Main Mission: Arcadia - Ground Operations

[elando]

Alarms. The buzzing siren and the red flashing almost over whelmed the senses if you didn't keep your witts about you. The ground operation was just getting underway. Hundreds of Marines lined that hangers, awaiting the trip down to the planet's surface. For some, this would be their first drop, for others, it would be their last.

I walked into the hanger and rallyed the ODSTs towards me. The Marines knew their objectives. A quick and simple insertion into the city via Pelican, set up shop in various areas around the city, find Civilians and get them out of there ASAP. They had the easy job for the most part.

As I looked around out the many faces that stared back, some familiar, some new, I decided to go over the mission again with them. "We were all at the briefing, but lets go over this once more." I said. "We will drop into the city via HEV. Each squad has their own rally point, so you'll have to look after yourselves. Now, our main objectives are the retieval of the ONI archieves, as well as their destruction once they have been downloaded to one of the Squad's PDA. Each squad should of designated a carrier who will download and protect the archieves. Only one squad need do this so once someone has, make sure you inform everyone else. Once we have the archieves, we need to radio for the HAVOK nuclear bomb to be delivered to the ONI site so we can destroy the city. We are abandoning it all together and it is the only safe way to ensure the Covenant do not get their hands on anything which may lead them to discover any defence plans or the location of Earth or Reach."

At the mention of the nuclear bomb, a few of the ODSTs shuffled uncomfortably. "Once we plant the bomb, we'll have 10 minuites to evacuate the City with the VIPs. We must make sure the Marines have evacuated all Civilians they can as well, before we set off the Nuke."

"Now, we have our job to do, the Marines have theirs. So lets move out and kick some ass!" I shouted, which was followed by a chorus of HOORAH!'s from the rest of the ODSTs.

As we all went our seperate ways I led my squad over to a section of HEV launchers. "Nice speech." Said Daniel. "Heh, not bad, but we've got work to do." I replied, climbing into my HEV as the rest of my squad did the same. "Wonder what Arcadia's like..." Mused Samuel. "I hear its nice this time of year." Replied Jake as the doors of the HEVs closed. "My cousin went there once. Apparently its not all that." Said Alex. The HEVs all jolted one by one as they were positioned into place by the launch clamp. "Yeah?" Replied Timothy. "I heard its a tropical paradise." The HEVs swung round and were lowered slightly to reveal the planet below. Green jungle with spots of clear blue dotted the surface. "Hell thats some view." said Simon. "Enjoy it while you can." I replied, gabbing the release leaver and getting ready to launch. "Cause its gonna get a whole lot worse soon enough." The launch light blinked red as the pre-launch checks initiated.

"Get ready to launch on my mark." I said, my eyes not moving from the blinking light. A chorus of "Roger that." and other acknolagements rang through the radio. "Wait for it." Suddenly the light flashed green, indicating all systems were operational and ready to launch. "MARK!" I shouted, yanking down on the release leaver, causing the launch clamp to unlock and send the HEV rocketing downwards.

"Heads up, we're landing near the crossroads south of the Police station." I said, keying in the launch trajectory for the squad as the HEVs adjusted their flight paths. "Get ready for contacts as soon as we hit!"

[daeron]

Zeta squad had boared the nearest pelican down to Arcadia. They had several objectives, not alot of time to do them.

Sergeant Bernard had been prepped for the mission aswell as his men.

"You know what to do. Lock watch our asses. The rest keep point and try not to get shot. We're landing at point Bravo. The intersection. Along the way we will probally meet some civilians. Lets protect them at all costs. We will move along the road, to the Garage. What ever humans we find along the way we will bring back to the LZ. Then it's off to the road. Let's move." Bernard spoke as the drop doors on the pelican was opened.

The squad manuvered out and along the road, bypassing any vehicles there. Zeta squad did not like to be in vehicles, the act of a covenant vehicle being able to take them out as easy as they could ran down their spines.

Lock stayed at the rear, keeping them guarded from the rear, Parron infront of him, Belote, Clark, Bernard, and Johnson taking point.

"Johnson keep that shotgun out and make sure nothing non human crosses your path." Bernard said quietly.

"I got you boss. Nothing's getting thro-" Johnson was cut off short as incomming plasma rifle fire interupted him.

"Shit take cover." Bernard screamed as he rolled to the right, providing cover fire.

His team moved into their positions. Lock keeping contact with the sniper rifle, shooting at what he could.

Belote using his aiming skills to pick them off with his battle rifle. Clark using his feminine vision to keep the brutes and jackels down.

As Bernard shot, grunts went crazy, running around from their breathing mecaniziums exploding. Several of them laid dead. As he did so he concentrated more on the elite aliens in the squad that ambushed them.

[monkeyjoe14]

ODST Sergeant Jack Redsont

I prepared my HEV for the drop to arcadia. I glanced at my team, Pat was finishing up and fred was climbing into his. I put my Assualt Rifle into the side and climbed in. I punched the com.

"Everyone ready?", I asked.

"Check", Fred replied.

"Prepared to drop", Ed said.

"Let's Rock", Pat yelled.

"Alright, 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Mark", I said.

There was a numerous amount of thunks as other squads dropped from the ship. I looked through my view screen and saw Ed's HEV dropped. I waited for my HEV to drop when I saw another group of ODST's walk by. Suddenly I dropped and I plummeted towards the planet's surface. I punched the com.

"Alright, now we have our orders, we head towards the ONI facility and help out the soldeirs move the VIP's to safety", I explained.

I saw the clouds race past my veiw screen, and the city came into view. I thought to myself, this is where it all counts, time to roll.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran, Indigo Team

Andrew sat in the Pelican, his assault rifle laid across his lap as Indigo team prepared for the ground operation on Arcadia. Ben was checking his SMG magazines, Sarah and Tom were cocking their rifles, and Adam was loading his shotgun shells. He saw the anticipation mixed with fear on everyone's face, just like what he was feeling.

They were heading to Landing Point Charlie, a public park west of the Sports Stadium, one of their objectives. Andrew didn't know how the marines had been distributed throughout the city, but hoped to God there would be enough at Charlie, the Sports Stadium was close to one of the known Covenant hotspots, and it wasn't close enough to Charlie to be safe either. Escorting civilians to it would be hell, and without supply drops or access to weapons, they were going to have very little hope of getting everyone to safety. They would probably need several Scorpions to hold back the Covies long enough for the marines to ferry everyone out, and that was a luxury they probably wouldn't receieve. As Ben would put it, they were fucked.

[zalas3]

Lt. Michael Duvalle quickly moved out rallying his squad to him, they were quiet, keeping the radio chatter down during their final moments of prep. He grabbed his SOCOM, along with an M7s instead of his usual MA5C, he opened up the hatch to to his HEvV , looking around seeing all his squad mates getting situated in theirs nicely, minus Private Griffin, who was having issues with his harness. Michael quickly secured his weapons in their holding racks within the HEV. He walked over to Tyler, helping him with his harness a moment before patting him on the shoulder and sending him in the pod with a curt nod. He walked back to his strapping himself in, he selected their co-ordinates to not be to far off from their first target the ONI building but still far enough so they weren't shot into the middle of the known fray.

The pods slowly churned, beginning to move down their tubes until they were shot out at full speed to the city below, the planet below, his old home. The individual screen for reports was blank and they all took a moment to take in the view, however he quickly broke the silence.

“Griffin, Smythe, secure the ends of the of the drop radius when we land.”

Two quick clicks came from each of the designated COM’s. Moments later the heat became unbearable and the quickly cooled as a resounding thud coursed through the pod. He unhooked the M7s and busted the door wide, gun ready to fire but the streets were clear. Three minutes later and they were all in position



Zalas 'Ruramee


The elite quickly ushered himself into one of the two bays of the Spirit Drop ship, his small squad of three other covenant members following into the same pod. the other pod was filled by a similar squad though larger in size. Zalas had braced against the wall as the Spirit took off out of the bay of the Covenant ship.

It slowly flew down to the planet before gaining speed and touching down at one of the designated drop zones. the bay opened a while after and they had all stepped out, they were to partner with the other squad on making a push through the city.

