel a very faint vibration coming from the needle. That made him very cautious with his movements, and that was hindering his ability.

He was afraid if he jerked his arm too fast, that the needle would explode and blow his arm off. Now, that might be an exaggeration, but Jake had never seen what a SINGLE needler round could do to a person. All he could do was hope that by the end of today, he would still have a functional, flesh and bone left arm. He looked over as Michelle let loose a consecutive three rounds that dropped a Jackal. "Hey! How much ammo you got left?" he called over to her.

She looked back over to him, firing when their eyes had locked, and dropped another Grunt. "I got about three clips left, plus this half empty one! About.. 55 or so rounds!" she called back to him. He cursed, he was running low on ammo as well, he had maybe four of five clips left, and this one was running low. He had been in positions like this before, but the stakes were never this high. Able Company was taking quite a few casualties as needles and plasma bolts swept across the line and took down some marines in the process.

In the back of his mind, Jake was worrying. He was worrying quite a lot, and it was becoming harder and harder to focus on his shots. What if they couldn't hold the Covenant back? What if every single one of them was going to die, here, today? He wasn't so much worried about himself, he never put himself before others. In his mind, he was imagining Ryan taking a beam rifle shot and splitting in half. Lenny being beat to death by a big, bad brute. Oh God. Michelle, exploding into hundreds of pieces as those deadly pink needles impacted her body.

He cared a great deal for Michelle. He never wanted to see her hurt. He'd much sooner see himself dead than her, or any of his other teammates. They were all a family. He fired a burst and two of the bullets went wild and missed completely, the third crashed into the arm of a Jackal who had moved his shield to the side slightly. 'Gah.. Calm down Jake, calm down. You have no chance of surviving if you don't CALM DOWN." he thought to himself. He fired a longer than usual burst from the rifle, five rounds, and they all impacted an Elites shields and set them flaring. Another seven and they were completely down. "Michelle! Shieldless Elite, take it down! Quick!" Jake called over to her, and she immediately shifted her sights on the exposed alien. One shot was all it took. The bullet flew straight and true and embedded itself in the Elite's brain.

"Oo-Rah.." Jake muttered as he fired another three round burst, taking down another Grunt. The worry was gone from his head now, nothing but the thoughts of survival wen through his mind.

Cpl. Mattie Stroud Lunar Squad Defending the Radio Tower

Mattie was growing very tired, already, of this never ending firefight. They never stopped coming. It made Mattie think about just how many Covenant that there were. Here they were, killing hundreds and hundreds of their infantry, and it seemed that for every one that they killed another two took their place. Doubts began to fill his mind again, and he dropped behind cover, rifle clenched against his body. His heart started pounding, and he could hear a deep, constant drum in his ears.

He looked over and watched as a highly ranking officer, looked like a Captain, hit Z on the back of the helmet after hearing her imply that the ODSTs were better than the standard marines. In the back of his mind, past all the fear and doubt, he agreed with her. He had never been better with an assault rifle until he had joined up with the ODSTs. He grinned despite himself when he saw her flick her smoke in the direction of the retreating captain. "Fuck.. God damn it. How many of these bastards are there? They just keep coming! Even if we do repel the enemy long enough to get out of here.. They'll just keep coming.. Keep destroying worlds.. Keep killing. Even if I survive here, how long will it be before I end up like the many others of marines here today?"

His eyes darted back and forth as flashes of his demise went across his vision. Plasma bolts. Needler rounds causing him to explode. Wraith mortar completely obliterating his being. This wasn't the first time he would think about things like this in the middle of a battle, but the thoughts always, ALWAYS receded after a couple of seconds. This time was no exception. A few more moments and his heart rate returned to normal. His mind cleared of the thoughts of death, and filled back up with thoughts of killing. Killing the Covenant. Killing as many as he possibly could before his time came.

He jumped up onto his knees, and rotated back around to face the battlefield once again. He brought up his MA5C once again and fired a three round burst, followed by two more bursts that took down a Grunt and Jackal. He shifted his gaze to the left and held the trigger down, firing a constant spray as an Elite approached, the remaining twenty rounds depleting its shields. "Someone take down that Elite! Shields are down!" Mattie called out as he released the empty clip and slammed another one home. He spun on his knee to face the middle of the no-man's land just in time to see a green bolt of plasma coming towards him. He dropped below the chunks of rubble that he was using as cover as the bolt went over where he had just been. Popping back up, he fired another burst of five rounds into the responsible Grunt, dropping it quickly.

