Mission 4 - Part 2 - Ground Battle

[Soulstep]

PO2 Selina McGreggor Venom-5 Pilot

"Venom 5, this is Raptor 2 Actual, flight of to Vultures inbound for support, hand tight. Turn on heading towards the Arizona, and do it now!"

"Copy that Raptor 2, banking now, I'm guessing we'll be history in T-minus 1 minute, pick up the pace boys!" Selina responded, relief audibly flooding her voice. "Be advised there are twenty plus bogies."

Selina continued dodging and weaving, but the Sentinels were just too maneuverable. It was like a wounded hippo trying to outrun a swarm of hornets. Every second that passed her bird was losing metal.

[Huka]

Captain Valerius

"As you command, Chieftain." Valerius said before grunting at Albus, who smiled gleefully at finally acting on battle.

The Albino Major snarled before ordering his Unggoy to move forward and everyone followed behind.

As for Valerius, he was just as happy to finally enter the battlefield. Twirling his axe in hand, he smiled with the many ways to bring down his enemies.

Major Domo Til 'Muramee

Seeing the last of the Unggoy be killed and the Sentinels starting to leave, Til waited till their backs were turned before ushering his warriors to move quickly ahead.

Keeping a close eye to the air, he noticed a few of the guardians heading for the forest. It must have been human activity. Good, more distractions for the guardian.

"Major Domo." Skor whispered on the com and Til looked to see the Minor waiting at the top of the ramp leading the stairwell to the pyramid-like structure.

Just then, one of the Sentinels turned, as if hearing it clearly. "Curses." Til spat before quickly drawing one of his curveblades and throwing it with incredible aim.

It spun end-to-end before stabbing itself into the Sentinel's eye. The machine's eye burned red from its preparation to fire but it turned on itself and imploded in a fiery explosion.

"Skor, get moving!" He ordered and the Minor ran with his superior close behind as a couple Sentinels started to give a chase to the lance.

[Deleted]

Flight Captain James Fawley

"Over their! I got them!" His co-pilot screamed, "I see them, take the controls, I've got the autoccannons." James responded.

He switched the NAVIGATION switch and gave the controls to the co-pilot. He carefully aimed his autocannon. They were just the small ones, and not the ones that brought down a Vulture earlier.

"Firing..." The Captain simply said.

The gun fired four rounds every seconds, the high explosive shells tore threw a sentinel, it twisted turned and crashed into a friendly units. The Vultures main weapons fired again, and again and again.

By this time, the Pelican was closer now, but so were the sentinels. "Bring missile systems online, but turret only." The Captain said, noticed a small green dot appear on the weapons console and switched to missile control for one joystick.

Twenty-Five missiles flew out of the rotating turrets, and most of them found targets. Around ten rockets were dodged by the "Sentinels.", the Captain switched back his right joystick to the Autocannon's, and started firing again.

The sky was filled with tiny, yellow high explosive shells hitting shields, and finally the bodies of the sentinels. The Vultures had saved this Pelican and it's load, what ever it was, probably soldiers.

"Venom 5, the way is clear. Good flying." The Captain said into the Comm channel, before switching it off.

In over all, sixty seven rounds of the Auto-cannons were used, and twenty five missiles were depleted on the targets. Good thing they were just the smaller ones, if the larger ones that were able to take out a Vulture with ease, the pelican would have been destroyed already.

[spartan129]

Gunnery Sergeant Francis Hayes, Badger Two-One
Badger Armored Platoon, Alpha Company, Task Force 77
Dropship hangar, UNSCS Arizona

Hayes scratched his chin and tapped his M6 on his hip. He used to carry an M11, but after nearly dying on Ferrum, he had decided to carry a bit more firepower. He glanced out of the closing Pelican hatch at the Warthog in the clamp. He figured it would be a back-up for REVIVE, the special team that Badger Platoon was escorting. Their tanks would be transported by a pair of albatrosses.

The pelican's engines fired up and the floor shook slightly. Hayes reached up and put his DMR in the weapons rack. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it, but if the Albatrosses were shot down or there were covies between Hayes and his tank, he didn't want his primary weapon to be on the weapon rack on the outside of his tank.

Lieutenant Marshall came back into the troop bay from the cockpit, clearly after an audience with the pilot. He put his shotgun in the weapon rack, then took a seat below it. After a moment, the pilot broadcasted to the cruiser's bridge.

"Arizona, this is Eagle Two-one, requesting clearance to exit main hangar to help Badger Platoon rendezvous with the convoy and escort REVIVE. Their vehicles will be transported by Eagle Two-two and Eagle Two-three, which also need clearance to leave. Over." There was silence for a moment as they all waited for a response.

"Eagle Two-one, you are clear for exit, as are Eagle Two-two and Eagle Two-three." a crisp female voice came from the comms. "See you on the other side."

The pelican lifted up from the steel floor of the hangar, and began propulsion towards the hangar doors. Looking out of the back window, Hayes could faintly see a pair of Albatrosses right behind them. They exited the hangar, and Hayes could've sworn he saw a sun...But they were inside of a planet! He shook his head and turned away as the pelican entered what he assumed to be the atmosphere.

"I have visual on the convoy," the pilot said after a few minutes, "ETA two minutes."

"Copy," Lieutenant Marshall said curtly. He raised his TACPAD to his mouth and began to broadcast, "REVIVE Actual, this is Badger One-one. Our birds are in the sky and we're en route to the convoy. Where do you want us? Over." He lowered his TACPAD and waited for a response.

[Cabel]

[Inside the Planet: Rear Convoy Duty: Zulu Squad]

“How come we’re assigned to guard the rear of the convoy? Couldn’t they find some other squad?” one of the replacement Privates asked, manning the M41 triple-barrel drum-fed light anti-infantry and aircraft weapon mounted on the back of the warthog.

“We go where we’re sent, and we carry out our orders. Everyone’s needed in this operation, Private,” Master Sergeant Mark “Spade” Sorelson replied, speaking into his helmet-mic on a channel only the three men in the warthog were tuned into. He’d kept the channel designated by the convoy open in order to receive instructions, or otherwise on the warthog’s own CB. Mark had decided to take a warthog, one of the ones armed with an M41 LAAG with two of his men while the rest of the squad had taken up room in one of the M112 Cougar APC’s since having the entire squad in several warthogs hadn’t been ideal considering the circumstances. The UNSC forces within the planet had only had a limited amount of vehicles, on top of other supplies despite the fact the Arizona and the Titan had been stranded inside the planet as well, and assigning three or more warthogs to one squad would have left another entire squad on foot. While Doberman and Shades rode in perpetual air conditioned luxury of the Cougar with eight of the other squad members, Mark rode in the warthog with Taffy and a replacement Private manning the M41 turret. Taffy rode in the passenger side seat doubling as a door gunner while Mark being more experienced in driving the four wheeled utility vehicle had claimed the driver’s seat.