[maxii1]

Name: Captain Paul Nikon
Location: Forlorn Hope Hanger Bay

Captain Nikon looked at the cue of soldiers awaiting his Squadron’s services.
He caught glimpse of Westbrooke and her crew escorting a platoon of men aboard, he raised an arm and waved.
“Paul, lets get this chalk moving!” exclaimed his co-pilot Lydia Gibson.
Nikon nodded, being aboard the Forlorn Hope was strange, his former squadron leader now commanding a legendry Frigate.
Paul smiled at the honour of being back alongside Captain McMad, hell he loved it.
His Pelican still had the emblem of Mad Squadron emblazoned on it as well as Super’s logo. Paul thought back on his days of combat flying and half shuddered. They where almost over, his flying days. He’d promised himself that he would settle down and find himself a wife before he was killed in action.
But as Crew Chief Layton had put it “You can’t quit half way through a war”
Nikon smiled and looked back at the crowds of awaiting marines, how many of them would pack it in given the chance.
“Oi! What is this a mothers meeting?” grinned a Rifleman that was aboard the Pelican.
“Only Richard Bloody Reilly would say such a thing” spoke Gibson.
Nikon turned to his passengers and grinned. “95ther’s? Under Reilly’s command?” he half laughed as he moved towards the cockpit. “Well at least someone’s finally been rewarded for their acts”
Reilly just smiled back, he had been welcomed back aboard personally by McMillan, a simple rifleman that had saved the ship from being overrun back in a previous covenant engagement, one that would serve him in good stead for the current conflict.
“Get us down safely and near the target area, we want a quick pick up for the civilians, safes you having to do the trip twice, then we’ll walk to the next section” Sgt. Reilly stated to the Pilot.
Nikon agreed with the plan and steered the Pelican out of the Hanger and away from the Forlorn Hope. Avoiding other friendly and hostile air contacts, Nikon was slightly apprehensive as the craft started it’s descent.

[darknight101]

Pvt. Raymond Grahm
Pelican

Raymond Grahm and Jack Selway traded guns, both MA5B's, they both investigated their weapons throughly, checking the firing chamber, the clip and the display. 60 rounds, all the way.

"Yep, you're clear" Raymond said, handing Jack back his weapon, Jack did the same. "So Sarge, there are three hellholes on this particular mission, which one are we again?" Raymond tried his hardest to sound as if he weren't scared, and was afraid he wasn't convincing.

"Alpha Zone" Buchanan was apathetic "It's a giant courtyard, meaning we are at our most vulnerable the second we step out onto a sniper's wet dream. They say it's relatively clear, but I'll take that with a pinch of fucking salt." The Sergeant either didn't know or didn't care that the two other Marines hadn't been born in the 22nd century. "I don't care what those damn 'experts' say, the first thing we do unless we get a personal transmission from Admiral freaking Cole is do a search around that damn landing area."

"What's our main objective anyway?" Jack Selway interrupted before Buchanan could continue on his rant.

"Some police station, supposed to be a bunch of civies there, we have to set up a perimeter before we can even begin to move the civilians." Raymond Grahm hated the thought of having to look after people, especially ones so useless in a combat zone as civilians.

[monkeyjoe14]

ODST Sergeant Jack Redsont

I crawled out of my Hev which landed in a fountain, water and rubble surrounded my. I saw that Ed landed into the side of building. He climbed out and signaled he was okay. Fred was by a car his weapon sweeping the area for enemies in front of him. I grabbed my gear and hurried over to him.

"So where did Pat land", I asked.

"He should be nearby, unless he hasn't landed y-", Fred was interrupted by a thunderous blast.

A HEV landed on a car and crushed it under it's massive wieght. The hatch exploded off a second later and Pat climbed out. He ran over to us with a smirk on his face.

"So, what I miss?", Pat asked.

"Knock it off, we gotta job to do", I scolded him.

I leveled my rifle and procceded towards the ONI building. My team followed shortly after, the mission to save those VIP's had officially begun.

[amhalibadee]

William yanked the sniper rifle off the rack with a grunt. He wandered over to his designated pod and plopped the sniper rifle into its place, right next to his seat and across from his suppressed SMG he had put there before hand. He turned away from the pod as another soldier started a speech; Will supposed he was a high in rank. During the speech he mentioned a nuke; Will shuffled in his place, that was the one thing he couldn’t do anything about: being bombed. After the speech other ODST’s let out a “HOORAH”, but will just continued to toss and catch his Automag in his hand and turned to his pod.

“MARK!” the soldier who had given the speech shouted, and the pods launched. Will had done training and simulations of a launch, but never a combat drop. He looked down in awe as the atmosphere drew closer, then when the city below appeared in his pods window and he relaxed, grasped the handles and prepared for the shock, and closed his eyes.
The Impact shook William, but he quickly recovered. The Airtight door let out a sigh of air then launched in the opposite direction, Will holstered his pistol and suppressed SMG and held his sniper and leapt from the pod. His squad’s pods had already touched down; with the exception of Austin, whose pod fell in the background.
“Brutes! We got a pack inbound Sergeant!” Michael screamed.
“Take cover behind the HEVs! If the HEVs can handle entering atmosphere some covenant small arms fire shouldn’t matter!” Anthony ordered.
Will smashed his shoulder into the HEV and checked his sniper ammo, full. He leaned out and a sniper round banged out of the barrel, and one brute fell missing a large portion of its hideous face and staining the asphalt and its pack member with violet red blood. A handful of pale spikes dinged of the HEV and rattled on the ground near Will’s feet. Heh they still don’t have such a good aim as me, Will thought to himself. Several shots of suppressed M6C SOCOM rounds beeped out of Anthony’s gun. A Brute took two rounds to the face before shielding his head with his arm after his helmet shattered. It’s all too human blood leaked from its massive forearm and it roared and hurled its weapon to the floor hard enough to make the brutal steel bayonets snap off. The beast leapt an impossible distance to Michael’s position; he was the closest ODST, and started snarling and roaring in a fury of saliva, teeth, and fists. Before the monster smashed into Michael, he was able to land his fist into the beast’s bare face, making it reel back. Will took the opportunity and shot twice with his sniper rifle, landing one into the brute’s bottom jaw, propelling it away from its place, and the other landed uselessly in the dirt. The brute’s arms dropped to its sides and then it collapsed. Anthony had taken one brute out with a frag grenade, leaving three brutes left standing and snarling. Spikes and red plasma bolts buzzed by, then SMG fire buzzed and one of the brutes howled and fell to the earth. Austin reloaded his SMG and took cover behind a bench, which stopped the spikes from the last brute well enough. Will spun around the HEV and rung out a sniper round, that collided with the brute’s skull and ended its life.
“Empty.” Will sighed.

[caster]

Corporal Leon Carson - ODST - Echo Squad

ODST Drop Hanger, Forlorn Hope

================================================

Carson looked to the few pelicans leaving the hanger with the first few marine drops. They would get a small taste of the ODST lifestyle when they hit those landing zones and have to secure it for further deployment and evacuation.

Carson looked to the overhead map display showing their intended landing area and their approach to ONI office which was codenamed Bunker for the mission in question.

"Alright, you heard Hallam. We have our mission. Grab your shit and go."

Carson raised his hand to about the level of his head. Samson had caught the movement and pointed at him. "So, we going silent or loud?"

"Weren't paying much attention were you, Carson?" Samson spit out as he grabbed his helmet and put it on before the visor polarized. Carson looked to his buddy Renters who made a fist and pushed it out from his chest. We're going loud. Carson thought.

Fireteam Echo moved down the briefing corridor through the bustle of the hanger to the ODST drop hanger - proper. Carson looked over his drop pod "1MSOB27 - CARSON" Carson looked inside and found that a battle rifle had already been put in place; Renters was indeed a good friend.

Samson came in behind the rest of the team. He had two PDA devices in his hand. He automatically handed one to Sergeant Koopman of Echo Two - who instinctively handed it to Corporal Lyons. Samson walked his over to Renault. "You are the precious cargo. You're jobs are to get to the mainframe computers, dump the data in raw form to the PDA's, encrypt it then infect the system with the virus."

