Mission 4 - SPACE BATTLE THREAD

[jack]

Captain Richard Armstrong
Slipspace
UNSCS Orion

Rick woke from cryo with the A.I. whispering in his eyes.

"Sir! Thirty minutes to exit from Slipspace. Full crew is being awakened in fifteen minutes, with the exception of your bridge officers. They are being awakened now."

"Excellent. Status of the ship?"

"As you left her, sir."

"Good."

Richard made his way to the showers.

**Four minutes later**

Richard stood on the bridge as his officers walked in.

"Stations, people. The rest of the crew is waking in six minutes, and we're dropping from Slipspace in twenty-six."

His officers hurried to their stations.

"Ops, go ahead and wake the rest of the crew. Weapons, trickle charge the MAC. I want it at full operational status when we drop out."

"Affirmative, Captain. MAC will be ready in twenty minutes."

Richard sat down in his command chair and awaited his orders being carried out.

Staff Sergeant Wheeler
UNSCS Arizona[/u]

Nate watched his squad as they went about their business getting their gear ready. Nate had gotten his gear ready before they jumped, and now he was sitting around, waiting.

As soon as they were ready, they left for the Pelican bays.

Lieutenant Jack O'Reilly
UNSCS Arizona[/u]

Jack was in the cockpit of his craft, ensuring everything was in place. So far, so good. Ski and E.J. were checking over the craft on the outside, doing a walk-around.

[z]

Cpl. Alex Summers, GREEN SQUAD

Alex and the rest of Greewere already in their pods, set and ready to go. Alex looked down at her cybernetic arm and sighed. It was time to go to battle again... She'd still carried the scars from Glasgow with her... The sadness in her stuck...

Looking down the rows she saw Lewis, Clay, Church, Raul, and Vince all prepping for drop, or in their pods... Whichever... Alex simply looked over at her Captain. Dylan she thought was his name... But, not like it mattered much. He never talked to her personally.

An SMG rested in a slot of her pod, and a BR, each having plenty of ammo... She was set and ready to go.

[Wax™]

Staff Sergean Jason Bowes
ALPHA: Delta Destroyers
UNSCS Arizona - HEV Bay One

Jason looked up and around as the alarms wen't off and before Lucy managed to run off after writing down her COM number the Marine gripped her arm and pulled her back for a statisfieing kiss, and then nodded before looking to Cox the Rookie of the squad than back at Lucy.

"I'll see you on the ground love"

Jason smiled before gripping his weapon and holding it tight to his side while he ran out the HEV bay and sprinted down the hall to the central elevator, he pressed a button and then waited a few second's while it took him down to another level, once he was there he stormed out the elevator and tried to make his way through a series of rushing naval and marine personell, once he made it to his hanger he looked around and spotted ALPHA Company, once he found them he keyed the COM to Sierra Lloyd who he assumed was already in the hanger.

"Captain! Sorry I'm late, are we boarding now?"

As Jason said that he rushed over to ALPHA then once he made it over he located his team, he looked at Cassie, who Jason made his 2iC four years ago back on Albert when he was first ever assigned to the Squad, Jason always did that to new Corporals to test them out, and Cassie was great hence the reason she kept the position, he walked over and looked at all twenty or so members of the Squad.

"Cassie... Get the man on that pelican over there..." Jason said pointing to a pelican just a few meter's away. "... Anyone who can't fit on just sit them with the rest of ALPHA"

Staff Sergeant Jason smiled at Cassie and patted her shoulder before moving off to look at a few Warthog's surrounding the area, once Captain Lloyd replied he keyed his COM to her again and gestured to the Warthog;s from the opposite side of the Pelican Bay.

"Ma'am... We taking Warthog's down with us?"

Private Dean 'Coxy' Cox
Task Force 77: Lunar Squad
UNSCS Arizona - HEV Bay One

Cox wasn't asleep so the tap didn't bother him, it simply just made his eye's flutter considering how close the contact was to his eye's he shifted his head quickly to face Z before nodding, he then lifted his head up as the Alarms went off, standing up off the chair he looked down to Z again who now seemed to be in romantic conflict between her and the marine known as Bower's Cox looked at Jason as he looked at him before running off.

Cox then turned his gaze to Z before raising a brow and srugging, he walked over to his pod and slammed his sniper inside before looking to make sure his SMG was in place aswell, statsified he smiled, and then he remembered, he looked down to where his combat knife should be and saw two kukri's in place, one for him and one for Z, he got out his pod and walked over to Z who was now in her pod.

He looked at her and tapped her visor this time before moving his right hand down to pull out one of the kukri's and hand it over to her, it was a little present for being such a great leader and understanding of Cox's newly found condition, whatever the doctor's called it, Cox smiled slightly under his visor before moving back to his pod and getting in place.


(Note: This guy is an NPC but since we can only have one of these artillery peices in any one mission I am controlling him)
yappashalorpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=acceptedarmoury&action=display&thread=5526&page=1

Technical Sergeant Josh Bowers
405th Engineering Corps
UNSCS Arizona - Pelican Hanger

Technical Sergeant Josh Bowers drove the twnety meter or so long DZ88 "SCUD" MINI-MAC Launcher through a Pelican hanger to the centre of the area, this peice of artillery was the newest peice of ground engineering made for the UNSC and it was huge and bloody powerful at that, Josh hopped out of the cab once it was in place and climbed down a ladder to the deck of the hanger floor, the man walked around the beast of artillery and nodded before looking at his team, his team consisted of six men including himself.

Two men at the front, and four men in the back looking after the gun's and hydrolic's, Josh looked at them and nodded.

"So how do they plan on getting it onto the surface Josh?"

"Pod... They are going to use a pod to get it down"

"Fair enough, no Pelican could lift this beast"

Josh smiled and nodded at the comment before walking toward the SCUD and literally walking right under it, only having to hunch his head down a tiny bit due to his height, he looked at the bottom and made sure there wasn't any crack's or breaches in the hull before looking to his team.

"Alright mount up!"

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Sierra Lloyd, UNSCS Arizona

"All hand on deck, we are entering the safe point to launch our troops. You've got a window of twenty minutes of your ODST, and an hour if you are Marine! Let's get going, people!"

Sierra heard the announcement blare through the ship as she all but jogged down the hall - and it made her move even faster. She finally entered the Pelican bay to see the three platoons of Marines that made up her company all standing at attention. Someone had spotted her coming in and called out the order while she'd been approaching. Lloyd saw that it was her XO, First Lieutenant Philippe James, who'd been keeping a quiet but vigilant watch in her absence by the open hatch. The Marine captain gave her lieutenant a quick nod of acknowledgement before turning to the rest of her men.

"As you were, Marines. Load up in those Pelicans now, by platoon! You heard the admiral! Unless you want your very last moments to be on this ship, we need to take off on the double!"

As the men and women of Alpha Company began to scramble into the transports, Sierra moved rapidly through the room, facilitating the speedy embarkment of her Marines. It took several Pelicans to fill up spaces for the whole complement. Her platoon leaders were all veterans by now though, and so did well in helping her get things done fast.

Sierra turned back after a moment to get a view of the room. As she did so, she saw Staff Sergeant Bowers rush up behind her. He gave her a sheepish look while continuing to make for his team.

"Captain! Sorry I'm late, are we boarding now?"

