Intermission: UNSC. (IC)

[dave36464736]

Overview:

After your defeat at Glasgow, at the Airfield, the UNSC successfully retreated back to the new carrier in the fleet. The UNSC FREEDOM.

After you all boarded, The UNSC FREEDOM returned to Reach. You are now all on shore leave.

... Until you are needed again *Que Halo 2 ending music*

//OOC: So now you can mix and mingle with each other, until Mission 4 is posted. Have fun!

Dave

[Wax™]

Will there be a IC thread? Where the players can converse their characters with one another while they wait for their next operation?

[hollowsaber]

Yea.. Dave.. OOC means out of character... IC is the thread you're thinking of..

[dave36464736]

Whoops! *Changes title* *grins sheepishly*

[kuran]

Lance Corporal James Beaufort
ODST Fireteam Raptor
New Alexandrea Military Cemetary

"Fire!"

James flinched as the line of men, standing some thirty feet away, fired the first rounds. He had always hated funerals. The chaplain, who he had never seen before today, motioned him to stand in front of the coffin, which he did, moving with a limp. The cane that he had been ordered by the doctor to use for a few weeks aided his shaky walk.

"Fire!"

Gazing at those gathered around the coffin, which was draped with both a UNSC flag and an ODST one, he swept his service cap from his head and placed it over his heart. As he reflected on the events of the past weeks, the last set of rounds fired, and the honour guard detail marched off.

"Megan Jones was a member of my team. We served together for four years, and in that time, I knew her to be one of the best soldiers I have ever seen. She was intelligent, witty. The life of a party."

"Megan was also my friend. And she died as a true hero. Megan was cut off from the rest of us. The Pelican she was in took a hit...She gave her life so that eleven innocent people could escape, which they did. She held off a large group of the enemy, killing several, before being hit with plasma fire. As the enemy approached her position, she detonated a grenade, ending her life and the lives of several more of the enemy."

"Megan Jones will be remembered as a friend, a soldier, and a Helljumper."

James walked back to his place, watching as the casket was lowered slowly into the ground, a single tear in his eye.

[z]

-Cpl. Alex Sumers-

Theme:

Standing with her team at the end of a newly filled grave, Alex was in tears... Their funeral was over... Amy was dead... And Alex fell to her knees in tears. Clay and Lewis were trying to pull her to her feet.. And Raul? Who knew where he was...

A MA5C laid stabbed into the newly moved ground with a broken ODST Helmet lingering on the end, place by Lewis and Clay.

Amy had taken a shot from a Jackal sniper's needle rifle to the face... And she died on the spot...

Alex was heartbroken to see the young... Pretty... woman die that way... But not only that... Amy was her friend! Her best friend next to Clay! She had a right to break down here but, it felt wrong.

The young ODST had been convinced her and her team would be together till the end... Now it was shown she was wrong...

"Alex... Hey..." Clay said kneeling down next to her. "Alex... It's okay. Listen, we need to go now okay?"

Alex shook her head and stood, looking at them she quickly sprinted away, as far as she could in to the city streets, alley's. Giving up finally in the alleyway of a bar where she simply sat with her hands on her forehead.

-Lucy Grey and Lunar Squad-

"Got any twos...?" Alex asked, looking up at Jackson.

"Go fish." The Russian said, turning to Lucy he asked. "Lucy, do you have any fives?"

"God dammit Jacksn! It's like you know!" She exclaimed, slamming down three cards from her hand onto the bar table.

[Deleted]

Killinger walked out of the debriefing room, and straightened his new polished gold bar. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant.
"Killinger. Did you hear, we are being re-assigned to a UNSC Ship. We are going to be her marine complement. Not a lot of info, but the personnel files shows nearly four thousand marines on this vessel." Hicks said.
"You think it's a new carrier?" Killinger asked.
"Nah, just one already in service. Probably just a troop deployment ship, I mean four thousand marines.. That's got to be a troop deployment ship." Hicks replied.

Yeah, your completely wrong... Killinger though. "Well, regardless we have our orders. They are not letting us even board the ship until it's been revealed. Supposed to boost moral, by a ton." Killinger said.
"What do you mean?" Hicks asked.
"This vessel is just coming out of space docks now, their are two of them. I know a little about the ship, after all I am going to be an officer on it." Killinger replied, smiling.
"Officer my ass." Hicks quickly replied.

Hicks looked at the large black screen handing over head. "I don't think anything is going to happen, dude..." Hicks said.
Killinger looked at the screen as well. "I don't know, maybe something will. Hey, you want to see something?" Killinger said, switching topics.

Hicks looked at Killinger. "What?"
Killinger slightly turned his head to his right.
"What!" Hicks said in a surprised tone. "Your a Second Lieutenant now! Congrats man! You weren't joking about the ship then..." Hicks added, mocking a salute.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Lets go play some football, for old time sake. You versus me?" Hicks nodded, as if he wanted to physically hurt his commanding officer.
"Your on." Killinger replied.

[darthsloan]

It was too long since he had stepped onto a ship, and yet he wasn't anxious to leave. He felt as if He left part of himself in Glasgow, but he knew everyone else felt the same in one way or another.