Nobody said anything, it was just a rehash of the orders received in briefing. "Oh-de-es-te -- do - or - die!"

"Oo'rah!" Carson yelled with the rest of the squad. Carson activated the pod and closed the door that sealed shut with a hard hiss. After a moment the pods started scraping against the metal of the place holders. Before the lock overhead sealed and the one into vacuum opened. The pods dropped and Carson clenched at the seats armrest. The pod was on course and several minutes later the city was becoming larger and larger. Carson struggled to gain his barrings on the way down. Looked like a Covenant tank squad was moving south along the road that would be east of their landing point. On the way down, the ONI building was still being beaten back by heavy Covenant drops in the area.

Suddenly the pod stopped moving, Carson's stomach traveled down a bit further than the pod. The door blew open and Carson hopped out reflexively drawing his pistol and bringing into a low ready as he scanned left to right. "Contact, nine o'clock actual!"

Carson knew which way was north, which meant that the enemy was to his right. Carson wheeled around and looked through the trees of the park. Sure enough, there was a brute pack with several grunts in tow. Carson started to line up a shot on the brute at the back of the pack, but Koopman's voice broke over the TEAMCOMM. "Negative. Doesn't look like they know --" Koopman was cut off as several spikes flew toward the group of pods.

Samson was a second later. There was already a considerable amount of gunfire erupting from the team, which outnumbered the brute pack by four. "Too late. Renters, Long, suppress those targets!"

Carson watched as his target fired on one of his teammates, there was no hesitation as he pulled the trigger several times. The adrenaline was throwing his rounds off though, the first two seemed ineffective. Carson adjusted his aim to center mass and fired several more shots which impacted the brutes heavy armor plates before one found it's way to the beasts neck. It grabbed at itself and kicked a grunt in front of him towards Carson, who fired two rounds into it's chest and one into its head before wheeling back behind his pod to reload.

Suddenly the drone of two heavier guns started drowning out the smaller arms fire. Several grunts fell over, the fountain behind the Covvies jumped as large chunks of concrete were blasted away. The brutes snarled and started back pedaling.

"This isn't our fight, leave 'em" Koopman said as the brutes disappeared across the small fountain plaza. Carson in the mean time had reloaded his pistol, holstered it, and gotten his battle rifle.

Carson keyed his comm and started towards the edge of the park. "Five meter spread." The team was in a staggered line, roughly five meters apart from each other member as they moved out into the road that ran north-to-south.

A civilian car spun around the corner, loosing control and going up on the sidewalk to the north-east side of the intersection. A hot stream of blue plasma followed. Long was on the TEAMCOMM "Enemy tank column, times four!"

"Cut through the pavilion." Samson answered calmly. The team left the burning vehicle even as the passengers screamed inside and headed across the street up a considerable number of steps before passing between two very large buildings. As they came to the top they could see the embattled security forces as several spirit drop ships departed the area. There was a number of elite drop pods as well.

Lt. Allison Westbrooke - "Super-six-one"

Aft Hanger Bay, Forlorn Hope

Allison had caught Nikon's wave and had given him a cheerful thumbs up before he disappeared into his Pelican. The soldiers she was herding entered super-six-four with their gear. Shortly thereafter. Her own craft was filled with preemptive supplies for drop. Ammo, a few heavier weapons, extra special ops PDA's, things of that nature. Her cargo though, wouldn't be troops unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Control, super-six-one clearing the breach and on approach." Allison looked through her visor as Nikons craft and a few others headed towards Arcadia's surface. A small lance of gunships like her own were coming up from behind her craft and leveling out.

Allison keyed the comm. "Nikon, we'll take lead." She had a horrible habit of using his name over the comms rather than his call sign. The Naval Comptroller on board the frigate didn't even try to correct her anymore. Allison throttled up and over the relative top of Nikons craft. The other gunships did the same. Several seraphs were on approach with some boarding craft. Each of the forces strafed each other in passing but none turned to engage. Daniel's voice broke over the team comm. "Splash one."

Super-nine-two, another gunship came over a moment later. "You wish, six-one. You scraped him, but didn't splash him."

Craig cackled under his helmet, Allison smiled beneath hers. There had been a running kill count the weapons officers on board the various gunships had been keeping. Allison understood the competition, but thought it was more bravado than combat necessity. Although, Chief Layton one of Nikon's crew had said that any kill can tip the scales of a battle at any time. He was quick to remind her she hadn't flown a combat sortie before this.

As the several pelicans of Super squadron broke through the cloud cover, Allison eased back the throttle letting Nikon and the transports head by. She wasn't actually sure where they were going at this point. She just knew her job flying cover was made immeasurably harder by the tall buildings where the little bastards with fuel rod cannons could be. Her whole crew needed to be eyes on.

[daeron]

Sergeant Louis Bernard
Zeta Squad

The team moved down the blocks again. Bypassing what they could of the wreckerage that the covenant had caused. So far no yells from civilians sidetracked them from their objectives. Only a couple Covenant forces had ran into them

As they moved down, a crying yell from a nearby apartment building, smoke coming from the roof, distracted them

"Lock keep us posted, Parron you know what to do. Belote on me. Clark and Johnson go check the apartment. Now go." Bernard ordered relentantly.

Clark and Johnson moved along the wall, before hitting the door. Using his shot gun, Johnson aimed at the door lock, pulling the trigger, balls of shotgun blast hit the door, it slung open and Johnson moved in, flashlight on. Clark behind him.

They were stopped by the sudden smoke exhaust into their face. It caused them to cough only for a minute, they quickly pulled down the visor on their helmets that shielded them from the smoke.

As they searched the building they ran into two kids and their mother, who was badly hurt.

They carried them out and reported to Bernard.

"Sir we have two children and a mother. The mother is hurt. She says it is from a bombardment raid on the apartment complex. Everyone else around has already moved out or i-" Johnson was cut off with plasma fire over his head.

Two brutes down the street with a squad of grunts stopped their conversation.

"Protect the civilians. Johnson they're yours. You better fall down before they do." Bernared ordered.

Johnson moved the civilians behind him and they roleld behind som downed trashcans.

Bernard took cover by a tree, shooting down at the brutes. Lock began picking off the ones he could while Clark and Belote scrambled for cover before unleashing on the new Covenant forces.

[elitedude111]

Wow... What? What kind of Pod? A Pod usually means a HEV pod which is a 1 man ODST pod. And whats this about a flashback?! Unless the flashback goes back into the character's past to reveal something relevent about them, its not allowed. Especially when you put it in the same paragraph as everything else just because you're too lazy to write about him walking from the armoury and getting into the "Pod" (Which doesn't even exist).

AND WHAT THE FUCK?! Did you even read the Overview?! The Texas was destroyed, long before we even got there. That whole paragraph was damn confusing. There is also no Battlecruisers around, which I clearly stated in the Space thread.

I can't even tell who your guy is talking to half the time. And why the fuck did the pilot loose control just cuz he saw a HEV pod? It makes no sense. And in your post, you've successfully killed off about 3 Humans. Your post needs too much work to even warrent its existance...

And as for that Spartan Laser, did you even read the support request thread? You're supposed to put up a request for any weapons, vehicles, airstrikes, ect in there as well as roleplaying it in the main mission post.

For the meantime, please ignore Zamis' posts...

-Elando

Is all that swearing necessary sir? I think you need to show a little restraint.

Zamis. Your posts should be thought out and carefully constructed before you post. A word program will help immensily.

