Main Mission: Arcadia - Ground Operations

[monkeyjoe14]

The battle at the ONI building was at a stand still. Marines that were guarding the VIP's came up and assisted in the battle as did the sniper teams. I fired my BR at a grunt who primed two grenades in each hand, suicide grunt. He lurched back and his grenades fell at his feet killing him and a few other grunts too. I heard Ed over my com.

"Sarge, cavalries here", He said firing a magnum round into a jackal with a carbine.

I primed a grenade and threw it into the wave of incoming soldiers. Now wasn't the time to talk, there was an explosion from within the covenant soldiers. I saw that the jackals with shields gathered in front of the elites who slowly made an approach. I saw that they made a phalanx formation, typical in some ground battles.

"Grenades, up and over their shields", I yelled priming my own grenade and throwing over the wall of shields.

Several other marines followed my lead and tossed theirs as well. Their was a chain of eruptions as the grenades exploded. Both Jackals and Elites fell from shrapnel piercing them from all sides. Those that were left were taken out swiftly by gunfire.

"Hell yeah that's how we do thi-", a marine was stopped short as a plasma bolt melted portions of his face.

"Snipers, watch out", someone yelled.

I saw the faint outline of a jackal and his glowing helmet inside an office complex.

"Snipers, take them out everyone else provide cover fire for the snipers.", I said shooting at an elite who was firing at one of our snipers.

[grimboots]

The sounds of a few faint beam rifles, and human sniper rifles were almost musical in their timing. The transmission from the Elite that followed, was not. "All Jackals in the area, move towards our position. These pathetic humans refuse to stand and fight honorably! We will cleanse this planet as is the will of the Prophets!" Vok's head titled bird-like to the side for a moment as they continued to hear human firing move in closer, and the shields of Jackals begining to charge.

It wasn't long before the transmission ended with a series of explosions that sounded similair to human grenades and the screams of a few Jackals. There was a moment of hesitation - do they move towards that position? The thought process quickly ended when the transmission started back up. "Yar and Lug, Gep and Lup move into those buildings and take them down from behind! Dar and Vok, move into position - NOW." The sounds of a plasma rifle firing were the last things they heard. They didn't hesitate now, they had a direct order.

Dar quickly sprinted through the deserted office towards the other side of the building where they were summoned. They could see the firing of beam rifle from an adjacent building, and the response of the humans firing. Years of training fueled their bodies now - they obeyed orders, knew how each other was thinking. There was no conversation between the Jackals. Dar slide into position - peering outside of a large window near the skirmish - it was clear on their side. Dar made a simple single squawk to acknowledge the fact that it was clear.

The glass shattered as Vok fired a few plasma bolts at it and quickly leapt outside of the window, one hand placing his plasma pistol back in place while the other grabbed the side of the window so the momentum brought him around - belly facing the outside of the building. A few quick climbs and jumps brought Vok down to ground level - where he scurried quickly towards a corner of the building to provide some cover.

There was a decent amount of human marines, a lot of dead Jackals and Grunts. The sight of all the fallen Jackals brought a slight sickness to Dar's stomach - but he quickly suppressed the thought. He brought his beam rifle up and aimed at the group of human marines - not quite ready to reveal his position. Vok decided to keep his energy shield powered down and reached around for his carbine taking aim at street level.

[dusty]

Amy McCall

Fireteam 1 sprinted into cover. Amy raised her rifle and shot a jackal in the head. She lined up another shot, and hit another. She chuckled as she moved positions. The Covenant seemed the prefer quantity over quality when picking their snipers. A round passed a inch from her head. Not that all of them were bad. she popped up and fired again. The rest of the team had begun to assist with defending the entrance, and making it hell for all covenant forces who chose to advance,

Vincent Chu

Vincent ran down the stairs. he covered the ground quickly on adrenaline, but when he reached the lobby where the firefight was raging he was out of breath. He paused for a moment, and then ran across the lobby, firing off his magnum at the enemy occasionally, as if it would really count. He got to the basement steps and jogged down them to the armory. He loaded the rucksack with ammo, and began his climb. He reached the battle site on floor 21 in 20 minutes, panting and collapsing for breath.

Eric "Dusty" Zanba

Dusty ran over to Vincent and grabbed ammo for his battle rifle. He placed a fresh clip in his gun and turn to see a brute firing. A spike punched through his Battle rifle, causing it to break apart in his hands. A second spike hit his forehead, and knocked him over.

Very carefully Dusty reached up and pulled off his helmet. The middle of his forehead was cut from the spiker round, which had been stopped by his helmet from killing him. He threw the useless helmet and looked for a gun. He grabbed an smg and pointed it at a brute. He fired at it, watching rounds bounce off and it roar. He started kicking in an attempt to go backwards slowly, Before a round punched through the shield and into the brutes eye. The gun clicked, and Dusty drew his magnum Firing several times into it's face killing it.

Tom Dragged him into cover, and reloaded his guns fore him, and handed them back to him. "Dusty, i don't know how you did it, but you just killed a baby Kong all by yourself!"

Dusty nodded and slowly picked himself up with his head woozy from all the adrenaline now flowing in him.

He looked down the hallway, and seriously doubted he would live. He rolled his neck, sighted on a grunt, and fired.

[amhalibadee]

Amha strolled outside of the building, carbine at ready, and checked his TAC database as the drones streamed out of the building. He noticed that Gamma landing point was a half kilometer away.
“Perfect,” Amha muttered to himself.
Amha began to order his team to set up a perimeter.
“Tal, Dag, Cover that street. Zamis and the grunts cover the highway to our rear. Sal, your with me we’ll make sure no human makes it out of that building.” Amha sent his team to different locations with a series of hand motions and vocal orders.
Sal crept up next to Amha who was crouched next to a trashcan. Amha pulled up a COM and radioed the Dawn of glory.
“This is Major domo Amha Libadee, I’m going to need a locust; we got a building filled with human civilians and marines.” Amha requested
“Affirmative Major, request approved.” The elite on the other end of the COM replied just before the COM died.

The phantom hovered overhead and the insect like locust fell to the earth facing Amha. The anti-building vehicle’s landing resembled a scarab’s as it fell from orbit, just immensely smaller. The vehicles leg’s slowly raised the hull of the ground and the flap that protected the driver popped open. Amha crawled in, unsure about the controls due to the vehicles relatively new place in the covenant. Amha relaxed and hovered his hands over the controls that weren’t much different from the wraith or banshee controls, but also resembled the scarab in a way; it was mostly made up of lekgolo worms. Amha’s team centered in on Amha and his locust and Amha stomped the front leg forward, then the next and walked the insect like vehicle to the apartment complex. The locust’s shields flickered on before Amha fired the laser. The purple laser contacted the walls of the building and the molten plasma turned the concrete and metal to glass on contact. The wall was cut through like paper and leaving a straight incision in the building. Amha’s squad surrounded the locust, preventing enemy attack from the sides. Amha’s laser cut into a room filled with civilians and burned them all to a smoldering heap.