Reach..... stronghold of the great UNSC union. He knew... in time.... the covenant would raze this world as well, like Glasgow, like Arcadia. He was anxious for promotion but he did not get it in the slightest. There was however, slight changes in the roll. Sgt. Brown had been shot by the same sniper that Johnson had supposedly killed, and he was dead before he hit the pelican floor. Kent was promoted to Sgt., and Torres to Cpl.

He payed his respects and sat in the main courtyard by his lonesome, remembering boot camp with brown. It brought a small smile to his face but would soon fade hearing the laughter of other marines.

[Wax™]

Staff Sergeant Jason Bowers
ALPHA: DELTA SQUAD
New Alexandria Military Cemetary

"Left, left, left, right, left!" Jason yelled at the top of his lung's before repeting the word's twice more.

Freshly promoted Staff Sergeant Bowers marched down the main road of the graveyard, behind him were two squads marching in perfect synch, each one wearing their Black Dress Uniforms aswell as Bowers, the first squad was DELTA, the other another squad that served with Delta in their previouse engagement, Bowers marched with a sword in his right hand, with the tip pointing to the sky, each man behind him had a MA5C in their right hand also, the barrel leaning again'st their shoulder, while the other arm moved back and forth with a closed fist.

Jason turned his head slightly as he saw a military funeral commencing just a few meters away, it seemed an ODST by the name of Megan was killed in action, Bowers sighed and took a a deep breath before exhailing.

"SQUAD... Squad, halt!"

Jason stopped and slammed his right foot down as he called the halt, as did the rest of the two squad's in perfect sunch, Jason stepped out, still marching to the right hand side of the Squad so his back was facing the funeral.

"Squad! By your right, right turn!"

Each member of the two Squad's spinned on their heels till they were facing the right, lifting their left leg up and slamming it down by the side before standing at attention, each one looking over the funeral.

"Squad! Switch arm!"

As he said that each of the Marines gripped the MA5C and switched it so it was being held by the left arm, they then straightened their left arm's up, and held it how they did in their right.

"Squad.... Squad salute!"

As Bowers said that, he shethed his military sword and spun around on his heel's so that he was facing the people around the funeral aswell, most of the civilians and a couple of the ODST's were looking at them now, once Bowers was stable he took in a breath and quickly lifted his right hand and saluted the soldiers, the families and the fallen soldier.

[tincanhitman]

Raul allowed a tear to break his blank exterior.

He had watched numbly as they put Amy in the ground...worm food...though his face didn't show it he felt sick. When ever you watched a marine get splashed with plasma it felt sureal and didn't feel real..but this one didn't just fall and go away...it followed him home...

As he lit a cig Alex bolted off leaving them standing there.

"fuck..." he mumbled and ran after, losing her at first but managing to catch up he ran up to her.

"Alex..." he said, voice cracking slightly "i...she..." he didn't know what to say, he had never really dealt with death before...it scared him.

[kuran]

James watched the marine squad and it's leader as it saluted the group. Turning on his good leg, he switched his cane to his off-hand and replied with his own salute, as did the other two members of Raptor. Megan had been like a sister to all of them, and loosing her had caused many tear-filled hours.

Now was one of them.

Normally reluctant to show any emotion at all, the three of them did nothing to hide the tears dripping down their faces as they held a silent salute, and the casket slowly lowered into the ground...

[Deleted]

The Admiral slowly spun in his chair, reading an old, torn book. He could barely read the thing. The book was called "Eragon" - A fictional book about a boy and his pet dragon. He liked it, he really did. Not to many twenty first century books remained, and the ones that did have been republished and re-done on today's paper and books.

He closed his book and stopped spinning. He was sitting, alone, on the UNSC Arizona's bridge. The Arizona herself was behind Reach's moon, along with her sister, the second vessel of her class.

"Admiral? Incoming transmission from FleetComHQ." Dino, the ship board A.I said.
"Patch it through, Holo Tank three." The Admiral responded.

The Admiral could barely see the man's face, as radiation static was keeping a clean signal. The only draw back at Reach was on terms of Communications. Many vessels had their reactors running. Sensors loved it, receivers hated it.

"We are going to reveal the Arizona shortly. You have permission to take her out of the backside of the moon." The man said.
"Aye, aye." The Admiral replied, and the video was cut off.


"Dino, plot a course for the nearest docking station. We'll be picking up our crew as well."
"Sir, ONI didn't give me navigation rights, not during a shake down cruise of a new ship." The A.I responded.

"Figured." The Admiral said under his breath, getting up and moving towards the Navigation chair. He tapped a few commands, and the star map came online in the screen in front of his eyes. He proceeded to punch in a series of co-ordinance and the ship rumbled into action, however with only one reactor online, it would take a few minutes before he reached the docking station.

[Wax™]

Staff Sergeant Jason Bowers
ALPHA: DELTA SQUAD
New Alexandria Military Cemetary

Jason and his two squad's held their salutes for a good one minute untill the casket was lowered all the way down, Jason then dropped his hand and spun on his heels to the right so he was now facing his two Squads, a full 20 man + Squad under Bower's command.