“I know, Sarge, but…I’d rather be at the front or in the middle of the column. If we run into the Covenant or whatever those metallic things are, we’ll miss all the action,” the Private manning the turret said.

“It’s not if, but when we run into the Covenant. We’re bound to run into those pincer-armed crabs as well, and I think there’ll be enough to go around,” Mark replied, before opening a channel to the rest of the squad. “Spade to Doberman, how are things in that air conditioned APC? Have they managed to get around to serving four course meals yet?”

“Very funny, Sarge. We’re doing fine in here. Some of the replacements are a bit nervous, but can you blame ‘em? We’re inside a planet. They’ll do their jobs when we dismount,” Corporal Keith “Doberman” Dennis replied through the com-channel, from inside the troop pay of the M112 Cougar APC.

“Good. Let’s make them remember being nervous. I’d rather have them remember being nervous years from now than being another stain on the landscape,” Mark said, into the helmet-mic as the two vehicles kept pace with the convoy.

[Wax™]

1st Lieutenant Matthew Eversmann
ONI Section ZERO: ORION REVIVE
Planet Surface; In the convoy

"REVIVE Actual, this is Badger One-one. Our birds are in the sky and we're en route to the convoy. Where do you want us? Over."

Matthew heard this over his COM's system, he looked back while he was driving and watched as a pelican, assumable Badger One-One, Matthew then looked back forward and saw that he drove out of formation he quickly veered right and moved back into the middle of the Convoy, he then patched in COM's with Badger One-One using is neural implant.

"Badger One-One... This is REVIVE Actual... We are currently Oscar mike, en;route to the AO... When you touch down I suggest you gun it to the convoy... Roll your armor up the side of the convoy and merge in with the rest of the convoy... How Copy?"

[Soulstep]

PO2 Selina McGreggor Venom-5 Pilot

"Venom 5, the way is clear. Good flying."

"Thanks Raptor 2, I'll drop these leathernecks off on the Arizona then see about getting my bird patched up, those bastards did one hell of a number on us."

Selina relaxed in her pilot's chair, as she just began to notice how much she had been sweating this whole time.

"Arizona, this is Venom-5, requesting permission to land, Pelican has sustained heavy damage."

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Leader

Indigo squad cheered as the two Vultures blew Sentinel after Sentinel out of the air. Andrew opened a COM channel to the lead Vulture, which his HUD designated as Raptor 2. "Raptor 2, this is Sergeant Deiran of Indigo squad, thanks for pulling us out of the fire. Give us a shout if you need us to repay the favour, mate."

With that, Andrew turned to help his squad patch up Wong and Faith, as the crew chief grunted and took a seat in the corner.

[Deleted]

Flight Captain James Fawley

"Thanks Raptor 2, I'll drop these leathernecks off on the Arizona then see about getting my bird patched up, those bastards did one hell of a number on us." The Pelican pilot said, "It's our job to help, to serve the UNSC. Get your bird patched up and get back out here as soon as you can. Perhaps drop them at the forward operating base, they won't be able to do much on the Arizona." The Pilot replied.

"Raptor 2, this is Sergeant Deiran of Indigo squad, thanks for pulling us out of the fire. Give us a shout if you need us to repay the favour, mate." A Marine Sergeant said, "No problem, soldier. We'll be sure to call upon you if the moment should arise. Good luck out there, soldier." The Pilot said, before switching off his comm channel.

The Captain switched to the the channel designated as the "Command" channel, broadcasting to all UNSC Officers, "Raptor Flight en route back to the Convoy. Ground teams, Vulture support is standing by." The Captain said, before turning off the mic.

First Lieutenant Derek Cambell

The Lieutenant noised up from the rock, placed the bio-pod for his sniper and settled into the rocks. "Convoy, this is Recon Team Two... I have visual on the Command Center, or I think it is. There are dead grunts all over the place..." The Sniper said.

The Sentinels made quick work of the Covenant ground troops, but the elite that threw the blade was pretty good. "Convoy, be advised, large Sentinels are moving into position to defend the Control Center." The Sniper said, pulling the trigger.

The nearest sentinel exploded, it's shields were either down or damaged, because the machine blew up pretty easily from the fin-stabilized round, "Good glory." The Snipers spotter said.

Jokingly, the Lieutenant shoved the Scout spotter's shoulder armor, she retaliated and shoved his, before the two soldiers got back to work. A small moment of fun for the two soldiers that had spend the last few hours crawling to point to point to get better angles for reporting to the teams on the field.

Second Lieutenant Killinger

The pulled back on the charging handle that racked bullets into the tri-barreled chain gun, he was ready. He'd already blown away some sentinels, and he figured the Covenant were having the same problems. They were effective, and the UNSC had lost Forty Thousand troops on the real surface to the planet, he wondered about the Covenant casualties.

Luckily, he was still alive. Which meant that he could in turn get payback on forty thousand sentinels, and he was keeping count, and right now, he was at fourteen. Now, his squad helped him out on a few of them, but still. Fourteen.

"Hey El-Tee. Do you really think they are going to find this control room. What happens if we are down here fighting for our lives... For the rest of our lives? I want to retire alive you know!" Hicks yelled. For the first time, the Lieutenant had enough of his bullshit, "Can it, Sergeant. We are a member of the UNSC, we will die fighting for Earth and the colonies it protects."

Hicks looked at the Lieutenant, and nodded. He understood, right now it wasn't a time to be joking. "Sorry." He simply said, and Killinger nodded in reply.

[spartan129]

Gunnery Sergeant Francis Hayes, Badger Two-One
Badger Armored Platoon, Alpha Company, Task Force 77
Pelican Troop Bay inside Shield World

"Badger One-One... This is REVIVE Actual... We are currently Oscar mike, en route to the AO... When you touch down I suggest you gun it to the convoy... Roll your armor up the side of the convoy and merge in with the rest of the convoy... How Copy?" The assertive male voice came from Lieutenant Marshall's TACPAD.

"REVIVE Actual, I read you loud and clear. We'll roll into the convoy ASAP, over." Marshall replied.

"Badger, we're approaching the ground and preparing to land." the pilot's voice came through the troop bay's intercom. "Get set to grab your tanks and group up with the convoy. We've got other asses to carry," he added jokingly. The Marines in the back stood up and grabbed their weapons. As the pelican decelerated, the rear hatch slowly opened. By the time the pelican had stopped, a ramp extended from the rear of the troop bay to a spot a few inches off the ground.

"Let's go, Marines!" Lieutenant Marshall shouted over the engines as he leapt out of the bay, shotgun in hand and starting for the albatross landers. A resounding "OORAH" answered him as six Marines piled out after him. The bays on the Albatrosses opened, and their tanks were facing them.