The first layer of the building gaped open, allowing vision into the crisp that the rooms now are. Amha clamped his mandibles shut remembering how the pilot had informed him that the locust’s laser would have trouble cutting through another layer. Marines flowed from the building, at least 12 of them, and fired their rifles and spread out. Amha dragged the laser down and assisted his teammates with the marines. The locust’s shields flickered and faded and eventually evaporated and the bullets collided on the hull, but the marines still dropped, their number now down to 6. One hid behind a corner of a building, not informed about the locusts anti-vehicle purpose, and was cut in two as the laser cut a chunk out of the building. Tal and Dag moved in front of the locust and overlapped their shields to protect it. Zamis shot his carbine into the heads of two marines but the third still stood and hurled a grenade, the human’s usual reaction to the jackal overlapping their shields. Dag dove to the side and Tal batted away the grenade with his shield, but the shrapnel and detonation destroyed his shield. The marine aimed his rifle and attempted to fire at the jackal, but Tal was to fast and unloaded his brute plasma rifle into the marine, which fell over and died from the plasma burns. Tal preferred the brutes red variant of the plasma rifle for its higher rate of fire, disregarding the insults Amha and Zamis slung at that variant. Amha’s locust and Zamis both finished off the marines and continued at the building.

Amha exited the locust to view the carcass of the apartment after he was finished with it, the apartment was now almost entirely glass and the top was oozing over the top edges and ridges of the building.

[monkeyjoe14]

I fired at a brute who fired a brute shot at the wall I hid behind. A handful of the jackal snipers were killed but some still remained. The brute fell as I fired continuous rounds into it's body. I reloaded my rifle and fired at a grunt.

"Heh heh, This never gets old", Pat said.

"For me it does", said an aggravated Ed.

They both fired at three elites who raised their energy swords. I aided to their fire and two of the elites dropped. The third raced forward and slashed at Pat. The slash cut the front of his armor and left a slim long slash across his chest.

"Medic!", I yelled as I fired my rifle into the Elite.

The elite dropped while Ed pulled Pat away to a marine with a red cross on his shoulder. Pat would be taken care of while we worried about the covenant. I fired my BR at a grunt who got to close.

[caster]

Cpl. Leon Carson - ODST - 1MSOB27 - Echo Squad

Beneath Hallam's Beacon

The team had stopped on the second floor stairwell. Carson continued to scan about them, listening for any sign that the wounded Jackal had come back for some revenge. After a moment Samson waved his hand forward. "No response. Move."

It was stressful, things were getting mechanical; reverting back to training. Carson was the first heading up the stairs now, with renters on his shoulder. Slow deliberate and quite foot falls echoed up the concrete structure. The beacon wasn't far off now. Apparently, the HEV had dropped into one of the floors above them.

Several agonizing minutes later Echo One and Two were coming to the exit door of the 21^st floor. As Carson wheeled to the left side of the door to breach there was a whopping explosion. Carson was tossed hard into the steel hand rails before slumping against the ground. Through the smoke and blue fire a minor elite stepped out. It growled lowly and walked over Carson and Renters who were lying motionless. Somewhere at the edge of Carson's conscious he was aware that the rest of the team was backpedaling down the stairs while firing on the charging elite. Carson's eyes blurred but could make out the orange and red forms of grunts.

Carson watched without movement as a green blur moved into his sight before it started getting brighter. There was a voice, deep in Carson's head, some primal instinct, some long buried ferocity. With the burst of power and energy Carson grabbed the stubby wrist of his assailant. The plasma pistol discharged down the stairwell and had caused the HUD in his visor to crackle with static. Carson continued through, dragging the surprised creature to the ground next to him before rolling onto it's back. Their arms weren't much different from a humans, Carson held the "wrist" tightly before jutting it back and up against the weight of the Grunts own body. Three small pops echoed in his visor before two far louder ones echoed the stone corridor.

The grunt wailed loudly in pain and bucked back and forth trying to pull its limp arm back. Carson obliged letting go of the arm before grasping the methane tank on the creatures back and pinning it to the floor as best he could. Carson's right hand dropped to his thigh and retrieved the SOCOM pistol. One round at the base of its skull stopped its motions indefinitely. Carson rolled off the creature suddenly more tired than he had been earlier. Carson looked at Renters body before holstering the weapon and crawling over to him. Carson checked his vitals through the ODST WAS (Warfighter Armor System). He was okay, but knocked out cold. Carson gripped the battle rifle hanging from his chest and sat against the wall. He would guard Renters until the rest of the team got back...He needed time to get his barrings anyway.

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

Eastern City Limits

Allison keyed the comm to respond to Paul. "Standing by on the eastern city outskirts and ready for fire mission." Allison was monitoring traffic. The gunships not on standby with her were escorting the drop ships evacuating the civilians. She briefly wondered who was looking out for Paul's craft. It had been determined by the Naval Comptroller that her inexperience would jeopardize the evacuation process considering the high volume of enemies combined with the dynamic nature of urban warfare.

She could understand their position, but she didn't respect it. She had gone through all the trainings, she was sure she could handle it. It wasn't as though her crew was complete newbies...Well, Craig wasn't anyway.

"Super squadron, advising all craft to clear the operational area of the AA battery located south of the ONI building." The Naval Comptrollers voice echoed. "ONI VIP's will have to exit by foot or hold their ground until after that AA gun is destroyed."

Allison shook her head minutely. Why they didn't just bomb the thing with a longsword or an orbital missile strike was beyond her. There wasn't a real need to send soldiers in. Likely if there was anyone in the building before the Covenant erected the thing, they weren't alive now...

Cpl. Leon Carson - ODST - 1MSOB27 - Echo Squad

Hallam's Landing Site

It seemed like Carson had been sitting for a long time before the rest of the team came up. They were covered in florescent mess and gasping. Carson just nodded, their was nothing that really needed to be said. Dennison removed Renters helmet and conducted a short check on him. She gave a thumbs up before placing a small stick under his nose. It took about thirty seconds before Renters started to awaken. The team was finally on their feet again. Samson took the lead this time, poking his head in the door for a moment to be greeted by popping plasma. The threat wasn't extreme....Two jackals, one grunt. Carson and Renters tossed in the stun grenades before the team rushed in. The disoriented enemies stood frozen staring at the door. Only the grunt was firing wide shots that were hitting the roof and catching it on fire.

Carson fired two bursts but the bullets went far wide shattering what little unbroken glass was left behind Hallam's pod. Three targets went down quickly before Carson sighted the fourth. The tan skinned jackal had a makeshift rag around it's thigh, and was holding some kind of pink saber. Carson shouldered the rifle. You! Carson thought.

Before Carson fired, he was sure the creature cackled at him before leaping out of the window and clinging to the electrical circuit box that hung outside the building. The lanky creature skittered up the side of the building out of view.

Carson lowered the weapon, seems that was no ordinary Jackal....Smart little bastard. Somehow Carson didn't think it would be their last encounter today.

Carson relaxed a little bit as Samson paced over to Hallam's pod to check it. Carson couldn't quite see if anyone was in the pod or not...

[elando]

Lieutenant Andrew Hallam - ODST Sierra Squad Leader Serial Number - 24651568

Hallam's Crash site 10 minutes before Cpl. Carson's arrival

As I awoke, flashes of light pierced my vision. From inside the pod the noise outside was muffed and strange, almost in audible over the pod's warning siren sending a constant beeping noise ringing in my ears. Groggily, I reached for my pistol in the small confines of the pod, clicked the safety off and keyed the emergency hatch release. As I did so, the hatch blew off the pod and flew out the gaping hole in the side of the building.

I stumbled out of the pod, pistol raised, not exactly knowing what I was doing. The only thought in my head was escape. As I looked around I could see the extent of the damage the pod had done on the building. The entire level of the building was creaking, showing how structurally unstable it was. The wind from outside whined and whirled around me, gently disturbing the bodies of the dead Jackal snipers who had once occupied this level.