Kabruski

Sgt. Major Stovall felt lifeless sitting in a pod with several marines and two ODSTs. They all knew what horrible thing just happened. The pilot then broke the silence"We'll be going into the atmosphere soon." But all Sgt. Major Lance Stovall could do was remember. (flashback) Lance grabbed his Battle rifle from the rack and walked over to the armory owner,"Can I have a spartan laser for this mission." "Sorry Sgt. Major we do not carry spartan lasers, but I'll patch your request to the Flouren Hope which is on it's way here." "Alright, so the pelican bay is open now", "yes sir, if your ready to go th-". The marine was interrupted by a red light and an intercom"Attention, Covenant battle cruiser approaching." Then a marine at a radio transmitter called some of us over"hey guys listen to this", "help we are contacting the Texas, are you there." "We're here", "ok the battle cruiser is heading your way prepare fo-." "Marine!?" (background)"Whoa is that cruiser seriously ganna go right through us, LOOK OUT IT'S FIRING IT'S MAIN CANNON."*static* "Um...Sgt. Major we lost them" "Well then lets destroy that cruiser." "Attention the cruiser is preparing to fire upon us we are stalling it, get to escape pods." Then Lance and everyone went to the escape pods to see seraphs"look out sit." When the seraphs suddenly bombed all but one escape pod. "Look out boarders" a small group of grunts and elite turned the corner. "Sgt. Major get in!" Then they pushed Lance in with the weapons specialist the two ODSTs the radio man and two more marines. Then the marine hit the launch button"good bye sir-." Several plasma bolts went into the door killing the marine. As they drifted away, they watched the Texas explode in a huge fiery ball of death.

(back to normal time) The pod started into the atmosphere when they noticed an ODST squad. Soon the pilot lost hold for a second sending it to far to the left hitting a HEV pod. Soon they heard the poor ODST on their coms"AHHHH I'M OUTTA CONTROL LOOK OOOOUUUUUT." *BOOM* A fiery explosion of the pod, soon the HEVs hit the ground followed by the escape pod. the hatches of the ODSTs popped then they came over and opened the escape pod hatch. they helped the ODSTs in the pod out first talking to the shivering one"it's ok Johny, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF" then the ODST snapped into place. The pilot lay dead in her seat then the marines hopped out with Lance coming out last. "Welcome to the battle Sgt. Major Stovall", "no just call me Avery." Then a group of AA Wraiths came by then Avery sent a message to the Flouren Hope "hey can I have that spartan laser now."

[maxii1]

Captain Paul Nikon
Deploying 95th Rifle Fire Team

Nikon radioed his thanks to the escorting gun ships that had mollycoddled the handful of transport Pelicans towards Arcadia.
New Mission Objectives had come in for Sgt. Reilly’s Fire Team, a high priority task that some Officer on the ground had requested.
Namely a sniping element to assist the troops on the ground, pin the enemy down so that the guy’s could flank the enemy.
However there was an issue with this, all the suitable locations for placing a sniper where inhabited by the enemy.

“Okay, we’re moving in quickly, dropping Reilly as quickly as we can towards the Overlook position” Nikon provided audio commentary for his own amusement.
“Screw that position, it’s crawling with enemy” commented Reilly; his assignment had been to provide Over-Watch to the unit’s on the ground, providing supporting sniper fire, however the tall building that had been earmarked for the mission was tainted by being inhabited by the enemy. Reilly had no desire to kill his newly earned men so instead he had decided to be dropped off in some kind of forest area.
They would provide sniper fire from ground level.

Nikon looked at the map and nodded “I can put you down there, some Friendly’s down there too”
Gibson nodded “ODST’S always manage to beat us down from the ship” she smiled.
Nikon returned it and lowered the craft.
“Shit we’re getting incoming!” exclaimed someone from the rear of the pelican. Nikon looked at a screen with a sense of panic; he saw three fuel rod’s inbound.
Should have had a Wingman with us’ he thought.

Reilly stood up and armed the mounted machine gun on the back, he would only fire at manageable targets, no point is wasting ammo.
He was keen to disembark as soon as possible, this yearning to be on the ground increased as Nikon wrestled with the controls, avoiding the enemy fire whilst descending rapidly.
Then the movement stopped, Captain Paul Nikon shouted to his Chalk to: “Move it”.
A few moments later, the 95th fire team where deployed and Nikon was on his way back in orbit, awaiting some civilians to take to the Forlorn Hope.

[dave36464736]

ODST Sergeant: Sam Fisher

Sitting in the drop pod, I silently sat there, drumming my fingers on my MA5B, whistling to myself, reviewing what I had to do.

Meeting up with the other ODST’s were a must, I had fought Covenant alone and barely scraped by. So meeting up was the only choice I had.

Sitting in the other pods was Bravo Charlie’s Squad. I was an independent. They on the other hand were a squad that had fought many a battle.

Over the comm. I heard the AI announce “Launching Pods in 5,4,3,2,1” and as soon as she said one, I felt my pod drop and release from the ship, my stomach giving a momentary lurch of excitement and fear as I free fell towards the planet, hopefully making sure I landed where I was supposed to.

Over the comm, the other ODST soldiers chatted amongst each other, strictly against protocol but hell, I would be too, trying to alleviate any nervousness I had about the mission and the stakes.

Soon I had entered the atmosphere and knew that my ride was about to get rough and bouncy. Flames started gouting from either side of my pod, while the internal temperature rose to a nice and toasty 39 Degrees Celsious, the pod was rumbling and shaking, my body jerking against the harness involuntairily while I was shaken like a rag doll.

Gritting my teeth, I slowed my breathing rate, and unclenched my fists, noticing on the little screen I had, that my vitals were spiking.

Soon, I cleared the atmosphere, most of my shell burned away, feeling the wind whipping around me because the structural integrity of the shell was failing, I just hope that the main parachutes held.

Over the comm., I could hear updates and reports and the situation on the ground. It didn’t sound good. So checking to my right I found my baby. My shotgun, of which I’ve had since I was in basic. It was given to me by my father. Looking to my left, I found the ammo to go along with it, as well as my MA5B ammunition, my MA5B still on my lap.

“ODST’s, brace for impact!” I heard their squad leader yell and sure enough, I felt my drop chutes open and my rocket boosters fire, lowering my air speed to a survivable trajectory.

Soon after that happened, I felt a huge WUMPH, as my pod slammed the ground. Hitting the green button, I blew the door off my pod, the Squad doing the same and checked my immediate AO for enemies. None.

Sastisfied for the moment, I grabbed my Shotgun, slung it, stowed my ammo and leveled my MA5B.

“Time to kick ass and chew bubblegum and I’m all outta bubblegum.” I said to myself.

//OOC\\ Hey, should I meet up with any of you guys? Im game to being with one of you's

[monkeyjoe14]

I examined the fire fight that took place in front of us. A squad of elites were attacking some marines who stood out front of the ONI building. Unfortunately for the elites, they were between two groups, the marines and my squad. I signaled for my team to fire on the elites and we released a hail of bullets.

The Elites' shields flashed as they turned towards their new threat. One dropped as Pat fired his BR into it's skull, the Elites then fired on us. I primed a frag and threw it towards the center of the elites. They would have a difficult time dodging the frag, my team and the marines all at once. Most of the Elites rolled out of the explosion but one stood his ground and he was engulfed in fire.

The remaining elites proceeded to drop one by one from the double sided fire. Ed fired another burst before he had to reload his rifle, Fred covered him in the meantime. As the last elite fell to the ground covered in his orange blood I bolted towards the marines as they covered me. I got behind the remains of a warthog as a marine greeted me.

"Thank God someone showed up", he said.

"Where are the VIPs", I asked looking over the warthog for more elites.

"They're inside the building, we have covenant drop ships on the roof. There are also hostiles on the other entrances", he explained.

"Then we have alot of work ahead of us", I told him signaling my team over.

[elitedude111]

Can I just ask... Why the fuck are you in wraiths... Also, if you're a Marine, you have different objectives to the ODSTs. You are supposed to land in a Pelican, deffinately not an Escape Pod. You are also supposed to be evacuateing Civilians, not just teaming up with ODSTs.

Yet again, everyone ignore this damn post, for your own sanity...

-Elando

//OOC// Still waiting for someone from Flouren Hope to repond to my spartan laser request

Avery held tight on the AA wraith as it went downt he road. The other marines and the two ODSTs were on wraiths them selves, the ODSTs we met on the other hand took a differant route. Soon a brute on a turret shot at one of the ODSTs ont he wraith infront of him which sped up, the ODST fell covered in blood. "JOHNY" the other ODST spoke. Soon the brutes discovered us and the wraiths truned in differant locations looking for us. "NOW BUYS" Avery said, then all the marines and the ODST beat the reactor core of each wraith until only the ones in the front were left.