A small smirk formed on Lloyd's face. "Nice of you to show up, Staff Sergeant. Yes. As a matter of fact, we are. I don't care to know your excuse for being tardy, just move quickly and let me know when you're ready."

Bowers seemed to hesitate then as he looked off in the direction of the Warthogs. "Ma'am... We taking Warthog's down with us?"

Captain Lloyd nodded. "Wouldn't head to the surface without 'em, Staff Sergeant. Now go load up."

Corporal Cassie Thompson, UNSCS Arizona

"Cassie... Get the man on that pelican over there!" Bowers yelled as soon as Corporal Thompson had entered the Pelican bay. "Anyone who can't fit on just sit them with the rest of ALPHA."

Thompson nodded quickly. "Yes, Staff Sergeant!"

Cassie moved fast through the throng of Marines trying to board the Pelicans and managed to get her fireteam on one that was relatively empty. She hopped in, placed her MA5C in her lap, and saved room for the rest of the Delta Destroyers - including Bowers - as she waited.

As others continued to pour into the craft, Cassie closed her eyes for a moment and leaned her helmet-less head back against the bulkhead inside the Pelican. I miss you, Aiden, she thought to herself. Then she released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. But don't worry. I'll make it back.

Captain Dylan Lloyd, UNSCS Arizona

Dylan stood in the middle of a room full of drop pods. He found his own again after saying goodbye to Sierra, but paused before strapping himself inside. He opened a COM channel to his company of Helljumpers instead.

"Charlie, this is Captain Lloyd. I'm no good with speeches, so I'll keep this short and sweet. Land intact, keep your wits about you, and kill any alien motherfucker who tries to tango with you. Understood? Other than that, get ready to head in feet first and with your weapons at the ready. As usual, it's going to be a hot drop, Troopers." He stopped talking for a second, then said more forcefully, "Oorah! Let's show those regulars how it's done."

[z]

Lucy Grey

Her face lit up red when Bowers kissed her, when he let go, Lucy backed up a bit, biting her lips and smiling.

"Yeah... On the ground..." She heard Jackson muttering from his pod, and heard the twins giving a whistle. Lucy just stood there for a minute before running off to her pod.

Her face burned red under her helmet, when Cox came and tapped her visor. Looking up at him, she felt a smile under her helmet.
A kuriki was placed in her hand and she nodded. "Thanks Coxxy."

After everyone was in their pods, the doors sealed and turned, the planet visible below them

Lucy turned her head to look at the picture of the kids and nodded, jamming her new blade into its slot and tapping her fingers on the handles.

"Launch us already... I want to get this over with..."

[Wax™]

Staff Sergean Jason Bowes
ALPHA: Delta Destroyers
UNSCS Arizona - Pelican Bay

"Nice of you to show up, Staff Sergeant. Yes. As a matter of fact, we are. I don't care to know your excuse for being tardy, just move quickly and let me know when you're ready." There was a small pause as Bower's gestured about the Warthogs. "Wouldn't head down there without 'em, Staff Sergeant. Now go load up."

"Yes Ma'am"

Jason said nodding to Cassie as she responded to his order and began loading everyone up, Jason walekd over to a gauss warthog and jumped in the driver seat before driving it around the Pelican bay slowly, dodging crates and Marines in order to line it up with the back of the Pelican he was going to load into, Jason hopped out of the drivers seat and walked up to the Pelican.

Jason hauled himself up into the Pelican and pressed a button on the control pad next to the door's after he did that a large claw lowered down from the back of the pelican and gripped ahold of the warthog's roll bar and lifted it up off the ground, Jason smiled and nodded before moving to a seat Cassie was saving for Jason next to her, Jason smiled before gripping a photograph of his children out from behind his breast-plate, he unfolded the photograph before looking down upon the two small boy's, he then keyed the COM to Sierra.

"All ready and loaded up Captain"

Jason said as he watched his remaining men jump into the pelican and stand due to lack of seat's each one gripping a hand holder.

[darthsloan]

UNSCS Beaver keeping medium distance from UNSCS Arizona
Bridge

Wonderful.... covenant. The tiny corvette had narrowly dodged covenant attacks... and Frost was not happy about it. He figured he should assist the ground forces rather than be in the heat of battle in space, it was to risky. The ship had no fighter support and could be shredded to pieces by Seraphs. He thought a moment and snapped his fingers. "Sandman! Patch us through to Admiral Klix. I'd like to request somthing of him."

"............Done Commander Frost."

"Admiral Klix.... at this rate my ship will be scrapped. Permission to assist ground operation, Sir

Corporal "Church"
UNSCS Arizona
Green Squad

Church waited patiently for the drop and checked his weapons. He brought with him a M90 Shotgun, a M6D Pistol, a MA5B Assault Rifle, and two frag grenades. Once he found no problems, he began to pray whether his comm was on or not, "St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; dnd do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen."

[Deleted]

The Admiral sighed, his ammo count wasn't really promising, they would have too save rounds for the more powerful ships.


"Admiral, HEV tubes 1 through 4 are ready." The Ops officer said.
"Understood, launch them." The Admiral said.
"Launching..." The Ops officer replied.


The Admiral returned his focus on the ships around the Iwo Jima.

"Sir, frigates are not ready to fire!" The weapons officer said.
"Sir! We have two corvettes approaching!" The Ops officer yelled.
The Admiral sighed, he'd have no choice but to take on the top ships near the Iwo Jima with one gun. his original plan was for the Arizona to fire at the Frigate, than the five Frigates in his battle group fire at the Corvette, but now two other Corvettes were progressing towards the Admirals battle group.
"Tell frigate commanders to select a target and engage, minimum of two frigates per target." The Admiral said.
"Orders sent." The Comms officer replied.

"Dino, align us in the best position for our SMAC, and bring up the firing solution for the shot." the Admiral said. "Already been done, Admiral." The AI responded.

The Arizona was technically inside the planets gravity well, but not far enough to be dragged down by it. Hell, they were still pretty far from achieving geosynchronous orbit with the planet.

The SMAC rounds trajectory on the screen had the SMAC gun aimed a few inches above the target, with the round being curved a tad bit thanks to the planet gravitational pull.

"Dino, this is your trajectory, no?" The Admiral asked.
"Yes, sir. I've run through the calculations, the round will likely not miss." The A.I replied.
"Likely?" The Admiral questioned.
"Yes, Admiral. It is possible for the round to bounce off the shields if it hits the wrong spot, but that too is unlikely. If this does happen, it should leave the target shields collapsed." The A.I replied.
"Dino, make sure it's a solid hit. We don't have the ammo to waist!" The Admiral spoke up. "Weapons, hold twenty second before firing, start countdown now." The Admiral said.
"Admiral, course changed." The A.I informed.

On the screen, the ship has the rounds trajectory hitting the shields dead center, but the success rate went down nearly two percent. The thought for second, before the weapons officer yelled out. "SMAC Firing!"

The Arizona rumbled as her primary cannon shot forward a massive round and hurled it towards the Covenant Frigate engaging the Iwo Jima.

The comm channel cracked to life. ""Admiral Klix.... at this rate my ship will be scrapped. Permission to assist ground operation, Sir." A commander said.

"Identify?" The Admral asked. "It's the commander of the UNSC Corvette with us." The comm officer said. "Commander. Your request has been granted. Good luck."