"Christ, the pod really did a number on the building..." I whispered, making my way back to the pod to retrieve my weapons. Once I'd checked my Assault rifle and attached it to my back I grabbed up the Shotgun and checked it over. Just a few minor scratches on both the weapons but apart from that they were in good condition. 'Right, first things first. I need to get off this crap heap.' I thought. I keyed the comms and attempted to send out a message. 'Strange...' I thought. 'Why can't I connect to any of the comm channels?' Taking off my helmet I smacked the side and checked the antenna. They were both in working order. "Oh for fucks sake..." I said out loud, the realization of the situation finally hitting me. "Trust the bastards to set up jamming devices..."

Replacing my helmet and locking it into place I set off across the room towards the stairs. No doubt the elevators would be offline but it was only a 13 story climb, but not something you want to do after careering at high speeds in a craft the resembled a mini van, through 2 floors and several rooms...

Corporal Daniel Styles - ODST Sierra Squad, Fireteam Alpha Leader Serial Number - 37985340

Present time - Building of Hallam's crashsite

As the squad approached the foot of the skyscraper the status indicators of Echo squad appeared on Sgt Pink's HUD as well as everyone elses. "Echo, you got the place locked down?" Radio'd Pink, signaling the squad to hold position. "Roger that, Sierra. We're just moving in on Hallam's last known position now." Replied Echo Squad. "Right." Said Pink, turning off the comm and consulting Sierra squad. "Echo squad has got Andy. We're going after that AA gun." "What?!" Replied Private Leat. "You can't be serious? One squad against a whole firebase full of covenant!?" "Hey, shut up. If we destroy that hunk of shit we're just that little bit closer to getting out of this shit storm." Snapped Pink. The squad looked from one to the other, it was obvious they weren't keen on the idea. "We could do with some support, Si." Replied Ian. "Sure we're awesome but Tim is right. We can't go toe to toe against that AA firebase without getting our arses kicked."

"Alright..." Said Pink. "Jake, send out a message to the Marines. Unfortunately all the other ODSTs are gonna be holed up in the ONI building and we don't want to get involved in that shit until we clear out any AA cover. We'll need some Marines as backup, possibly a few warthogs, if not a tank..." As the squad waited, Private Cutting sent out a message to all UNSC forces.

"All Marines, this is Sierra squad requesting reinforcements to take on the Covenant AA battery south of the ONI building. We need some vehicle support, a few warthogs at least but a tank would be brillient."

[maxii1]

Sgt. Reilly and the rest of the group had assembled in a nearby house, it offered cover as the man rethought on how best to reach the main spaceport.
“Stupid Bastard wrecked the truck!” cried an indignant Chief Inspector.
Mann looked at Cliff who mealy frowned. Glover however acted on the insult and shoved Rankin “Pardon?”
Rankin immediately backed down and whimpered an apology.
“Sir, stop causing trouble and get back from the window” stated Private Brigner, a sniper himself, he knew that any covenant spotters would see the police officer and open fire on the position.
Rankin sneered at this and turned to Reilly “You going to allow your man to speak to me like that?”
Reilly ignored the man and started issuing orders.
“Watson, Loveridge, take the prisoners and Glover to the spaceport, use the buildings for cover, we’ll provide over watch”
Rankin uttered some disagreement to the plan.
“Brigner, Quindlen move up to the top floor and keep an eye out for any enemy and on any ally’s that need our help”
“And me?” asked Rankin “Am I banned from reaching safty with the others?”
Reilly looked at the man hard in the face “You want me to leave you under the care of an insulted marine and three convicts that want to kill you?”
Rankin decided he would shut up and stay with Reilly.

[stone]

Confusion and disorientation where the first few indications that he was alive. His vision was blurred greatly and he was seeing two of everything. In fact, as a Marine approached him, he was seeing to of him as well.

The Marine extended a hand and Stone, not being one to forsake the hospitality of the fellow Marine, grabbed it and was gracefully lifted to his feet. His vision coming back to him, he finally recognized the Marine as Sergeant Tontral, his squad leader.

"What in sam hell happened, sergeant?" the lance corporal inquired, dusting himself off absentmindedly.

The sergeant smirked and took a quick look around, maybe searching for anyone who may have been eavesdropping. Someone like a Jackal sniper who he remained unseen up until this point.

"Get down!" he shouted and tackled Stone to the floor, who cursed aloud.

A streak of plasma passed over their heads and exploded against some concrete rubble. Seconds later, the clatter of assault rifle fire made itself known to the world. But just as quickly as the skirmish started, it had ended.

Stone arose once again, with Tontral by his side. Smoke still spiraling up from the barrel, Private First Class Craig approached him, beside him, were Randall and Nicolai.

"You alright, lance corporal?" inquired Randall, a worried expression on his face.

Stone shot him a look that could crash a freight train. "Does it look like I'm alright, son?"

Randall shook his head and Stone left it at that. Knowing the Marines would need to get out of the open, the men moved and took cover in a nearby building. Sergeant Tontral then spoke out, "Stone, we've got Marines and ODSTs deploying all over the city. They're trying to evacuate the civvies and they're going to need help. I'm gonna try and find the rest of the squad. Take your fireteam and regroup with some of the Marines if you can."

Stone nodded and then rounded up his men, putting Randall, whom silently protested the decision. The men exited the building and made their way across the street, leapfrogging in and out of cover behind abandoned vehicles and piles of rubble and other debris.

There had been no sign of Covenant and the fireteam slowly crept through an alleyway. Stone brought his rifle up to chest level and kept his aim on the rooftops, just awaiting for an ambush to happen.

It never came. The four Marines emerged from the alley and towards a courtyard. On the other side was a towering skyscraper. Seeing as how it would be their best bet to find some place to bunker down in and defend until a Marine patrol marched by, he waved his team forward.

Pushing past Randall, he moved to the front and led them stealthily across the courtyard. Normally he would go in loud and with pride, but this was one of the rare occasions when he sacrificed bravado for stealth.

Coming up to the end of the wall, he halted and held his fist in the air. The three Marines behind him stopped and took up positions where they could guard the six. With as much courage as he could muster, he took a careful look around the corner.

His eyes met with the solid black and camouflaged armor of a squad of ODSTs, seemingly bickering about something. Not wanting to simply step right out into the line of fire and scare the bejesus out of the Helljumpers, he decided to take a different approach.

Although before he could do so, his helmet radio blared into his eyes, startling him. He frantically glanced around to ensure no one noticed, which luckily, no one did. The gruff voice of what could only have been one of the ODSTs sounded.

"All Marines, this is Sierra squad requesting reinforcements to take on the Covenant AA battery south of the ONI building. We need some vehicle support, a few warthogs at least but a tank would be brillient."

Stone looked at his team and chuckled. His team wasn't anything compared to a Warthog or a tank, but they were good enough when they were on the toes.

"Flash!" Stone shouted, hoping the ODSTs had paid attention in school - or for that matter - the military history classes back in boot.

[Soulstep]

Andrew fired off the last of his assault rifle ammo at an approaching Elite minor, depleting the shield. His now useless weapon was flung onto his back as he took cover from the retaliation. He pulled out his Magnum, his only weapon left, and leaned round the pillar. The Elite's shield had not yet recharged, and Andrew fired off 3 shots. The first was a clean miss, while the second caught it in the mouth. The third hit the alien right between the eyes, and reduced the amount of problems they had by one.