"SQUAD... By your right, turn right!"

As Jason said that all his men at once, as a single unit spun on their heels and faced the right, lifting their right boot and slamming it down next to their left, they then changed their MA5C back to their right arm and waited for their next command.

"SQUAD... By your right, quick, march 100 meters, then halt, stand at ease and talk amungst your selves!"

"YES STAFF SERGEANT!"

The men yelled out before marching furthur down the road, 100 meters down was the entrance to the grave-yard, and a reception building, the men would stop there and and talk amungst your self untill Jason was finished.

Jason in his Black Dress Uniform walked with a small limp over to one of the ODST's who he soon recognized as Lance Corporal James Beaufort, Newly promoted Staff Sergeant Jason Bowers stopped infront of the man, and gave a private salute between the two, before placing his right hand on the man's left shoulder.

"I have read her file and Megan was a fantastic soldier..."

Bowers pulled out a small decorative box from his left jacket pocket and handed it to the man, inside would be Megan's dog tags.

"I managed to get thoes out of base... Knowing how much she meant to this team"

Jason would step back and give another salute before watching James as he hopefully opened the box to see what was inside.

[kuran]

James reached out to take the box, taking a moment to open it with shaking hands. The other two members of the team looked over his shoulder as he pulled the pair of dogtags.

Jones, Megan
Private First Class
8874-BR-742

James was speechless. He just stared at the tags, dangling on their chain, for several long moments. Lenov was the first to react. Snapping to attention, the burly Russian gave a smart salute to the Sergeant, and James and McAlister did the same after a moment.

"Thank you Sir. It...means a lot to us."

James lowered his hand...and offered it to Bowers. Protocol be damned, He thought. This Sergeant had gone out of his way, risked trouble, to give them Megan's tags. He owed this man a good deal more than a handshake.

As they turned to leave, he turned back to Bowers. "Thank you, really." He turned, and continued his slow, limping walk. As he walked away, a solemn band near the edge of the cemetery lifted their instruments and began playing a song....

Song

[z]

-Alex-

She just sat there, her cold cybernetic hand pressed to her face along with her normal one. The tears clung to her face... She was not used to it... S-She didn't want Amy to die... she could of saved her... she could have if she tried!

Even Alex knew it wasn't true, but she still tried telling herself otherwise...

It was pointless...

[Wax™]

Captain Travis Jenkins
ABLE COMPANY 501st.
New Alexandria Military Cemetary

Theme:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWXyZu4MTic&feature=fvst

Travis stood there in his Marine Military Dress Blues, he stood on a two foot tall platform behind a pedestal, and looked upon a crowed of crying relatives and crying soldiers, the room he was in was packed with at least five hundred plus people, half of them Marines the other half civilians, and Travis was the one giving the speech, Travis had already been speaking for ten minutes, and it was time for him to wrap this up, he took a deep breath, and exhailed shakingly.

"May no soldier go unloved, May no soldier walk alone, May no soldier be forgotten, Untill they all come home..."

"...Sergeant David Henry, Private Jimmy Smith Jr, Lance Corporal Thomas Baker and Staff Sergeant David Stephenson, were all valued and loved members of the United Nations Marine Corps, and will never be forgotton"

Travis stopped and stepped away from the pedestal before moving infront of four coffins, he saluted for a whole one minute as a band in the room played Amazing Grave, once Amazing Grace had finished Travis turned around and took a folded UNSC Flag from a Marine before walking over to a woman and handing it over to her, he did this four three other families before moving off to the side, slide shows on four seperate screen's began to play, from the Soldiers birth to death.

"Are you ok Sir?"

One of Travis' Lieutenants said to Travis, Travis took in a deep breath before speaking.

"Fine... Lieutenant, i'm fine"

Travis held up a hand before the Lieutenant got a chance to speak again, he just wanted a moment of silence while he watched four coffins lower down into a room below the main chaple.

Staff Sergeant Jason Bowers
ALPHA: DELTA SQUAD
New Alexandria Military Cemetary

Jason lowered his hand and stretched it out to shake James' firmly, once he was done he stepped back and did another quick salute before letting the men speak, Jaosn smiled before nodding and speaking himself.

"Have a good night boys"

Staff Sergeant Bowers turned on his heels and stepped on the main road of the cemetary and down the road to the entrance to the cemetary to where 20 + men stood around talking to eachother and sitting under tree's and on benches, Jason smiled and moved over to a group by a bench, he loved being on leave so that he could see his team so peaceful, once he approached the group he just managed to hear one of his seasoned soldiers speak to a couple of replacement privates.

"Seriously guy's i'm telling you, Sergeant bowers is the guy you want in the foxhole next to yours...but you’d never introduce him to your sister."

Jason laughed and dropped a hand down on the Corporals shoulder, it was Corporal Jake Winters, his best friend since primary school on Reach.

"Are you offering your sister Jake?"

"No Sir!"