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Captain Lydia Adelle Morgan
Bridge of the UNSCS Fire Tear
Coming out of slip space behind the Arizona

"Always opting for arriving fashionably late huh?" Mused Troy as the crew braced for their arrival back into einstien space.

"Exiting slip space in thirty seconds Captain." Began Guine, the ships AI, the eagerness in her voice was almost a little too much for the situation. "So much for that new plating.. good thing we escaped with our hides." She mused herself, hoping the Seraph damage didn't do too much damage.

"Caitlin, our archers are heated up and our Mac is ready, right?" Asked Lydia, an edge in her voice.

"Ten seconds to exit." Chimmed in Guine, causing Lydia to sit in her chair.

"Yes ma'am, everything is hot and ready.." Caitlin reported as the hull of the old cruiser shook and quaked, the lights of the bridge flickered on and off as the ship jumped from slip space, not too far behind the UNSCS Arizona. It only took a few moments for the holo table map to pop up and show the massive covenant fleet, several of the bridge crew gulped.

"I want burn vectors on one of the functioning corrvets now! We need to get into the safe drop zone to get our ODST and Marines our of here. Troy send out an all call." Demanded Lydia as her eyed peeled off to the view screen, Troy's voice faintly echoed over the intercom but was soon brought out of her attention as Guine popped up on the holo table and reported.

"We have a lock on one of the Corvettes with it's shields down." Guine stated.

"I want a Mac round on that Bastard now, Fire!" Lydia ordered as the hull of the ship shudered, sending out a 600 ton slug at a fraction of the speed of light toward the alien vessel. "Now it begins.." She mumbled to herself.

Dani-047
Gold Team HQ
UNSCS Ares

"Gold 4 checking in, sitting at HQ waiting for something to shoot at.." Reported the female spartan, definatly showing signs of gore withdrawls.

Lance Corporal Victoria Landcaster
UNSCS Arizona
Hanger bay

"Victoria Landcaster your faithfull sniper reporting for duty." Stated the young female sniper as she and her spotter Chase crawled into the pelican that their own Captain Sierra Lloyd sat in now. It only seemed like they were on reach this morning.. now they get a hard wake up from cryo and a gun in the hand.

Lieutenant Aspen "Jade" Watts
UNSCS Arizona
Hanger Bay

"This is Zulu 24 prepping for Dust off." Reported pelican pilot Aspen Watts, ready to farry her load of Marines to the surface before the skies became overly crowded with covie vehicals.

Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins
ONI Section I
UNSCS Ares

"Command, am I to follow anyone special out or am I just catching a ride to the surface?" Asked the ONI spook Jessica, she had been pacing the hanger bay for seversal minutes now, dressed in full recon armor. She needed something to do and she had not recieved any orders yet.

Beta, this is four years after Reach.

[Cabel]

[Asteroid Field: Right Flank of Fleet Fallback Position: Battlegroup Passchendaele: UNSCS Passchendaele: Bridge]

The ships of the Battlegroup Passchendaele had decided to hold the right flank of the 14th Tactical Response Fleet‘s fallback position, but had formed up near one of the larger asteroids in the asteroid field. With four ships in his Battlegroup and a finite amount of resources, Matvey had utilized the asteroid‘s natural denseness to protect his people. Using observations of Covenant sensors, the former garrison commander had figured into calculations the asteroid field‘s natural density and the thousands of smaller rocks would overload and even blind the sensors of their covenant counterparts increasing the survival of his ships. He’d ordered the ship commanders to reduce their energy profiles, by taking non-essential systems off line and keeping minimum power in the reactors to avoid detection. Knowing they had to be able to see, Matvey had launched two of four of the Passchendaele’s unmanned Clarion spy drones only to find the other commanders had been like-minded and launched several of their drones. The unmanned drones had been programmed to take up positions either within asteroids, or behind the smaller asteroids to be used as eyes for the Battlegroup without hopefully being detected.

With the slightest readjustments of the maneuvering thrusters, the four ships of the Battlegroup held their positions effectively using the asteroid‘s gravity field to stay within the asteroid‘s shadow. Matvey knew the Covenant would have to follow them into the asteroid field, dodging or even destroying the smaller rocks which would increase the sensor contacts to come after them, on the notion the right flank had been unprotected or in the air. The waiting wasn‘t something he minded, having spent more than half a decade running garrison patrols and after speaking with the commanders of the other three ships he knew they didn‘t mind waiting either. Through his years in the service, Matvey‘s reputation for defensive postures had garnered him accolades and even some enmity among many of the less restrained and temperamental officers whom chose the old cavalry charge.

They‘d managed to destroy several Covenant single ships, and their seraph escorts using the hide and fire tactic. The ships of the Battlegroup used their maneuvering thrusters to ‘pop‘ up or around their hiding places to fire off a salvo or two before using the maneuvering thrusters to ‘duck‘ back below. Matvey enjoyed the position, owing to the density and closeness of the other asteroids to remove the homing capabilities of the Covenant plasma batteries and torpedoes, by which reduced the arming abilities of the same batteries while his own ships had full range of their onboard arsenals. Those same Covenant vessels with their seraph escorts hadn’t been able to transmit their findings as a result of the asteroid field’s natural density that blocked any transmissions from the region.

“Bridge, to Cryo-bay Two. Bridge to Cryo-bay Two, Lieutenant Eversmann gather your team, suit up and report to the bridge. Galina; out,” Matvey said, flipping off the com-link channel on his command chair. He was certain the members of Team Revive would want to find out what the situation was first hand, and it would be the first time the five commandoes would have visited the bridge in an engagement since they’d set foot on the Passchendaele. He'd returned to the command chair, in the recessed pit on the bridge a short while ago.

[Wax™]

Captain Jonathon 'Ricket' Michaels
Task Force 77: UNSCS Ares
Bridge of the UNSCS Ares

"Command, am I to follow anyone special out or am I just catching a ride to the surface?"

Jonathon heard over his personal ear peice, the message had been routed from the communications table to his ear peice via the ship's communication's officer and Athena, Jonathon recognized the voice instantly, it was ONI officer Lieutenant Collins, Jonathon sighed, now that he was practially GOLD Team's Commanding Officer he was practically an ONI Officer and ONI decided to give him a patch to sue onto his right shoulder under the UNSC Ares logo.

"Affirnative Lieutenant Collin's you are on babysitting duty... Proceed to the SPARTAN Gold team's hanger bay, I will meet you there shortly and consult with SILAS your self and the rest of GOLD team."

Jonathon nodded to himself before looking to Commander Tahlee Goodwin.

"Tahlee... You got the bridge till I get back"

Jonathon nodded to Tahlee who saluted him in return before walking to the central elevator with his hand's behind his back, while he walked slowly he keye'd the COM's to the UNSCS Arizona.

"Admiral we are coming up on your starboard side now, we are going to drop GOLD team and all Marine and ODST forces no..."

Jonathon stopped and stumbled around as he heard two deep shudders, the ships MAC's which had fired at an incoming Covenant Frigate, the first MAC cutting out the shields in a magnificant lighting style flicker and the other round cutting through the ship from stem to stern.