He and Sarah had been desperately fighting off the Covenant for several minutes, but it looked like their luck had finally run out. They had both expended their Assault Rifle ammo and grenades, and there were far too many Covenant for the two of them to concievably defeat. They were being encircled, and their cover was almost completely worn away from plasma fire.

A roaring seemed to come from outside, but Andrew took no heed. They had enough threats to deal with right now, and trying to take on whatever was outside would be suicide.

But then again, so would staying there.

An Elite major sprinted across the room to where Sarah was franticaly holding off a Grunt pack. She turned in time to see the red-clad Covenant loom over her before bringing it's Plasma Rifle down on her head. Her scream of terror was instantly halted.

Andrew whirled round, and saw Sarah lying on the ground, blood leaking out of her helmet. He yelled incoherently as he ran straight at the Elite, adrenaline and anger pounding in his veins.

The room seemed to explode as concrete chunks flew through the air, and dust floated in a seemingly neverending cloud. Andrew was in the middle of it, lying on the cold floor. He saw the Elite was slumped against the pillar Sarah has been using for cover, but stirred. It's shields were down. Andrew scrambled for his Magnum, before a flurry of bullets pierced the alien's armour and ended it's squirming.

Andrew looked up in half surprise, half exhultation as a Scorpion tank's barrel became visible in the dust cloud. The remaining Covenant paniced and attempted to flee, but were either cut down by the machine gun turret, or blown apart by the cannon. As the dust began to settle, Andrew dragged himself up and stumbled over to Sarah. He leant over and felt her pulse; it was there, weak, but there. She was breathing too, but Andrew knew she wouldn't be for much longer if she didn't get to a medic.

"You two from Indigo?", shouted the turret gunner as he clambered out. Andrew saw the insignia of a Corporal.

"Yeah, the rest of us are at Charlie. Didn't think we'd make it out here alive. Thanks."

"Looks like you almost didn't," the Corporal said, as he jogged over to Andrew and Sarah. "Damn, she'll bleed out soon. MEDIC!" He called at a marine, who ran in with a first aid kit. The medic took Sarah's helmet off, and lay he down on a blanket. "I can use bio-foam to close the wound and bandage it, but this needs taken a look at at Charlie. I'll have to take her with me in the Pelican."

Andrew nodded, and clicked on the comm. "Ben, you there?"

A pause, then, "Yes, sir."

"Sarah is WIA, a Pelican's taking her over there. Are the civilians secure?"

"Yes sir, they're already evacuated."

"Good. Get back in the turret 'Hog and head to my location. There's a Scorpion here."

"Yes sir, on our way."

Andrew clicked the radio off before turning to the Corporal. "So, now what?"

"Some ODSTs are requesting assistance not far from here. We're rolling there."

Andrew raised his Magnum. "I'm coming with you, I wanna see those freaks get exactly what they deserve."

((OOC: Elando you take over ^^))

[monkeyjoe14]

I ducked an incoming plasm bolt then fired at the source, a grunt. The battle for the ONI building was somewhat in our favor after we decimated some more troops. A second wraith hovered in front of the entrance.

"Shit, everyone take cover", I yelled.

"Screw that", Pat replied.

I looked over at him to see he was wielding a spartan laser and that he had biofoam bubbling from the wound that elite gave him. He charged the laser as the wraith was getting into position. the shot impacted the side the wraith, but it was still operational. The wraith fired it's mortar and a blob of plasma raced towards us, everyone ducked or ran. The there was an explosion and a flash of light as the blob connected somewhere inside the building.

I glanced out and saw that a hole was in the floor. Pat stood up from behind a column. He charge and fired the laser a second time and the wraith exploded.

"Hell yeah", Pat yelled.

"Pat put that down and grab a rifle we'll save that for the big guns", I told him.

Just then more covenant troops started firing inside the building. I jumped into the hole and used it as a firing position. The wraith might of bought the covenant time to regroup but it gave us some more cover. I fired my rifle at a elite who tried to get into the building.

[maxii1]

/Captain Nikon
/Super Squadron: Pelican F-753

Captain Nikon had been orbiting around the city, picking up civilians when and where he could.
Small groups that had hidden or run from the covenant, awaiting rescue which came in the form of Pelican F-753.
“Space for two more in here” called a civilian police officer that was manning the machine gun mounted on the back of the craft.
Nikon thanked the man and opened up communication to the ground unit’s beneath him “This is Pelican Foxtrot-Seven-Five-Three, we have space for two civilians, any takers?”

Perhaps one of the patrols had picked up a few survivors and wished to offload their rescued city residents.
Whatever the case, Nikon would soon return to the Forlorn Hope to drop off his precious cargo and refuel for another pick up.

[inhert]

/Rocco Evans
/Forlorn Hope Hanger Bay

Rocco sat on the rear ramp of his Pelican drinking water from his canteen. From where he sat he could see out of the hanger, Arcadia below looked peaceful but Rocco knew its not peaceful at all and he'd have to go back into it. Behind Rocco came the sound of boots on the metal floor of the Pelican, it was Courteny Rocco's copilot walking toward the ramp.

"Fueling's done, we're good to go once David and Shelby get back." Courtney said as sat on a seat just inside the Pelican.

Before Rocco could respond a Hanger Crew Member approached Rocco, "Can you guys hang on, we got some party favors for you guys to take to ground pounders." The Crew Member said as he motioned to an incoming cart with six weapon capsules.

Rocco turned to Courtney with a smile and a nod of satisfaction as he hopped up into the back of the Pelican. "Least we can do something to help out the guys on the ground until they take out the AA!" He said. Courtney nodded back at his co-pilot with the same satisfaction.

David and Shelby hurried back form helping civvies in getting off of the hanger deck safely to see weapon pods hanging from the tail of the Pelican.

"Party Favors?" Shelby said as she and David took their seats at the front of the Pelican.

"Yeah," Rocco said, "God forbid they need it down there." He eased the Pelican up off of the deck and directed it out of the hanger bay and into Arcadia's atmosphere.

Rocco had angled his decent to come into Arcadia's airspace on the northern side of city. From here he could see the green of the AA streaking through the sky behind the buildings. From here Rocco had the best hope of trying to reaching the north side of the downtown without getting into the AA's line of site.

Rocco keyed his mic to the any listening ground troops, "Super-Six-Four on station north of the city with 6 weapon pods ready for resupply."

[maxii1]

/Sergeant Richard Reilly
/95th Rifles, Fox Company, Feral Platoon
/Pressing towards Main Spaceport
/Asset: DCI Rankin
/Units: Sniping Element (In Combat) , Rifle (Moving) , Assualt (Moving/ At Spaceport)


Arcadia Police Force had evidently put up with Chief Inspector Rankin for some reason. Reilly couldn’t guess what for, it certainly wasn’t for the conversation.
Upstairs, Quindlen and Brigner softly spoke, highlighting enemy positions and engaging them at will.
Rankin had a pistol on him, the one he had used to kill one of the prisoner’s with and which had been used against a few grunts. He was hardly combat effective.
“Reilly, look here, perhaps I could reroute a Police Pelican to extract me” Rankin had begun.
The Sergeant shook his head “We have A.A fire in this sector, nothings landing near here, only crashing” he replied flippantly as he checked his battle rifle.
“They’ve made it Richard” called Quindlen from up the stairs.
“Thanks Matt, you two can come down now, time we started making a move” Reilly radioed to his two snipers, he then turned to Rankin and smiled.
“Time for the four minute mile”

Rankin looked less than joyful at the prospect of running.