Hayes, followed by Sergeant Hernandez, ran to the albatross that carried a scorpion and grizzly. After racking his DMR on the weapon rack, he jumped into the commander's seat. He closed the hatch over him, and looked at the readings on the screen.

"Badger Platoon, give me a sitrep, over." Lieutenant's Marshall's voice came over the comm.

"Badger Two-one, my readings are fine." Hayes said, voicing the observations he had just made.

"Badger Three-one, same here," Staff Sergeant Harper added.

"Badger Four one, Everything seems in order," came Staff Sergeant Henderson's deep voice.

"Alright Badger, let's roll out," ordered Lieutenant Marshall. The tanks exited the bays of the landers, and continued towards the convoy. "Eagle Two, tanks are out and on the ground. You are clear to move, over."

"Affirmative, Badger One-one." broadcasted the pelican pilot, "Let's go, Eagle Two!" The dropships flew up and began their return to the Arizona.

[z]

SSGT Eden Lawrence, REVIVE 2

Hearing Sato over the COMM she laughed and spoke. "Hey, Sam Fisher, took you long enough." She said, putting in the old joke she had kept about Sato since the day she had seen him on their first mission.

Then, hearing they were getitng back-up, and Matt say he was REVIVE ACTUAL she laghed and spoke. "You aren't ACTUAL!"

Abigale Linclon, REVIVE ACTUAL, Orbiting Planet

-Temp-NPC-

Hearing the com chatter, and the mention of her team she nearly spoke before Matthew's voice cut her off.

"REVIVE One I would like to remind you I am REVIVE ACTUAL, not you. Please refrain from stealing my job, Over."

Rakath V'keelaii

After a long few moments of racking his brain, he was finished, sliding the datapad back through to the leader with a rough sketch of the base on it, Rakath backed up respectfully and lowered his head, waiting on the choice of the higher ups.

"Excuse me... Sir... But may we... Go now?"

He asked, looking up a bit.

[Wax™]

(( I will still be able to hear your NPC through your COM if you make it external ))

1st Lieutenant Matthew Eversmann
ONI Section ZERO: ORION REVIVE
Planet Surface; In the convoy

"You aren't ACTUAL!"

Matthew heard from the gunner position behind him, then someone else broke out over the COM.

"REVIVE One I would like to remind you I am REVIVE ACTUAL, not you. Please refrain from stealing my job, Over."

Matthew sighed and gripped so tight on the on the steering wheel that his knuckles began to go white, Matthew then slowly released his grip, he hated having boss' this wasn't ONI's team... Or the UNSC's Team... This was his team, Matthew smiled and opened up a COM's link between him and the woman who spoke over the COM's to him.

"REVIVE Actual... This is REVIVE One... I don't care what your job is or who you are but this is my team... Not yours... And be sure you un---and, sor----bre---ing---up... Go---ng----tunnel"

Matthew smiled before ceasing communications between him and herself he then muted that end of the communication before turning his head to face Eden, he then smiled ad looked to the passenger seat, he smiled again and faced forward to keep a good eye on the convoy.

"Sorry Eden... What was that?"

Private First Class: Daniel Mendoza
1st Recon Reaction Force: Fire-Team Charlie
On the Surface: Inside the shield-world

Mendoza jumped out of the back of a pelican that just touched down on the planets 'inside' surface, he looked left and right and looking around the area holding a MA37 up to bare, noticing where he was he lowered the weapon and turned to his Fire-Team command Sergeant David Wood's Mendoza nodded before looking around again, he noticed a group of four tanks before turning back to his Fire-Team Leader.

"Sir... Permission to get as a ride?!"

"Granted Mendoza"

Mendoza nodded and turned back around, he looked back to the tanks who were slowly arming up and getting ready to move out, he jumped an inch and began to sprint towards the Grizzly Tank (Badger One-One) who he assumed was the lead driver, once he reached the Grizzly he jumped onto the tank and went to haul the drivers hatch open, if he did it successfully he would crouch down and speak to the driver.

"Hey Buddy, mind if me and my friends here grab a ride with you to the convoy?"

He smiled and looked back and saw his fire-team was already climbing on top of the grizzly and sitting down all over it, one man sat on each of the four tread plates each, another sat back near the hatch and the Fire-Team leader climbed on and sat down on the front near the light, Mendoza then smiled and looked back to the tank commander looking down he took his boonie hat off and scratched his hair before placing it back on his 'Recon' insignia clearly seen on his right shoulder which was facing the man.

[Soulstep]

PO2 Selina McGreggor Venom-5 Pilot

"It's our job to help, to serve the UNSC. Get your bird patched up and get back out here as soon as you can. Perhaps drop them at the forward operating base, they won't be able to do much on the Arizona."

"Copy, Venom-5 out." Selina replied, just managing to cut out the mic before she chuckled at the 'we live to serve' sentiment. They all did, there was no point to make yourself look like a prat.

"Hey, Serg, how are the rocket pods? Tell me those are still in one piece." She asked her co-pilot, who ran a quick check.

"Looks like it, boss. They were more concerned with our engines I suppose, maybe heat signatures attract them or something."

"Whatever it is, be glad those Vultures took care of them. Keep an eye on the engines, if we lose another one we can kiss our asses goodbye."

"On it, boss."

Selina carefully guided her wounded bird down to the FOB, grimly noting that she was losing fuel fast. If the tanks had been breached, it was a wonder they weren't all dead.

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Leader

As the Pelican touched down, Andrew helped his squad lower Faith and Chambers off the ramp as corpsmen came running up with stretchers. As the rest of Indigo dropped off, the Pelican immediately rose again and flew off straight towards the Arizona.

"They're not hanging around..." Wong observed, and Linown nodded. "Probably really need repairs."

Andrew openned a general UNSC COM channel. "This is Sergeant Deiran of Indigo squad, just touched down at the FOB with wounded, requesting orders."

[Wax™]

Captain Travis Jenkins (O-3)
1st Recon Reaction Force: Able Company
Planet Surface: Inside the shield-world

Jenkins had gone back into the structure by the time the convoy left and walked out casually as corpsmen with structures ran out to attend to some wounded who just exited a pelican, the corpsmen took the wounded and put them on the stretchers assessed their damage before rushing them into the FOB, Jenkins walked up to a Sergeant who had just sent out a COM message.

"This is Sergeant Deiran of Indigo squad, just touched down at the FOB with wounded, requesting orders."

Jenkins approached Sergeant Deiran and placed a hand on the Marines shoulder before saluting he then pointed to a couple of Warthog's that were stationed with ten others that were left behind for patrols, he then looked back to the Sergeant.