"...Dropping all Marine and ODST forces now Admiral"

Jonathon stepped into the elevator and pushed a button that took him down two stories, Jonathon stepped out of the elevator and hung a right two left's and another right into the SPARTANS hanger bay, which was a modified version of an HEV bay, Jonathon stepped onto the deck and heard one of the Marine Guards yell.

"Captain on deck!"

Jonathon saluted the SPARTAN's and once they saluted back he lowered his arm, Jonathon approached SPARTAN -009 Silas, Jonathon smiled up at the man and looked at Silas as if he was looking at the man's face right under his visor, Jonathon then lifted a hand and placed it on the SPARTAN's shoulder gripping lightly before letting go with a small nudge.

"How are you doing Son? Good I can only assume"

Once Silas responded to Jonathon, Jonathon would simply smile and nod before going over with the plan.

"Well you know the breif, but I best run it by you again, you are to drop down to the surface via HEV and secure the Excavation site with UNSC Marines and Helljumpers, I will be sending an ONI agent down with you, Lieutenant Collins... I assume you two have met... Either way ONI need's one of their own down there to assist in the retreival of the 'package' you are to assist in the defence of the excavation site and retreival of the 'package', but remember, I don't care who out rank's you down there, your orders come directly from me... Understood son?"

[Dufflepud]

"Sir, the larger human vessel has fired its weapon!"

"Have you calculated its trajectory, Sesk?"

"Yes, sir!" he responded franticaly, "it's headed right for the frigate!"

"Messege them! Advise an emergency boost to the engines immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" replied the pilot.

"Jak!" called Kyet, "Systems update!"

"Yes, captain!" replied his third in command, "Shield integrity at eighty four percent and rising, energy projectors at eighty six."

"When should we be able to fire?"

"In aproximately sixty seconds, sir."

"Good," stated, Kyet, "And keep all pulse lasers ready to fire in case of another missile barrage from that frigate. Inform me the second the projectors reach maximum. Also, Pull us back to the other two covenant vessels."

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins
Gold Base
ONI Section 1

It had been only moments after her huff of asking for orders when the comm's crackled to life. The Captain of the vessel she was shipped out on spoke directly to her, she should be flattered but what she was tagged with intrigued her into silence.. "Yes sir." Was what came as the response to the order of.. baby sitting spartans... did she hear that right..? Eather way she was now tied to a group of killing machines, must be pretty nice to be surrounded by how many moving tanks they have in the rusty bucket. So after her orders the female ONI Operative made her way toward gold base, her armored boots clicked against the titanium floor as she walked along. "Wow this sure is a step up from walking around Albert with nothing to do but be rudely adressed to by ONI lap dogs.." Was all she could say now, thinking allowed among the panicky movements of UNSC forces around her as they rushed to the hangers for deployment.

From her reports they were first to be on the ground, quite a change of scenery from what she was use to. She could not help but wonder what she was getting into by being stuck with spartans on a mission like this. Jessica was not to deep into the circle but favrs can almost get a woman anywhere in society and she thought she had a better idea then she needed on what she was going on. For years the human race where aware of acient alien races, and she knew the covenant killed for holy relics.. she only assumed with fleets this size something must be down on the surface. Better yet it is an excavation world... this would be very interesting indeed. After a few more minutes of walking the female finally made her way to where she needed to be, Captain Jonathon and a what looked like two large armored tanks stood in wait for what seemed to be the others or herself. "Lieutenant Collins reporting." Spoke the agent with an indian accent in a calm and obidient tone, she was unsure wether to salute or not..

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Sierra Lloyd, UNSCS Arizona

Captain Lloyd remained standing outside the Pelicans as her Marines got aboard all around her. She watched as Bowers and a few others drove Warthogs over to the Pelicans so they could be carried in-flight underneath the crafts. She had a feeling this was going to be an interesting mission.

It wasn't long before Staff Sergeant Bowers hailed her over the COM. "All ready and loaded up Captain," he said.

Though she'd been busy doing last minute triple-checks of rosters and equipment with her XO, Sierra clicked her own COM almost immediately. "Acknowledged, Staff Sergeant. Just sit tight for a few more minutes. We need to make sure we've got everything and allow our Helljumpers a head start."

When she glanced up, the captain saw that there were two more 'Hogs getting loaded on the far side of the Pelican bay. Finished with her checks, she dismissed First Lieutenant James to his own Pelican - a different one than hers, so that if either were killed on the way down to the surface, someone would still be left to take charge of Alpha Company. Lloyd adjusted the weapon strap on her shoulder and walked over to the men with the last two Warthogs.

"Get 'em hooked up quick, Marines!" she shouted. "We're ten minutes from lift-off! Ten minutes!"

Sierra waited several more minutes until everything was ready, then checked her watch. They'd be leaving the ship in three minutes. It was high time she got herself aboard a Pelican of her own. She chose the closest one, as her XO had entered one on the opposite side earlier. She sat down on the hard seat nearest the open hatch to the troop bay, then allowed herself a quick, deep breath. She closed her eyes and imagined her daughter and her two sons' smiling faces.

After a moment, she realized she was smiling a little herself. Her youngest, Noah, born two years following the battle at Glasgow, had light brown hair like hers, but Dylan's big brown eyes. Grace looked more like her father, while Caleb had changed since infancy to look more like her. He had her green eyes. Sierra missed them all dearly and remembered how she'd left Kholo with tears in her eyes when she'd had to leave the three of them behind to deploy.

I'll see you all very soon, my babies, she thought as she reopened her eyes. She hoped Dylan would make it through okay, too.

Her thoughts were interrupted then when a sniper pair showed up to sit beside her. They were the last two Marines that hadn't loaded up yet.

"Victoria Landcaster your faithfull sniper reporting for duty," one of them said.

Sierra gave the sharpshooter a faint smile. "Welcome aboard, Marine. Now that we're all full up, I'll let the pilots know we can take off." The captain's hands tightened over her BR55, now in her lap. "It might be a hairy ride to the surface, so hold on tight."

OOC: Alpha Company Marines can start posting in the Ground Battle thread now, since we're leaving the ship.

[SuperCommando]

CPO SPARTAN-009 (Silas)

UNSCS Ares, inbound to planet Artifice

Moving through the ship

As the elevator smoothly descended through the bowels of the ship, Silas and Lucifer listened to the sound of their teammates report in. She looked over at him, opting to remain silent. Silas gave her the “ok” gesture to let her know that was fine. Hidden by his mirrored visor, the corner of his mouth tilted up slightly in what passed for an amused grin. He liked this SPARTAN already. Of course Victor and Jethro talked enough to make up for her silence anyway.

“I’ve got our new arrival, we’re on our way back to base now.” He said over the radio once the others finished. “If you’re all geared up and ready, head over to our hanger and await briefing. We’ll catch up soon. I want us off this ship as soon as possible.”

With that, he switched off the comm and returned his attention to Lucifer. “Sorry this is all so short notice. But like I said, we’re running out of time. Come on, this way.”

The elevator had finally stopped. Leading the way, Silas took them down the hall to a large door. There was control panel off to the side, but Silas didn’t even touch it. As the SPARTANs approached, it slid open automatically.

“This is our base. Here we have our quarters, a lab for technicians to work on our armor, a gym… basically anything we could need. It’s sealed off to ordinary personnel – only ONI and the Captain allowed.” he told Lucifer. Beyond the door was a wide hallway, with more doors lining each side. Walking inside, he headed towards the first one on the left – a huge set of heavy blast doors.