[caster]

Cpl. Leon Carson - ODST - 1MSOB27 - Echo Squad

Hallam's Drop Pod

Carson walked around the partion slowly coming to stand near Dennison. The team watched Samson head around to the pod to where the door was.

Samson would find that the weapons were removed and there was a lack of blood or burnt remains on the inside. "Well, he survived the drop....And the guns are gone."

"Probably went up." Renault volunteered as he walked to the edge of the building and looked over the scene in the courtyard of the ONI building across the street.

No one else added to it, because it made sense. Covenant would come looking for a pod like that....And they would have to come up. Creating distance between yourself and the pursuers would be the natural course of action.

Carson was again at the lead as the team headed further up the stairwell which was uncharacteristically empty. Although, the team had silently agreed that on each subsequent floor up from the crash site they could hear the loud yelping voices of the Covenant on the opposites of each floor entrance. They were searching, but interestingly enough, they didn't have the stairwell guarded. Perhaps they thought it was enough to guard the lobby on the ground floor?


The team pushed past a small barrier that read "Employee Roof Access Only". Carson stopped short of the heavy red door before cracking it open only slightly. It appeared from the overhead map that the door was located on the north-east side of the roof, which would mean that most of the roof would be visible from the door. Carson was hoping he would see Hallam among a bunch of dead snipers as the light filtered through the crack just big enough to see through.

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

Eastern City Limits

Allison was aware that the Longsword squadrons were trying their damnedest to clean up the boarders trying to take out the ships in orbit. They better try damn hard or this whole operation would be completely FUBAR.

“This is Pelican Foxtrot-Seven-Five-Three, we have space for two civilians, any takers?” Pauls voice filtered across the OPS-COMM. The Marines on the ground would be able to hear that over their normal squad radios.


Allison took her eye off of the scene in front of the pelican as she allowed her eyes to focus on the smaller menus in her heads up display. She typed at the controls checking to see the active roster of who was covering Paul. At the moment there was no listing for a wing craft. Before she had even opted out of the menus and returned her attention to the flight controls another familiar voice came over the net.

"Super-Six-Four on station north of the city with 6 weapon pods ready for resupply." Rocco had made it back planet-side. Good thing those Seraph fighters were more interested in the frigates.

After just another moment of typing in commands, Allison opened the communications channel to the rest of Super Squadron. "Super-six-nine, super-six-one. Advising that Super-Six-Four has no cover at this time. Recommend flying cover mission."

A mans voice filtered through after just a moment. He sounded more like a space liner pilot than a naval one. "Super-Six-One with Super-Six-Four to copy....Ehhh, Roger that...Starting cover mission at this time. ETA to arrival at Super-Six-Four in five."

Allison didn't acknowledge super-six-nine's return reply but what interested her more is the Naval Comptroller didn't respond. The ship must be pretty busy. After a moment Allison keyed the comm once more.

"Squadron advising, Super-Six-One entering cover mission on Foxtrot-Seven-Five-Three."

She hadn't even let the microphone squelch before Craig started in. "What? We're to stand by to fire missions from the ground."

"And we'll do just that....In the mean time though, Paul's flying around with no cover." Allison eased the throttle forward and the jet engines whined louder as the craft started into the city following one of the main highways.

"Nikon can handle himself. If he wanted a cover, he'd have one."

"Paul doesn't always consider his safety. You've heard his leg stories..." Allison was quickly retorting as she navigated through the buildings, staying low and away from the AA fire.

"Maybe not, but he does care about Lydia and Layton." Craig was trailing off, he knew he wasn't going to win the argument.

It didn't take long before Allison turned right up a street and spotted Paul's pelican she sent an acknowledgment through the non-voice comm systems and continued into the area at cruising speed.

[dusty]

The men from fire team foxtrot sat in the rubble and dust, on floor 19. Several marines and a security guard were with them. The Covenant had stopped assaulting them, but they didn't know for how long. No one spoke, thinking about the ones who had fallen during the hectic combat.

It was Oreo who spoke first.

"All right troopers break out M.R.E's and Canteens. Eat fast, and drink at least a quarter of your canteen. We need to stay hydrated and energized to make this fighting count."

Oreo walked over to the security guard and handed him an M.R.E., and let his drink from his canteen.

Dusty reached into his pack, and removed his meal. He opened it to find a bowl of pasta with crackers. He heated them up, and ate it silently, and quickly.

When Dusty had finished, Tom helped him scavenge ammo for the SMG he was carrying, while Oreo went to work booby trapping the door that the Elites would have to come at them through.

Once it had finished Oreo went over to the marines and police officer. "Fall back to level 17, we're going to barricade the 18th floor, then join you"

The men nodded and went off to floor 17.

The ODST troopers went to floor 18 and began to put everything they could in the stairwell, and then finally the door. Once happy with it, the went to hte 17th floor.

Here they could hear the sounds of combat on the 1st floor, and the faint sounds of phantoms ferrying troops to the ONI building helipads.

The troopers scurried around creating cover for which to hide behind, and creating a kill zone for the covenant troops to have to move through to get to them. When they finished they ran and took cover behind the barricades, readied their weapons, and were completely silent.

Minutes passed as it was assumed the covenant were taking their time coming down the stairs, in case the Soldiers had consolidated their position.

The explosion of the booby trap was heard. A frenzied yell, and then running and stomping.

They could hear more yells as the barricade was met, it would take them time to get through it.

Dusty looked at their preparations.

2 barricades to allow the defenders easy cover from which to engage the covenant. a 25 yard long kill zone, which had rubble in it to slow down the advancing Covenant. and weapons, ammo, medical kits, and grenades laying within reach of most of the troopers. They did not feel like leaving any time soon.

The pounding on the barricade stopped.

"3....2.....1....Now"

The Door burst open as a bloody enraged Elite, roared. It took a step before the defenders opened fire. The wave of fire slammed into it, knocking it back and killings it outright.

Hell had come back to them, and they were ready to send it back.

[maxii1]

/Captain Paul Nikon
/Pelican Foxtrot Seven Five Three
/ Former Mad Sq. 4, Super SQL
/Co-Pilot: Gibson, Lydia
/ Position: Arcadia,
/Manoeuvre: Orbiting
/Destination: Forlorn Hope

Nikon grinned as he saw the sent greeting from Allison’s Pelican.
He returned a welcome through the non-verbal communication system.
“Please, get a room” stated Gibson as she playfully pushed Nikon in his seat.
“Honestly women, eh?” Spoke Layton in the back of the bird, counting for the minutes until he could be back in the Pelican Bay, instead of in a hot zone.
“Indeed” Grinned one of the passengers, an injured Arcadia Police Officer.
Lydia turned around, her fiery hair flinging around as she looked at the injured man with a grimace.
“Sorry I spoke” the officer replied.
“So am I” spoke a blushing Nikon as he headed for The Forlorn Hope’s Pelican Bay.
“Refuel and Refit, if needs be Douglas, otherwise your staying up here, I can’t risk losing the best crew chief of Super” Captain Paul Nikon stated.

Douglas Layton grinned, knowing that Nikon was just saying that to annoy the rest of the airborne and grounded crew mechanics that would be listening to their chatter.
At least this was his last sortie over Arcadia, he had been able to suppress the enemy from the mounted machine gun and had used his basic medical training to help the passengers in their pain.
Now he would return and help the Squadron from the relative safety of the Pelican Bay.
Whilst Lydia Gibson and Paul Nikon would head back out.