Jason smiled again and watched his team as the conversed with one another, this was great, no stress, no trouble, no worries, this was the happyest he had ever seen his team, even the replacements seemed nice.

Private Dean 'Coxy' Cox
REAPER: Lunar Squad
New Alexandria - Random Area

Coxy huffed and puffed, he was sprinting as fast as he possibly could, he bagan to think if he was sprinting faster than he did from the Covenant back on planet Albert when the UNSC were retreating, the 19 year old ODST boy turned around and saw five large men running after him, they were huge and looked like body building giants, if they cought up to Coxy he would be fucked.

Coxy pushed off a wall and ran into an Alley way, he turned around to look behind him and not paying attention he tripped over a womans foot, a woman who was sitting down against the wall of the alley way, Dean landed hard against the pavement and lifted himself only high enough to see a fist traveling right at his face.

The boy lifted his arms and blocked the punch, as he did so he lifted his right foot and kicked the man away, this gave him enough time to stand up, but as he did so another man grabbed onto Coxy's shirt and gave him a right sock to the left cheek, Dean spat out blood before stumbling out of the alley way and into the middle of a road, as he picked himself up he was brutally kicked in the gut and this caused him to double over onto his hand's and knee's.

The five men gathered around him and began to kick the shit out of him before one stopped the others, one of the men picked up Dean before throwing him through the window of a bar, Dean flew through the air and landed on a table, the table happened to be the same table, Gunnery Sergeant Z, Sergeant Jackson and Alex and Anders were playing go fish on.

Dean had a bruised to shit face, a broken and bleeding nose, bruised and cut arms and a ripped shirt, he rested against the table on his back and moaned and groaned, the leader of the five built men stepping through the window frame to approach Dean, the other four following close behind, the men in the long term, were obviously drunk.

[Spartan 999]

First Lieutenant Isin Herald

[/b]

Isin sat back on a bench, enjoying the musical sound of the birds as the sun shone brightly overhead. He looked down at the odd hat in his hands, eyebrow raised in interest.

"Ah, that is the replica of a hat once called a 'fedora'." The salesman said, looking up the information. "It was frequently associated with gangsters or detectives from the early-middle 1900's. A fedora was also worn by the popular movie character Indiana Jones."

"Huh." Isin said, looking at the price. "I'll take it."

After purchasing the fedora, he put it on experimentally. He looked in the mirror, turning his head so as to see all the angles.

"Not bad. I could get used to this."

[z]

-Lucy-

It was an innocent game... But then a bloody, bruised familiar looking ODST landed on the table, and Lucy jumped.

"Cox?!" She heard Alex say.

Lucy growled and looked up at where Cox had came from.... No one hurt her men...

Five men stood ready to kick Cox's ass to hell in the middle of the bar... Lucy stepped between them and the small ODST, only to fell a large hand swat her into the wall, feeling the blood trickle from her nose and mouth Lucy groaned a bit.

Looking up her squad was already reacting.

Alex and Anders had attacked in sync and brought one down, whom was now being held down by Anders and a few other bar patrons who had seen it. Jackson subdued the smaller one in a headlock, cursing out in Russian he slammed a fist into the mans gut three times and threw him to the side.

The last two were trying to make their way to Cox. And one lifted Lucy up by her shirt.

"Call your little boys off bitch..."

Lucy's smirked and lifted her hands up, slamming them into the mans ears to make him yell and drop her. She growled and brought her knee up between his legs, and by now the second was taken down by someone else, and the police were here.

-------

Sitting at the ambulance, Lucy held a ice pack to her head, Jackson was getting his arm checked out, the twins were fine, and Cox was rushed off to the hospital with them at his side.

She had no doubt Isin was going to be notified of this....

And she was going to get in trouble...

--------------

-Alex Summers-

Someone ran past her and tripped on her foot, and another few ran past.

Alex just stood, her hands on her shoulders and began to walk away quietly thinking, the sound of a fight behind her.

[dave36464736]

- Dave Kabruski

Walking into the fresh air of Reach, he breathed in deeply through his nose, smelling the scents of pine and aspen. He was in the area of the Big Horn river, a lovely place he had visited on his last shore leave and had become his favorite place to contemplate life. Ironic, given the circumstances of his career.

As he sat there, he was quickly joined by his squad mate Sarah.

- Sarah Johnson

I saw Dave just sitting there. Silly bugger, always contemplating life, even though he is the bringer of death. Sarah shook her head

Going up to Dave, she simply just sat beside him. She knew him well enough that if he truly did not want her there, He would have said something.

"Whats eating you Dave? and don't tell me there isn't anything, I know better." Sarah said, cutting to the chase.

- Dave Kabruski

"Just... everything thats happened. With you, with Nick..." Daves voice trailed off, as tears filled his eyes and his throat tighten'd up.

- Sarah Johnson.

"Chris will be fine. You blame yourself too much." comforted Sarah, putting her arm on Daves.

Snatching her hand, Dave threw it off. "I DONT WANT YOUR PITY" he choked out.

Not bothered, Sarah quickly grabbed Dave in a hug. She knew what happened.