“And this… is our armory. Grab what you can. No sense packing light for this one.”

He hit a button. The doors hissed open and lights flickered on. Weapons and ammunition of all kinds utterly filled the space, covering the walls as well as some hanging from the ceiling or laying in various states of disrepair on a worktable in the center of the reinforced room. Silas was only armed with a pistol and his personal machete-style blade, so he immediately hurried to collect his equipment.

It was a simple matter. He already had his loadout in mind, and with practiced ease he swiftly retrieved everything from the cluttered arsenal. First, his trusty shotgun found its place on his magnetic back plate. Then he hefted an M247 general purpose machine gun. He held the infantry version, a man-portable relative of the same kind of gun used in mounted emplacements. Used as the UNSC’s primary squad automatic weapon, it packed more punch than a standard assault rifle, which Silas determined would be necessary for the coming fight. Then he filled the pouches on his tac harness with shells, a few ammo belts, and grenades. The grenades in particular consisted of one frag, one flashbang, one normal smoke, one orange smoke, and an EIDED-III. Grabbing a satchel, he filled it with several spare box magazines for the machine gun to speed the reloading process when needed, a spare barrel in case the current one overheated or wore out, and an M168 demolition charge. You never know what might need blowing up. He secured the satchel behind his waist, and strapped two pistol clips to the side of each shin. He also took with him three coiled up fast-rope cables, just in case. Finally, he secured a standard combat knife upside-down to his right bicep, slipped a pair of high-tech binoculars into a hard case on his left thigh, and sheathed his blade on his left hip like a short sword.

“Ready?” He asked Lucifer. “Let’s go.”

Exiting the armory, he took her to the far end of Gold base, where the hall ended in yet another elevator. This ride was much shorter, however. They only descended one level before the emerged in Gold team’s hanger bay, a tiny hanger with HEV drop pods lining the sides. The rest of the team was already there.

“Gold team,” Silas announced, “This is our number Six. I’ve been informed Gold Five’s transport has been delayed, we’ll just have to link up with him on the planet surface.”

Not long after that, the Captain himself showed up. Silas saluted crisply along with the others, only lowering his hand when Jonathan walked up to him to place a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"How are you doing Son? Good I can only assume"

“Sir, yes sir.” The SPARTAN replied.

"Well you know the breif, but I best run it by you again, you are to drop down to the surface via HEV and secure the Excavation site with UNSC Marines and Helljumpers, I will be sending an ONI agent down with you, Lieutenant Collins... I assume you two have met... Either way ONI need's one of their own down there to assist in the retreival of the 'package' you are to assist in the defence of the excavation site and retreival of the 'package', but remember, I don't care who out rank's you down there, your orders come directly from me... Understood son?"

“Gold One copies all, sir. You can count on us.”

At that moment, the aforementioned ONI operative made her entrance. “Lieutenant Collins reporting.”

“Ma’am,” Silas said, offering her a salute as well. “Shall we depart at once, ma’am?”

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Catain Lydia Adelle Morgan
Bridge of the UNSCS Fire Tear
Artiface Orbit

"Ma'am six plasma torpedos heading straight two-..... wait no. Six torpedos heading straight toward the Arizona." Reported the ships AI Guinievere. "Oh and we hit and destroyed that corvette.." She added with a tut in her voice.

"Good, take us low, and open up our MLA's on those torpedos, we wouldn't want any blemishes on our pride and joy now would we? How are we on unloading the troops to surface Troy?" Asked Lydia as she ran her hands along the tactical screen.

"Aye Captain." Replied Guine as the MLA turrets sprung to life, fireing out toward the torpedos to dissipate most of the plasma into the harsh cold vaccum.

"We have about 70 percent of our marines leaving in pelicans to the ground and some of our ODST have been dropped." Answered Troy as he paced along the bridge.

"Good, keep the rest in to scave off any boarding parties that are feeling Lucky. Guine initiate coal protocal... not much has gone to heel yet for us but once the Arizona is heavily engaged we will be too so we must be prepared." She ordered before sitting back down in her command chair.

"Aye." Answered Guine.

"Troy, deploy our claws.. they arn't much but if we hug the Arizona for the most part we should be able to keep them safe." Lydia stated calmly.

"Yes ma'am." Came the reply. "They should be undocking soon."

[admiral]

It had been a long journey. The trip through slipspace was tense. So tense you could have cut the tension with a knife. Here they were, rushing toward a battle that David knew would be the end of some lives... and all at his command. The feeling of playing god was not one he particularly savored.

Shaking his head, David banished the thoughts and looked at Tom. "Time till co-ordinates Mr. Paris."

"12 hours sir." Paris replied, his voice thick with anxiety.

Nodding, David knew that they were all bone tired. They had pulled double shifts, since most of the crew were in cryo.

Switching the All hands button, he made his announcement. "All hands, this is Admiral Vardy. Transfer all protocols to the AI and get some rest."

Turning to his bridge crew, David stood, and made the same announcement. then he addressed the AI. "Lambert. Try and keep us in one piece eh? Wake us in 10 hours."

Nodding, Lambert fizzled out of existence, and confirmed all systems were under his control.

Nodding, David made his way exhausted back to his quarters. It was going to be a long time before he slept again.

[z]

Lucifer-066

Following close behind Silas, Sniper aimed down. Looking over "Gold Base" as she walked through the quick introduction. Taken to the armory... This was her time to choose some good weaponry.

Walking along the racks, she picked up more sniper ammo, two SMG's with ammo which she added under her pistols on her legs, and as she passed it, picked up a Battle Rifle with more than enough ammo. But you never knew. A moment later she switched the BR to the rapid fire setting before hitting the safety.

Looking over the grenades, she snatched up a smoke, a flash, and a frag.

She was set... Probably grabbed more than she needed, but Lucifer was known for doing such. Always thinking ahead.

Following her leader again to the hanger, she stopped a few feet from the full team, taking in a deep breath and looking down. Time to see what Gold would think about her...

Moving up about two steps behind Gold 1. She slowly looked over the other SPARTANs . Then the Capatin and the ONI Operative came. Lucifer just looked away... She didn't like looking directly t her "Higher-Ups" but... She had ver visor. So, looking back to them, Lucifer made it seem like she was watching them, when in truth she was just going over her HUD, looking at anything but the ONI, the Captain, or Gold Team.

Dammit she missed Luke right now...

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Dani-047
UNSCS Ares
Moving through the ship

"Time to get moving I supose.." ordered Dani to herself quietly before watching Silas or gold 1 give one of the newest members of the team the quick walk through of their swanky little armory and base. Of course she could of kept herself occupied with other things but her gun had her attention for a while now. She must be needed sooner or later so when Silas and Lucifer entered to the gold team base Dani had already left to the hanger bay. Only did the female Spartan know orders where coming when she found her team leader and the newbie being directly adressed by the Captain with an ONI agent off to the side. She kept quiet through the whole ordeal, eyeing the female ONI agent curiously and trying to stand as tall as she could. Being once of the smaller spartans this was hard in general.