[inhert]

The chin mounted 40mm chain gun produced a dull metallic thunk that Rocco and Courtney could hear inside the cockpit. Courtney was using it to harass any Covie that strayed into the area in front of the Pelican. In the rear of the Pelican David dutifully manned the rear machine scanning for and Covenant behind the Pelican, since they hovered over a marine secured area there were no threats back here so he relaxed and sat on the floor. Shelby meanwhile had nothing to do, there were no passengers for her to tend or and the weapon pods did not have to be deployed so she created her own entertainment. She had confiscated a med-foam canister that she had now begun to use it to spray paint a smiley face on the floor of the Pelican.

An alert in Rocco's HUD flashed in the lower corner of his vision, indicating he had an incoming non-voice comm message.
Six-nine coming on your six to provide cover. The message read, Rocco tilted his head as he announced the arrival of a Pelican Gunship to provide cover to Shelby and David. Rocco responded to the message with a Roge-o back to Super-Six-Nine over the non-voice comms.

As Super-Six-Nine took up a covering position to the left and behind Rocco's Super-Six-Four Rocco taped his index finger on the cockpit glass in front of him.

"I got and idea Court." Rocco muttered.

"What" Courtney respond as the thunk of the chain gun cut out.

"Ok, hear me out, the ODSTs in the ONI building really need resupply. But its to hot for them to come out to get the pods if we drop em' out side. And we can't drop em on the roof cause we go up that high we'd get chewed up by the AA, so.." The rythmic thunk of the chain gun picked up cutting Rocco of before he reached the climax of his plan.

"No," Courtney respond "I know what your thinking and I don't like it."

Rocco moved in his seat trying to obscure Courtney's view, "Aw come-on, let a man dream." Rocco said.

Courtney allowed his co-pilot to carry out his little plan with a slight nod, "Oh but this time ask." Courtney added.

"Your the man, I owe you when we get down with this!" Rocco said as he settled himself into his seat and keyed his mic to Super-Six-Nine, "Super-Six-Nine, Super-Six-Four, I'm going need you to follow me in and on my mark fire a missile salvo at the Covies at the base of the ONI building."

As the acknowledgement from Super-Six-Nine came over the radio Rocco started the Pelican toward the ONI building, trying to stay low to the streets and keep the building between him and the AA gun.

Rocco keyed his mic to anyone listening inside the ONI building, "This is Super-Six-Four Inbound to the ONI building, to any Marine forces inside the building, what floor are you guys on?" He repeated the question in case anyone missed it the first time. Rocco eased the nose of his Pelican down slightly to gather speed, for what he was planning on doing he was going to need all the speed he could get.

[monkeyjoe14]

This is Super-Six-Four Inbound to the ONI building, to any Marine forces inside the building, what floor are you guys on?"

"Sarge you get that?", Ed asked.

"Sure did", I yelled to him punching the com.

"Super Six Four this is Sergeant Redsont of the ODST, we have two groups inside the building one on the 19th floor the other in the main lobby, why are you asking isn't there AA surrounding the building", I asked with a confused expression on my face.

Suddenly I heard a roar of an elite and emptied my my clip into him. I don't know these guys want but it better be good news.

[inhert]

19th floor, Rocco thought to himself as he did the math in his head. From what he figured his plan would work, he lowered the Pelican's nose gathering even more speed, all the while keeping the ONI building between him and the AA's location.

"It's not going to work," Courtney interjected "We're going to go crashing into the buidling. We got lucky the other times we did this."

Rocco chuckled to his coop-pilot's concerns, "Its a 50 floor building, which means its 450 feet tall. So the 19th floor is 171 feet up, and the Pelican is 100 feet long. Thing that I am stuck on is to go nose up and climb so the tail is at the 19th floor or flip the tail up to the 19th floor"

"Ok it could work," Courtney said as he settled into "Go nose up, you can flip the bird around before we break the roof line"

Rocco smiled at his co-pilot's confidence, the point of no return was coming up fast and if he was going to enact his plan now. Rocco type a quick go message to Super-Six-Nine as he Raised his pelican up slightly to give Six-Nine a firing angle on the pack of Covenant crowding at the base of the ONI building. Twenty missiles from Super-Six-Nine arched underneath Rocco's Super-Six-Four and wiped out the group of Grunts, Jackels, and Elites in front of the ONI Building. Rocco grunted with satisfaction as Super-Six-Nine stopped and turned back out of the city streets.

"Shelby, David hook yourself in the on the floor and hold on. And Shelby get ready to launch three of the weapons pods into the building." Rocco said to his crew over the Pelican's comm system.

Shelby pulled a control mechanism off of her harness and primed the rear three weapon pods for deployment. Once the trigger was primed, she joined David laying on the floor of the Pelican, and attached herself with carabiners.

"Has he done this before?" David ask nervously to Shelby.

Shelby looked at David with a large grin and pointed to the NO FEAR sticker on her helmet. Shelby's reaction did nothing to clam David and as the Pelican began to climb he stifled a scream. Both watched as the medi-gel smilie face Shelby had made earlier slid out the back of the Pelican.

In the cockpit Rocco first slightly pulled back on the flight stick and then violently yanked it back sending the Pelican into a tail stand. Once the Pelican was vertical he leveled it out vertically and let the Pelican climb along the side of the building. Time seemed to slow down aboard Super-Six-Four as it vertically climbed the side of the ONI building.

"Now!" Rocco hollered at Shelby once the tail had reached the 19th floor windows. Shelby pulled the trigger on her control mechanism sending three of weapon pod's into the building.

The first two of the pods crashed straight through the windows and slid to a stop so where in the 19th floor. The third pod was launched from a lower spot on the Pelican's tail. As a result the pod hit a part of the window sill sending spinning into the ceiling before crashing into the floor.

Once the pods were away Rocco once again yanked back on the flight stick this time to point the nose back ground ward. As the Pelican completed its back-flip the tail flashed over the roof line like the tail of the whale flipping before it went back underwater. The Covenant AA gun opened up to late and Shelby and David could see the green trails arch along the roof line. Expertly spinning the Pelican back into its proper flying orientation and powering it back out of the center city along the same route he used to come in.

"Weapons drop on the 19th floor of the ONI building. Complete." Rocco said keying his mic to ground forces in the ONI. Rocco look over to his co-pilot and smirked.

"I know it would work the whole time." Courtney stated with an air of sarcasm. At the same time Shelby and David were standing up in the back spewing obscenities as their bodies dealt with the adrenaline.

[nex]

"This is the UNSC Masyaf to any UNSC Fighter Squadrons. We are performing an emergency landing on Arcadia, requesting air coverage. Be advised, arrival of Covenant Cruiser in system. Things might get busy quickly."

[maxii1]

/Sergeant Richard Reilly
/95th Rifles, Fox Company, Feral Platoon
/ONI Building
/Asset: DCI Rankin (Base)
/Units: Sniping Element (Base) , Rifle (Base) , Assault (Base), Chosen Men (ONI Building)

Reilly had sent the majority of his men back to The Forlorn Hope with the saved civilians and police officers.

He had however remained behind with Lee Mann and Clifton ‘Cliff’ Fairfax, the two prisoners that had proved their worth as soldiers.
“Sir, can I ask why we’ve stayed behind?” asked Mann who had managed to obtain an M7 Sub Machine Gun.
“The ODST’s need support over at the ONI Building, I didn’t want the whole platoon to stay because the covenant are moving in more and more, fewer birds will be available to evacuate us”
“So, we’re expendable, basically?” grinned a cheerful Cliff.
“No, it’s just I thought you’d enjoy a bit more fighting” replied a jovial Reilly.
“ONI building is just a few blocks away, we can use this warthog” he added.