[Wax™]

//Sergeant Jason Bowers//
//Task Force 77: ALPHA: DELTA DESTROYERS//
//Location: Above UNSC Glasgow Old Command Center//

Jason looked around on the roof as about five or so pelicans touched down on the roof of the Old Command Center, luckily the roof was big enough to hold all five Pelicans and probably one or two more but the UNSC could really not spare any more Pelicans, Jason hauled himself up off against the air-duct and looked down to Corporal Cassie Thompson.

"Get your ass on one of thoes Pelicans Thompson... Can't have my 2iC looking like a bag of shit can I?"

Jason smiled and offered a hand to help the Corporal up once she was up she would pat her shoulder before directing her to the Pelican designated for Jason's team, Jason then walked over to the edge of the building and looked down the side, he could just spot Seirra and the rest of the Company.

"Captain! This is Bowers... I am putting DELTA on a Pelican now, the pilots are getting jittery and impatient, we need you and the rest of ALPHA up here now ma'am so we can get to the Radio tower"

Jason nodded to himself and turned away from the edge of the building before addressing his Squad.

"Alright DELTA! Board that pelican there..." Jason paused to look and point at a certain Pelican. "... We're getting rady to blow this place!"

[Huka]

Til watched nervously. Normally Legra is calm and restraint, but this wasn't quite right. [yellow]"Brother, calm your self."[/yellow] He warned with a heightened tone, hurrying to his side.

[Soulstep]

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad

"Sarge, they're rushing!"

"Oh shit, here they come!"

Andrew barked a simple order as the Covenant seemed to sense that the humans were about to escape. "Let 'em have at!"

All Indigo squad members on overwatch on the roof opened fire as one, raining bullets down onto the alien aggressors. From this height, their assault rifles could only do so much, felling a handful of grunts with their first mags, but until the Covies got closer, or more Marines could lend their fire, they wouldn't be able to kill anything with a shield.

Andrew ducked down to reload, opening a COM channel to the Marines downstairs. "Tangos coming in on all vectors, and we don't have the firepower up here to stop 'em! Recommend you all get up here ASAP so we can get some fire missions!"

Having done the pitiful amount he could do to help those downstairs, he turned to the other Marines on the rooftop as the evac Pelican took off. "Anyone who can get to the ledges, do it! They're about to overrun us!"

Cocking his rifle, he leaned back over the edge and fired on a cluster of exposed Grunts.

PO2 Selina McGreggor Venom-5 Pilot

Eric bellowed over the COM to be heard over the civilians, wounded and engines. "We're full, punch it!"

Selina opened up the engines, barely lifting off the helipad as the incoming fire began. "Shit, look at them all!" She cursed, trying to figure whether to fight or flee. "Fuck it, Sergio, ready a salvo, we'll take out some of the bastards before we bug out!"

"Yes fucking ma'am!"

Selina flew to a reasonable height, enough to lessen the incoming fire, then spun around and let rip with the chaingun, shredding whatever she set her sights on that didn't make it to cover. Sergio lined up a firing solution and unleashed 6 HE missiles, taking out a full... 'Lance', or whatever the hell the Covies called their squads.

"This is Venom-5, heading to evac zone. We'll be back for ya Marines, leave some for us!" Selina grinned, pivoting back around then punching the throttle, the dropship leaping forwards away from the battle.

[Deleted]

The order was clear as can be. An order was sent out VIA the general channel, which was actually pretty heavy with traffic at the moment. "Alpha Company, new orders. Get yourselves onto those Pelicans ASAP. We're moving out and heading for the radio tower. This place'll go up in smoke shortly, and another objective awaits."

The Sergeant nodded, he heard a Sergeant speak up. He switched over to Alpha Teams COMM channel.

"Bowers, this is Killinger. I've got a eight man team down at the entrance. We'll be the last team up." Killinger spoke. "Captain, get your wounded men up, we'll cover the door. Let us know when we can get on the roof after everyone is on the pelican. Are we overloading it?" Killinger added, for all he knew their was only one up their.

The team set up in the lobby, two marines to a position and Killinger set up behind a desk with Burnbag, the teams sniper.