They turned back at us preparing to fire, "Is it ready" Avery whispered,"yes sir, it is" the ODST said back. *BOOM* an explosion went off in the middle of the wraith group blowing all but one. The marines jumped on it killing teh turret man and ripping the hatch off and shooting the driver to death. Down the road the group saw the ONI building and some ODSTs and a marine group out front. They proceeded down the road to the building.

//OOC// Samuel you can join me and monkeyjoe at the ONI building

[maxii1]

Sgt. Richard Reilly
Location: A Click North of Launching Point Charlie, nearing Main Road beside Forest.


Reilly took out a small PDA and looked at the nearest objective to his squad’s current location.
They where currently a block away from the ONI Building, that was not their mission, instead the securing of the Police Station was theirs.
“Okay, Cpl. Glover? Take Blue Team and grab two warthog’s I want a transport and a turret variant” Reilly spoke quickly, his second in command nodded and set off with the small colour-code named fire-team.
Reilly told the rest of the squad to gather around him. “Okay, we’re to assist in the evacuation of civilians at the Police Station, they have a landing pad, but enemy AA is keeping the Police from launching their own craft, we have two choices, escort them out of the area and to the nearby Space Port, or we engage the well dug in enemy”
Reilly paused with a grin, watching his men’s own reactions to the mission.
Pvt. Loveridge uttered “We could pin down the enemy with snipers on the rooftop, call in an air strike, neutralise the enemy, launch the police pelicans” he suggested.
Reilly nodded.
“All Depends on whether Control will grant us an Air strike, let’s get those vehicles and get in there to make an assessment” Reilly spoke, expecting two speeding UNSC Warthogs to come along the main road.

Glover came with the two requested vehicles, he had been tempted to use a glamorous sports car instead; give it one final spin before it was destroyed.
"Got the wheels" he stated with a grin on his face.
Reilly called shotgun in the Standard Hog with Loveridge claiming the turret.
The rest of the men scrambled into the transport vehicle.
"Hey, we're going to go through the front door, but I want you Sanchez to take your 'Hog round the back, that'll be the exit route" Reilly stated as his driver; Glover revved the engine and set off down the road.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran

Andrew cocked his Assault Rifle and stood, they were almost at the ground. "Alright, this is it, let's hope those ODSTs can keep the Covies focused on themselves, instead of us." he said, turning to the others.

"Well, it's not like they didn't notice the HEVs," Ben mumbled, but Andrew ignored him. "We'll take a few warthogs, if we can. We'll need one so we can protect the civilians, and one or two troop 'hogs to ferry them back here. The stadium is in a Covie AA zone, so we won't be able to arm the civilians unless we carry guns to them, which we'll do."

"Sounds good, sir!" Ben shouted, as the rear hatch of the Pelican opened, and light plasma fire started impacting on the dropship.

"Okay, go! Let's secure the LZ! Move it, move!"

((Non-sucky posts begin tomorrow ))

[darknight101]

Private Raymond Grahm
Landing Point Alpha, Large Courtyard

Raymond was the first one out of the Pelican his Fire team and another squad had taken, He pointed his MA5B in front of him and quickly moved it from side to side, afraid that the bordering apartment buildings would be filled with Covenant snipers. It seemed all clear, even though their's was one of the first Pelicans at that particular landing zone. He moved foreword, with Selway and Buchanan coming out exactly as he did, guns ready to fire.

A marine, his tag read 'Captain', which was all Grahm needed to know, walked up to the the many squads that seemed to magically from around his Fire team. All of them began to salute, but stopped, remembering the updated combat regulations, 'sir' would have to do. The Captain didn't take offense.

"The immediate area is secure, aside from a few minor skirmishes this place was easy to take." Behind him Raymond could see the effects of those 'minor' skirmishes. A marine was damn near screaming his head off as a medic ripped a spike out of his gut. "We need to hurry on up to that Police Station, the quickest route would be through the streets, but even if this area is secure, Covies would beat the hell out of us if we tried. The other way is through the back roads, I, and a few of you, are going to remain here and keep this Zone open for evacuees" Even though the group was silent, Grahm could hear Sergeant Buchanan let out a snort "The rest will travel through the apartment district and only cross the street to the police station when you damn well have too."

He began picking those that would stay with him, and the, as he put it, 'lucky ones' that would get to go on the recovery mission. Raymond Grahm, Buchanan, and Jack Selway suddenly found themselves crouching through the streets of Arcadia.

[zalas3]

Lt. Duvalle


The immediate area had been secured that was a definite start to the current situation, however now they had the dilemma of getting to the ONI building, it was away but not to far away, and if they hurried, they might be able to get there in time, or not.

"Alright men, down the alley were heading towards the objective."

He got the confirmations that he wanted to at least here before they began moving. He wanted them all to be ready for whatever may lurk on these streets. He gave the move out hand signal again Smythe taking point with Griffin, as the rest followed behind, but not to far, while Enders watched their back. They navigated through the alleyway unharmed, but coming out on the street the near immediately spotted the Elite in his Maroon amour, with several grunts patrolling with him. Michael quickly waved the group together

"Alright....get yer SOCOMs out , lock and load, fire for the grunts."

Almost as if mechanical each member that hadn't already had it out, quickly drew their firearm and took aim. He himself aimed for the Grunt near the center, dressed a bit better than the rest, why? What did he care, it wouldn't need the clothes in a minute. He took the first shot, and almost as if a immediate reaction to it, the other silencer weapons quickly made their shots to. five of the originally 7 grunts fell, and upon realizing the falling of bodies behind him the elite turned, and spotted the humans.

The squads reaction was hurried as Griffin ran forward and slid behind the cover of a deserted car, quickly holstering his Pistol and drawing his assault rifle. Meanwhile Enders and Ikan both took up positions at the opening of the alleyway, firing off the rounds from their pistol directly at the elite, who continued his charge forward, the bullets harmlessly pinging off his shields. Michael holstered his pistol drawing the M7s, he stepped forward, just out of the alley and waited for the elite just to get a lil bit closer.

The grunts wobbled behind their red clad major as he stopped, his dual plasma rifles making constant flashes as the globs of hot plasma flung towards the marines, the grunts armed with needlers fired at will to.

Griffin revealed himself for but a moment, and well the shots from his rifle took two of the grunts down the third had hit him with a needler round just above his right elbow, his face quickly bore a look of horror behind the helmet as it exploded in a pink cloud and a spray of blood, his right arm becoming limp. He propped the rifle against the ground and fired a few more bullets taking the grunt down.

The others saw him fall, but were to preoccupied with the bursts of plasma flinging at the walls, they all took a dove, meeting up behind the car. They all poked around and fired instantaneously after the guns stopped firing and let loose a barrage of slugs that simply overwhelmed the elite, and he fell to the ground a bloody mess.

Smythe, being the closest to Griffin, immediately took out his Biofoam canister once the elite was dead, he turned the mans arm over and applied it as it filled the wound, which nearly blew his arm clean off. It was now litterally behind held on with biofoam. Smythe doubted that it would work right again.

[monkeyjoe14]

I talked into my com, watching the VIPs wander and talk to each other.

"I need a status report", I said.

After my team got inside the ONI building, all hell broke loose. The covenant sent a drop ship with more elites. They also dropped off a shade turret at each of the entrances. The elites were probably hoping to trap us inside and overwhelm us.

"There are elites coming down from the roof, we have managed to stop them at the 23rd floor", Fred yelled over gun fire.

"Alright, use explosives as a last resort", I said back.

"There are snipers on the buildings surrounding the ONI building", Ed said.

"Alright, radio to everyone to stay away from the windows and avoid being in the open, finish planting those charges on the building", I ordered.

"I have two out of three turrets setup at the entrances, also covenant are advancing towards the entrances", Pat informed me.

"Get that last turret setup and get into position, won't be long now", I told him.

I changed the com frequency to the forlorn hope. We needed help down here and they were the only ones who could deliver it.