"Nice to have you here Sergeant... Sorry about your men but I assure you they are in the best of hands right now"

Jenkins turned around and pointed to a dust trail and some vehicles who began to disappear over a hill in the distance a mile or so away, he then pointed to a column of four tanks with a Grizzly among them.

"Sergeant... Follow those tanks out with some Warthog's and catch up with the convoy to the AO at the suspected control room... Unless you would like to stay behind and stick with your wounded on guard duty, what ever your choice be is fine with me... The convoy has a nice amount of fire power but every man counts, at the AO and the FOB"

Jenkins would smile before nodding and walking off back toward the structure at a slow pace, he then stopped by the entrance to have a small conversation with one of his men who were guarding it.

[Huka]

Major Domo Til 'Muramee

Racing through the basically spiraling walkways towards the top of the structure, no doubtingly leading them to the enterance of the control room, Til's lance fought and dodged against the Sentinels and their beams.

Glutz barely lost his arm if it wasn't for Pluk and the human was almost a complete burden, but L'sae continued to protect his charge with almost fanatic urge, carrying him on his back.

Til and Skor covered them as best as they could, plasma pistols in both of Til's hands-the left belonging to him and the other was one of the killed Minors of 'Udentee's lance-and Skor's plasma rifle.

Turned away from his warriors, Til charged his right pistol, and caught a larger golden-plated Sentinel speeding towards the lance, and with no further urge, he shot it down with a crippling overshot.

The machine's eye flickered as its systems temporarily failed, enough to have it crash into one of its own, and both tumbled to the ground in a explosion of sparks and metal fragments.

Skor howled in excitement as he shot the other two down.

"Major Domo, we must hurry, the Unggoy can't keep this up for long." The last of 'Udentee's minors, concidently his Minor Domo-Khav 'Drakmaee-said over Til's comlink.

"They can and they must, if they wish to survive." Til said back, looking to see the young novice looked about in the sky, searching for any more Sentinels, as they rounded the corner to-hopefully-the last ramp.
When it was Til's turn to round the corner, he was personally happy to find it was.

Rushing up the ramp with Skor, he looked to the lance starting to rest up abit on a large platform, large enough for a landing pad. Looking around, he found scars of a recent battle, the evidence indicating human artillery.

The wretches must have tried to land on the platform but was attacked by the Sentinels. Good riddance.

Holstering his pistols, Til walked into the midst of his warriors-direct and adopted-and checked on their status. They were wary and rattled but they will survive.

Looking at the structure itself, Til looked upon a massive, and not doubt impeneratable, door.

Looking to its sides, he saw a holographic control panel next to its right. Good, there is a simple way in.

Walking towards it for a moment, he stopped, fell on his knees into his meditative state of mind, resting himself for a couple minutes, before rising to his feet, and turning to his lance with burning eyes.

"Brothers, we have arrived to the door to our burden. We have fought and survived to this moment. We have lost many to the trials of this planet, but we have proved our competence to the Gods by getting this far." Til said with the rare fervor of a priest, appearing upright and righteous to his lance, who looked at him with a mix of raising excitement and fatigue. Spreading his arms, the stealth harnessed Major Domo pointed a claw to the door, his voice growing in bass,
"Now we must prove to ourselves to we can survive this test of faith by surviving whatever waits to stop us behind this door!"

The Sangheili nodded their head and eyes shined under their leader's tiredless enthusiasm to the mission, the Unggoy were tired and remained silent, and most of the Kig-yar quietly spatting at the Major Domo's spark of pious fervor.

"Perpare for the worst and come out as the elite." Til finished before striding towards the controls.

Stopping at half of arm length, Til prayed, "Holy Forerunners, hear my prayer, allow your chosen to walk the path to the milestone that will set your lesser children to a better future of coming close to the Great Journey..." As he said the Great Journey, his mind snapped to the face of old Rakath and his voice started to echo in his mind, but Til shook it out and continued the rite, "Gods of my ancestors, guide us to a path that will set me upon one that will echo to your worth."

Pressing his hand on the outprint, the console started to open the door at a somewhat slow pace.

Then the air seemed to tense abit but Til shook it off, thinking it was his doubt starting to surface.

Waiting till the doors was of comfortable distance from themselves, Til gestured for his lance to move, and led them into the structure at last.

Major Albus

Emerging out of the forest with the Kig-yar and Unggoy, Albus looked around behind his visored helm, clearly seeing the burnt corspes of Therus' mad Unggoy and the destroyed forms of the Sentinels.

Approaching the beginning of the holy structure's walkway, the white-furred Jiralhanae looked at one of the Sentinels, and found something interesting.

Kneeling, he found a piece of metal in its eye, and took it out carefully with his claws. Looking at it, he sniffed, and at the smell of the familiar scent, snarled.

"Alphas, the way is already cleared for us at the moment. Whoever came by here have dealt have lessened the Sentinels' numbers, and from the smell of this metal, it was a Sangheili." Albus reported to his alpha and the Chieftain, before sniffing more deeply, "And it smells like that accursed Sangheilian hunter that have been killed off most of Therus' dogs."

"Good, The fool have made it easier for us to enter the structure and claim the glory for the pack." Valerius' deep voice answered proudfully.

"Yes, mighty Captain." Albus said before standing up and ordering the advance lances to move up to the structure, pulling out his spikers with a frown of disappointment.

[Soulstep]

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Leader

"Nice to have you here Sergeant... Sorry about your men but I assure you they are in the best of hands right now"

Andrew snapped a salute as the Captain approached, surprised to have gotten a response so fast, he expected his COM message to be stuck straight into the line of those already awaiting answers.

"Sergeant... Follow those tanks out with some Warthog's and catch up with the convoy to the AO at the suspected control room... Unless you would like to stay behind and stick with your wounded on guard duty, what ever your choice be is fine with me... The convoy has a nice amount of fire power but every man counts, at the AO and the FOB"

"Aye sir, I'll take my squad out now, sir." He responded, not even needing to think about it. As much as he wanted to keep his squad together, Chambers and Faith were as safe as anyone in the Task Force here. Where Indigo was needed was at the frontlines.

Within 2 minutes, Indigo piled in to a pair of LAAG-armed Warthogs, Andrew, Smith and Kain in one, Linown, Tucker and Wong in the other. "Alright, you heard the Captain. Time for some payback on those robot buggers!" Andrew shouted, gunning the engine and speeding forwards, taking up a position on the right flank of the tanks. Linown took up a similar position on the opposite side of the column. Andrew opened a new COM channel with the Grizzly that seemed to be leading the group, "Badger-One-One, this is Indigo squad. Heard you guys could use some company en route."

[Deleted]

Vice Admiral Klix

The Elite finished the map, passed the TAC-PAD back threw the bars and asked to leave.

"Mhm... Yes, you can. Marines, take the Covenant Forces to Armory their gear is located. Dismissed!" The Admiral said, turned and didn't even bother saluting. To be honest, he completely forgot.