"We are ready when you are, Captain."

The comm channel opened again. "Tangos coming in on all vectors, and we don't have the firepower up here to stop 'em! Recommend you all get up here ASAP so we can get some fire missions!"

Killinger then heard the sound of the Pelican taking off.

Killinger responded to the message.
"We'll hold the lobby well the pelican returns. We've got a good defensive position inside!"

[kel]

Kel kept her rifle ready. Where were they? As the minutes passed, and the forest echoed the sounds of faraway battle, she assumed the worst. The Sangheili that had called for reinforcements must have been killed by the humans. And yet, the humans did not near the hill. In fact, this entire area was quite peaceful. And it presented the perfect avenue of attack on the city. From here, she could paint the snipers within the city, scope out enemy artillery, and report numbers back to her superiors.

She tapped her helmet twice. Her telescopic lens covering her right eye spiraled away from her face. One. A human, standing upright, was looking over the city at a burning wreck of a crashed Phantom dropship. She clicked another button on her helmet, painting his position. She scanned the rooftops. Two, three. She pressed the button for both targets. Along the wall was a fourth. Walking out of an alleyway was soldier wielding heavy hand-held artillery. He was painted too. A few defensive turrets located behind barricades and atop a wall. And off to the left of the burning wreck, only a couple snipers remained crouched, scanning the local countryside for signs of Covenant movement.

She tapped her communications set embedded within her helmet. "Ruk. You busy?"

Her superior's voice crackled through the intercom. "Mildly." A particle beam could be heard discharging. "You in trouble?"

Kel shook her head instinctively. "No. Not at all. I haven't met any human forces. I'm with Kag and Zuk. I'm transmitting my coordinates to you. I'm atop a hill overlooking the city. I've marked multiple sniper positions, as well as heavy artillery. Could you transmit that to the appropriate channels? With as many snipers as there are, it's far too dangerous for me to engage."

"Data received. I'll bring this up to the Sangheili."


OOC: Thanks, Drelite. That'd be much appreciated.

[Huka]

Skor stood impatiently with the Unggoy, leaning against a broken wall with his arms crossed. The gunfire inside the building have stopped semi-units ago and that Kig-yar have not gave a signal or report anything. He must have died inside.

"It seems the bird have died from his wounds." Skor said with a grunt, "At least the firing stopped."

Igri looked at Skor with a displeasant glare from behind. He didn't like the Minor, he doesn't have the respect his commander do. He is like all the other Sangheili out in the galaxy.

Suddenly static entered their ears, "This is Sufang. The building is cleansed of all human filth, I have taken personal care of that."
Looking at Skor, Igri felt superior. "Good work, Kig-yar. I will summon a phantom to pick us up and get Legra's subordinate." Skor said over the communicator.

"Very well. I will return." Sufang hissed back before cutting his transmission.

[darthsloan]

Once again, third squad was in the building, taking cover behind windows in attempt to defend the lobby of the building. Pvt. Sloan lifted his rifle and fired controlled shots with adrenaline pumping through his veins. He heard similar rifle shots and knew his comrades were shooting along side of him, except for sarge. He hang back behind the squad and asked for orders, channeling a direct line to the cap'n herself.

"Ma'am, where do you want us?"

[kartoffelfogel]

Major Domo Legra 'Adantee

Legra turned away from the Kig-Yar to glance at Til. He sighed with all his heart.

"I have been... sorely tried in the past few hours. Forgive me if I am angered too quickly."

He lowered his head.

"Ah... Perhaps I am taking out my anger on the Kig-Yar too much. It is simply because I worry for Seroth and Breek... because I worry for Essa, bleeding on that building... and I grieve for Crilin, who is already on the Great Journey..."

He raised his head again, and gave a vicious snarl.

"What I need is an outlet! I need to kill some humans... get the rage out of my system... and get revenge..."