"This is ODST Sergeant Redsont, I am currently held up in the ONI building. The covenant have sealed us in, and we need some serious aid. I am requesting either a pelican or warthogs with enough fire support to help move the VIPs", I said.

I heard a faint thunk from above and dust fell from the ceiling. If we didn't have assistance soon, we were done for.

[dusty]

Foxtrot climbed into their pods after the briefing. Tom had forgotten his battle rifle in the armory, so they were deploying late. Dusty placed his rocket launcher in the pod stowaway space, and grabbed placed his battle rifle there as well. He sat down and waited.

The pod dangled over the ground where Dusty looked at the clouds. They had just finished closing up from the last drop pods.

He entered freefall.

He looked out his view screen at the sky without AA fire. Since the Hell jumper wave had already fallen, they didn't expect anymore soldiers coming down. As they fell they saw their objective, the ONI headquarters.

Oreo's voice came through "All right, we got a squad pinned down in that building. We are gonna land in the street to the right, and parallel. Got it? Good"

All the pods maneuvered to land in the street, but Dusty didn't get his to go there fast enough. He hit the large skyscraper next to it, but this wasn’t enough to stop the HEV pod. His pod exited the building about halfway through it, and hit the ground. Hard.

The door blew off and Dusty crawled out. He pulled off his helmet and vomited. After a second plasma flew by. Tom pulled Dusty up "Come on!" Tom snapped off a burst and then sprinted to a car, where he ducked and took cover, returning fire occasionally. Dusty hid in his pod checking his battle rifle. When it was loaded he checked his rocket launcher and put it on his back. He used the moment of safety to look for what his squad was doing. Oreo and a few others were trying to get into a door, and the rest of the squad was shooting at some elites.

Dusty put his finger to his ear "This is Foxtrot squad, and we're on our way to the ONI building. Hold on"

He sprinted out of the pod down the street, dived into an alley. When he stood up he checked his battle rifle again, leaned out, and fired.

[maxii1]

Corporal Glover was clearly a skilled driver, he claimed he had once been a racer before the current conflict and most of the team believed him.
Private Sanchez was staying a little way back away from the armed Warthog so he could take evasive manoeuvres without having to worry about crashing into the first vehicle.
As they passed the ONI building, the two vehicles honked their horns, in a semi-fanfare to announce the passing of some ally’s. Reilly liked to be friendly to all his fellow fighters no matter what organisation or uniform they wore.

“Sanchez, take the next right and keep on the adjacent road, you guys will flank the objective whilst we attract the enemy’s attention” Reilly reiterated his orders, just to make sure all was clear.
“Sgt. Reilly here to Police Station, anyone read?” he had been patched through to the civilian communication network.
“Switchboard here, we read you” spoke a female, must have been one of the girls that manned the phones whilst the men did all the catching of bad guys, grinned Reilly.
“Okay, two units are flanking the station, these are motorised friendly units, we’re coming in hot!”

Loveridge opened fire on the mounted machine gun, raising hell at the dug in enemy that where forced to cower behind any available cover or die.
Glover mounted the kerb and drove right to the front of the Police Station, he hopped out and grabbed his Battle Rifle before diving to the other side of the vehicle, using it as cover.
Reilly too had exited the vehicle, firing shots from his own modified BR with an increased zoom. Loveridge was providing covering fire.
“Hell Private, we’re here disembark!” Glover called as he made a break for the awaiting confines of the Police Station.
Loveridge was concentrating on firing, so much so that Reilly had to physically pull the man out of the turret.
The two men then joined their comrade inside the relative safety of the station.
“Objective taken, for now, Blue Team sweep for survivors and enemy combatants” Reilly ordered to his men.

[usefuldave]

Arcadian Angels

Military Time: 12:06, February 11th, 2531, Arcadia, Pirth.

Combat Team Gamma Status, 3rd Company, 42nd Orbital Assault Battalion

G-1, 2nd Lt Alexa Groutin:
Vitals: 100%
Suit Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x BR-55 + 10 36Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
4 x M9 HE/DP Grens
2 x M165 Demolition Charges

G-2, Sgt Trent Hamilton:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x MA5B ICWS + 8 60Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
4 x M9 HE/DP Grens
2 x M165 Demolition Charges

G-3, Pvt Trevor Newton
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x M7/S SMG + 10 50Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
2 x M9 HE/DP Grens
3 x M165 Demolition Charges
1 x 200Rd M247 Boxs

G-4, Pvt Melanie Teronne:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x M247 GPMG + 3 200Rd Boxs
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
2 x M9 HE/DP Grens

G-5, LCpl Victoria Mendle:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x BR-55HB-SR + 10 36Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
4 x M9 HE/DP Grens
2 x M165 Demolition Charges

G-6, Pvt Duncan Helmuth:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x MA5B ICWS + 6 60Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
2 x M9 HE/DP Grens
3 x M165 Demolition Charges
2 x C7 FEX Cans

G-7, Pvt Simon Vickers:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x M247 GPMG + 3 200Rd Boxs
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
2 x M9 HE/DP Grens


G-8, Pvt William Straithmore:
Vitals: 100%
Suit-Con: 100%
Net-Con: 100%
Wep-Con: 1 x MA5B ICWS + 6 60Rd Mags
1 x M6C SOCOM + 4 12Rd Mags
2 x M9 HE/DP Grens
1 x Emergency Medical Kit

Time changed tales, twisted and distorted them until what was once reality became myth, and in some cases myths became legends. Such was the case on Arcadia, when during the Student’s Revolution the flaming tracks of the ‘Arcadian Angels’ had been seen in the sky. Far too small for spaceships or even assault boats, the rumour of angels spread rampantly among the young and the easily fooled for many years, not even footage of HEVs in action was enough to dispel the romantic’s from their dreams of angelic creatures.

Those dreams were shattered today, as the sky was filled with the now unmistakable trails of Human Entry Vehicles tearing through the atmosphere in their cocoons of flaming fury. While the Marines in their Pelicans ever so sedately waddled in through their high-safety low-speed entry programs, the ODSTs were heading into with their tender parts quite firmly in the fire.

In theory, the heat shielding was enough to prevent the roasting of any parts required for combat/mobility/reproductive repurposes, but then in theory the pods should just be within the safety limits of a one-way atmospheric flight. And then the air-brakes snapped off, or the lead foil gave way or the retro-rocket suffered catastrophic failure. And the unlucky trooper found themselves fatally compacted/irradiated/immolated depending upon whatever fate had befallen them thanks to the design team.

Thankfully for Combat Team Gamma, none of those fates were to be forced upon them by providence or fate, instead the octoplet of airbrakes deployed as cleanly as any training operation. But then, bringing the pods down to a reasonable speed wasn’t a problem, the problem was dropping right into the middle of a city with little more than a oversized firework and a kite for steering and trying to avoid hitting a skyscraper.

The drop-zone had been designed with this in mind, a wide circular crossroads which, until the Covenant attack hadn’t been that bad with regards to traffic. Now they weren’t that bad with regards to being used as a drop-zone for several HEVs, screaming in red-hot and looking closer to devils than angels. These were the demons that would both doom and save Pirth though, for all too often the ends justified the means.

Eight mounds of dust and tarmac rose from the street, what little cars remained in the area going off in a wail that would put an orchestra of cats to shame. For a moment these pods remained silent as the troopers within prepared themselves for war.

“G-1, opening, seems clear.”

The first pod to blow its hatch clear had landed dead-centre, the middle of the road little more than a crater- now with a HEV hatch sitting in it. The occupant edged out, one foot at a time, their BR-55 sweeping the open street for possible enemies- and finding little more than a dusty street.

“G-1, it’s clear. Come out you lazy svoloch’s!”

Second Lieutenant Alexa Groutin kept one eye on the street, and another on her squad as they popped their own pods, weapons up and ready to fight the moment they cleared their entry vehicles. That wasn’t to be the case though, as the only hints of movement came from further down the street. The moment the last trooper had cleared their vehicle, Groutin darted down the street with a hand waved to follow, she didn’t just run out into the middle of the road though, instead advancing along the pavement with her battle rifle locked onto fully automatic.