Lieutenant Jessica Mae Collins ONI
ONI Section I
UNSCS Ares
Gold Team HEV Bay

The ONI operative only had enough time to speak before the lead Spartan adressed her and asked if they should depart at once. She still was really anxious about moving with these tanks but she decided now was a better time then ever to be with a Spartan team. "Yes, we should depart now." Said Jessica in a cool tone, she would soon be helping retrieve the forrunner artifact or what ever the hell it was ONI wanted her to retrieve. So with a small nod towards the spartan lead the female agent clouded her Recon helmets VISR and made her way toward one of the HEV Pods. "Lets not be late to our own party." She stated before clambering into her pod, with her weapons and gear clutched to her armor.

[SuperCommando]

CPO SPARTAN-009 (Silas)

UNSCS Ares, inbound to planet Artifice

Gold team hanger bay

“You heard the Lieutenant,” Silas said to Gold team, issuing the order with that calm, quiet-yet-forceful voice of his. “Grab a pod and strap in tight. I’ll see you all on the ground.”

As his Spartans began loading into their HEVs, he approached Lucifer and placed a hand on her shoulder before she could get inside her pod. “It’s okay. They’ll warm up to you soon, I promise. And I’m glad you’re here – I get the feeling we’re really going to need you.”

Before getting in his own pod, Silas took a moment to check in with Captain Michaels one more time before deploying.

“Captain, in order to better defend the site I think it would be beneficial to have vehicular support. I’d like to request a pair of M12R’s be airlifted in after us if possible.”

There was no telling what they were going up against down there, but having rocket hogs would allow the Spartans to quickly traverse the area as well as deter most infantry and armored threats. They’d have to make do on foot for a while at first, because the Pelicans weren’t as fast as drop pods, but the more support in the long run, the better.


(OOC: Wait until AFTER Wax actually positions the ship and launches the pods before you post in the Ground Battle thread.)

[Spartan 999]

(OOC: Gotcha.)

Petty Officer Jethro-097

[/b]

Jethro looked over the newest member of Gold, bowie knife still twirling in his hand. At Silas' command to get a pod, he sheathed his knife, checked to make sure his ammo, magnum, and MA5K were secured, then grabbed his MA5B with attached masterkey and bayonet. He stepped into an HEV, making the pod creak slightly as half a ton of MJOLNIR armor settled in.

Jethro grinned widely as he heard Silas request rocket hogs.

"This will be fun..."

[Wax™]

Captain Jonathon 'Ricket' Michaels
Task Force 77: UNSCS Ares
UNSCS Ares - SPARTAN GOLD BASE

“Captain, in order to better defend the site I think it would be beneficial to have vehicular support. I’d like to request a pair of M12R’s be airlifted in after us if possible.”

Turned to SPARTAN-009 Silas and nodded.

"Affirmative Silas... I can spare a couple of Scorpions if neccesary, take what you can drive and carry SPARTAN's this mission is Priority ALPHA, now we will be over the drop zone in twenty minutes, be ready to leave via HEV or Pelican"

Jonathon nodded before leaving the Gold Base, once he was outside in the hall he then made his way back to the bridge feeling anothew few shudder's though this was not from a MAC.

"What just happened! Status report!"

"Nothing Sir, just some atmosphereic disturbance as we moved to ship into the upper atmosphere, though we have been targeted by a Covenant vessel.

"Alright, prepare to engage emergency thrusters in order to doge whatever they are throwing at us, arm Archer missile 1A to 1Z"

"Roger Sir"

Jonathon sighed and moved over to his chair before sitting down in it, he wen't to establish a COM's connection between him and the Admiral but didn't bother to tell him about Gold Team's decent to the planet, he was their Commander at the moment, no one else.

[Daenerys Targaryen]

Dani-047
UNSCS Ares
Gold Base HEV Bay

Dani made her way through the Hev bay toward the pods at the orders of Silas she hung back as he spoke to her, then when he moved away Dani aproached the new Spartan as well. "Hey Lucifer, nice to have another girl on the team.... Call me Dani." 047 Offered with a small but firm grab on the shoulder before she hoisted up her rifle and moved to her pod, giving a small nod to Jethro as she passed by. Then as she climbed into her pod she heard rocket hogs.. "Interesting..." She tutted before going silent once more.

[hollowsaber]

Corporal Jake Furrow UNSCS Ares, inbound to Planet Artifice Hangar Bay

“Stay alert, even in friendly territory, Being part of mankind’s greatest military in history won’t protect you from carelessness.”


Jake took the SPARTAN’s hand and quickly got back onto his feet. With a quick glance over his body, he made sure his stuff was all in place before looking up at the massive Soldier. Greatest military? In his career, he had seen more soldiers get into barfights then actually do their job... But maybe that was just poor placement on the UNSC’s part.

Furrow gave the man a nod and stepped back as he waited for the door to the pelican to drop. Inside, another SPARTAN was standing inside. Confused and amazed, Jake looked between both of them swiftly. This was the first time he had seen two big, green hulks of armor on the same ship... Maybe his sleeping habits were keeping him from seeing this things. Either way, the Trooper was probably the most well-rested fighter going out onto the field. Besides those coming out of Cryo-tubes... but Jake never counted that.

The SPARTANs stepped away, and Jake jumped in, then paused in mid-step onto the ship. He peered over to the two soldiers and stared at them for a second. They were together... talking... quietly... Something was up. Jake took a look around and noticed a squad of Marines running out of the ship for the pelican. The idea sparked to life. Jake stepped back and waved the marines into the bay, nodding to their NCO as he stepped on.

“Thanks for holding the door. You coming?” The Marine asked, holding his rifle up slightly. Jake shook his head and thudded against the craft, notifying the pilot that he was all set.

Jake stepped back quickly and turned to see the SPARTANs walking still. Perfect. The trooper amplified his helmet’s speakers and attempted to hear what the one was saying. Yet, all he heard was a number; one-four-zero point eight-two. Three string by two... Either that was an artillery call or a frequency. Silent, as usual, Furrow glazed his eyes over the frequencies... Yet, he could not find theirs... There was a missing number...

Not bad for ONI. But the soldier brought up the mini-message pad on his write and manually typed in the channel. In response, a green light bleeped on his helmet and the frequency appeared in the list. Jake muted his microphone and almost instantly; he began to hear voices over the channel.

“As usual.”
“Gold 4 checking in, sitting at HQ waiting for something to shoot at..”

Well, he had already heard to much. As the SPARTANs left the Hangar and the pelican’s engines began to flare, Jake was now stuck on his stupid plan. He had used stealth before in a ship a few years back, but that was to blow a hole in it. Now he had to follow two soldiers... Great...

With haste, in order to not lose them, Jake sprinted across the hangar and followed the SPARTANs out into the hall. He was able to catch the tail end of their steps as they moved into an elevator. Well.. that was just great... Glancing around, he noticed that there was an emergency stairwell-sign that pointed just around the corner.

Moving fast, the ODST slipped through the hall and took a quick look around before almost face planting into the door as he barely got it open in time. He could hear the elevator start to move through the wall, as he was just on the other side. He waited for the sound and it seemed to be going down, so Jake followed.

Shuffling his feet and skipping the last four steps with quiet leaps, the trooper moved as quickly as he could, spinning around and around as he followed the elevator down. The stairs were steep and short, so he found himself almost gliding over them. It became difficult for him to keep track of his feet, but held onto the railing as loosely as possible to keep himself balanced.