[Huka]

Til looked at his tired friend and spoke in his usual soft voice, [yellow]"I understand your fury, but the last thing we need is angry Kig-yar at our backs and a bad image. Let us prove ourselves to them that we are not just any Sangheili. We are hunters of honor and valor! We will not be remembered as fools.[/yellow]

Clunching his free hand into a hand, Til looked to the Legion Master, [yellow]"We are ready for battle, Legion Master. There will be no more challenges of your command or faith. This day's madness have begun to distort my brother's mind temporary. I will make sure he is out of your way, as long as you keep your warriors from provoking either of us."[/yellow]

[Dufflepud]

Surprised at the sangheili's respectful tone, Xet turned to him,

"Yes, thank you. You are a reasonable warrior, sangheili. May the gods watch your step. Now, I think I have a plan. My superiors have supplied me with a portable shield generator that should protect us from the human artillery. My suggesstion is this: We take a small human outpost at the edge of the field as quickly and discreetly as possible. Then, once we have done so, we will activate the device before the human artillery can turn on us. This will allow me to call in the full might of my legion, as well as some artillery of our own. Then, the true assault can begin.

(I mention a shield generator, because otherwise, there is literaly no way to set up a covenant foothold in order for a real battle to happen.)

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Lieutenant Aspen "Jade Watts" and ODST Sergeant David Williams
En route to Glasglow Airfield
"Fun times indeed.."

"What an R&R this turned out to be, huh Dan?" Came the rueful words of Aspen Watts as she yanked her pelicans yoke too hard too right and broke into a barrel roll. A few bolts of blue shot past the cockpit's view screen and blinked out of existance into the smoke filled skyline.

"Yeah the traffic is terrible." He screamed right back, flicking a few switches before the rotary canons under his command finally locked onto the pesky banshee in hot persuit and sent it back to hell in a spluttering flurry of hot blue plasma fire.

The flustered pilot in control of the ship keyed the comms after her gaze stopped focusing in on the destruction below, which the banshee only added to. "You allright back there Sarge? Lucky we got you guys while we did or you'd be walking to the airfield." Aspen crowed, knowing she had finally been reunited with her husband who now sat in the bay.. if only for a short time. Silence held it self there after, nothing needed t be said past that for Aspen knew words could not cover what was going to happen next. After a few minutes of flight the pelican neared the airfield and Aspen began preporations for a hot drop. "Your rides almost over ODST, prepair for hot drop because there is not much else we can do at the moment." She offered over the intercom before switching over to local comm links. "This is Zulu 24 coming in for a hot drop, Captain Dylan Lloyd do I got a present for you." Aspen muttered before her husband keyed into the coms.

"This is Sergeant David Williams, Fire Teams Jade, Sapphire, and Ruby at your service." He reported as the pelican finaly lowered enough to where it hovered over tarmac surface. With a squeak of the bay doors opening the pounding feet of 12 ODST left the pelican, which soon screamed off into the smokey sky.

"This is Zulu 24, anyone need any assistance?" Aspen asked calmly over the mie as the view of her husbands squad dissapeared fully. Times like this you wish they would just hurry up and kill everyone.

----
"Captain Lloyd, where do you need us?" The Sergeant asked, moving his squad over to where most of the fighting seemed to be happening.

Lance Corporal Victoria Landcaster
Glassglow Command

"Three! Two! One!... Mark!!" Rang out the voice of Captain Sierra Lloyd as her rockituers fired off their payload toward the covenant bastards.

"Well she asked for cover fire..." Offered Victoria to her spotter Chase who nodded in return. Within a few seconds a few rounds of DMR and Sniper fire rang out from the figth floor window of the command center the pair had camped in. It was hard to see past the smoke and debris but their fire had a small impact on the lessening number of returning plasma volleys.

"Alpha Company, new orders. Get yourselves onto those Pelicans ASAP. We're moving out and heading for the radio tower. This place'll go up in smoke shortly, and another objective awaits." Came the now familier voice of their Captain.

"You heard her." Victoria stated to chase before moving herself from the window and packing up her gear. It took her only a few minutes to get everything fastened to her person before she spoke into her comm's channel. "Sniper team Beta rogers that Captain, heading up the the birds now." Reported Victoria before the pair began their asscent up to the roof. Things seemed to be falling apart quickly.. but she tried to keep her mind off of it.

Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins
Bracknell Command
ONI Section 1

"God I hate these people.." Jessica mumbled as she finally got messages on her TAC PAD of objectives and to go where she thought she was needed. So with her small words of sentiment the female operative began to make her way out of the command center in search of a pelican lift. Fortunatly she found a message sent out from a flight known as Zulu 24 to the general comms. Now all she needed to do was figure out where she was needed... "Zulu 24, this is Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins in need of a lift to the radio tower, got any seats left?" The Oni operative asked before making her way out of the command center completely, not knowing what she would find.