The Warthog was heading towards the ONI Building at speed, Reilly was a skilled driver and as such was able to keep the momentum of the vehicle even when turning. “That Anti-Air is still going on strong” commented Cliff who had assumed the gunner’s position.

“Sierra Squad, this is Sgt. Reilly, I have one Warthog at my disposal, my squad has returned to it’s ship, am I going to be more of a hindrance than a help?” the marine asked as he slowed the vehicle down.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Dieran En route to Sierra Squad

Andrew sat on the Scorpion's rear right track guards as it rumbled down the street, the cannon blowing buildings apart, revealing the dazed Covenant inside who were soon blown apart or shredded by the tank's firepower. Andrew was covering the rear of the tank, in case any Covenant tried to get behind it. If he couldn't take them out, a quick shout and the cannon did the job for him. "Now this is more like it!" he shouted as yet another Ghost was blown completely apart by the Scorpion.

They soon past the AA battery, but it was too high up and too protected for them to attack yet. The tank still fired at any exposed turrets or infantry, dislodging them from their positions. The ONI building was just ahead, but the huge mass of Covenant prevented them to get any closer. The Scorpion swung to the left, towards Sierra's location as Wraith Mortars began raining down on them.

"This is Tailsting to Sierra Squad, someone order a tank?"

[monkeyjoe14]

There was a loud rumble from above and the building shook.

"What the hell was that", I yelled as dust started to coat my armor.

"Weapons drop on the 19th floor of the ONI building. Complete."

"Gotta admit sarge they have style", Pat said.

"Yeah, well they could of killed somebody on our side", I replied.

I fired another round into a jackel sending him on his back bleeding from his chest.

[pemberton]

Pfc. Verhiz Zecks

Pfc. Silva threw himself on top of the 2 civilians with us covering their unprotected bodies from falling debris. The two of us had volunteered to stay back and provide support to any civilians we found. The rest of our squad had already been evacuated. We were trying to make our way to the ONI building, but we were still roughly 6 blocks out. We were making no progress.

Silva and I were just about to move to the next building when a group 3 of grunts crossed the street. I opened fire with my modified M90 hitting one square in the chest causing a mist of blue blood to erupt from it's chest. Silva took care of the other two with a burst to each of their heads using his BR55.

The two of us figured that it would be best if we held tight for the time being. We moved into a new room and took up defensive positions. We were low on ammo so gunning our way through the street was not on either of our minds.

[caster]

CCS Pious Charity Executive Officer: Shri T'ova

System: Procyon/Planet: Arcadia/ Territory: Pirth/ Landing Zone: Zeta 'Human Maglev Station'

Shri T'ova slouched against the seat of the spirit drop ship. Out of the corner of his vision he caught the view of the Sangheili major sitting next to him. He paid no mind to the major and looked to the data screen in front of him, indeed E’jaro had failed but Shri T'ova felt it foolhardy to assume that the humans would be defeated in their territory with zero support.

Such lessons were handed down at the Sangheili war temple on Sangheilios. The clans of old, whom fought among themselves often fared better on their own grounds than on those of the enemy.

The spirit slowed before the sides of the capsules opened and the lances began pouring out. Shri T'ova made quick foot work to the fire crew beneath the anti-air battery. "E’jaro." Shri T'ova spoke. The minor closest to Shri T'ova placed his arm over his chest and bowed his head.

"Sub-Master, he is below. Near the human trams."

Shri T'ova continued past the fire crew with the two Osaris Legion majors behind him. He would not wait for the Brutes, their Chieftain was already aware to meet with Shri T'ova upon the completion of troop offload.

Approximately ten minutes later Shri T'ova entered the large stands of human trains. There the crimson red E’jaro stood over a holographic projector displaying the updated information from the human "Oh-knee" building.

E'jaro bowed his head and placed his arm across his chest. However, he remained in this positions. Shri T'ova spoke matter of factually carrying the weight of Joo’nae's authority in his words.

"You have failed in your mission to eradicate the filth from this planet."

E'Jaro craned his neck slightly lower.

Shri T'ova would not speak that he believed that E'jaro had been ill prepared, less he speak against his master. Instead, Shri T'ova looked to the map and considered their tactical situation. The special operation troops were still pushing the humans ONI building, and had flooded them up to the 19^th floor.

Shri T'ova watched the map quietly, thoughtfully. After a moment Shri T'ova opened the Covenant Battle Nets command frequency. "Am'ee lance, split your forces. Half of you come to landing area Zeta. The rest, continue the the oh-knee building. Press the assault....Waste the vermin."

Shri T'ova looked to E'Jaro; his words lacking the harsh tones required by Joo'naes authority. "That locust...Bring it." Shri stood on the tracks of the human train system. The tunnel darkened the further it proceeded. One of the Osaris Legion Majors approached. "Sub-Master?"

"The human cartographer building. If it is 50 units high, then it runs 150 units deep...Humans, not unlike the Grunts burrow..." Shri looked over his left shoulder to the major. "The humans going up....They lure us away from the nest of information, not unlike the birds of home. Major, inform the Brutes to hold his structure. Order all Seraph wings to down any human crafts prioritizing by air power then ground vehicles. Their drop ships move far too slowly to outrun or outfight our fighters. Secondly; have all mounted infantry run as hunt and kill teams throughout the city. Kill all encountered but do not hunt them...." Shri T'ova paused for a moment and in that instant the major tilted his head inquisitively.

"No hunting..." Shri stated again. "They will all die when we turn this planet to cinder. The role of our mounted infantry is to halt their ability to freely travel the city. Additionally, after all air contacts are swept away, begin bombarding their structures weakest points using the Seraphs. Bring the rubble down around them. Additionally, close landing zone Gamma. It's position is no longer needed. Route all forces in the area to converge to the center of the city. We have lost the objectives they were sent to secure. Double our forces here." Shri began walking towards the darkened tunnel as the Sangheili major turned to relay his orders to the Covenant forces.

Shri was greeted by half of the special operations teams at the mouth of the cave, and shortly thereafter a Locust piloted by E'Jaro himself. "Come, let not the hands of the enemy stay the locust. It will make our job easier." Shri then looked to E'jaro halfway out of the locust hatch. "Regain some honor, do not fail your task." It was unspoken, while Joo'nae would have likely had E'jaro killed, Shri T'ova believed that E'jaro could have fared better had he been properly supported. Shri would allow him the chance to regain some honor. Even if he had lost his command.

Shri checked the map in his heads up display before continuing with his detachment down the maglev tunnel. Fortunately the trains had been halted due to severe damage.

((Posted in the Space thread as well.))

Lt. Allison Westbrooke - "Super - Six - One"

West of Covenant Landing Zone "Gamma"

Allison watched her scope as Nikon had left the atmosphere. She wouldn't follow, her bird was better slated for the planet. Allison banked around as she heard the distress call from the Masyaf. "This is the UNSC Masyaf to any UNSC Fighter Squadrons. We are performing an emergency landing on Arcadia, requesting air coverage. Be advised, arrival of Covenant Cruiser in system. Things might get busy quickly."