[Cabel]

[Epsilon Eridani System: Slipstream: Approaching Planet Reach: UNSCS Passchendaele CGA-079: Bridge]

Relaxing back in the confines of the command chair, the fifty year old officer of nearly a quarter century of experience let loose a sigh of relief after a long patrol. The Passchendaele had been dispatched to one of the Inner Colonies to rendezvous with the UNSCS Hagfish a Barracuda Class Guided Missile Frigate around a world not unlike many within the Inner Colonial borders. The Hagfish had been relieved by the Passchendaele, and for nearly four months Matvey and his crew had watched over that world until the Passchendaele had been relieved by a Halcyon Class Light Cruiser the name of which he’d never really taken the time to learn. There had been times the aristocrat-born officer had longed for garrison-duty of one of the Outer Colonies as many of the Inner Colony worlds had grown decadent and fat compared to the pragmatic natures of the Outer Colonies.

“We’re receiving a Friend-or-Foe inquiry from Listening Outpost Four-Eight-Three. They are requesting our identification code,” Lieutenant Louise Denrae reported, calmly from the communication’s station not far from the recessed command pit.

“Lieutenant, transmit our IFF-code and request approach vector for Reach,” Commander Alice Qelar, the Passchendaele’s Executive Officer and the ship’s primary weapon’s officer said from checking tactical readouts from an auxiliary weapon‘s console. Matvey had transferred the young commander from Earth to the Passchendaele from her previous posting aboard the same destroyer he’d commanded the Alsatian. They had worked closely for a number of years to the point where Alice seemed to have had the ability to read Matvey’s decisions even before the order had been given.

“Sir?” Lieutenant Louise Denrae asked, not wanting to follow through with an order if the Captain hadn’t issued it.

“You heard the Commander. Follow through with her orders, and transmit those codes,” Matvey replied, in that heavy eastern Slavic accent. Even from his place on the bridge, the Russian born officer could feel the weapons of the Defense Orbital stations in geosynchronous orbit of the center of the United Nation Space Command’s military presence in the colonies. “Let’s not give the defense grid something to shoot at, shall we? Please, transmit those codes and when we’re docked the entire crew will be allowed forty-eight hours of liberty leave,”

“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Denrae replied, with a smile. Like many of the crew, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed liberty leave. Her fingers flew over the controls of her station, as she programmed the subspace transmitters to send the requested information to the Listening Outpost. “I have confirmation, Sir. We have permission to approach Reach on…” she began, reciting the approved approach vector to the Planet Reach.

“Thank you. Coordinate with Lieutenant Michaels to see us into Reach’s space safely,” the Passchendaele’s Captain said, relaxing a little more in the cushy confines of the command chair.

“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Denrae replied, before coordinating her efforts and the course adjustments to the helmsman Lieutenant Michaels.

“T-Minus ninety-seconds before our exit vector from Slipstream,” Lieutenant Ellis Michaels reported from the Helm station near the front of the bridge. The time until the Passchendaele emerged from the Slipstream channel seemed to fly by compared to the months in transit from their last posting and almost as if on cue blue strands of lightning danced along the hull of the massive warship before it materialized in real-space.

[admiral]

Fleet Admiral David Vardy

As David walked on the bridge of his new ship, He felt a momentary excitement as he smelled the scent of freshly painted bulkheads, the feel of his new chair. It wasn't that Dave was new to having new ships, but this time, it was a ship that he had a hand in designing, along with Admiral Klix.

And with that thought, He decided to send a note to Admiral Klix. Walking over to his Comm, he punched in the appropriate codes and transmitted his message: "Klix, Damned fine ship you've designed. Nicely done. Should get together for Cigar's and Brandy. Vardy out"

Now that he had sent the message, he let himself relax enough to do his more... unpleasant duties. Activating his A.I, Lambert.

Looking at his Ops, He grimaced then said "Bring Lambert online."

"Aye sir" replied Sara, Punching in the appropriate codes.

Buzzing into existence, Lambert appeared before Vardy, sporting khaki pants and a very distasteful checkered sweater vest.

"UNSC AI LAMBERT ONLINE, RUNNING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS NOW" announced the AI.

Rolling his eyes, Vardy looked at Sara and said "Shut the damned things vocal processors off."

Chuckling, Sara complied. She knew David's distaste for the AI program.

Looking at Nathan, his brother and XO, he grinned. "So Captain, what do you think of the ship?"

"Sir..." He began.

"Aw, cut the sir crap, this isn't a formal gathering." David snapped, grinning as he did so.

"Fine. Its the sweetest ship I've had the pleasure of serving on." replied Nathan, smiling.

"Good." replied David, gesturing for him and Nathan to sit.

It was nice to be back on a ship. Too many damn years behind a desk.

[z]

Staff Sergeant Eden Lawrence, REVIVE 2, New Alexandria, ONI HQ Command Center

Each of the five REVIVE Commandos were told to wait for further orders by a rather shady ONI agent in a suit, whom had not taken his manors with him when he picked them up from FREEDOM, since he seemed to like the view of both Eden and Janice's chests... Eden wanted to punch him on the way there and knock him from the Warthog but she knew that was a bad idea from the get-go.