The map was, at best a confused drawing, but the outline of the base was clear, pretty much just like the UNSC base, but the Admiral had already assumed that. He took a left, entered the elevator and waited for the doors to open.

He stepped onto the bridge and waived the 2iC to not even say anything, so none of the naval personnel manning the console didn't even noticed as they resumed their jobs.

The 2iC waited for the Admiral to sit in his chair before relaying messages, "Admiral, convoy is away, supported by air cover. All Marine personnel are in the ground, along with ninety-five percent of the vehicles stored on the Arizona and Titan are on the ground. Deployment complete." He said.

"Very well. Order the Titan to come around and give extra cover to the convoy, but keep it out of range from the Covenant pulse lasers." The Admiral said, "Sir.. We are already in range, but so are our point defense guns.." The Weapons Officer quickly stated. It froze the Admiral for a second, "Thank you, Weapons. As I was saying, have the Destroyer provide cover for the ground convoy, have it break of when we get to this so called Control Center."

A series of "Aye, sirs!" responding from the bridge crew.

[spartan129]

Gunnery Sergeant Francis Hayes, Badger Two-One
Badger Armored Platoon, Alpha Company, Task Force 77
UNSC Convoy inside Shield World

Hayes looked skeptically at the PFC running up to Lieutenant Marshall's grizzly tank and opening the hatch.

"Hey Buddy, mind if me and my friends here grab a ride with you to the convoy?" Hayes heard slightly through Marshall's comm.

A slight laugh from Marshall followed this inquiry. "Hang out on the troop seats, Marine," he said. Hayes saw on his camera that Marshall nodded towards the track covers on the outside of the tank. "We could use a few more guns."

[kuran]

Sergeant Sato Takashi, REVIVE 4
Pelican Dropship
En Route to Surface


"Where do you want us to drop you sir?" Came the call from the cockpit. Sato leaned forward to see who was speaking, and saw the inquiring face of the pilot.

"Set me down near convoy!" Sato was forced to shout over the roaring wind, a result of the nearly open troop bay. He felt a sudden lurch in his stomach as the Pelican descended sharply, and took advantage of the moment of silence to preform a final equipment check.

His ONI-issue Infiltration suit was a given. He hardly ever left home without it these days. It's micro-roughened exterior and myriad of strategically placed pockets and pouches served to make Sato just that bit more hard to spot, particularly at night. Of course, it provided little protection, but he didn't intend to get hit. Instead of a conventional helmet, he wore a variant of the ODST VSIR on a monocle arrangement, partially obscuring one eye, but providing him with immense amounts of information.

An M6 SOCOM-pattern silenced pistol sat on his hip, and he checked to make sure that it had a clip loaded. A pair of Tanto-style combat knives were sheathed, one on his shoulder and one on his lower thigh. They were his favourite weapons, both honed to be razor sharp. And last, an M7S silenced submachine gun was slung across his back. While he didn't particularly like the weapon, it had been insisted that he carry it just in case.

"Roger that sir, ETA, 20 seconds."

Sato nodded, standing slowly to avoid being knocked out of the Pelican. Gripping ceiling straps for support, he stood in the hatch and watched the slowly swaying M12 "heavy" warthog swaying in it's place, secured several feet aft of the hatch.

Stepping gingerly out of the Pelican, he literally walked onto the hood of the warthog. Crouching low to avoid hitting his head, he half-crawled over the windshield and into the driver's seat of the "hog."

He ignited the engine just as the Pelican was coming in for a hot landing, flaring it's nose upwards and keeping the warthog hovering several feet over the ground for a few seconds.

The pilot detached his cargo, and after a jarring bump that was mostly absorbed by the warthog's suspension, Sato pressed his foot down and rocketed forward in a cloud of dust.

The convoy was running parrallel to where he had been put down, and it didn't take long for him to find the Warthog that the rest of his team were using, given that he could home in on their signatures just as they could his.

As he pulled up parrallel to the rest of the team and took a moment to adjust his speed to keep with theirs, he looked over, a glare on his face as he searched for Eden. "I am not," He muttered dangerously, "Sam Fisher."

[Wax™]

1st Lieutenant Matthew Eversmann
ONI Section ZERO: REVIVE Team
Planet Surface: En-route to AO

Matthew continued to drive, bored as hell, he occasionally drifted right to look out forward in-front of the convoy, he couldn't see much nothing but a huge rock-face, Matthew drifted back into the line of the convoy and then heard a massive roar, the sound of pelican engines, he looked up and back seeing a pelican drop off a Warthog not too far away.

Matthew then heard a certain voice over the COM's, the voice of Sato.

"I am not," The man muttered dangerously, "Sam Fisher."

Matthew smiled at the small joke Eden made before connecting up with Sato.

"Sato... Pull in in-front of us I will drop back so you can do so"

Matthew slightly tapped on the break, enough so there was a big enough space for Sato to pull in infront of them, Matthew watched Sato waiting for him to pull in so he could spill the beans again.

[z]

Abigale Linclon, REVIVE ACTUAL, Orbiting Planet

When she was cut off, Abigale glared at the console befor elifting her datapad and linking up to Team REVIVEs TEAMCOMM.

Speaking into it with a cold, serious tone.

"REVIVE One, I work directly for SecZERO, and i have higher clearance than each and every one f you, I OWN you all." She said this, and as she did she could hear one of them trying to cut her off.

"Allow me to shot just how much control i posses over each of you..." She said, pressing all five red dots on the pads touchscreen.

Upon doing so, each of the five REVIVE Agenst's armor went haywire. The HUDs went up in static and flickers, FIONA popped from the TACPAD on Matthews arm, flickering with static and frozen in one spot, and the TACPAD itself was flickering.

After pressing the buttons again, each of them returned to normal.

"Do not hang up on me again, I have direct contact to get your team disbanded..." She said coldly before cutting off and setting the pad down.

Rakath V'keelaii

"Thank you, head said bowing as the Marines let him out, along with his Elites and MimYap, guiding them to the armory.

Stopping for a moment, he looked at the four sets of armor set along three tables in the center.

-----

After suiting up and grabbing their own weapons, a few Marines led Rakath and the others over to a rack of weaponry. Rakath, on the other hand, was too busy watching MimYap hoping he did not go into a rage.

Walking along the rack, Rakath scanned the weapons before placing his hand on a human assault rifle, putting it on his back to cross it with his Plasma Repeater.

Renmee sealed his hands around two shotguns, holding one in each hand, and Kallmee held a human assault rifle. Each of them taking plenty of ammo.

"May we catch a ride to the surface?" He asked one of the Marines whom nodded and reached to the comm.

"Admiral, the Leader of the Rogues is asking for a ride back to ground, orders?"