[kuran]

Lance Corporal James Beaufort
ODST Spec Ops Fireteam Raptor
Glasgow Command Center

James peeked over the top of the reception desk just in time to see who his VSIR told him was the captain he had been talking to over the comms. Offering a nod in her direction knowing better than to salute in the middle of a warzone, he de-polarised his visor for a moment, revealing his scarred features.

"Captain Lloyd!" He called."It'll be our pleasure to go with you, we're needed at the radio tower as well. We've rigged the bunker with enough explosives to make a nice show as we leave."

Raising his rifle, he joined the rest of his team in promptly blowing away any grunt foolish enough to come charging towards the open doors of the lobby.

"We'll be happy to cover your six, the pelicans are waiting on the rooftop."

[Huka]

[yellow]"A excellent plan, Legion Master."[/yellow] Til agreed, "Quick and efficient, like a knife."

[Dufflepud]

"I'm glad you approve. Now, let's get to the airfield, where we can rendezvous with our shield generator!"

With that, Xet sprinted off through the trees at a leasurely 60 MPH. His creche quickly followed suit, and after a minute of running through the thick green foliage, they reached the edge of the field. Xet observed several humans patrolling the border, but his forces naturaly melted into the forest, and were able to wait unseen for the sangheili to catch up.

Reaching for his comm, Xet contacted the mercenary he would be working with,

"Kyet, we are in position. You have my coordinates."

[Huka]

Til didn't had much trouble trying to catch up with the Kig-yar, he slid to a stop when they came to the airfield. Taking his telescopic monocular out of his belt, he placed it over his good eye, and looked around in a detailed scope.

Humans patrolled, very alert to anything that their eyes could see. He kept himself low and stepped carefully, before stopping to wait for any orders and Legra.

[Dufflepud]

"I've got you, Xet," replied Chur'R-Kyet, "I'm on my way with your forces!" Xet was one of the few in the military that Kyet actually liked. As such, he had agreed to carry almost a thousand additional troops to the battlefield, as well as use his ship as a shield generator. His crew were unhappy, but they would soon be far less cramped. Also, it wasn't like the job was being done for free.

The Silent Talon rocketed through the atmoshpere. Reaching the thin layer of fluffy white clouds, before coming out over a human city. A large black rectange dominated what wasn't covered in buildings. Evidently this was the airfield. Kyet put in the coordinates, as his pilot was injured, flying down to the edge of the human entrenchment. Several rockets were fired, but they were tiny and insignificant, and glanced off of the shielding as if they were nothing. Kyet landed his vessel not so smoothly at the edge of the field. He was tempted to destroy some of the field, but he was being paid to do a job, and so he would preform it. The Talon clamped herself firmly into place, and Kyet rerouted all of his ship's power to the shields, projecting then outwards a hundred meters, still only a tiny fraction of the massive air field that he would be deploying forces onto. the doors opened, and a thousand Kig-Yar warriors filed out, with Kyet coming last. He walked up to his aquaintance, the Legion Master, and greeted him, before Turning to the sangheili that were now stepping out onto their portion of the airfiled.

"Hello there, Sangheili!" he called, "It is now safe to call in your reinforcements so that we can begind to take this field!"

"And so that I can collect my payment!" he muttered under his breath.


(OOC: If the air field is a piece of printer paper, then we have only set up on the last inch of the upper left hand corner. This is only a way for the covenant to deploy to the airfield without getting killed by the massive amounts of human artillery.)

[kartoffelfogel]

Major Domo Legra 'Adantee

Legra ran up to the Xet, his anger temporarily displaced by the idea he had rushing through his mind.

"Legion Master!" He bellowed. He skidded to a halt near the Kig-Yar.

"That ship, and the shield it is projecting--while the majority of their power is going to protect us, can it not still be mobile?"

Without waiting for the Kig-Yar to reply, he continued.

"And if it is mobile... could it not theoretically contain a Scarab? Long enough to, say, allow it to fire a few blasts, hopefully destroying enough artillery to open a path past the human's lines?

[kel]

OOC: Am I getting that lift, Drelite? Or should I move on?

Additionally, with Z reliquishing control of Kag for the mission, I will be taking over her character until she reclaims him.