Gamma was close behind, watching the windows that she missed and covering the angles as they had practiced so many times in scenarios ranging from paint-ball exercises to full-blown tactical deployments. So far, they hadn’t lost a member in an actual scenario yet, however they had lost their last commanding officer to a training incident, something which felt rather… ironic, to survive combat yet die in what was a glorified exercise.

It certainly wasn’t the way Groutin was going to let herself go, if she had to die it would be with her finger on the trigger of as many damn explosives she could find, assuming it was in war-time of course. While the unit made their way towards the junction which would in theory lead to the ONI building, idle chatter broke free from the restraints of formalty, starting with Victoria making a little comment on Trevor’s selection of weaponry.

“So Trev, did your hui grow or something?” Well, it was a slightly veiled comment about his weaponry…

“Sod off!” …And nope, he wasn’t going to rise that easily, instead staring through the reflex sight of his M7/S at the buildings towering above them, one of them the local spaceport

“C’mon, it’s just that usually you’re lugging around some great big spanker, now all you’ve got is that pathetic Em-Sev with a barrel the size of Simon’s dick.” Abit of clarification wouldn’t hurt, and the test of the team was used to the occasional teasing that might go on between one or two of their group, especially those in different fireteams.

“It’s called a suppressor, you use it so that you’re not deafening and blinding yourself every time you fire at night or indoors. Unlike some people I like to be able to hear what’s going on around me, so shut it… Besides, we’re fighting indoors and I don’t want to be lugging around enough shells to last me the day.” In reply, she got a rather down to earth statement about the benefits of a gun suited for combat in built up areas, coming from someone who usually lugged about an anti-tank elephant gun?

“And it’s nothing about having your precious M19 locked up for this deployment by your little Wed’ma of a quartermaster?” A little step over the line of decency was all Newton got for his attempts at blowing her off with protocol inspired blabbering.

“Zavali yebalo bliad’!” Now that was the result she wanted!

“Tightass has been teaching you Russlish then, chuvak?” It was obvious, and the only answer Newton gave now was a shrug of the shoulders as Hamilton got on the com-net to shut the two bickering little kiddies up.

“G-3, G-5. Shut your yaps unless you want you want trajat’sya with some Covenant, we’re in a combat zone here, not your bunks.”

Rather than complaining, the two confirmations almost stepped upon each other as the unit began to stack up on the corner, the sound of both projectile and plasma fire coming from the ONI building just within sight ringing in their ears. Motors roared past just out of view, but they weren’t stopping to assist it seemed, all the better odds for the ODSTs…

“G-2 here, we’ve got Shades on the entrances and, from what I can see, some particle rifles in surrounding buildings, might be wrong though.”

Very bad for a frontal assault, even just dashing out and into the ONI building from this distance would get them cut down like dogs… Unless they found a way around defences designed to keep people in, not out.

“G-1, we’re going to move close via this building, get in, get to the lobby, and I’ll get some smoke ready, alright?”

Seven confirmation lights flashed and Gamma broke cover as one, using the battle raging around the triangular building as cover for their sudden movement around the corner. Yet there was only a moment’s pause before they burst into the ground floor with guns blazing at any target in sight.

The problem? There were no targets… But the sound of particle rifle fire could be heard from the upper levels of the building. It made sense for the Covenant to be concentrating their fire in the front of the building where they would have targets to shoot at. But then, there was a pair of lifts visible in this part of the lobby…

“G-3, G-6. Bring down those lifts, set a M165 in each and send one halfway and the other just below the top floor, we’ll shake up those Streloks.” Groutin called out another command, while turning to the remaining unoccupied members of her group.

“Once they’ve got a little surprise up and running, we’ll clear out the front end of this building, neutralise one of those shades and smoke our way over to the spook’s offices.” Instantly, one hand shot up in a parody of an over-eager child in the early years of primary school.

“Oo, ooh! Miss! Miss! But what about those nasty snipers and their laser beams?” Melanie wasn’t making fun of her command officer, instead she was giving a subtle hint… That she had a machine gun and there was a pretty damn good use for it.

“We move one fire-team at a time, fire and movement. Even the tolstak marines know how to do that.” The second el-tee didn’t ladle the answer in sarcasm or leave it dripping with a silly accent, just gave it straight, they were in combat and the time for silly-ness was over… mainly.

“G-6 ‘Ere, charges are set and we’re sending up the lifts now, they’ll blow on your signal.” The two explosive/heavy weapons specialist poked their heads around from the lifts and returned to the group as the doors closed and the bomb-laden lifts rose into the building.

“G-1, everyone form on me and prepare for contact, we’ll blitz these covs and get in with the spooks so we can start pilfering their files and rigging their place to blow.” With that Gamma began to work their way through the ground floor of the building, bypassing help-desks and toilets in favour of getting around to the front lobby where they could get the triangular naval intelligence building in their view.

That they did, and in doing so they also found themselves staring at a quartet of grunts, each hunkered in behind a window and indiscriminately unloading their plasma weapons towards the looming shape of ONI’s base. Overlooking them was a single Elite, his armour a light shade of blue which reflected the cyan of his plasma bolts.

It only took a few seconds for the ODSTs to take up firing positions, the two GPMGs forming a crossfire over the Elite while everyone else got to pick and choose their target, because with six guns firing at four grunts there wasn’t much use wasting time with fire discipline. The sole Elite didn’t even have time to turn before he was shredded by a pair of M247s filling his body with a goodly amount of 7.62mm UNSC.

The Grunts survived a moment longer, if only because the GPMGs fired first. The combined fire of Gamma tore through their thin environment suits and placed them flat on the ground, blood painting the floor a nice shade of azure. This was where time mattered, the chatter of weapons fire would be drawing the Covenant down on them if they didn’t act.

Act they did though, Groutin and Mendle positioned themselves where the quartet of grunts had been prior, both bringing their BR-55s up and sighting in on the sole shade with threatened their entrance. The two rifles clattered in unison, and the grunt manning the weapon slumped over in the seat.

That was the signal for Hamilton to pull free the pins on the two smoke grenades in his hands, lobbing them forth into the street as though he was playing cricket. Vickers moved into the position newly vacated by Groutin, placing the bipod of his M247 down on what was once a windowsill and let forth a stream of fire towards what possible sniping positions he saw. Then the building above rumbled and roared as Alexa hit the trip for the two charges, hopefully shaking up whatever snipers lay up there as two floors of the building above them were violated by the explosions.

Mendle, Helmuth and Straithmore joined in with Vickers as the smoke began to spread about the street, occasionally lit by stray flashes of plasma fire. It was into that smoke that half of Gamma charged, Groutin and Hamilton leading the way as they hurried across the street and into the nearest entrance of the house of spooks.

The moment they disappeared into the smoke, the second half began to retreat, the fire suddenly diminishing just as the smoke reached it’s thickest. This was enough cover for them to make it through unscathed, even if getting back would be just a little bit harder when it came to that.

“Second Lieutenant Groutin here, Combat Team Gamma is in the building, we’re beginning to rig for demolition.” Broadcast Alexa across the frequencies as her unit began to unpack all ten of the M165s they had carried in. The plan was to split up into three sub-units, two of three men under Duncan and Trevor, another of Groutin and Hamilton. The first two units would go around the building rigging up their demo-charges, while Groutin and her XO would set to the work of retrieving the archives, before rigging those to blow too.

“Everyone does their job, everyone gets a little rest when we’re done, so lets get to it Gamma!”

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran Landing Point Charlie

Andrew hit the ground rolling, bringing his rifle to bear on the scattered Covenant troops around the park. The rest of Indigo landed beside him, and they split up as several needler rounds homed in on them. Andrew dived beind a small brick wall as the pink crystals dug into it, shattering soon after.

He peered over the wall to get a good idea of what they were up against. It appeared to be mostly Jackals and Grunts, with the occassional Brute or Elite keeping them in line. A pair of Jackals had their shielded side exposed to him, as they were taking cover from fire from Tom. Andrew brought his Assault Rifle up, and aimed at the disgusting bird-like aliens. He fired a full ten rounds into the nearest one, which screamed before crumpling to the ground. The second one turned, trying to cover itself from both directions, but Tom scored a headshot on it and it collapsed onto it's ally.