Eden Lawrence, REVIVE Two

Cursing a few times as Actual screwed with her armor, Eden worked off her helmet and grumbled under her breath before hitting Matt upside hte head.

"Idiot"

[Wax™]

Staff Sergeant Jason 'Iceman' Bowers Alpha Company: Delta Destroyers Inside Shield-World: Convoy to AO

Jason's ass was starting to get numb from sitting too long in the Warthog and the fact that they still had ages to go was a bit annoying, Jason blinked and shut them hard before opening them again, while he was opening the, he swore his saw a sparkle in the distance he was then cut off from his train of thought by Private Trombly.

"Staff Sergeant... I got movement, our twelve o'clock"

"Affirmative Private I saw it too"

Jason squinted again and looked again, the sparkles were getting closer and bigger a few seconds more passed and he was able to see what was emitting the sparkles more clear, they were Forerunner sentinels, and there were loads of them, Jason took the phone shaped COM system from the Heavy Warthog's COM Box, he then linked up with the rest of the Battalion.

"Task Force 77, interrogative... This is Misfit 2-1... All members of the convoy we have Sentinels incoming from out twelve o'clock... Twelve... Twenty... Thirty... A LOT! Of Victors incoming to the convoy's position warm up your weapons and prepare to open fire"

Jason turned to Jake who was in the passenger sear and tapped his shoulder.

"Jake... Prepare to take the wheel"

Jake nodded and stowed his weapon again, Jason opened the door to the drivers side seat and climbed out, he walked along the left hand side step platform and moved across to the back, he climbed into the square back of the Warthog that acted like a trailer and the turret position for the MG, Jason looked to Trombly who was on the turret.

"Light them up Trombly"

"Yes Staff Sergeant!"

Trombly yelled before pulling back against the cocking mechanism of the MG and pressing down both of the firing buttons, the three barreled MG spun for a couple of seconds before firing out large rounds towards the Sentinels, cleaning up a few of the incoming Sentinels easily, out of all of them there was at least fifty or even more and by now they had begun to swoop over the convoy, Jason looked around in the back of the Warthog and stopped his gaze over a particular piece of weaponry.

Jason picked up the weapon, it was a M250 'SAW' Light Machine Gun, one of the newest weapons in the UNSC Arsenal and modeled on the 21st Century M249 'SAW' LMG, Jason popped out the tripod under the weapon and set it up on the armored roof over the drivers seat and passenger seat, he looked down the iron-sight and took aim at a cluster of sentinels, he opened fire and took down one sentinel with two swift burst of seventeen bullets.

1st Lieutenant Matthew Eversmann
ONI Section ZERO: ORION REVIVE
Surface of Shield-World: Convoy

Matthew's HUD flickered on and off and things popped up in the middle of his view, his HUD went black then clear things became transparent than solid and after a few seconds it went back normal, this caused Matthew to not see where he was going and swerve out of the convoy then back in probably looking like a mad man and once it stopped he took off his helmet and chucked it in the back of the Warthog, then Eden hit him in the back of the head.

"Idiot"

Matthew groaned and slammed on the breaks quickly probably causing Eden to slam into the turret or roll bar hopefully, after that he would then quickly accelerate probably causing her to fly back on her ass and slam against the vehicle supply crate in the back of the Warthog.

"Shut up"

He said to Eden annoyed, then there was a call over the radio.

"Task Force 77, interrogative... This is Misfit 2-1... All members of the convoy we have Sentinels incoming from out twelve o'clock... Twelve... Twenty... Thirty... A LOT! Of Victors incoming to the convoy's position warm up your weapons and prepare to open fire"

Jason looked back to Eden and gestured toward the turret before looking back forward.

"Eden"

[Deleted]

Gunnery Sergeant Trenton McNeil
ONI section Zero: REVIVE - 6
Surface of Shield-World: Pelican Drop ship Inbound for Drop-off

Red lights flashed across the dashboard of the Pelican's cockpit. Several sirens whined as the pilot swerved to avoid dozens of sentinel beams. Their port-side engine had been damaged to near uselessness and their starboard engine wasn't much better. There were tons of the bastards, and an unmoving chin gun could only do so much. The idiot pilot had flown right into the horde, trying to scatter them. Trent cursed under his breath as he came into range of REVIVE's communications.

"This is Gunnery Sergeant Trent McNeil. We have contact with said sentinels, we can draw attention away from your guns, but we won't-" he was cut off as a beam detonated their starboard engine. The Pelican shook so violently that Trent was thrown out of the cockpit. The pilot screamed into her helmet mic to no avail. Trent stood and felt pain shoot through his left thigh. He fought through the pain and stumbled back into the cockpit. He strapped himself to the co-pilot's chair and tried to help as much as he could, but he was no pilot.

Before he could try and convert power to their port-side engines and attempt to keep them up a little longer, a sentinel beam shot straight through the cockpit's glass cover. The beam fried the pilot so fast, she couldn't even scream with surprise. The ship lurched, and then dropped. The controls that the beam had come near were fried and Trent had no choice but to hold on tight and pray to the empty sky.

He watched helplessly as the drop-ship fell past countless sentinels and came closer and closer to the face of the hard, unforgiving ground. The pelican crashed, hard. Slamming a few sentinels into dust as it went. The ruined drop ship skidded across the dirt until it slammed into a rock, and, due to the speed at which it had been sliding, it flipped onto it's back. Before the initial crash, Trent had enough time to rip out of the harness of death and dive for the door leading to the exit ramp.

It proved to be a bad mistake. When the Pelican hit the boulder, he went flying, slamming into the roof, the seats and into the door frame. He had no doubt he had broken several ribs or dislocated some bones, but the ODST armor took most of the impact. It was made for, after all, hard landings. As Trent struggled to his feet, he noticed that he could not hear. He hoped it was only temporary as he crawled to the exit ramp, which was now bent inwards, leaving a wide opening. He picked up an assault rifle and limped to the opening. He peeked outside and saw a dozen sentinels flying toward his position.

[Cabel]

[Inside the Planet: Rear Convoy Duty: Zulu Squad]

"Task Force 77, interrogative... This is Misfit 2-1... All members of the convoy we have Sentinels incoming from out twelve o'clock... Twelve... Twenty... Thirty... A LOT! Of Victors incoming to the convoy's position warm up your weapons and prepare to open fire,” came the call over warthog’s CB from one of the warthogs near the front of the column.