IC: Kel clicked off her comm, cutting her two-way connection to her division leader. It was doubtful that she would play a small part in the battle. And if she spent too much time out here, she could be left behind upon Covenant withdrawal, either for retreat, or glassing.

That brought to mind a burning question she had always had. Why would the Covenant risk laying siege to a human planet, when the resistance was always so great? Why wouldn't they melt it all down from the safety of orbit, and spare millions of Covenant lives? Surely it was the better, simpler tactic? Did the Hierarchs like doing things the hard way? Did... Did they even care for their troops?

Kel frowned at the thought. They were numbers. Numbers with the chance to disgrace or honor the Covenant, and the Great Journey they so believed in. While she didn't prescribe to the concept, it was always an element of her life, and thus, she believed that the Ancients whom the Covenant held in such high status existed somewhere beyond the stars. And those loyal to the Covenant, those truly, unwaveringly loyal, would make that great journey to join their gods. That privilege took honor, and honor had to be won by blood. Through life or death.

Kel needed to partake in the fight. She didn't like the war, but it was her sworn duty to kill the enemies of the Covenant. She just hoped that those she killed would make a Great Journey of their own.

Taking up her rifle again, she steadied it, and leveled it with the head of a human sniper. "Kag, Zuk, I'm opening fire. I've painted targets for other forces to take out. Watch my sides, and keep me updated."


"Don't take too long, Kel. I'd like a chance to fight tonight." Kag muttered over the comm. Kel mentally warned him not to get too eager, and go running off to his death. She just hoped he would abide by the multiple warnings he had had in the past. Click.

A stream of orange energy tore through the darkness, smiting her target in the face. Another human noticed the corpse, but did not seem to notice anything wrong in the darkness. Snipers had to remain motionless afterall. Kel assured this one would fit the bill perfectly. She shifted her sights to one of the other snipers she had painted. He happened to be looking right at her. Kel's eyes widened, and she froze, her heart pounding in her head. The human sniper readjusted his trigger finger. He sighted down the barrel...

And rotated to his left. Kel laid her head down, and closed her eyes. That was too much excitement for her. She thought for sure he had seen her, and was about to execute her. Why did she freeze? She shouldn't have panicked. "Focus, Kel" She whispered to herself, quietly enough that the comm wouldn't pick it up.

Raising her head back to her rifle, she retrained her bead on the sniper. He was picking up his rifle, and rising to a stand. Should she take the shot? She had gotten lucky once. Could she be lucky again? She pulled the trigger.

He spun from the impact, releasing a cry from the heat to his spine. His rifle fell from his grasp, and plummeted off the roof. A loud bang sounded from the hidden alleyway. She had no such luck.

The roofs and streets were alive with snipers and soldiers, either rushing to the fallen sniper's aid, as futile as it would be, with him being in shock, or otherwise scanning the wilderness for the source.

Kel clicked off her helmet. Her eye piece would give away her position. As soon as she had clicked it off, the trees around her exploded into a heavy rain of bark and splinters. Bullets whizzed past her, one clipping her right arm. Kel squawked with surprise and dropped her rifle, and clasped her free hand to the wound as she flattened herself.

Through her clenched eyes, she called out for Zuk. She didn't know if he heard her. She didn't know where he was. Had he charged down to the city? Had he been injured or killed by the bullets and exploding shrapnel from the trees? And what of Kag? Was he alright? As the sniper briefly wondered this, the world around her was filled with splinters and the screaming of bullets as they flew by, or ricocheted all around her.

[kartoffelfogel]

Minor Domos Seroth 'Vrotalee and Breek 'Smakaree

Note: these two characters are NPCs. This means they are killable.

"Death and glory!"

The cry rang clear, easily heard despite the constant roar of bullets and explosions.

Breek had his eyes closed, deep in prayer. His Plasma Repeater had run out of charge, and his only remaining armament was a twisted rod of metal and a single Plasma Grenade.

Snapping out of his reverie, he stood up to his full height, staring out over a wall that had been built to Human-height. He spotted his companion, Seroth, swinging his twin Plasma Rifles, long since drained of charge, as clubs.

The two Humans he was engaged with were dumbstruck, their movements sluggish with terror. However, farther away, another knot of humans was preparing to open fire. Breek breathed a swift prayer.

"Forerunners, strike fast and true,
And bring death without a care
I seek to honor you
By slaying heretics with this holy flare!"