Moments after Allison was ordering the squadron planet side. "Super Squadron, Super-Six-One. The Masyaf is coming down. Follow procedures sunken." Allison started tracking the Masyaf as it came burning in the atmosphere and feeding the real time information to the rest of the squadron. Sunken was the Naval Code Word for a ship down on planet. Gunships would run cover while drop ships would deploy into the area for search and rescue of crew and supplies if there was time. "Super-six-two through super-six-twenty. Head on new bearings intercepting the landing area of Masyaf. All other squadron members, continue on primary mission." Allison flipped the frequency to boost so she could communicate with Nikon, she wasn't sure if he was running short band or not. "Paul, the Masyaf is coming down. We are splitting forces for and operation sunken. We'll likely need some Marines, Engineers, and Medics ferried down to the Masyaf depending on its damage level. Can you scramble any available forces from the fleet?" Allison wasn't sure how beat up the Masyaf would be upon its landing, but she followed procedure, better over prepared than under prepared.

Craig spoke up, "Ally, reading....Seraphs in bound from orbit heading into the city from the south. They seem to be ignoring the Masyaf for the moment."

Allison huffed under her breath, or maybe it was a curse. It was too quiet to hear.

[dusty]

The loud crashes broke up the fighting for a second.

Everyone wanted to know what had happened so for a split second, gunfire had stopped. The marines noticed that both sides had stopped firing, and shot at the unready covenant. This snapped everyone back to what was important. Survival.

"Dusty, Tom get over here!" Oreo said calling them over.

They ran crouching as to avoid most of the fire.

"I don't know what the hell that was, but go check it out! its somewhere over there!" He yelled over the increasing noise level, and pointing behind him.

The 2 men nodded, and sprinted to a cubicle, and began weaving through the left over office furniture, to get to the weapons crates.

When they reached it the quickly gathered up all the ammo they could. "It would be nice, if Vincent could listen to his radio. I’m sure they told us about this. I though it was a hunter, and you and me weren't coming back" Tom said as they walked back.

They reached the end of the cubicles and sprinted again, sliding into cover. They distributed the ammo they had gathered.

"3 weapons pods, filled with ammo, grenades, and medical supplies! They just helped us hold this floor a lot longer!" Dusty shouted to Oreo, as he fired his smg at some grunts.

Oreo nodded, "Good, i love fucking with death!"

[drawkward]

Catharsis, Jiralhanae Pack Chieftain
Arcadia
Status: Landed

The Spirit dropship hovered overtop of the landing zone, as its paneled doors opened for its occupants to descend. Catharsis was the first to leave the ship, dropping at least the length of his height onto the concrete road below. As he descended he let out a primal roar that seemed to echo off the towering buildings as loudly as the gunfire that engulfed the city. The other Jiralhanae were not any quieter.

Catharsis had his orders to find Shri T’ova, but was not in the mood. He could smell the taste of human flesh, and his thoughts filled with even more of a primal rage. He was far too eager to find battle for himself.

“Where is that shrunken worm?” he hissed through his teeth.

“Your orders,” a rather brave Major spoke up. “Are to secure the area, Chieftain.”

Catharsis’s lip curled and he scowled, the smell of his breath repulsing to the Sangheili Major. His sharp, yellowy-teeth showed in the face of the Major, unwilling to give ground to the foul-smelling cow. Then the pack chieftain took a step back, and turned his back on the Major.

“We shall await the humans here,” Catharsis said, a low growl in his voice. “Spread out, and prepare for the battle.”

[nex]

The ship shook about them as they raced through the skies above arcadia. The entry had superheated the ships’ hull, but the stealth armour plating could handle it. Prowlers, unlike so many other UNSC ships, were designed for multiple re-entry into systems. Part of their stealth abilities.

Captain Kerslake watched a monitor as the heat that had built up, began to dissipate. The clouds soon thinned, as they headed flew the sky, towards a quite scenic plateau.

"Sir, sensors just picked up two more covenant vessels exiting slipsace. One Assault Carrier and a second Battle Cruiser. Seraph fighters and phantoms are heading to reinforce covenant ground presence"

"Maintain course. Any news on that air coverage?"

"Super Squadron have sent some fighters our way.”

"Acknowledge their presence as air support and state no further action necessary. Wait- see if you can't route some evacuations to us. We might as well make ourselves useful."

The ship bank suddenly as it made its final approach to its temporary base of operations- A deserted desert plateau, about 100 km, South West of the city.

With a gentle thud, the ship touched down on the sandy ground.

"Keep point defence and Archer missiles online. Maintain radio silence, and bring the reactor down to minimal levels to keep operational systems online. Switch to passive sensors. Let’s try and stay quiet for a bit. They won't be able to detect us with long range sensors. I want spotter teams outside, watch for approach. Repair crew, priority is anything on the outside; Stealth coating, texture baffles - anything we can't fix on the move. Medical teams tend to the wounded as necessary. I want a fire team on standby at all times. Jump to it."

He watched as everyone hustled about their tasks. They couldn't stay down here long. Maybe with just one covenant ship, they could risk it. But not with three. He gingerly touched a hand to his head and winced in pain, before heeding his medical officer's request.

[inhert]

As Super-Six-Four headed back out of downtown a haunting distress call came over the radio. This is the UNSC Masyaf to any UNSC Fighter Squadrons. We are performing an emergency landing on Arcadia, requesting air coverage. Be advised, arrival of Covenant Cruiser in system. Things might get busy quickly. In the cockpit Rocco and Courtney looked at each other as they tried to comprehend what was happening in space.

"Guys, guys we got trouble inbound!" David yelled from the rear of the Pelican upon seeing Spirit Dropships coming into the city.

Rocco snapped his head down and checked his close contact radar, nothing. Rocco muttered a string of curses but stopped when Courtney tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the sky. That was when Rocco saw the fleet of the Spirit Dropships.

"That's a whole lotta hurt coming down on our heads" Rocco responded to the sight. These Covenant reinforcements would make the Marines' job in the city next to impossible and with the Masyaf coming down everything was starting to go down hill fast.

Alison's voice cut in over the squad radio,
"Super Squadron, Super-Six-One. The Masyaf is coming down. Follow procedures sunken." Game time, Rocco thought to himself as he push back into his seat and directed the Pelican toward the Marine LZ Alpha. A message from Super-Six-Nine, Six-Four's escort, came over the non verbal comms sunken?. Rocco responded to the message with a quick, y need to make a pitstop first.

As Super-Six-Four touched down at LZ Alpha a crowd of Marines gathered around the rear. Out from the crowd stepped a Sargent who directly addressed David and Shelby on the back ramp, "What do you guys want?"

"Some Marines that are able to help out at the Masyaf." Shelby responded to the Sargent.

"No not gonna happen we need all the Marines right here to deal with those." The Sargent hollered back as he wave to the sky filled with Spirits.

"Ok how 'bout we make a trade," Shelby said as she pulled out her triggering mechanism and dropped the three remaining weapon pods off the Pelican tail, "Six of your marines for those."

Before the Sargent could respond six Marines had jumped onto the back of the Pelican. The Sargent grunted with dissatisfaction and turned away from the Pelican as all on board settled into seats. Up front Rocco eased the Pelican up and toward the place where the Masyaf look like it was coming down.

Rocco keyed his mic to Super squadron, "Super-Six-One, Super-Six-Four I am inbound to the Masyaf with three Marines," Rocco paused and tried look into the back, "wait one." He then keyed his mic to the Pelican's PA system, "Shelby who do we have back there?"

"Yeah, Okay, three regulars two medics and an engineer" Shelby responded.

Rocco reopened the squadron comms, and continued "Super-Six-Four inbound to Masyaf with one engineer, two medics, and three Marines."