He ducked back down, and scanned the nearby area for everyone else. Ben and Adam were fighting a cluster of panicing Grunts and Sarah was pinned down by a Brute's Spiker. Andrew fired the rest of his clip at her attacker, distracting it so she could fire point-blank at it. Andrew reloaded and fired too, and with their combined fire they brought it down.

More Pelicans were landing, disgorging their marines and vehicles, finishing off the retreating Covenant forces. As the gunfire began dying down, Andrew sighed and stood from behind the small wall. "Indigo, regroup on me," he said into the radio, and 4 marines jogged up to him. It looked like Ben has caught a needle in the shoulder, and a nearby medic noticed the wound, and sprayed biofoam into the hole. Ben grimaced when the legendary biofoam pain began, but said nothing.

"Alright, let's go see who's in charge around here, we need to get those Warthogs," Andrew said, walking to where most of the Pelicans were.

[maxii1]

“Sanchez, Quindlen, Brigner get set up on the higher levels” Reilly ordered, whilst leaving Watson, Shaw, Rafferty and Glover to hold the entrance.
Reilly himself was taking Loveridge into a Briefing room, filled with officers and other policing staff as well as some civilians that had fled for refuge inside the police station.
“Notice something missing?” Reilly asked his fellow soldier.
“Prisoners?” Loveridge answered straight away.
“Bloody hell, ALL UNIT’S WE HAVE POSSIBLE PRISONER ACTIVITY, Keep a look out” Reilly shouted before barking towards the Chief Inspector “Give me a Sit-Ref”

[dusty]

(MS PAINT FTW!)

Dusty reloaded his battle rifle and the squad regrouped in his alley way.

"Everyone reload."

The sound of clacking and clicking as ammo entered the guns.

"Farm boy, head down the street to the corner, then turn left." Dusty and Tom looked at each other and figured 8 was talking about Dusty. Dusty took point and jogged down the street. When he go to the corner, he leaned out. He signed "clear" and they creeped forward crouching hugging the wall. Halfway down the street a sniper fired. The round hit Doc in the chest.

"Sniper!!!! Get to the next alley!" The squad broke into a sprint to the nearby alley way, leaving Doc bleeding on the sidewalk. Dusty turned back and grabbed him.

Hoisting him in a fireman's lift he sprinted to the alley way. Tom and Richard had set up the LMG covering him. Dusty lay him on the ground and put biofoam in his hole. The man was long knocked out, to not feel the pain.

8 surveyed the situation. "All right Break into fire teams, we gotta flank. Foxtrot 1 with me, 2 stay with the doc, and give us covering fire. Move it hillbillies!"

Dusty, Tom, and Amy sprinted across the street. 8 was close behind. When the got to the large building, the ducked behind cover. Tom yelled as spiker fire caused dust to rain on him "We're too far up Sergeant! We can't advance!"

"Dusty Flank them! Take The woman!"

Dusty and Amy nodded heading to the buildings edge.
They leaned out and spotted a jackal and brute. Dusty shot the jackal and Amy shot the Brute. They advanced down the side of the building, and came to the corner, where they could see the enemy pinning down their squad. Dusty armed a grenade and threw it. The Arc was lazy and bounced off the top of a brutes head. It turned to be shot in the face by Dusty's battle rifle. The grenade burst in the air, to cause a rain of shrapnel, that killed off a jackal and two grunts along with the brute.

The 2 of them opened fire on the remaining brute, and grunts, while the fire team fired as well.

The pack of covenant was wiped out easily, and the squad reunited.

"Reload" The squad reloaded in the chorus of clicks and clacks again.
"Doc is gonna live for now, but we gotta try and evac him with the VIP's"
Dusty noticed that Doc was walking again.

The squad stacked up at the corner, and could see the covenant barricaded around the ONI building. The 2nd fire team sprinted across the street as fast as they could.

The crossfire butchered the Covenant who was never aware of their presence.

Oreo's voice came through the comm. "Ok on three we sprint to the ONI Northern door. For you that don't know, that’s the one facing us. One...Twooo... THREEEE!!!" The squad broke out in to a sprint to the door. They went largely unnoticed until they had reached the door and the cover of several columns and walls. Docs adrenaline had allowed him to maintain a pace, that got him there alive and in one piece.

Oreo banged on the door "UNSC TROOPS! ODST SQUAD FOXTROT! LET US IN!"

[monkeyjoe14]

I was inspecting the trio of turrets that my men setup. Each one was pointed at a door, all were manned and ready to go. I was about to head down into the basement where the VIPs were staying when there was a loud bang. I turned towards the northern entrance and saw a group of ODSTs.

"What the hell", I said aiming my rifle running to the door.

"ODSTs sir, they say their from foxtrot", a marine said behind.

I pulled the door open and signaled them inside firing at covenant soldiers. Once they were all in I shut the door and ordered my men to take point in case the covenant wanted to follow. I turned towards the group and saw that they had a wounded man.

"We have a medic in the basement, stairs are that way", I said pointing to door.

"Now that that's out of the way who is in charge here", I said.

I didn't like how these guys came barging in, but we needed all the help we could get.

[daeron]

The whole squad moved back, several civilians inbetween their concealed circle they had made behind them. Besides the first woman and children they had met. Several of them popped up after hearing the sudden fire from the sudden outburst they had fallen into.

Bernard eased down the road, panting as he did so. Behind him a group of civilians, Johnson behind them. The other four taking turns on each side.

Let's get them back the LZ. Then we'll head for the Garage. We've got to many to risk. Bernard commanded over his comlink.

As the group ran around a corner on the last couple blocks towards the landing zone they were fired at from above.

Bernard acting fast pushed the civilians back, turning for a moment to burst fire, then pushing them again into cover.

We don't have much time they're above us. Lock GO!!!!

Lock acted as fast as he could, rolling from top to bottom before dashing into cover. Parron following behind him. With his binoculars close to his eyes, Parron spotted the jackals high up in a building. Two of them stood up, in open spot, only behind and open window. They opened fire with their beam rifles, aiming for the squad.

Lock quickly eased his sniper rifle forward, moving the sights over just a bit, he snapped the safety off. Only taking a couple breaths he fired. The bullet soared through the air before impaling into the glass and into one of the jackals heads.

He moved over, doing the same thing, killing that jackal instantly also.

The group once again moved down the street. Without any disruptions they made it back to the landing zone. Here a nearby pelican gave authorization for them to load the Civilians. One by one they were loaded, with the injured on first.

[rhyss010]

Lance corporal Rhyss. Nightmare squad ODST.

They are all waiting for the HEV drop to happen.

"Right everyonne you all know the mission?" I said.

"Of course we do... other ODST's are already there but we can get there just in time if we hurry."My brother Will says.

"Talk for yourself." James says.

"alright recap. We need to save the VIP's in an ONI building. They are being attacked by the covenant. and we will need to help the guys there."

They all wait and the HIV starts to drop.
They all close their eyes until it finally lands.
Near by the ONI building but out of sight of the covenant for now.

"Right everyone lets get to work!"
They all run out of the drop pod.

"Right we need to get to the ONI building asap. but first we need to asses the situation so take buildings around the ONI building. and set up a small perimeter where we can see the situation"
They had to a tall building just to the right of the ONI Building.
They hear a spirit flying over head.
"shi!" they run into the building and they jump into a reception like area.
Covenant saw the squad and now are chasing them.
"Brutes... Grunts and jakals... nothing we can't handle" James says
They have barricaded themselves with a rounded reception desk.
"When you get a good shot fire at Will." Rhyss says
"HEY!" Will shouts.
"SHHH!" They wait ready to fight the covenant.

www.photoshop.com/accounts/62ea619522e342f9b716a1c90e63f82d/assets/c06558e04223482e8610ac6eb9b7f0e7
(yellow is where they are already at. the other two are routes that might or going to happen. depends on circumstances.)