So saying, he hurled his Plasma Grenade. The humans dissipated in a flash of blue light. Gossamer strands of smoke wafted away from the wreckage.

Suddenly, a keening--the well-known sound of a Banshee.

A trio of Banshees floated overhead, followed closely by a Phantom. Suddenly, a voice crackled in his comm.

"Attention all Covenant below! Gather in the clearing directly past the wall! We are pulling out of this sector and bringing our guns to bear with full force and devastating speed in another location!"




OOC: Kel, meet up with my NPCs in the clearing. We'll airlift ourselves then to the airbase.

[theforgotten]

Zuk was walking around a small clearing keeping watch soon turning around, jumping into a large tree he ran his way back coming close hearing the soft buzz of Kel's rifle. A smell of burning flesh reached his nose as the gust of wind came to him a smirk came to him as he stopped a reasonable distance away from Kel and Kag. A few minutes had past when he heard the cackling sounds of gunfire went of he looked around in search where they came from when a bullet flew past him making a large patch in the tree's trunk three inches from his head.

He hopped down from the tree hitting the ground he began crawling his way up the hill looking to his sides making sure it wasn't an ambush when he heard Kel. Squeak out as if she had just been shot. He lost all thoughts other then to get to her as he stood at full height and rushed up the hill towards her sliding on his back to her side behind a rock covered with bullet marks.

"Are you alright..?" He asked her taking eyeing over her body to see if she had any injuries when he heard a Sangheili come in over the radio.

"Attention all Covenant below! Gather in the clearing directly past the wall! We are pulling out of this sector and bringing our guns to bear with full force and devastating speed in another location!"

He looked towards Kel hoping she had heard the same as him a spark in his eye ready to move for the clearing.

[kel]

Kel shuddered as the explosions around her died out. Her eyes were squeezed tight, her body flattened to the ground. Her breathing was still heavy when she finally decided to peek around her. Wood splinters layered the forest floor.

When Kel finally shifted, she rose carefully, only enough to crawl backwards over the hill. She pulled herself to her feet, wavering slightly. When she shook off the debris from the attack, she found herself covered in cuts. While the cuts were minor, and posed no threat to her life or ability to fight, any acute kig-yar would be able to smell it with ease, and it could possibly provoke their more savage natures.

Shrubbery off to her right shook, as something blew through them. The bulky form of Kag emerged moments later, weapon ready, and looking Kel over. "Are you alright?"

Kel collapsed against a tree with her rifle at her hip while she collected herself. "Yes. I am fine. Minor cuts are all I have."

"We have to regroup with the main force. The Shipmasters and Fieldmasters have something in the works, and we need to be out of the way."

Kel wondered if it was them specifically, or all Covenant forces. Could Ruk have successfully relayed her targets up the command chain? Kel hoped so. She dearly hoped so.

"We should fall back to the base. It's only a short sprint away." Kag noted, looking off in the direction of the base. "Think you can make it without trouble?"

Kel struggled to pull herself up, wincing at a spot where a large sliver of wood penetrated between elements of her armor. Despite her efforts, she groaned slightly, but audible enough for Kag to reach her side, and inspect her.

Grumbling to himself, he glanced back to the base. "You're injured. That will limit your ability to sprint." He felt pressed for time. "I apologize beforehand, but you leave me no choice, Kel. We need to fall back."

Kel barely had enough time to inquire what he meant before she was swept off the ground, and found herself in Kag's arms, his delicate package as he bounded down the hill and into the forest towards the Covenant base.

[theforgotten]

Zuk saw the rustle of bushes identifying Kag's scent and waded of the thoughts of a threat, he stood shortly brushing off debris only a few minor cuts from the wooden shrapnel. He grunted plucking a rather large wood chunk from the top of his foot after he had licked the blood from his arms he looked towards Kag and Kel once again.

"We have to regroup with the main force. The Shipmasters and Fieldmasters have something in the works, and we need to be out of the way."

He zoned out from there conversation looking around the tufts of his ears hearing Kel's feet lift from the ground making the soft sounds of her feet leaving the mud's embrace. Zuk began walking towards before speaking. "I will take lead to ensure your safetly." He looked at Kel then at Kag nodding slightly before rushing down the hill taking leap half stride into the tree's before dropping again infront of them.