Two floors, three floors, four floors... Where in heaven was this elevator going?! Jake let out a heavy gasp of air and suddenly his microphone turned on, just as he slammed down onto the floor. The trooper froze in place and stared at the where the little notification appeared and slowly motioned to turn his microphone back off. Then, on the other side of the wall, the elevator stopped.

Jake listened silently to the sound of the SPARTANs moving, walking steadily down the hallway. At a decent spacing, he popped his head through the door and quietly shifted through. Jake stuck close to the SPARTANs, but kept a decent distance between himself and them. They had motion trackers, and the trooper was unsure of the sensor’s radius. As they walked and the one SPARTAN spoke about the area, he assumed his distance was safe.

The Two Soldiers turned down a short hall and Jake watched them walk through a sliding door. The control panel on the side would require security access, which obvious Jake didn’t have. The trooper pulled his combat knife from his chest, sheath and all, and waited a few seconds until the door began to slide shut. A light toss over the floor sent the blade gliding through. Just as the door was about the close, the knife wedged itself inside, and the door froze, then began to reopen.

Quickly, to make sure he wouldn’t have to do that again,Jake ran on his toes through the door and snagged his knife off the floor. Popping through, just as the door shut behind him. The SPARTANs were about halfway down the hall when Jake made it through, and the SPARTAN was talking about the rooms. Doors upon doors lined the hall on each side, and Jake poked his head through each one to get a small taste of what they had available.

Then, at the last door, the trooper turned to see two massive blast doors in front of his helmet. The trooper had worried about the rooms more then about the SPARTANs and the door. With a thud, he slammed his helmet against the door and groaned. When he looked back to the other end of the hall, the door leading out of the ONI Restricted hall was locked as well; trapping the trooper inside.

* * * * * * * *

MIL-AI-0665-BIFRONS UNSCS Ares, inbound to Plant Artifice Core of the ship.

Bifrons was patiently waiting for the ship’s Captain when the anomaly happened again... Just moments before, something had gained access to the ONI server... Yet nothing had become a problem so the AI had pushed it off. Now, another had occurred. A loud burst of air had come over the channel, and Bifrons immediately locked down the signal.

“...We have a guest...” Bifrons sent a text message across the top of Silas’s visor, as to not cut him off with his own voice as the SPARTAN gave a quick tour of the ship to the new addition. Bifrons activated the cameras of the lower decks, and caught sight of something

It was no bug, not even a virus, but an ODST. The trooper had managed to find out the channel and apparently broke into it... Now he was following the team members. Strange, how did he manage to find out the channel when Bifrons had pulled the frequency from the list? In order to get some answers on his own, the AI connected directly into the soldier’s suit, and quietly searched the suit’s own harddrive.


He was about to warn the ODST about his presence, but stayed quiet and just watched the man move. A smart trooper, he used his knife and his light steps to follow the SPARTANs. The guy seemed to know about the SPARTAN’s trackers as well, but Bifrons quickly amplified Silas’s, broadening the range of his tracker to cover a larger area so he could see his new friend.

When the trooper made it through the Hallway, Bifrons shut and locked the entrance way, but waited for only a few moments. Defeated, the trooper seemed to have given up. Interesting...

The Captain appeared in one of the video feeds, so Bifrons quickly unlocked the door into the hall, but also unlocked a door to the soldier’s left. The door led to a secondary armory for ONI operatives, as well as a stairway down another floor to ONI HEV bays. Thankfully, only one other ONI operative was going down to the planet... Bifrons opened the door and activated a NAV marker on the ODST’s visor.

* * * * * * * *

Corporal Jake Furrow UNSCS Ares, inbound to Planet Artifice Snooping around...

As Jake leaned against the blast doors, staring at his feet, the top of his HUD winked to life. Suddenly, strings of numbers and letters slid across for a moment before disappearing. Just below his compass, a marker appeared. The hell was going on here?! Almost in reaction to his thought, a message appeared where the string of numbers and letters were.

>...FOLLOW THE MARKER...<

Thoughts of going back behind those crates and just sleeping through this began to cross the trooper’s mind, but it was obvious that he had no choice in the matter. Jake looked to the left into the doorway and started to head inside before looking back at the door. Silas was that SPARTANs name.... Silas... He had heard that name before...

The moment he stepped through, the door slammed shut and locked, making Jake twitch a little.He was now in a place where he could most certainly be court-marshaled for even touching the door. Yet, the looming NAV-marker was almost teasing the trooper. Behind, on the other side of the door, Jake heard steps, followed by an order;

"Captain on deck!"

Now he was screwed. There was no going back. Jake began to hear the Captain talk via the SPARTAN’s microphones as Jake walked over the armory. As long as he was here, he might as well get some ammo. His current ammo was basic .50 calibers, but the ONI personnel had access to explosive rounds, hollow points, armor-piercing, and even tracking-rounds... Sniper heaven. Jake pulled out five of his own clips and stuck them behind the weapon racks and replaced them with explosive-round clips.

He worked fast, as he didn’t know if anyone would come through the door. Once he stuck the rounds into his pouches, Jake turned and stepped into the elevator. The elevator shut automatically, and began to go down. The ride was short, only one floor, then the door reopened.

Inside, a small, unused row of Drop Pods were waiting in front of him. The room was a small briefing area, probably for a single squad. The Holo-table was turned off, and the small weapon racked was untouched. The place itself just looked vacant.

As he looked around, another marked pointed to one of the HEV pods. Must be his ride down. Jake moved up to the pod and checked for anything out of place as he was trained, making sure the Pod was actually ready for a drop. Seeing nothing wrong, he slapped his rifle into the holder and nestled himself into the seat. Above, he could see a row of much heavier armored pods dangling as well. Then, the door shut and his Pod sealed. Jake looked down at it and around at his systems. He was locked in... And the timer wasn’t even on... The pod moved for a few seconds, pulling the trooper from the deck of the ship, then turned as to apparently hide the trooper from being seen.

The hell was he supposed to do now?!

[z]

(OOC: Due to some sad misunderstandings, i have had to change Lucifer's number... Please edit this in to other posts, or act like it always was this way)

Lucfer-077

A hand went to her shoulder as she was on her way to a pod. Looking over she saw Silas. Listening to him talk without saying a word. And before he walked away from giving her the morale boost, she took in a deep breath and spoke for once.

"'Ey Silas...?" Her accent, faintly Australian. "Thank you..."

Quickly looking away, she made her way to her pod and began loading her things in to her pod when Dani came to give her a greeting. Lucifer simply answered with a nod before sitting in her pod, strapping in and staring blankly through her visor.

Get this over with....

[Dutch]

Victor 126

Victor looked up from his shotgun just in time to see Silas enter the HEV bay with a Spartan he had not seen for quite a long time. Listening to Silas, he smiled at the mention of some heavy vehicle support. Flashing a grin at the order to get to the pods, Victor picked up his shotgun and another load of shells, 8 gauge slugs, and then made his to the pod.

Loading in explosives, ammo, and extra weapons, he turned to look at Lucifer. She had always been one of the odder Spartans, although all the Spartans were interesting in their own way. Her belief that she saw ghosts had everyone worried a while back, but it didn't seem to affect her ability in the field so they overlooked it.