Apparently they were getting reassigned... Eden did not know anything... Matt didn't, not even Fiona knew anything which was making Eden fairly paranoid.

Sitting in a window seal she looked out at the city, one leg hanging and her hands on her stomach. She, and the others were already in their armor, which always seemed to have their own personal touch to it.

Eden herself wore standard RECON painted full black, had had red marks on the helmet to mark the scars on her face, even a thin scar on her visor over her green eye.

Helmet siting on the floor, the blond looked over at her teammates and spoke.

"What do you think they are gonna make us do next?" She asked.

Yet, none of them knew that inside the door their ONI pal had waltzed in to they were flagging the UNSCS Passchendaele... The Teams new station...

[Cabel]

[Epsilon Eridani System: Planet Reach: Repair Cradle Orinoco: Docking Slip #3: UNSCS Passchendaele CGA-079: Bridge]

The Passchendaele had steadily made its way through the outer system and into Reach’s higher orbit, only to pull alongside only one of several of the four kilometer long repair cradles orbiting the stronghold planet. Commander Qelar had completed a list to hand to the Orinoco’s crew. The supply list had mostly covered perishables, ammunition, some replacements among the crew from the lower decks and of course fresh fruit. It had been sometime since Matvey had tasted an orange, a freshly grown orange from Earth, and could even tell the difference between an orange grown in a botanical bay to one picked from a tree. With most of the requisition forms having already been filled out and with the duty of overseeing the re-supply issues, Matvey had pushed from the command chair to at least get some rest in his quarters or to perhaps read a few more chapters of War and Peace. He’d only cleared the command pit when he’d noticed his executive officer had returned to the bridge, and by the expression on her face the clipboard of orders she’d held had been of a priority nature.

“Commander…Alice, finished overseeing the re-supply or have you delegated the task to a few junior officers under your purview?” he asked.

“I wish it were that simple, but I did find a few junior officers that weren’t doing anything constructive at the moment. They’re down in the hanger bays dealing with the hands from the Orinoco,…it’s a learning experience for them,” Alice replied. “We received an order of Black Priority, from ONI no less,”

“ONI? What have we done to garner their attention?” Matvey asked, surprised he’d gained the attention of another agency within the UNSC and not for the first time either. “Let me have a look. If ONI’s making requests, I hope it’s for a good reason and not another patrol. I don’t’ think the crew could take another long jog through the Inner colonies…”

“I’m not sure why ONI sent the order. We’re not a prowler, and one would hope ONI gets more use out of those crews than a front line cruiser,” Alice said, handing the clipboard to Matvey with the order sealed for the Captain’s eyes only.

“We shall see,” the Russian officer replied, knowing very little that came from the Office of Naval Intelligence proved beneficial for the average line officer. “You didn’t read these?”

“No. They’re for your eyes only, and I’d rather not face the gallows for even peeking past that seal,” Commander Qelar said.

“Good. I’ll confirm these orders in my quarters, and we’ll see why ONI thinks the Passchendaele fits into their plans,” Matvey said, before smiling to his executive officer and proceeded to depart the bridge. Stepping into one of the two lifts leading to the bridge, he’d submit his destination after tucking the clipboard with the orders under his arm. The ride didn’t take that long, as the machinery operating the lift had been fairly well maintained even after two years of the Passchendaele having been on the front in one capacity or another. When the lift came to a gradual stop on the appropriate deck, the doors parted and Matvey stepped out into one of many corridors on that deck. A short while later, he’d stopped in front of the doors leading to his quarters and tapped in the security clearance code only he’d been issued. The doors parted and the cabin illuminated, as he crossed over to the titanium desk he’d had installed in his quarters. The locking mechanism on the doors took hold, sealing him inside and preventing any chance of the conversation he wasn’t particularly looking forward to being overheard.

Switching the desktop terminal on, he switched over to the frequency and channel outlined in the orders. It wasn’t any surprise to him, the ONI symbol stared back at him and requested a retina scan and his security clearance. “Galina, Matvey, Borislavich. Rank, Captain of the CGA-Zero-Seven-Nine. Serial Number…” he recited the serial number assigned to him on his first day at the naval academies, and submitted his security clearance.

“You’ve reached ONI, Section III, Captain and this is a secure channel,” the ONI officer, a man garbed in a black uniform without any visible rank insignia appeared on the display screen.

‘ONI Section III? What did I do to garner that kind of attention?’ Matvey wondered. “Acknowledged. The channel is secure on this end,”

“Captain, I must assume you’ve read the orders sent to the Passchendaele,” the agent replied.

“Da…I mean, yes. I’ve read through the orders, before opening this channel,” the Russian officer said, respectfully letting the ONI agent as much ‘screen’ time as possible.

“That’s good. We wouldn’t want those orders being seen by anyone else. Captain, you are about to receive a special package amongst your crew and you must trust ONI that we wouldn’t put you or your ship in danger. You’ve served the UNSC proudly, Captain, and we felt this was the proper time to bring your…accomplishments to light and to allow you to serve in a much higher capacity,” the Agent explained.