“You heard him,” Master Sergeant Mark “Spade“ Sorelson shouted over the growl from the warthog’s engine to the two other men in the warthog. He’d open the frequency to the rest of the Squad in the APC ahead of them, hearing the M41 LAAG beginning to cycle and Taffy snapping the bolt back on his MA5C. “Spade to Doberman, have the squad snap their bolts and keep their eyes open. We’re about to have company,”

“Aye, Sarge,” Corporal Keith “Doberman” Dennis, Zulu Squad’s grenadier, replied cycling the rockets in the M41 SSM Rocket Launcher and slapped a fresh magazine into the M7 Caseless SMG. Mark heard Doberman relay the orders, and heard the familiar snapping of bolts and magazines over the com-channel as the entire Squad readied themselves including the sound of a second M41 LAAG belonging the Cougar APC beginning to cycle.

“Tell them to be ready to disembark. There are reports of large Sentinels…probably the kind giving the flyboys trouble are on their way to greet us. We know what their beams can do. Their shields can take punishment, but they aren't invincible. Keep your grenades and extra magazines where you can reach them. Stay with the APC,” he said, over the helmet-mics of each of the men in his squad. “Stay with Doberman, and Shades. Do what they tell you. Sorelson, out,”

“Taffy, could you prep my rifle? My hands are full in keeping us in formation,” Mark asked, as the Private First Class checked his Master Sergeant’s weapons and prepared them for the fight. Mark brought the warthog to a stop, and climbed out to take his position behind the left side of warthog, using part of the engine block as a shield while the rest of Zulu Squad took up their positions utilizing any available cover. “Make every shot count, boys,”

The triple-barreled M41 LAAG on the warthog and the Cougar APC belched fire as nearly a dozen MA5C Assault Rifles from the Squad alone, the DMR through the M41 SSM Rocket launchers sent rockets down range at the gathering Sentinels. The Private First Class manning the M247 GPMG on its tripod mount tore into the Sentinels with controlled bursts merging with the storm of fire from the rest of the convoy, and Mark could have sworn the Sentinels seemed to keep coming.

[Soulstep]

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Leader

Andrew spotted the Pelican going down, and didn't waste any time. He punched the throttle and drove ahead of Badger platoon, Sarah falling in behind him. "Hang on a second guys, we'll check for survivors. Don't wait up on us." he broadcast to the tanks as they left them behind.

He switched to the squad COM. "Okay, we do this fast. Smith, I need you to help me with anyone still alive, get them loaded into the back of the Warthogs."

The corpsman hesitated briefly before responding. "Yes sarge."

"Everyone else keep the robots off of us. If the Warthogs get scrapped, we're dead. No way we can run back to friendlies, especially with those things on top of us."

A series of confirmations sounded from the 4 remaining Marines.

"Alright, head for the smoke trail. You see anything not touching the ground, shoot it."

Less than a minute later the 2 Warthogs sped up to the downed Pelican, their LAAGs rattling to life as Wong and Kain opened fire on the sentinels approaching the figure Andrew's HUD identified as a friendly. As Linown kept her 'hog moving as Wong took down hostile after hostile, Andrew skidded his to a halt close to the boarding ramp and jumped out, Smith doing the same in the seat opposite. They both ran up to help the Staff Sergeant to his feet. "Come on, we gotta get to the convoy before more of these buggers show up!"

[spartan129]

Gunnery Sergeant Francis Hayes, Badger Two-One
Badger Armored Platoon, Alpha Company, Task Force 77
UNSC Convoy inside Shield World

"Task Force 77, interrogative... This is Misfit 2-1... All members of the convoy we have Sentinels incoming from out twelve o'clock... Twelve... Twenty... Thirty... A LOT! Of Victors incoming to the convoy's position warm up your weapons and prepare to open fire,” came the frantic cry through the comms.

"Shit..." Marshall said under his breath. Hayes looked in awe as a pelican came crashing down to earth. The downed pelican was issuing smoke into the sky, and for all they knew it could be toast. Indigo squad took the initiative to search for survivors.

"Hang on a second guys, we'll check for survivors. Don't wait up on us." Sergeant Deiran broadcasted to Badger Platoon.

"Copy that, Sergeant," replied Marshall. "We'll regroup with the convoy, radio for us if you need an assist. Badger One-one, out," The tanks began rolling up towards the convoy, which was taking heavy fire from the sentinels.

"Badger Platoon, floor it to that convoy!" Marshall ordered his platoon.

"You heard him, Hernandez," Hayes said to his driver. The scorpion lurched forwards, and began to come up on the convoy.

"Badger Platoon, you have permission to engage," Marshall said loudly, amidst the sound of gunfire and explosions. "Badger Two, I want you with me protecting the convoy directly. Three, Four, make sure none of those...things get any closer from the outside!"

"Yes, sir," the tank commanders said. "You heard him, Hernandez," Hayes said to his driver as he began designating targets that posed the biggest threat to the rear of the convoy. The scorpion's coaxial machine gun fired up, but it took a lot to kill these things...Nearly fifteen seconds had passed after Hernandez started firing at the robot before it exploded in a cloud of dust not unlike Covenant plasma and scraps of metal fell to the ground.

[Deleted]

Vice Admiral Klix
"Admiral, the Leader of the Rogues is asking for a ride back to ground, orders?" A Marine asked threw the comm channel, "Soldier, sent them down. Good luck." The Admiral simply replied.

He turned to face the large center tactical screen, rotated his chair and got up, walking over to the holo-table, in which the AI had updated. The planet was now translucent and everything, and by everything he meant everything. Red dots signaled Sentinels, green for UNSC and pink for the Covenant... Their were just so many red dots...

"Weapons. Fire towards the large mass of Sentinels, near the control center, prepare to charge SMAC gun. Ops, order the Destroyer to do the same." The Admiral said.

First Lieutenant Derek Cambell

The rounds from the Arizona's point defense weapons smacked into the shields, bodies and other sentinels. Some blew up, staggered away or ceased to exist. "Task Force 77, be advised a large number of sentinels have been spotted at the Control Center. Covenant Forces have also been spotted at the control center, Recon Team Two out."

The Lieutenant forcefully pushed his head towards the ground, as a series of five sentinels flew over head. Anne was about to speak before the Lieutenant put his glove over her mouth, and with his other hand put a finger to his mouth.

The two remained at their location however, and the Lieutenant carefully slid an empty magazine out of the weapon, and did the same when placing a fresh four round magazine back in. The only sound was the metallic click indicating that the weapon's magazine was in place.

Second Lieutenant Killinger

He rotated the turret, fired at a sentinel and watched as a steady stream of bullets ripped it apart and the sparking body of it's remains hit the deck with a dulled thud as the noise from the large convoy cleared it out.

More were on the way, and Killinger again rotated his turret and fired, hitting another sentinel, but a Guass Cannon round took it out before Killinger could actually get the kill, but the sight of the thing just almost disappearing was good. One less of those things to actually worry about, not that it mattered.