"Hey Lu, long time no see. What's ONI been doing with you lately?" He said, using his own little nickname for her. Regardless of what anyone said, he didn't like addressing his friend and battle-sister with the name usually reserved for the prince of darkness.

Corporal Jonathan Fisher

Lloyd was a good CO, and Fisher liked how he kept the formalities short and sweet. Kill every alien motherfucker on the planet? Aye, Fisher could do that.

"Alright kids, you heard the captain. Keep your heads, do what I say, shoot anything that isn't a green UNSC machine, and we very well might get out of here alive with whatever the hell the objective is, got it?"

"Gotcha corporal." Came the simultaneous replies of Mossley and Rhodes. Fisher grinned, heard the final countdown ping away to zero, then grabbed the grips on his HEV as his pod exploded downwards, leaving his stomach up his throat.

Staff Sergeant Baker

Baker exhaled once more, and hit the coms.

"Alright guys, you know as much about the object a I do. But whatever it is, its vital enough for HIGHCOM to send all of u in to get it. That means we sure as hell don't want those split-jawed bastards getting their slimy claws on it. So stay cool, stay together, kill every one of those SOBs and let the rock-diggers do their work." No responses, but a dozen lights blinked green. Baker grinned in relief, these were his men and they would do their jobs damn well.

The alarm sounded, the pod hissed, and Baker's men blasted into hell.

[z]

Lucifer-077

She sat in the HEV quietly, all ready for drop. Her fingers tapped against her armored leg. Anxiety... She was known for it. "Another symptom of her PTSD" the Doctors said. But it hadn't affected her in combat... She would just have to live with it, or get over it.

She was ready to go when... Victor? Victor was his name, least that's what she remembered. Her memory was not perfect.

"Hey Lu, long time no see. What's ONI been doing with you lately?" She slowly looked up at him, taking in a breath she spoke. In her mind, she had spoken too much in one day.

"Kill things... Snipe thing..." She said, looking away, then back to Victor. "Teamed with my brother..."

Eden Lawrence, REVIVE 2

After a few minutes on the floor, the blond looked up at the rack across from the pods. Her overly long blond hair fall past her shoulders now.. It was the way she liked it.

Walking up to her things, Eden suited up within a few minutes, next her pistol was in its holster, MA5C on her back, and a Battle Rifle crossed with it. No reason to pack light on this mission. And just to prove that she slapped a SMG on her hip.

Flipping her hair up she dug into the same pouch she kept the rubber bands to hold her long hair up, putting it into a sloppy pony tail before putting her helmet on. Walking to the left wall, she leaned back and waited for everyone to be ready, and when they were... Off to the Bridge they went.

[kuran]

Sergeant Sato Takashi,REVIVE-4
UNSCS Paschendale, Cryo Bay

Sato staggered over to the rack across from his pod, regaining his balance slightly with each step.

The act of gearing up made him feel somewhat better right off. First he slipped on a pair of boxers, feeling somewhat better less exposed. Then he slipped on a t-shirt before donning the suit that comprised his ONI-issued infiltration gear. Over that went his harness, with it's multiple pouches and pockets that he promptly stuffed with gear, spare magazines, a few ration bars, and the other bits and bobs that comprised standard gear. Lastly, he slipped on his wrist-mounted TACPAD, ensured that it was working, and peered at the weapons available.

His pair of tanto-pattern combat knives went first, both positioned upside down on his shoulders for easy access. Next, his M6-SOCOM pistol went into it's holster at his hip. Lastly, an M7 SMG was slung across his back. Satisfied with his load-out, he slipped in the teamcom earpiece and turned to face the rest of the group.

He made to follow Eden out and up to the bridge.

[admiral]

Fleet Commander David Vardy

"Admiral, per your orders I have awakened you two hours before our estimated time" A voice said, piercing his dreams. He dreamt he was back with his wife and son, Sitting at the dinner table, laughing as they ate their fill of pizza.

Startled, the admiral bolted up out and took out his head on the bunk. Cursing, he rubbed his head. "Thank you Lambert." He said tartly. "Are the other officers awake? Have you begun thawing out the cryo sleepers?"

"Yes and yes admiral. You sound like you could use a coffee" Lambert replied, his voice tinged with a hint of condescension.

"Shut up and proceed with your job." David snarled. He was in no mood to be sassed by his AI.

Sighing, he put his feet on the cold deck and pushed himself into a standing position. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, His mind went into combat mode.

After a quick shower and a coffee, David proceeded to get dressed and head to the bridge. His bridge crew was already at their stations. Feeling that surge of pride again, David proceeded to his chair beside his brother and looked at him.

"Ready for action?" David asked.

"Yep. Time to see what our ship can do." Nathan replied.

** One Hour Later**

"10 Minutes to normal space!" called Tom.

"Spin up the Reactors! I want the MAC ready to fire when we exit!" David ordered.

Nodding, his officers furiously typed in commands.

"MAC charging at 5% every 10 seconds sir." Replied Archer.

Nodding, David looked forward at the main screen.

**10 Minutes Later**

"Normal Space in 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1" called Tom.

It was a strange site seeing the ship plow out of the slipstream back into normal space. What they saw was not pretty.

"MAC STATUS!" David barked.

"100 % charged." reported Archer.

"Open channel to the Arizona" David ordered, his hands gripping his seat. Hopefully the Admiral was alive.

Relief coursed his body when the voice of Admiral Klix came through.

"Vardy! I need your MAC, sending co-ordinates of enemy destroyer."

Nodding, Lambert came up in Tank one. "I have it Admiral. Locking on."

Nodding, David gripped his chair. "Confirm lock. Fire when ready."

[kartoffelfogel]

CNV PURVEYOR OF SANCTITY
IN ORBIT AROUND FORERUNNER WORLD "ARTIFICE"

Shipmaster Sandrin 'Hedrathai stood amongst a tempest of panic.

All around him, officers flew about, glyphs flashed, and controls glimmered. Missiles struck the shields, both small and large, and now the shielding was at half capacity. Earlier, a massive MAC shot rushed by, completely missing, but its sheer power and velocity managed to strip a quarter of their shields regardless of never actually making contact.

The storm had engulfed them all, save one.

The young female pilot, Fiira 'Saernee, was still at the helm, an island of calm amidst the busy ship. The Zealot stalked over to her, and barked out a command.

"Where are you taking us?"

The Minor did not look away from her glyph panel. "We are on a course to the outskirts of the battle, so we may find and outflank the outlying human vessels--"

"No!" 'Hedrathai bellowed. "No! Take us toward that Human cruiser--we'll strike there!"

Now Fiira turned to face the Shipmaster, aghast. "Such a course is suicide! We'd assuredly die!"

The Zealot ignored her, still shouting orders. "Enough! Take us on our course. Minor 'Fasalee, charge our Projector. We'll close in and stab that cruiser at its weakest."

As he gave the command, suddenly, the flurry of movement and orders stopped. It was if the Purveyor had found the eye of the storm, and they were given a moment's respite before the coming tempest.

The Zealot surveyed his crew.

"You have been commanded. So shall you obey. No other course is honorable--no other course is possible."

"So, to battle."

As he spoke, the Purveyor of Sanctity began its deadly course toward the cruiser. At its tip, a single blue light gleamed.