“What kind of…special package, Sir?” Matvey had to ask, as the safety of the crew was his responsibility.

“I cannot explain more, but if you would come to the Olympic Tower you’ll see the reason for such measures,” the Agent continued, artfully evading Matvey’s question.

“Very well,” Matvey began. “I’ll arrange a dropship to land at that location within the hour,”

“I know you will, Captain. Do keep your crew safe,” the agent replied, before the channel dropped.

“After this, I think I’ll open that bottle of vodka I’ve been saving for special occasions. I think a hard drink is in order,” Matvey muttered in Russian, before seeing to the arrangements of a flight to the Olympic Tower in the city of New Alexandria.

[Epsilon Eridani System: New Alexandria: Olympic Tower: VTOL Pad #4: Some time later]

The ramp of the Pelican lowered, revealing the marvelous view of the city and the towers of New Alexandria along with the humidity that plagued the planet this time of year. Taking a steady pace, Matvey descended the ramp shortly after it came to a rest on the landing platform. He hadn’t know what to expect, especially when ONI had been involved although when ONI invites you to their tower it’s best not to refuse them. Following the custom of his homeland of giving gifts to generous hosts, the Russian officer had managed to obtain a bottle of choice vodka from one of the ship’s stores and would hand or rather honor ONI with it. Though, for now, he stood on the platform several thousand meters above the surface and the city streets as the wind gently played with the frock coat he’d worn over his dress uniform with the bottle held in a wooden case under his arm.

[Deleted]

// OOC: I'm on my iPod, will edit better when I get to computer.

"UNSC Arizona, you are cleared for docking bay one. We had to free two and three for your vessel, she's a beauty." The communications officer on board the docking vessel informed Admiral Klix. "UNSC Arizona confirming docking bay one." The Admiral replied.

"Sir, a new message has come up on your personal datapad." Dino informed the Admiral.

The only way the A.I would know that is if it were plugged into a console, and it was. Right next to him was his PDA. It was inserted into the port to link to communications.

The message was from Fleet Admiral Vardy.
"Cigars and brandy, hey? Did I read that right or are my old eyes starting to go too? Name the place and time, sir." He typed into his personal data pad, and sent the reply to the Fleet Admiral.

--------- [ Planet Reach: Surface ] ----------


The Admiral watched as the city of New Alexandria grew closer and closer from the Pelican's co-pilot seat. They were going to ONI, to reveal the new Cruiser in the UNSC fleet, but first it was cigars and brandy with the Fleet Admiral when or if he came down to the surface.

[admiral]

Fleet Admiral David Vardy

As David was sitting back, admiring his bridge, his console beeped at him, indicating a new message had arrived.

Looking at the message, David smiled, it was from Klix.

"Cigars and brandy, hey? Did I read that right or are my old eyes starting to go too? Name the place and time, sir."

Smiling, David punched in his reply. "You read right. Your eyes are just as good as mine. Meet me at the Green Forest Cafe in New Alexandria."

**2 Hours Later**

Walking into the Green Forest Cafe, that was in David's most humble opinion, The finest in dining, He was greeted by a lovely young waitress.

Seating himself at a balcony seat, He ordered a bottle of 2184 Brandy. A good year in his seasoned opinion.

As the brandy arrived, David lit up a cigar and leaned back in his seat. Life was good. A new ship, a tested and trusted crew, and the fact he wasn't stuck behind a desk was another plus.

Puffing on his cigar, he recieved a tap on his shoulder.

Smiling, he turned around to see Admiral Klix smiling back.

"Klix! Good to see you" David said, Shaking the Admirals hand. "Sit, have some brandy and a cigar. Thats an order"

Grinning, David sat back down, satisfied with his little joke.

[dave36464736]

- Dave Kabruski **Several Hours Later**

Walking into the hospital, Dave steeled himself for what he was about to see. He was reluctant to even go inside, but his obligations to duty outweighed his personal discomfort. Besides, one didn't just leave a friend to suffer alone.

Going up to the nurse on station, He asked for Chris's room. Once he had directions, He forwent the elevator ride, and decided on walking up the stairs... anything to stall himself.

Eventually, David reached Chris's room and stopped infront of it. Taking a deep breath in, He crossed the threshold of the doorway, and was greeted by a hearty sounding voice.

- Chris Carlson

"KABRUSKI! Damn boy, didn't think I'd see ya before they let me out of this joint." Chris said happily, sitting up.

"Yea... Well, I don't need to tell you how much I hate hospitals." Kabruski muttered.

"Mmhmm. Damn nice of you to come anyways. How are you doing?" Asked Chris, knowing full well how his leader was doing.

"Fine. just fine." Lied Kabruski, fidgiting with his dog tags.

"Ok." Said Chris sarcastically. "Why don't you tell me the truth this time."

"I said Im fine!" Kabruski snapped.

"Fine. Don't talk about it. Let it eat you up." Chris said, rolling his eyes. "Lets talk about something else."