He tapped Burnbag's shoulder, moved his fist forward and the 'hog accelerated, as Burnbag did that, Killinger turned around and signaled the rest of his warthogs to maintain speed. He was in the middle of the pack, and he was an officer. No, he would be the first member on the ground by the control center before any member of Second Platoon was.

[Cabel]

[Inside the Planet: Rear Convoy Duty: Zulu Squad]

“Sarge, we’re getting heavy armor support. There’s a group of Scorpions and other warthogs rolling in behind us,” the Private manning the warthog’s M41 LAAG reported into his helmet-mic keeping up a hot line of fire.

“Heavy armor? Zulu Squad, to Scorpions,…welcome to the party. Take your pick at any of the incoming, and don't be bashful. There are plenty to go around,” Master Sergeant Mark “Spade“ Sorelson said, into the helmet-mic open to the rest of the convoy. Ducking behind the warthog as the magazine in the rifle ran dry, he‘d quickly ejected the spent magazine and slammed a fresh one in making sure it locked. Swinging back into position, he‘d take aim at one of the Sentinels and squeezed back the trigger in short, controlled bursts. A blast nearby accompanied by the brief aroma of burned ozone and intense heat caused the Master Sergeant to duck behind the warthog again, but as the Senior NCO swung back into position the sight that greeted him forced his eyes to widen.

The smoldering remains of two of his troopers near the left flank of the Cougar APC, their identities unable to be discerned had been caught in a Sentinel beam leaving only two charred MA5C rifles and parts of body armor behind. Mark had seen men die and had even accepted some of his men wouldn’t return from the raid on the Control Center, but hadn’t expected he’d have to write letters for the fallen that early in the mission. “Keep it up. Tighten your fields of fire,” he shouted into the helmet-mic before nearly emptying another magazine on a nearby Sentinel. The Sentinel’s shields flared after a few brief moments under the storm of seven-point-six two rounds before crackling blue the moment they failed, and full metal jacket rounds slammed into the paneled-body of the construct. Ejecting the magazine, he slapped in a fresh one in the time the Sentinel exploded in molten wreckage.

[z]

Lucy Grey

Glanceing over the data-pad for a moment from Roebuck she gave a nod before removing her helmet and rubbing her eyes.

"Good to be back." She said in response to the other ODST before looking away and putting her helmet back on, clicking through the COMM channels till she came to Jason's.

"Hey... Jason. You there?" She asked quietly, her fingers around the barrel of her shotgun.

Eden Lawrence, REVIVE 2

When Matt retaliated and beat her into the hogs gun, then into the back of the hog she cursed out loud at him, lifting a finger to flip him off before yelling "Asshole."

Then, they were cut off by a COMM message.

"This is Gunnery Sergeant Trent McNeil. We have contact with said sentinels, we can draw attention away from your guns, but we won't-"

"Gunny? Gunny come in? This is Staff Sergeant Eden Lawrence, REVIVE 2" She said, talking over Matthew before he had the chance.

Rakath V'keelaii

A few moment later, after a long walk through the halls and being given strange looks and some guns being pointed, the Heretics filed into a Pelican dropship and were taken down to the ground, leaping off Rakath awkwardly held out his human Assault Rilfe, Renmee landed behind him with an Energy sword, and Kallmee holding his sniper.

Popping his fingers, Rakath motioned them forward.

"We need to find a way from thsi planet before the Covenant are dropped right on us..." He said, each of them taking off in a sprint.

Kag

Moving out of the crashed Phantom, her grumbled slightly, his shotgun on his shoulder and a plasma pistol in one hand.

"Lead the way boss... Im bored.."

[Deleted]

Gunnery Sergeant Trenton McNeil
ONI section Zero: REVIVE - 6
Surface of Shield-World: Marine squad Indigo, near downed Pelican, en route to Convoy.

Trent allowed the marines to carry him to one of their stationary warthogs. He slid into the passenger seat and hefted his assault rifle so it was supported by the hog's open-cut roof. He clutched his stomach with his left hand and pulled the trigger of the rifle. The kickback wasn't too bad, and it hadn't thrown off his aim much, but every bullet that exited made a small vibration that sent shock waves of pain through his abdomen.

Whatever was internally wounded, he needed to fix it. As he dropped another sentinel's shields and put six bullets into the machine's main body, he keyed his helmet's mic on.

"REVIVE 2, this is 6. Marines are giving me a lift. Area is hot as hell and I advise that you hold position." Trent knew that he was stretching his authority, he was, after all, the lowest on the team. But he knew that it was, in fact, too dangerous for anyone to attempt to rescue him. He was surprised that the convoy had responded that quickly. As he shot down another of the damned robots he yelled over to the Driver of his hog.

"Get us back to the convoy, we are being eaten alive!" As he got the last word out, one of the lasers being fired by the automatons hit the side of the LRV, sending a heat wave over the ODST armor. Trent could feel the unshielded armor heat up as if it was an oven. He started to fire in the general direction of the shooter but soon heard his ammo counter click as the magazine ran dry. He looked for any spare clips on the dashboard, but to no avail. He turned left and right, looking for ammo, or a new weapon.

[kel]

A high pitched wail of alien design grew louder and louder.

"This way." The Elite pilot beckoned to a nearby corridor on their level. Ruk pulled out his sniper rifle and took point. He figured the Elite wouldn't fathom how to use a sniper rifle effectively, and thus would remain unarmed until they met other Covenant forces.


--Kel--

Kel and Zhal darted through an open-walled corridor overlooking the artificial chasm. They checked their corners, and listened for the sounds of Mir and Yik in the distance. Nothing but an obnoxious, high pitched hum could be heard.

They were reaching the other side of the corridor, when Zhal grabbed Kel by the wrist, and pulled her aside to a side passage, hugging her close to him protectively as he pressed against the wall.

Seconds passed. The humming grew louder. Nothing appeared, and it continued to grow in volume. Finally a light! A metal construct of beams and struts floated into view, drifting at a slow trot down the corridor, scanning the chasm for activity.

Slowly, quietly, Zhal pulled Kel away from himself, and carefully retreated down the side passage, taking periodic glances behind him to make sure he didn't step on anything that would alert the construct of their presence. Kel followed suit, taking slow, subtle steps away from the chasm.

They checked their breathing, making sure to breath as quietly as possible. Their hearts pounded in their heads, making it hard to hear if anything went awry. They rounded the corner...

"Fhejelet 'Pnught Juber."

Kel and Zhal froze, eyes wide with realization. The shining blue light of another construct illuminated their faces brightly.

"Fhejelet non sequitur?"

Kel began to breathe heavily, and made a mad dash past it. The sentinel pivoted and prepared to fire.

"Dodge, Kel!" Zhal shouted, knocking his rifle against the sentinel as it fired, causing it to shoot the wall. Zhal quickly sprinted after Kel, quickly overtaking her, and pulling her aside as a energy beam flickered past.