"Fine by me" growled Kabruski, grabbing a chair and sitting.

"... So is it true what they say about the Nurses here?" Began Kabruski.

[Deleted]

The Admiral felt like a hurricane had jus assaulted his hand... Nah, he was just thinking of a joke that didn't sound to good going through the head a second time
. The Admiral had changed out of his uniform already.

"David, I don't need orders for cigar and brandy. Common, you know me by now!" Klix teased the Fleet Admiral.

The young waitress brought over a small drinking glass. The admiral reached over and grabbed the old, seasoned brandy. "You still got good taste I see." Klix teased.

He pulled out his own cigar, and lit it. Admitting to the taste of the aging cigars.

Klix pulled out a pack of playing cards. "Twenty First century poker?" Klix asked.

[Spartan 999]

Second Lieutenant Simon Qartal

"What do you think they are gonna make us do next?"

"No idea, but I would guess it has something to do with killing Covenant." Simon grunted, who looked unusually happy. He had finally been able to get five hours of sleep the night before. "That's what is usually entails, anyway."

The former ODST pulled a combat knife out, then started twirling it. He didn't even look at the matte black blade as it traced complex patterns in the air; he instead stared at the datapad in his left hand. It was currently playing the first episode from the classic Star Trek.

"Always liked the music..." Simon muttered, humming softly along with the opening theme.

First Lieutenant Isin Herald

[/b]

A harsh beeping startled Isin from his examination of the fedora, actually making him jump an inch. He whipped out his mini-datapad, then sighed explosively as he read what was on it. He nodded to the salesman, then departed the shop. He pulled up directions to Lucy's location as he walked, and was slightly relieved to see it was only a few blocks to the North East.

***

Isin approached Z, glad his fedora was keeping the sun out of his eyes. She didn't notice him until he coughed slightly, as the ice pack had obscured her vision. Even then it took her a moment to recognize him in civilian clothes and a fedora.

"So, Gunny, you want to explain what exactly happened?" Isin said, his voice neutral and face unreadable.

[Wax™]

Private Dean 'Coxy' Cox
REAPER: Lunar Squad
New Alexandria - Random Area

Cox lay in the back of an ambulance just outside the bar where he got beat half to death, he moaned groaned and did every other sort of oane cause he was in that much pain, he swore he wasnt even in this much pain when he fell out of a moving Warthog back on Albert, he turned his head to the side to look at the field doctor who was inspecting him, Cox was wearing a white hoody with the hood up, UNSC Cargo pants and his UNCS boots.

"You have a broken nose, three cracked ribs and one broken... You're luck you arent in an intensive care bed right now son... With the amount of bruises and laserations you have, I am surprised you were able to get back up"

Cox moaned again and hauled himself up to lean against the portable hospital bed in the back of the ambulance, he had a black eye, cut's all over his face and his nose and mouth was covered in blood, not to mention his white hoodie, he looked at a man approach in a fedora, it took Cox a moment to recognize the man but once he did he accidently said something out loud, but with great pain.

"Shit..."

[hollowsaber]

Five pelicans tipped forward, and their thrusters blasted behind them. The massive transport craft hefted their weight up, two loaded with extra-troop pods, and the others with two Warthogs. Each took a second of heavy pushing, but finally was able to lift upwards into the air. Inside them, Reaper platoon sat and waited patiently as they were lifted up towards the looming Siren’s Kiss. The UNSC Destroyer was in low in the atmosphere and waited for the four Pelicans to fly into its bay before tilted up, and leaving Reach.

Behind, on the Air Field, Corporal Furrow stood all by himself, watching as he was left behind. Furrow was never officially apart of Reaper, so when ONI called, he was unable to go. The platoon gave him their goodbyes, and Foely gave the Corporal a new patch. On it, a hooded-skull with a scythe behind it burned; the emblem of Reaper Platoon.

“Once a Reaper. Always a Reaper.” Foely had said before handing Jake the emblem. The grinning Major was almost glad that Furrow had been apart of the platoon, but there was never time for transfer papers before he got the call.

Now, Furrow was without a squad or a platoon. His original Lieutenant was missing, his Sergeant missing as well. His old team evacuated during the beginnings of the fight. He had been with Foely the entire battle at Albert. Jake teared up a little. Alone again it seemed.

Yet, he would have to continue on. He slipped the sling of his sniper over his shoulder and tucked the Reaper patch into one of his pockets. As he looked around, Reach’s landscape was so vast that Jake had no idea what he would even do with his time. The others, after they got dropped off, mostly went to Funerals or cities.

Jake sighed and walked across the tarmac, towards the back gate of the Air Field. Some others were still shuttling down from above it seemed. He’d stay out of their way. Probably head to the forest and practice.

The Trooper walked to the armory and snagged 6 clips of tracers, along with 3 of actual rounds just in case. The Gunny there told him to sign out the magazines, and after that, he left for the outskirts of the city. Passing the guard tower, Jake stepped to the side of a train of 5 Warthogs, watching them move through the gate before he walked through himself. He followed the road for about a half mile before stepping off, disappearing into the trees.